Sunday
I wake up confused…ready to hop out of bed and do something…like I was in Accra…but oddly enough I am in a small village tucked away in Ghana.
Morning exploration
Katie and I woke up fairly early to the sounds of kids talking, screaming, and laughing. We pulled out of bed and enjoyed a breakfast of bread and Milo.
We started walking around and ended up playing a bunch of games with the kids. We played this hand game and some tag and the some duck-duck-goose action.
After playing around I wondered up to the library and read many books to different groups of kids. This is when the little girl Anita really struck me as wonderful. She ended up clutching my hand and wanting me to read her favorite books. While I was in the library I felt like I was doing something, like I was meant to be there.
This place needs so many volunteers, but it only has two. I felt horrible not staying for a long commitment because they needed it. Sometimes in Ghana I feel guilty because I want to be here longer and keep doing things where I feel like I am meant to be there.
When the children ate their breakfast of porridge, I felt like I was in one of those Feed Straving Children in Africa commercials. These children don’t receive TONS of food (and neither do MOP kids), but I can’t help to think wow they could eat so much more. I really am in Africa. I have moments everywhere in Ghana where it registers that I am truly in a 3rd world. All I want to do is help…but sometimes I can’t stay long enough.
There was one point at the Orphanage where I wanted to drop everything and stay there for years and really help the school/orphanage. Why do I need a degree when I can help right now. I have had this thought crisis many times throughout college with teaching and volunteering in high poverty. The urge to stop school and help is even more prevalent in Ghana. At Mawuvio’s Outreach Program, I get that feeling DAILY. These kids care about learning so much…I believe they will be the next teachers, doctors, and presidents of Ghana.
Lunch fufu and fried rice and chicken
The school fed us a HUGE LUNCH of all these wonderful things. I felt horrible the entire time eating it though. Why do I deserve these foods over the children? The deserve it twenty times more than I do…but Ghanaian hospitality wins over the situation and I am forced to eat as much as I can because it would be very impolite to not eat all of it.
Saying good-byes
We briefly say goodbye to many of the people. I avoided Anita because our fast love for each other would not be good to break up.
Also to be noted, we were not allowed to take any pictures there. So all I have is a picture of the sign on the junction before the school. I wish I could have recorded these memories through images…but oh well a WAWA moment (West Africa Wins Again…SHOUT OUT TO RACHEL SMITH AND HEATHER NEWELL).
Journey back to Accra
We basically go back to Accra the same way we came except no bead market. It started to rain on the way back and I opened up the tro-tro window wanting to absorb the cold. Oh how I dream for some snow and hot chocolate. The foliage on the way back was breath taking…I am in Africa enjoying the tropical rain forest. So unreal…even though I have been here for a couple months.
Monday and Tuesday MOP
These kids are literally my loves and my life in Ghana. Besides my WONDERFUL international and Ghanaian friends, this is my family in Ghana. These children make me smile and cry all the time. I find myself at night crying myself to sleep at times wanting to give them everything I have and more.
I get urges to quit school and help. But, don’t worry mom and dad…I know I need to stay in school.
I have decided who I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a cross-between a Renee Farewell and a Heather Newell. This is a full force shout out to both of them.
Renee Farewell, she and a native Ghana started Mawuvio’s Outreach Program three years ago in Kissemah Village. She was studying abroad just like me and met this Ghanaian Quami on campus. He told her about his dream to start a school for kids that do not have the money to go to public school. (Families in Ghana have to pay for uniforms and fees throughout school and these families it is already too difficult to put food on the table let alone pay for school fees.) She has been a singled out minority the ENTIRE TIME…get teased, laughed at, and enduring SO MUCH. In my eyes she is to the level of Mother Teresa…no joke! Her passion to help these kids and to find a medium round for these kids to flourish and succeed is so beautiful. They are currently building a new school so the kids do not have to hover under a tree and under a tent canopy to study. She has overcome child abuse and deaths. I admire every aspect of her. She is a beautiful human being and shows how you truly can change the world.
Heather Newell, is one of my really good friends from Hendrix. We played on the hockey team together. She studied abroad in Ghana two years ago. I always had a passion to go to Africa…but she showed me I can go and find my calling as well. She is currently in Rwanda doing the Peace Corps…changing the world. She is teaching English at a school in a rural area. She has already been absorbed into the town and loved by all…including me SO DEEPLY. Every time I receive a letter, email, facebook message, or read her blog I feel like I have received it from someone that is famous…because in my world Heather Newell is beyond any President or Celebrity…she is acting on what I want to do…my dream.
Currently…if I can one day reach either of these potentials…changing the world…it would be a blessing. I want to teach and give people hope. Thank you Heather Newell and Renee Farewell for giving me hope and being my heroines.
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