Last one for the day...I promise!

Maybe I am experiencing typing-diarrhea or maybe it is simply because internet connection has been nearly impossible for the last few days, I am particularly in the mood to blog today so please bare with me! It finally comes time to begin count down the days before we depart Ghana. With everyday past, the buildings are looking closer and closer to their final form. In order to successfully (and more importantly, timely) complete the project, there has been many masons, carpenters, and benders helping us with the form work for the columns and lintels for the past three days. Many more trenches for the verandas' foundation and gardening walls have been dug, and many more plains around the buildings are being leveled for the entrance reception, courtyard, and gardens. In the flurry of activities, it is a good time to evaluate some of the do-and-don't of this project. Under a tremendous financial and time constraint, many of the participation aspects in the project was forced to be cutback right from the design to the construction of actual buildings. Many students are feeling that they have been spending all of their time digging trenches. Furthermore, the difficulties with timing and communication meant we often have to take several bus trips to complete a single task hence increasing the already pretty substantial carbon footprint of the project. There are no doubt that many of the aspects of this opportunity can be made better by more student participation and more project management, but on the same token I must pay recognition to the work that has been done by the team leaders up to this point for it is nothing less than unimaginable by ordinary standards. I feel that the fundamental trouble occurred at the scope of the project, because it is much more than what our original funding and available labour could manage. If we are to repeat the effort, or if anyone is interested in doing similar efforts for that matter, I say we should carefully consider the balance between ambition and the limitations that we are confronted with to ensure that everyone can have the learning experience they came for. For me though, despite the hardship of the project, I still had the pleasure of meeting and learning about the amazing people and culture that is Ghana. It made me realize once again that it is not about where you are or what you do as much as how you made it to be. I am going to end this passage on a really positive note that the elders in the village and the ministry of education in Volta Region have commended the project to be a model school.