A Life Changing Experience

Friday, September 25, 2009

 

            Today is our last day in GhanaL I do not want to leave this country at all. I’ve had such an amazing experience and I only want it to continue. My last adventure is a visit to the OSU Children’s Home in Accra. It is an orphanage for children from infants to school aged children. Our trip leaders were Bill and Carolyn, Lifelong Learners, and Betsy, the ship’s librarian. Katie and I sat together on the bus as we left fairly early to arrive on time.

            When we arrived at the children’s home we were greeted by the administrator and a young girl about 13 years old who was mentally disabled. The young girl immediately latched on to a few students by holding their hands. It was obvious she was extremely excited to have us there. She never spoke the entire time so I think she had difficulty communicating and was making a lot of hand motions throughout our visit. We were given a brief introduction to the orphanage and the way it is run. There are classrooms for the small children and the older children were in school so it wasn’t as rowdy as usual. We were taken into the main building which had a courtyard play area which was surrounded by classrooms on all sides. The amount of toys in certain rooms was very limited and it was obvious the facilities needed some redevelopment. During our tour the young girl had taken my hand and was giving me her own tour of the area. She was so sweet and I was glad to be there with her. We were then taken to the fenced in backyard area where there was a huge playground set up for the kids. There were so many children running around and playing from toddlers to about six or seven years old. There were a few older kids roaming quietly here and there. As soon as we walked into the play yard they immediately ran up to us and started playing with us. A bunch of kids were going down the slide, swinging, and going around on this circle roundabout thing. The kids all had little uniforms on with blue mesh shorts and a white mesh shirt. A little boy ran over to me and hugged me so I picked him up and walked around with him. He was so cute and just wanted to hang out. We walked around talking to the other kids and danced a little bit. The little boy wanted to get down and play so I started playing with some more kids. We didn’t get much time in the playground and as we were being shuffled out the kids became so upset. It was really hard because the kids were just clinging to us and crying. They didn’t want us to leave them and it was obvious they are attention deprived and just want someone to play with. As I watched a one year old cling to Viki and just cry it brought tears to my own eyes. Seeing the look in that child’s eyes and how sad she was made it really difficult to watch. As we walked to the other buildings I just broke down. I didn’t realize how much seeing these kids would really affect me. My heart was just aching for them because they were so lonely and had no families to love them. I was just honored that we were able to be there for the day with them, though.

            Our next part of the day was dedicated to painting two main buildings of the orphanage. We were given a few buckets of this grayish-beige paint made out of some weird concoction. They scooped the paint, which was really sticky and grimy, into a bucket and added water to make it more like paint. We split up into groups to paint different buildings. As Katie and I were painting, a little girl named Tracy kept following us. She really wanted to help paint and before Katie knew it, she had three kids holding her paint brush. We moved onto another wall after the first one was finished and Samuel, our tour guide, came over to help. He was giving me advice on how to make the most of my paint because, as most of you know, it’s not my specialtyJ I talked with him about Ghana and how much I love the country. He was happy to hear that I really am planning on returning! Samuel had been such a great tour guide and really helped make my trip in Ghana more memorable because he taught us so much about the country. He went out of his way to get postcards, stamps, and newspapers for a group of us and was also taking the time to help us paint during our visit.

It didn’t take much longer to finish the two walls so a small group of us headed to the play yard to spend more time with the kids. There was another building that had some music coming from it so we decided to check it out. A table was set up outside the doors and the woman said we were welcome to go in. There was a women’s conference going on for the last few days and they were all inside. It wasn’t your typical conference because all the women (about 15) were all standing around the room singing gospel songs. They welcomed us in and we sat down in the back. After the head woman spoke for a short while, everyone was back up and singing. We stood up and joined in from our seats but pretty soon they were calling us to the front to join them. The group of us gathered in their circle in the front of the conference room and started singing and dancing with all the women. They embraced us and made us feel like we were one of them, even though we stuck out like sore thumbs. All the women had amazing dresses made of colorful patterns of fabric and had clearly been doing this a while. We had so much fun going around in a circle dancing and singing. It was a great feeling to be with these women and feel their spirit around us. It was one of the most powerful things I’ve experienced and I’m so glad we decided to go in the room! Before we left we wrote our names and emails down on a piece of paper so we could get more information from them.

