Home Away From Home: July 19, 2013

Uncle Ben & Baby Phoebe

Today we woke up to another delicious breakfast on the patio of the Fair Hill Guest House. We then loaded the tro tro with soccer and play balls, a plastic tub with three laptops and children's books, and all of our teaching supplies for a bitter sweet, bumpy ride to St. Cyprian's Basic School. This was not only our last day of teaching there, but our last day of teaching on this trip. 

Lessons were taught and then at break time we presented the administration, teachers, and children with the laptops, books, soccer balls, and other supplies we brought for them. 

The presentation was received with applause, and the typical Ghanaian “Wowwww” from the older boys. The cheers grew louder and louder as each ball was given to two specific classes to share. The excitement from the children resembled a American Christmas morning.

As we drove away from the school, the scene of the children running down the hill, chasing the tro tro with waves and smiles will forever be implanted in our hearts. With tears running down our faces, we looked back for the last time, realizing our lives will forever be impacted by  the students we have been teaching.

We returned to Fair Hill for lunch and, for many of us, a much needed afternoon nap. Some of us utilized the afternoon for other things. Ben went to the kitchen, put on his apron, and learned how to make the legendary Ghanaian kebabs we have all grown to love. A few of us were fortunate to get to sample Ben’s kebabs late in the afternoon. We gave them our culinary stamp of approval. 

 

Prof took the afternoon to go into town to visit all of his market ladies and give them the photos he had taken of them because most of them had never seen a photo of themselves before. After seeing the photos, some of the ladies who had turned him down previously decided they wanted him to take their picture. He now has about twenty more photos to print out and then make yet another trip to the market before we leave Cape Coast next week. 

After two weeks of luxurious Ghanaian living, we are finally experiencing life without some of the luxuries we take for granted at home. This morning, we found out that last night's “rolling blackout” which we thought was a local experience was actually a nationwide blackout that lasted 6 hours. Virtually the entire country of Ghana was without power for most of the night. We are also  experiencing some water shortages today due to a water line break somewhere around Cape Coast; so we are running on the reserve water tank of Fair Hill.

We also finally experienced exactly what G.M.T. (Ghana Maybe Time) really is. We sat in the dining room waiting for our dinner guests, Ato and Philippa Thomson, and their 1-year-old boy, Ato Jr., for about an hour and a half before they finally arrived. We thoroughly enjoyed their company with lots of laughter and lots of attention given to Junior. Philippa thanked for us having them for dinner and told us how much joy they feel in having us a family outside of Ghana. 
Those words from Philippa represent how welcome and loved Prof and his “children” are by the people we bond with here. 

We have learned that we impact more than just the children we teach and impact them in ways we do not even realize. More than anything else, the people of Ghana impact us more than we ever thought possible. We are truly blessed by this experience and it is people like Ato and Philippa who help make Ghana our “home away from home”.