Since I last posted there have been a few exciting events happen though. The first week I ventured out to grab some dinner. I ended up buying it from a woman who sells meals & treats out a plastic bin in our parking lot, the same lady who describes all of her food to be "tantalizing." After picking out what I wanted I handed her 10 cedis & told her to keep my change because it was one 2 cedis & I figured she needed it more than I did, little did I know how correct this assumption was. She looked at me with tears in her eyes & gave me a huge hug. She told me that I had paid for her daughter to go to school & that her father is never around so that's why she comes to sell food to us every night. Two cedis is not even 1 US dollar so I got a little teary eyed myself when she told me this & went back to my hostel feeling very grateful for how fortunate I have been throughout my life.
That Friday I was on my way home from the post office with my friend Erin when we were in our second African car wreck. I had never really been in a real car accident before, that is not to say that I haven't added a dent or two to any vehicles because I happen to have a tendency to run into parked cars, but I wouldn't consider any of those incidents to be car accidents. We were rear ended pretty hard, quite a bit harder than the last accident. I was with the same friend on the way home from the same place when we had our first one so it's a good thing the semester is almost over and we won't have to make that trip anymore. We even made a few jokes on our way there about getting in a wreck & then it actually happened! I guess that's what I get for getting so spoiled by all my family.
The next night we went to a little Italian place in town. When we walked in all I could think of was how many white people were there. Race has never really struck me before but when I have spent the last four months in Africa I was definitely taken back by how many white people were in one place. That will be a very strange adjustment when I get home.
The next week was filled with the usual classes & trips to the orphanage. Thursday morning we woke up at 3:30 am & ventured towards the airport for a safari weekend in northern Ghana. After we were issued our tickets I made a small scene in the waiting area when there was a cockroach climbing on my bag. I got it off safely & ended up making a few new friends in the airport because of it. We traveled on a Ghanaian airline which was very different. There was hardly any security & the plane had open seating. The flight was barely over an hour which definitely makes the extra cost worth is because it is about 12 hours by bus.
Up early waiting to catch our plane.
Once we arrived in Tamale, I met a woman named Maggie who is a professor in Michigan and here for only a couple of weeks who began the conversation by commenting on my incident with the roach on my bag. We also met a man from Australia named Jimmy who is doing some volunteer work & opening his own orphanage here. They both caught rides with us to the park & went on our adventures with us.
Once we got to the hotel we had some lunch & then set out for the afternoon safari on top of the jeep. We mostly just saw some baboons, monkeys, warthogs, deer, & antelope on this trip. Unfortunately Ghana doesn't have a ton of wildlife. There used to be lions but they don't hang around the park anymore so the only other exotic animals they have are elephants which we didn't get to see on the afternoon safari.
We woke up bright & early the next morning for a walking safari where we got to see our elephants. We learned that elephants actually have black skin but they cover themselves in mud to protect themselves from the heat. We got to see the darker skin when the bathed in the watering hole.
After our elephant adventure we had some breakfast & then decided we had seen about as much as we really cared to see here. We were starting to a little restless & the front desk was after us because six of us stayed in one room. There were three beds, but they were small beds. We cuddled up close anyways & they were trying to get some extra money out of us. While avoiding them we found a man who told us all about a nearby village that we could go stay at so we quickly made a unanimous decision to head out to the village & leave the park behind us. We got in the bed of a truck & rode off.
We landed in the village of Larabonga and it ended up being the best 24 hours I spent in Ghana. There wasn't running water at the park or in the village so we hadn't showered since Wednesday night and didn't get the chance to until Saturday night. We luckily had a pack of baby wipes that we used to sponge bathe ourselves but it definitely made me appreciate showering.
It was a Muslim village & held the oldest mosque in West Africa. We weren't allowed inside but it was pretty cool to see the outside of it anyways. We spent the rest of the day at an orphanage hanging out will all the little children. They were absolutely incredible. They barely spoke any English but they warmed up to us right away. They made us meals & the older girls put on a tribal dance show for us that night.
This precious girl was my personal guide for the weekend. She was always with me & showing me around everywhere. Most kids barely had any clothes on their backs but I have never seen anyone so happy.
This little guy is only 1 week old. We got to see the crazy way that the bathe him ending with a grand finale where he is thrown up into the air several times to be dried off.
That night the guy that runs the orphanage set us up some mats & a mosquito net tent on top of a roof where we slept. It ended up falling on us in the middle of the night so I was trapped underneath nets & sticks until we woke up the other half of our group to fix it. We were woken up at 4 am when the village began their first prayer of the day. The prayer alone lasted almost 2 hours!
Panorama of the village from the rooftop.
After the prayers woke us, we had some breakfast that they prepared for us & then set out on the bus back to the airport.
We didn't have any seats so I ended up sitting on the floor for a lot of the ride because it was a pretty long ride. When we got to the airport we tried our best to make ourselves smell & look presentable because we were being picked up by our director for a goodbye dinner at her place.
The girls from our trip this weekend with a random village man.
We had a great spaghetti dinner that night at Auntie Theresa's house. It definitely became real that our time is almost up here & I was sad about it. I have met some awesome people & had an amazing experience. I am now in my last week of classes here & I can't believe it. We have next week off & then three weeks of finals & then I'll be headed back to Montana. I get anxious to get home some days & then there are others where I think I could stay here forever. But I miss my family like crazy & am excited to have a routine again with work & school. All in all I have had a wonderful time & I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Happy early Mother's Day to all you moms that I know. I will be reporting back soon! Love to you all,
Kasey
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