Erica: Final Goodbyes!

Dear World:

Can't believe it's been a week since the five of us had left Ghana. This will be the final official entry on this blog.

After so many goodbyes, we said hello to the wonderful town of Cape Coast! A six hour drive through huge potholes in a squished and bumpy tro was well worth it, though Linh had to sit on backpacks and Emily had to survive sitting directly on top of the burning hot motor (which believe it or not, was right under the front passenger seat). Cape Coast is a coastal town, and as we approached the city, the salty smell of ocean water and fish hit our noses like a wave.

Upon arrival, we first toured Cape Coast Castle, the castle built by the British in the 1600s to store enslaved Africans before they were shipped off to the Americas for labor. Immediately as we stepped off the tro onto the cobbled stone ground of the castle, all of us cringed at the gloomy atmosphere. Our tour guide took us around, and we were astounded by how a tiny room about the size of a living room would store hundreds of people. The floor of many of the prison cells were lined with 400 year old human excrements. Simply, and utterly astounding. We were shown to a door outside the prisons that said: "Door of No Return", leading to the shipyard, and then proceeded to look about uneasily. Despite this atmosphere, one cannot deny that the view beyond the Door of No Return was beautiful, with the fishing boats lined up against the coast, the grey-blue waves hitting them gently.

After a meaningful walk-through of the castle, we headed off to the hotel we were staying at. We realized sooner rather than later that the hotel lacked running water in the evenings. We had to drag cold water from a tap downstairs up to our second floor bathroom. We managed to take our last shower with a bucket of water, soap, and an empty water bottle. None of us could wait for the hot running water back home. We all slept in the same room, not caring much because all of us were exhausted from traveling and from the work of the past two weeks.

In the morning, we grabbed breakfast and headed off to the canopy walk, a scenic collection of rope bridges  that lined the canopy of a forest nearby. It began to rain, making our trek uphill to the rope bridges a bit of a challenge. We tripped and slid around a bit, but the view from above the canopy was simply breathtaking. We were so high in the air, and the rope bridge was secure enough to hold our weight, so none of us were too worried.

After a quick stop at a crocodile park, we made our way back to Accra to catch our plane back home to America. The flight back was quite restful, since we knew that we had accomplished loads on our trip.

I would like to thank several people-- Thanks to my parents and the Semans Family for making this second trip for me a reality. To the entire Blue-Med Africa Team, whom I have come to love dearly and with whom I share a passion for providing care to the community, my experience would not have been this amazing without you all. Thank you to the other volunteers, for making me laugh and for working with us. To the staff in the Ho Municipal Hospital, the Volta Regional Hospital, and the Ghanaian Health Service, thank you for being my mentors and helping me understand the true meaning of patient care. To my four friends, Emily, Linh, Chandler, and Jen, who eagerly agreed to do the trip, worked alongside me in everything I proposed to do, posted on this blog, and helped me cope with every challenge I faced. Lastly, to you, the reader, who stuck by us as we traveled through everything. Love you all.

Signing off for now,

Erica

06.25.2012 #yolo

Emily: Last Day of Work!

Hello all!

What a day to close out our stay here in Ho. We got up a bit later today and we mozied around getting ready. We, or rather Erica, decided that we would make our last day here “pink day,” and so we all put on our pink polos and dresses in an effort to somewhat match. Regardless of the slight awkwardness of it all, we headed off to breakfast and thoroughly enjoyed the last bit of peanut butter along with the oatmeal, bread, and jam on the table. Though we had previously intended to leave super early, we had to wait for Isaac (one of the members of the NGO) and ended up chilling around until about 10. At that point we boarded a tro with a bunch of the new college kids from the UK and went around making stops, as if we were on a school bus dropping people of at their respective workplaces for the day. Interestingly enough the very first stop was somewhere that we had never seen let alone worked at before.

But soon enough we were at the municipal hospital and made our way to the Pediatric ward. To our surprise one of the college kids, Allie, was in the ward already reading a pediatric studies textbook and talking with the nurses. We said hello to everyone and gave out a number of the remaining stuffed animals that we donated to the new patients in the ward. We were hoping to get to see a birth today as well, and so we asked Allie to show us the way. Once we got to the Labor ward we talked with the nurse, and she informed us that two women had started the labor process but that they weren’t very close to giving birth. We were advised to come back every hour to check on their status, and she would see if we could catch one.


