It astonishes me how one or two words can open a door to a world where anything is possible. Poetry creates a fantasy world where anything can exist or it can illustrate life, words beautifying everything around us, from the soil on the ground to the feelings in our hearts, minds & souls.

I especially love children's' poetry. Every child has something creative and unique to write.

Poetry is a way of expressing ones self, and children take to it in a different way than adults. You can't help but smiling when reading children's poetry. I swear it is the most down-to-earth, innocent, humbling literature that one can read today. One quote I loved from reading Kenneth Koch's book Wishes, Lies and Dreams reinforced why I love poetry, especially children's' poetry -

"One thing that encouraged me was how playful and inventive children's talk sometimes was. They said true things in fresh and surprising ways."

I wanted to create a powerful anthology of poems and photographs to illustrate the exotic environment in Ghana and give readers a sense of what it is like being there through metaphors, similes and a whole lot of creative language through children's pencil tips and mine.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did creating it.

Every time I write these words

They become a taboo

Making sure my punctuation curve

Every letter here true

Living life in the margin

And that metaphor there was true

Photo above: Kenyasi Brong-Ahafo located on Google maps.

Greetings from Ghana

I am so lucky to be able to travel to Ghana to visit my parents who teach at an International School in the Ashanti region of Kenyasi Brong-Ahafo. Before they the opportunity to teach there, I had no idea where this place was, let alone where Ghana was.

Located eight hours drive from Accra - the capital - Kenyasi Brong-Ahafo is a small, underprivileged village situated in the west of the Western African country. It is much different to Accra, Ghana's capital. There are not very many cars; the only method of transport is by foot on dirt tracks. The only way to purchase a decent meal is to kill livestock yourself. Fortunately, my parents live in an enclosed compound called MensahKumta Village, also known as MKV, along with about 200 other ex-pats who have something to do with the substantial Newmont gold mining business about twenty minutes away. MKV is a gated community, with the rest of the Kenyasi village surrounding. MKV has an International School called ISA, International School of Ahafo, where the workers children attend. Children from all over the world – New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, USA, Peru, Cambodia and Ghana come to learn at this westernized school. It is the only westernized school in the area, having whiteboards, proper classrooms, fresh water, teachers with specialized training and qualifications and ten per class. Other schools in the area have about 50 kids per class, only chalkboards and wooden benches with no doors. Although ISA is the most advanced school, it has become so westernized that the Ghanaian culture has been lost. Iwanted to teach some poetry and open their eyes to the environment around them. I wanted to take them on field trips to local markets outside of the compound and then write poetry about our experiences. And that is what we did. Not only did I get a better sense of the Ghanaian culture, but also so did the children living there.

Photos: Top - Kenyasi Brong-Ahafo located on Google Maps. Opposite Page - Airplane view of Accra by Jess

A group of Grade 3 & 4 students and I went to the local Kenyasi Market, where it is truly one of the purest forms of the Ghanaian culture.

We arrived in vans to the muddy market which was about 5 kilometers away from the school, we dived in to a world of poverty and tradition. Women, men and children wearing ‘kente cloth’ (a traditional Ghanaian fabric) and carrying large loads and items on their heads, which such practice originated back in ancient times (estimated to have originated from the period of third century B.C.) – we asked one Ghanaian woman why so many of them carry items on their head and she told us that it was because it is better suited for the land they live on (I’m guessing the rough terrain) and the types of things they carry (like wood, water and food). She said it also leaves their hands free, and makes their backs stronger. I’m thinking we should start doing this in western countries because EVERYONE (I’m not kidding when I say EVERYONE) has the most perfect posture. Also we saw women carrying their babies in ‘kanga’ (a cloth where they wrap around their body and sit the baby in the back) – sometimes even younger girls, about 8, carrying their baby siblings on their back with the kanga cloth. So many people there smiled and waved at us, we all felt like celebrities or something a rather. We were in a land where we do not usually belong, but they made us feel like we were at home.

The market was eye opening and a great experience. When we got back to school, I decided to teach and help the kids create poems from the Kenyasi market experience. I wrote up a lesson plan and we wrote pieces of descriptive work describing what they saw and felt being at the market.