I'm feeling much better since the last time I posted. The issue with the school has been dealt with and I have asked a group of medical students who are now volunteering with CCS to give all of the students at Gbi Special School a couple of seminars on Sexual Education. I'm really hoping this will help the students understand the potential results of their actions and assist the teachers in developing a better sexual education curriculum in the future.

A lot has happened in the past week, so here are the highlights!

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, last Thursday myself and some of the other volunteers went to a small community outside of Hohoe, called Ango, to help the community build a primary school. It was amazing to see how everyone stopped what they were doing to pitch in, even mothers with babies on their backs were hauling mud! I'm not sure whether we actually sped up the process or slowed them down. I'm sure they were grateful to have us carry mud for them, but some of the men stopped their work to teach us how to make mud walls and I can't say I was as skilled or as quick as they were at it! I gave them all a good laugh though as they watched my attempts. I also wore my hiking boots to the site and they all ended up calling me "soldier lady", which they found amusing but slightly annoyed me--those that know me well would understand my desire to remain unassociated with the military. I managed to make a baby cry too. I approached him to hand him the toy hippie van I have carried around this country with me (kind of like the gnome on those traveling commercials) and he just started bawling. Apparently he hadn't seen any person so white before and it freaked him out. I almost started crying too I felt so bad! His mother just laughed though. She said he would have to get used to the yevu at some point!
On Friday I climbed Mount Afadjato. I was slightly dizzy and dehydrated before starting the climb, which probably wasn't a good thing as it made the climb seem more grueling than it actually is. Mount Afadjato is a small mountain, but the biggest freestanding mountain in West Africa, at 885 meters above sea level. The climb is more of a steep hike than anything, but the lose pebbles and wet mud make finding footholds difficult. It took us about 40 minutes to reach the summit (like I said, small mountain). We had only been up there about 5 minutes before a small old Ghanaian man in his bare feet with an amputated hand came cruising up shouting "I am the winner, the winner, the winner" and doing a silly dance. He asked me to take his watch, which I did. He then proceed to tell me that he had started his climb at 9:45, would I please tell him what time it was now? It was 10:05- he had taken only 20 minutes to get up here. I was shocked. A few moments later a white guy comes running up behind him. It is soon revealed that these two race up the mountain, every day. The white kid had barely broken a sweat. Meanwhile you can see the outline of my sports bra because around it my shirt is soaked through with sweat. How embarrassing! Anyway, now I can say I've climbed a mountain. A literal one.
I spent my first weekend in Hohoe last weekend which was a lot of fun. The World Cup started Friday afternoon, and everyone here is obsessed it. The games are broadcast everywhere whether over the radio in the taxis or over the televisions in the shops--you won't miss a thing. Maya, Jillian, and Michaela left on Saturday, which was super sad. I cried a little. I'm going to miss them all a lot. I also couldn't help thinking about all the other goodbyes I am going to have to say before it's my turn to pack up and leave. I keep wondering who will be there to see me off on my last day.
On Sunday I went to a Pentecostal Church service with one of the staff and three other volunteers. It was hot, loud, and the service was long. They said everything in English once and then had it translated into Ewe. The speakers and vocalists screamed into the microphones, which were turned up so loud they kept screeching with feedback. They also sang and danced a lot, which I loved, but the songs were each 15 minutes long and would leave you sweating at the end of them. I had a lot of trouble relating to the sermon and the prayers. They spent a lot of time praying for money and avoidance of debt and for the soccer team to win. It just felt a little spiritually lacking. After the collection they proceeded to announce the names of the people who had donated the most to the church and why. It was like a competition of sorts--who loves Jesus the most? This was strange because most people here can hardly afford to keep their families clothed and fed, yet they are giving huge chunks of their money away every Sunday. They announced a pilgrimage to Israel opportunity too, costing $3000 US dollars. How they thought anyone in the congregation would actually be able to afford that is beyond me. Towards the end they called a teenage boy up the front with his mother. His mother was concerned that his teenage whims were corrupting him and leading him away from God, so they performed a blessing and a type of exorcism to pull the demons out of his soul. Everyone in the audience got so worked up, shaking and shouting things out. The man in front of us was convulsing and bawling, we were all waiting to see if he would pass out or have a heart attack or something. After that we left, our ears ringing like we had just left a heavy metal concert. I think we had all had a little too much "praising the lord" for one day. Our prayers did accomplish at least one thing though--Ghana won against Serbia later that afternoon.
This week has been pretty laid back so far. I have been working my butt off on projects for my classroom and the school. On Wednesday we held two seminars out at the school, one on basic first aid and one about classroom management and behaviour management. They seemed to go pretty well. Today I missed placement due to another bout of digestion problems. The lack of toilets out at the school makes attending placement really difficult on days when I'm not functioning quite right. Tomorrow I'm going out to an orphanage to attend a goodbye ceremony for a couple of our volunteers. More of them are leaving this Saturday.
Anyway, I'm happy again and feeling more optimistic about my ability to make a positive impact at Gbi Special School. The kids out there are quickly working their way into my heart. I'm glad I have five more weeks here to spend with them.