So we returned back to the Pediatric Ward for a while and colored with these two little
girls. Gladys found some 101 Dalmatians coloring pages, and I sat with Emelia, a 12-
year-old girl who was in the hospital due to a snakebite, for a little while. While Erica
and I continued to sit with the girls, Linh and Chandler checked to see the status of
the births. They quickly rushed back to us saying that one of the mothers was making
progress. So we promised the children that we’d be back afterwards to say goodbye,
and we practically ran over to the labor ward.

We sat around labor watching some sort of press report that was a nice distraction as we anxiously awaited our scrubs to watch the birth. We all shared the unspoken understanding that the birth could take place at any moment now. Isaac finally swung by and talked to the nurses and the college kids to ensure that everyone was ok with our observing. He took us to go buy real scrubs, and we rushed back to labor to change. One of the women who was about to give birth was going to have twins, so they planned on giving her a Caesarean section (aka a C-section). In response to this plan Isaac lead us over to the theater, where we kicked off our shoes and put on these special boots. And then we waited. We waited for what seemed to be a significant amount of time, and Isaac had left us. We should’ve figure out that something was up. But we didn’t. And when the surgeon came and told us that the first twin had just been born and that we had missed it, we were crushed. Just minutes before we couldn’t stop talking about maybe getting to hold the scissors, analyzing whether they were going to give the mother anesthetics, and other such curiosities. Now, we were deflated and disappointed. But we were woken from this dreary state when the surgeon told us that we should hurry to catch the second twin. There still was a chance that we might get to see a birth!

 

We half walked half sprinted over to labor and waited outside the room with some of the college kids. We sat and stood in relative silence. The college kids would occasionally lead the way into the room, and we would go along with them to check on the adorable newborn baby boy awaiting his sibling and the poor mother who was struggling. As the woman’s contractions continued to come closer and closer together, the nurse rushed in and we followed behind. The time had come. The whole team of nurses and doctors encouraged the woman along in a sort of apathetic manner in the local Ewe, and we observed in awe. Meanwhile another mother waddled in, clearly in labor, and was hastily set up on another bed mere feet away from the other birthing mother. Chandler had joked that the births might happen at the same time, but we just laughed it off dismissing the notion to the low probability of the occurrence. But sometimes things just defy the odds. The second twin finally was making an appearance, but immediately we all saw that something was wrong. The baby’s head was blue! The umbilical chord had wrapped around the baby’s neck and disallowed oxygen to get into her lungs and, in turn, her blood. The doctor cursed and went about cutting the chord. Without ultrasounds they had no idea that this would happen. The doctor fixed the situation though and pulled the baby out by its head, plopping it on the mother’s stomach. And while the nurses cleaned the one baby, the other baby was born without much fuss and grabbed by the nurses. We stood there in awe of what we had just witnessed and unable to believe how amazing it all was.

Afterwards we changed out of our scrubs very quickly and popped into the room to say thank you to everyone, especially the mothers. We rushed back to the pediatric ward to say goodbye to the kids and Gladys, and then we made our way out of the hospital to the main drag to grab a taxi. Getting a taxi at this hour proved to be more difficult than anticipated, but no matter we were able to grab one back to the hostel and get back for a real lunch. We were welcomed back to the hostel with the all-too familiar scent of friend chicken and rice. To my surprise, lunch was the rice that I had remembered most from the last time I was in Ghana. It had some oil on it, but yet it wasn’t quite what we would consider fried back in the states. And it was full of vegetables. Once we could eat no more we took some time for ourselves before heading out to the orphanage for the last time.

