Summer newsletter 2008

As I write this President Kufour is receiving a 21 gun salute in Washington, DC. Last Feb. his friend George Bush visited Ghana. I was in Ghana then and am in the States now. I wonder if they're timing thier visits with mine.

Aba House is quiet now. In July we had a full house of tourists, teachers, artists and assorted visitors. One of our visitors was a BBC reporter who was impressed with our program. Another visitor, a teacher, wrote a blog: surdnaghana.blogspot.com

In August our volunteer from Australia returned and we got down to some serious book and papermaking. We also had a volunteer from Swarthmore College help for a few weeks.
The Aba House kids came everyday, a few very early to sweep the yard. Dividing into groups, more or less by age, they made tons of paper, blank books, calendars, diaries and greeting cards.
The kids are always enthusiastic, but the incentive this time was preparing for their first NYC show. They are very proud of themselves and rightly so.
The show will be at the Phoenix Gallery in November, 2008. We are working on an invitation and will be sending it soon. If you're in the NY area, please come and say hello.

One of our volunteers will be selling our books in Hawaii next month at the Friends of Dard Hunter Conference.

We have been invited to participate in a world wide paper map to be assembled in Taiwan. There are 30 countries represented. Guess which one we represent....I'll write more about this project in a followup post.

We had a very generous donation of 3 computers, so in our next session we'll do some creative writing and illustrating.

There are times when I scratch my mind, as a Ghanaian once said to me, about customs in Ghana. There really is no rhyme or reason to some of them. Now a Ghanaian has writen a book that doesn't necessarily explain them, but it makes for amusing reading. The book is "The Imported Ghanaian" and her blog is http://tigb.blogspot.com

We are working on our plans for 2009, so be in touch if you want to come to Ghana. We are also considering a trip to FESPAC, a film festival in Burkina Faso at the end of Feb. Interested?

We like to hear from people and are always open to collaborations.

I'll close for now with my favorite quote: Trust in God, but tie your camel well.

Aba