For in much wisdom is much grief
and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow

-Ecclesiastes 1:18

So we started at an amazing cabin at Earamosa Edens in Guelph where we all meet for the first time. We all got along really well, in terms of being able to talk and joke and just be comfortable with not really knowing each other rather than not talking and keeping to ourselves. Their we had many workshops in the first few days on team dynamics and how to function as a group(i think we might have missed a few essential components from those lessons, hey sue me I'm allowed to make a joke). Despite our shortcomings, I now see in hindsight, I took a lot away from these lessons. Pamela and Collen were the two people doing the workshops along with a couple other past participants how on different days. They were all amazing people. Collen is a math teacher, so once school started we saw her a bit less and Pamela is taking courses at university on top of taking on the majority of this program. All through out that week at the cabin we learned many things about the global economy,simple living(eating better,less waste,packaging consumption,local grown food, energy consumption) and Ghana but more so about life and how Ghana is abused by companies. Really understanding the world bank was an eye opener and helped me to grasp of the US has a huge sway in the economy.

The World Bank, IMF and other organizations lend vast amounts of money to foreign countries who are developing and need money to build. That is great and very necessary but these loans are really more of a way to control other countries economies and especially the value of their dollar to the U.S. dollar. Parts of the agreements for accepting this money,and they have to because there's no where else to go and they need this money to survive, are 20%-25% interest rates. This is a really good way to keep the countries in continues debt. They're told whats allowed to be exported and imported, if money is lent to farmers or local business they're allowed to dictate how much interest. They have the ability to devalue currency, in Ghana their dollar has been devalued %240 to the US dollar. But there is more to theses organizations than i could explain or fully understand. If it interests people i highly suggest going out and finding out of they work. I was told about a book by John Perkins by Sheila, we stayed at Sheila and Dwier's (sorry i spelled your name wrong) house later, and she said just read the first page and you'll hooked. I was. The First book is called"Confessions of an economic Hitman" and the follow up is called"The secret History of the American Empire". John Perkins worked for corporations and went into foreign countries to make sure they're corporate interests would be looked after. It's his tell all pretty much about what really goes on with some corporations and what really goes on with the World Bank IMF and others. I can only account for the second book because I just got the first now because i had to order it but from what I've read in the second book its a real eyeopener. Please read these books if you get a chance. Here's a quick few huge difference between things here and in Ghana. In Ghana it's very disrespect full to wave or shake or eat, by the way they eat with their hands not with knives or forks,with your left hand. In terms of giving gifts if you give to daughter you must give to the mother,she bared the child, and then the father, the child came from him, and also to any elders. A lot of people will say things like give me your shirt or bring me back bread but they don't really mean it. The thing with bread happened to tons to people and one of the responses they would say is"I went to get bread for you but all the bread makers died today" and then everyone would laugh their heads off. Last one, the beggars(or homeless as we call them) in Ghana are just about all people who are psychically disabled and most people give money when they see them. Seeing a westerner not give money they may sometimes say"if we can give some,surely you can give some too". In Ghana 1 dollar goes a long way, you can buy a full meal pretty much.

So next we stayed at Dwier and Sheila's house,in Kitchener, for the next 4 days. They had just come back from Mexico 2 days earlier. They had done 3 things there, meet with workers from a Maquilladoras(sweatshops) to hear about the conditions(here's an example:when they make faded jeans they have to wash them in their own rivers so the dye gets into the water and irrigation, goes in to local crops and is drank by livestock), with people who help others cross the border into the US(in the summer 100's die from getting lost and wandering the dessert until they die) and finally the the Zapatista resistance movement(they haven't used violence since their failed uprising in 1994, they crusade against the government for the poorest people in Mexico). While staying at their house we were working at a Soup Kitchen during the mornings and a bit in the afternoon. It was such an amazing experience. Gretchen was the head lady, who we were told might be grumpy at first but by the end would have a hard time saying goodbye. She was lovingly grumpy right of the back when she said"I won't remember your names today but in 3 days I'll be crying when you leave". We meet tons of amazing people. Sammy who had come from Brazil, Anna who told me a heart breaking story about loosing all here possessions and house in the war in Yugoslavia, Darlene who worked at the womens shelter down the block and lots of other people. It was great place to learn. On top of this we also had to buy food for 4 breakfasts and 4 dinners with a 75 dollar limit for the entire thing. We only spent 50 dollars. O yeah.

So the next 2 days were spent at Colleen and Pamela's place. We were going on a 35km hike at Algonquin Park for 5 days. To make a long story short, we ended up doing the hike in 3 days, we saw a porcupine, some red foxes, 2 moose (Aryn fell down right near one as we were trying to sneak by because your not suppose to startle them) and then we went to Amanda's house. But when we got there we were instructed that we had to go back into the forest again. So the next day,very much to dissatisfaction of most of us the previous night, we went to Kill Bear Park and camped there and in stead of the crazy hiking we were doing we did a bunch of trails. I have to say that day got a lot better.During the entire 5 days we each had time to tell our life stories. I was impressed with everyones honesty and trust in each other and our ability to be vulnerable. I think it was a freeing experience for some of us, I know it was for me. So with those couple weeks behind us it was time to drive home for our 3 days off. And with that I'm off and will update once or twice more before i leave for Ghana. I still have 2 weeks i haven't talked about. Peace.

P.S. I forgot to mention if you get a chance watch Life and Debt it's a documentary about how bad it really is in Jamaica despite the image that's shown about their laid back lifestyle. This movie shows the damage the world bank has done. Watch in you can.