When we arrived at the orphanage the kids didn’t race to get us like they usually did. They knew just as much as we did that this was going to be a more solemn visit, a goodbye. I surveyed the place for the little kid that I usually carried around, but I quickly realized that he wasn’t there. My heart broke a little knowing that I wouldn’t get to say goodbye one last time, and I was worried that something bad might have happened to him. But at the same time I was comforted by the fact that I had said somewhat of a goodbye the last time we visited since I mistakenly believed that was to be the last day we were swinging by. We played with the children for hours, lifting them up and carrying them around, giving them piggy-back rides, letting them hang upside on us, and lifting them to grab onto the trees and to pull the leaves off some of the branches. We played monkey-in-the-middle and some football (soccer, in American English) for a while, and I played a few hand games with Edem and some of the other girls. Believe it or not some of the boys even got kind of into it. We spun and danced and jumped and had a grand old time together. One girl in a camp rock shirt grabbed by hair and just started braiding it like a pro. She didn’t expect my layers though, but she powered through it. We stuck together as the sun went down and twilight settled in. I could see that it was getting late and darkness was falling upon the orphanage. It was time to go. On a whole we stayed remarkably composed, though some of us got a little weepy. I just kept hugging them, each and every one of them again and again, telling them to be happy, live well, and love life to the best of their abilities. I promised shoes and bags to Edem and Susanna and this one other girl with gold hoop earrings and wearing a sailor outfit. And I told them all that I’d try my best to come back next year. We told them how much we would miss them, and how much we missed them already. The kids walked us to the road, and we waved as we attempted to catch up with the college kids who got a pretty good head start on us. As we hopped into the cab we could just barely make out the kids still standing  twenty  feet away and waving. On our way back to the Polytechnic Institute, we realized that this was our last bumpy cab ride of the trip.

Our stay here in Ho was a fantastic experience, and I still can’t believe how much we got to do and just how much we learned here. I will never forget this trip, and I can only hope that the bonds that all five of us formed with one another and with all those we encountered in Ghana will last. And I hope to go back some day and visit everyone and everything again, to go and experience some more things and to help some more people. It’s been a great trip. And it has been a pleasure sharing our experiences.

Much love,

Emily
06.15.2012

Linh: Volta Regional Hospital and Community Medical Outreach

Salutations Earthlings!

This is Linh talking, and this is my first blog since I'm not a big writer, but anyways... it has been 2 billion years since we blogged last, and most definitely it has been a very interesting few days. So right after Erica's blog post on Monday, we got to go out and experience the Ghanaian nightlife. In my head, I imagined a crazy situation since the Ghanaians really know how to enjoy themselves. However, it was a Monday night and we went out at 8:30 pm, so I was a little bit let down by the extreme calmness of the city. On the other hand, the "chillness" of the place gave us an chance to bond more with the other college kids that were staying with us in the hostel. They were cool people, just you know, talking and stuff (wink wink). After enjoying our Alvaro, some of us went back to the hostel, resting and get ready for a big day ahead.

It was Tuesday morning, and like every morning in Ghana so far, we were having toast and oatmeal for breakfast, and leaving the hostel at Ghanaian 9 am (+1:30 hr) to the Regional Hospital to play with the kids. We brought the donations, excitedly going to the hospital. The Volta Regional Hospital was HUGE!!! It was so unexpected and we were so overwhelmed by the vast scale of the hospital. We came to the children ward of the hospital to give out all the stuff animals, cookies and fruit juice that we got for the sick kids. The excited look in their eyes when they receive the toys were just so happy, it made everyone of us feel like we actually had a small impact to their stay at the hospital. After coming back from Regional, we were welcomed by a herd of people. There were about 16 new people coming from England. 

There were too many people. The common room was a literal burning oven full of people moving, and a lot of moving people in a confine space is never a good sign. So to run away from that densely populated room and the future of getting into a messy soccer match, we went to the orphanage to hang out and play with our little friends. They seemed to be super hyper and were climbing up onto me like little monkeys, but as always, they were so much fun to be around with. Being at boarding school for a long time prior to this trip, seeing the kids really reminded me of my sister :(. We came back to the house at around 6 pm, and the hostel was a ZOO!!!! NO FOOD, NO WATER, NO CHAIR, NO PEACE, and worst of all, NO TOILET PAPER!!!!!!! SO MANY PEOPLE WERE HERE!!!! So our whole group of 5 people just decided to watch " The Devil Wears Prada" and have a nice long rest before continuing our journey the next day: the largest Community Outreach we would ever do.

YAY WEDNESDAY!! Today we were supposed to leave at around 8 to be able to get to the village early to set up our outreach; but again, it's Ghana, and we had to do stuff Ghanaian time. It was a long ride from the hostel to the village, which took us a round 1 hour without stopping. We got the opportunity to bond with the new people. I actually really like them. We got to the village around 11 am, and we were greeted by the chief and the elders of the village. So many people came to the outreach, and we had a pretty hard time getting through all of them.

