"You will come to place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow & chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?"
I have successfully survived my first REAL week of school in
Ghana! It is much different than school in the states, but not in a bad way.
Classes don’t start on time & the professor can decide to change the day
& time we meet whenever they’d like to! Kind of crazy, but nothing I can’t
live with.
Wednesday we began the day by touring another school that is
much farther out of town but I also fell completely in love with it. They have
nothing, but the children are so precious. I would love to volunteer there too,
but with my school schedule & internship, I don’t think it’s possible. Then
we went to an orphanage, but not the one I’m interning at. When we got back to
the hostel a few of us went to East Legon, which is one of the “fancier” parts
of the city. I was so excited to find a little place called Starbites that
serves AMERICAN FOOD!! It was a very good day. I had a real smoothie & a
real sandwich. I would go back for every meal, but it was a little pricier than
my stipend allows. It was a nice treat though. I had class that night with a
few other international students so it was nice to have someone to walk with.
It’s a psychology class, abnormal behavior, and it was very different than I
imagine it would be in the US. The very first question the professor asked was
if people thought that homosexuality was a mental disease. This really took me
back. In the US we’re fighting for gay marriages & most of the students
here believe that it’s a mental disorder. These kinds of cultural differences
really blow me away sometimes. I hope they grow out of this as a country &
begin to accept everyone for who they truly are.
Thursday I spent most of my day at the orphanage & it
was awesome. My internship is at the Beacon House Orphanage in Accra. When I
first arrived everyone was running around frantically filling up every bucket
they had full of water because they are going to be out of it for the next 2-3
weeks. Most of the kids go away for school during the day, but others have
school at the orphanage. I teach the older group of kids (around age 10) in the
mornings. There are 3 of them; Daniel, Maxwell, & Freda. Solo is 17, he is
deaf & has selective mutism so he rarely talks. He is in the classroom with
us but just sits in the back listening to headphones. The kids are about at a 2nd
grade level, and look more like 6 or 7 years old too due to malnutrition. After
class the kids had lunch & then we played all afternoon. We mixed with kids
of all ages so I got to play with the babies then!
After my full day with all the children I was exhausted. I
went home & took a nap. Then I didn’t do much else for the rest of the day,
because I don’t have class Thursdays.
Friday morning I went back to the orphanage. We were
learning about friendship in the social studies portion of class. The kids had
a book with questions in it that they had to answer about friendship. The first
question was “Do you have friends?” Maxwell answered no to this question so we
asked him why he said no & he told us because he doesn’t make friends
anymore since they all leave him. It was so heartbreaking to hear that little
guy say that. It is so hard to wrap my head around the fact that most of these
kids will never have a real home or a real family. I look at these beautiful
little kids & just can’t imagine how anyone ever gave them up. The worst
part is, most kids in Ghana never get adopted. Heather, one of the directors at
the orphanage, told me that because of the law policies in Ghana, most of them will
stay at the orphanage until the are old enough to be on their own. I hate that
so much. That’s why I want to do the legal work for international adoptions one
day. It shouldn’t be that hard for these kids to get a family. There are tons
of people out there that could give them an amazing home, even if those people
don’t live in Ghana. Anyways, we finally convinced Maxwell that he had friends,
even though this wasn’t easy. After class we had some free time so I got to
play with the little ones again before I had to go back to campus.
Here's two of the little guys, Prince & Silus. Prince is the taller one & also one of the lucky few that has been adopted! I'll miss his big personality but I'm so happy he'll have a family.
I had class that afternoon & then took a nap to rest up
for the night. We went out for dinner & then went to a birthday party for
one of the local guys that we know. It was pretty fun, but very different from
going out at home. I prefer to stay in here but thought I should go since it
was a birthday.
Erin, Alex, me & Alicia at the birthday party.
Saturday I slept in & then got some breakfast. I
discovered that I like the pancakes at the hostel so I am making some food
progress! They aren’t really pancakes, they are more like crepes. They remind
me of my sister, except we always put food coloring in ours & these ones
are boring colored. I took a tro tro to a market that day & got some gifts
to bring back home for friends & family & a dress for myself. That
night my friend Erin & I went to another movie & cooled off for a few
hours. It was called About Last Night & it was pretty cute! A little on the
vulgar side, but it ended well. Shopping & a movie on a Saturday, almost
like I’m back at home :)… but they are both still so different.
Today a group of us went to a beautiful beach & spent
the day laying in the sun & playing in the water. We attempted to get some
food there but they barely had anything that they said was on the menu. That’s
another thing here that is taking some getting used to. They don’t have much of
what they say is offered. Regardless it was still a good way to relax for about
7 hours & prepare for another week of classes starting tomorrow morning!
Love to you all,
Kasey
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