Time is flying.....

I can not believe that it has been over a month since I last posted an up date.  Hope you are still interested in my journey.  I have much to share and will have to do it in pieces, so please bear with me.  I will post frequently for the next few days in order to catch you up to date on what as been going on.

The last 5 weeks have been a blur.  It was the last half of Term 3 for the students.  Dan, the director of the school, was in the United States for this whole time which left me in charge.  So I have been teaching classes, preparing my final exams, running the school, running the "clinic" as the school nurse and being the school secretary.  Whew!!! 

Let's cover a few highlights.  As you will remember, one of the other female medical missionaries who I know here in Ghana pasted away earlier this summer.  I have made a couple of trips to here home town of Kumasi here in Ghana.  Her funeral was just this past weekend.  I was, unfortunately, unable to attend due to a big conflict on that weekend.

The conflict which I had was a big one.  OAVI had an "Open Day and Fund-raising" event on that day which was August 27th.  We were so busy at the school for the last several weeks with classes, final preparations, grading, compiling grades and on top of that preparing performances and displays for the Open Day.  Last Saturday it rained all day, however, no one let that dampen their spirits.  The students performed cultural dances, choreography, and a fashion show in the rain!  We had put together a big display of clothes, textiles, architectural drafting designs and catering foods to show the community what the students are taught at our school.  We sold many of these items to raise funds for the school and clinic building.  Many hours of preparation went into this event.

Here the Fashion Class is displaying their paper patterns for the hats they have designed to make.

This is the Hair dressing department preparing to style the models and teachers' hair for the big event

Fashion Department using the paper patterns to cut fabric and make actual items for display

Director of OAVI, Dan Owusu Asiamah, speaking to the attendees in the rain

This is a picture of the dignitaries who were present and then myself in the left corner.  (Just a side note:  it is still raining and I am at the edge of the canopy and getting soaking wet)

Here I am with a couple of students who graduated last year.  I was present for their graduation.



We had the school painted in preparation of the Open Day.  I thought you would enjoy seeing a Ghanaian ladder. :)

I wish I had more pictures for you, however, it was hard for me to get pictures when I was front and center.  I gave the opening address and introduced many of the "special guests".  I didn't do too bad, however, I think a murdered a couple of the names.  I hope I will eventually get this alphabet down.  It is very different from ours.

As for the fund-raising piece of this event, we did not fair as well as we had all hoped.  But we are praying that much interest and excitement was stirred within the media, community and all of Ghana.  Perhaps, we will receive more open doors in the future.  At the end of the day, we also registered students who are interested in coming to OAVI next year.  We will have a whole new group next year in October.

For now, the school is on a one month break until October 4th.  I will be using this time to get my lessons prepared for next Term and working on the clinic administrative items.  I have also applied for my Ghanaian nursing license and am studying for the exams.  We will also be holding another week of Literacy Training Sept. 12-17.

Please pray for the students to have safe breaks and to return to the school safe and sound.  I promise that I will be updating again in a day or two.  I have so much to tell you all.