Middle of Week 3 Update

After a couple more reflective and somber posts, I should update you all on what I’ve been doing lately. We have finally resolved my internet struggles, so that is a good thing. The whole process was more complicated than I anticipated, but it’s all working now and I don’t have to be stealing minutes off of the consultants' internet any more.

I’ve continued to do tutoring and help in the classroom. I’ve filled in for teachers a few times this week and I feel I'm getting a better feel for managing the chaos in the classroom, although it’s certainly still chaos. And I’m working with more kids on their reading now – all first or second graders. I am enjoying that, although it definitely involves plenty of frustration. Hopefully we can achieve some real progress in the time that I’m here and start to build strong foundations for these kids to do well in the future.

The only bit of excitement to report was an excursion I went on with the Catherine and Jamie, the WPE Manye consultants, and two of the Manye teachers and a bunch of their friends. Last Friday, on Ghana Republic Day, we went to the beach at Ada which is a little over an hour east of Tema. It is right where the Volta River meets the Atlantic Ocean. It's a very beautiful area that I think is quite popular for Ghanaians to travel to, especially on a long holiday weekend.

We rented a van and squeezed I think 14 people in for the ride. The spot where we went is on a kind of peninsula and we took a boat down the river a little ways, almost to the mouth of the ocean and then pulled in to a kind of mini-resort area. It was a really happening place – like a beach + a dance party. And you had the river on one side and then about fifty yards of sand and then the ocean on the other side, although the ocean was closed to swimming. I stuck my feet in – it’s the same cold Atlantic I know from home. We had a lot of fun there – we played soccer for a while then went in the water and hit a volleyball around and we ate some really good kebabs. It was a great outing, and my first time outside Tema. We will be going to Accra this weekend, so that should be another good excursion.

So that’s basically all I know for now. Everything is going well. Working with the kids is pretty exhausting and I come back to my room really tired every day. But it’s a lot of fun and rewarding, and always entertaining. The kids are really great. So I hope you’re doing well and I will talk to you soon.