Ghana Team Journal

Quote of the day: “It is better to aim for the stars and miss than it is to aim for a pile of dung and hit it.”

- Unknown

Journal by: George Ostrom

Today was a typical day. We ate a delicious breakfast of French Toast as we discussed certain aspects of Ghanaian culture with Esther. I was thankful to be done eating before we began discussing traditions for women who are going through puberty. As we (or maybe I should say the ladies) were discussing the inconsistency of when young women begin menstruation, I politely excused myself from the table to get ready to go to the construction site.

At the construction site, we mixed six bags of cement. Although we had previously thought the mixing strategies were simply “eyeballed” for accuracy, I found out today that there is a method to their measuring. Each bag of cement is mixed with two wheelbarrows full of dirt or sand. One-third of the bags used are mixed with dirt, and the other two-thirds are mixed with sand. About one and a half wheelbarrows full of rocks are then added for each bag of cement. Therefore, we had four wheelbarrows of dirt, eight wheelbarrows of sand, and about nine or ten wheelbarrows full of rocks mixed with the six bags of cement. All of this resulted in well more than 200 head pans of cement lifted to the second floor of the new library today. The construction crew was very surprised to see that I had armpit hair, and were shocked to know that most men in the United States do not know shave their pits. They were concerned that my armpit hair would grow down to my waist.

Laurie and Tracee were both teaching in their usual classrooms today. Laurie had a smaller group than she had the past few days, and she was teaching about reptiles. The students seem to love learning about animals! Did you know that there are no tigers in Africa? Tracee continued with her geography lessons by having the students make their own maps of the United States. Tomorrow she promised them to work on drawing the American flag.

After catching a bit of well needed rest, we ate a healthy lunch of chicken and rice with a salad. After lunch, Tracee, Kay, and I played a cutthroat game of Uno with Bless when she was done working in the kitchen. Apparently there are rules for Uno that I have never read before, and, thanks to Bless, I now know how to properly play the game that I have been playing wrong since kindergarten.

We met up with Amo on our walk down to the library shortly after a few hands of Uno. There were a few children at the library today, but not as many as yesterday. While Kay, Tracee, and I were reading with the kids, Laurie spent most of the time with the librarian sorting and straightening the bookshelves. After the library, we had thoughts of catching a Tro-Tro to the bead annex but instead decided to just relax for a while before dinner. I think we have had enough adventures this past week!

Dinner today was rice with a scrumptious beef sauce served with freshly sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. Millicent had also prepared Laurie’s favorite- popcorn! Esther dropped by with some authentic Kente cloth as requested, and we were all impressed by the craftsmanship. After some more discussion, Esther and Amo departed as the four of us retired to our rooms.