Gone to Ghana: My African Adventures

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February 7, 2015



Yes, I know it’s been too long since I’ve last written, but things have been super busy here. First of all there are only 5 volunteers in the house, so those of us here are all working extra hard. Please I implore anybody that wants to come to Africa please come to help Dream Africa is in dire need of people. It’s not just Dream Africa, but most organizations in Western Africa. Look Ebola is very much contained in Sierra Leone and Liberia. It’s at least two countries away from Ghana. Western ignorance of Africa and the media overhyping Ebola has scared people away. I’m not trying to insult people with the former statement. What I mean is Europeans and Americans tend to think of Africa as one big country and if something like a war, pirating, military coup, or diseases happen in one small part they tend to think that it’s happening everywhere in Africa. Ghana is actually a very safe country. One of the reasons I chose to come here was because I heard that it was the safest of the countries in Western Africa. Of course, there are still dangers in parts of Africa. Last night one of my friends was talking about wanting to go to Nigeria and the rest of us were trying to talk her out of it. You just have to do the research about where it is you want to go and figure out exactly where in Africa it is. Just stay out of Sierra Leone and Liberia if you don’t want Ebola. Ghana does NOT have it.



Another reason we’ve been so busy is that Jamal wants to take a break from Dream Africa. He hasn’t been on a vacation in years and he wants to go to Europe to get his Masters. His idea is that volunteers will run Dream Africa. Therefore, we’re all taking on responsibilities which complement our strengths. I’ve been working on education issues, like trying to implement a new curriculum at the orphanage, and I’ve become the Librarian. I’ve been working on going through all of our books and organizing them. I love doing that because it combines my love of working with children with my love for reading. Plus a big part of my philosophy of education is promoting appreciation for literacy with children. Reading to children has always been my favorite thing to do. The one thing I noticed after going through the books is that we have plenty of chapter books, but we actually need more picture books and Easy Readers. The idea for the library is that children from our different projects can check out books and take them home to read. Many of the children don’t have books, except their textbooks to read at home.



We’ve also been trying to do some extra afternoon projects with the children at the orphanage. Irene, from Spain and Japan, started bringing groups of children over to swim again. They always love that. Floor, from Holland, found a woman who does beading and wants to teach her craft to children. This is a project that could be huge because if done right this could really help start allowing the orphanage to become self-sufficient.



My parents are coming to visit me in a month. I haven’t seen them in 8 months, so I’m very excited to see them. I can’t believe I’ve been here for so long already. I’ve also decided to stay a month longer and after Africa I plan to go up to Europe. I’ve never been to Europe and I’m so close that I don’t want to go back to the Western Hemisphere without going to Europe. I can’t go everywhere I want to, but I have to choose 2 places max. Currently I’m debating between Athens and Rome and then I’ll probably head to Portugal to visit my friend Francisco in Porto. He promised me good food, and he and my parents have raved about Porto, so I feel I need to go. I still don’t have any tickets to go home yet. Every time I search for flights I get sad about leaving my babies. Although, I’m very excited to introduce my parents to their bevy of grandchildren at Lord’s Arms Christian Foster Home.

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