Monkey Sanctuary

Hey! Sorry I haven’t been able to post for a few days; the internet here has been down for a while, so I am resorting to internet café. Wahoo! Well, this last weekend we went up to the Volta region to a little village called the Monkey Sanctuary. It was so cool. The monkeys were jumping around from tree to tree right in front of us. We got to feed the monkeys and they loved it. But I have to admit, so did I! Look how excited I am in this picture...ok, it's not all excitment, I am was pretty nervous too! They would come right up to us and take the banana out of our hands, peel it and eat it all in about 5 seconds. After we saw and fed the monkeys, we went on a very beautiful hike to one of the tallest waterfalls in Ghana, called Wli Waterfall. It was one of the tallest I have ever seen. It was beautiful. The hike was through the rainforest, and we saw beautiful plants and even some pineapple growing along the side of the trail. The water was so warm beneath the falls that we all got in and swam. It was a little creepy though, the entire wall next to and behind the waterfall was lined with bats. Right before we left, we all screamed as loud as we could to see if we could make the bats fly around. We could only make them stir and flap their wings a little, but the native who was with us grabed an old fallen down tree and started beating it on a rock to make a really loud bang, and it worked! The bats started flying everywhere, it was pretty cool, and the waterfall was wonderful! We stayed the night there with the villagers, sleeping under mosquito nets. It was a very interesting experience. Most of the kids were running around in next to nothing, just dirty and cute. It was a true African experience. For our entertainment, all the villagers got together and prepared a little show for us. The village story teller told us a few stories that were passed down from generation to generation. There is only allowed to be one story teller at a time and the story teller that told our stories had been the teller for about 30 years. He was blind and had to have a translator for us to understand the stories. It was very cool.

I love this picture. She has her underwear on backwards, and is wearing flip flops that are about 3 sizes too big. Too cute.

Then, they brought out the drums and started giving us some true African entertainment. The lit a little fire right in the middle of the circle and drummed. Little kids got up and did a little song and dance around the fire, and then when they were done, others got up and danced around in a circle. It was exactly how you imagine Africa, with the drums, the dancing, the singing and the tribal chanting. It was such a cool experience. Once I can get the video to post, I will most definitely do it so you all can hear!

The next morning we were supposed to get up and go on a hike up a really tall mountain, one of the tallest in Ghana, but it started pouring rain. I am talking torrential down pour. I was all decked out in my poncho ready to go, but Lynley said that we would all probably slip right off the mountain if we tried. Too bad. I was so lucky to find the poncho. It was just in the luggage that I borrowed from my mom and dad. Thanks guys; at least it kept me dry walking from my room to the bus. Most everyone else was completely soaked once they got to the bus.

Today we were back in the schools, thank heavens! It was so good to see the kids again, and the kids were so excited to see us too. They greeted us with the usual, “Good morning madams” and we loved it. Our lessons went great today. We taught on storms and on light and energy. The storms lead right into my lesson on light and energy. After we taught them a little about light, we let them make bracelets with solar beads that change color when you get into the sun. Thanks to my great friend Becky, I was able to get 1000 beads and each of the kids was able to make a full bracelet of solar beads. They absolutely LOVED it! After we made all the bracelets, we took them outside to test them out. Even though it was a cloudy day, the beads changed colors and the kids were so excited to see them changing. They kept coming up to me saying, “Look Carlie, they are changing. Look at all the colors!” It was so sweet. Today we also taught our AIDS lessons. We went to a little school called The Happy Kids School. We were teaching a group of boy scouts and girl guides. Most of them were pretty young, but they knew so much and understood so much about AIDS. They were so smart. They gave great input and asked a ton of questions. When I taught my lesson on how HIV relates to women, they were all very attentive. In this lesson, we talk about rape and how to say no. They were all interested in what we had to say, and I saw one little girl taking notes, and in her notes it said, “Women should be treated with respect. It is ok to say no to sex.” I was so excited to see them so eager to learn. It was so great to work with these younger kids because they are the future. They are the ones who are going to change the future of Africa. If we can reach these kids, we have accomplished something great. I was so excited to see their enthusiasm in learning. I almost teared up at that moment, because she has so much potential to change her culture.
I can’t believe that this is my last week here. It has flown by so fast. I am looking forward to coming home, but at the same time am torn. There is still so much that I want to see, and want to learn, and want to teach the kids. I will miss them so much when we leave. Hope all is going well with all of you! I miss you all and love you!