Learning to Be Too Why!

When was the first time someone told you, "You too why!"
...question asked at Ashesi University Freshman Orientation.

You too why! is pidgin for you ask too many questions. And, You too know! means, you want to know too much!  Dean of Students Ruth Kwakwa says that every freshman can remember being shamed as a child for asking too many questions.  So Ashesi University in Ghana has four years to teach, Go ahead, be too why! Be too know! Freshman Orientation is filled with sessions on how to study, instead of memorize stuff; and how to discover who you are and what you care most about. There are sessions based on the book Mindset by Carol Dweck that show why hard work is more important than talent, and that if you believe in a "growth mindset" instead of believing that talent or intelligence is fixed, then you can expand your capabilities.

The upperclassmen run a huge ceremony to welcome the freshmen, complete with drums and a drinking bowl. Oh, and there's no pidgin allowed in class.

Freshman Welcome Celebration Photos

Here to Help - Student Mentors Host Celebration in Cornfield Courtyard

The Village Below Us

Ashesi University has a modern campus perched on a steep ridge. (The picture above is the library). It's cool up here and the mornings are often foggy. Below us is the village of Berekuso, pop. 1,500. We reach the village by a half a mile walk on the road, or by taking a shorter, rough footpath straight down, or via a screaming downhill bike ride, pumping the brakes in preparation for the dirt, potholes, mud and loose gravel at the bottom.

Berekuso is loud. The singing and drumming are not usually amplified during the all night prayer and Gospel sessions on Friday, and for some Sunday services. But other times, Ghanaians love to blast music and announcements through PA systems. There is a barking "news report" at 5 am every morning, which I've learned to sleep through, and blasting Afro-beat dance music many nights, unless the electricity cuts out.  The sun goes down fast at 6 pm and the crickets and frogs set up a fierce trilling. The sun comes up at 6 each morning, with sounds of roosters, chickens and kids playing.

What we can buy:
Bananas, plantains, tomatoes, fiery hot peppers, and onions. Eggs, but you must bring your own carton. Beer, packets of biscuits, cloth, iron railings, flip flops and some "sundries". About once a week, we make the hour drive down a terrible road to Accra for groceries.

Obruni  is said with a smile. We are greeted with huge smiles and the welcoming cry of Obruni!, which means foreigner or white person. We reply Good Morning, and if the person knows any English, they are happy to chat.

Ashesi Students' Community Service Projects in Berekuso

Ashesi students launched an adult literacy program in Berekuso, a project which won a Dali Lama fellowship. Ashesi students also sponsor a top Berekuso student and pay his fees to go to high school; they offer the village kids computer tutoring on campus, and have other programs. Still creating change can be hard, which I'll explore in more depth in a later post.

Most kids don't make it to high school, but last year, a student from Berekuso was admitted to Ashesi for the first time.