Accra

My dad, who has accompanied me on the trip, and I have been in Accra since Wednesday night, and it has been a busy but great week!

Accra is the capital of Ghana and sits on the southern coast of the country. It's both the heart of government and the main business center. It's been fantastic being back, and I'm really enjoying doing prep work for the grand opening of Titagya's first pre-school, seeing friends from previous trips, meeting new people, and showing my dad around.

To give you a brief summary, the past days have been a whirlwind of buying materials for the school, learning about other effective non-profit organizations in Ghana, reaching out to members of the Ghanaian media, and meeting with friends and people interested in Titagya's work.

On Thursday night, Kathy Knowles, the founder and director of the Osu Children's Library Fund graciously gave my dad and I a tour of her Nima Center. The Fund builds and supports libraries in Ghana. The center I saw gives children in a poor neighborhood a quiet place to read and study. I was impressed by the effective rules for behavior at the center and the staff-related policies that reward both performance and the number of years staff have worked with the organization. The Library Fund also sells great and low-priced children's books, written by Kathy, about the ABCs, colors, etc. What is unique about the books is that they feature themes and images from throughout Ghana and they are beautifully produced. They fit well with Titagya's approach and we bought a few for the pre-school.

On Friday, I met with Ghana's Minister of Foreign Affairs, who happens to be a strong supporter of education in northern Ghana. He thinks that Titagya's focus on preparing children at an early level to succeed later is a valuable approach and one which has been lacking so far. He pledged his personal support and that of the government for Titagya's work.

In about 5 hours, my dad and I will be flying North to Tamale, the capital of Ghana's Northern Region. The options for traveling from Accra to Tamale were either an approximately 1 hour-long flight or a 12 hour-long bus ride; given the compressed timeline of this trip (2 weeks) and my dad being slightly ill from the new food we thought flying would be best. More to come soon (including pictures, likely tomorrow when I get to a comp in Tamale with that capability)!

- Andrew