More than a month has passed since I last wrote anything for the blog, a month with so many demands on my time that Susan has done all the picture organizing and blog postings. Some of these demands were anticipated, and were rewarding in every way: having 2011 director Stephanie Sandberg with us as a houseguest for ten days, for example; and planning and setting out on our Ashanti Region field trip. (It’s going to be a great program next year, and we had a wonderful time laying plans with Stephanie—we only wish we could all three be here together next year!) Others were unanticipated and less enjoyable, such as attending to a student who came down very suddenly with the most severe case of malaria we have ever seen in any of the groups we have brought to Africa. She spent four nights in the hospital, and it’s only now, nearly three weeks after the initial crisis, that she is getting back to her full strength. And this is someone who is hardly ever sick, very attentive to hygiene and food safety, faithful in taking her prophylaxis, and probably more widely traveled than anyone else in the group, including Susan and me. There has been no rational pattern to our several serious illnesses!
But this is the week when we allow the students to organize their own travels in small groups, so I suddenly find myself with some time for other matters besides class prep and grading essays and program planning—and nobody is ill just now either, thank God. We had grand plans of making a visit to Dakar or Bamako or Ouagadougou, in Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso, respectively, to experience the world of l’Afrique francophone. But airfares are outrageous: $1100 to $1300 round trip for any of these one- or two-hour flights, the same as flights to Europe. Way beyond our budget. So we’ve pared down to a two-day drive back to the Volta Region on Thursday and Friday.
Half the students are off having adventures: some of them braved the 12+ hour bus rides and returned to the North to volunteer or explore, others are chilling out at beaches and small coastal towns in the Western region. The other half stayed home for part of the week and are heading out tomorrow for the West-except two who decided they will do all their exploring in and around Accra. At our weekly dinner last night we could all sit in the living room together and chat, much less crowded than usual. We borrowed a projector and showed several recent slide shows (the same albums recently posted here, plus the Northern trip I will post later today).
Our time together here is nearly at an end. On November 22 Susan will leave Ghana and land in Philadelphia for a visit with Klaas and Krista and our anticipated granddaughter. The students and I will remain for two more weeks. But everyone is now aware of the shortness of time remaining. Some of the plans we made, especially those for extensive visits to a village in the Ga District, are clearly not going to be fulfilled this year, though we are still trying to revive some elements of the plan. Other plans have been more than fulfilled, as students have fanned out on free days to visit the homes of friends they have made in the hostel or in the markets, for cooking lessons and wedding celebrations and shopping expeditions. Whether the homestay we scheduled for October will still happen next week is still uncertain—I hope to learn more today—but frustrations over this part of the program have been more than outweighed by all the things that have been even richer and more valuable experiences than anticipated, including each of our field trips.
More of my time this week is bound to mean more of yours, faithful readers: you will now have to endure my prolixity, in contrast with Susan’s conciseness. Deal with it.
