A REPORT ON UNESCO ASPnet TRIP TO DENMARK ON: DEMOCRACY, T.S.T. AND CULTURAL HERITAGE IN A TWINNING INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME. BETWEEN BAKKESKOLEN IN KOLDING – DENMARK AND ASHANTI GOLDFIELDS SCHOOLS, OBUASI – GHANA BETWEEN

31 AUGUST AND 10 SEPTEMBER 2003.

DEPARTURE/ARRIVAL

A team of 13 persons made of 3 Parents/Teacher Association (P.T.A.) Executive Members, 6 Junior Secondary School Students and 4 Teachers all from Ashanti Goldfields Schools, Obuasi – Ghana namely:

a) 3 PTA Executives

1. Mr. Vincent Adiamah, Agt. 0622-Chairman

2. Mr. Joseph Banning, T 0025-Secretary

3. Ms. Grace Oduro, Agt. 0351-Headmistress

b) 6 Students

1. Josephine Andrews-Agt. 0512

2. Shirley Abena Amponsah- MC 6984

3. Afua Bimpomaa Okra- Ex Agt. 084

4. Nelson Sarfo- Ex Agt. 0257

5. Joseph Essuman- MD 5104

6. Gloria Tweneboah- MJ 9616

c) 4 Teachers

  1. Miss Elizabeth Rosalyn Amuzu, Agt. 0424 – Asst. Headmistress
  2. Mr. John Kyei, T 1006 - Asst. UNESCO Co-ordinator
  3. Mr. Ofori Agyeman-Badu, T 0006- Music Master
  4. Mr. Isaac Newton-Kusi, Agt. 0735 – UNESCO Teacher-Co-ordinator

left Accra for Denmark with Swiss International Airlines on 31 August 2003. We were in transit for 3 hours at Zurich Airport, Switzerland before arriving at Copenhagen Airport at 11hrs. on 1st September, 2003. After a brief delay in sorting out a missing baggage reclaim, we were met at the Airport by Yrsa Hoyer, the UNESCO ASPnet Co-ordinator of Bakkeskolen. Shortly after exchanging pleasantries and introductions, we joined a train for Kolding.

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The train ride was exciting, relaxing and educative because it gave us opportunity to see the beautiful landscape and countryside of Denmark. We saw a lot of windmills and the well planned efficient agricultural industry of Denmark.

We arrived safely in Kolding in the evening and were checked into our hotel appartments at Kolding Byferie.

At 18 hours, we had a sumptous Welcome Dinner at Bakkeskolen with the School Board and some of the teachers.

TUESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2003

At 09 hours, the visiting team from Ashanti Goldfields Schools, were given a colourful official welcome reception at Bakkeskolen by the pupils/students and members of staff. AGC Schools P.T.A. officially presented a set of Drums, assorted gifts and one piece of Kente print to Bakkeskolen. After the reception, the Ghana team visited some of the classrooms and had fruitful interactions with the students and the teachers on various topics. After coffee break, we left Bakkeskolen for the City hall and School Administration of the Kolding Kommune. We were warmly received by the Chief of Education Mr. Palle Myggenfordt

share with us the rich history, culture educational system, local government and democracy of Denmark in general and the Kolding Kommune in particular. We shared ideas on the highlights of Ghana’s history, the current democratic dispensation, and the fertile political and economic environment for private participation in Ghana’s economy by both Ghanaians and our friends in the developed world. The possibility of twinning some of our districts and cities to Kolding Kommune was discussed favourably. It was agreed that such contacts should be passed through Povl Erik Wolff, the Principal of the Bakkeskolen.

We had lunch together with Mr. Palle Myggenford after signing the visitors book. After lunch, we went to our appartments to rest. Between 18-19 hours, we had dinner at Bakkeskolen with the School Board, students from the students council and some teacher’s. After dinner, we broke into 3 discussion groups between 19-21.30 hours among students, teachers and School Board/P.T.A. of both schools on Human rights, Democracy, and Freedom. The students in addition, played a “game” about values of life.

