Village of Hope - Part 1

I went with a team of 10 people to the Village of Hope near Accra, Ghana, West Africa June 5 - 13, 2006. It is an orphanage, school, and clinic. We painted the alphabet with corresponding pictures in many of the classrooms. We also built shelves for the library. Spending time with the children was the best part and I know it meant a lot to them and to us! The following posts are filled with images from my trip and are not necessarily in order.

There were gorgeous butterflies everywhere!
(Click on photos to enlarge)

Wednesday through Saturday, I worked with others from our team and some of the kids on painting projects in the nursery (I believe it was up to 2nd grade).

We painted the alphabet with animals in one room and the alphabet with objects in another room.

As you can see, this photo was taken before we went back to add white paint over the mistakes. (yes, I messed up the D... but I wasn't the only one to mess up!!) :)

Later, numbers and cute cartoons (such as dancing crayons) were painted in the younger classrooms.

This is Bob, our fearless leader to Ghana!

Some of the men built shelves for the library.

Turned out very nice!!

Wednesday night, we joined some of the smaller kids in their Bible class/Singing.

These cool, huge lizards were everywhere! I even saw a super, huge one for a brief second that must have been an iguana or something. Scared me silly.

The next few photos are of some of the kids that I got attached to. This little boy is Mawuli.

This is Mawuli (left) and Stella and Selamatu (girls on the right) under a Mango tree. They were very curious about me when I was photographing the butterflies. They followed me around and took me on a tour of the campus. They giggled at me for collecting rocks. I explained that a friend from the US had asked me to bring her back one and that they are very interesting to me. She found a really nice one and gave it to me. I plan to make it into a necklace.

This is Victoria and Joyce and I can't remember the name of the girl behind them. They were fun, giggly girls who liked to play lots of games.

Go to part 2

Back from Ghana

I'm back safe and sound and had a fantastic time. There's so much to say. I will post more info soon, hopefully this weekend, with pictures. I came back with bronchitis so I will post more when I am feeling better. The trip home was very exhausting.

Stay tuned....

:)

Plum Overwhelmed

It's times like this that I wish I was a good writer. I want you to feeeel the same way I feel. I am sky high right now. People said this trip to Ghana would be life-changing, and I believed them. I just thought the changing would happen once I was on the continent of Africa. Oh no, my brothers and sisters! I am sooo moved by the GENEROSITY of the people in my life. The people right here in Good 'Ol America. I have received such an outpouring of love... in the form of money, prayers, gifts/donations and encouraging words that I am just plum overwhelmed! OVERWHELMED people!

I've always known that doing work for others was a good thing, but I don't think I've ever been this involved with something so big. And tiring. I, along with family and team members, have been collecting items to take with us to Ghana... items like shoes, batteries, t-shirts, toothbrushes, toothpaste, sheets, and towels. These are items that the Director of The Village of Hope told us the kids needed the most. I am overwhelmed by overyone's willingness to help.

If anything, this first stage of our trip has taught me lessons about giving that I will remember for the rest of my life. What will be next??? :)

I leave in 6 days!

Wheel of Fortune

This is my cousin Jeremiah. You can read about us trying out to be on Wheel of Fortune over at his blog. Edited in 2014: I removed the link to Jeremiah's blog because now it is not a nice link. Sorry if you find it somewhere else on my blog!

No Lasik for me

At least not right now. After viewing their video about all the risks involved, I decided now is not a good time to have Lasik surgey on my eyes. What if something DID go wrong? Then I wouldn't be able to go to Ghana. So, I will reconsider it later.

Me and David at the White House

I went with some friends to Washington DC last year and I was just looking at all the pictures. This one makes me laugh so I thought I would share.

Giddy

EEEEEE I'm so giddy this morning because everything for this trip seems to be falling into place! Wonderful!

Encouraging post about Accra, Ghana

Rachel's sister, Christine, is in West Africa with her family. In this post on her blog, she talks about a recent event. I found it to be very encouraging as I plan my trip to Accra, Ghana in June of this year.

First Vaccines

I received my first two shots yesterday - for Polio and Hepatitis A. My arm was somewhat sore, but not too bad.

So now, for Malaria (required), I have to decide between one prescription that might cause anxiety and depression or the other one that might cause a yeast infection.

AND for Yellow fever (required), it doesn't sound too bad, but insurance doesn't cover it so it's expensive!

AND for Typhoid fever (recommended), I can either get a shot that feels like your arm is falling off or take the pills. I shall opt for the pills, I think.

Oh what have I gotten myself into? :)

It's official

I still know how to change a tire.