A Dose of Perspective

What a whirlwind week!  We've been hard at work on learning about our organizations and revising our Scopes of Work for the next three weeks, which turned out to not only be time-consuming (we thought we would only need 20-minute introduction meetings for each department of HFFG, when we really needed about 2.5 hours per dept....), but also exhausting.  Plus the heat here really saps the energy!  Most nights we get back, maybe go out to dinner, and pass out - just don't have the brain power to do more at that point.  However, the projects seem to be chugging along, and I think we have a pretty clear idea at this point of how we need to spend the next three weeks.  Hopefully we can stick to that!

In that vein, my team is heading out to the field early tomorrow - we'll be in the Brong Ahafo region until Wednesday, meeting with the regional coordinators and field staff to discuss a few of the projects they are working on (notably, sexual reproductive health (SRH) and malaria prevention).  But before leaving, I wanted to share a few pictures from our visit to Jamestown, a fishing village within Accra located in one of the old British parts of the city.

It certainly was a healthy dose of perspective - it's not the images you see most of the time, and is a true reminder of why what we are working on with these NGOs is so important.  But it also reminds you that economic development and global citizenship is ultimately about improving the lives of individuals.

These two kids were my favorite part - the smiles, the simple joy on their faces as they posed, and then the delightful screeches when they saw the tiny picture on my camera.  How can we not want to help?  How can we not do our best to give these boys the opportunities to grow up and lead a sustainable life?

xx