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We happily received the missing bagage in the evening thanks to the personal efforts of Povl Erick Wolff and Yrsa Hoyer.

WEDNESDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER 2003

At 09hrs the Ghana team arrived at Bakkeskolen for more discussions on democracy and human rights. We discussed fruitfully how to build bridges of Culture, History, Democracy, Respect of Life (Human beings) and Development between Denmark and Ghana. The students displayed the rich Ghanaian culture through drumming and dancing to the admiration of students and teachers. Some of the Ghanaian students and teachers were interviewed by the print and electronic media about the importance of the visit and the friendship between Bakkeskolen and Ashanti Goldfields Schools. Serious attempts were made to transfer the skills of drumming and dancing to the students of the Bakkeskolen, and they performed very well. After the press encounter, we had lunch together at Bakkeskolen.

We left Kolding at 13 hours in a bus for Odense to visit the Museum of the legendary Hans Christian Andersen. Even though the museum is under renovation for the 200 years anniversary of the birth of the great Danish writer, we were privileged to listen to some of his fairy tales on computer. We learnt that, Hans Christian Andersen was born in 1805 in a slum near Copenhagen in Denmark. Hans Christian Andersen is regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of fairy tales.

Full of humour and imagination, C.H. Andersen weaves together situations and words which transport the reader and introduce new ways of seeing things. He travelled a lot and wrote more than 100 fairy tales. C.H. Andersen died in 1875. From the Museum, we went to a castle garden and sat in the small room along the fiord where C.H. Andersen used to sit and write some of his fairly tales. We returned to Kolding at 18hrs. At 19hrs, the students had dinner with two families while the seven adults had dinner at the home of one of the teachers of Bakkeskolen.

THURSDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER 2003

We left our hotel appartments at 08.15hrs. in two vehicles to visit ASPnet school – Bredagerskolen in Jelling. On arrival at 09hrs., we were warmly welcomed by the whole school at their assembly hall. Niels Damgard – the ASPnet co-ordinator of Bredagerskolen shared his experiences in Ghana last year with us. In reply, the ASPnet co-ordinator

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of Ashanti Goldfields Schools, Obuasi – Ghana shared with Bredagerskolen our twinning projects with Bakkeskolen on T.S.T, Democracy Human Rights, Good Government, Tolerance, AGENDA 21 and

Cultural Heritage. He went further to explain that, our visit was to learn from each other, share ideas and challenges and extend a hand of friendship. Our students sang the national anthems of Denmark and Ghana to their admiration. They were overjoyed to see our students drum and dance to traditional tunes to portray our rich cultural heritage. After a vote of thanks by Yrsa Hoyer – the hardworking ASPnet Co-ordinator of Bakkeskolen, Anna Grethe Vestergaard – the World Heritage Co-ordinator led us to the UNESCO World Heritage listed site and Museum in Jelling. At the heritage site/Museum, we learnt about the life and death of King Gorm, Harald Bluetooth as well as the history of the Danish Kingdom and Danish Christianity. The two historic mounds, wonderful stone, cemetry and the church are priceless heritage of the Danish people. After the tour of the museum, we went back to Bredagerskolen for lunch and further discussions.

After saying goodbye to our friends, we left Jelling for Arla Food (a cheese factory) in Fredericia. We were kindly welcomed and had some refreshment with different kinds of cheese. After the refreshment, we learnt how to make cheese in groups. After the preparation, we went with our guide to tour the cheese factory. The production process is highly technically computerised and capital intensive. Safety, neatness and high quality measures from the beginning to the end of the

production line is a top priority of the company. After the visit, we exchanged gifts and went back to Kolding Byferien to rest.

At 19 hours dinner was served at Bakkeskolen. After dinner, the School Board joined us for the conclusion and evaluation of the discussion session to deepen our friendship and the future direction of our Trans Atlantic Slave Trade (T.S.T.) Project.

