From Tete Cobblah, Director of WTIG

from Director of WTIG

It is my pleasure to report back to you that this year’sWitness Tree Institute program of 2024 in Ghana was a great success!  We continue to make great strides as an educational non- profit, and gaining momentum, publicity and programmatic progress each year. The learning has been tremendous, and the future remains bright and rewarding. In all of this it has not been lost to me and the WTIG board and council that the notable gains and forward movement have happened because of your dedication, faith in the mission of the Witness Tree Institute, and perhaps your own self-motivated urge to keep learning and giving to the world of education.

Program

Part of our success came from how well prepared our participants were before beginning the program in Ghana. Our pre-program workshops, led by Boston University’s Elsa Wiehe, gets better each year, and our  blogging was well organized and managed from the USA by Elise Mott and David Duane. In Ghana, Liz UpdikeCobblah and Tete Cobblah led a two-day orientation workshop for the Ghana cohort.The 2024 Ese Ne Tekerema Cohort was a highly self-directed and responsive cohort. It was a cohort of true leaders and experienced teachers who made the running of the program almost stress-free. Complimentarily the leadership of the program always had a plan B and the ability to be flexible and creative.Expanding the number of staff in Ghana further created room for creativity and efficiency.

Workshops, Seminars

Our workshops ran in timely fashion, and were intellectually and culturally engaging, challenging and stimulating. Our faculty of experienced professors and instructors were as excited as our students, and the words, “well-curated, transformative, thought-provoking, personal growth, were commonly used to describe the whole program and experience. This year we added two more workshops to our rich program.They are “Customary Laws of Ghana” which was presented by Maame Joan Mensah-Hagan and “Indigenous African religion and Spirituality” led by Professor Ebenezer Obiri Addo. Both workshops received high marks from our cohort!

We also held our Curriculum Development and Projects Retreat at the Nkyinkyim museum at Nuhalenya-Ada. After a “spiritual” journey into the museum’s sacred grove filled with sculpture heads representing souls lost during the middle passage and before, Cohort members led a curriculum workshopt hat was exceptional in planning and delivery.

Additionally, we visited two area schools that WTIG supports(we’d donated windows and doors and a sign board to last year,) and were received like royalty, with food, music, singing, dancing and gifts of specialKente clothes. A memorable day for all of us!

Musings

In our little corners during the program, enthused and energized participants had conversations about what a future WTIG might looklike, what size groups, possible cohort reunions and even, believe it or not,WTIG along generational lines, unique opportunities for individual programs, and what model “forms” could be created and recycled. There were  discussions on how WTIG could continue its influence by offering online spring and summer programming. We are happy our program generates continued deeper conversations even after it concludes each year. We shall continue to reflect on the lessons of the summer session and develop  new ways of improving our programs, engaging with our community of educators and supporters, and new strategic and inclusive ways of building our board and organization.

As we stand at the doorstep of a new fiscal year, it is hard to imagine what the year will bring. We know that we shall continue to need your support as we find ways to make our rich and dynamic program affordable to teachers across the globe. This year, thanks to you, we were able to give financial aid to 60% of our participants most of whom needed to finance the program themselves. These were dynamic, dedicated and self-motivated educators from different regions in Ghana and the USA. We were proud to support their development as teachers and individuals.

I continue to be excited for this journey with all of you, and with your support, I look forward with hope to the future of education, international friendship and harmony.

We rely on you, and hope that you will continue to believe in our mission and donate to our teachers scholarship fund.

With gratitude always,

Tete Cobblah