Just after getting showering down to a science with one bucket of water...we are back!
The last two weeks were so amazing and I wish I could have updated the blog daily but the incredibly slow internet wouldn't allow for that. (I'm talking 20 minutes to load one page)
So, I pulled out a few of my favorite pictures from the trip with memories attached to share...
The Orphanage:
With a last minute switch, Maggi and I ended up going to the same place. We lived with Patrick, who runs the orphanage and school, and his wife and three children. We happened to be living in the orphanage, too...
Just two days before we arrived, the landlord of the orphanage house told Patrick that they needed to leave. With no other choice, Patrick moved all 40 children into his house and started to build a brand new school, as the old school would remain as is for some of the town's children. He named the new school "Savior Children Foundation" which is also at his house and allows for those in the community to attend school completely free. He asks that, only if they can afford it, to bring 1 cedi (less than $0.50) to pay for their lunch.
Having the orphanage right in our home-stay was such a blessing because we were able to spend much more time with the children and be of assistance throughout the whole day.
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| Street view outside the orphanage. |
The kids ages ranged from 2-15, some with parent's who couldn't support them but came to visit occasionally and some with parents who had passed away. Most of the children had siblings, which brings me to Gabby, Gifty and Georgina.
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| Gifty, me, Georgina, Maggi and Gabby |
These girls are triplets, each with a personality of their own. Gabby the funny, giggly, dramatic one who would trick you with fake cries just so she could be held. Gifty, the adventurous one who would do just about anything you dared her. And Georgina who was the reserved, quiet and scared one. These girls, only 4 years old, are so independent and absolutely beautiful; just an example of the many amazing children we met.
While most of this trip was uplifting, we also had occasional moments where the harsh realities of Africa were ever so evident...
Right when we walked into the orphanage gates, our hearts were stolen by little Deborah. She is a spunky 4 year old with a massive personality.
The first night we were there, I took note of how tired she seemed to be compared to the other children. They had had a busy day so I figured she just out played everyone else.
The next night, she again was very tired and sluggish and went to bed about an hour before any of the other kids even began getting ready for bed.
The next morning, Deborah was not up with the other kids and unfortunately, it took until this time for me to realize that something was seriously wrong. She was hot to the touch and I could not seem to keep her awake. She had been sleeping on the concrete floor so I picked her up to put her on one of the foam mattresses. Maggi had happened to walk into the room right when Deborah started to have a seizure caused by her high temperature. While Maggi stayed to make she she was not in any danger as her seizure progressed, I went to get Patrick. The first thing Patrick did was pour this 'solution' on her forehead.
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| "WINNER: Protection, Witch Expeller, Back to Sender, Anti-poison, Healing Mixture" |
As Patrick prayed over her, they dumped cold water on her and she slowly began to regain consciousness. After a debate about if they should feed her or take her to the hospital, they decided to feed her first (something I protested against).
They ended up calling her mother who came and picked her up. We don't know if she ended up going to the hospital but we do know that she had malaria; a disease we had heard about, took pills for, and put up mosquito nets to prevent, but seeing it first hand was terrifying and surreal.
To end on a good note, Maggi and I were able to go away on the weekends and enjoy different tourist sites in Ghana. The first weekend, we were able to go to Cape Coast and enjoy the beach. The second weekend was spent at Kokrobrite, a beachy spot with great shopping!
We enjoyed watching the fishing boats come in and out of the water and loved the cultural music and dancing at night.
It is so hard to put the two weeks into words but I will slowly add more stories over the next couple of days. I am off to Puerto Rico tomorrow and will continue writing over the next 4 months of adventure!
