Discovering Ghana...

So my Ghana blog is going to be different than the others to date and here’s why. I stepped off the ship completely excited about this country, but having no idea what it held for me. Within the first 15 minutes of driving down the road I came to the realization that a piece of my heart will forever be here in Ghana.

Let me just tell you about Ghana. It is an extremely peaceful nation. There is no disharmony between people, or religious groups. Christians and Muslims live peacefully together, but about 80% of the population appears to be Christian. Coming from Morocco where there is a 100% Muslim population and prayers blast over loud speakers, it is amazing to watch people live in freedom to worship. These people have so much love it is humbling just to watch out a car window. Everyone waves and smiles or yells “Awkwaaba” which means, “welcome”.

So day one started out by leaving the ship as soon as we were cleared by Ghanaian customs, a process we have grown accustomed to on this ship. I then loaded a bus with about forty other students to go to a school called Morning Star School, this school is run by a Christian woman and her brother and sister. It was their mother’s dream to have a school that gave children a biblical education. I was practically in tears from the time I walked in the door till the time I walked out because I was so touched by this woman. I know I say that with so much drama, but it’s true, the only problem is I can’t really remember her name or how to spell it, but she is an incredible woman!

So this school teaches kindergarten through ninth grade and it teaches everything from graphic design to scriptures to English to science and on and on. Many of the children I spoke with are a decade younger then me and speak three times as many languages. It makes you feel really good when an eleven year old is gawking at the fact you only speak one language. Anyways, the whole day was full of seeing the school, meeting the students and teachers and staff. We were told that the teachers whose classes we didn’t see were upset that we couldn’t get around to see them. They had drummers for us and some students prepared a dance. They practically turned their whole day upside down to accommodate us. The music class played a type of African flute for us while they gave us drinks and then at the end of the day they fed us plates and plates of the most amazing beef spring rolls and these buttery-crusty veggie things. My goodness I can still taste the food four days later that’s how good it was! The woman explained that the schools motto for this year was about Jesus’ blood and His grace and love. I about lost it in the middle of her speaking. The girl beside me probably thought I was having a medical episode I was so touched by the whole day.

That night I went to a welcome reception at Aseshi University and met the students. A group of ten of us followed five guys to a pub in the middle of Accra before we called it a night and headed back to the port. See, this is all day one! I think I can summarize day two better, oh yea I know I can actually…