A Sweet Hand of Peace

Me and Annie showing some love to our classroom.


A Bittersweet Ending and a Night Out:
Yesterday sadly ended our service learning at the local clinic and private school.
As nervous as I was for the last day, it ended up being the most amazing day I have had here so far.
Me and Annie's plan to pair up and teach together worked wonders! As we began the morning with a counting game we ended with reading an ABC book together and drawing pictures on the board that the letters stood for. They children ate up the fact that they could use the chalk on the black board. Chalk is actually given to the instructors as gifts from the children many times; therefore, I am sure the chalk was not something that was easily accessible.
It was amazing how excited and precise the children were with the illustrations on the board and I began to make many observations about their education levels. I could automatically tell a lot about a child from the picture that they drew. Within the group there were some of the smartest children that I had ever met.
After class we handed out candy to everyone for being so wonderful and respectful. With every handful there was a "Thank You Madame, Thank You Madame." I could not get enough of their sweet respect.
After teaching two classes about counting by fives and tens and illustrating the alphabet we moved on to another one of Annie's classes that she had visited the day before. The class had begged her to sing America's national anthem, and she said she would come back the next day with friends to help her.
Me, Annie, Blair, and Michael instructed the class to put their hand over their heart and stand to their feet. Afterwards, we began to sing. Normally, I would have been so nervous to sing in front of such a large group on the spot but this time was different.
This time I could not help but sing. Emotions flooded the room as we began to sing together in the sight of these sweet Ghanaian school children who were so eager to hear us praise our nation. Holding back tears, I sang loud and proud.. we all did. A screaming applause was given afterward. Off we ran to the bus as everyone had already been waiting quite a time for us. Along our two minute walk to the bus I made wishes that time would freeze. The sight was unimaginable. Little ones were yelling our names and asking over and over when we would be back. I told them that it was my dream to come back very soon.
One girl in-particular I will never forget.
The bright eyed girl grabbed my hand, looked me in the eye and said, "Madame, I hope you will come back very soon and I wish you safe journeys."
She had to be all of 9 years old. Her words were so sincere and her hand was so sweet and peaceful... I will remember it for as long as I live.
Leaving the school was a bittersweet goodbye.
As Dr. Seth says, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so that night he took us out to experience Ghanaian night life. Unfortunately we could not venture to where the group was really wanting to go. Steven our bus driver went there to check it out and said it was unsafe. So, we went to the safest place which was a small music hole in the city. We definitely made the best of the night and danced until it was "waffle house time" as we told Steven. Unfortunately, there are "No Waffle Houses or any eqivalents in Ghana," Steven said smiling.
That gave us all a huge laugh to end an amazing day in Ghana.
Today was very relaxing as we traveled to Sunyani to get checked into our hotel and prepare for the next day's monkey santuary adventure. Some of us played and were taught the card game "spades," which is definitely going to be the group addiction for the rest of the trip. We were also introduced to chef Tony.
Chef Tony saved us all from starvation and made the most amazing fried chicken. It was absolutely right out of Grandma's kitchen. He told us that he knew we were so hungry and that he would make us anything he possibly could.
Meanwhile he brought us out watermelon and fried away in the kitchen. The dinner was heavenly and I told him that he completely saved my starving life.
After talking with him tonight the told me that he had been all over the world cooking. He had cooked in Japan, Canada, Europe, and hopes to one day have a restaurant in Las Vegas. His smile and positive attitude was addicting and after a night full of chat he promised to make us whatever our hearts desired for dinner tomorrow. This is the best service we have had so far. I officially no longer feel like an outsider; I feel right at home.
Cheers to a filling night of spades and fried chicken!

Happy. Fullfilled. Peaceful.

Until Next Time,
Life is Love