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Don’t just relive your summer abroad. Experience GLA in a whole new way next summer, in a country you’ve never been to before.

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To my dear friends from Preserving Nature’s Wonders in the Galapagos this summer,

I can’t believe it’s already been a few months since our adventures in those magical islands ended. I can still taste those sweet, fresh oranges we ate off the trees by the dozen in Campo Duro as well as the delicious flaky croissants America brought us from the bakery every morning on Isabela Island. Every time I see the moon start to get full I’m reminded of our nights spent on San Cristobal Island lit only the moon and stars (and then I here Scott’s campfire stories….ring…ring…)

This past summer was truly amazing. The natural beauty of the islands far exceeded my expectations; swimming with penguins and sea lions, sunbathing with marine iguanas and fending off the “Beach Master” are memories forever imprinted in my mind. And all the hard work of our students went directly to preserving that natural habitat. Our digging, weeding, and cleaning at Campo Duro, though at times tedious, proved more than fruitful as the first ever giant tortoise nest was laid by one of the resident tortoises! Wilfredo and the staff at Campo Duro were more than grateful for GLA’s hard work. Wilfredo decreed that all GLA students will be the godparents of any baby tortoises that come out of the nest at Campo Duro.

The hard work that every single student put in this summer reflected a labor of love of our natural world. The endemic plants we left to grow up in the highlands of San Cristobal will remain as a testament to the impact of our work to preserve the Galapagos’ natural state. We were able to experience life in the Galapagos firsthand through massive rainfalls, rough seas (those boat rides!), the long walks, and even water shortages helped us all to understand true day to day life of Galapaganians and appreciate the conveniences in our own lives at home.

You should all know that you left the Galapagos Islands a better place than when you came and I think it could also be said that many of us experienced a life-changing experience from our trip. Thank you for helping me make awesome memories in a wonderful place. I will never think about the Galapagos without thinking about Hakan, Fabricio, Crystal, all the other wonderful local people we met and stayed with and also each of you.

I hope you all are adjusting back into school and life at home and I hope that you’ve been able to share your memories and photos with friends and family at home.

Thank you for all the wonderful memories,

Liz

Galapagos 2014: Preserving Nature’s Wonders

Don’t just relive your summer abroad. Experience GLA in a whole new way next summer, in a country you’ve never been to before. Then check out Liz’s favorite memories below.

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Liz’s Recollections:

• The view from the top of the Sierra Negra volcano on Isabela Island
• Being covered in volcano mud on the way down from Sierra Negra
• Making homemade marmalade over an open fire at Campo Duro
• The drastic improvement of my soccer skills over this past summer thanks to all the practice
• Our circles of trust and sharing while out on the islands
• The roughest boat ride EVER and all the pukers!!
• Planting my own baby tree on the highlands of San Cristobal
• Fabricio’s scary stories….
• The amazing food from our beach barbeque

Dear GLA-ers,

I hope you’re all doing well and missing Ghana as much as I am… it feels like an age ago already!

It’s for times like now that I wish I’d kept a diary. Those good intentions soon went out the window once we got stuck in and busy, but there are definitely some amazing memories which will always stay with me. Most of all, I remember meeting so many passionate individuals who got stuck in every day and made my job one of the best around.

This doesn’t even begin to capture all of my highlights, but here are just a few:

* “that is not GLA approved”
* “you’re crying as you’re filming it happen”
* Richard the goat
* Star-gazing during mentor groups and capturing those elusive shooting stars

* Dance-offs and the total take-down of (I mean friendly competition against) Children of Africa
* Shaking your bum-bum
* Epic volleyball competitions…as long as I was on the sidelines

* “Psychologically, emotionally, emphatically”….you guys remember the rest!
* The World Cup complete with vuvuzelas and face paint
* “What makes the grass grow? Blood, Blood, Blood”

* Massage circles
* The most epic Capture the Flag game in history. Fact.
* Brett’s extraordinary and rather premature death
* The Ghahaca and Kesha face paint at the football tournament

* BOB! ….and Bobby and the Shelbs
* Afika beach ale? (Ewe for ‘which way to the beach?’)
* “Every body sing Hallelujah!”
* Completing six toilets which will offer over a 100 people access to improved sanitation facilities.

