HAMILTON, N.Y. (6/8/07)—Colgate University junior Gretchen Polinski (Mansfield, Ohio) is spending five weeks of her summer vacation in Ghana. She is coaching basketball and teaching at an orphanage in the West Africa country. Read below what Gretchen has done in her first week in the country and what perhaps the next four weeks entail.

 

 

I have been in Africa for about a week now.  It was a shocking experience when I first arrived but I think I have adapted to it pretty well now.  

 

I live in a compound with 45 other volunteers doing different placements, ranging from teaching soccer to physical therapy to teaching art.  Every 2 days we go without electricity for 12 hours since Ghana sells their electricity to other countries, which causes what they call "lights out" time.  

 

We also occasionally run out of water, but you learn to make do with what you have.  I vary my time between coaching basketball in the mornings to working in an orphanage in the afternoon. This week I have been teaching gym classes between the ages of 5-13.  The other place I coach is at a clinic with 14 to 18 year olds.  

 

The kids are great and they fall in love with you and can't wait for all of us to come back the next day.  In the afternoons I go to an orphanage where I have been teaching children who either have no parents or are living in very poor situations and conditions.

 

We work in groups of two or three where we actually are the teachers.  The kids we are teaching are great at math.  One of the greatest experiences for me so far on this trip has been walking to the orphanage.  

 

It is in a very poor part of the country but as soon as you are walking through the streets and dirt yards children run from all sides wanting to be picked up or hands held.  They make you feel like the greatest people in the world.  

 

Next week when I will not be coaching basketball in the mornings I will be heading to the medical clinic.  It’s so hard to decide where to go because all the children want you there. Since I have been here I have started to pick up the language, tri.  One of the Ghanaians who we live with has been giving me lessons. Hopefully I'll become somewhat fluent over the next four weeks I am here.