I arrived in Ghana not even two weeks ago, excited yet tense and nervous to see how I would adjust in a new environment. I am 16 years old, only in Ghana a little longer than 3 weeks but ready to experience a new lifestyle and interact and volunteer somewhere different. I spent my first night in the Accra airport, sharing my sleeping bench with a stranger. As I arrived in Ho the next morning, a swarm of locals welcomed me as I stepped out of the bus. It was my first day in Ghana and I was amazed how street sellers had the ability to balance baskets, bowls, bags or even eggs on their head. When I arrived in Ho, I met the volunteers as they welcomed me with Hardcore Screemo music. I felt at home already.
My first day I played in a soccer tournament at McCollins school, a school nearby. Even though we got crushed in soccer and John hurt his leg, it was a good first day bonding experience. We took off to the weekend and fed monkeys as they jumped on our bodies and we swam in a waterfall after a long hike. When we arrived at the waterfall, there was a man that took John's hurt leg and cut slits in it with a blade. Then he took a bull horn to suction out all the blood sitting under his skin and then scrubbed the flesh of his cut with a lime. The difference between certain villages health remedies and healthcare in the U.S. is tremendous. Sunday, Some of the volunteers and myself decided to attend a church service. Although it was a long service, we were awakened by learning how to dance local dances and returning the favor by showing them some dances from back home. On the Monday after my first weekend, I started my first day at Safiefe Deme, teaching a 6th grade class. I had the class to myself with no teacher. I taught them about all different sciences before I gave them a quiz that later would be graded.
Everday I eat lunch at Charles house. Everybody in the community welcomes me all day by saying "Woezoa"(welcome) "Eh Foa"(How are you?) "Pemeto"(How is the house?) etc. I can't help but reply in Ewe, their local language. Somedays at break in Safiefe Deme, the students teach me Ewe, by forcing me to read aloud chapter books as they translate. Working in the school system has been helping me pick up on their language pretty quickly.
This week I attended my first funeral of a young woman. Before the funeral started, some women in the community sang and danced around the body before the casket was closed. Everybody sang and most men played the drums. I didnt see anybody cry until the body was placed underground. Close family wept as others stood beside them playing the drums. Other than that part of the funeral, the vibe of it all seemed positive with the singing and dancing.
This weekend we are off to cape coast to tour the castle, jump in the waves at the beach, and go to Kamkum, for a cannopy walk in the tree tops. Until then!
Brian
July 17, 2012
July 14, 2012
New Lessons
Even though we have been here for six weeks, we continue to have new experiences and extreme adventures! This past week was filled with more teaching and coaching, culminating in a quiz competition on Thursday with McColin's Primary School competing against three other primary schools from the area. As girls seem to take education more seriously here, only two of the twelve competitors were boys. McColin's has won this competition in past terms, but this term the competition was fierce and they finished third. They had a fun time anyway, as the children from all the schools clapped for each other, danced together, and prayed together.
This week in school I taught everything from long division to French (since I don't know any French, this lesson was interesting to say the least!) Also, I have been teaching the children about computers lately. McColin's has three ancient computers that sometimes work and sometimes don't. Because the computers aren't dependable, I have started to simply lecture about different aspects of computers, such as the many uses of the Internet. Their minds were blown when I told them that many people shop or go to school via the Internet. The teachers even enjoy sitting in on these lessons to learn more about the Internet. Also, this past week I taught the 4th graders about the solar system. All the volunteers at our Ghana ACT volunteer house share our books throughout the summer, and I had just finished reading A Briefer History of Time, which had so much astounding information about space that I was able to incorporate into the lesson. I have been having a lot of fun teaching, and I usually leave time during the day for the children to ask questions about America. One of the very astute girls in 6th grade asked if Americans appreciate all that they have. I continuously learn new things from the children. They have taught Molly and I songs, such as Mawu Kenesa, which is a worship song that talks about how vast and powerful God's love is. They also have demonstrated their dedication and work ethic--one of the 8-year-olds told me that he wakes up at 4:30 every morning to pray, sweep, walk to school, sweep some more, and prepare his assignments for class. This is a typical schedule for these children. They are all so willing to learn and work hard; it is upsetting that they don't have the resources that other children have (such as dependable computers) because I know that if they had them, they would put so much of their time and energy into mastering them.
