Last Day In Accra

Last Day in Accra

Wow. What a day. But before I talk about today, a few more items from the video pen pal program yesterday.
Lori and Claire Dillon did an amazing job setting it up in Chicago, and Peggy Blanchard did the same in Lake Charles. The kids on both sides had a blast. Here are some comments Lori sent through from some of her teachers.

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Lori,
My students were so impressed with the telecast; far more than I thoughtthey would be. I will show my other classes the video I taped during thetelecast and the video clips. I discussed fund raising possibilities withall four classes, and they are all ready to go. Their homework (dueTuesday), is to come up with a(n) idea(s) regarding how we can best raisethe necessary money to rescue a child. Each class period would like toplan their own activity(ies), and they are up for a competition betweenthe three 6th grade teams (Carol Lynne suggested a thermometer in the mainhallway to monitor growth). Raffle idea is great, too! They particularlyliked the idea of another telecast in which they all can see their giftbeing handed to Eric (or whomever) and the children accepting it. Theyare thinking of having all this done so you could, perhaps, hand deliveran installment. Perhaps this is too lofty a goal and they understand theremay be a conflict with the Association House. I will talk to StudentServices (will see Sue H. tomorrow). I have already had a parent email meregarding a donation. If we could only bottle their energy and generousspirits, we could rescue them all! Thank you, Lori, for all your work incoordinating this.

Taylor Monroe
Lori,Thanks so much for coming and having the video-conferencing with us. That was awesome! I know it wasn't easy with all the technical difficulties and all. Thanks for your patience. My other class was so disappointed they couldn't do the video conferencing. If there are other opportunities to video-conference, I vote we do it again :)I'm all for the fund raising idea too. Yes, whatever we can do to rescue more children. Let us know how we can help with that.I showed the video clip that you sent us to the class that didn't get to video conf. and they loved even that short clip. Thanks for sending us all the links.My students are very anxious to begin this pen pal project. It's so neat to see how excited they all are about this.Susie OhLori-
WOW! It's about all can say.... WOW! The students who were fortunate enough to be in the teleconference- both classes- will never quite be the same- What a fantastic, compassionate, educational experience this was for all. We can't wait to receive our pen pals, to build a relationship with these amazing kids, and to help in any way we can-Thank you very much-

Katie Schiyer

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My favorite memories of the day…

Because there was a slight delay, we taught all the kids to say, “over” when they finished talking, then to wait for a few seconds. It worked great. The rest of the day, the kids would be talking to each other like this: “How was your lunch, over.” Just fine, over.”

One of our kids asked the a student in Chicago, “How big is your village?” The look on the Chicago student’s face was priceless, “Uh (looking around for guidance in complete bewilderment), 19 million?”

One of our kids was telling the kids in Chicago about being trapped in the nets and beaten mercilessly by his master. He ended his very poignant story by demonstrating the master beating him with a paddle, “I have dent in my head from it.” When he did this, all of his friends on the Ghana side started laughing hysterically because he had missed his head with the ersatz paddle. The kids in Chicago just stared at the screen, not sure whether to smile along or what. They all started laughing together, and it was a truly priceless moment.

We had just finished when Lori said, “Erik! One more group, can we? They really want to talk.” So, we did. Alfred (Ghana) told the story of his time with his master, and then begged the Chicago students to help. They said they would do everything they could. Then, they talked sports. When the kids asked if the Ghana students knew of the Chicago Bears, they (of course) did not. But, our astute students all said back, “We hope your team wins!” There was an immediate uproar in Chicago. Both groups sang songs to each other, and then we ended with a riotous bit of waving and signing off. Awesome.

Andy and I finished with each group today, and then sent the others to go play football (not American football) and take pictures. You can see some of their stunning photos on Shutterfly. Give me a couple of hours to upload the photos as the Internet seems to be really slow today.

When we finished, the girls all decided that it was time for Andy to have some corn-rows in his hair. So, the porch-side beauty salon went into action. Totally fun.

I sang the kids’ new favorite repeating and clapping song, “I said A Boom Chicka Boom!” (Thanks to my first-grade teacher Mom for supplying me with endless activities to keep the kids occupied.)

Here is what you do:

Start a clap then hit your knees with the flat of your hand, and then clap, knees, clap, repeat. On the beat, sing, “I said a Boom Chicka Boom.” The kids immediately repeat on the beat. Again, “I said a Boom Chicka Boom.” Then, “I said a Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom!” “Oh, yeah.” “Uh, huh.” “One more time now…” Then, change the speed, do it quiet, do it loud, do is sad, do it crazy. The kids and I did this for HOURS this week. Every time they walked by me outside they said, “I said a Boom Chicka Boom!”

We took some silly photos, and then the kids went off to bathe. I walked through the teaming and humid streets of Accra and bought them some treats for the movie night extravaganza. I bought Andy a beer and a little bottle of very sweet (oh well) wine for myself. We really needed to wind down after a marathon week of digital arts with our lovely, recently trafficked children. Honestly, we are wiped out, as Andy stated, but in the best way. We come home at night and do post-production on the movies from the last six weeks as everyone is so anxious to have their films. It is kind of fun to re-visit our time in Kigoma, etc.

Paul Koyah from Pearson Longman, Ghana showed up with some of the Sara books and other Longman offerings to give to the kids. Andy, Jenny Raymond, and Mark from the Foundation have worked tirelessly to get books to these kids. They don’t own any books in most of their villages. Thanks to Fathima, Mary-Clare, and Sandra from Pearson Longman in South Africa for making this happen. Paul handed us the books and we put them aside for distribution after the movie premiere. We showed all of the kids’ movies and Joe (head of the IOM office here) was astounded, as was Eric. These are kids they rescued with their own hands. These are kids who were so defeated by life when they picked them up from Yeji, the fishing village where they were sent. Now, they were thriving and had learned how to not only use computers for the first time, but master some difficult software. Their movies are, well, incredible.

I had taken about 100 photos from the week and made bound booklets for each of the kids to take home. We handed those out, along with the Longman, MML and UNICEF books. The kids were ecstatic. They clutched those books like it was Christmas morning in America. They all wrote their names in the books, and then we went out for a group photo.

We said goodbye for the night. It was really tough not to start crying and blubbering. I gave some of my clothing to Never to take to his dad and a bunch of cleaning supplies and medicines to take to his mom (I can always buy more of that!). Never asked me how all of the supplies and medicines worked. He was so gracious and thankful. I’m going to really, really, really miss Never. He was so happy to find out that we are going to leave a laptop in his village (New Bakpe is the name…you saw photos of us filming the other day…that took place in New Bakpe.) He promised to keep learning and send us movies that he makes this year.

We are going to go pick up the kids now (it is Saturday), and take them to the airport. No, not to get on planes, but to watch them. They have long drives home today to their villages and all they wanted to do was go somewhere where they could watch some planes land and take off as they have never seen it and can’t imagine how it works. So, off we go! I’m going to go to the store and buy each of them a huge sack of rice to take home to their villages. Hunger is a big problem, so I want to do something from the Pearson Foundation to help out.

Andy and I will then spend the day with Eric in his home and, undoubtedly, have another wonderful meal. Then we’ll walk around this crazy and bustling city before we head to the airport at 7pm for our red-eye flight to Addis. We get to Ethiopia at 7am tomorrow. We start immediately with a day of professional development with teachers from all over Ethiopia, and then work with kids starting Tuesday.

More from our whirlwind tour when we get to our next, and last, country.

E