Building a Community Center in Ghana

Not everything we do at the worksite involves shoveling gravel, sand and dirt (though it often seems that way), we also have a lot of fun!

For example today we found ourselves pretty board towards the end of the day. J and Samuel took the bus to the city of Cape Coast, which is about an hour away, to get supplies and the columns, which will be in the front of the building. There really didn’t seem like there was anything to do, plus we were pretty exhausted from working all morning. So how did we entertain ourselves you might ask? Well it is surprisingly easy when you are surrounded by an entire school’s worth of elementary kids.

Beside just generally sitting around us or clustering in small groups to stare at us, the kids really enjoy teaching us their dances and games. A couple of the Miami students where standing facing a group of about 20 little girls all dressed in their dark green uniforms. For every Ghanaian dance move, students would share an American dance. At times it looked like something out of a movie, where two groups are having a dance off, looking at each other from across an imaginary line. While it is hard to try to describe the fun Ghanaian dances, I think you can all picture 4 Miami students standing a foot taller than the crowd of school kids dancing the Macarena and chicken dance.

Some Miami students sat under the shady overhangs of the school to read, write in their journals and nap. Others wandered around the village shops looking for phone cards, bottles of coke and snacks.

Another group of Miamians picked up a thick bamboo stick and small round citrus fruits (limes or very sad looking oranges?). In the long narrow opening between the lines of school buildings they began to play baseball with the improvised bat and ball. Nothing goes unnoticed by the kids and soon the school overhangs bordering the makeshift field where filled with school children. “Oohing” and “awing,” as the bat connected with the fruit sending it soaring over the rooftop, the kids began to collect more to ensure the game continued. Soon enough they also joined in trying out the bat.

The first few brave boys swung wildly. The spectators laughed and shouted as the batter swung with such force he whipped around in a circle. You couldn’t help but laugh to see the batter terribly frustrated and shout back at his friends in Twi with something that must have translated to “you think you are so good try it yourself!” After the first couple of the tries some of the boys got really good at sending the fruit through the air and into the nearby jungle.

The spectators and newfound baseball players went wild as a female student took the bat and squared herself up to the nonexistent home plate. With as much ease as you would expect from a red blooded American girl she held her own with the bamboo and citrus.

Finally the bus reappeared and we said goodbye to the kids. While it seemed like it could have been waste of time just sitting around all afternoon, I think it was a great chance for us to share a little bit of our culture with our Ghanaian admirers!