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| Balancing objects on the head is second nature in Ghana. |
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| School headmaster overseeing Friday's "tiding up the compound". The laborers are free (students). |
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| Some of the boys sharpening up their tools. Children carrying machetes around school premises does not raise a single eyebrow here in Ghana. |
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| Trying. (Failing.) |
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| Work makes you thirsty. |
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| I organized a school project to build a signpost. One of the teachers is a mason by trade, so he led the effort and walked the older kids through the process. |
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| My director and her 85-year-old father visited the school on their recent trip to Ghana. I used the occasion as an opportunity to launch our new "culture" club. |
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| And boy did they deliver--video to come. |
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| All of the teachers on the last day of the school term. |
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| Multi-tasking: tutoring session while organizing the books for our new library. |
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| Another teacher and I began an after-school honors society for some of the brightest kids. They had the first-go at our new books. He had never done a book report before--but he did great! |
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| For our celebration of the last honors society meeting of the term, I finally got to use the party hats I've been carrying around Africa since I bought them last summer at Dollar General! |
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| The kids enjoyed the party. (Matt, a volunteer from another organization, came to help out for the day.) |
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| A view of the compound from my room. I have about 30 neighbors... |
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| ...or roommates--sometimes it's hard to tell (this is my room). |
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| One of my neighbors trying out my pull-up bar. |
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| From time to time, we share a meal together. For this dish, one uses his hands--"hand" rather--NEVER use the left. |
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| In the evening, you can always find a group relaxing on the veranda. |
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| And when you are really lucky, your favorite sister visits! |
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| March 6th, Ghana Indepedence Day. |
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| They practice for months. |
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| Two nice men I met on the road as they were returning home from their uncle's funeral. If you didn't know, funerals are BIG here--more akin to a celebration we have at home for a wedding than for a funeral--and everyone busts out the black-and-red traditional attire. |
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| Two more "neighbors" hanging out while I posted this blog entry! |
Those last two kids are super cute!!
ReplyDeleteYou look good and healthy - thanks for posting pictures. Talk to you soon.
congrats mate. you did it. what's the plan now?
ReplyDeleteWell, not quite out of the woods yet. I am still organizing the library during the vacation so that it's fully ready for when the school reopens next month. And training a teacher to carry on some of our programs. And setting up a place for our future volunteers to stay. And the list goes on...but one way or another, by hook or crook, in two weeks I'm going to be on a plane out of Africa! (Actually, that's not even true: flight to Thailand, but routed first through Egypt). Anyway, I don't think I'll really believe it until I'm on a jet in the air...
ReplyDeletedid you ever find einstein?
ReplyDeleteI was afraid I might get that question...barring some mumbo-jumbo about how there may be a little Einsteiness in all of us, the answer would be no. Which begs the question, should I continue to carry my graphing calculator to Asia? Perhaps an undiscovered Cambodian kid is waiting for one?
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the pictures, Nathan. They were great! Very cool to see Shira there with you.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you got a lot done in your time there. As an ex-Peace Corps volunteer, I'm impressed.
Best wishes for enjoyable and safe travels.
Susan Pearlman
Thanks so much for this tutorial! I did this for a friends wedding party and it worked jolly good. It lasts the whole evening
ReplyDelete