For our after school program, Molly and I hung up one of the basketball hoops that we had been constructing. The children absolutely LOVE basketball. Many of them practice shooting and ball handling any chance they get. Molly and I originally thought that we would try to create a sustainable after school sports program at McColin's that would encompass many different sports, but now we are focusing our efforts on creating a girls' and boys' basketball program at McColin's. One of the teachers, Michael, has played basketball competitively in the past, and he has expressed interest in coaching the children. Molly and I think that it will be easier to create a sustainable basketball program than a sustainable "after school sports program" simply because of the high interest level in basketball and the fact that it is a more specific focus. Anyway, the girls and boys alternate days that they stay after school to play basketball. During the day, the kids will ask if it is their turn to stay after and play. When we say 'yes,' I love to see the smile spread across their faces as they dance a little celebratory jig.
Last Saturday we climbed Mt. Afadjato, which is supposedly the tallest mountain in Ghana (though when we got to the top, we could see other mountains that were taller). The climb up was very steep, but it was only a 30-40 minute hike, so it was definitely not as strenuous as our earlier hike to the Upper Wli Waterfall. Once we got to the top, we wanted to relax and enjoy the view, but there was a troop of young Ghanaian police officers and a class of school children at the top. Many had brought their cameras to take pictures of the incredible view from the top, but when we arrived, we (the Yavus!) suddenly became a more interesting subject to photograph. They took hundreds of pictures of us. When we were finally able to take a few minutes to appreciate the view, we saw a huge waterfall in the distance. (I think it was in the neighboring country of Togo). We also saw some nearby villages. Even though it was an overcast day, we could see pretty far. The view was definitely worth the climb.
Last weekend we also went back to the Tafi Monkey Sanctuary and Wli Waterfall. We took the new volunteers that hadn't yet been there. It was just as fun to feed bananas to the monkeys as it was the first time. And the waterfall still blew my mind. It was even more powerful this time, and we tried to get close to it, but we were blown back.
Last Sunday, most of the other volunteers decided to go to chuch with Molly and me. We went to Global Evangelical Church in Fiave, which is on the way to McColin's. This service, like the last service we went to (at a different church) was very focused on asking for money--especially on asking us (the only Yavus in town) for money. It was a three hour service, which, if anything, is shorter than most. During the middle of the service, we got up and danced with some of the women in a circle in front of the podium. The dancing and singing was our favorite part!
As we start to feel that our time in Ho is coming to an end (we will be leaving in 2 weeks), we continue to develop relationships with the locals and learn as much as we can about their culture. We will be excited to come home and see our family and friends, but we will definitely miss many aspects of our volunteer experience in Ghana--especially the welcoming people in our village of Ho.
This week in school I taught everything from long division to French (since I don't know any French, this lesson was interesting to say the least!) Also, I have been teaching the children about computers lately. McColin's has three ancient computers that sometimes work and sometimes don't. Because the computers aren't dependable, I have started to simply lecture about different aspects of computers, such as the many uses of the Internet. Their minds were blown when I told them that many people shop or go to school via the Internet. The teachers even enjoy sitting in on these lessons to learn more about the Internet. Also, this past week I taught the 4th graders about the solar system. All the volunteers at our Ghana ACT volunteer house share our books throughout the summer, and I had just finished reading A Briefer History of Time, which had so much astounding information about space that I was able to incorporate into the lesson. I have been having a lot of fun teaching, and I usually leave time during the day for the children to ask questions about America. One of the very astute girls in 6th grade asked if Americans appreciate all that they have. I continuously learn new things from the children. They have taught Molly and I songs, such as Mawu Kenesa, which is a worship song that talks about how vast and powerful God's love is. They also have demonstrated their dedication and work ethic--one of the 8-year-olds told me that he wakes up at 4:30 every morning to pray, sweep, walk to school, sweep some more, and prepare his assignments for class. This is a typical schedule for these children. They are all so willing to learn and work hard; it is upsetting that they don't have the resources that other children have (such as dependable computers) because I know that if they had them, they would put so much of their time and energy into mastering them.