Thank you once again for such an incredible summer. Not sure how anything else is quite going to top it!

Much love and plenty of clicking handshakes,
Charlotte, International Director

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Don’t just relive your summer abroad. Experience GLA in a whole new way next summer, in a country you’ve never been to before. Then check out Local Director Dougal’s letter below.

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To my dearest friends from the Building Healthy Villages programme,

I hope you are all doing well and your muscles are still bulging from all that building work you did with us! It has been so quiet at Meet Me There since you guys left us, the energy and the buzz you all brought was truly awesome and greatly missed!

I’m sure you will all be extremely happy to hear that all the toilets you helped us build are all being used very well. Baloteli and Jasper are currently even building two more toilets but definitely not at the rapid speed it took with you guys assisting us!

Getting to know you all on a personal level and seeing what incredibly intelligent, passionate, caring individuals was definitely the highlight for me personally! I know you will all go so far in life making such a positive impact on the world we live in. Seeing you grow and settle in to our community and way of life so well was also very cool!

I am so please that some of you have already started helping us with fund raising ideas and spreading the word of our work! This is the whole idea and vision for Dream Big Ghana, you are not just guests that come and go but you are family who will be for ever welcome to stay at our home and be part of our work!

Any way, I hope school is going well and you are enjoying life hopefully with a bit of a new perspective on things! ! Remember to stay up to date on our work and progress through our facebook page! I wish you all the best for the rest of the year and hope to see you all soon! Meet Me There is always here for you!

Big love and stay strong!

Tigo/ Dougs

Don’t forget to experience it all as if it was the first time with a new GLA summer adventure! Then check out Tigo’s favorite memories and relive the experience all over again.

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Dougal’s Recollections

1. Lying on the beach watching the magical shooting stars
2. Tricking everyone nearly every meal time on what was being served! You are all far too gullible!
3. Watching the Ghana vs Germany game and getting far too excited with some very creative face paint on! Franks was definitely the best!
4. Seeing you all looking so cool in your African finest on the last night!
5. Seeing friendships blossom between you and our incredible staff!
6. Watching everyone getting soaked when carrying water on their heads!
7. Charlotte’s malicious head butting challenge on me in the football tournament.
8. Seeing you all grow in so many ways as the trip went on.
9. The dance off and John shaking his up his bum bum!

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Dear Friends from GLA Ghana Children of Africa 2014,

I trust this letter finds you well in your next adventure, whether another year of high school wherever home is, or beginning college in a new city or state. I have really enjoyed opportunities to keep in the loop with you all over the last few months. It is truly amazing how time flies.

It feels like yesterday were getting hounded by young children as celebrities, taking strolls to our private beach, and consuming an insane amount of fanice. Regular ice cream just doesn’t have the same satisfaction of having to melt it yourself in order to be able to sip drop by sweet drop out of a torn rubber corner, does it?

I want to thank you all again for taking the leap to come to Ghana with GLA this summer, but even more so for bringing the very best of yourself with you and sharing that with the kids that you met, the at the schools where you worked, and the clinic that you painted, with the new friends you made at the home base and with the GLA staff. Thank you for giving yourself a chance to be transformed, and sowing the seeds of the most amazing people you know you can be.

I also continue to think about all of the great conversations we had, about the meaning of service, about the personal stories and sometimes judgments that we bring with us, and even about sensitive topics like religion and privilege. You all showed such respect and candor to one another that I have great faith in your toolkit of cross-cultural communication moving forward.

I want to tell you all again that I appreciate most of all the questions that you brought with you and that you continue to carry with you and explore. The unique yet informed perspectives you are forming on global issues you are forming, along with your courage to speak honestly gives me great hope for what your generation will be, and already is, capable of.

I cannot tell you how much each of you taught me this summer, and how each of you touched my heart. Keep being who you are, and who you are becoming, and you will surely change the world.

With great admiration,

Alec

…and don’t forget to dance

Don’t just relive your summer abroad. Experience GLA in a whole new way next summer, in a country you’ve never been to before. Then check out Alec’s favorite memories below, and mentor Laura’s letter to her students from this summer.

