Aug 23, 2009

SOCKS......A GHOST FROM THE PAST

Brian, Cassidy, Josephine and Comfort on the trampoline. They have so much fun together!
Brian, Josephine and Comfort spent hours trying to catch fish with a tin can at Lake Kachees. They are certainly persistent!

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I really have been busy! We are gearing up for another co-op year and this year that included finding a new facility in addition to putting together the schedule. We have over 30 families this year that will be coming to our Friday School!
We are continuing to adjust as a new family and everything seems to be going well. I have spent weeks putting together three more sets of school curriculum, not easy when I had no idea what the kids knew. At least now I have a good idea of where they are and what I can expect this coming year.
Now, I bet your wondering about the blog title?
Last Sunday we were getting ready for church and I gave Comfort her black shoes and told her not to wear any socks. All of my Ghana kids like to wear socks (with every type of shoe) pulled up to their knees, so this particular Sunday I was looking for a little more fashion, sandles with no socks please.
Next thing I know Comfort is quietly sobbing, but being a well traveled mommy I stuck to my guns and we head off for church with Comfort wearing no socks and sobbing. By the time we got to church and sat down she was pretty much over it, so I didn't think much more about it until the next day when Brian and I were looking at some pictures of the school they attended in Ghana. One of the pictures was a common one of all the kids gathered in their uniforms before school and Brian told me that this was 'assembly' and during this time the kids would be checked to make sure they had SOCKS ON and if they had lost their socks they would get 'caned' (my kids call it beat or caned explaining that in Ghana they used a cane to discipline them). Well, that explained the sobbing, Comfort thought she would be caned if we let her go without socks. She has had this reaction quite a few times, even thinking that Mark would cane her if she didn't get out of bed right when the sun came up. We are still working through this one and she is relaxing and sleeping in a little bit, but I can tell she still wakes up expecting to be in trouble if she has slept in.
Nothing ruffles my mommy feathers more than to hear all the caning stories from the kids. I might not have believed them totally, but both Laurel and I accidentally caught teachers at the school caning kids in the background of our pictures. We didn't notice it at the time, but back at the hotel when we looked at the pictures they are there in the back of the classes with a long stick smacking the kids. I know that his is common in Ghana and not seen as wrong (even Daniel told us how he was caned in school) , but I don't like it at all......
Oh, we talked to Comfort and assured her that she will not get caned if she losses her socks and she was very happy about that.
Lanae