Blogs from Teshie, Greater Accra, Ghana, Africa

Afgelopen Zondag heeft papa mij bij het Volunteer house afgezet, waar het nog rustig was omdat de meeste mensen nog weg waren van het weekend uitstapje naar Volta of Cape Coast. Bij aankomst werden mijn koffers meteen door de kinderen van het weeshuis naar mijn kamer gebracht. Ze vinden het super leuk om alleen al te helpen met mijn koffers dragen. Mijn kamer deel ik met 3 anderen, 2 Spaanse meisjes en 1 Amerikaanse. Er zijn hier echt niet normaal veel Spanjaarden, weg zijn met 53 person waarvan 40 personen Spaans zijn. En natuurlijk vormen die een grote groep en praten alleen Spaans met elkaar. Wie had gedacht dat ik mijn Spaans zou verbeteren in Ghana? Het is ook wel een beetje vervelend, omdat het zo lastiger is om mensen te leren kennen. Er waren ook ... read more

Okay, I know I didn't update this blog in my last two months of living in Ghana. For that I'm sorry. I told you that Ghana had problems with electricity, which leads to horrible internet connections. Many of you know I'm now back home in the United States. I arrived 2 weeks ago. Therefore this will be my last post, my musings on life in Ghana. First of all, I never told you just how dirty it is in Ghana. There aren't public trash bins, so people just throw their litter everywhere and anywhere. In my neighborhood there was actually a dump. Well actually it's called a "recycling" center, but there's no recycling at all. Garbage lines the streets, floats in the streams, and fills the obruni traps. It's no wonder why the tap water is ... read more

(Note, 19 Mar 2015, Kumasi, Ashanti Region) We are travelling to the north now. We have some time and, finally, some internet access today, so I am posting some blogs from the past week. This one is about the beach pcnic for the orphanage kids last Saturday. (by guest blogger Kit Rawson) On Saturday (14-Mar) , the day before we left for our travels around Ghana, Kathy and I had the privilege of attending a beach picnic that the volunteers put on for the orphanage kids a few times a year. The logistics of getting 50+ kids, plus Grandma and the Aunties who run the orphanage, plus 5 volunteers, and two parents of volunteers to the beach, plus beach toys, birthday presents for the kids with February birthdays, water, snacks, and a meal for all are ... read more

December 19, 2014 This week has been busy. We’re getting ready for the holidays, so we have a lot of cooking and preparations to do. Wednesday and Thursday we made rice and chicken for the children at the Fishing Village and the orphanage. The children loved the food! It’s always great to hear the kids come up and say my belly’s so full. Princess annihilated her chicken and rice, came up to me, and said “Auntie Laurel look at my fat belly.” Our big Christmas project is going to be in the Eastern Region where Dream Africa has a school and clinic. We’re preparing to serve food for over 2,000 people. Next week we’ll be incredibly busy. With Christmas coming up everyone in the house has been waiting for and opening up their Christmas packages from ... read more

November 28, 2014 You would be surprised with how exhausting sitting around waiting at a hospital can be. When the children get really sick the volunteers take them to the hospital. I’ve gone quite a few times already. Unfortunately the children get hurt or sick too often. Today Josephine (from Germany) and I took Ema, my baby, and Cephas. Ema is not yet 3, so he had several tantrums. First time I’ve had a child in public throw a tantrum. It made me wonder if that’s what my parents felt like once. They went yesterday to get blood tests done and they were at the hospital with Anniek (from Holland) all day long. Today we were there for only about 4 and a half hours. I’ve waited for about 6 hours once. That’s just the way ... read more