Hello parents, friends, and other miscellaneous people!
It's been several days that we've been in New Longoro but time seems to move differently here than it does back home. It simultaneously feels like it's been weeks (we've canoed down the Volta River, met with village elders, built technology from metal scraps, learned some Twi and Mo, showered from a bucket--or for some of us, not showered) and yet, looking forward, it feels like our departure date is approaching much too much (we still have so much left to do!).
I can't speak for the whole team but I have been having an amazing and fulfilling time in Ghana. Every night, we have a group "check-in" where we discuss our high and low points of the day and I've yet to actually hear about a real low from a single person. We are mentally and physically spent by the close of each day and the only thing that sounds better than a bed is the promise of another great day that will leave us just as tired tomorrow.
One thing that is of a concern is that to date, five of the students have met an ill-fated death here in Ghana. Shuyu was the first to go, followed closely after by Emily, Maysun, Kwami, and myself. The sole survivors are Amy, Jackie, Stephen, and Vin. Parents, before you jump on a plane to come over, I am not really dead and neither are Shuyu, Emily, Maysun, and Kwami. We have been playing a game called "assassin," where we terminate our targets by handing them a pre-specified object at a certain location (i.e. I died at the seamstress when Amy handed me a mug).
Aside from our deaths though, everyone has been in tip top shape. Our leaders Jackie and Amy seem to shielding all sicknesses from us and absorbing it themselves (though even then, they trudge through and lead us well) but if anything, I'd say that the rest of the team is in better shape than they were back in Cambridge. We take our malaria medication on time, wear our sunblock and insect repellant, eat much too well, and certainly physically exert ourselves more than we do at school behind the books.
We will continue to update you as we continue on with our projects. They are all looking very promising and hopefully, with a lot of help from the community, we will each be able to leave behind something that can be of use here.
We miss you all and love you much (but if we are being honest, it will still be too soon when we next see and talk to you!).
Moadofo,
Daisy and the G-Team