Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Damba Festival, World Map Mural, Self Portraits

Well, I've been in Ghana for almost 20 months now, and I should be home by late July, a little over 5 months from now.  February will involve consistent, daily, teaching, but March will bring my HIV Awareness competition (and the stress that goes along with organizing, planning, and running a school-wide event), plus Ghanaian Independence Day marching festivities (that's right, marching in March), and then in April is the All-Volunteer conference and our term break, and in early May is the Close of Service conference.  That's right---Close of Service, and it's coming right up, just around the corner.   


Damba festival happened again, but this year I missed the main dancing day because I was teaching, but the following day the chiefs from all the surrounding villages come riding into Savelugu on their horses, and big crowds gather around to see them.  Horses are a serious status symbol here.





This is the Savelugu Chief.



Hand-made paper twirler in the crowd.
















The students are working on self portraits using photographs that they gridded and enlarged.  I took photos of each student last term and printed them.  Seeing photographs of themselves is a big treat, so this is a project I had been wanting to do for a while.  Most of the students didn't really understand how to following a gridded image, so they just used the photograph and drew it, but those who did understand did an amazing job.  It was a good process project nonetheless.













Sheeda is a great painter.  Great.  


In fact, Sheeda made these two paintings.  (Thank you, Steven, for the guache paint, it really makes a huge difference)










Yeay! Finished world map mural, with the students who painted it, Rahim, Kwabena, Sheeda, and Ganiyu!






I really like this tissue paper fish drawing.  



David, showing off his pattern relief.








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