A Perfect Day!

If there’s such a thing as a perfect day, today might have been it. One aspect of my time here that I really haven’t talked about yet is the other volunteers. People are here from all over the world, and getting to know them has been a lot of fun. I’m constantly amazed by how well we can relate to one another even when we come from such different places. I also feel like I’ve known them all for much longer than 5 days… Just seeing that number is kind of throwing me off. But when you live and work together, friendships develop much faster than in normal life, and the group dynamic right now is incredibly good.

A few people left this week, but I want to briefly mention the ones who are sticking around so that I can refer to them by name. Two volunteers were already in the house when we got there, Avy (Hong Kong) and Fernanda (Mexico). They both played big roles in getting the summer school going and are awesome with the kids. Amber (Belgium), Maria (Portugal), and Nicolas (France) started at the same time as I did, and they all work at the farm with me in the mornings. Nicolas and I are teaching buddies, and Maria and I have been running together. Amber is helping at the medical clinic.

They’re all absolutely hilarious, and we also work well together which is a huge blessing. People share ideas and help each other, and we can be far more effective in helping the kids because of that.

Anyway, back to business. At the farm this morning, Nicolas showed us how to plant some seeds that he brought from France. We spent a couple hours making “nests” for the seeds- digging a hole and loosening the dirt inside of it to make it easier for the new plants to break through and grow roots. It wasn’t as labor intensive as the other days which was a welcome break.

Then, school went so well!! We’ve been working on coming up with more fun ways of teaching the kids. We did the hokey pokey to help teach them about nouns, adjectives, and verbs in English class and did some activities with shapes in Math. The kids were so good and I think they had fun and learned a thing or two.

After class, Maria had face paint that she used to give them some war paint, and they absolutely loved it. Seeing them get excited about such “little” things definitely makes you stop and think. Something may seem small to you, but you don’t know how it looks to someone else. In my mind, it was so simple, but for those kids, that was a big thing. It makes me rethink my previous ideas about not being able to make a real difference in such a small time. I think that you have to live as if your every action will have some lasting impact on the people around you, and whether it’s positive or negative is up to you.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, watching the Frankadua soccer team play against a neighboring town, and after dark, having a farewell bonfire for the volunteers who are leaving this weekend. A bunch of the kids and locals came too, and the night was filled with Ghanaian music and dancing and good conversations.

This weekend, we’re headed to Cape Coast to do some touristing. I should go pack before it gets much later! So much for getting to bed early… (it’s almost midnight)