Achiever of the week: Hayford Fosu Agyapong

    Nov 20, 2020  | By Nqobile Mdima 

This week’s feature is Hayford Fosu Agyapong from Ghana. Hayford holds a Diploma in Basic Education from Accra College of Education and a Bachelor of Education from University of Education, Winneba-Ghana. Hayford is a teacher and has many years of experience in his profession. Hayford has been living and working abroad for seven years. Before he moved to China, he worked as a teacher and coach for an international NGO that empowers vulnerable children to overcome the effects of poverty, war and disease around the world through play.  Hayford is a father to two beautiful daughters, namely Gertrude and Blessy. Gertrude was born in Ghana and Blessy was born in China. When Hayford is not working, he spends most of his time playing with Blessy and going on dates with her.  He also travels around Asia and so far he has visited 20 cities in China and five countries in Asia. 

Hayford shares with us his TEFL journey, the benefits of speaking Chinese as an expat living in China, his experience raising a child in a foreign country, his survival hacks, how covid-19 impacted his life and the pros and cons of living abroad. 

Where were you working before you started teaching in China?

As a trained teacher right after college, I was posted to a government basic school in the GA- South District of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. I taught as a teacher from September 1st, 2009 to May 24th, 2013. While working as a teacher, I was trained as a Right To Play coach for the district. Right To Play is an international NGO that empowers vulnerable children to overcome the effects of poverty, war and disease around the world through play.

What motivated you to pursue a TEFL career and why did you choose China?

With my experience as a teacher in Ghana I decided to pursue further studies in Guilin University of Science and Technology in China. My good friend Johnny who was already in China for 3 years helped me with the application process. My idea at that time was to study Chinese language in the university while working as a part time teacher, but when I arrived in China I realised that was a difficult thing to do because of the resident permit restrictions. The student resident permit prohibits foreign students from doing any form of work. Luckily, I got a job offer within my 6 months stay in China as an English teacher in a training centre.

Was it always your goal to live abroad? 

 Well growing up it had always been my goal to see different countries and learn more about the culture of different people. I used to see my uncles come from the USA, Canada and Germany mostly every Christmas and it was a great time to have some new shoes and clothes. Seeing them enjoy the title of a Borga (Borga is local term for someone who has travelled abroad and come home for vacation) inspired me. It has always been my dream to travel abroad and enjoy that fame as Borga and seek greener pastures to help my family back home anyway possible.

 How did you find your current job?

To be frank I got my current job through a wechat group that I was added on. A Chinese agent posted the job opportunity and I contacted her. She later referred me to the school. I remember vividly that when I arrived at the school and they realised I was an African, they all looked very disappointed because they were expecting a white person for the job. 

How long did it take you to speak Chinese? 

My Chinese is still very disappointing, although I can speak just basic everyday Chinese language. I’m still learning everyday through my interactions with the locals. When I got here in the year 2013, I had a very closed mind about China which turned me off about learning the language. I still have great regrets about not socialising with locals in my early years of living in this country.

What are the benefits of speaking Chinese when you live in China?

The best way to get around in China is to speak Chinese because most Chinese people can’t speak English. It helps you to have the power to bargain when dealing with the locals.

It also saves you from the struggle of using translators all the time when communicating with the locals. A foreigner who is fluent in Chinese stands a better position to get a job offer since most schools requires the foreigner to speak a bit of Chinese language.

How do you help your daughter learn how to adapt with living in a foreign country? 

 I moved here before my family and my daughter was born in China, so she has been part of the Chinese society since her birth. As a family we created a very sound environment to help her growth in china because she was the only foreign kid in the local area we lived. Since most Chinese kids are not used to foreigners I played the role of a father, brother and a play mate for my daughter. We go to the playground and slides, play on the swing, go on lunch dates to eat her favourite pizza just to mention a few. Since she didn’t see kids that looked like her I also introduced black dolls as her friends at the age of two. She has four black dolls now and she loves them. This was necessary to build her self-esteem and confidence since some Chinese  people like to look down on Africans or black people in china. I taught her some positive affirmations about her skin, complexion and hair. Since she didn’t know anything about Africa, I started teaching her about countries in Africa and some past and current leaders and heroes of the black race both in Africa and the Diaspora. At the age of three she could identify over 40 African countries by flag and recite some quotes from some leaders of Africa and the diaspora.

Does your daughter attend a private or public school? And was the application process difficult or easy? 

My daughter is still a kindergarten student, she goes to the same school I teach in. It was very easy to enroll her since I work in the kindergarten. I actually received a discount on the school fees because all teachers that enroll their kids in the kindergarten get that benefit.

