CATCHING UP

It is Saturday June 28. It is odd how fast the time is passing all of a sudden. I can not believe George, Nancy, Kelli, Michelle and Kate will be arriving a week Monday. I will try to catch up with everything that went on the past 2 weeks.

The people (who soon became “my People”) who were to do the video arrived on Tuesday early afternoon. They had no sooner arrived at the hotel, when the skies opened up and it rained heavily for the rest of the day. They could not shoot the school so they did the interview with me with the rain in the background and got a bite to eat and rested up after the trip. Wednesday morning the sun was shining and the filming at the school went great. Kimberly, the gal who founded “good tube” is a real pro as well as Lori who volunteered to do the filming.(she works for KDKA in Pittsburgh so of course you know she was also lots of fun). It was great to see Minette again; we had met her 2 years ago while we were here. She was the person who started the ball rolling on the video project 2 years ago. The video should be finished by October. It will be posted on http://www.goodtube.org/ . You might want to check out the website, as it has many great videos.
The rest of “my people” included Marie and Corbie who had won a raffle to accompany Kimberly on the trip; Katie, the bookkeeper for Good Tube; Carl, the very good driver and Charles, whose school was scheduled for video latter in the trip. While they were here I finally went to Kakum rainforest with them. It was OK but you really do not get to see much of anything except the tops of the trees. The seven rope bridges were very scary for me but I made it through without the guide having to come rescue me.

On Sunday I took the bus to Accra and on Monday met “my people” to go visit Charles’ School, Tuskegee International School. We had a great day and met up with a teacher from Chicago “Greenie” who comes 2 times a year to help at Tuskegee. The filming went great at that school also and then we went to the craft market and on to dinner. They were a very fun group. I got a great travel hint from one of them. You put vodka in a spray bottle and use it to kill germs on things such as silverware, pop cans etc. I was also thinking it may come in handy if you needed a mid day pick-me-up.

Their trip came at a great time for me personally as it totally rejuvenated me.

While I was in Accra I visited the OSU Children’s Library and purchased some books from them for both schools. They are great books for the younger children, written with themes they know. I also met with the company who does the narrowband internet and have an appointment on Monday to see it in action at the OLA Training College here at Cape Coast.

Next week is Bakatue Festival, the beginning of the fishing season. We were here during it in 2004 but missed parts so I am looking forward to seeing more of it this year. The fishing has not been good. I saw what seemed to be very large fishing boats not very far out to sea and was told they were Chinese. The government has given them permission as they pay fees to fish but it is very hard on the people here who only know how to fish.

I hope I will not let as much time pass as I did this time.