Since there were so many volunteers today, the work stations were extremely inefficient due to the excessive amount of people standing around and doing nothing. But it was fun and we learnt a lot about the people around us. There wasn't anything particularly significant though, since the pace of the outreach was pretty slow. The afternoon again went pretty uneventful with us finishing the outreach and come back to the hostel at around 5pm, therefore we could not go to the orphanage as we planned the previous night. Again, wanting to plan ahead and be ready for the next day, Richard and us discussed the plan for tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Ho, and we will have to say good bye to our lovely friends and children at the orphanage T^T, but I can't wait until I get back to Vietnam, sleeping on my own bed and listening to my family bickering. After all, it has been a long time since I see them, and Ghana really reminds me of Vietnam 10 years ago, my childhood.

See ya later alligator
LinhDan Nguyen
06.15.2012

Erica: Exploding Ovens and Ho Municipal Hospital

Yesterday was a pretty laid-back day, so apologizing foremost for a lack of pictures in this post.

We got up this morning at 9, simply because we were too exhausted from the work several days before to get up early. We gathered some stuffed animal donations from home (we had about 56 total animals to distribute and we took half), and set out for Ho Municipal Hospital, the local hospital, by taxi. The day was blazing hot and all of us were sweating like crazy.

We first met with the Matron, the head female nurse who controls everything in the hospital. She wished us good luck and sent us off to the Children's Ward. There, we met with Gladys, who is the head nurse of Pediatrics. She was excited by the amount of stuffed animals we were carrying with us and helped us distribute them to severely sick patients. We first visited a young boy who had the biggest smile on his face. We offered him our entire bag of stuffed animals to choose from. He took my Snoopy doll, a childhood favorite. This boy was relatively well, considering that he was able to wander about the ward with his new toy in tow.

Many of the other five patients were babies, too little to understand the use of a stuffed animal and far too little to grab it from our hands. Eventually, they all received a new toy, and we left the rest with Gladys before we went on our way.

The stuffed animal distribution did not take too long--perhaps an hour and a half or so. As a group, all of us decided to confront the Matron again and offer additional help. The Matron gave us handkerchiefs with "Love, Ho Municipal Hospital" written on them, and proceeded to split the group up, sending Emily and me to the Maternity Ward, and Chandler, Jen, and Linh to the Outpatient Clinic (OPD).

Upon arrival to the Maternity Ward, Emily and I were surprised by how all of the expecting mothers were all in a large room together as opposed to separate spaces. One of the mothers already had given birth to her child, only a day or so old by the look of it. We smiled at the newborn, and the mother had to smile back. After meeting the head nurse, we observed the conditions around us. Not the pristine, sterile hospital conditions we were used to. There was a lack of ultrasound technology. When the nurses made their rounds to the mothers, they used a small-cone like instrument with a stethoscope to try to find the baby's heartbeat. This was incredibly shocking, for there were many times that the nurses did not immediately find the baby's heartbeat and we began to question whether the baby was still alive.

The three of us who went to the OPD took vitals of incoming patients, using basic technology, such as a small blood pressure machine and stethoscope, as well as only a watch to take a pulse. We were all generally surprised by how low-tech hospitals in this local area are.

After our hard work in the morning, we returned to the house for a late lunch around two, the usual rice, beans, fried chicken, and spicy sauce. However, only a few minutes into eating, we heard a large explosion in the kitchen. The oven exploded! The cook, Alberta, had turned on the oven and the stove at the same time, and the gas pressure was too high. Luckily no one was hurt.

The electricity went out a few minutes later, but a nap later, both problems were fixed.

Well to the Regional Hospital in a bit! Will keep you all updated~

Love,

Erica

Jen: Friendly Monkeys and Exfoliating Waterfalls

HELLLLLLLOOOO WORLD!!! This is the news from the UNICEF team in Ghana. This is Jen. (I know you all love us so much and wonder where we had gone, but no worries, we are back.) We definitely had an amazing, unbelievable, fun, unforgettable, full, meaningful weekend. Well, you may ask: What did you guys do?Wait. Be patient. I will tell you.

