The next day we traveled through the mountains, and toward the border between Ghana and Togo. We were on our way to a village named Kpedze, where Beatrice Aggrey was waiting for us to arrive with bags for the students at Kpedze elementary school.
We hurried to arrive at the school, as the students would have to leave early in preparation for an athletic competition the next day. The school was toward the bottom of a hill, and the road sat above a classroom, so we could see very clearly into the classes. However, the students could see us as well, and with the headmaster of the school on hand to receive us, the students were too clever to not know that something was up.
As we were there for the lower class elementary school students, we were looking down the hill, but some of the higher class students, as well other lower class students who were already on their way home stopped immediately upon noticing the foreigners in their village. They congregated, watching and talking amongst themselves, and some of the bolder students began to descend back down the hill toward us. They wanted to know what was going on, and the growing excitement of the students still below was not lost on them.
Mrs. Aggrey’s sister, a teacher at Kpedze elementary, met with us first, and by the time we began speaking to the headmaster, there were more than twenty students standing in the yard in front the lower classrooms. Again, the feeling of disappointment began to set in, as we knew that we would not be able to give bookbags all of the students in this yard.
Moreover, the fact that the students were letting out upped the energy level enough to create a scene entirely different from what we had experienced in Likpe. As we spoke to the headmaster, students expectantly gathered around us, smiling and talking and pointing at us. The students began mobbing to get closer to us, and as the crowd swelled to over 50 students, the buzz grew more fervent, and the teachers were having a hard time with keeping them back. They called in student monitors to assist with crowd control, but it seemed that they only succeeded in heightening the level of excitement amongst the crowd.
The headmaster asked if we wanted to speak to all of the students, and this time we decided to address all of them. Mrs. Aggrey spoke to them in Ewe, followed by Jerry, who also spoke to them in Ewe, and then we spoke to the children in English. We told them how happy we were to see how excited they were about going to school, and that it made us so proud to bear witness to the commitment of these children to their future. We asked that they continue to work hard, listen to their teachers, and believe in themselves, because their futures were more important than our own, or than that of any of the adults standing here in their midst.
The children laughed and smiled at our English, and we enjoyed their energy. After we finished speaking a beautiful young girl stepped into our midst and thanked us in English for coming to see them and taking an interest in their future. She said that God would bless us, and then the students sang a song for us. Needless to say, we were touched by their enthusiasm and hospitality.
We then went to the classroom to await the children who would be chosen. The selection process took place in the yard, as the teachers and headmasters decided which students were most in need of bags. It seemed like the entire student body presented itself to be chosen, and many of the children were quite vociferous in making their cases to receive a bag. It was a challenge for the faculty to control the energy that was surging through the group, but they were patient and judicious in making their selections.
As we waited for the selected students inside a classroom, students who were not selected began to congregate outside of the classroom, and we could see their faces piling up in the frames as they peeked into the windows, their bodies surging forward as they filled the doorways.
There would be no avoiding the audience, but even as the final students filed into the room, Beatrice assured us that it was important for the students to see, as it would provide them with a clear message of just how important education had to be if foreigners were willing to travel from the USA just in order to bring them school supplies. She and the headmaster explained that they all needed to see this, and although this did not erase our own regret, we hoped that at least we could provide some measure of inspiration to all of the students.
The students who were selected were ecstatic. Some appeared to be in shock, and lit up when we urged them that it was ok to take their bags home with them. We took some pictures and played with the children a bit before heading off the next school.
After making our first round of distributions, we were somewhat disappointed to learn that we would not be able to meet the next group of students, as they had closed early. We hurried back to return to Kpedze elementary school in order to distribute some more bags to the friends that we had just left behind.
The students were thrilled to see our car pull back up and began running back down the hill. We again asked the headmaster to select the remaining students most in need of bookbags, and he did so happily. The crowd reassembled around the corners of the room, and we distributed the rest of our bags.
There is nothing more rewarding than spending time with these students. Not only did they make us feel welcome, but they were so excited about the prospect of being able to have supplies for school.
Within each bookbag, along with notebooks and writing utensils, we included a book that included pictures and biographies of our late mother, Dr. Selina Ahoklui. She was a lifelong educator who lived for these moments. It was under her tutelage that we learned how to give, and how to always prioritize education. The students went into their bags, and crowded around to review the books, making effort to read the biographies and to try to identify the faces in the pictures.
They were most fascinated by a picture of Dr. Ahoklui in her Kente cloth while shaking hands with former President Bill Clinton, and even more occupied with an image of Dr. Ahoklui in a space suit, as she participated in a NASA space program as part of her Teacher of the Year tour. The teachers answered their questions about who the important looking man was in the photos, and at the mention of the word “space” amongst a host of words in Ewe, a collective “Aaaahnnnn…Ehhn” went up from the different clusters of students. In this moment, we were blessed enough to witness both pride and possibility on these young peoples’ faces, and the sight left a lasting impression.
We left hoping to make a dent in the number of students who did not receive supplies, but were revisited by the disappointment of not being able to provide for everyone. The students were more than happy to engage and play with us, but we still left to the sight of some of them holding up rice bags, plastic bags, or books with no bags at all while we pulled off. We hope to return to them soon, and we pray that by the next time we leave them, none of them will be left disappointed.