Would you advise other parents to move to China with their families, including children?

Yes, when all the conditions to make the family comfortable are met. But no matter what, you can’t make China your home. So every family must still connect their kids to their roots. And parents should be present in the lives of their kids when in China because that's the only way for the kids to build their self-esteem and confidence.

China doesn’t give citizenship to kids born to foreign parents in China, As a result every child born here or moving with parents must go through the struggle of renewing their resident permit every year. There is absolute no benefit for foreign families in China in terms of financial assistance from the Chinese government, therefore every family must be in the position to take care of their lives while in China. Most importantly the educational system in China is totally different since Chinese language is the means of teaching in all Chinese public schools. If families have the financial capacity I would advice them to enroll their kids in the international schools.

How many cities have you visited in China so far? Which one is your ffavourite?

I have visited about twenty cities so far. My favorite city is Guangzhou because it's the business hub of China. It’s easy to find every thing you need and easier to ship them. A lot of Ghanaian freight forwarders are in that city which makes traveling to Guangzhou for business very great. 

How many countries in Asia have you visited? Which one is your favourite? 

I have visited five countries so far in Asia. My favourite so far is Singapore. I’ve been there twice already. Singapore is a clean country and super green. There are a lot of trees all over the country. I love the fact that the crime rate in Singapore is very low and all the local Singaporean I met can speak English which makes communication very easy.

When I visited Sentosa island I was blown away by the beauty of the island and the kind of investment made by the Singaporean government for tourism purposes.

What are the advantages about living in Yantai city, Shandong province? 

Living cost in Yantai is cheaper compared to some major cities in China. It’s not a big city, so it’s very easy to move around without spending so much on transportation fees. Buses in Yantai are all 1¥ and taxis start from 8¥ in the day and 9¥ at night. Everything here is quite affordable, if you’re a person with great financial discipline then you will save a lot of money working in this city.

Yantai is a coastal city, in summer you have the beautiful beaches to enjoy. Shandong province is full of mountains, therefore people who love to hike will surely enjoy this province.

Yantai is also very close to the some major cites in Shandong province like Qingdao and Jinan, which are just few hours away by the speed train. Due to the great investment made by the Chinese government on transportation it's very convenient to move to some major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou from the Shandong province.

What are the disadvantages about living in Yantai, Shandong province? 

Being a foreigner in the smaller cities of china means you won't meet people that look like you often and most of the Africans in the city of yantai are students. 

I think communication barrier is a great problem here since most locals don't speak English. It's very difficult if you’re a foreigner who can’t speak Chinese. Sometimes you face some form of racism, some Chinese are still in the process of adapting to foreigners especially in the smaller cities. There are some instances whereby people won’t sit beside you in the bus or they'll cover their noses when walking past you. Most schools here are always seeking white people when they have vacancies.

If you’re a person who always wants to have some great fun in the club with lots of foreigners, then this city won’t be your favourite.

What do you do for fun in Yantai city? 

Mostly drive around town, interact with the locals sometimes and record videos for my YouTube channel called 'Blessy’s world'. It's a channel named after my daughter to share our everyday experiences in China as an African family in China. Y’all can check it out.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=9n3JrUoZ73s#dialog

What are your survival hacks as an expat living in China? 

Technology has made life easier to stay connected with loved ones no matter where you live in this world. But download a vpn app before you come to china to give you access to all foreign social media apps like WhatsApp, instagram, facebook, youtube and others. There are a lot of wechat groups in China which help people to connect. It’s also a great way to buy stuff from your home country because people sell in most of those groups.

Apps you will need in China to make life easier include wechat, didi, Alipay, translators, Qq and Taobao. C-trip is a great app to search for flights, train and hotels.

How has living abroad helped you develop as a person? 

It has helped me to appreciate time, learn more about my work as a teacher because of easy access to the internet. I have learnt a bit of the largest spoken language in the world which is Mandarin.

How did covid-19 affect your personal life and career? 

I think everyone around the world has been affected by the covid-19 pandemic that started in China. I remember when I travelled to Shanghai late in February to send my family off to Ghana, when I returned to my city I was quarantined for 14 days. I was very depressed within that period. Due to the travel restriction between Ghana and China, I haven’t seen my family since February 2020. This situation has made my family's resident permit expire while they are in Ghana.

What are your future plans?

I'm waiting for my contract to end next year. The future looks good, I can’t say much for now. But I’m enjoying every moment here.