For our after school program, Molly and I hung up one of the basketball hoops that we had been constructing. The children absolutely LOVE basketball. Many of them practice shooting and ball handling any chance they get. Molly and I originally thought that we would try to create a sustainable after school sports program at McColin's that would encompass many different sports, but now we are focusing our efforts on creating a girls' and boys' basketball program at McColin's. One of the teachers, Michael, has played basketball competitively in the past, and he has expressed interest in coaching the children. Molly and I think that it will be easier to create a sustainable basketball program than a sustainable "after school sports program" simply because of the high interest level in basketball and the fact that it is a more specific focus. Anyway, the girls and boys alternate days that they stay after school to play basketball. During the day, the kids will ask if it is their turn to stay after and play. When we say 'yes,' I love to see the smile spread across their faces as they dance a little celebratory jig.
Last Saturday we climbed Mt. Afadjato, which is supposedly the tallest mountain in Ghana (though when we got to the top, we could see other mountains that were taller). The climb up was very steep, but it was only a 30-40 minute hike, so it was definitely not as strenuous as our earlier hike to the Upper Wli Waterfall. Once we got to the top, we wanted to relax and enjoy the view, but there was a troop of young Ghanaian police officers and a class of school children at the top. Many had brought their cameras to take pictures of the incredible view from the top, but when we arrived, we (the Yavus!) suddenly became a more interesting subject to photograph. They took hundreds of pictures of us. When we were finally able to take a few minutes to appreciate the view, we saw a huge waterfall in the distance. (I think it was in the neighboring country of Togo). We also saw some nearby villages. Even though it was an overcast day, we could see pretty far. The view was definitely worth the climb.
Last weekend we also went back to the Tafi Monkey Sanctuary and Wli Waterfall. We took the new volunteers that hadn't yet been there. It was just as fun to feed bananas to the monkeys as it was the first time. And the waterfall still blew my mind. It was even more powerful this time, and we tried to get close to it, but we were blown back.
Last Sunday, most of the other volunteers decided to go to chuch with Molly and me. We went to Global Evangelical Church in Fiave, which is on the way to McColin's. This service, like the last service we went to (at a different church) was very focused on asking for money--especially on asking us (the only Yavus in town) for money. It was a three hour service, which, if anything, is shorter than most. During the middle of the service, we got up and danced with some of the women in a circle in front of the podium. The dancing and singing was our favorite part!
As we start to feel that our time in Ho is coming to an end (we will be leaving in 2 weeks), we continue to develop relationships with the locals and learn as much as we can about their culture. We will be excited to come home and see our family and friends, but we will definitely miss many aspects of our volunteer experience in Ghana--especially the welcoming people in our village of Ho.
July 12, 2012
Another day in Voradep
Undi and Woezo! My name is Molly and I am currently on my sixth week of being in Ghana volunteering at the school International Achievers. The school is composed of about 30 students from the age 2-7 that live in the local village called Voradep. I currently am teaching in the nursery which is composed of 2-5 year olds. The children are eager to learn, and absolutely love singing and dancing. Frequently throughout the day one of the older children will burst out in song, and soon after the entire class will burst out with a chorus of "See See See" or "Every Cell in my Body is Well". While some songs are the same, or slightly different, from American songs, there are many songs that are unique to Ghana. For example, "See See See" is a song about seeing a bird that goes as follows:
See See See
I can see a bird
Standing on a tree
ah ah ah
where is my gun
If I see my gun I will shoot shoot shoot and SHOOT
and the bird
will be mine
and the bird
will be MINE!
See See See
I can see a bird
Standing on a tree
ah ah ah
where is my gun
If I see my gun I will shoot shoot shoot and SHOOT
and the bird
will be mine
and the bird
will be MINE!