We left our home in Ho for Tafi, Atome, where we were going to see the monkeys in the monkey sanctuary and then go to the waterfall. After a long van drive, we all arrived in Tafi in the late morning. We walked into the forest, following the local guide. She bought some bananas on the way and then cut all of the bananas in two so that later on we could feed the monkeys. She led us through the forest until we arrived at the deeper part of the forest, where monkeys would likely dwell in. She utilized her lips to feign the sound of monkeys and held out a banana to demonstrate how to feed the monkeys while not getting hurt or contracting rabies. I saw (mouth wide, agape) that the monkeys, which hid beneath the leaves above our head, slowly and nimbly left their safe zone and approached us, knowing that we have brought them a feast. A monkey hopped on the arm of the guide and used its little "hand" to peel the skin of the banana so it can reach for the mellow fruit. I watched with both amazement and amusement how fast and efficient the hands of the monkey were. Its body was not long: probably 30 centimeters in length, but it has a long tail that stretched from the hand of the guide to the back of her neck. Then two or three monkeys all jumped on the hand of the guide, competing with the first one. After the banana was gone, all the monkeys disappeared as quickly as possible. I stared at their body vanishing into the leaves and pondered how humans were like some billion years ago.

But then it was our turn. We all held bananas in our hands and waited for the monkeys to discover their food. The guide imitated the sound of the monkeys. Little by little, monkeys slipped out of their zones in the leaves and came near us. Finally, one jumped on Chandler and began to savor its snacks. Soon, another one came out and wondered which person to hop on, and ended up hopping onto Linh's arms. Erica got a surprise attack from a monkey that jumped on her from behind. Emily got two on her arms and shoulder. I got a few on my hands as well: they felt really soft and light, and I sneaked a touch of their skin. It felt fuzzy and smooth, like duck feathers, but more velvety. The guide explained to us that there were 6 families of monkeys in the sanctuary, each family with at least 40 members and in all 500 monkeys live in that forest.


After feeding the monkeys, we sat on a nonfunctional taxi and drove to the place where we got our lunch. (We waited over an hour to get the food. During the interval, we played cards. At one time, everyone put a huge bottle on their heads to imitate the Ghanaian women who carried things on their heads.) After that, we wanted to go to the waterfall but it was too late, so we just settled in the hotel rooms. The hotel was comfy and European, but it also costed a ridiculous amount (40 dollars per night for a really simple room with a nonfunctional shower and a nonfunctional TV?) We all snuggled in a king-size bed. In the afternoon, we all sneaked out to the market nearby. Almost all of us got a dress (according to Linh's opinion, because she's the fashion bomb): Chandler got a green dress, Emily got a grey and orange dress, Erica got a blue maxi-dress and I got two tribal pattern silk dresses. Emily also got a backpack with tribal patterns and it looked awesome. (She said: "Hey, I know people will judge me but I will still use it in Lawrenceville.") As usual, we chatted until midnight and then slept (mostly about Lawrenceville).

Seven o'clock in the morning, we all woke up and got ready for the waterfall. We all wore our swimsuit inside the clothes. After a full breakfast of toast and egg, we set off on the 1 mile hike in the woods. We passed numerous bridges and sang many songs ("I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad" "You make me feel like I'm living in a teenage dream" What else? Pretty much whatever pop music that everybody knows...) When we reached the waterfall, we all realized that our hike was totally worth it. The waterfall was simply astounding. It made me hold my breath for a moment until I realize that it was real. Water fell from the mountain in full speed, splashing, whooshing, dancing, turning, whirling, creating layers and layers of misty air. We took off our clothes and jumped in the water. The water was cold and smooth as it washed against our skin. We all stepped slowly towards the center of the waterfall, where the force of falling water strikes the deepest and strongest. The experience of being right beneath the waterfall was crazy: my back hurt, but I felt I would like to stay there forever. (Richard, our guide, said: "Fine, just get married and stay here forever." Me: "Uh........NO.") I felt as if I were the first person to ever discover this magical place: joy, pride, excitement gently filled my heart.

The waterfall has truly been the most amazing experience of my entire Ghana trip so far. I couldn't wait to tell my friends about how amazing it feels. If I can, I will do it over and over again. But every happy time comes to an end. We left the waterfall after an hour of sheer happiness and frolicking. We hiked another hour and came back to the hotel. Then we checked out and left the place for Ho, where our home base is located. When we finally reached our house, we all felt fortunate: "We survived!" Nothing is more fulfilling than coming to a familiar place that one could relate to. For the first time during the week, I felt like I could live in Ghana for the rest of my life.