It was generally agreed that, it was very vital to connect a school in the Caribbeans to close the Triangle of the T.S.T. Project between Bakkeskolen and Ashanti Goldfields. Povl Erik Wolff, the Principal of Bakkeskolen informed the group of identifying Good Hope School in St.

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Croix to join Bakkeskolen and Ashanti Goldfields Schools to complete the TST Project.

  • It was agreed that, two students from both schools, the two principals and ASPnet Co-ordinators of the bakkeskolen and Ashanti Goldfields Schools shall make the trip to Good Hope School.
  • It was agreed that both Povl Erik Wolff and Isaac Newton-Kusi write reports on the TST Project for funding from the Danish Government.
  • It was agreed that, reaching out to close the TST Project triangle is a healing process of a shared mistake on the part European slave dealers and their African slave sellers which is an accident of history.
  • As we break the silence on the TST, it is our moral duty to approach the situation devoid of emotions and accusations. We need to put the past behind us and extend a hand of friendship and say we are sorry.
  • We strongly believe that, this healing and reconciliation process would make golden footprints of Denmark, Ghana and the Caribbeans in the sand of history and become a pioneering shinning example for other countries to follow.
  • The involvement of the students in the healing and reconciliation process, would help them prepare a better future in a world free of shades of enslavement, injustice, discrimination and prejudice.
  • The principal of Bakkeskolen was asked to co-ordinate the trip among the three schools in the TST Project.

FRIDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER 2003

We arrived at Bakkeskolen at 08.30hrs. and went on sight seeing of the classrooms and other facilities such as the Theatre, Music Room, Science Room, the Library, Computer Library, Hospital, In-door games-court and playing fields.

After a coffee break, our students performed cultural display of drumming and dancing to students of upper primary and infant classes. Many pupils/students of Bakkeskolen joined in the drumming and dancing.

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At 12.30 hours we had lunch at MacDonalds and afterwards visited the shopping centres for souvenirs from Denmark. There were a lot of things to see and buy.

At 18 hours there was a party with the School Board at Kim Hansen’s house. There was a lot to eat and drink. During that time a lot of discussions went on to find out the ways and means of attracting Danish business community to invest in Ghana’s economy.

SATURDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2003

At 11hrs, our hosts joined us at Kolding Byferien and walked to down town of Kolding for sight seeing and window shopping. A choir sang nice hymns for us in the street. After the show, we had lunch with our hosts at Jensen Bofhus (Beef House). After lunch we went to town centre for shopping.

At 18.30 hours, the students were picked by their host student friends for dinner with their families. The seven adults had dinner with Alice Sommerlund in her house.

SUNDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2003

At 10.30 hours we were picked from the Hotel in two groups to have Brunch in the houses of two school board members – Ander and Anton. At these two houses, the group discussed which areas the School Board can assist Ashanti Goldfields Schools to deepen our friendship. The concensus was that, as a first step, our school shall need assistance in computers. In the long run, there would be the need for representatives

of the school board to visit our school and have discussions with Ashanti Goldfields management and know which areas of assistance would be needed.

After the Brunch, the two groups joined together with members of the School Board and visited Heldagsskolen – a school for children with special family problems or need special attention. The school is private but gets funding from the community. The visit was led by Laurits a member of the School Board and Assistant Principal of the school. Laurits gave us a lecture of how school operates and took us round to inspect the teaching and learning facilities of the school. After the visit, we had a group picture. The School Board members drove us to our hotel. We exchanged gifts, embraced, shook hands and said goodbye to the school board. At 16.30 hours we had dinner with the ASPnet Co-

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ordinator and some teachers of the UNESCO team at Bones Restaurant. After a long dinner, we went back to the hotel to rest for the day.

MONDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER 2003

We started the journey to Copenhagen from Kolding Railway Station at 08.30 hours, and arrived at 11 hours. We checked in at Hotel Hebron in the city centre and left for Cirius and the Ministry of Education. We were warmly received by Jens Dalsgaard, UNESCO ASPnet National Leader for Denmark and had lunch with us. After lunch we had useful discussions with jens and his team. It covered the history of ASPnet projects in Denmark in 2000 and the successful projects achieved so far.

