5. The baby, 3 years old, turned his or her face very shyly toward his or her mother while on her arms when a foreigner tried to catch his or her attention. This behavior is not seeing usually among Ghanaian children.

6. The baby would make clever tricks to draw the attention of the mother, whereas the rest of the siblings did not do such tricks.

The fourth woman was a teacher in Creative Foundation School. After delivery she brought her baby to the school. When the baby was more than 1 year old and she could sit steadily, she joined the Nursery 1 children. While the other children sat idol on their chairs, she was very attentive to the teacher, trying to copy what ever the teacher did. In the story telling activity, she would come close to the teacher to see the pictures in the book while the teacher was reading the story.  When ever she was holding a crayon, she would color every paper around her including the papers of the teachers. She had no problem in using her both hands. In all, she was far more advance than the rest of the Nursery 1 children who were 2 to 3 years older than her.

The fifth woman is a grandmother of two grandchildren that their story is narrated bellow.

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The successful story of Kweku and Damian.

Kweku, a 3 years old boy and Demian, a 5 years old boys are the grandchildren of a friend of Yael Dzamesi. As a result of her intervention when they were born, their grandmother never massaged their head with hot water and did not apply any ointment on their head. They live far away from Creative Foundation School. They attend school in their area that shares the same method of rote learning which is widely spread in Ghana. In one of their visiting to Yael Dzamesi they were put to the test.

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Kweku faced the challenge of doing a 2-non-interlocking-pieces-puzzle (Picture 1) for the first time in his life. This kind of puzzle was done in Creative Foundation School in Kindergarten 1 and 2 (ages; 4 to 6 yeas old).  

All the 18 pictures, 36 pieces of cards were scattered randomly on the table. Once he was shown how to join 2 halves into a picture, he smiled and said, “It is easy”. He finished to join all the 18 pictures and arranged them in order in a straight line. He made sure that each time he placed a new picture he matched, it was in a straight line with the others he has finished already. He did all in 20 minutes and then asked to mix the cards again - “It is fun” he said.

None of the Kindergarten 1 or 2 children in Creative Foundation School, could do what Kweku, who was 3 years old did. The children in Creative Foundation School that were able to do all the 18 pictures left them scattered on the table never minding arranging them in any order. The simple task was no fun to them, but a labour of thoughts, which you could observe by their serious faces.

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Picture 1: 2-non-interlocking-pieces-puzzle.

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Damian, who sat with us around the same table was given a more difficult task as he was 5 years old. It was the first time in his life that he faced puzzle picture. He was given a 9 interlocking-pieces puzzle with explanation how to join the pieces.

He started this puzzle in the same way the Primary 1 children in Creative Foundation School did: randomly hastily picking pieces without paying attention to the details. However, he was able to select the right piece quite often but placed it in the wrong orientation. He was stopped and his attention was directed to the details on the pieces. He completed the puzzle and then the pieces were mixed again. He did it again. Gradually his attitude had changed, and he started focusing. He completed soon the picture and asked to do others. He was then given another 9-pieces puzzle. This time he approached it with attention. He completed this one too and asked for another one. He was given a 24-pieces puzzle (Picture 2). He did it fully focused, paying attention to the details and checking the pieces before placing it correctly to join the other ones. He made no mistakes, “It is interesting” he said raising his serious head, he then smiled and said. “I want to do more”. “Unfortunately, it is time to go home” we said. He was disappointed. Damian did all this in exactly one hour.

 

Picture 2: 24-interlocking pieces puzzle.

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A year later the two brothers visited us again with their grandmother. Kweku, was 4 years old. He could easily do puzzles of 9 and 16 pieces. Damian was 6 years old, and he did several puzzles of 24 pieces very easy, enjoying every moment. Demian and Kweku have no puzzle games in their house so they could not practice doing puzzles during the passing year between their two visits.

It must be noted that these tasks were no interesting activity for Creative Foundation School Primary 1 children, but a collective of many hours of labor.

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Demian and Kekwu as well as many children in Ghana learn in school through the method of rote learning and do not enjoy any variety of afternoon activities as children enjoy in the first world countries. Their parents are both hardworking and come home late. The rural children in Creative Foundation School were exposed daily to innovative method of teaching.

How come Damian and Kweku did so well even though they learnt every day by the rote learning,

while none of the children in Creative Foundation School could even come close to their achievements, even though they were exposed daily to creative methods of learning?

If we do not consider the possibility (that we can not prove) of personal ability because of superior genetic stock, there is one clear difference:

The heads of Damian and Kweku were never touched by any treatment, allowing the natural course of brain development to occur with no interference of hot water or any ointment.

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