In the Belly of the Beast

For the past couple of weeks, Marina and I have been living in Accra. We're working at a vocational training school for the physically disabled. The students are trained in tailoring, shoemaking, tie-die and batik (a local method of dying fabric using wax to imprint patterns before immersing the fabric in die) and computers. The Center Manager was obviously not impressed with our shoemaking skills, since he's placed us in charge of the computer training. During the day, we work with small groups of the students on the one functional computer at the center. In the evenings, Marina takes half of them to work on beginner reading and writing and I go with the other half to read out loud from a novel.















































































In most cases, the students at the center have not had access to a proper education. The young man in the photo below has very limited reading abilities. He carries bags of newspapers, pamphlets and magazines around with him everywhere he goes, and spreads them out for hours on end to pick out and copy down the words that he recognizes.

















We live with the students, on the same compound as the school. The lady with Marina in the photo below is Olivia. She's a fantastic cook and has made us lots of delicious, spicy meals. The door behind Marina is to our bedroom - which even has a TV that entertains us some evenings with its two fuzzy channels.

















One of the teachers took us to his neighborhood near the beach.

















There were some nice, surfable waves rolling in. But unfortunately, the water in the area has been polluted into garbage soup...

















After a lengthy battle with some immigration officials here in Accra, we've at long last got the necessary papers and tickets for our visit to South Africa. We fly out on Saturday! We'll transit in Dubai and arrive in Johannesburg on Sunday afternoon!

-Davis