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Alec’s Favorite Memories:

1. Incredible open mics and musical jams (Tres’ knocking us all out with his rendition from Man of la Mancha)
2. Students pulling together on our second to last day to finish a beautiful painting job of the local clinic
3. Playing theater games and having rich discussion after a local people demonstrating against the construction of a mega-resort on the island where we stopped to visit.
4. Feeling the immense magic of Wli falls and watching everyone’s face light up in its presence
5. Seeing Reda give one of the best elementary school lessons I have ever seen, with every first-grader in his class sitting at their desks, completely engaged in an interactive lesson teaching not only the names of the colors but how to spell them.
6. Epic soccer matches with Ghanaian youth at the beach
7. Writer’s circles in the lounge, and poem’s shared at open mic.

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Hey!

It’s crazy to think that it’s already October. How did summer disappear so quickly? It seems like yesterday I was sitting on our sweet little beach in Anloga, resting after a game of sand soccer and surrounded by neighborhood children. As we settle back into our normal lives, we can take a second to reflect on the amazing time we shared together in Anloga. Can you believe that just a couple months ago, we were standing under the tallest waterfall in West Africa? I can still smell Mercy’s Red Red from the kitchen and hear the laughter of those wonderful kids at our schools.

Almost daily, I am asked to describe my summer with all of you. I’ve decided that there’s no one word that could give our summer justice. It was epic, challenging, beautiful, inspiring, and memorable, just to name a few. How do you describe dance brick-making parties, starstruck talent shows, and bumpy tro-tro rides? What words describe the feeling of swimming in a lagoon, teaching math to rowdy primary schoolchildren, and feeding monkeys in the thick jungles of Ho? Every day was different, filled to the brim with smiling faces and new memories. I love the thought that there is a whole bunch of you, spread across our big, beautiful world, who share these memories with me and know exactly what our summer in Anloga was like.

I smile with pride when I think of the amazing work you did this summer. Waking up each morning, untangling ourselves out of those green mosquito nets, and heading off to make bricks under that hot West African sun took passion, courage, and something special that each one of you brought. It was such an amazing feeling to see those bricks being used at the end of the summer to build classrooms. You helped make those bricks and that’s incredible. Your commitment and ambition left a legacy at those schools – if the tears shared with your students at the end of the session weren’t already an indicator, you will not be soon forgotten. Thanks for being so consistently passionate in helping those schools; I feel grateful to have worked with such inspiring individuals.

I hope everyone is settling into this school year successfully. Maybe one day we can share a Fan Ice once again, laughing about all the things that happened in Anloga. Keep inspiring those around you and hold your memories of Ghana close, knowing that there’s a big, loving community in Ghana and around the world that misses you and thinks you’re awesome. Thanks for being so great and hanging out with me this summer.

Much love!

-Laura (Awushie)

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One time overseas is never enough. Experience GLA in a whole new way this coming summer, or revisit your favorite places from last year and check out their progress. Then read Laura’s summer highlights below, and mentor Kate’s new letter to her group from this summer.

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Laura’s Highlights:

• Fan Ice. One a day is never enough. Also Eric the Fan Ice guy! (Cough, Alyssa, cough).
• Our awesome local staff. Stephen Humble Tiger Amulu, Princess, Selasie and Emefa, and Dodzi. And Jerry of course.
• The awesome acts at both the open mic and the talent show! Poems, dancing, singing, and Michael Jackson.
• Bonfires on the beach!
• Epic dance parties, especially Team Shockwave’s dance parties while making bricks.
• Standing under the Wli waterfall.
• Linda’s awesome dance circle, Tres’s camp song sing-a-longs, Riad’s Armani soccer strut, and Reda’s MC moments.
• Singing Disney songs in the tro-tro.
• The protest on the fishing island during the river tour.
• Photo shoot on the boat with Shene. Mentor babes for life!
• Epic talks about leadership, change, service, and our role in the world.
• Anytime anyone ever had a birthday – especially Alec, Will, and Stephen (heheheh).

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Hi GLA friends!

