Getting Organized

Thursday, July 3^rd

We met the bus at 7:45 for the ride to the CTF Offices, where we had a continental breakfast. The day consisted of various sessions about expenses, travel details and team building. For one session I was part of a small group of four participants with previous PO experience who were not team leaders. They were looking for input from us about how we could help our team leader and benefit the team. After the lunch and a couple more sessions we were taken back to the residences. Long day of sitting and listening, but I think good things come of it as we get to know each other and figure out what we are going to be doing.

A participant named Joanne came up and introduced herself to me because she had met my sister Megan, who is a hygienist at my dentist's, Dr. Tait, office... small world.

Both Ghana teams went out for dinner together at a bar restaurant in the Byward Market area. Food, company and beer were all good. Then we walked downtown and around the Parliament Buildings and Spark's Street before heading back to the residences for the night.

Seems like we have two very good groups:

Nkabom Group (working with rural school who have little in the way of resources: Lyle (teaches young offenders in Edmonton), Cindy (Ontario), Barb (Whitehorse) who are both kindergarten teachers, and me.

Youth Group (aimed at new teachers): Cameron (works for the board in Edmonton), Angela (a principal in Saskatoon), Owen (grade six in Nova Scotia) and Leah (music teacher in Alberta).

Both teams will be working and living together but doing slightly different things, so it should be really good.