From Houghton, Michigan to Sunyani, Ghana

As you have probably heard it was a long trip. We spent nearly 24 hours on a plane. Enjoying each other’s company.

Prior to getting on the first plane we had to ensure that everyone had a second bag to check for us to ship all of our books. We definitely could not have done it without the help of our team. Each of them packed one bag of personal belongings and saved their second luggage for us. They were really helpful and we thank them for that.

After finally landing in Accra, Ghana, our team came through again. Making sure we had all of the bags accounted for and helping us to get them through baggage claim. This was a huge hassle at first because there was a guy who had to check our baggage number against our luggage. This was difficult because we had the bags all mixed up and not with the person who checked it. Luckily, the guy believed us and only did it to one person and just let everyone else go through.

After traveling from 2 different hotels and our dorm, Baby Brounei, we finally were able to get the books to their permanent home. After about 3 hours of traveling to Sunyani, we were graciously welcomed. During the presentation for our arrival the dignitaries emphasized how grateful they were that we brought both the computers and the books. Stating that the foundation of education is having books and the future is technology.

It was such an overwhelming feeling to know that we were making a difference in the lives of these children. And we can’t wait to get back and get everything organized.
The children were phenomenal. Everything the last cohort told us turned out to be true. Once we started taking pictures they all started running towards the person with the camera. They were shoving, pushing and screaming. The excitement of something as simple as having their pictures taken was absolutely beautiful.

Evie, Roger, Anne, Kurt, John and I all passed out pencils to the students. It was more overwhelming than the pictures. We were bombarded with children trying to get pencils. Some even broke in our hands. We had to lift our hands up high to get to an area to pass them out and it didn’t work. The children grabbed our arms to get the pencils out of our hands.

The person who was totally mobbed by the children was Mark. He had a bag of suckers that he wanted to disperse. I thought that he was going to get trampled on because the children really wanted those sweets.

The children also went around trying to get everyone’s email address so that they could contact us. I think we should find a better way to pass it out because we did a lot of writing. However, I do think the children enjoy having accomplished coming up to us and asking for our information.

That was just a very fun, productive and memorable day. And after that, I’m sure we will have many more to come with our upcoming days….