Wow! Almost Home

It's amazing that our last day is essentially here. First of all, we apologize that we have not been able to post more often, but it has been a very busy push to complete our projects, enjoy our last moments, and sadly say our goodbyes.

Before we catch you up on our latest happenings, we would like to extend an enormous thank you to Rory Jackson, the founder of the Trinity Yard School, for opening up his doors to us and allowing for this opportunity to be possible. If you have not yet been to the Trinity Yard School's website, please follow the link posted on our blog's link section to familiarize yourself with the amazing efforts he has accomplished to support the children of Cape Three Points and surrounding communities. It has been an honor and a privilege to be at "the Yard" and we cannot thank him enough for the opportunity.

As for our work...we are excited to say that our efforts at the library drew to an exciting close this week. It is amazing to see a room full of boxes turn into a fully functioning center for learning. As one of our participants, Dusty Perrin, noted in his entry into our group journal, "If you believe in the saying that 'knowledge is power' than we have created the most powerful building for hundreds and hundreds of miles." We couldn't say it better ourselves. Two years ago we had an opportunity to lead a group of Jackson Hole students to Ghana to build the foundation of the library - it has been phenomenal to see the beautiful building that was built on top of that foundation, and even more exciting to have the opportunity to return with a new group of Jackson students and together sculpt that room full of boxes upon boxes of donated books into a systematized and sustaining center of "knowledge" and "power." Once we return, we will post before and after shots of our work. We are deeply proud of the consolidated efforts of our Jackson Hole students and of the end product we created in the library.

Today we switched gears, leaving Trinity Yard to travel to Cape Coast where we toured one of the largest slave castles in Africa. For the students, this day presented a wide spectrum of emotional challenges, from saying goodbye to new found friends to standing in dungeons where countless men, women and children lived and died. We were very impressed by the maturity and flexibility of all the students. The day ended with a group dinner at the Oasis restaurant followed by a dance party in the main square of Cape Coast where hundreds of Ghanaians surrounded us to join in the collective celebration for the Easter holiday.

It has been a truly amazing trip and these posts only begin to skim the surface. We look forward to returning to the states (thought they has been talk of skipping our flight and heading for the Togo border) where you will surely be accosted by stories of a memorable service trip.

Thanks to each of you for making this opportunity possible for the students and for putting your trust in us as leaders.

See you on the other side,

Mark, Yara, and Evan