Last week the Leave for Change participants (and three other folks heading abroad with Uniterra but not with L4C) had a 2 day orientation to prepare us for our placements. It was great to meet the others* and find out where they’ll be going and what they’ll be doing (most folks will be blogging on the UBC Leave for Change blog if you’re interested in following along).
Both days were full of useful information and fun workshops. There’s still some ambiguity around my mandate and I still don’t know where I’m actually staying in Accra, but I certainly wasn’t the only one in that position, and I am confident that it will all fall into place. I also met an absolutely fantastic woman named Samelia from Ghana – we chatted at length about all kinds of stuff, from Ghanaian politics, common workplace styles, traditions, food and even just general communication differences that I might encounter. She assured me that I would have the time of my life there, and of that I have no doubt. Oh yes – she told me my Akan name: Adwoa (I was born on a Monday). She was very happy to learn this as her mother and her eldest daughter are also both called Adwoa.
*Nancy Hogan has a great photo of all of us in her introductory post on the UBC Leave for Change blog here: http://www.focusonpeople.ubc.ca/leaveforchange/blog/2011/02/06/2011-orientation-for-botswana/
