Happy 21st Ashley!

Another day at Sankofa! This time I had some great company instead of going solo: Sarah and Olivia. The morning had an interesting start when a man who seemed to be approaching the age of 100 came up to the three of us at the Abura taxi station and said, “Hello. I love you. All three of you. I want to marry you.” This is not the first proposal for any of us, but we were definitely entertained by the lines this Casanova used. We finally got away from him, took a taxi to Elmina New Market, picked up some cookies for the road, and caught a tro-tro to Eguafo. Sarah and Olivia were immediately swarmed by children as soon as they set foot in the Bush. They spent most of the day singing songs and playing patty-cake, and all the kids loved them. I was able to start my journal project with an older class, asking them to write about themselves, their experience at Sankofa, and changes they wish to see. Later on during break, one of the teachers, Emmanuel, was playing music on his phone. He had everything from Akon to Janet Jackson to Celine Dion (“My Heart Will Go On,” of all songs, which he knew every word to). After a few hours, school ended a little earlier than normal (TGIF!), and all the students crossed the road to a football field nearby. We watched many of the teachers and students gear up in their jerseys and shin guards, and put their skills to work. After we hung out for about an hour, one of the teachers gave me a message that David, the school’s founder, wanted to see me (he lives very close by in the village). It sounded urgent. I asked Olivia and Sarah if they wanted to visit David too, and they were very excited to meet the man behind Sankofa. After a group of students directed us to his house, we found David fussing with a television wire. He simply said, “The World Cup,” and invited us all in to watch South Africa vs. Mexico in the first game. Visitors kept popping in, and we watched the first half before we decided to head back to Cape Coast. It was a great end to the week.

The group just finished up a delicious dinner of barbeque chicken, macaroni, potato salad, and cucumber and tomato salad (Mack’s favorite). Tonight, we are going out to celebrate Ashley’s 21st! Happy birthday Ashley!!! Even though we’re all becoming more and more comfortable with Ghana, family and friends back home are greatly missed.

Peace, love, and waving flags,

Nicole