Masodu's story

Another moment of comic relief.

Masodu is my new Ghanaian Muslim BFF. I just want to tell all the Ghanaian Muslim BFF-wannabe's out there that the job is taken.

Masodu - I can't even pronounce his last name, and won't even try spelling it.

Masodu is a Physics teacher at Wa Secondary School (WASEC). He was George's student when George taught there years ago. His last name begins with "A" and has 6 syllables that I was able to pick up on. I keep asking Masodu to say it slowly but, so far, he seems unable to do this.  So we leave it alone.

Masodu was born near Wa to a Muslim family.  He is the only son of his father's third wife.  Normally, that would be unlucky, but Masodu's father was a nice man who, according to Masodu, "loved and cared for all his wives and all his children."  Masodu's father lived with his primary wife but provided nicely for Masodu and his mother.  There was always food, money and "stuff", and Masodu' father insisted on enrolling all of his children in the best school possible.  At that time, the best school was the Presbyterian school. So off Masodu went, a Muslim in Presbyterian school. That's not so unusual here.

Masodu loved school from the very beginning and excelled. He won a lot of awards.  He won an academic scholarship to a boarding school in France, but turned it down because his mother was in poor health.  At WASEC, Masodu met George Guri and became his star pupil in Physics.  Masodu continued his education at the University in Accra and, after his mother died, pursued an advanced degree in Physics in France. When he came back to Ghana, Masodu decided he wanted to be a teacher and inspire students as George had inspired him, so he attended a 2-year teachers' training college in Hohoe.  That's a lot of education for a Ghanaian. You can tell Masodu lived in France. He started calling me "Madame." My efforts to get him to call me Judy have had so-so results. Some times I get "Madame Judy."

Masodu teaches at WASEC now and also part-time at a technical college. And he is a member of the Upper West Science Foundation. In fact, I can see that Masodu is George's "heir apparent" with the USF. George knows it. Masodu knows it. And they're both making sure I know it. Which is probably why Masodu goes just about everywhere with us, including the hippo sanctuary.  I believe that George believes that it's important that Masodu and I are friends.

At the hippo sanctuary, Masodu and I were the most adventurous and would have gladly gone closer to the hippos and were sorely disappointed when we didn't. It was Masodu who introduce me to "Malt" - a nonalcoholic drink that involves hops, sugar and malt - tastes kind of like a combination of flat root beer and cream soda.  It tastes good cold and, I believe, would be awesome over ice.  If anyone up here ever used ice. For anything. Ever. This may be for the best though since my Ghana guidebook warns against using ice here unless you make it yourself from purified water - you just don't know where the water came from. Most people don't seem to like ice cubes in their drinks.  I, on the other hand, would put ice in everything.

Masodu is a riot.  In the car the other day he complained about someone who was a bully in the office. 

Masodu: In the USA, how do you deal with such a bully in the office?
Me: Well, my manager, Kevin, slaps them down or tells me to slap them down.
Masodu (horrified look on face): Slap them?  YOU MEAN YOUR MANAGER ALLOWS YOU TO SLAP THEM IN THE FACE?
Me:  No, no, no. Slap 'em down. Make them be quiet. Tell them to stop their bad behavior in whatever way they can understand.

Masodu laughed so hard he snorted his malt. Then he laughed some more.
We spent a solid 1/2 hour after that coming up with ways that Masodu could 'slap 'em down.' We would have had more time if Masodu could have stopped laughing.

Masodu loves learning different words so I have been explaining words like "dork" and "quirky", "boo-boo" and "grubbage" among others. I carry bags of almonds with me on all our travels because sometimes food is a little scarce, so I said, "Masodu, would you like some grubbage?" on the way back from the hippo sanctuary.  And thus began a 20-minute discussion of what constitutes grubbage and what doesn't.

Masodu is passionate about the USF and their work here.  He is so enthusiastic about everything, as well as a lot of fun.  He has fully dedicated himself to making the future Upperwest Science Academy a reality and to getting students, especially girls, interested in science and technology.

Masodu is delighted that I'm teaching him American slang. He really likes American slang. Really really. And I like that I'm leaving my Ghanaian Muslim BFF here to slap 'em down.