Gone to Ghana: My African Adventures

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September 29, 2014



A typical day with me leaving for the orphanage around 8:00 A.M. I go to the orphanage to teach pretty much every day now. Before school went on vacation I was the only one going to Faith Academy, but now a lot of people are going there in the mornings. The orphanage is where I’m needed and I prefer to be. I don’t always teach the same class. In fact tomorrow I want to teach the oldest class science, which might surprise some people. A volunteer who just left gave a good science book to one of the girls, and while I was reading the first part of it with her I realized that the scientific method was something that would be good to teach to her whole class. However, I do prefer to teach the younger classes.



The afternoons are different depending on the day. On Tuesday and Thursday I go to the fishing village to teach English to Class 4 and 5. Monday and Wednesday are the math days, but I prefer to teach English even though it’s harder to teach. On the other days I usually go back to the orphanage after lunch. They’re supposed to have class until 3:00 or 3:30, but that doesn’t always happen. A lot of times that time is used for one-on-one tutoring or working with smaller groups of kids. Kids here love homework and always ask for extra math. These are kids who have such a strong desire to learn.



However, there are always days where things go crazy and normalcy is hard to find. Today was one of those. I woke up to two older kids telling us that a boy fell out of his bunk bed and had a gash on his forehead. I ended up taking him and another boy who had been sick during the night to the hospital with Grandma. While we were there some more volunteers came in with another boy who had swallowed a mosquito coil. All 3 boys are fixed up now. Eddie, the boy who fell out of his bed, was such a trooper. He sat so quietly while we had to wait for hours and go to several different wards. Ghanaian hospitals could use some serious streamlining. It was just one of those crazy days.



I’ll be going up north, to a village called Larabanga, on Saturday, so my typical day will change. I’ll be up there for 5 weeks, so I’m saying goodbye to the kids for a long period of time. I’m going to miss my babies so much. I’ve already talked to some volunteers about a few kids that I’m a bit worried about. One of them is Kelvin, who was the one who swallowed the mosquito coil. He’s autistic and still fairly new to the orphanage. I’ve worked with a boy who had Asperger’s Syndrome, and I really want to start working with him when I get back. I’ve also asked some of the older girls to take good care of Ema for me. I don’t know how he’s going to cope with me being gone for so long. I don’t know how I’m going to last without my baby boy and my other babies. Although, I know I’m going to meet new kids who I’ll love. I’m excited about getting a chance to see elephants and experiencing a different side of Ghana.

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Comments

[Virtualcamair]

Visit Cameroon too
http://camairtours.webs.com/

[Julie Bolt (Karen Vedder's sister]

Enjoying your blogs!
Hi Laurel, I am so enjoying reading your blogs. I didn't realized that I hadn't read quite a few of the later ones. It is so interesting to hear about all of your experiences. Thanks for sharing them with us!