Thanksgiving

I'm pleased to report that things are going well at CESC.  Vodaphone hasn't made the final connection yet, but everything else is in place.  Hopefully in the next few weeks they will have their internet up and running.

Robyn and I took our son, Maddox, to visit the school Thursday and deliver some books and school supplies.  It was a great way to spend Thanksgiving morning and it was cool to be able to introduce Maddox to our friends.  As always we were welcomed with open arms.  This time however, they surprised us a bit.  It turns out Mr. Atta had called ahead when he found out we were going to visit and told them they should get us a turkey.  So we had our first Thanksgiving feast in Ghana at CESC.  It was great to share food with the staff and another amazing experience thanks to CESC.  

Great News

All kinds of good things have been happening with this project lately.  Hardware for internet access has finally been installed thanks to the guys at I.T. Foundation Ghana.  They have been really cool, supportive and eager to help.  It seems like they have a good program and I'm hoping to get to talk to them more about what they do in the future.  Once we finally got a check in their hands they were installing within the week.  I spoke with the Headmistress at the end of last week and she informed me the wait is now on Vodafone to do the actual connection.  Hopefully that will happen soon.  I can't believe how close we are to being able to connect CESC with Mendenhall!

I also found out this week that the two fourth grade classes at Lincoln participated in a fundraiser at school and have raised $500 that they want to donate to CESC.  We hope to use the money for books or toys for the kindergarten class.

Our family is also planning a visit to CESC next week on Thanksgiving Day.  We have the day off from school at Lincoln so we are going to take the opportunity to introduce our son to CESC.  We are quite excited to let him experience the place he's heard so much about for the last several years.  I'll be certain to share some reflections on that visit next week.

Progress

I'm very excited to report that we are once again making progress.  Thanks to Robyn and the CAS program at Lincoln Community School, a group of 4th graders will be visiting Community Eleven tomorrow!  Robyn and I both will be visiting with them.  I'll only be able to visit for the morning, but the students will be there for most of the school day.  They will participate in Ga and language classes, play some games, share some snacks, and play an afternoon communal soccer game.

We are also making progress on getting internet service installed for the computer lab.  The parents have promised to take on the cost of maintaining the service if we can get it connected.  They have already contributed funds to hire security guards to make sure the computer lab is secure.  We just have to work through some red tape to get the funds from Mendenhall to Ghana, but I think we have an idea for that as well. 

I should probably add here that Robyn and I now currently reside in Ghana.  We moved here at the end of July to begin working at Lincoln Community School in Accra.  We are very excited to be here and loving it so far.  I'm also happy that we have been able to establish a connection between Lincoln and Community Eleven so quickly.  I'm looking forward to seeing this project grow among all three school that are now involved.

Empty Bowls

Monday, May 13 the art department of Mendenhall Middle School hosted an Empty Bowls fundraiser to support our project.  The event included performances by the Mendenhall Step Team and small ensembles from the band.  Ben and Jerry's ice cream was sold, and everyone had a great time.  The event raised over $600 for our project.

While Mr. Atta was in Ghana this past December, he helped the school to establish a plan for fundraising and building a wall.  With that plan in place and hopefully moving forward, we are hoping that the money raised from this project will be used to develop Internet access at Community Eleven School Complex.  Mr. Atta is working on getting quotes for this and hopefully we can move on it soon.  If course, I have learned that term has a little different meaning when it is used in relation to this project.  It would be fantastic for them to get access as that would instantly increase the potential for communication between our schools.

Waiting

It's been over a month since our trip now and I feel like I'm just waiting. It can be quite frustrating at times.  There was a landmark event filled with emotions and potential.  The return home and so much to share with friends and my students.  And then, nothing.  For a long time.

Part of that has been waiting for Mr. Atta to return to the states.  He's the link and he spent another month almost in Tema and met several times with them to discuss their needs and future plans.  We talked a few times while he was there, but only briefly. 

He's returned now and we are trying to make schedules work to sit down and talk.  So I continue to wait.

In the meantime, there have been a few developments.  I've had several people approach me with ideas and wanting to help or get involved in some way.  The most promising of those is a music teacher who wants to possibly visit the school at some point next year for an extended period and teach music.  It would also incorporate delivering some simple instruments for the school and possibly toys for the younger classes. 

There's so much potential in this project and I believe that we will continue to grow and make a difference.  But the waiting is truly the hardest part.