We still had a little while before lunch so we went in the school/play building of the orphanage to play with the kids some more. They were everywhere! It was snack time so all the kids had lollipops and juice boxes. One little boy, not much older than a year, was struggling with his juice box straw. I bent down to help him and his straw had fallen inside so I tipped the box up like a bottle and he was able to get the rest of the juice out. Something as simple as this made me realize how much these kids need someone in their lives to help them with the little things. Given, they are in a children’s home where the people working there give them a portion of that but not nearly as close to what they need and deserve. Once the little boy was done with his juice he wandered off. A bunch of kids were pushing around a small jungle gym and I almost got run over by them! The whole room of kids was insane. They were screaming and running around like animals! It was pretty entertaining. Another little boy, about 1 ½, was dragging a bumblebee stuffed animal around that was almost the size of him. Every kid was so cute I wanted to take them all home with me. After playing for a while longer we were being rounded up to leave for lunch. As I left the building, there were some small children outside playing. A little girl who was nearly 1 year old ran over to me as soon as I stepped outside. I picked her up and hugged her and we danced around for a little bit. She was the most adorable little girl. I was only with her for about five minutes when Bill, our trip leader, came to me and said we needed to leave. I told the little girl I had to go and she just clung to me. When I tried letting her down she immediately burst into tears which made me tear up. I kept trying to get her to stand up and she would not let go of me. I had no choice but to go because the bus was leaving but it was the hardest goodbye I’ve ever experienced. She was so upset and I felt like I was abandoning her which was a terrible feeling. Eventually, I got her to sit down and I had to walk away. Bill was still there with me and he took my hand as we walked back to the bus. If it wasn’t for him I probably would have broken down. We walked back to the bus and he said “it’s not easy, is it?”

We went to a hotel restaurant for lunch. I sat with Katie and a group of girls I hadn’t met yet. One was the other Mackenzie on the ship. I was so excited to finally meet her because I just love meeting other Mackenzie’s. We had the Ghanaian “club sandwich” and fries for lunch. The sandwich was a triple decker with eggs, mystery meat, lettuce, and a few other things that I’m not sure of. Not the best lunch of the trip. Before going back to the orphanage we stopped at the hotel gift shop. I bought Kente cloth which was exactly what I wanted in Ghana. The fabric and patterns are so colorful and crazy! I love it! I also bought a giraffe statueJ It’s not taller than me though so it should fit in my suitcase. We went back to the orphanage to give the gifts we brought for the children including: books, crayons, markers, balls, puzzles, other toys, etc. The children’s home doesn’t have much for the kids to play with so SAS donated all of the items to them. I helped carry a huge bag of stuff in the administrator’s office and we had filled the entire couch with stuff for the children! It was a great feeling to be helping them out, even if it was a small gesture. The administrator took us to the section of the orphanage where the babies are in their cribs. All the cribs were lined up in a tight row against the wall in the front room and back room. We first walked in the back room and it was one of the saddest things to see. All the babies (under 1 year) were sleeping in their cribs, some were standing up, and some were on the ground playing. One baby was in a basinet and was no more than one month old. One of the girls stopped to play with the kids on the floor and they all started crying when she had to leave. It was so hard to see so many little babies left to grow up with no family. As we went around to the other side it was almost unbearable because there were even more babies in their cribs lined up on the wall. Most were sleeping but I would make sure to bend down and say hi to each baby that was awake and standing in their crib. It was the least I could do as we just walked through. I felt terrible because we couldn’t stay and play with them. The last baby I got to was standing up tall in his crib and started smiling when I said hi to him. It was so precious! The hardest part was when he put his arms in the air and reached up for me. It took everything I had not to pick him up because we weren’t allowed. To see him look up at me and just want to be held was heart wrenching.  At that moment, I decided I am going to adopt a child at some point in my life.

We went to the play yard to say bye to the older kids one last time. A group was playing in the walkway and we stopped to get a few more pictures. It was an easier goodbye than it could have been but it was still hard to leave the orphanage. We thanked the administrator lady and she blessed us! She was so grateful we came and I was so happy I chose to come there. I got a picture with Samuel before we got on the bus because he was my favorite tour guide!! We also exchanged information so we could keep in touch.

As we drove home, all I could think about were those little kids who might never have a real home or family. It was so hard to grasp that some of these children were just abandoned by their parents or had lost their parents and would never see them again. I’ve never appreciated or loved my mom more than at that moment! (I love you Mom!) By the time I got back to the ship it was on ship time and we didn’t have much longer until we left Ghana. I was not looking forward to leaving because I had such an amazing experience in the country, but I know I will come back! We got back to the ship, ate dinner, and I had a sleepover in Lauren and Rosario’s room. Next up, South Africa!!!