Immaculate Heart of Mary Prep School

While traveling with Sister Joana she also brought me to stay at the convent where she lived for a while in Offinso. The Sisters there were so wonderful and welcoming and there were also a few young girls close to my age staying there to do different types of work. They had a back yard where they hung their clothes and a small shed-like area with two rooms. One served as a cooking area over a tiny stove on the floor and the other was where the many dogs and goats took shelter. (One of my favorite tidbits was that their two adult dogs were named Prince and Princess, and they had three puppies-- but their names were not relevant...)

Most of the Sisters worked a the nearby school, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Prep School (as head mistress and two classroom teachers), or at the hospital across the yard. I had the honor of joining Sister Mary Charity in her classroom for a day and meeting her students.  wish I had more time there, and I hadn't brought my recorder, but the it was a wonderful day and I was able to take a lot of pictures of the children in their classroom and outdoor environments. Below are a few from the day I spent there. To view some of these photos larger, visit the "Stories" set on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kdalrymple/.

Sister Mary Charity Dorcas Banaman Mensah IHM points her cane stick towards the students in her primary three class as she instructs them to begin singing. Sister Charity is one of the few teachers at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Preparatory School who does not believe in using the cane stick on the students. She finds alternative ways, such as giving more homework, to punish students for bad behavior and keep control of the class. Sister Charity taught primary two and three (P2 and P3) this year during the three different terms at the school, which is located in Namong-Offinso in Ghana. Her current class is P3, ages 8-14.

Bernard Osei Oduro, Tabi Obed, and Ernestina Adu Serwaa work together in groups to complete a class assignment. When they finished they were allowed to leave the room for recess. The children in this class are known as the "pioneers" because they were the very first class at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Preparatory School, which consists of kindergarten 1 and 2 as well as P1-3. The children in Sister Charity's class will be returning for the 2008-09 school year as they implement a P4 class for the new school year. The school also just celebrated its fifth anniversary on the last day of the 2007-08 school year.

A washing bin in the front of the classroom used to wash hands before lunchtime.

Samuel Amponsah rests on a table in the back of Sister Mary Charity's primary three classroom, waiting for his stomachache to subside.

Prince Obeng stands in the doorway of Sister Mary Charity's classroom while other students work on a class assignment.

Prince Obeng, Edward Mensah Yeboah, Joshua Yeltuo, and Tabi Obed laugh together as they work on completing their class assignment before recess and lunch. 

Vanessa Konadu sits on a desk during recess wearing glasses she constructed out of sticks.

Elvis Osei Bonsu picks up his chair to carry to the end-of-the-year assembly practice in the field behind his school.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Preparatory students of all ages exit the school with their chairs to attend their practice assembly held behind the school. The school ranges from kindergarten one to primary three (ages 3-14) and will be implementing primary four into the school for the 2008-09 school year.

Michael Owusu Sekyere, a kindergarten one (KG1) student, exits the school carrying his chair to the assembly practice while Ivans Kusi, a KG1 student, watches from them hall. Kusi will not be part of the end-of-the-year assembly and stays behind while the rest of the school attends practice.