Peace & Friendship Flags

We return this morning to make some friendship bracelets with RC Girls School. These are extra materials from Holy Innocence, and a project that we can pair a new class with. Thank you Anne!  We learn that one of the teachers is an election poll officer, so we may actually get to observe the voting process closer that we thought possible.

We head out to Ziavi-Bamefedo, a rural village not far from Ho but down long sandy dirt roads with grass as high as the Land Rover we are in. We take a couple wrong turns, but find our way there eventually. The school is on break, so the students and teachers slowly begin to gather around us. The teachers love the alphabet book made by St. Andrews School students; they are gathered around looking through it as the children are circled around the maps. The Junior Secondary School makes peace flags to exchange with their new friends in Savannah. We need our translator for this school. Bright is now Senior Secondary School in another area, but has come to help translate since he is part of a family that has hosted volunteers for years.

We spent the afternoon mostly on the porch of our rooms. Whitney gets showered with love from the little ones, who are in and out of approaching her with their adoring gazes. Nick plays with the boys for a while, and is lifting some of them like weights. I love the simplicity of the interactions and just sharing time with them. There is notable growth and personality development in many of them. Esi is less shy, and apparently has become more popular while last visit she was picked on and rarely left my side.

We take a break from the entourage of children to eat. Thank you Tamera for the MRE’s!! This was the most fun meal we have had here, like opening presents on a Christmas Day. We were amazed at all the little packages containing intact crackers, deserts, drinks and a variety that we have not had since home. The vegetable manicotti was our favorite!

The kids at the end of the night said, “Color, color!” We remind them we will be with them in school tomorrow. None of us can communicate very well, but we are all equally curious and there is a heartfelt connection that transcends the need for words.