I was in Ghana for six weeks and visited Sofoline on several ocassions to take
pictures and interview the new headmaster and other masters. Unfortunately the
students were on holidays so I couldn´t make pictures of many of them but I got
those who were about to represent the school in the annual science quiz at
Presec Legon.
A lot of information was given to me by Nana Duah-Gyamfi, a French master who is
also an old boy. Before that I saw Snr. Nsiah in Accra for a briefing of what is
happening in the school. Before I start with any story, these are the things
which are badly needed on the campus.
1. Prempeh College needs a new bell. Is it not sad to hear that our school has
no bell? Gone are the days when we used to gallop from Rivoli to Sofoline in
less than no time; just because the school bell was informing us that it is time
for roll-call. Do you remember what the Bantama mothers used to tells us when
they see us running to secure a better future? "Me ba kan wo ho wate, anye saa a
yebeyi wo adi". It was sad and overwhelming to see the broken bell at
"Mr.Quansah´s office". I said "ayekoo" to it because is has done it´s
masterpiece. Now every house has got a primary school handbell. "THIS IS
UNPREMPEH"!!!!!
2. We thank the Japanese lady for her computers. I saw them. They were
absolutely out of date before they were dumped at Prempeh Collge. They are some
of the first generation computers which cassettes instead of discets. Please do
not dream of cd-roms. I think these computers were used by the Japanese soldiers
for their "kamikaze attacks" during world war two. We need to furnish the school
with new and modern computers. By the way we thank the Lady again for her
gesture. I talked with Snr. Dominic Owusu Sekyere (DOS), the owner of Blue Chip
Computers in Accra about this issue and he is prepared to help at any time when
we are ready. Other equipments like fax and copymachines are badly needed.
3. I talked with Mr. Sraha (Cockroach), the famous PE-Master. He is in urgent
need of sports equipments. These are some of the items he made mention of:
soccer boots of all sizes, from size 7 (40) upwards and spikes of the same
sizes. Sets of soccer jerseys, tracksuits, vests and if possible hoses. The
school also needs table tennis sets, footballs, basketballs, hockeysticks and
balls. We can also add anything we think will be needed to make Prempeh always
stay at the top in sports.
The roads at Sofoline are being maitained, even though the tempo is very slow.
Most of the bathrooms have been refurbished. I was told they were done by "Joe
Expensive" with the money received when the houses and classrooms are hired out
to churches and organizations during school holidays. The Ramseyer bathroom was
maintained by the 1979 year group and the Pearson and Aggrey bathrooms were done
by the 1969 year group. Other year groups should learn from them!!
Due to the low water pressure, extra water tanks have been intalled on some of
the houses to supplement the school tower. So far Ramseyer and Butler houses
have each got a big black "polytank" (brand name for these tanks in Ghana). The
pantry has also got two of these water tanks. I was told it was Mr. Twumasi who
initiated this idea. Now gas is used to cook the food instead of firewood from
Atonsu sawnmills.
There is a new classroom block (storey building) between Serwah house and the
Lecture theatre to ease some of the common rooms from serving as classrooms. It
is about to be roofed. All the houses have got mosquito-proof nets. Most of the
masters` houses have been newly painted which makes the compound look
attractive.
The lecture theatre is now a "Science Resource Centre" with well-equiped labs.
Student from other schools come to Sofoline to have their science lessons, both
boys and girls.
