Day 6, June 7, by Seniors Collin O'Neal, Claiborne Tompkins and Hunter Wieck

Day 6 of the Ghana trip began with some awesome sleep.  Coming off of several days filled with sickness, a good night's sleep was just what the doctor ordered.  All three of us (Claiborne, Hunter, and Collin) were feeling much better and ready to get the trip back on track after recovering from our various ailments.  For breakfast the team enjoyed an omelette, some fruit, and toast before heading to day three of construction in Ayeldu.  

Along the way the boys listed to a carefully curated playlist that included classics like Nicki Minaj's Starships, Zach Bryan's Pink Skies, and Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline (a favorite for Ms. Williams 😉).The guys arrived at Ayeldu and assessed the situation.  Having worked hard during the first two days of construction, only two tasks remained: computer set-up and paint finishing touches.  Led by day three foreman, Collin O'Neal, the boys divided up and set out to conquer the remaining tasks.  For the painters, tasks included jobs like sanding, scraping and sweeping.  For the IT workers, tasks included testing old keyboards, cleaning hard drives, and transporting the PC's to new locations.  The work day continued, and the building came into its final form.  It was a wonderful experience to see all of the hard work flourish into a newly built, high quality classroom resource.  

Another highlight of the work day came with the Queen Mother visited the worksite and officially welcomed the boys to her town.  In Ghana, the Queen Mother is one of the most powerful individuals in the community.  She often plays a major role in selecting the next chief and in many key decisions.  It was both informative and insightful to have the chance to meet and talk with the Queen Mother of Ayeldu.  

After wrapping up most of the jobs on the worksite, the boys had an extremely poignant conversation with Ms. Williams, Ms. Byrnes, and Reggie (Mr. Ford) about the importance of respect back at MBA.  We discussed things that certain grades seemed to succeed at while also highlighting areas where people were continuing to fall short.  We concluded with a brainstorm focused on bringing the lessons of Ghana back to MBA, sharing the diverse, open perspective that many of us have been able to form while here.  

After work, we headed back to the compound for the staple lunch of chicken and rice.  We regrouped quickly with our swimsuits and towels as we got ready for the next piece of our day: beach time.  Based on various opinions and reflections, it is easy for us to say that our time on the beach was one of our favorite moments of our time in Africa.  As we frolicked in the waves and climbed the nearby rock formations, we enjoyed the views of nature and beauty around us.  

Then we set that nature and beauty aside for a serious game of pick-up soccer.  After setting up some goals with sticks, teams were drafted with Hunter and Sam (our amazing Ghanaian friend who has accompanied us throughout the trip) as captains.  The game quickly got underway and it was clear that Sam was levels above the rest of us, as he put together an amazing hat trick in route to a 4-1 victory for his team.  Sam continued to show off when he effortlessly scaled a palm tree, quickly shimmying up the trunk in order to retrieve the lodged soccer ball.  As the boys left the beach, they took the opportunity to take some pictures with both their old and new friends.  

Back at the lodge, dinner was served and the boys settled in to relax.  The day was capped off by an evening of reflection and thoughts about the trip.  Ways things could be done better were proposed and constructive feedback was offered.  Then the group, led by Reggie, took the opportunity to go around the circle, saying one kind thing to every single member of the group.  This was one of the most meaningful and positive moments that we have ever been a part of.  It was clear that the group of travelers who had previously not know each other had congealed into a tight knit group.  Overall, the day was filled with, joy, and kindness, and it will not be forgotten by the boys anytime soon.  

Burgers vs. Tacos, June 6, by Dominick Cotton

 

The day started with my peers and I waking up and going to breakfast.  After we ate, we went to the worksite, but there was a problem.  We had six people who were sick, which meant a couple of things.  we were missing two of our adults because they were taking care of our students who had gotten ill.  We also lost two of our seniors, so Hunter Wieck took charge and became the foreman of the day.  Nonetheless, we made excellent progress.  

When we returned home, the game was on!  The day before we got all of the ingredients needed to make a meal from our minds only.  My team was pretty confident in our steak tacos, but it was not easy.  Our opposing team made burgers topped with a fried egg and on a toasted bun.  I got to try them, and they were amazing.  However, with Palmer Elzen's talent, Collin O'Neal's presentation, and Wynn Humphrey's cooking, the battle was close.  While the judges said both were good, the main judge, our Weda Lodge chef, didn't reveal the winner, and he has yet to do so.

