Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Day 2 - Tuesday, June 19th

    Daylight brought with it a wonderful surprise. We're staying right on the beach! It was dark and we were exhausted last night so this information did not sink in. The girls are all paired up with other girls from around the country in little "chalets". Private baths and ceiling fans were not expected so this has been a nice surprise. The leaders here have been very impressive thus far. Gentle spirits, they have provided us all with great information, expectations, and encouragement.
   I forgot to add one of the gems from our bus ride yesterday; We kept passing signs that read "Overspeeding Kills". Apparently speeding is fine, but they have to draw a line somewhere!

   Ali and Sarah put together the following summary of the day:


     Today we woke up and had orientation where we learned all about Ghanaian culture and expected behavior in the community.  Orientation included a tour of our boundaries, where we are staying is a beach resort, so the beach is 100 yards away.  After orientation we had lunch (most of our meals are a mix between American and Ghanaian) and then headed to our school sites and then local markets.   Sarah, Gray, Molly and Mary are all at one school and Ali and Karen are at another school.  The children were so excited to see all of the girls and they started singing songs about yevus (white men).  At the markets we found fabric that we wanted to be made into bags, pants or dresses.  Sarah and Gray chose to make a skirt, Mary chose to make a skirt and a bag, Molly chose to make two bags and a dress and Ali chose to make a bag. Karen is going for the pants, bag and backpack. Once we had met with the seamstresses about our new clothing we returned to home base.  Some had reflection time and others played card games on the patio.  After dinner we learned how to make blocks (cement bricks) and how to teach 40-60 primary school kids.  We had Steven, one of the GLA assistants give a quick tutorial on how to make these cement blocks that will be used for making a barrier around one school and a canteen in another school.  We were all exhausted and wanted to go to bed at 8:00 but were told we couldn’t until 10:00.  Its 8:30 and it has been a long day!  

The internet is incredibly slow and on and off - very hard time trying to load photos. Will give it another shot tomorrow :-)

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