The last minute surprises...my first tribute(and the only one that is not pleasant)!

We have been incredibly lucky when it came to the weather, even though it was suppose to be in the middle of the raining season, there has been hardly delays induced by the rain in the past month. Just when we thought everything could be smooth sailing from here on, two things happened to really spice up the ending of the trip. 

First came the unpleasant surprise about Ian's final speech. As if it is not frustrating enough that he has been displaying shitty (excuse my language) attitude and treatment towards students all throughout the project, there has been a complete disregard for all the students' (maybe except one or two students, and even that is questionable) inputs and feedbacks. For the past almost 8 months, we met for 2 hours a week to design and research only to find out that all we end up contributing to the project is labour. In the final speech he gave at the opening ceremony he said, and I quote, "I have made it a personal mission, and so involve Ryerson University", and that my friends set the tone for the mission. All the Ryerson faculties, students, and all the other help from the locals and the terrific workers are only here to be a support of his vision. He didn't even acknowledge the effort contributed by everyone else but his own and that of his project manager (who has genuinely been the key stone of the project). Even worse, he did not consult or inform the students about the last minute decision to change the name of the school to memorialize his mother, I am truly sorry for his lost but I don't think it is appropriate to dedicate everyone else's effort to his mother. What kind of push-over does he think we are (especially when many of the students feel that they are treated like slaves)? On a positive note, regardless of how childish and unreasonable the leadership was, the students made the best out of this trip that they signed up for; it’s just a shame that one person’s need to satisfy his own ego comes out of the expense of students (literally, as we had to finance ourselves here) and the locals and all others who have participated in the construction process.

The other surprise came last minute just as we were leaving Ghana. The film crew went to film the final footage of airplane departing in the sunset, and they never came back for the flight that night. Apparently, they were held because of security breach. Parents please do not worry, they are perfectly okay and they will be flying tomorrow instead and pick up their luggage from me in Amsterdam along the way. It was just a very stressful and worrisome 8 hours as we wonder what could have happened to them. In hind sight, it was much more comical than anything else, certainly made the conclusion of the trip that much more memorable.

With that end the first tribute! Cheers to all the ups and downs of the journey that made it non-other than extraordinary!