a riddle...

what does 10% beer, toilet paper, oranges, building blocks, ice cream, water and fried plantains have in common?

i could buy all of them from my window on the bus.

i love ghana.

into week two now and i think ive got a bit of a rhythm back..

ive realized these past few days that people are a bit confused about what exactly i do in the camp, and how the donations relate so, ill try to explain.

first, theres the feeding program.. the original. this feeding program operates at children better way school. this school is a budget school on camp and pulls in kids that can't afford to pay the higher fees. right now most of the kids are attending for free.. some have paid the $1 required to register but at least half just shows up. while the free school is nice, it means that all the teachers at the school are (exhausted) volunteers. the fees would go to buy supplies, salaries etc.

enter internet cafe. this cafe is run by children better way (the organization that runs the school). this organization is the one i came through last summer, and was formerly dependent on volunteer fees to carry out operations. it is my hope that by developing the internet cafe, the funds generated will go towards paying salaries and enable the school to stay free.

the purse sales are a bit less connected. the funds from these sales put under privileged kids through school, but they go to the more expensive schools (st. gregory's and faith foundation). bit controversial i suppose that they go to the 'better' schools but, thats where they are. like i said, its about 50 to send a kid to school for a term.

hope that helps.

in other news... we're upgrading the feeding program! starting monday, we're going to see how feeding beans and fish, oranges and rice and fish (along with water each day) works... bit more money, and a few more cookies but well worth it. this food is much more in line with what the kids would like to eat, and has way higher energy values. we're buying incredible amounts of beans and oil this weekend. the teachers will also be included in this program... since they're volunteers now with no other source of income, a bit of food might make the day a bit more enjoyable.

and finally- we're building a community science lab today! a friend in accra had leftover science materials from a ghana-wide distribution project and said that we could have them. we have a spare building that used to be used for HIV/AIDS education and have decided to turn that into a lab that schools can sign up to use. nobody on camp has ever really had access to beakers and weights.

so.. big week. everybody on the camp is melting under the dry season heat. the sun seems to get stronger every day and i continuously peel off brown gunk from my arms and hands. december in canada will be a shock to the system...