Day 51-53

If you have a dream alive in your mind, bring it to the world, give it life. Too often the treasures which are ours alone to give are never given the chance to grow. We each have a unique gift to bring to this world. It is our purpose in life to offer this gift. For even if only a few people benefit from our offering, the world is then a better place to live!   
~Susan Staszewski

Nothing too overly exciting to share but I hope you all enjoy anyway... Friday I went to outreach although I wasn't scheduled to, as other volunteers decided to take off for the weekend early and the patients wouldn't have received any treatment for the entire weekend. Morena had received a donation so was able to buy new elastic bandages for the patients. She was so kind to let me be part of the distribution. To see the faces of the recipients light up once they received a new elastic bandage was probably the best GHc 2.50 that could ever be spent. I gave an elderly man named Anthony his, and I have never seen a smile so big! When giving to a younger man, we met his 5 month old baby and were told the baby didn't have any food left for the weekend. The mom's breastmilk was apparently in short supply. Over the weekend I was able to buy some baby cereal along with other volunteers to bring to the camp.

My weekend was full of adventure traveling the roads of Ghana. It's always fun to try planning trips in a foreign country where transportation costs add up really quickly and take twice as long to get places as you anticipate. It started off at the metro bus station to get to Kumasi where we waited in line for nearly two hours before even buying a ticket. Each time a bus would arrive, it seemed like a brawl was going to occur. The bus was really crowded and had a preacher for half the trip talking right into my ear. I have to admit it can get annoying but just because we can't understand them doesn't mean they can't understand us, especially when some rude comments were made by the people I was traveling with. I actually find religion a positive aspect of Ghana. Someone can randomly get on a bus and speak the word, have the whole bus in prayer for a safe journey, and keep their attention. Even the shops here all have religious names like The Blood of Jesus bicycle repair, God's Grace hair salon, and even the internet cafe I use titled Grazio Dio which means Thanks be to God in Italian of all languages! Something that would never be seen at home.

Kumasi is a very busy town with lots of people, traffic, and unfortunately garbage. I felt extremely uncomfortable walking there, maybe because I didn't know my way around and also it is far less of a tourist town than Cape Coast. It made me thankful to be placed where I am for Projects Abroad.

Saturday we went to the Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary located about 3 hours north of Kumasi. It was in such a remote location that the taxi driver was encouraged to stay with you and wait so you had a return way back to Techiman. It was a great but costly decision. The monkey sanctuary was a guided one hour tour which we weren't aware of before going, making it such a long ride for such a short amount of time. It was really cool to be so close to the mona and columbus species though and to snap some pictures of them in their natural habitat. I was also able to feed them groundnuts right out of my hand. The monkeys are considered sacred to the surrounding villages. They are not allowed to hunt them and actually hold funeral ceremonies and bury them at a cemetery located in the park.

On our journey back to Kumasi to go spend the night at Lake Bosomtwe, I had the pleasure of sitting in the fold down seat next to the door that could barely stay closed. At one point, someone needed out so of course I had to move out too. The driver then started going without realizing I wasn't back in so I had to run really quick to jump in the door! Luckily a lady grabbed my bag through the doorway so I could grab on! The people in Ghana are so friendly. We weren't sure of finding our way in Kumasi so two women lead us through town, hired a taxi, and got us dropped right at the proper station. It's so nice to see people always willing to help.

Lake Point guesthouse was in the middle of nowhere but it made the journey more worthwhile to pass by typical African village scenes. The dormitory we stayed in had about 12 bunks and was left open to the outside. Luckily we had bednets. All of the resort was landscaped nicely, organized considering Ghana, and friendly staff. The food was amazing as well. I took a shower with running cold water but when my other roommates went to shower, the water stopped as they were covered in soap and shampoo. We had to give them all of our water bottles to rinse off! On top of that, the handle broke off the piping to the shower head. It's all part of the fun in my opinion.

Dreaming of laying on the beach to tan and read, we all woke up to cloudy sky and scattered showers. We waited a while but it never cleared. We opted to walk the 2.5 km back to the main road to get a taxi to the main station home. I really enjoyed the walk. We could feel the normal life of the locals in Abono. I figured they walk it everyday to work, school, and even to fetch water. It really puts things into greater perspective of appreciating the small things in life. Traveling here is an incredible opportunity to see the sights of the country. It's nice to pass villages of people carrying out their normal routines cooking as a family outside, selling provisions in a stall made of recycled wood, or children just playing soccer in an empty field. It really set in that THIS is life in Africa and I am so blessed to be living and experiencing life as a Ghanaian!

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending!