It is hard to believe that we are essentially half way through our great Ghanian adventure. So much has occured since our last post, that it would be impossible to fully describe it with the necessary amount of detail that it truly deserves. Nonetheless, we'd like to give you a slice of the the great progress and growth that has occured in a short amount of time. We've made amazing headway on our work projects. We've stacked, stamped, sorted, sifted, and shelved literally thousands of books. So many books have been kindly donated that we've gone to the length of partnering with a local carpenter and teams of students have helped him make additional book shelves by hand. It's hard to believe that what started as a room full of boxes of books has begun to turn into a gorgeous and organized center for learning and resource. As we continue to fine tune our work at the library, we are simultaneously hacking away (quite literally) at additional work projects. Yesterday, a hard working team of sun-kissed teenagers started and finished a magnificent set of terraced stairs leading to the library. These stairs will be particullarly helpful during the approaching rainy season, as it turned what would otherwise be a mudslide of a path into a safe and aesthetically appealling set of beautiful stairs leading to the soon-to-be complete library. Additionally, the Jackson students have been pairing with students with the Trinity Yard School and carrying out one-on-one reading sessions to help build literacy and skill in reading. Teams of students have also had the chance to gain the perspective of a teacher, as groups of three or four have helped teach Trinity Yard School classes early in the week and are now concentrating efforts to teach at the local primary school. The help at the primary school is much appreciated, as two of the six classrooms (3rd and 5th grades) at the village primary school do not even have a teacher currently. Our presence provides an incredible amount of instruction that otherwise would simply not be happening without us. Finally, we've begun to concentrate on our bike project. Bikes are the most treasured mode of transportation around here but many have fallen into disrepair due to the caustic sea-breeze and unavoidable ammumulation of dust and mud on the componenets. To address this issue, our group has built a bike workbench and tool cabinet. This will house the many parts and supplies that we have brought with us (many of which were kindly donated byHoff's Bikesmith and The Hub). Later this week, our students will lead a bike maintainance class for the locals during which we will help tune and repair their bikes while simultaneously teaching them how to access the work bench in the future.

All of these projects keep us busy during the day, but we somehow continue to fit in our daily African Drum and Dance class, taught by our fantastic instructors "Mugyoyo" and Mohammed who have the uncanny ability to turn a group of rhythmically challenged Americans into increasingly respectable African dancers and drummers. Finally, we've also had a chance to spend time in the village of Cape Three Points. This experience is best described by our students, but I suspect that even for them it is difficult to accurately describe the true experience of familiarizing ourselves with the life and struggles of our new found friends. The experience puts everything in our lives that has come before it into an entirely new perspective, while at the same time sets the course for everything in our lives that comes afterwards on a new, adjusted trajectory. It is safe to say that what we have seen, heard, smelled, and witnessed inspires our work here and pushes us to use our precious time here to make a difference that will last beyond our physical presence in this very special corner of the world. Maybe that's why a group of students woke up this morning an hour before breakfast to put the proud, finishing touches on the stairs to the library...

Unit Next Time,
Mark, Yara, and Evan