John Denver is Singing in My Ear

For the past few days, John Denver's classic sad/sweet goodbye song has been living in my head.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go.

I'm standing here outside your door,

I hate to wake you up to say, 'Good bye.'

But the dawn is breaking; it's early morn.

Taxi's waiting, he's blowing his horn;

Already I'm so lonesome I could die..."

This trip to Ghana, quite probably my last, will be a bittersweet one. Everything about the next two weeks will be different. Every trip I have taken to Ghana since 2002, with the exception of an 8-day research trip in 2003 to prepare for the first Fulbright, I have spent leading groups of university students and educational colleagues as they reveled in the wonders of Ghana. Three to six weeks watching my team members discover and re-discover the incredible beauty, life, and culture that is Fante Ghana. It will be strange being there alone, without an agenda, without a daily calendar of events and activities, without others for whom and to whom I am responsible, without the sense that this trip will be making a positive difference in the lives and perspectives of my university students.

It is not that I do not want to go. I do. I am looking forward to it greatly.  It will be wonderful to reconnect with old friends and acquaintances whose relationships have developed over the past decade and a half.  It will just be different this time.

There are some new developments and opportunities this year that have not existed in the past and I am looking forward to them. First, I learned only last week that a good friend and former part-time participant in the Teaching & Learning in Ghana 2004 Fulbright trip, Bettina Boateng Afari, is now a permanent resident of Accra and she has invited me to stay with her and her husband during my first few days in-country.  Bettina was a reporter for WCBD-TV2 News in Charleston in 2004 and her station manager sent her and a camerawoman to Ghana to cover a week of our Fulbright trip and also to report on visits to her Ghanaian extended family. Bettina left Charleston for Birmingham several years ago to anchor the NBC station's daytime news hour there and now has made yet another transition and moved permanently to Ghana. I am looking forward to reconnecting with her, meeting her husband, and seeing Ghana through her ex-pat eyes.

The second new opportunity ahead of me is as a result of an organization I was invited to join four years ago -- Progress in Education (PIE).  PIE is a non-profit corporation comprised of a group of Ghanaian ex-pats (and me) - all of these folk were educated at least through senior high school in Ghana but are living and working in highly respected and important positions here in the U.S. Ten years ago PIE was formed expressly to raise money and obtain technology and educational equipment to send back to high schools in Ghana. PIE is now expanding its purview and will be including Junior Secondary and Elementary schools in future donations. During my second week in Cape Coast, I hope to visit as many of the Central Region high schools that have received PIE donations as I am able so that I can say Hello on behalf of PIE and see what has come of PIE's donations.

But the primary reason for my trip--and the primary reason for the continued existence from 2002 to 2013 of the Teaching & Learning in Ghana Program--is Mr. Augustine Ato Baidoo, founder, headmaster, and prime mover of the Tuwohofo-Holly International School in Akotokyir Village. Mr. Baidoo is, without question, the most dedicated educator I know. Despite ill health, family tragedy, meager living conditions and minimal financial recompense, Mr. Baidoo has for THIRTY YEARS single-handedly kept Tuwohofo-Holly International School in existence. And more than just an "existence," THIS, as it is known, is a highly regarded private school (serving a village with no public school) which attracts students from numerous area villages, many of whom walk several miles daily to attend the Kindergarten through Ninth Grade classes.

On Saturday, June 25, 2016, Tuwohofo-Holly International School will celebrate its 30th Anniversary and I have been asked not only to be present but to address the gathered school and community folk who will be in attendance at the Durbar.  I have been looking forward to this celebration with Mr. Baidoo since he told me about his plans several months ago; and while I will not be wearing my ceremonial "cloth" I will in my capacity as chief Nana Kobina Tuwohofo II be wearing my chief's bracelets and necklace as I address my school.

I regret only that you cannot join me for these next two weeks.

Medase and Akwaaba!

Prof