Thank you, everyone of you, for making this experience amazing. Thank you, Erica, for making weird faces that make everyone laugh. Thank you, Linh, for your sketchy statements about yourself that entertain the entire crew. Thank you Emily, for being the nicest and most encouraging person for everyone. Thank you Chandler, for being such a mother and taking care of everybody. Thank you, Richard, for helping me conquer my fears and buying us food.


Love,

Jen

Chandler: Ringworms, Lepers, and Orphanage Round 2

Hello World!

We went to bed pretty early last night, so we got a good night's rest. We were then ready for the busy day ahead of us! We had some delicious french toast for breakfast, and then waited for a car to pick us up and drive us back to the school. When we finally arrived, the entire school was waiting there, so excited to see us. We all gathered in front of the children as Isaac (one of our nurse chaperones) demonstrated for them how to brush their teeth. One of the younger kids volunteered to do a demonstration for us. She was quite good! Emily and Jen also demonstrated for the children, giving clear descriptions of what they were doing.

All of the children were all very enthusiastic to get started as we introduced ourselves. They all went back to their classrooms as we set up the medical supplies. One classroom at a time, we did a physical examination of around 250 kids. One by one, they would come up and we would check their head for ringworms and eczema. Because they all have shaved heads, it was fairly easy to spot. I would say about half of them had some type of ringworm patches on their heads.


Then we would check their teeth and ask them if they had a toothbrush. If they did not, we would give them a toothbrush and toothpaste. Then, we would check their bodies for wounds. Nearly every one of them had open wounds on their knees and legs because they spend most of their day playing on the ground. We cleaned and bandaged their wounds, and applied cream to their eczema and ringworm patches. Each child's face lit up as they all received a vitamin C tablet. It was very cute to see them protect their vitamin C pills like they were new toys. Some kids had such bad cases of ringworms that they also got to take home a bottle of medicinal paste to apply to their heads every day. You could tell they felt very special to get new presents. We felt accomplished as we left the school, knowing that we had helped nearly every kid feel better in some way, whether it was a cut on their knee or ringworm patches. The kids were all very grateful, smiling and waving at us as we drove away.



We made a quick stop at the leprosy village. Although they have all been cured, many of them have been shunned by their families because leprosy is believed to be caused by evil spirits. We cleaned open wounds they had, most of them on their feet. These wounds were much worse than the ones we saw at the school, and we could tell they were very painful. Several of them were groaning and crying as we applied hydrogen peroxide, saline, and iodine. Nevertheless, they all uttered a heartfelt "akbe" (the local word for "thank you") and smiled as we finished bandaging.


We had a delicious lunch of beans and yams, and laid down for a quick rest before we headed off to the orphanage. When we go there, they were all so excited to see us again. This time, we brought gum, lollipops, crackers, and clothes as donations for all of them. Just like the kids at the school, the orphans were so exited to receive the gifts we gave them.  For nearly 3 hours, we all played games and shared lots of laughs. many of the children would not let go of us as night began to fall and we had to catch a taxi ride home. The many shouts of "yevu bye bye!" brought our fantastic day to a close. We are now settling down for a long awaited dinner of banku (a local cuisine if sour fermented powdered yam that is white, smushy, and is eaten by hand). Soon we will lie down for a well-deserved sleep, filled with memories of the day.

Goodnight world! May tomorrow reward us with just as much happiness as today!

Chandler

Jen: Attacked By Children, 123

This is Jen. Today has truly been hectic day: and the busiest so far (we don't know about tomorrow). According to my quick morning survey, everybody slept better than they did yesterday because all of us have gradually adapted to the local time and environment. Last night, I was the first one to lay in bed and to get ready for sleep because I predicted that today would be a tough first day. I set the alarm for 8:00 am, but I woke up at 7:15. I woke Erica and Chandler up, and both girls felt like sleeping in. We had our breakfast (french toast, which is really quick and quite like American ones) and we got ready for the school that we were going to. We already painted the school yesterday, but we had no idea what to expect. We walked to the main road from our volunteer center and we all got into one taxi (6 people: all 5 of us and Richard, the guy who is in charge of Blue-Med, the NGO we are working with).