The kids at the school are a tight-knit community. They come from a small village, and they know each other well. They take care of each other: the older kids walk the younger ones to school and bring them to buy their lunch.If a child is missing for a day the other children will know if they are sick and when they will come back to school. Overall, the experience of the community life is much different than America. These kids rely on each other for support. Siblings or older neighbors frequently drop the children off at school because the child's parents have already left for work. Older classmates walk other classmates home who have parents who are still at work when we get out.
International Achievers is a small school, but every day is full of comical events and unexpected happenings. There is never a dull moment in Voredui, and I can thank my young nursery students for that. I will update with more of my adventures at the school and beyond soon but until then miadogo!
July 6, 2012
Celebrations of Life
Time for another update! It is now our fifth week here in Ho, and the last few days have provided with us with yet another set of eye-opening experiences to share. On the Saturday after we returned from our trip to Mole, our group got invited to visit the village of our friend, Linda, who cooks for us at the volunteer house. It was the one year anniversary of her mother's funeral, so we returned with her to her village in the Eastern Region of Ghana, just about an hour and a half or so from Ho, for a memorial celebration.
The village was fairly small, with probably only a thousand people, and it seemed as though everyone knew Linda's mother well. We were introduced to many of the locals, and we were repeatedly invited into homes and offered all kinds of food--Ghanaian hospitality is unmatched. It was a very cool thing to be welcomed so warmly by literally every one we met, including Linda's large extended family, who were very gracious to our group of 11 previously unknown white people. We then went with Linda's family to the cemetery for a prayer service, which was very moving--I never would have believed that we would be invited to participate in such an intimate moment in Ghanaian life. I think my favorite part of the whole thing was experiencing the closeness of the community, who all came together to support Linda and her younger, (16 year-old) sister after both of their parents had passed away.
We returned to McColin's on Monday, and have been teaching there as usual this week. I'm not sure if we've mentioned this before, but a new volunteer, Caroline, joined the program a few weeks ago, and she is also stationed at McColins. On Wednesday, during the final class period, the three of us teamed up to teach english to the sixth graders. We were attempting to teach them similes and metaphors, but their attention kept slipping, and we could tell they were getting antsy. They kept bugging us to teach them a song, so we decided to come up with a song for the material we were teaching. We made a simile song to the tune of "We will rock you" and had them go around the room free-styling similes about each other. Here is one example: Clifford is as short as a squirrel / Annelise is as white as a pearl! It was hilarious, and their teacher seemed to think so too. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences teaching thus far!
Annelise's 20th birthday was Thursday! And we celebrated in style at Bob Coffie's, a hotel in Ho--one of the most "American" places you'll find here. We both ordered steak and french fries and ate by the pool. We made her an "ice cream cake" of sorts by pouring 5 FanIce's into a bowl and adding a few wafers. She loved it!
One final note, Annelise and I have taken up a new project this week...we're building basketball hoops, with backboards, for the students at the school. Using only a handsaw, 1 hammer, and some plywood and two by twos, we've actually made a lot of progress! Pictures will definitely follow shortly..
Hope all is well in the States; we were definitely missing the USA on the fourth!
The village was fairly small, with probably only a thousand people, and it seemed as though everyone knew Linda's mother well. We were introduced to many of the locals, and we were repeatedly invited into homes and offered all kinds of food--Ghanaian hospitality is unmatched. It was a very cool thing to be welcomed so warmly by literally every one we met, including Linda's large extended family, who were very gracious to our group of 11 previously unknown white people. We then went with Linda's family to the cemetery for a prayer service, which was very moving--I never would have believed that we would be invited to participate in such an intimate moment in Ghanaian life. I think my favorite part of the whole thing was experiencing the closeness of the community, who all came together to support Linda and her younger, (16 year-old) sister after both of their parents had passed away.
