Day 27 – 18 June 2012

Monday was our last day in the village. Although I wouldn’t really call it a day since we left before 10 am. On today’s agenda, we planned to load up our vehicle, visit a mining company who would possibly be our first major client, and say goodbye to people who had helped us throughout our stay.

George showed up to pick us up nearly an hour before we anticipated; a huge relief, given that he is sometimes an hour late. After breakfast and some last minute packing, we loaded the vehicle and followed Nana, Pastor Kofi, and Degraft (who were all in one car) to the mines. We had met a manager of the mines during our ceremony last Saturday and he had mentioned the possibilities of a partnership between PPF and the mine. We brought with us 10 of the bags of sachets we produced the night before.

We eventually found our way to a conference room, meeting with the director of the mines and some other important leaders; who, I think, were all Australian. We spent about half hour explaining the structure of PPF, both the sachet and sawdust projects, the communities role, and the partnership with the University of Texas. The men seemed pleased with our presentation and looked interested in working with PPF, most likely as another funder of community projects.

After the successful meeting, we followed Nana’s car for one final surprise. They led us in the middle Konongo Market to a seamstress’s shop. They told us that, as a gift from the community, we would be given traditional clothing. Jeseth and Kim received traditional dresses, while Gordon and I each received a shirt. My shirt is an array of blue and green patterns, with white outline, and gold colored stitching.

After these exchanges of gifts, we said our final goodbyes to Nana Kontihene, Pastor Kofi, and Degraft, and drove away towards Accra. In Accra, Gordon will be dropped off at the airport to catch his flight back to Texas. Kim, Jeseth, and I will catch a bus to the eastern highlands of Ghana for personal touring. We plan to spend a week visiting waterfalls, mountains, a monkey sanctuary, and spending some quality time on an isolated beach. I probably won’t blog about any of that since it is my break from the project and summer school. I plan on writing one final article when I get back, reviewing the whole project and updating the blog with pictures.

Yebishe Byo,

-Matt