Hey everyone, I'm sorry for the lack of posts thus far, but it has been difficult to find working computers to use. First off, I would like to let everyone know that we are all doing fine and well. I believe the last post I made was in Damongo, but so much has happened since then that I would like to elaborate on, but I don't have the time. In that case I'll just stick to the big stuff. First while in Damongo, we were with the Globelink Foundation. With this foundation we worked in an orphenage in Damongo painting rooms and playing with children. One day Zoe, Casey, Ben, and I were able to go to the general hospital and view their healthcare facilities. While we were there we saw a pleathora of things. We were able to see the different wards and outpatient areas. While we were there, they had a couple emergency cases which is atypical for their hospital. I was very glad I was given the opportunity to see the hospital, because I was able to compare it to what we have back home. The facilities and equipment they have at their disposal are very bad. The sanitation of the builidng is atrocious and this puts both the patients and the employees at risk to work there.

After our visit to the hospital Annie started to feel sick. We ended up bringing her back to the hospital to test her for malaria. We went to the hospital after it had closed for the night, and thanks to a personal favor from Abraham, the person in charge of the orphenage, the lab tech. came out to test Annie. The labe tech showed me how they test for malaria, and walked me through each step in what to look for. It turns out that Annie indeed contracted malaria. She felt terrible for the next few days, but thanks to the malaria meds, she is back on her feet now.

After about 10 days in Domango, the group decided that we would have more volunteer opportunities working for a different organization than Globelink. We decided to cut our trip to Domango in half and pursue another opportunity through the Challenging Heights organization. This organization is committed to helping children who were once slaves in the fishing industry of Winneba. This brings us to our current location. We plan on staying here and working with Challenging Heights for the next week helping in their school and going to different areas educating and talking with different people advocating the abolition of child slavery in fishing. Challenging heights is also partnered with the Free The Slaves organization in the US. Thus far our group has taught classes in the Challenging Heights school. There are many students, all of which were considered slaves. It is terrifying to hear about what some of these children have been through. They care for children of all ages, from kids around 5 to one who is almost 30. I feel that here we can do a lot of good. I look forward to all the opportunities we have with this organization.