It is amazing to think that we have been in Ghana for two weeks. The time has flown and it is crazy to think that we will be leaving in a week. This is next week will be all about savoring every moment.
This week Jessica and I have been putting in a lot of hours on our project. We submitted part of our project for review this morning and have some momentum to propel us forward with the next two sections that we need to complete before we leave. Hopefully we are
on the right track! Thank you to everyone who has sent us resources. We have researched everything you sent and are really excited at all the options we are able to give to the school. Despite our long hours, we have been able to spend a lot of time with the children. Jessica has become a real favorite at the Prestoncrest House, house full of 18 young boys; she affectionately calls them her Prestoncrest boys and they shout for her whenever she is nearby. I have been spending my time at several of the other houses but must admit that I have my favorites as well. I have been exchanging notes and stories and pictures and tokens of friendship with several of the kids this week. Many nights the children will come to our door and shout for us to come out and play before we have homework time. It’s great to see them crowded around the door eager for us to join them.One of the new popular topics of conversation this week has been the change in the way we speak English due to our brief stay in Ghana. For example, we do not use contractions any more because the children do not use them. And we say “Fine” a lot! It is has to be the most used word here. In the states we vary our answer to the question “How are you?” but here, everyone answers the same. “I am fine.” In fact, when I greet people on the way to the beach, we do not exchange “Good morning”. I say, “Good morning” and they say, “I am fine”. English may be one of the official languages here in Ghana but it for most people it is definitely a second language. So, after I get back, do not be surprise to hear me use the word “Fine” for a while until it gets out of my system!
This week I decided to walk to the beach in the early morning hours. I cannot boast to have seen the sunrise on the beach because the sun was entirely too high in the sky. But despite the
late hour (5:30 am), the sky was still brilliant with color and the beach was still deserted (see attached photo). Being an agricultural community (and having no electricity in most areas) Ghanaians rise and sleep with the sun. Most mornings I am woken up by the sound of the children singing. They being each morning at 4 o’clock and think that it is crazy that most Americans do not get up until after 6:30. So the roads on the way to the beach are full of people greeting one another on their way to school, their fields, or the well. But the beach is always empty and peaceful. Despite the early hour (for me at least), I think that this is a habit that I will keep until I leave. I have really enjoyed reading and journaling while sitting in the breeze and watch the waves crash against the rocks.On Sunday group of 15 people associated with the Florida School of Preaching joined us here in the staff quarters. Luckily they did not join our house hold (the Westside House) but are next door because we would have had to double up on beds or put people on the floor. The addition of so many more people has made the water situation rather interesting. Showers are very quick and laundry is not an option for a little while. (There is currently a contest in our house to see who can go the longest without changing their shirt… Although this is definitely one way to save on doing laundry, I don’t really think I want to join that contest.) The Florida group is spending most of their time in the villages nearby so I don’t see them very much but some of us in the Westside House went with them on a field trip of sorts yesterday.
Yesterday morning about 25 of us pack ourselves into a van (more comfortably than you might imagine) to head east to Kakum National Park and Elmina, a Dutch slave castle. Both visits were just incredible. To say that we hiked in the national park really doesn’t being to explain the experience. We hiked over a network of bridges that were connected tree to tree. 
So we could see the tops of trees below us and the underneath of the trees above us. So we really hiked IN the national park. And the view at eye level was equally breath taking. Lush trees and mist as far as the eye could see. You really have to see the pictures to fully understand, there are no words to capture it. And while we were visiting the rainforest, it started to rain so we got the full experience. After eating our packed lunches in the picnic area we headed to Elmina. The slave castle has a history dating back almost 600 years, most of which were very ugly. Our guide was very insightful and moved our hearts very much. Although the visual weight of the experience was very moving, the stench made an even greater impression. Years of human waste death clung to nearly every room we entered. Our experience at the castle was as ugly as the rainforest was magnificent but both were incredible and powerful in their own way.On the way back from our outing we had what I like to call “a true African experience”. Every
time you drive through a town, you car gets surrounded by vendors selling all kinds of food and jewelry. But as we were passing through one town yesterday we saw a man holding up what looked like a hugest rat I have ever seen in my life. It was at least a foot long, not including the tail. We had just registered what it was and were crowding around the window to take pictures of it when we started to pull over. Alex, our driver, got out of the car and started to haggle with the rat-selling vendor! And what do you know, he purchased it. He stuck it in the trunk of our van and we got to smell smoked rat for the rest of the way home. It kind of smelled like beef jerky and I didn’t really mind – as long as I blocked out the memory of the vendor, of course. I have not had an opportunity to look up the animal yet, but Alex tells us it is called a grasscutter and that he has plans to use it in a soup. Tommy, the director of the school, says that for it to be a true African experience, we should have carried it home on our laps. Maybe next time… I wasn’t sitting in the right place to get a shot of the grasscutter or the negotiation but do not worry, I will definitely get a copy of someone’s picture before I leave so you can see just how huge this animal was.We have several things to look forward to in the upcoming week: the Westside House will spend a day together at the beach and the school houses will participate in a competition. This week Jessica and I will be reviewing, and hopefully submitting, a large portion of our project as well. The interns here have been helping us type everything so that we are able to work on it after returning to the states. Even though our time at VoH is rapidly coming to an end, this is a project that we will probably be continuing until we submit the last of it in late August/early September.
Thank you for all your responses to my last email. I am glad you enjoyed my stories and perspective. I will be sending another update in a week and I should be back in the states by that time. Thank you again for all your encouragement and support. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare to end our week here.
Agape,
Alayna
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