Some of the successful projects are: T.S.T., Democracy and Human Rights, Baltic Sea Project and World Heritage to date, Denmark can boast of 32 ASPnet Schools. Jens acknowledged that, the twinning programme between Bakkeskolen and Ashanti Goldfields School is the most successful international exchange project in Denmark! He explained the meaning of Cirius as: Danish Center for Co-operation and International Studies. Cirius deals with K.G., Primary, Secondary, Vocational, University, Adult Education and the Nordic countries as a separate institution outside the Ministry of Education. Cirius provides international assistance to schools in twinning programmes. Jens shared with us the trip of Danish UNESCO ASPnet teachers to Ghana last year. Jens kindly gave us some books, reports and CDs on the Ghana trip. After a coffee break, we left Jens for sightseeing excursion of Copenhagen. We went on a boat trip on the canals of beautiful Copenhagen. After the boat trip, we went to Copenhagen city centre and made shopping. At 19 hours, we had dinner at a restaurant.

TUESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 2003

We visited the Royal Danish Parliament (Folketing) at 10 hours, and was received by Mrs. Helga Moos, of the Liberal Party. Mrs. Moos shared with us the history of Danish Parliament. We learnt that, Danish democracy was started about 150 years ago. Danish Monarchy is about 1,000 years old. Before 1660, Sweden was part of Denmark. King Christian built the Tower in 1631. Copenhagen was built in 1167. Danish democracy has 8 political parties and 179 elected members of Parliament. Mrs. Moos was a poultry farmer before she became an elected member of Parliament in 1998. We discussed and agreed that democracy and good governance, human rights, non-corruption and good education can

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guarantee prosperity/development. We learnt that, Danish government donates 290 million Danish Kronna every year to Ghana and shall continue

this gesture for the next four years. Denmark contributes to Ghana’s development through DANIDA and other areas. We shall continue to enjoy the Danish assistance if Ghana shall remain democratic, have good governance, human rights, weed out corruption, have constructive opposition parties, the rule of law, independent judiciary, free and fair elections, honesty, comprehensive tax system and political tolerance. We show-cased Ghana as a good investment destination in the sub-region. We discussed how to reach out to the business community to come and invest in our favourable economic environment. It was agreed that, a strong economy will go a long way to deepen and sustain the young democracy in Ghana. Community service was identified as a form of taxation for the unemployed to contribute to nation building. Mrs. Moos promised to do her best to put Ghana on the investment map of the Danish business community, who hitherto see Africa as a no go area because of political instability but rather invest in Eastern Europe, Canada and India. We had the singular honour to attend Danish Parliament sitting as observers. Took group pictures with Mrs. Moos and had a coverage by the Parliamentary press corps. After saying goodbye to Mrs. Moos and the Danish Parliament, we joined a train to Hillerod ASPnet School by name Endrupskolen. It is a modern school with autonomic teams. We were warmly received by the Principal Steen Frederiksen, Lene Busch and Gitte Mathiesen. They took us round the school and met the grades 7 – 8 students and shared ideas on UNESCO ASPnet programme, and answered questions about our school and country. We had lunch with our hosts. After lunch, the students had discussion session with members of the student council. The teachers and the PTA executives had discussions on classification and school administration, as well as democracy.

After lunch, we visited the Royal Highness Queen Margaret of Denmark’s summer residence. We left later for a visit to Fredensborg Castle at Kronborg. Both places have historical and royal memories. From Fredensborg Castle, we could see Sweden with our naked eyes. We saw a lot, heard a lot, shared a lot and learnt a lot!!!. We returned to Copenhagen and had a Farewell Dinner at a Restaurant with Kirsten Antilla.

The Principal of Bakkeskolen and the ASPnet Teacher Co-ordinator of Ashanti Goldfields Schools had the opportunity of meeting Niels Larsen –