Ghana: A Journey Of A Lifetime

Hellooo Everyone my name is Afua :) !

Friday's child is a leader, not a follower. He/she is very temperamental but has a big heart. Generally the instigator of everything

Well that’s my name in Ghana!  Your Ghanian name depends on the Day you were born. I was born on Friday so my name is Afua and that’s my characteristic description of me! Sounds a lot like me huh.

Where should I start with Ghana! We arrived in Ghana on Wednesday and that was my one free day! So we got off the boat and me and Kayla spent the day together. We started walking around and people were amazing. I feel in love in the first 15 minutes of being here. When we were walking to the edge of the port we made 2 friends on the way out.  Hasf and Abigail who gave us money for a Taxi because we didn’t have any Ceitis. So we took a cab into the market and also changed our money then walked around.  The market was crazy!! We saw a lot of different things  and people were so nice to us. Everyone was saying Welcome in Ghanaian and Hello! Oh man the feeling was great! We went into a super market to see what it was like. It was like home except a tad different! They sold TV’s and it was much smaller.  We found a little shop that had beautiful clothing. We went and looked around and ended up buying things in the store!  Then we decided after walking around for 3 hours that we would head back to the boat and relax by the pool for a few hours and eat some lunch.  We walked back to the boat meeting people and just enjoying the view of the Takoradi that we had!  We made a friend that worked at the port and he secretly fell in love with me lol. He asked me to marry him but I told him I am sorry I couldn’t do that. It was really funny he didn’t put up a fight but he was defiantly pretty sad. Once we made it back to the port we went into the pool for a little bit and just relaxed and ate some lunch.  Then got ready to go out for my friend Mandi’s birthday! We went out and had tons of fun!

The next morning I had to be up at 645 A.M to get on the bus for my Kakum National Park and Bamboo Orchestra Trip! My friend Carly and I went together! It was so beautiful. We drove to the Park in the bus and then when we got to the rainforest  and started our trek through the rainforest.  We had to climb up a bunch of steps but it was absolutely beautiful in the rainforest.  After climbing a lot of steps and hills we got up to the Canopy walks! OH MY THEY WERE AWESOME! We were so high and when you walked across  it was a blast. There were six walks some went up some went down some went up and down!  After we finished our Canopy walks ( which Carly and I didn’t want to end)  We headed back through the rainforest and it started raining! Which I thought was awesome for it to rain while we were in the rainforest!  We got back on the bus and headed to lunch.  For lunch I had rice bread and I think that was it. I don’t eat meat much anymore so I stuck with what I knew I liked. After lunch we went and saw a bamboo orchestra! It was amazing to watch them sing and dance and play the bamboo’s and drums! I took a lot of video’s for everyone to see.  Then after we watched them play they made all of us get up and dance with them! It was awesome. We got in a circle and learned there moves. Oh of the dancers was next to me in the Circle and told me to move with the rhythm and I said I don’t have rhythm he thought that was really funny.  After we danced for a while we took pictures said goodbye and headed back to the ship!  We watched a movie that night and went to bed early knowing we had a long day ahead of us on Friday.

Friday morning we woke up at 6 A.M. Carly Ed Mandi and I all headed to the bus for Habitat for Humanity! (Kayla had done it the day before)  We got on the bus for a long ride towards the site.  When we got to the site and the fun began. We began working on the houses. My job was mortaring which was a dirty fun job.  We got a lot done the people we were working with were amazing. They were so nice to us. We stayed busy all day. One of the guys that were helping us took my camera and took pictures for a good half hour and it made his day. Then some of the people were teaching us how to sing songs and we taught them songs too.  We got a lot done and it was so great!  They had to drag us to be done working because we didn’t want to stop. We had great home cooked for lunch.  We had rice and chicken and the rice was soo good it had a red sauce on it which was amazing!!  Then after we ate lunch we bought shirts and headed back to the bus. On the way back we got trampled by kids wanting hugs and pictures we took a group picture with the kids and everyone that did the habitat! Then after we talked with the kids for a while. I fell in love with a little kid named Benjamin he wore my sunglasses and took pictures with me!  Then we sadly had to get back on the bus and head home. It was an life changing experience.  Made me realize a lot.

Saturday was my last day in Ghana and I had a Fathers Ministry Orphanage planned. So I got up and went to the bus for 745.  We had a half hour ride to the Orphanage. When we got there the kids faces lit up!  They sat us down and talked to us and then showed us around the orphanage. Then we introduced ourselves to the kids and they each stood up and introduced themselves to us.  Then we all started drawing and playing . It was absolute amazing.  The kids were taking our camera’s and learning how to take pictures and taking a ton of pictures. One little boy I feel in love with. His name was hard to pronounce so I called him buddy most of the day.lol. I had brought stickers with me and he was so amazed  by them  all of the kids came running over jumping on me for stickers.  I also gave out pencils which they loved too.  We played for hours  we would draw and then  go sing with the kids. We did th hokie pokie and then sang if your happy and you know it ..hmm what else  we sang  some of the songs they know and taught us. It was indescribable . Then they played the drums and we danced. My little buddy would play the drums and he was good for 2 years old!  He was adorable. Then I hung out with Jacob for a little bit and ran around like a nut with him. Then it was lunch time  we went to a hotel for lunch.  I had rice of course because I don’t eat anything else! But it was really good it was a spicy rice.  Then after lunch we went back to for another hour to play with the kids.  When the bus came out oh my goodness they came running so fast and jumped into our arms.  It was breath taking.   We played outside with them. We counted together and played uno and jenga. Some of the people played soccer ! It was a blast. Then around 245 we got in a circle for a reflection. It was amazing. They thanked us for coming and we thanked them for having us. We got really sad when it was time to leave and the kids did as well. We all were saying by and the kids were crushed.  My little buddy was pretty sad he jumped on me and gave me the biggest hug ever! Then Jacob did too!  We gave them all our email addresses and went on our way.   I had tears in my eyes walking away it was pretty crazy.  That was another life changing experience.

All together Ghana was absolutely life changing and amazing . You don’t realize what you have and how much we take for granted. We have so much right in front of us and we ask for more.  It’s far from right . But what I did realize is how amazing this place is and how welcoming they are to us.  I will never forget Ghana and it was by far the most amazing place ever!

Hope everyone at home is doing well  Email me everyoneee!
NEXT STOP CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA!

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL !

XOXO
AMY