Yesterday, we did a tour of Cape Castle, Elamina Castle, and saw the sea for the first time (yay!) I also had squid for lunch (and was not sick at all. Also yay!)
Today, though, it is a Monday, so we got to head to the Street Kids Academy for our first day of volunteering. We headed out at our usual 7:30 (when we are already getting a little sweaty in the shade) and took a tro-tro to the Academy.
We arrived and were slightly mobbed by kids. We got many handshakes and greetings from the 12 or so children that were around today. The school wasn't opening until tomorrow, officially, but today was a spring-cleaning and slightly less organized kind of day.
We first had introductions from the director, the teachers, the day-to-day manager, and some of the other volunteers (a few Germans). We then went into a session of hangman (where they pulled out some impressive words like "hippopotamus" and "communication").
In the last year or so, they have used the help of volunteers and some cameras, they had created a few movies, with the kids acting and writing scripts. I was very impressed with the quality, and it was a good lull to the day.
We went off to a fancy resort for lunch, and had our Ghanaian specials of the day, with refreshing drinks and smoothies. We were much closer to the water than we expected, so got to see a (pretty dirty) beach.
When we got back, we were officially mobbed. The kids all knew us now, so it was a crazy jumping-hugging-screaming mass that created us. I pulled out the frisbee I brought, and started getting really sweaty.
Over the years, I have developed a no-physical-lifting policy when around large groups of children, because it always leads to more kids wanting more piggyback rides. Some of the group were much less stingy with their muscle, and soon the frisbee was being tossed from the shoulders of Mike, Sarah, and Stephanie (as well as some of the older kids with the younger kids).
The little kids were being entirely left out, so we started a "is the rock in the right hand or left hand" game. It was great: there were enough small rocks to go around! Everyone could play!
We ended the day a bit more quietly, by pulling out the paper and doing a drawing exercise. "I like ____" Some kids drew football, drawing, or swimming. Some wrote that they liked women and "Sir Michael" (who was either Mike or one of the students; never really figured that one out).
We had stayed pretty late at that point, until 4pm or so. Matthaeus had to be to work at 6pm, so we found a tro-tro in the crowded lot and headed home, sweaty and fulfilled. Tomorrow might be more orderly chaos, since school is officially in session. Maybe. Probably not.
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