After some meaningful talks in the evening, we got in our beds and prepared for the next day.

Senses, June 5, by Calhoun Maddox

Prompt: Focusing on three of your five senses, share your experiences today.

Day four of the Ghana excursion we started our first construction with a breakfast consisting of toast, sausage, veggies and boiled eggs.  Following our meal we boarded the bus to depart to the local school.  After a one and a half hour bus ride, filled with sing-alongs and song requests, we arrived at our destination.  Once Ms. Williams had carefully decided the groups, we split up into jobs as assigned, such as carpentry, electrical, cement working, and painting. 

Four hours of working later and the team was ready for lunch.  The lunch was full of foods new to us, such as ground cassava, a root vegetable used frequently in Ghanaian foods.  After filling our stomachs, we were ready to decide what to make for the cooking competition that would occur on day five.

Following the bus ride, we made it to the bustling market.  Since it was a market day, which occur on Wednesdays and Saturdays, we saw a massive amount of people purchasing and selling goods.  These good included goat and cow meat, cosmetics, bars of shea butter, and a variety of clothing items.  Smells such as assorted spices, dried fish, and baked good were prominent in the market as well.  While searching for the ingredients, we were introduced to new Fanti words and phrases, and ways of greeting.  One of the  ways of greeting included physical touch, such as grabbing your arm to get your attention.  This action startled some, including me, but once the intention was understood, I was able to listen to what they were asking.

After the bus ride we ate a hearty meal of chicken wings, fufu, and stew.  The day concluded with a discussion about the things we noticed at the market and how it feels to both look and act different from those around you.  The discussion both opened our eyes to the things around us and helped us learn about the experiences of others in our group in the market.

Guatemala: June 6th

Since we were busy working and having fun, we fell behind on the blog. However, never fear,  here are the final two entries!

For these entries, students were given free rein on what they wanted to share and how they shared it.

Entry #1

-Eli Loudenslager ‘28

¡Hola! Today I had the opportunity to visit yet another city in Guatemala, Antigua! I started off the day with some eggs and beans, then got ready for our departure. I somehow fit my clothes into my tiny silver carry-on suitcase and put it in the truck. We also took some pictures and selfies with the wonderful cooks at the home base. Then, we were off to Antigua! I slept most of the ride there, but when we arrived at our destination, I was greeted with a wonderful view of the city. We took some pictures and made our way down some stairs (I might’ve fallen a couple times, but that doesn’t matter ). We made it to a nice museum that explained some of Guatemala’s history with jade. We also found our animal associated with our birthday in Guatemala. After, we arrived at a restaurant that was made of my dreams. I chowed down on some of the most delicious fried chicken I’ve ever had. Although, a quick bathroom break was mandatory. After, we walked over to a market. As I wandered through the market, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. As I turned around, I spotted a group of workers eyeing me and my friend Roy (aka Tyron). Although, one of them always managed to keep up with us. She was in pink high heels adorned with sparking crystals. With each step, she clacked closer. We tried our best to lose her, but she always appeared out of the blue. Her heels clicked in perfect harmony with my heartbeat. Eventually, we made it out with some funny and memorable moments. Raquel, one of the translators with squads was also someone who stayed with us to try and lose the woman. Later, we made it to the hotel and got settled. At around 6:00pm it was time for dinner. We made our way to a nice place with a loud dog and many beautiful paintings. Before we ate, Griffin and Lawson made some memorable toasts. After dinner, we made our way to the park to view a beautiful waterfall and some ice cream. While we ate, I got to know Raquel more than before. I was able to share some details about my life in Arizona and Nashville, as well as some Guatemalan foods I could attempt to make at home. Overall, I had a very memorable day in Antigua and I am so grateful to have a Squad (no pun intended) with us to guide us through our time. 

 

Learning about our birthdays and the Mayan calendar at the Jade Museum. 