We returned to McColin's on Monday, and have been teaching there as usual this week. I'm not sure if we've mentioned this before, but a new volunteer, Caroline, joined the program a few weeks ago, and she is also stationed at McColins. On Wednesday, during the final class period, the three of us teamed up to teach english to the sixth graders. We were attempting to teach them similes and metaphors, but their attention kept slipping, and we could tell they were getting antsy. They kept bugging us to teach them a song, so we decided to come up with a song for the material we were teaching. We made a simile song to the tune of "We will rock you" and had them go around the room free-styling similes about each other. Here is one example: Clifford is as short as a squirrel / Annelise is as white as a pearl! It was hilarious, and their teacher seemed to think so too. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences teaching thus far!
Annelise's 20th birthday was Thursday! And we celebrated in style at Bob Coffie's, a hotel in Ho--one of the most "American" places you'll find here. We both ordered steak and french fries and ate by the pool. We made her an "ice cream cake" of sorts by pouring 5 FanIce's into a bowl and adding a few wafers. She loved it!
One final note, Annelise and I have taken up a new project this week...we're building basketball hoops, with backboards, for the students at the school. Using only a handsaw, 1 hammer, and some plywood and two by twos, we've actually made a lot of progress! Pictures will definitely follow shortly..
Hope all is well in the States; we were definitely missing the USA on the fourth!
June 30, 2012
A Week In the African Bush
It is hard to believe another week has gone by already... especially since this week marks the halfway point of our volunteer experience. It is the end of session one of two sessions of the Ghana ACT summer program, and while Molly and I are staying for both sessions, many of our fellow volunteers are not. While it is sad that some of our friends are leaving, it is fun to meet the new volunteers that continue to arrive. This past week we went to Mole National Park, which is located in the northern part of Ghana. We volunteer in the southern part of Ghana, so we trekked across the nation, which is quite an adventure.
Instead of taking tro-tros, we took the Metro buses, which are part of a government initiative to make cross-country travel safer. We left last Sunday at 4:00 am and drove 8 hours to Kumasi, which is a bustling town with quite a different--more aggressive--feel to it than Ho. Molly and I did a long run in Kumasi, weaving around the vendors and dodging taxis and curious pedestrians. We stayed overnight at the Methodist Church, where we were greeting warmly by Mama Suzie's brother. (Mama Suzie is one of the administators of McColin's School--Molly and I eat lunch with her every day.) The next morning we woke up again at 3:30 am for the bus to Tomale, where we got another bus to Mole. This last leg of the journey was the bumpiest ride I have every been on. For 4 hours our bodies were jostled all over the place in a bus that was going way too fast on a washed-out dirt road that must never have been maintained. At some points, we were thrown 3 feet up in the air (there are no seatbelts!) We didn't arrive at Mole National Park until 8:00 pm. It was a LONG two days of travel, but Mole was definitely worth every minute of it!
Mole is over 4,000 square kilometers of the wild African bush--it was begging to be explored! The first morning that we were there, we went on a safari with a guide. (The guides always carried a rifle just in case an animal got too close). That night we stayed in a treehouse in the middle of the jungle. (We had a guide with us the whole night.) While we were in Mole, we saw countless warthogs, baboons, red monkeys, antelope, crocodiles, and ELEPHANTS!!! The elephants were everywhere--we even saw them in the moonlight when we stayed in the treehouse. Needless to say, while we were in Mole our runs were adventures! This week, I think the pictures will do most of the talking... Though the trip there and back was long and, at times, brutal, we will never forget our once-in-a-lifetime experience at Mole--as you will see from the pictures.
