Week 15 – November 30 – December 7 The week of “last
times”
But first a few students that I will never forget
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| Me and Khadija, my awesome helper all term |
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| Musah, a tough little kid, more prone to pushing than talking, but when he started talking to me about a month ago that was a major victory for me. |
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| Gloria (little miss sassy pants) and Selase, my star stage 4 English student |
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| Agogo and Patrick, a couple of my stage 2 boys that would grab my hands anytime I was walking around campus, my mini entourage |
Day 96 – Last time taking a trip to Ho, just doing errands
mostly but it was nice to be able to run around and do lots of things, not get
lost, successfully fight my way onto an overbooked trotro, and be home in time
for dinner.
Day 97 – Last time doing buckets of laundry. It is definitely
the one chore that I most dislike without running water. Bathing is totally
fine, dishes not that much worse than home, an hours of scrubbing, pouring, rinsing
etc. is a pain in the butt. BUT the good thing was I was able to download lots
of podcasts the day before so caught up on tons of Radiolab and Mike
and Tom Eat Snacks.
Day 98 – Exam day! I was really pleased with most of them, even
though no matter how many times I told them to re-read, 3-4 still just totally
skipped a section. Test taking skills should have taken a lot more of my time
probably.
Day 99 – Most of the day just in meetings, but I guess I am
just thankful that all of these meetings felt good, mostly productive, and on
the same page with the staff here. So even though I was here in a huge
transition period (like 3 senior staff fired, 5 teachers in one term) I hope I
am leaving on the upswing for the next volunteers.
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| Computer store |
Day 100 – Last visit to Hohoe to the school for the deaf and
finally, FINALLY buying a computer that was promised to a community to give
them in August. This has been my monkey on my back, a small, but always on the
to do list that will not go away.
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| Josh, another volunteer, setting up the first computer in a small village. |
Day 101 – Mostly a day just hanging with the kids and
playing computer, but one of the hardest meetings with a student that has been
in big trouble for fighting and today was stealing. Not a favorite thing, but I
guess I am happy that there were overall so few problems like this considering
the overall lack of supervision these kids have a lot of the time.
Week 16 – December 7 - 12th to the end.
Day 102 - Voting Day so no school. Had a nice last trip to
my favorite fried chicken place and read about 1.5 books.
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| Prince and Bright with their Christmas loot |
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| Organizing Hundreds of soccer jerseys |
Day 103 – HUGE shopping trip, taking 4 hours with three
students to buy clothes, school supplies and Christmas gifts for them and their
whole families. Hot and a little chaotic but it is my favorite thing to do,
give stuff to the kids. Then back to the school where two hours of four of us
sorting hundreds and hundreds of donated football jerseys. A hard day but one I
know will bring lots and lots of smiles.
Day 104 - My last
frustrating experience with Ghana internet. Eventually got the student on
Facebook and got him an email account. I hope in the next year I can see the
school have a real commuter program again. The students are so desperate for
computers it is amazing.
Day 105 – Got little packs of cookies for students that
wanted to give gifts to their teachers but had no money to. I am constantly
asked for things by students, so it is so touching when a boy, one of the
absolute poorest we have, asks if I can buy some biscuits for him to parcel for
his teacher.
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| Students with their new sandals |
Day 106 – Random fun thing, the campus had a tree infested
with these huge, crazy green and spiky red types of caterpillars. But the best
thing was going to market and buying new sandals for 8 of the neediest kids. My
brother Scott suggested instead of gifts this year since my family is not going
to be together much we could all do giving trees instead of sending gifts. When
I got the sandals to the 8, they were totally surprised and I explained to them
these were gifts from my mother, father, and brothers. It was great seeing one
of the most serious kids, always very intense, with a big smile on his face.
Day 107 – My last full day (well not really as I discovered
the next day when my flight was cancelled) and it was a busy day of last minute
tasks, getting report cards, organizing files etc. But then in the afternoon,
it was Carols Night, a totally chaotic, but adorable show of each class singing
a Christmas carol and the distribution of tons of little gifts between all the
students. My favorite was the Twelve Days of Christmas with a different child singing
each day and the “Two Turtle Doves” Fortune say as “Two Dirty Gloves”. Then
Bishop made a big speech about my work here and of course I totally got chocked
up and could not talk. Lots of pictures with my favorite students. Sad/happy
day overall.
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| Christmas Play, the sheep totally stole the show from Mary and Joseph |
Day 108 – On my last morning, after packing up I was visited
by two of my favorite students, then three more, all just playing and talking
at my house. I said some final goodbyes to my friend Emmanuel, my taxi driver,
Believe my seamstress, and a final walk through the town.
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| Final goodbye at my house |
BONUS Days – I am finishing this list sitting in a fancy
hotel in Accra. Flight was cancelled and delayed two days but since it was
Delta's fault, we are in a fancy hotel. Sad to miss my homecoming weekend.
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