Reagga Jam week

This week started with a trip to the waterfalls up north in the contry. Wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning, metting the group at 4 o’clock, arriving at the site at 9h00. Canadian members were just as amazed as the Ghaneans when we finally got in front of the highest waterfalls in West Africa! And as a welcoming team, there were at least 457 000 bats surronding the falls!!!

On the way back home, four of us deceided to stay an overnight at the monkey sanctuary. The travelling book says that it is really common to see Mona Monkeys… We know why now! The visitors can feed them with bananas really early in the morning. Being a monkey, I would be the first one around for this delicious meal!!!! By the time half were exited about the monkeys, the other half of the group was giving a workshop in a church where they even did a condom demonstration… We cannot even do that in schools usually… Hummmm, don’t try to understand why!

Back to work… we had to organize a reagga jam party this week. How are we supposed to follow the schedule… we are in Africa? We cannot do the posters because we don’t know who will be the DJ. WE book the DJ, we do the posters, but then the DJ is not available anymore. Oh well, we advertize with misinformation… It doesn’t seem to be a big problem here!!! The problem was mostly coming from the fact that we live in a small village in Africa and what it takes 1 day in Canada to do takes at least 1 week here.. And we only have a few days left to find a generator, tents, speakers, advertisement, etc. Ouffff

Are we going to have this party on time?

Back from Cape Coast!!!

...and where did the time go? Before leaving for Cape Coast we were still ages from our flight back to Canada, but somehow now there are only two weeks left in our beautiful little seaside home!

It's a good thing that our workshops are finally beginning to truly peak. To see, in this past week, the Ghanaian peer educators entirely take over the workshops has been so rewarding. Girls who hadn't talked for the first couple weeks of the program are now presenting HIV/AIDS information to groups of 200 kids. Those who had always been strong presenters are allowing their peers to try new parts of the workshop, stepping back to delegate jobs and help organize the team. It is so great to see with our own eyes, the changes that have come about in these 25 volunteers in just a month.
Of course, we aren't done yet! We are constantly hit with new experiences...like the other day, when I was strolling along the beach only to see 6 fishermen, quite literally, swimming out of the ocean with meter-long fish in their hands. Or today, when I was standing in the middle of a road in a lagoon, when a motorcycle taxi drove by with two live goats sitting on the back. My favorite though is probably the day Mama yelled at me from outside because my laundry wasn't clean enough, promising I would have to clean all the girl's clothes so I could get more practice...Of course this was in exchange for her giving me laundry lessons, which of course totally justifies my cleaning 10 tons of dirty clothes...right?

(By the way, this is Shawn Potter writing, I am a volunteer with YCI!)

We're on the radio!

Gillian Lumsden reporting this week....

This week was full of many exciting ,emotional and inspiring things all combined into one.

Monday and Wednesday we has 2 workshops booked per day at various Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) GRADE 1-8pm each had its own successes & challenges. We finally came out of the workshops conveying the right information and working well with the peer educator translating into Ewe. We reached out to over 400 people at the various schools. The students were so receptive, involved, and asked a lot of questions.

On Thursday, Shawn, Karine, and myself (Canadian volunteers) and Hope, Gifty, and Johnny (Ghanaian volunteers) were asked to speak about our program on Jubilee radio 95.5. This was a great opportunity to reach out to the entire community about our program. It was also an experience for those who have never spoke on the radio to see the entire thing in action. Part of the experience was the electric cutting out in the middle of the production. But, we waited and continued with the program with a back up generator. One of the lessons we all learned from the beginning is to be flexible and patient.

Only 2 more weeks of outreach...stay tune for more to come!

Our weekend at Cape Coast

Nicole Here.

We just had our first weekend off and came north to Cape Coast to visit. They speak a different language here (Fanti) and our group is at a loss since the only phrases we know are in Ewe. The vibe here is very different from the rural village we normally live in.

Cape coast is beautiful with rough water and palm trees swaying in the wind.

We spent yesterday playing tourists. Water bottles, visors and all. We got up early and went to the national park and took a tour of the rain forest canopy. We walked a suspension bridge. I'm not sure what I was thinking... I don't even like riding chairlifts. It was wonderful, butterflies everywhere. We went further down the road to a crocodile pond where and ate lunch on a dock within 5 feet of the water (there was a very large concrete fence separating us). We spent the afternoon at the largest slave castle in west Africa. It is in a beautiful town but the dichotomy of the suffering and inhumanity was palpable.


Ghana is truly amazing.