Healthy Waters

We arrive this Monday to the village Ziavi-Bamefedo and the schoolyard is filled with students sweeping sand and picking up leaves, while others are already full force on the futbol field. We have alerted two members in the community of our coming, yet this did not reach other teachers at the school. Enyonam is delayed in arriving, as there is construction on the bridge and traffic is at a stand still. We are told they are preparing for games, so we will start delayed after the first break. We wait under the shade of a mango tree.

In the P1 hut classroom, classes 1 and 2 are gathered to reconnect with HIES 4th and pre-first classes again. HIES students wanted to send something their friends could use, a watering can. The can is colorfully decorated with images of water, many of which have never been seen by these young eyes. Many of these children have not ever been out of the boundaries of this remote village. In return, the students complete drawings related to water on raindrops to be hung from a cloud.

Three classes are merged to reconnect with Cliff Valley School. The Cliff Valley 5th graders, after learning how much the students loved- and what a rare opportunity it is- to paint, again sent murals. Two murals were sent with messages of Ntifafa waterfalls and a graffiti style message to “Care for Our Waters.” The students spent the afternoon completing a local seen of the water process and a message to “Protect Our Rivers.”

In the closing of the school day, the entire school gathers under the mango tree for a Health talk. We have invited our friend Dise Okrah, a nurse at the local municipal hospital, to give a talk on hand washing and basic first aid. Nearly 70 students and teachers remain intensely focused for this talk. This is our first talk in response the numerous children in previous trips with injuries that have turned life threatening given a lack of basic first aid. We leave supplies for a school first aid kit, and know that this talk has helped this village be better prepared to respond.