Blog reporting for the week of May 12th-18th, 2007 Completed by Karine Club 2/3

Blog entry: From May, 12 to May 18 2007

Title: “Setting our Ghanaian work environment”.

Weekly Thought (week 3): “ Finding where we stand, what our role is within our team as part of our Ghana’s integration process”.

The re-opening of the Denu’s YMCA after 6 months…made the peer educators happy as well as the YMCA neighbors! We cleaned the place in order to make some more space for refreshing ideas. Get ready…to see the volunteers in action! Denu’s YMCA is the place where the Ghanaian and the Canadian volunteers gather to exchange ideas for the up-coming workshop delivery. What did we find out during our preparation as a whole team? Different way of living, different perspectives, different ideas..and of course…! Different ways of working! And that, can sometimes lead to some inner frustration. I would say that the Canadian volunteers experienced it someway, somehow! Because of the pace of Ghanaian work, this might be interpreted as a lack of motivation and interest. We call it “Ghanaian time” which basically means “don’t rush”…as it says on the Denu’s beach boat!

Still…our first informal workshop took place in front of the Denu YMCA that Gillian used to call “The Ultimate Frisbee knowledge game” meant to test insidiously all of the peers educators HIV knowledge. Without knowing it, 40 people surrounded us and remained silent…but really interested by the questions asked! On Friday May 18, more than 70 pair of eyes were rivet on us! So exciting!!!! Our first real workshop delivered at the “Victory International School” is a real success! Feverish, that’s how we were! Only girls were allowed to present this HIV workshop to the “Girls Guide” aged from 10 to 16 years old. Unfortunately, we had to let something [very precious to our team] behind…sorry…someone! Shawn, our one and only…guy! From the beginning ‘til the end of “Stella, ella, ola, coike, coike, coike song”, our public stayed engaged! The questions were relevant for a such young audience. They simply feed us…like “OUR Denu beach” does!

Denu beach is “The place” where we enjoy hanging out, working, discussing, picnicking and walking. This comfortable environment is feeding us in the sense that we can refill our low batteries [difficult to recharge…especially when there is no power!!] , we can take some time on our own just by watching the “Guinea Golf” tides swallowing the sea shore…and regurgitate the “fish”…on our plate!!! Delicious for some of us…but infectious for some others since we’re eating it EVERY SINGLE DAY! Vive les Omega 3!