Final Progress Report & Reflection

August 07, 2012

Lumana, Ghana
Michael Hromadka

 Greet people on your walk to work. Don’t hand anything to another person using your left hand. Banku and fufu should be swallowed, not chewed. Many clients lie about their marital status on loan applications because they are embarrassed. Watch your step to avoid open sewers. Dance to the music.Ghana taught me many things, including the snippets listed above. Even though my time has come to an end in West Africa, I learned many things there that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.I learned how people that do not have much by Western standards live their daily lives. I have seen poverty before during my travels, but I was never immersed in it. By living and working in Ofankor, I began to see how people...

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Guide to Ofankor, Ghana

August 07, 2012

Lumana, Ghana
Michael Hromadka

 Welcome to Ofankor, your new home away from home! This guide seeks to introduce you to Ofankor so that you can have a better idea of what to expect before you arrive.TABLE OF CONTENTS1. Getting Starteda. Locationb. Climatec. Costs & Moneyi. How much does it cost?d. Don’t Leave Home Without . . .2. Getting There & Away3. Getting Around4. History of Lumana Ofankor5. The Culturea. The nicest people in the worldi. Obroni!b. Lifestylec. Populationd. Economye. Multiculturalismf. Languageg. Religionh. Women in Ofankor6. Food & Drink7. Shopping8. Dangers & Annoyances9. Health10. Author’s NoteGetting StartedLocationOfankor is located about 45 minutes due north of Accra on the Nsawam Highway that connects Ghana’s capital with its second largest city, Kumasi. It is part of the Greater Accra region of Ghana and borders the towns of Taifa to the south and Pokuase to the north. Here is the link to the office location on Google Maps to give you an...

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Final Week!

August 06, 2012

Peace Humanity International, Ghana
Sue Gonzalez

This final week has been very busy as the students and teachers were all preparing for the teenage pregnancy presentation and gallery show of the photographs and writing. School has vacated for the rest of the summer, so some of the students couldn’t come to class because they had to farm with their parents.For the students that remained, we completed writing the Best Part of My School and writing penpal letters to my students in the US. For the photography lessons, we worked on taking candid shots instead of posing all the time and on self-portraits. Mr. Seidu, Henrietta and I took one of the photography students with us to take photographs and write about the Jukwa Clinic. While we were there a woman had just given birth the...

Launching of Sue's Girls Club and Teenage Pregnancy Education

Teenage Pregnancy Presentation

Gallery of students writing and photography

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Empowering Local Communities in Guatemala

August 06, 2012

 Up with the roosters and the other 2,000 residents of Loma Linda, I began to tire as the sun beat down on my neck and the ash from nearby Santaiguito volcano constricted my breathing. My ears had become inured to the thuds and clangs of our azadónes as we dug into the soft red speckled earth of the Guatemalan highlands. Along with three local ASODILL members and two Dutch volunteers, I was carving out a small piece of the mountain in an effort to develop hiking trails and encourage tourism in the surrounding hills.This trail building project in the small village of Loma Linda is an initiative conceptualized and managed by the Asociación Sostenible para el Desarrollo Integral de Loma Linda (ASODILL), developed with the support of EntreMundo’s Community Tourism...

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Anwheim

August 05, 2012

Peace Humanity International, Ghana
Sue Gonzalez

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being trustworty makes you free

August 05, 2012

Today (4th-08-2012) we have had a TFT program. We began at 10:00 am and today’s topic was about teamwork and being open and trustworthy to people we stay with and people who care for us. Children introduced themselves and we the volunteers also did the same. Before we continued with the program, we had to stand up and jump to take away the laziness. I Madinah conducted the program first by asking them to tell us what they learnt, enjoyed and what annoyed them while at school. They answered accordingly. For example some of them learnt computer, others learnt to write and most interestingly every child has a best friend at school they even told me the names of their best friends. I reviewed the previous lesson about team work. Prossy-...

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food for the children

August 05, 2012

Childline Uganda, Uganda
NAMIRIMU MADINAH

Last week Childline Uganda received food from Mild May Uganda on 26th - Jul - 2012. We were so happy because we got food to offer to our clients [people we take care of]. We received .Cooking oil.Beans .Maize flour .soya flour .Polythene bags for packing foodThe whole of this week I have been giving out food to the respective children, however their parents had to be there. It is some serious work. I measure food and carry it from the store to the place where we offer it from to the respective people. We are still serving it. We have acknowledgement forms where our clients sign to approve that they have received the food. The challenge we faced on Wednesday was that I had agreed with Emmanuel that I...

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madinah and the TFT children

August 04, 2012

Childline Uganda, Uganda
NAMIRIMU MADINAH

Life is so beautiful when you have good people around you, whenever am with these children, I feel so alive because they take away the bore doom and they love me too some of them even call me sister. On 21st –July- 2012(Saturday), we had a “today for tomorrow” program. That time we learnt about Relationships. The day was so interesting because we worked with different volunteers-that is Debbie Durst who had come to Childline after doing her voluntary work at community outreach, Brenda- a new and local volunteer who enjoyed her first Saturday at Childline, then Emmanuel, John and I. The children introduced themselves to us and we introduced ourselves as well. That day Emmanuel and Brenda took up the audience as we listened and I only As usual,...

relationship lesson for children

duck duck goose game

london bridge game

playing LIMBO

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Midterm progress report

August 04, 2012

Peace Humanity International, Ghana
Sue Gonzalez

Since arriving in Ghana, every day has been such a blessing. From the moment I landed at Accra airport I was greeted by two people, my friend Kweku and Kwame from Peace Humanity International. The two of them took me to a very nice hotel with air conditioning and a TV. The next morning Pastor Chris came and we discussed the photography program as well as starting a girl’s club in Jukwa. Francis, from Peace Humanity, accompanied me on the 4 hour drive to Jukwa. From that first night, I knew I was in good hands and was excited to start this new journey in my life.When we got to my homestay, Mr. Seidu, the “mayor” of Jukwa, along with my host family gave, me the warmest welcome ever. There...

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Peace in Paradise

August 04, 2012

Last week started off with the death of Ghana’s President Mills. It was fascinating to be in Ghana to experience this tremendous loss. My family and I gathered around the T.V. watching the news and witnessing the swearing in of the new president hours after President Mills death was announced. Everyone I spoke with shared their sadness over this loss yet they all told me the same message, that no one escapes death and it is in God’s hands so we must move on. I was thinking that if I were watching CNN or some other 24 hour news show in the US, there would be non-stop talking about the loss. Yet, here in Ghana, a new President was sworn in within hours and I could feel an acceptance...

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