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Published: April 7th 2015
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(by guest bloggers Kit Rawson and Kathy Thornburgh)
Time has flown by, and now it is hard to believe that we will be flying out of Accra on this evening's flight to Amsterdam. It has been such a great time for us, seeing Laurel after 9 months, meeting so many of her friends here, and learning about all the wonderful places where she and the other volunteers are working. Laurel really put together a great tour of Ghana for us. Hopefully a lot of the great times have been well captured in these blog posts, but of course there was much more than we were able to talk about here.
We came back from the north a few days ago. We stayed in Laurel's neighborhood, returned to a few places (orphange, Art Market) and saw a few new ones in the Accra area (fishing village, NKrumah memorial park and museum, Jamestown Fort and the small downtown Accra). We also ventured inland for one more day trip, by taxi and trotro, to the Krobo area to see how glass beads are made at the Cedi bead factory from recycled beer and soda bottles and fired in ovens made from mud
from termite nests and used car springs to hold the heat. Of course we bought some beads, and we bought more cloth and shirts in the Thesie-Nungua area, and a few more things at the Acra Art Market. Our suitcase that had been full of donations for the orphanage is now packedd with our Ghana souvenirs and Laurel's purchases that we will ferry home. And we are packed full of memories of the sights and sounds of Ghanian life and the wonderful, friendly people we met here. The modern African-North American trade.
Thanks to Laurel for being such a great hostess and guide (and such a great daughter!). And, thanks, Laurel, for letting s be guest bloggers on your travel blog.
March 30, 2015
I saw my parents off at the airport tonight. I had a fun time with them. We had a lot of interesting adventures, some of which I might not have done if they didn’t come. The last couple of days in Accra were packed full of last minute things we had to do. My dad had to pick up shirts he got made at a tailor. I
had to take them by the fishing village. My mom had read about a bead factory that she really wanted to go to, which was very interesting. My parents had to finish their shopping at the Art Market. We also had to go by the orphanage a couple more times as well.
These 3 weeks with my parents have been awesome, but I’m definitely ready to get back to work. It was nice to finally get a vacation, which I haven’t taken in the whole time I’ve been here. I must stress this fact: volunteer work is not a vacation. Most of us stay very busy and do a lot of work. The past several months have been exceptionally busy due to the low number of volunteers. We have 4 volunteers leaving in the next 2 weeks and we’ll only be getting 2 in return. If anyone wants to come to Africa please join us in Teshie-Nungua. Ghana is a safe country and you’ll have a once in a lifetime experience. My parents found out what I meant about the children at the orphanage. They have the biggest hearts of any children I’ve ever met. They take
you into their family even though they know you’ll leave at some point. How I will say goodbye to these children is unimaginable. Many of them have asked me when I’ll be leaving and now since I’ve finally bought my ticket back home I have an actual date to tell them…. June 25.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t want to go home. In fact in many ways I’m already very ready to go home. I’m sick of getting hassled by taxi drivers and while trying to shop in the Art Market. I’m tired of having to always bargain the vendors for fair prices, not obruni prices. I’m tired of eating eggs and rice every day. I miss having oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and green salad with dinner. I’ve seriously never craved fresh vegetables the way I do here. Our house doesn’t buy many fruits or vegetables. However, volunteers often buy pineapples to share with each other. The fruit here is awesome! The one thing I’m so tired of is the power situation. The past couple of days it’s been so unpredictable, which drives us crazy. So yes, I’m very ready to go
home, however I’ve made a lot of friends here and the children will be so hard to say goodbye to. I’ve recently seen Floor and Anniek (from Holland) say goodbye to them and they’ve been here for 6 months and did a lot for the children. Watching them say goodbye made me see what I have to do in 3 months seem so real. Time flies here, and those 3 months will be gone in a flash. There’s still so much I want to do.
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