So these are some pictures and a video from the Street Academy's Program for the Kids. The kids did a dance drumming show, a boxing expo, and had a performance from a rapper/clown duo. It was a pretty great time, and I managed to catch some pretty amazing dancing on video. Unfortunately its really hard to post videos from Ghana because the internet is so slow, so for now, you'll just have to make do with stills FROM videos haha. They dont nearly do the dancing justice.
I was give a personal dance from this little rock star
Lewis Wonder. Need I even point him out?
and bees
And the crowning jewel. I hope you actually can watch it and blogger isnt just tricking me. I'll try to put some more pics and videos up soon if this one works.
The street academy has about 40 or 50 boys and girls who attend school for free and receive one free meal per day. Most of the kids are between 8 and 15 and most are just beginning to learn how to read. They do about an hour of reading and math in the morning, and hour of dancing and drumming, then break up into groups of boxers, futballers, runners, and crafters to work for an hour of two on their specializations. Then there is a small lunch served, a little more instruction, and they go home for the day. It’s a great program, that has produced some great boxers, and there are a number of other permanent staff and volunteers who work there every day. I met Lewis Wonder, a Rasta musician and drum maker, at a concert a couple of weeks ago. He is very involved with the street academy, and invited two friends and I to come volunteer.
Today was my first actual day teaching at the street academy. I had told Lewis Wonder that I wanted to teach the kids piano and martial arts, he said, “We have no piano, but it would be great to teach them discipline through martial arts.”
The day started off slowly enough, I was helping a fourteen year old kid named Kudjo learn how to read. He was having an extremely hard time telling the difference between “in” and “on,” and I’d already corrected him countless times. Eventually I began patting the top of his head and saying “O means on!” whenever he would confuse the two. In the hour he and I worked together, he actually made tremendous progress, even beating me in a game of hangman.
All of a sudden Lewis Wonder came up and told me that it was time to go teach the kids martial arts. At first I thought I was going to have to teach all 40 or so kids, but luckily it was limited mainly to “the boxers,” a few interested “futballers,” and one adventurous girl that I was able to convince to try martial arts. On the walk over to the community boxing gym, Lewis Wonder told me that the kids were a hand full and that they would run all over me because im not a “street boy” and couldn’t handle street kids. I took his warning silently and decided that I was going to have to play tough guy. On previous occasions I had seen “Daddy,” an big, old, ex-boxer who instructs the boxers some days, give the boys a good hard slap across the face when they misbehaved, and make them kneel down on the gravely ground with their hands above their heads. He wasn’t there today, but Lewis Wonder came to “help the obroni manage the street kids,” which actually turned out to be helpful- if not for the discipline, at least for translation he provided. I started out by calling them to attention and making them bow, then I tried to teach them the Student Creed we say for Kuk Sool.
“1. I will develop myself in a positive manner and avoid anything that will reduce my mental growth or physical health. 2. I will develop self discipline, in order to bring out the best in myself and others. 3. I will use what I learn in class constructively and defensively, to help myself and others, and never to be abusive or offensive.”
As I found out, however, most could not understand phrases like mental growth or constructively and defensively, let alone memorize it. -I’ll call it room for improvement. This was when the first fidgeting and play fighting started happening between students. Remembering my own Taekwondo training and punishments, I made the guilty parties do 10 knuckle pushups per offence. Most kids learned pretty quick, but one kid, Joseph, a visiting “futballer” of about 13 just kept talking, running around, hitting people, he was just all over the place. After doing close to 50 knuckle push ups, I took pity on him and tried to give him time out. He was sitting there, next to the raised boxing ring one minute, then I look away for a second and hes gone. One of the other kids eagerly told me that he was hiding under the boxing ring so I would come find him. I just let him hide haha. We did a good stretch, ran, and worked out, then we started working on punching and kicking. I got the chance to see the boxers spar at the Street Performance last weekend (see pictures) and I was very impressed by their form. They picked up the martial arts punches and kicks quite quickly and were very eager to learn as much as possible. They even got good enough to do basic partner drills, attacking and defending. The lesson flew by, but it turned out to have been an hour and a half. It was my first time actually leading a class, and it was tremendously exhausting to maintain order while trying to teach. But the kids had a good time, learned a lot and looked like they were close to as tired as I was… And the day was a success for not letting myself get walked on by these kids. Yeah Obroni RESPECT!
Well I gotta go run officially submit my class schedule to the University of Ghana, but I hope you enjoy the kids as much as I do. Much LOVE and all my ALOHA
-Kofi Chase
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