A student posing in the middle of a chaotic JHS classroom. One evening in Antoa, there was a crowd of children on our doorstep. They were ready to play, to laugh, and to dance. And they did, filling our compound with giggles until well after dark. We sent them home and they left, all except for one. 10 year old Gottfried remained behind, with his notebook tucked under his arm. It contained his math homework for the day. “Its time to go home, Gottfried,” we told him. “You can

[endif]--One of the goals I had for myself when I took on the Senior Program Manager position was to establish a professional development series for our staff members. As a volunteer, the most valuable thing organizations can offer (if they don’t pay a salary) is a step forward in their professional development—sometimes it is a letter of recommendation, other times it is a suggested contact, or, in this case I have been working on a workshop series: public speaking, managing

The Expo staff house in Anota, formerly the village post office. As I write this blog post I am sitting outside a coffee shop in Louisiana and wondering how soon I can leave for Ghana again. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to come home for the holidays and witness two weddings for family members. However, I find myself itching to go back to Ghana and continue the work with our Peer-to-Peer Programs and Girls LEAP. I’ve truly been blessed to find myself at Expo, in the

Students at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Boys JHS play a game to practice synonyms. My boys are my boys. They're a product of everything you would expect from one of Ghana's leading boys schools, and not just the stereotypes that first spring to mind either. In my personal experience of single-sex education, a strong school-ethos can often implement the same characteristics into each individual, not unlike a factory churning out clones of the same action figure, each with the

My name is Grace Marfo, and I’m from Kumasi, Ashanti Region of Ghana. I am a graduate from the University for Development Studies. I did national service with the Ghana Statistical Service and have done internships with developmental organizations including Exponential Education. I have been volunteering with Expo since September 2014. I have just transitioned into the position of Ghana Scholars Associate. This position deals with paying school fees for students who are on Ex

One day, I was sitting outside - hiding from the sun under a half-constructed building that serves as the teachers' room when it gets too hot to sit between four walls - I had this passionate conversation about the impact of my programme with several of the teachers at my school, Antoa JHS. Since I started working with the impact evaluation of our peer-to-peer programmes, I constantly find myself reflecting on the impact of our model and of my work as a Programme Associate sp

When I arrived to Ghana, one of the first things I was asked by a fellow staff member was, “Do you know what day you were born?” I thought that was a silly question…of course I knew my birthday! Then I realized I was not being asked my date of birth, I was being asked which day of the week I was born. That was information I did not know, but after a quick search on the internet, I discovered I was born on a Monday (much to my dismay, I was hoping for Saturday.) The reason

Hi, My name is Williams Opoku Agyemang. I was born and raised in Bekwai in the Ashanti region of Ghana. I am the forth born of my parents and the big brother in the family. I went to Adventist school, where I attended my lower primary, upper primary and junior high. I went to Youth Institute of Science and Technology, where Exponential Education was introduced to me by Amber Shevin in 2012. I was selected as one of the tutors and I tutored for one term. After almost two years

Living as a boarder at a Ghanaian school is just as rigorous an activity as anywhere in the world- commitment to choirs, sports, chapel, plays and competitions takes bigger precedence when you live where you study. There is less opportunity to be lax in your studies as the school thoughtfully allocates time for you to do homework and revision- at the weekends as well as the evenings. Prefect duties or head of class responsibilities spill over into spare time, and many student