I can’t believe it’s already been two and a half months since we were last together in Ghana! I think of you all anytime I look at my black yarn bracelet or my Krobo beads. I love to wear the beads because people ask me about them and I get to tell them all about my favorite people and our adventures in Ghana.

I’ve been thinking about our little family and the connections we made in our home in Odumase. Do you remember how awkward everyone was the first night? I struggled to bring everyone out of their shell and to start interacting. Three weeks later, you all wouldn’t stop talking as you gathered in the living room every evening to play cards or “What are the chances?”  I still cannot get that image of Audrey with peanut butter eyes out of my head.

I’m so proud of you all for all the work that you did at Mancona International School. Not only did you build a ton of blocks, but you built amazing relationships with the school and with your students. Do you remember how happy they were every day when we arrived at the school? They stuck their little hands out of the window holes in the wall to wave hello. With little direction, you were placed in front of a class of 40 students and told to teach. It was amazing to watch you all learn and adapt so quickly. You found ways to teach the kids so they actually understood the lesson, beyond just memorizing the information. I hope that we can keep in touch with Mancona and that one day, we’ll go back to visit the students and see their new library/IT center.

I hope you all enjoyed the rest of your summer and I hope our time in Ghana has inspired you to continue serving others this year. You are all so talented and ambitious; I can’t wait to hear about all of the amazing things you’re doing. Keep in touch!

Peace,

Kate (“Larko”)

Here are some of Kate’s Favorite Recollections:

• Krobo naming ceremony and everyone in the community asking for our Krobo names
• Going to a “bead market” with just 5 stalls, but spending an hour there anyway
• Talking about the “Single Story” of Africa
• Drinking sachets of water and making friendship bracelets in the living room
• Driving around in the van and waving at our neighbors in town on our way home from school
• Hiking to the top of the mountain and seeing Boti Falls
• Learning about Dipo from Henry’s aunt
• Meeting a 107-year old women for Livie’s birthday
• The last week at Mancona, with the art contests and the class photos

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Greetings to all my lovely friends from Children of the Maya,

I seriously can’t believe it’s already October! It seems like just yesterday we were bouncing along those dirt roads in Guatemala to and from the schools thinking we were going to fall out of our seats, or as I recall some of us actually did (Woohee, although snuggling up to Oliver seemed to help)! I miss it all so much! The fun we had at service, the music that was mostly appropriate (Maya/Ryan), the afternoon excursions, and of course all the time spent goofing off at the home base! Although probably I could pass on another three hour van trip back to the capital!

Whenever I’m telling my friends about our trip this past summer I always tell them about our beautiful weekend trip to the lake and how unfortunately it was often followed by me getting to play nurse for a few days, (Bailey said it best “The Plague!”)! I’m so happy you all got better so quickly, despite a few days of struggle! I also tell them how much I learned from all of you, keeping me young with the latest Sam Smith jams or serenading me with “Come on Eileen”. Although I do include how I learned that there are consequences to playing games of odds with you (Kevin)!

I still think one of the best parts for me was seeing all of you at service and how hard you worked. It was incredible to watch you, some with language skills others with little, really reach out and make a connection with the children. It was amazing to see how much you cared and really wanted to learn about Guatemala, leadership, and everything around you! You are all an awesome bunch of individuals and I am so proud and pleased I got to spend time with all of you this summer! I hope you all remember your action plans and are continuing to work on those ideas of yours. I know you will all be doing big things in the future!

Rudy, Meredith and I got really lucky this summer. Not only did we become best friends, because, come on, they are the coolest, even if Rudy never quite knows what’s going on! But I got to see some real dance skills, honestly I would like to mention a few names here but the list is quite long! From Fabian’s reggateon, to Pete and Charlie’s salsa, to Ariel’s “moves”, and so many more, I’m laughing right now thinking about it! The whole summer was full of so much learning and fun!

I hope school is going well for you now! Whether it is your first semester of college or high school I hope you are rocking it! Hopefully I will hear from all of you on what’s new and how it’s all going! Or maybe we will even get lucky enough to run into each other on a future GLA trip!

All my love,

Eileen (Momma Eileen)

Don’t just relive your summer abroad. Experience GLA in a whole new way next summer, in a country you’ve never been to before.

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