Dun...Dun...Dunkwa!

To continue the updates in chronological order:

Feb. 23
Today we woke up thinking it was going to be a relaxing Saturday and we could mess around and hang out. But if there is one thing that impresses me about this group of 28 people, it is how ridiculously hard EVERYONE works and plays. Today a select few - mainly our tech gurus worked on making the golden image and ghosting the computers... They also worked on a lab design. Several people went down to the internet cafe - which I swear is a brilliant business, think about this: you charge people by the hour, there is ridiculously slow service, you get paid more... brilliant - anyway, we updated the blog and made sure you parents weren't freaking out too much about your kids being far away in Africa. (And just a side note, there have been some slight sicknesses, but nothing more than being a little dehydrated and feeling a little funky for a while and then quickly getting over it after drinking a ton of gatorade and resting under a fan.) Some members of the team played in football matches with the Ghanaians. (soccer) We won one game, and tied the other, which was very surprising, since the Ghanaians are ridiculously good at the game - everyone here plays it, everyone here loves it, and pretty much everyone here is a lot more used to the heat then we are! Regardless they were good games. Also in the evening we had a "Talent and Beauty Pagent". Several Americans offered their talents, and only Ghanaians entered the "Miss Boass Beauty Pagent". Miran played her violin, Mary and Olivia sang James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" to a really cute Ghanaian boy... tehe, and Mike and Nils made up a rap in the local language (Twee, or Twi... I'm not sure.). At the end, all of the Americans got up and danced to "Soulja Boy" for the crowds of onlookers. It really is quite amazing how universal a lot of things are, such as dance and song, and laughter, and friendship. We had a little dance party... and went to bed.

Feb. 24
Today was a Sunday. Sunday here means you dress in white, you go to church, church, church. Boass is a Christian boarding school, but many of the kids here are from all different types of denominations or Catholic. A few are even Muslim. On Sundays, students wear either starch white dresses (if female) or pants and shirt or traditional Ghanaian robe (if male). This made me realize that these students basically have a uniform/dress code for everyday of the week... on weekdays, their bright green school uniforms, on Sunday their white outfits, and on Saturday, whatever they want, only most kids can only afford one more outfit, so the essentially have to dress in a uniform that day too. Sucks. Anyway. I woke up too late to go to the Catholic Church in the morning with the headmaster and his family, but in the evening, several of us attended the school's church session. The school works this way: it allows students to go to town to attend their own church of their own denomination in the morning, and then in the evening they host their own service. I went to the school's service. It is lead by the youth and students, including Stephan, the equivalent of our student body president at GHS. The service is a lot different then the quiet, clam lutheran services I'm used to - there is a lot of yelling and cheering and dancing and rejoicing. It was fun! When it came time to go up to the front to put money in the offering bowl, all of the GTA kids/adults that came put in one Ghana cedi (the equivalent of one dollar USD.) When Sarah A. went to put her money in the pot, some of the kids told her that they would go make change for her - it was too generous of an offering... Sarah said it was for all the students who couldn't come. When I put my offering in, a load eruption went out... inside the pot was only other small coins and the one Ghana cedi bills from members of our team. I left really moved at how alive their church felt.

Feb. 25
Today we went to Kumasi. We went to where they make Kente cloth as well as the market. It was amazing to see how fast the weavers can move. For many of the items that I purchased for just a few cedi, the weaver had worked for several weeks to make. It is so incredible. The market was bustling with people of all sizes selling their various good - often from buckets on top of their heads. We went out for a nice dinner and headed home. Lovely though, the roads to and from DUnkwa to Kumasi are paved.

The next several days until we leave for Accra on Saturday morning will be devoted entirely to the lab, and teaching computers, and visiting/teaching in various classes.
More later!