Entry #2

-Davis Pittman ‘29

Trip Recap

Saturday

•  We gathered our stuff at the airport and flew to Guatemala
•  We had Coke and pizza on the bus
•  Then we explored Basecamp

Sunday

•  We learned how Coco beans were produced
•  We went to a place where they taught us to Weave 
•  After that, we took a boat ride across the lake and got splashed along the way

Monday

• Monday was our first day at the school and we sorted bottles and strung them onto chicken wire as support for the walls
• The children at the school were shy but performed lots of dances for us, and two of those dances included throwing candy at us.
•  After we were at the school, we went and learned how to make pottery

Tuesday

•  Tuesday was our first full day at the school.
• We saw a pig and a baby pig
• Our main task on Tuesday was to put concrete on the walls made of chicken wire and bottles

Wednesday

•  Wednesday was our last day at the school
•  We finished putting concrete on the walls and painted the side of the bathroom turquoise green

Thursday

•  In the morning, we packed up our stuff
•  After driving to Antigua we swam in the pool for a bit before going to dinner 
•  After dinner, we had ice cream

After an amazing week and a memorable return journey, the Guatemala travelers crew is back Stateside! We hope you all enjoyed the boys' reflections and that they spark interest in other students to participate in future MBA Service trips!

Guatemala: Our final day in the community!

 

Prompt: Write a postcard home on your experience thus far.

 Entry #1 

Dearest Mother and dearest Father,

My trip has been wonderful and along with that, I have made some wonderful memories. The children at the school were just wonderful. They were always joyous and energetic. For they do not complain despite how small of a school they had. The sight of the school was not initially impressive, but the children looking out the window as we arrive is just wonderful and will always stick with me. The language barrier was humongous, but we managed with fist bumps, high fives, and teaching each other phrases. For we taught them about dental hygiene, and they loved it. The children were wonderful and grateful for the toothbrushes we gave them. They will never leave my mind. For they are truly wonderful. I will miss the sight of the many faces looking at me with smiles as big as the moon.

Love,

Russell Kaegi ‘28

 Entry #2

Dear Mom and Dad,

      I have had a unique experience during this trip, with a lot of ups and downs. The ups of this have been building a wall out of bottles for a foundation of cement, increasing my Spanish by a humongous amount, and learning to place cement on a wall, which I’ve become quite good at. A bit of the downs have included launching a ball over fence, which I retrieved, and watching my friend break a window. We are about to head to Antigua, which is kinda good and kinda bad. The good is that we have completed the project and it looks good and blue. The bad part is we have to leave these nice kids at their school. I hope you are doing well. 

 Your Favorite child,

  Lawson

 Entry #3

To: Mom and Dad,

 Today, our last day at the school, we finished our work in building the bathrooms for the kids and community to use. After finishing the walls (filling them with bottles) and adding the last bit of cement, we painted and completed the bathroom. All of the community was so grateful for our work, and I am grateful for the opportunity to experience their awesome culture, food, and the fact that they were so happy with what was available to them. It has been very nice that they allowed us to be with them and I hope to come back soon.

From: Arjun

Entry #4

We had an amazing time at the worksite. The kids were amazing and the parents/teachers and leaders were incredibly grateful. They showed grace by giving us snacks, clapping for us, and helping us every chance they got to ensure that we knew what we were doing. The students were very excited and nice to all of us. They listened to our English and we learned Spanish from them. I especially loved the high fives they gave us and the show at the end. The leaders were also very grateful and showed it by being very helpful and fun to be around. For me personally, this is the best experience of my life so far and I will always remember one can be happy with very little.  

-Henry Wells

                                                                

Ghana - June 4, by Russell Howard

After a couple days of travel, we've finally arrived at our first full day at the Weda Resort.  This morning, the staff at the Anomabo Beach greeted us with eggs and pancakes to prepare us for a day of village visiting.  We departed around 9:00 for about a one-hour journey to the Ayeldu community.  Though the bus ride was bumpy, it was filled with both impressive landscapes and poverty-stricken towns.  We drove by hundreds of street vendors, each carrying heavy food or water on his or her head.  We also saw various abandoned or otherwise dilapidated buildings.  According to our Squads leader Halil, these buildings are unfinished because of the lack of a banking system in Ghana.

Upon arriving to the first community, Ayeldu, it's customary to meet the chief and inform him of your intentions.  We walked by the palace, but didn't meet the chief until we entered his private residence.  Every member of the team shook his hand, and we thanks him in Fanti: "medasse."  We also introduced ourselves with our newfound Fanti names.  In Fanti, the prevailing language in this part of southern Ghana, but distll one of the hundreds in the broader country, names are attributed based on the date of the week on which you were born.  For example, Wednesday, the day I was born, comes with the name "Kweku."  The seniors of the group then presented the chief with several gifts.  These gifts mostly included MBA goods, like a small football and shirts and bags, and some soaps made in Nashville, but the chief seemed very appreciative.  As Halil later informed us, this chief was slightly different from others in that he addressed the group directly, rather than using the interpreter as a liaison.  So the group graciously thanked the chief for his blessing and investigated the rest of the village.