--Annelise
Instead of taking tro-tros, we took the Metro buses, which are part of a government initiative to make cross-country travel safer. We left last Sunday at 4:00 am and drove 8 hours to Kumasi, which is a bustling town with quite a different--more aggressive--feel to it than Ho. Molly and I did a long run in Kumasi, weaving around the vendors and dodging taxis and curious pedestrians. We stayed overnight at the Methodist Church, where we were greeting warmly by Mama Suzie's brother. (Mama Suzie is one of the administators of McColin's School--Molly and I eat lunch with her every day.) The next morning we woke up again at 3:30 am for the bus to Tomale, where we got another bus to Mole. This last leg of the journey was the bumpiest ride I have every been on. For 4 hours our bodies were jostled all over the place in a bus that was going way too fast on a washed-out dirt road that must never have been maintained. At some points, we were thrown 3 feet up in the air (there are no seatbelts!) We didn't arrive at Mole National Park until 8:00 pm. It was a LONG two days of travel, but Mole was definitely worth every minute of it!
Mole is over 4,000 square kilometers of the wild African bush--it was begging to be explored! The first morning that we were there, we went on a safari with a guide. (The guides always carried a rifle just in case an animal got too close). That night we stayed in a treehouse in the middle of the jungle. (We had a guide with us the whole night.) While we were in Mole, we saw countless warthogs, baboons, red monkeys, antelope, crocodiles, and ELEPHANTS!!! The elephants were everywhere--we even saw them in the moonlight when we stayed in the treehouse. Needless to say, while we were in Mole our runs were adventures! This week, I think the pictures will do most of the talking... Though the trip there and back was long and, at times, brutal, we will never forget our once-in-a-lifetime experience at Mole--as you will see from the pictures.
--Annelise
Warthogs sleeping in the shade
Elephants bathing
An elephant that got within 100 feet of our room
The treehouse we stayed overnight in
Our safari guide
Thirsty?
An elephant greeting
So many elephants!
They were so close to us!
Crossing the river
In Sickness and In Health
Bout a week since our last post--time for another update! Annelise and I are still having a blast, experiencing new things everyday, and treasuring every moment here in Ho, but I have to say there were a couple of days this last week that we both wished we could've pushed the fast forward button. But let's start with the good stuff! Last Saturday we went on a daytrip to a stunning town, high in the mountains, called Aburi. We traveled with the other volunteers, as well as our Ghanaian friend, Linda, who cooks for our house everyday, and another volunteer from the US, Mike, who works right across the street at an orphanage. Funny sidenote, Mike is a VMI alumni. Small world! Anyway, we all left bright and early as usual and roadtripped it via Tro Tro for about 3 or 4 hours. Our first stop in Aburi was the Botanical gardens, which were beautiful, with giant trees, lots of flowers, and an old helicopter that had actually crashed there some twenty or thirty years ago. Today people just take pictures of it and climb around inside.One of the trees in the garden was taken over by a fungus and hollowed out, so now its possible to climb inside the tree and look up all the way up to the sky--you can even climb up the trunk from the inside! Also, I thought trees in S.E. Alaska grow pretty big but there were a few in Aburi that would have put them all to shame.
So after exploring the botanical gardens, we all rented mountain bikes and were lead by a Ghanaian guide on a route through the town and the rainforest to another gorgeous waterfall. Swimming in the water felt sooooo good after the long, hot ride. I'm definitely not a very experienced mountain biker so adjusting to the rocky, uneven, and steep terrain took a little while. It was pretty fun though once I got the hang of it and got over my initial apprehension. And the lady that rented us the bikes had cold fresh pineapple waiting for us when we got back---best surprise EVER. Another highlight of the trip was the fact that we found a place that served real pizza and burgers. REAL PIZZA. AND BURGERS. with CHEESE!! Haha the food we've been eating as been quite delicious for the most part, but we've certainly had to adjust our diets, and I swear that burger was one of the best I've ever tasted. It was a good end to a great trip.
On Sunday, the whole group traveled out to a village near Ho, called Saviefe Deme, where a large portion of the volunteers are stationed, who aren't working at McColin's. The village was celebrating Children's Day, and the students put on a big performance for the whole community. It was really sweet and very fun to watch. They sang, danced, and recited poems and bible versus. The mothers of the town cooked food and brought produce to auction off as a fundraiser for the school. Then they came up and sang and danced themselves, inviting us to join in. It was really cool to get a chance to see a community that was so close-knit and so invested in their children. Getting there was really fun too, as first we all took a half hour taxi ride, and then we all hopped on the back of motorcycle "taxis" that took us the three miles down the dirt road that most normal taxis won't drive down. It was a beautiful ride the whole way, as the city faded away and we moved higher and higher into the mountains.
