While we were watching all 10 of them climb into a van today (it was quite a show) my friend Terry (a local) was walking across the street back to our flat. We were just watching from the balcony when all the sudden he gets hit by a motorcycle and goes flying into the air! It was like something from the movies, except Africa style. He just got up, yelled at the driver and continued walking back to the house. End of story. Meanwhile the rest of us are just staring with our jaws dropped in disbelief...
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I've spent the last few days working more than I have in the past 5 weeks combined. On Sunday we wrote a proposal for obtaining sponsorship, Monday was spent fixing the proposal and creating some supplementary informational packets for companies to read and also getting a paint estimate for this one school that we want to paint, and on Tuesday I taught as usual.
Teaching yesterday was pretty fun. I performed a science experiment for them - the one where you drop Mentos in a 2 liter bottle of coca-cola. If you don't know what I'm talking about, definitely get on youtube and search Mentos eruption. The kids really enjoyed it, and hopefully learned about the science behind the experiment. Around 11 they have the equivalent of P.E. and so I went to the field with them where they play soccer and run around. The only difference is the field is more dirt than grass and P.E. lasts for several hours while the teachers just do nothing.
While outside, I talked with one student named Ishmael. He has so much potential and drive to succeed, but I'm not sure what will happen to him. The schools where I teach are dirt poor. They basically have no money and even high school education is not certain in their future-- even though its covered by the government. As I talked to Ishmael, he told me his dreams of becoming a doctor, though his mom wants him to be an engineer. The only thing I could tell him was that he needs to stay in school and study.
Went to pizza night at the mall yesterday, as usual for Tuesday. We picked up some cereal and peanut butter for our trip north. I leave Friday to the northern region of Ghana to Mole National Park (wildlife), the hippo sanctuary, and possibly a waterfall en route. The bus ride is like 9 hours...due to bad roads, bad buses, etc. Should be exciting though and I plan to take a ton of photos. Really wish I could share some with you all, but uploading is im
possible. AHHH ! SRCATCH THAT! ONE PHOTO WORKED! LET ME TRY ANOTHER! One is the the back of our apartment flat, then a pic of some kids and us interns, and last is a view of our street from the rooftop.
how come you keep teaching these kids how do mix household items to make explosions? are you encouraging them to become nuclear engineers? what about like how plants get food or science that they can use towards a career? you're letting them have too much fun!
ReplyDeletewellpp miss you brudder. living in my apt alone is kinda like...living with you during waterski/interview season! the intern who sits next to me at my current temp job is from MN and he didnt have anything really bad to say about it! he even said he might move back some day! and he said it snowed more in Chi than minnesota. I told him about you and how you are moving there (unless you get Ghanaian citizenship or something).