Next, we visited the medical center, a small clinic that treats ailments that don't require surgery.  The center also has a midwife and a room for baby delivery.  Interestingly, the "small" medical problems seemed substantially different from what Americans would deem inconsequential.  In Ayeldu, the small illnesses would include HIV, intestinal worm, malaria complications, etc.

After the medical center, we visited the worksite.  We didn't work today, but we met the kids and teachers of the school we are renovating.  During the next few days, though, the group will be constructing a room to house computers, which the kids have previously not had the opportunity to use.  We probably met upwards of a hundred kids just where we visited.  According to Sam, another one of our Squads leaders, it's normal in Ghana for classrooms to contain 50-60 students.  One little girl wouldn't let Jimmy go, and many kids tried to mimic Collin's dances.  But everyone was impressed when Reggie did a backflip in the circle of students.  Unfortunately, we had to leave Ayeldu to return to the Weda Resort for lunch.

After the group was again satiated, we got back on the bus to visit another village in Ekumfi.  On the way, we passed by a large juice factory.  Mabel, another Squads leader, told us it produced the local brand of pineapple juice, Ekumfi Juice.  Upon our arrival, we were again treated like celebrities by the local children.  Despite that most of them likely believed we were last year's Squads group returning, we welcomed their excitement nonetheless.  In the village, we entered last year's Squads construction project: a new building filled with computers.  Then, the group walked through the village with the locals.  Some of us practiced some of the Fanti phrases Sam and Halil taught us.  The native children's ability to speak some English was awe-inspiring, especially considering how rural this part of Ekumfi is.

We finally reached the beach, and Reggie once again demonstrated his backflipping abilities to everyone's delight.  This time, one of the locals successfully backflipped as well.  Eventually we began playing a form of tag with the kids on the beach.  Despite the language barrier, the game's simple parameters allowed us to convey the rules clearly.

In southern Ghana, fishing is a large part of many people's lives.  To learn more about the industry, the group met with the fishing chief of the village.  He told us the fishermen in Ekumfi only go out during the night to fish.  They primarily catch herring, casting a net sixty yards deep in the Atlantic.  We thanked the fishing chief with another "medasse" and left the village.  

Back at Weda, the Squads kitchen staff cooked some mouth-watering fufu for dinner.  We ended the day with some reflection with Halil, as well as some Ghanan political discussion, readying us perfectly for the first day of work.  

Guatemala Day 2: Back at school

Today we traveled to Sector Rosales to the school where we will be working all week! We received a beautiful welcome with song, dance, candy and food!

The prompt today: Compare and contrast the experience today to that of one at your previous school or MBA.

Entry #1 

Townes Bradley ‘28

Today, the gents traveled to Sector Rosales to start the building of a bathroom. The MBA students had filled the bathroom walls with bottles densely packed with trash that the students at the Sector Rosales school had made. The boys stacked the bottles quickly and skillfully. The community was very grateful and supportive. They gave the boys cookies, chuchitos for lunch, and juice. We all felt a sense of gratitude, MBA and Sector Rosales alike. The children had shining smiles throughout the day. The boys had never seen this kind of thankfulness in the US and we were equally thankful to be there. The young scholars are back on the job tomorrow having fun and working hard.

  

 

Chuchitos

Entry #2

Roy Morton ’29

The school we visited in Guatemala had many differences compared to my previous elementary school. However, some of the differences stood out to me and were quite unique. One major difference would be how close the community of students were in Guatemala. I admired how it seemed like all the students knew each other, were friends, and cared for each other. A connection like this has a positive effect on society in general. Another thing I noticed was how hesitant the students at Guatemala were due to outsiders entering their campus. Some reasons may have been either the language barrier or just being shy around new people. On the other hand, students at my previous school seemed a bit more comfortable and it might have just been because we never had the opportunity to communicate with a foreigner. Overall, both of the schools became more comfortable and friendly around the new faces they met. In summary, despite the differences between the two schools, there was a deep connection for both the schools whether it was just saying “hola” or giving someone a high five. 

Additional photos from the day:

 

Ribbon cutting ceremony for the bathrooms

Separating the bottles by size