We have begun our 2 week fun filled action packed experience of service with the children of Odumase-Krobo.
Stay tuned for our student written Blog updates in the very near future.
In the meantime – please know that everyone is healthy, happy and well rested!!
Good evening from Odumase-Krobo!!
Our group has been quite busy for the past two days getting settled, playing with the children of Asitey, shopping at the local market, dancing in the rain ………..
We have now gotten down to business and selected our Leadership Roles as well as our Service Responsibilities at the Elementary and Nursery schools.
Each GLA student has chosen a Leadership Responsibility which they will manage for the rest of the trip.
Below are the roles which will now lie in the hands of the following students:
Bloggers: Anna, Kaycie
Time Keepers: Natalia, Maeve
Game Leaders: Olivia, Luke
Agenda: Ada, Zoe
Site Leaders: Liz, Alexa
Head Counters: Lucy, Frances
Clean Space Reminders: Amanda, Elinor
Health Reminders: Dom, Rebecca
Thank You’s: Quillan, Khair
Please check back tomorrow for a Blog by Anna and Kaycie!!
August 6, 2017
Hallelujah! Amen. Thursday kicked off our great Ghanaian adventure with long immigration lines and an even longer bus ride. Although the journey was long and exhausting, we were welcomed with open arms and our first African supper at 1 am. Friday we started off our day by taking a hike down to the nursery where we got to celebrate Aila’s birthday with her with singing, dancing, and champagne bottle popping. When we got back to home base we were joined with a new member of our family, minus her luggage… We also had the pleasure of experiencing our first day at Asitey Park where the local kids will run from their houses to greet you with a hug and a smile. We toured the village and the local elementary school where we will be spending our weekly service hours. Saturday was a day of immersing ourselves in traditional Ghanaian clothing; our measurements were taken, garment styles were chosen, and we all took a field trip to the local farmer’s market where we got to browse and buy vibrant fabrics. In the evening time, Monica, an empowered Ghanaian woman, spoke to us about growing up female in Ghana and the barriers she surpassed to become an entrepreneur, teacher, nursery owner, and bank consultant—not a norm in Ghana. She wowed us with her guiding principles for succeeding in life; have a goal, make a plan, study hard, and never let anyone bully you. Accompanying her was her daughter and a young, local Krobo man who had come from a broken home and spent life alone fighting for food to survive. His message was a source of inspiration for all of us and a motivator to always persevere.
Today, Sunday, we took part in a local Church service, a new experience for everyone regardless of if this was there first time or not. The service consisted of song and dance with an accompanying band, equipped with a keyboard, drums, bass and back up singers. We danced to the front of the Church and clapped along with the music. The Pastor preached and prayed for us as a group. Everyone wore their best clothes and enjoyed taking part in such a lively ceremony. It even brought tears to a few of our members. Back at home base we played group games, like the infamous trust fall and fireman’s squat to help build a stronger trust bond with each other. We all got the opportunity to try batiking, a creation using wax and stamps to decorate cloth, and dyed our creations in different colors. Now we wait patiently as they dry and hopefully can marvel at our masterpieces by tomorrow afternoon. The evening activity tonight has been the highlight of our trip. The staff dressed us up in our colorful bed blankets and painted our faces with chalk. We learned several Ghanaian songs and dances and were given Krobo names. The whole ordeal was very exciting and upbeat. We chanted and clapped for everyone’s new names and received a Krobo naming bead to wear as a bracelet. The few who were unfortunate enough to drop their bead had to do a dance for everyone at the front of the room. The whole night was magical. Now we are getting ready for bed and eagerly awaiting the next adventures to be upon us. Tomorrow will be our first day of service, teaching and brick building, and we look forward to the day that lies ahead.
Goodnight from your student bloggers Anna and Kaycie
Day 1 – tour of Aitiey Village
Our first rainstorm!!
Day 2 – shopping for fabric at the market
Day 3 – Church
Leadership Games
Batik
August 8, 2017
Service time!!! Monday started our first day of brick making/teaching at Asitey Elementary School and the others at Edmon nursery. Our day started an hour earlier than usual, which for some has become the most difficult part of the day. All of us caught on to the manual cement mixing and filling the brick molds pretty well, and we each succeeded in completing our first brick on the first try.
The kids that we have been seeing everyday at the park were so excited to have us teaching them in the classroom and working with them one on one in a formal environment. The other students at the nursery enjoyed a day full of singing and dancing and even succeeded in creating their own song through collaborative brainstorming.
After spending a day in the Elementary School, we got to walk a few feet up the hill from home base to the Krobo Girl’s boarding school to take a tour around their campus in order to experience the life of a high school student here in Ghana. It was great spending time with our peers from another country – and we are looking forward to attending classes later this week. We enjoyed some quality time playing with our kids at the park, and later had a bonfire to top off the night. The bonfire consisted of singing dancing, and fire circling. We chanted along to a native song we’ve come to know quite well and were summoned to dance by the staff as our “father” Henry played his drum. It was an evening of bright fires and big smiles.
