Ghana Team Journal

Quote of the day:

He who says it cannot be done should get out of the way of the one that is doing it. ~Old Chinese Proverb

Journal by: Judy

The day began with our usual breakfast of eggs and toast and a discussion of our trip to the Cape Coast this weekend. Esther gave us some hints about what to see and do and hopes she won’t get a phone call that we were swept away by the rip tide. We all promised not to go near the water. Some walked, some rode and we went off to school. We were surprised to see all the children with machetes (never would have happened in the US) cutting the grass. Thankfully they managed to cut only the grass and not themselves. Then off to the classrooms they went to up-end the desks and sweep the classrooms. We were then informed the children would be given a reading test by the staff of JSC. The children waited under the mango tree in the yard to be called in to read a paragraph.

The results were not good. It seems as though at least a third of the students in each class cannot read. Upon completion of the tests the students were released for “Physical Education”. Organized Chaos began. There appeared to be a soccer game between class 4 and 5 while the rest of the students ran amuck.

In the mean time, Jim got to work with the French speaking student one on one. Daniel and Gary got a lot more concrete work done and were excited to have a delivery of more bags of cement. Our group had decided to fund the purchase of more bags of cement so work could continue. We left school and returned for another delicious lunch. The seamstress arrived at one o’clock. We chose the style we wanted and she measured us for the correct fit. After a brief rest it was back to the library for reading and working on puzzles.

We retired to our rooms in anticipation of a hot shower and once again settled for a cold one. After a delicious dinner and conversation with Amo we retired to our rooms to pack for our trip in order to leave at 5 a.m. We decided to wake up the rooster before we left as turn about is fair play.