GLENVILLE — Joan and Harry Thornhill were dedicated to improving the lives of students at the Akuffo Tom School Complex in Ghana, so what better way to start than in the area of discipline?

The retired Shenendehowa School District teachers have made two trips to the school in Ghana, most recently from last January through March. But it was during the 2005 trip that Joan said she was horrified to see children standing in line one day waiting to be caned by their teacher.

“They were being punished for not doing homework, or not cleaning the compound, or for giving a wrong answer,” she said. “I couldn’t witness it. I [went to] Harry and told him either we do something about this or we leave.”

Her husband said he went to the school administration a short time later and informed them that corporal punishment was unacceptable.

“We couldn’t embarrass them in their own school, but we have worked for human rights groups and the Peace Corps and couldn’t support a school where this was going on,” he said.

When they returned this year, Joan said, things were improved.

“We could tell they’d been working on it. Children were writing in notebooks 500 times, ‘I will do my homework,’ or whatever.”

She said other punitive measures included having to carry rocks or running laps around the complex.

“They’re moving in the right direction,” she said.

Joan, 62, and Harry, 67, have traveled throughout the world together in the nearly 41 years since they were married.

Before their wedding, Harry spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia.

The couple has started a nonprofit corporation and they’re raising money to buy supplies for the private Akuffo Tom school. They have also traveled to West Africa to teach English and social studies to middle school students.

Many of the teaching techniques and tools used in the schools are holdovers from the Colonial English era of decades or even centuries ago, the couple said. During their teaching careers, they were used to colleagues who were highly trained and certified teachers with computers and up-to-date materials. But most of the teachers at the Akuffo Tom school are recent high school alumni who have no formal training. A few have been certified as teachers after taking two years of further education at a technical school, they said.

Harry said some of the first items bought by the American nonprofit Friends of Akuffo Tom School Complex were textbooks.

“These aren’t textbooks like we have here. They are small paperbacks and the children were sharing what few copies were available,” he said.

Joan said setting up the library at the school this year consisted of arranging books on half a dozen shelves.

“They still write on the blackboard and have the students memorize and repeat the information,” she said. “We tried to have [the children] think creatively and come up with new ideas, and it’s very hard for them.”

English is the official language in Ghana and, although the children usually speak a different dialect at home, they are required to speak English at school.

Harry said one of the reasons he wants to help the people of Ghana is that they are a peace-loving democracy that gained independence from Great Britain 51 years ago. “They will have elections later this year,” Joan said. “Their president has served two terms and that’s the the limit.”

The couple said being in Ghana during the dry season meant dealing with temperatures above 100 degrees during the day. A nearly constant breeze containing sand from the Sahara Desert creates a haze.

“You’re always sweaty and dirty,” she said. “Trying to keep clean means taking bucket baths.”

The house where the Thornhills stayed is owned by a teacher at the school who hosts visiting educators from around the world.

Harry said there was no running water and a nearby stream was the source of drinking, cooking and bathing water.

Despite a lack of creature comforts, the couple said they look forward to making another trip in a couple of years.

Meanwhile, they are in contact with the administrators at the school and are raising money to fulfill as many needs as possible.

A wish list from the headmaster includes windows and doors, plaster, ceiling fans, wiring, tables and chairs. In 2005, the Thornhills paid for the construction of dozens of desks by a local carpenter.

“They have so little and are so grateful for anything they get,” Harry said. “They’re also meticulous in showing that every dime they receive is spent to help the children. They’ve seen other organizations waste what was given to them and they take pictures to show us how they are spending the money.”

He said he and his wife are anxious to speak to community groups about the project and to share photographs of the progress being made.

“We love to talk, but we’re not too good with the hard sell asking for money,” he said. “We need to get better at asking for support.”

A fundraiser sponsored by the Koda Middle School in Clifton Park on June 7 will benefit the children in Africa.

A “trunk sale” will be held in the school parking lot on the Shenendehowa campus.

“The school will be renting space in the parking lot for people to sell items from their trunks. All the proceeds from the $25 rental fees will go to the Akuffo Tom school and vendors can keep all they make from their trunk sales,” he said.

To rent space, or for more information about the sale, call 881-0470, ext. 52607.