22/10/15
Day 6.
The girls are doing us proud; they have slotted into the Elmina way of doing things and everyone is coping well with the heat and making sure they are drinking plenty. Taking care of yourself is a job in itself; making sure the bathroom buckets are kept full in case the water is off later, and keeping up with our own hygiene. Most of us have done a bit of washing by now too, so lines for drying have been rigged up in rooms. Everyone is in high spirits; we even broke into a spontaneous dance on our way home today, much to the delight of the local women selling their bits and bobs at the side of the road. Emily found her rhythm this morning with the dance workshop and Mary led the Elmina girls into a ceilidh which had everyone laughing and whooping with delight. A cold drink stop at a local bar on the way back home was a just reward for all the hard work this morning, painting the library shutters and outside walls. The library now has ceiling fans, lighting and sockets ready for laptops (one day) and clean, painted walls, which we are all quite proud of.
Mr Hall
Starting with our presentations on English festivals went really well. Everybody enjoyed a spontaneous sing along of Christmas songs, a demonstration of a pancake race and Mary teaching us all a ceilidh! This led to the Elmina students teaching us some of their dances which we all really enjoyed. Arielle’s freestyle dancing was impressive. We then worked on the library some more by painting the shutters and doors. When we returned later, all the outside shutters and walls had been painted, we are all really proud with the progress. On the way home for a short lunch we stopped off at a tailors to choose some traditional Ghanaian dresses in African fabrics; we all enjoyed being measured up. We returned back to the school for a drumming and dancing workshop, this was hard work in the heat and humidity but we all really enjoyed it and Emily impressed us all with her dancing. We then headed back home and Sarah started us off in some spontaneous dancing in the middle of the street. Mr Hall and Dr Mason impressed us with their moves too. We stopped off in a local bar for a cool drink followed by bottle blowing much to the teachers and Davie’s delight.
We have spent the evening arranging our Batik to give to the students for their library and Daisy is showing off her wonderful sewing. We are all looking forward to a nice meal of spaghetti and sauce and we are all excited for tomorrow which promises to be another fun day.