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            What a trip!  After four flights and nearly 24 hours of travel, we arrived safely back home in Grand Rapids last night.  We spent the last few days in Copenhagen with a friend of Jess's family, Laudi, and stayed with her friend, Leena.   Neither of us had been to Europe before (or at least out of the airport) so this visit was an amazing way to wrap up the trip!  These past few days gave us some time to reflect, debrief, and treat ourselves a little after a very busy month in Ghana. 

          The last week in Ghana was crunched with going over details with James, meeting with a few more professionals, and, of course, jewelry shopping.  On one of the last days, we traveled four hours up north (of which was supposed to take two hours...) to go to Ghana's largest bead market.  This place was filled with every kind of hand-made bead you could imagine.   Arriving with only a half hour until it closed, we went a little crazy trying to choose beads from the million of designs they had. We plan on using the beads to make jewelry for future fundraising.  (If you're interested, please let us know!:))

      Looking back on this trip, everything turned out so much better than we expected.  We feel so blessed to have been able to collaborate with such amazing people and are so excited to take the next step in the project.  In the next few days, we are taking some time to gather ourselves together and will be right back to work on the project early next week.  In the next month, we have a lot of fundraisers to plan and proposals to write.  Thanks to everyone who has helped make this trip and project possible!  It has been quite the journey!

This weekend was great to get some work done back at the hostel. Sunday we took off for Cape Coast to do a little shopping on the beach. We ended up getting caught in monsoon rains and stranded for a few hours. Finally, with much hesitation, we braved the rain. Only took three crazy taxi rides, two chaotic bus station stops, and one very cold/wet trotro ride to get back. Got a lot of really amazing things though!

Yesterday Kaleigh and I met with the Department of Education and the City Manager/Mayor of Winneba to talk long-term goals for the village-- some really great insight.

Getting some work done today. We leave on Thursday for Accra... eek!

If I told you, I would have to chop off your head!

       Some friends and I were hiking down the coast earlier this week determined to find the alter that I had seen last year.  When we arrived at the place, a stern-looking man and asked us of our intentions.  I politely told him we were just curious of the alter's meaning.   His face immediately scrunched into an unreadable expression.  Looking me straight in the eyes, he explained,  "if I ever told you the meaning of the alter, I would have to chop off your head!" and let out an evil-sounding laugh. I'm still not sure if he was serious or not, but I don't think I'll be visiting that alter again any time soon.

     The last week has gone by in a blur.  It feels as if time is in another dimension here.   We always have a list of things to get done and people to visit, but plans seem to change continuously and we are learning to take one day at a time. 

         After recovering from minor illnesses over the weekend, we were back up on our feet Monday working with Challenging Heights once again.  The Grand Valley service-learning group arrived in Winneba last weekend and started their service work with Challenging Heights this week.   They agreed to have us follow them around to document all the different areas of Challenging Heights from sensitization in the communities to teaching in the classrooms.  We want to fully understand everything they do in their organization and be able to clearly present it back to others in the states. 

     Wednesday, Mr. Teguo (the construction field manager) brought us to a few different vocational schools to interview and to tour their facilities.  The first school refused us to ask questions because they thought we were trying to steal their business once again.  With a slightly different approach, we were finally able to interview the next vocational school called The National Vocational Institute of Ghana.  The staff was extremely friendly and helpful and we were able to get a good grasp of a sustainable trade-school. (They have been building their program since 1979!)  Our third school visit had strangely shutdown for the evening, so we wrapped up the day content with our one in threeJ

         Yesterday, (Thursday) we met with James (the director of Challenging Heights) again to present a general proposal for the school.  We cleared up a few questions and added in some of his suggestions.  We eventually came to a general consenses and are both really excited abuut what is to come!  After the meeting, James drove us up north a ways to see the children's shelter that is currently under construction.  The shelter was so much more elaborate than either of us expected!  Tucked away on the edge of rainforest, the shelter stands on a little hill minutes from the city.  It is cleverly made to become self-sustaining complete with a bore hole, future farm area, three classrooms, a library, a kitchen and several corridors for volunteers and children to stay.  Not only was the building beautiful, but it gave Jess and I a real vision of what the vocational school could look like down the road!