There Is Time For Everything

Greetings everyone from the Volta Region of Ghana ! So far so good with our first group of 29 students arriving from different parts of the world including the US, Canada, Turkey, Germany, and Spain. In our group we have 25 females and 4 males, with ages ranging from 15 to 18 years of age. All of the students have already been here for 5 days so far, and it has been great getting to know each and every one of them. We have already begun our work in the school which includes brick making and teaching of classes. As well we have had the opportunity to engage in a variety of cultural activities including, participating in African Drum lessons, visiting a slave fort, playing with children at an orphanage, visiting local host families, playing with the local village children, visiting a local seamstress to have clothing made from African designed cloth bought at the local market and having guest speakers at night which include college professors speaking about Ghana today to a local chief talking about the different tribes of Ghana. Every day has been super action packed with each of our mornings being filled with community service and the afternoon/night being filled with the cultural events and excursions. All this has just occurred in the first five days of the program! We have our weekend trip coming up as well as a whole other week still with this initial group. My main responsibilities with the students include consulting with them at the community service site, working alongside Ghanaian staff with all the activities, running discussions/dialogues/workshops with the students, and being there for the students for anything else they may need. Overall this has been a great experience and I am super excited for the next 7 weeks where I will be working still with this group and other groups of students to come.

Being in Africa, and especially Ghana, has been an amazing experience so far. They call Ghana the “Island of Peace” in West Africa, and I definitely believe it. Everyone has been extremely friendly to our group and just getting to know the people of Ghana you can tell they are really proud of their country and its people. When the college professor came I asked him “What is so unique about Ghana that it has been able to maintain Peace in its country while many others in Africa are having their own difficulties?” Long story short he attributed it to its strong democratic government and its encouragement and acceptance of members of different Ghanaian tribes to intermarry. This intermarriage and cultural acceptance amongst tribes has caused lots of rivalry amongst neighboring Africa countries but in Ghana everyone is very accepting of their tribal differences, which I found really interesting. I am sure there are more factors as well, but when Obama came to visit Ghana in 2008 I am sure he picked this country strategically as it definitely is a strong leader and model country of governance in Africa. Of course Ghana still has its social problems with 30 percent of its people living below the poverty line and certain forms of child slavery (especially in the Volta region where children are recruited to work in Lake fisheries and dive deep to untangle nets do to their “small fingers” which can only untangle these nets) and sex trafficking still occurring within its borders, but they are working hard to make the countries government work better for its people.

I am very excited to take all of my experience working in the rural Ghanaian schools and bring this practical experience with me to my masters studies in International Education beginning in the fall at GW University in Washington DC. But until then I will enjoy my time here in Ghana and take advantage of this incredible opportunity I have here to learn more about the country of Ghana and its people, and work with some amazing students from around the world.
Earlier today I was able to stop and think to myself for a moment, and I realized that “Wow, I am literally in the middle of rural Ghana playing soccer with students from a local orphanage on the beach, this is wild” Each and every day has been an amazing adventure so far. Also on the beach I saw some fishing boats and on one of the boats read: “THERE IS TIME FOR EVERYTHING”. I thought that was a particularly though provoking quote, which definitely tapped into the laid back attitude one can find in rural Ghana. I have been thinking a lot about that quote recently.

Anyways that is the latest from me right now. I have incurred 5 mosquito bites while writing this blog so I better stop writing right now. Us staff here in Ghana recently heard that another staff member working in Tanzania for our company contracted Malaria, so that is another reason I should probably sign off now. In a book I was reading the author described Malaria as the feel of “having molten lava course through your bones” so I will try my hardest to not have that happen to me by continuing to take my 80% effective malaria medication pills !!

Till next time, I miss all of my friend and family back in the states and abroad!

Peace and Love to all, Thanks for reading,

Rudy