Where did the time go?

Posted on July 24, 2013 by cfredrix

Remember the blog about plans? Those words were so very true. Time slips away every day and plans morph. Each day has been packed full of work, meetings, and outings. Whether we have been gathering food for meals, engaging in service projects, doing laundry, etc., there is always something to do to keep busy.

With internet connectivity issues and power outages…please understand why the blog postings have been few and far between. For the sake of making note…here are a few things that happened over the past week – or so:

Cape Coast Castle
Painting of the Hovde House
Cooking, cooking, cooking
George Kweku Annan’s funeral
Carly and Issac’s Knocking ceremony
Meetings with the Minister (goods still stuck in Tema)
Frimps
Bimbidisms
Planning for “Item 13”

Perhaps some of the aforementioned items have intrigued you…if I have some more time, the internet works, the power is up, and…

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Plans

Posted on July 8, 2013 by cfredrix

Christian's Ghana Blog

This year’s program has had a challenging start. We’ve had the unfortunate experience of sending two students home (due to medical circumstances out of our control), one accompanying staff member, and one additional leadership team member (we only had planned for the last of these departures). The operative word in the previous sentence is planned.

A challenge often encountered by “obrunis” in Ghana, is the consistency of inconsistency. It is inevitable that on a daily basis your planshere will not reflect reality…

You planned to take a shower…but the water was out so you had to go without OR fill a bucket of water from stored water in the poly tank and use that instead.
You planned to work on course work involving internet use and a computer…but rolling blackouts have left you with a uncharged computer and no internet.
You planned to meet with a community member…but…

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Tuesday is…

Posted on July 3, 2013 by cfredrix

Christian's Ghana Blog

Market day!

(guest post by Emily)

Each morning we go to the market to buy the ingredients needed for our day’s meals. What a beautiful thing it is to be more closely connected to the food we eat. We’ve definitely had to adjust to making our meals from scratch… it takes time and creativity to cook for 17 people when Costco convenience isn’t available. Preparing our food fresh daily is a good practice- it reminds us of how most people in the world prepare their meals, and how food is supposed to taste… fresh!

Tuesdays and Fridays are the most popular market days when all the neighboring merchants come to sell their goods with local merchants of Winneba. It is busy.

A typical visit to the market entails weaving ourselves through a labyrinth of merchants and customers while hearing several hollers of “Obruni, Obruni!” as we pass…

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Introductions (guest post by Emily)

Posted on July 1, 2013 by cfredrix

Greetings! I am Emily, Christian’s wife, and I’ve had the incredible privilege of being a part of this service learning trip thus far. I leave Friday, and I am dreading leaving this beautiful place and extraordinary group of people. We’ve been so busy experiencing amazing things we haven’t had much time to document it. I’ve taken it upon myself to assist with the documentation and share some of our experience. It’s difficult to put into words all the things we have seen and learned and even more difficult to do justice to the beautiful relationships that have been created since our arrival. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

But first, allow me to introduce our group:

This is Joe, our fearless leader/ Faculty Director:

Christian, his amazing Student life Sidekick (I suppose I may be a bit bias…):

Sherry, our I.T. Guru:

Azizur, our Faculty Director next year, who graced us with his presence the first week:

And the REMARKABLE GVSU Honors Students, in no particular order:

Tyler:

Caroline:

Hannah:

Damian:

Melissa:

Nicole:

Ellie:

Bailey:

Carlos:

Deqa:

Ryan:

Daina:

Rebecca:

What a fantastic group of people. Almost every night we debrief and talk about what we’ve learned and experienced throughout the day.
As we learn about poverty, Ghanaian culture, and ourselves, our minds are continuously blown. The lives of these students are being changed this summer- it is a beautiful thing.