On Monday we had a good day of teaching and coaching basketball, but on Monday night both Annelise and I started feeling really sick. We were up most of the night and by Tuesday morning we both felt really weak and really miserable, and were showing symptoms of malaria. Since we both got sick at the same time though, we figured it was probably something else, so we just stayed home and rested and drank a ton of water. I can honestly say that it was the sickest I've ever felt in my life, but luckily I was starting to feel better after about 24 hours. By Wednesday we were both feeling much improved, so we think it was probably food poisoning of some kind. We took it easy the next couple of days, returning to school Thursday, which was a shortened day due to a PTA meeting during which we were introduced to all the parents. We went back to Saviefe on Friday because McColin's didn't have classes, so we got to see more of the village and experience more of their unparalleled hospitality.
We are thankful that we were able to recover quickly from our illness so that we could continue to have to have these wonderful experiences!
So after exploring the botanical gardens, we all rented mountain bikes and were lead by a Ghanaian guide on a route through the town and the rainforest to another gorgeous waterfall. Swimming in the water felt sooooo good after the long, hot ride. I'm definitely not a very experienced mountain biker so adjusting to the rocky, uneven, and steep terrain took a little while. It was pretty fun though once I got the hang of it and got over my initial apprehension. And the lady that rented us the bikes had cold fresh pineapple waiting for us when we got back---best surprise EVER. Another highlight of the trip was the fact that we found a place that served real pizza and burgers. REAL PIZZA. AND BURGERS. with CHEESE!! Haha the food we've been eating as been quite delicious for the most part, but we've certainly had to adjust our diets, and I swear that burger was one of the best I've ever tasted. It was a good end to a great trip.
On Sunday, the whole group traveled out to a village near Ho, called Saviefe Deme, where a large portion of the volunteers are stationed, who aren't working at McColin's. The village was celebrating Children's Day, and the students put on a big performance for the whole community. It was really sweet and very fun to watch. They sang, danced, and recited poems and bible versus. The mothers of the town cooked food and brought produce to auction off as a fundraiser for the school. Then they came up and sang and danced themselves, inviting us to join in. It was really cool to get a chance to see a community that was so close-knit and so invested in their children. Getting there was really fun too, as first we all took a half hour taxi ride, and then we all hopped on the back of motorcycle "taxis" that took us the three miles down the dirt road that most normal taxis won't drive down. It was a beautiful ride the whole way, as the city faded away and we moved higher and higher into the mountains.
On Monday we had a good day of teaching and coaching basketball, but on Monday night both Annelise and I started feeling really sick. We were up most of the night and by Tuesday morning we both felt really weak and really miserable, and were showing symptoms of malaria. Since we both got sick at the same time though, we figured it was probably something else, so we just stayed home and rested and drank a ton of water. I can honestly say that it was the sickest I've ever felt in my life, but luckily I was starting to feel better after about 24 hours. By Wednesday we were both feeling much improved, so we think it was probably food poisoning of some kind. We took it easy the next couple of days, returning to school Thursday, which was a shortened day due to a PTA meeting during which we were introduced to all the parents. We went back to Saviefe on Friday because McColin's didn't have classes, so we got to see more of the village and experience more of their unparalleled hospitality.
We are thankful that we were able to recover quickly from our illness so that we could continue to have to have these wonderful experiences!
The children dancing during Children's Day at Saviefe Deme
Children's Day
John, the Ghana ACT program director, and Enyonam at Children's Day
Jumping out of the (crashed) helicopter at Aburi
Molly climbing up the hollowed out tree at Aburi Botanical Gardens
McColin's PTA Meeting
June 20, 2012
Students' Day
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| Beautiful Milli. |
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| Promise, being sassy |
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| Sarah |
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| Rejoice and Rose |
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