The car stopped at the school where we painted the walls yesterday. This time, the school was no longer empty and quiet: instead, sounds of children's laughing and running filled our ears. The moment we stepped off the car and walked into the sight of the children, I could see the faces of small children lighting up with surprise and curiosity. I don't know if it was their first time seeing white-skinned people like us: perhaps for some of them it was.

The school is divided into kindergarten, elementary school and middle school. The children there all wear certain uniform: usually a purple plaid dress for kindergarten girls, purple plaid top with khaki pants for kindergarten boys, green dresses for elementary school and middle school children. Some of the teachers also wore a brown and yellow uniform as well. The kindergarten children have their classes in the room that we painted yesterday. I felt so fulfilled knowing that our work served some purpose: We gave the kids a little more color in their lives.

The children all shouted "yevu" at us, which I didn't know what it meant at first but later Erica explained that it means "white people". To them, no matter if we are yellow skinned or not, we are "white people". Some of them were shy: they hid behind the trees in clumps. I could see curiosity flickering in their eyes, but their introvert nature wouldn't enable them to express their interest in us. Others just went crazy: they ran with full speed towards us, wishing to hug us and touch our fingers. All of us were surrounded by at least one crowd of kids. We trudged (with kids all over us) towards the classroom and settled in the classroom that they all stay in. There were mickey mouse chairs all over the classroom. About 40 pairs of fresh eyes stared at us, and our eyes surveyed the room as well. Erica began the day by teaching the kids how to count in English (some of them seem to know it well but some don't). The children's age range from a year and a half to 4 years old, maybe that plays in as a factor. Then we drew on the board and asked them to guess what we drew. Chandler was a good artist: she drew a door, a tree, a house, a lizard, etc. Emily drew a Mickey mouse (which the kids responded: "boy!") and a Minnie mouse (which the kids responded: "girl!"). She also drew a frog, a corn and a dog (which the kids thought was a cat). I drew some fruits and Erica drew some clothes. The children had no problem identifying the objects and calling their names in their own language, but few of them knew the English.

Then it was the break. The break was the time where we could truly interact with the children. We didn't talked much to them, but we all loved holding their hands and giving them a ride in the air: I picked a girl up and then spun her around. Then, a crowd of children targeted my and asked me to spin them around. I did one after one, and it was so rewarding to see their happy face. Emily gave a  little girl a piggy back ride, and one of the teachers wrapped a tower around her so that Emily looks like the Ghana women that carry their babies on their backs. Erica and Chandler each picked their favorite child and nurtured them with profuse attention. Linh was jumping with the elementary school students: since one time they invented a game named "jump, jump, jump". We played until noon and the children went to have lunch. We had bananas in the headmaster's room.

In the afternoon, we taught the kids a nursery rhyme: "An itsy bitsy spider climbing up the spout/ Down came the rain and washed the spider out/ Out came the sun and dried up all the rain/ And the itsy bitsy spider climb up the spout again." It was too hard for the children so we taught them how to do the hand
 motion. They learnt it very well. After learning the song, we said goodbye to the children and promised to come back again.

We had our late lunch (fried plantains and beans) at the home and rested. Linh was a little too tired so she took a nap. After resting until 5 o'clock, we set off for the orphanage, where we met with more children. When I see the children in the orphanage, my heart was overcome by compassion: How hard would it be to lose their parents at such a small age! We distributed stickers, and all the children wanted for the stickers eagerly. I only wish they could have more of what they already have: no matter stickers or love or care, they really deserve to have more of them. We stayed for two hours and left. When we left, it was already dark and we walked along the roads. We all had a dense and intense day, but it was worthwhile. The children's smile has left an indelible mark in me, and I will never forget the moment when they look at me, demanding with their eyes: "Would you love me? Would you remember me?"

Yes I will.

After we come back the orphanage, we had our dinner (Asian style: kimchi-like cabbage and sauce, rice and fried chicken....not sure of where that chicken is from...) The chicken reminded me of Linh's quote when we walked by a beautiful goat this morning: "What a cute goat......DINNER!" Whenever she sees a dog, or a chicken, or a goat, she goes: "Hey......DINNER!" I cracked out loud. But now it seems like her saying is coming true......I have my fingers crossed for the lives of the roosters that woke all of us up the other day.

Today has been a hectic day, but it has been amazing. I don't know it will be the most amazing one, though. I am sure there will be more surprises to come.

Love,

Jen