ghana

My daughter Lucy left today for New York, and she will depart for Ghana, West Africa on Friday as part of a Columbia University Engineers Without Borders and Piece it Together combined mission. With EWB, she will be part of a team working to bring clean water to the villages of Obodan and Nsawam. As part of Piece it Together, Lucy will be teaching high school chemistry and biology, so she left with her bags heavily laden with books and teaching materials. You can read about Lucy's projects in the Piece It Together Ghana trip blog.

On the way to the airport this morning, Lucy and I talked about the importance of hands-on learning. We all know in our hearts, souls and guts, that we learn best when we are involved hands-on. So, I suspect Lucy's month long non-credit service mission to Ghana will be the richest part of her University experience. Doesn't it make you wonder why we would want children to spend so much time in classrooms while there is a whole-wide-real world from which to learn best?

My daughter and I also had an interesting discussion about "making gone wrong." There is a website you might enjoy called Regretsy.com reminding us that when human beings are suddenly inspired to make things, those things can turn out to be crap. I admit to being a snob, believing that things should be made with skill and be useful at the least, and beautiful if possible. Regretsy.com borrows crafted or vintage items from etsy.com to feature on their website. The shoes shown in the photo above are just one example.