Spring Exchange 2014: Lucky Number 13!

We are counting down the days until our departure for Ghana. This spring's exchange will not only be lucky number 13, but it will also involve our biggest team of volunteers to date.  Amy, Mimi, Kira, Carter, and Trey will join Kelvin and Gershon in the classrooms of Ho.  They will continue the conversations they started in the United States with the intention of encouraging our CIH participants to examine the nature of their relationship with the Earth. Stateside, our students have been encouraged to reflect upon the impact that our consumption has on the Earth.  This required them to consider not only where our products come from and where they go when we have finished with them, but what we can do to re-use and up-cycle items to keep them out of our landfills and recycling centers.

While the nature of our conversations, and the overall theme, will be the same within the classrooms of Ghana, we believe that it is becoming increasingly important to focus on the needs of the local community in which we work.  We hope, as such, to discuss the alarming rate of deforestation within Ghana, and the significance of thinking about how our actions might impact those who live downstream. Our overall hope is that we will be able to push students beyond their rote responses and to expand their minds.  We want, after all, to plant the seeds that will bring about growth, development, and change.

We hope that you will continue to follow our journey - and those of our students and volunteers - as they explore new cultures and new ideas.  Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and check back on our blog regularly.