In the Jungle, the mighty jungle..

This past weekend was a wonderful weekend relaxing around the home base. On Saturday a few of us went to Kpondo which is a small village about 40 minutes away from HoHoe. In the village there is a small shop called Kpondo’s Potters. It is a small shop down a dirt road that sells handmade pottery. The shop is affiliated with a woman’s cooperative that has taught women the trade of making their own pottery out of clay which they made right from the earth and then taught how to sell it. Since this program has started, over 500 women have been given this skill and have been able to get out of poverty. It was so amazing to see their work and to see the clay that they made sitting at their shop! I wanted to buy everything there but then I remembered there is a weight limit to my luggage and I had to restrict myself to only a few small pieces!

Marinda, Beth and I went to House of Hope on Saturday afternoon to continue to practice the play with the children. They did so well and we were able to go through the whole play twice. Then on Tuesday we went back for the final dress rehearsal. We did bribe them with a small treat if they were able to listen and sit quietly after their turn was over with and it worked. They listened, remember their part and sat perfectly! It was such a relief and wonderful to see them so into their parts! Yesterday was the actual performance of the play and they did fantastic. The other volunteers came to watch and the kids were thrilled. Someone was able to video tape it for me and I cannot wait to show everyone! It was very simple but the smiles on the kids’ faces when they were singing “In the Jungle” as their opening and closings songs is something that I will remember forever! Each kid had a small role in the play besides the two oldest kids and they were so content with just doing their small part. The whole play last about 13 minutes but it was the perfect amount of time for them! I was so happy that after all these weeks of worrying if this was going to work out that it actually did!

School continues to be absolutely wonderful! I can tell the kids are starting to feel that this is nearing the end. We are wrapping some things up and I cannot believe I am already planning for my last week of school. I’ve decided to just do some fun activities and not start anything new with them. I am so happy with the progress that they have made in just the short time that I was with them. It’s amazing to me truly how far they can come in so little time. I have been having them play word matching games and they are in love with them. It’s so wonderful when they ask to play them during their break time instead of running around and playing football. Although I do love to see them go and play too! I am planning on leaving the games with the kids and hopefully they will play them after I am gone. It’s great ways for them to practice words and become familiar with more vocabulary.

Beth and I finished the curriculum for Happy Kids. We still have to edit and add to it but for the most part it is finished! The document is over 40 pages and it really made me think about what I actually know about education. I guess all those undergrad, graduate and my short time in and out of classrooms really did pay off. I didn’t realize how much I really do know about curriculum and what kids should know at what age. I am so thankful to have work with so many wonderful people who helped me to learn so much! I am going to present the curriculum to the headmistress and talk with Godwin, the teacher in my class about things that he might consider teaching with the kids. I don’t want to be too pushy but I have seen how much these children have benefited from interactive learning and I would love to see it continue. The hard part is, I will truly never know if it does continue and I have no control over any of it.

As I head into my final weekend here in Ghana, time has become bittersweet. I have been sick this week and I have several infected mosquito bites covering my legs – I guess it’s my body’s way of telling me it’s really time to go home! I will miss my kids dearly – I am dreading the moment when I have to say my final goodbye to them, but I know what is waiting for me back at home and I am so looking forward to it all!

I hope everyone is well at home! I look forwarding to seeing you all very soon!

Lots of love from Africa,
Steph