The First Step

On February 6th I leave for Ghana in west Africa! Only 6 more sleeps now!
The project that I am going with has a website www.mala.ca/ghana if you're interested in checking it out. I don't think it has been updated with the new students involved for this year, but it has some background on the project itself.
What exactly am I going to be doing there? Well...that's a good question! Amanda Moore, a fellow Malaspina student, and I are leaving on the 6th with an overnighter in Amsterdam before arriving in Accra, Ghana on the 8th. We'll have a few days in Accra before heading out to Sunyani where we will be based. This is the second year of this five year project, so the first week or two will be settling in and reconnecting with contacts that the team made last year in Sunyani. We will also be going out to the four villages that are part of the project to reconnect and continue to build support within the communities for the project.
The four areas that we will be working on, that our partners in Sunyani have identified, are AIDS awareness/education, waste management (particularily plastic recycling), forestry management (particularity bush fire prevention), and ecotourism.
Amanda and I will be staying on campus of one of the universities that we are partnered with. They have a new dorm that we will be staying in...not sure yet what it will be like!? Staying on campus will give us a great opportunity to meet with the Ghanaian students and faculty involved. We are also planning on doing some homestays while we are there, but nothing has been finalized yet.
In mid-March one of our instructors will join us, and then in mid-April the rest of the team arrives for three weeks. There will be 11 students and faculty from Malaspina, including Amanda and I, during these three weeks!
I must admit that I have been having a hard time getting excited...not because of the upcoming experience, but because of all the stuff that has to be done before we go! I know though that once I am on that plane...!!!!! Woohooo!
We will have access to internet, so be sure to check in from time to time!
L.