Today’s birthday boy, Khair, and his roommates started the day early playing basketball with Krobo guys and our GLA local director. After breakfast we drove to a bead factory to watch Cedi, the man known around here for his infamous work, hand craft beads and learn how to make them ourselves. The beads we constructed were made from broken bottles and crushed glass. The process was very intricate and involved heating them in a kiln, sanding the beads, and looping them through string. A worker at the factory climbed a palm tree for us and chopped down several coconuts so we could refresh ourselves with some fresh coconut water.
After the bead making we went to meet our host families who took us under their wing and taught us some Krobo words. The kids very much enjoyed being able to twist the tables and teach us for a change. Dinner was celebrated with a cake for Khair and a card signed by everyone. We watched a TEDTalk about the impacts of one-sidedness and ignorance of other perspectives, the talk was called The Danger of a Single Story and was incredibly powerful. Before and after the TEDTalk we engaged in rich discussions with our GLA peers.
Tomorrow will bring about a new adventure full of learning, teaching and cooking. We look forward to the many experiences yet to come!
by: Kaycie and Anna
First day of brickmaking
Teaching P1 and P2
Teaching grade 5/6
Teaching grade 3/4
We’re half way there! The days are long, the heat is tiring, the great debate still stands: is this trip taking forever? Or traveling at lightning speed? Wednesday was another morning filled with brick building and school teaching. Our nursery school volunteers left early in the morning to participate in meeting the parents and baby worship. We spent the afternoon sweating in the sun while we took on cooking and hawking. The food we prepared was our dinner for the evening, so we really got to indulge in the fruits of our labor. We cooked, cleaned, and peeled carrots, plantains, onions, coconuts, tomatoes and other veggies. The hawking was our opportunity to try out the local way of carrying our needs for the day. The streets, the market, and the staff all transport goods via a basket on their head. The practicing of this tradition went well for some… but not for most. We took turns balancing planks of wood, baskets of books, and long logs tied together. Oh ya, we balanced the things on our HEADS.
The afternoon was back with our host families learning more of the Krobo language with students from the elementary school. Our time with them was cut short for our scheduled “football” (soccer) match with some local players. Unfortunately, we lost 3-2 to their team of four young boys and a baby goal keeper, but our efforts were valiant and we all had a blast. For our evening activity we drove to a nearby empty parking lot where many people find themselves in the later hours of the day, dancing and singing. We took turns dancing in the middle of the circle and all tried playing some Ghanaian instruments made from bamboo. Kids who heard us ran and joined in and the whole night was colorful and musical.
Another day, another brick. Today we were granted two brick molds instead of our usual one, consequently we completed the most bricks ever done on this GLA trip. A resounding 30 cement bricks–new library here we come! In other exciting news, today was laundry day! No more smelly campers or dirty clothes. The group adventured back up the hill to the Krobo Girl’s School where we were each able to sit in on different classes and experience education here for kids our age. Suffice it to say we didn’t exactly fit in and many came back feeling like a celebrity due to all the excited attention from the Krobo students.
Our daily time at the park was almost doubled today. We had the choice to spend two and a half hours with the kids enjoying their company and playing an intense game of volleyball. Our evening was a reflective chat with our mentor Kaye. We opened up about people who we admire, believe have potential, and think are strong leaders. It was nice to have an activity of internal reflection and community bonding.
One week down, one to go and the feelings are bittersweet. However, many days left, whatever the temperature, we are always looking forward to our next great adventure!
Goodnight,
Kaycie and Anna
Friday began as a typical day; 30 more bricks and an hour of teaching. The days are hot and the games are tiring, but the kids are kind and the service is rewarding. We were rejoiced to know that our afternoon was spent at home base with Rasheed, a vendor at the local market who carves crafts and sews pants. He set up shop in our dining room, and oh how the Ghanian cedis flew away. We’ll all be returning with gifts galore and empty pockets. We had our last lesson with the host families and spent another informal hour at the park with the children. The evening was full of legends and traditional dance, the highlight of many student’s trip. We worked on dancing in a group, a line, a circle, and on our own.
A field trip to Boti Falls and Umbrella Rock was Saturday’s adventure. The hike to Umbrella Rock was short and sweet, so much so that select few even decided to run the hike back down. We got to refresh our sweaty foreheads at the enormous waterfall that produced a cold, breezy mist. It was very fun to get to see a more tropical side of Ghana and enjoy a nice picnic lunch. The rest of our day was dedicated to fun day prep—a day hosted by GLA for all the kids who attended summer school this year.
This morning was chalk full of bright eyes and bushy tails to celebrate our 9:00am breakfast. We headed to Sajuna Beach Resort for some swimming, kayaking, trampolining, and beach volleyball. After several hours of fun in the sun, we made our way to a local bead store to do some last minute gift shopping. We made our daily visit to the park and then spent the evening with Henry learning about travelling responsibly and the positive impact we the participants of GLA programs make on our surrounding environment. He dove into the history of Ghana and let us all try some fresh cocoa straight from the fruit… Not exactly the creamy, delicious treat we were expecting. We finished off our night with preparation for tomorrow’s last class. The entire house is swept with a melancholy feeling that our time here is truly coming to an end, however we find comfort in knowing our friendship and new found experiences are strong enough to last a life time.
By: Anna and Kaycie
