A blur of excitement in Ghana continues….

Ghana Glass Off.....

The fun continued over the next four days.  It  was a blur of excitement!  We settled into a sweet morning routine at the hotel before  charging up the hill to fly each day.  I dared to try the coffee again a few days later surprised to find that it was drinkable…YIPEE!!!  I remember thinking “note to self, bring coffee next year!”  It was nice catching up with the pilots that were early risers.  We chatted about the days events, the country they were from and future plans.  I felt there was never enough time for this type of connection with the amazing group of pilots gathered for this event.

We flew each day in a furry to try to accommodate the huge line of passengers waiting their turn.  It was so much fun to connect with each and everyone as much as we could…to share what we were doing there and to find out what they were all about as well.

Ghana's first class passenger....

Captain Nick in the pilots lounge

From the stories floating around from different pilots there seem to be no end of interesting people to fly with.  A few of the pilots had interesting tandem connections with people that were in the area working for different charity organizations.  Two of these leads brought these organizations to our hotel equipped with presentations to plead their case .  It was their hope that the money we raised through the Cloudbase Foundation might be directed towards their cause.

It was an interesting process as an observer new to all of this, to see how it all plays out.  They present and appeal.  We listen, learn and ask many questions.  They all go away and we discuss what our mission is and see if and what fits into our criteria…which is helping the children in the immediate areas of the flying site.  These relationships we want to build on year after year.  We want to be able to see what’s been done with the money a year later.  For instance we donated money to go towards a water tank with S.O.S. Orphanage last year. We visited the orphanage this year and there it was a new water tank complete with the Cloudbase Foundation Banner proudly displayed!!!  It was awesome to see how appreciated it was!!!

Cloudbase Foundation Banner displayed...

Here is what we came up with….

Donation Update:

1) Village of Hope

1 classroom, US$4,654.00 is the approximate estimate they gave us when visiting, after checking their list.

2) Peace Corps Volunteer: Bethany Marchwinski

1 Water Tanks for her School, each tank is US$1,800

3) S.O.S. Orphanage (aka Bless the Children)

US$3,000 for general needs

4) Original Volunteers /Aqua filter by the Cleadon Rotary Club

3 community water filters at a cost of GBP200 or about US$327

(important to note they are not the family/personal filters, but the community)