We Did It!

I'm pleased to announce that the Nyive Community ICT Centre/Library was officially commissioned this Wednesday, July 29th, by the Municipal Director of Education, the Municipal Chief Executive of Ho, and the Regional Librarian. Friends, family and supporters...WE DID IT!

The commissioning ceremony was quite the festival, attended by several hundred schoolchildren and dignitaries, including those mentioned above. This excellent turnout was entertained by musical performances from all of Nyive's churches, as well as a dancing display by students from the junior secondary school. (They were also treated to some impromptu bad Canadian dancing by me and Jessi, at the express request of the chiefs.) After the ribbon-cutting, the schoolchildren followed the VIPs into their new library to look at the three computers and approximately 300 books shelved inside. The shouts of astonishment from the excited primary students was all I needed to know that we had accomplished something tremendous.

It was a great day, but the ceremony itself was only the cherry on top. Finishing the library was a labour of love. I use the word "finish" pretty loosely; we still have a lot of cataloguing and organizing to do, some minor purchases to make, and some training to pass on before we leave. Even after our departure, our efforts to improve the library will be ongoing. But after this past week of yawning my way through 8-hour cataloguing sessions, picking bits of cello tape out of my hair, and negotiating the expectations of our event-planners, I'm happy to sit back for a moment and look at everything we've accomplished.

To all those of you who missed my speech (i.e. everyone but Jessi), you should know that you got a warm thank-you from me and a big round of applause from the people of Nyive. They are all extremely touched that people in Canada would give so generously to help a small village so far away. And so am I. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart! You've not only made my dreams come true, but you've helped ensure that the students of Nyive will receive a better education and a better chance in life. And you've helped them feel that they, too, deserve that chance - something they badly needed to know.

I'm equally pleased to say that we finished the project within our time frame and under-budget. (Take that, every government in the world!) We will be using the remaining $500 of our budget to buy some small items for the library, such as power bars for the computers and stationary for the librarian (who is due to arrive in September), as well as some further capacity building training for the CBO, so they can move on to their next project.

Meanwhile, there's more exciting news from our personal lives: Jessi has gone through a preliminary installation as a chief of Nyive. She is now Mama Afenyo, a "youth leader" of the village. A small indoor ceremony took place on Tuesday evening. Her full public enstoolment has been postponed until next year, due to the sad death of Torbgui Kotoko, one of the village's chiefs, this past week. It is against tradition to enstool a new chief publically until the late chief has been properly buried, which can't happen for some time, due to the grandiose nature of his funeral ceremony. So Jessi will be coming back (hopefully) next summer to be enstooled, along with a new Torgbui Kotoko and a new paramount chief of Nyive, in what promises to be the triple-threat enstoolment ceremony of the century!! Anyone with the spare change for the transatlantic flight is invited to Ghana to join us in the eight days of revelry that will attend this grand event. We can dance the night away together around the borborbor drumming circle; the schnapps will flow freely and the fufu will never run out.

Some pictures of the big day (and the preparation for it) are on Jessi's blog at thespottedjessicat.blogspot.com. I'll be posting some of my own in a few minutes. Stay tuned!