In three weeks I will be taking a pause from life in Ottawa and going to live and work in northern Ghana with Engineers Without Borders Canada (www.ewb.ca). A week of pre-departure training starts in Toronto with the four or five other professional volunteers from across Canada in just two weeks!!! Over the past months we've all been busy learning and I'm excited to meet the women that will become part of my Ghanaian family over the next months.
Many people have asked me what exactly I'll be doing and although I'm not sure of all the details (you'll have to check out my post at a later date!) here's a little bit to get you started. I will be working with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) as part of their Agriculture as a Business program. This program helps provide farmers with the necessary skills to move from subsistence farming to a more business-like approach for their farms. Since I love all witnessing and learning and contributing to sustainable farming in Canada, I'm super excited to learn and contribute to this program.
Some thank yous (I sound like I'm winning an Oscar or something!).
I wanted to give a big thank you to those who have helped me fundraise and supported me in the lead up to this experience -
-Family and Friends
-The Grattan family - friends of the family since forever. They helped with initial ideas and both Mr. and Mrs. Grattan were able to hook me up with two great groups - the Lions Club and The Anglican Church Woman's group in Navan.
-Syd Davies, Lion Davies took me to Lions Club meetings around Ottawa . I am so glad to have met him.
-The runners of the National Capital Race Weekend.
-BBQ 141 Eccles :)
-Umi Cafe Art Night - Cafe employees, Performers, Artists and Attendees
-Engineers Without Borders Ottawa Professional Chapter - Patty Boland's Pub Night organizers
-And all of the EWB Ottawa Professional Chapter who have been supporting me all along!
Thank you for reading my blog :O) If you're in the Ottawa area, check out the Ottawa Professional Chapter of EWB at http://ottawa.ewb.ca/en/index.html.
It would mean a lot to me if you would send me questions or comments throughout the next months.
With anticipation and excitement,
Claire
