Yesterday I took my 5:55AM flight out of Ghana, it was sad for me to leave. I had cried the morning before, thinking about how I might not ever see my host family or the children at the orphanage again. It was such a wonderful and special last week because it was a festival in my home town, Cape Coast. It was called Fetu Afehye, a week long festival that ended the day I left Cape Coast. Basically it was a week of music and cultural dance, and Friday and Saturday were the mains days so Friday I had danced until 5AM, and Saturday I did not sleep at all. There were plenty of people in the street, people from all across Africa and Europe come to see the festival. It was a nice way to end my time in Ghana, end with a big bang. But still, i had visited the orphanage Saturday evening to say goodbye one last time and give them their gifts. And I told myself I would stay strong but when i had left i was giving them all individual hugs, and this one boy named Derrick went to hug me with tears in his eyes and told me he would miss me, I couldn´t help but feel my heart sink and so I held him tightly telling him I would return. So then i continued to hug everyone, but I hugged Derrick last because he began to cry in the corner. So after the orphanage I made sure I had danced my tears away.
I think I´ve taken so much from my experience in Ghana, and I know there will be more things that I wont even realise until I get back home. The main things that I can think of now is to be assertive, not to sulk, to be confident, to be humble and grateful, to not be attached to materialistic things and always give to others who will need it more, to always smile and realise that life is a dream, life is not a rush, to value and respect the opinions of the elderly, and to never ever ever EVER stop dancing.
I know now that I need to work with kids, they are my passion. Their curiosity to explore all that life can offer brings me this everlasting energy. Everyday I looked forward to spending time with the children at the orphanage, and I had spent maybe 10AM till 5:30 - 6PM each working day with them.
I will always appreciate the way that Ghanains were so welcoming and caring, those are two of their greatest attributes. As soon as I came to Ghana I was greeted with open arms by everyone I had crossed, not once had I received a racist or rude comment during my two months. And always always always, if i looked lost, sad or confused one of my friends or even a stranger would always ask if i were okay or if i needed to be escorted somewhere. Never did I feel unsafe, I could even walk the streets of Cape Coast alone at 3AM and feel perfectly comfortable. I think it did help that I had been there for 2 months and that I had made plenty of friends, so if i were walking alone within 100 metres I would bump into someone I knew.
When I left everyone began to ask when I would return, especially Joe, Angela and Ma Millicent. I´m not sure when or if I will, but I hope I do. I told Joe I would be back for his wedding. One night when I went dancing and I bumped into Joe, he had taken me home on his scooter and we had a really nice conversation when we got home. He told me that I was unlike any other volunteer before, I was ¨natural¨, i told him that i didnt understand what he meant by that. He told me that ¨you´re willing to try everything, you don´t complain about anything and you are always helping. Ma is really proud of you, I told her that we should keep you¨. It really made me feel special when he said that, it´s a nice feeling to be valued.
The children at the orphanage wrote me letters and it was so sweet, I only read a few yesterday but I dont think i realise how much im going to miss the kids until I get back home. I felt so comfortable with them, so at home. I slept over on the wednesday night last week, it was so sweet. I slept in the girls room and in the morning we all just hung out.
I think its sad that all the children there still have family, most of them aren´t real orphans where they have no parents but most of them have close to 8 siblings and so the parents can´t afford them. Someone that really caught my empathy was a girl named Elizabeth, her father is a farmer and her mother is dead. Some days she would speak of her dad and wonder if he would come home, she told me that she missed home and her siblings. I asked her when was the last time she went home, she told me it was at least 5 years ago. So I don´t know which is worse, to know instantly that you were unwanted by your parents, or to be unsure of whether your parents can´t afford you or if they have forgotten you. What is even worse though is that children like Elizabeth watch the other kids go home to their families while she needs to just sit and keep waiting.
Thank you mum and dad for always loving me.
Sorry this is so disorganised, I guess now im skimming through my thoughts and so this is all coming out as a stream of thoughts. But I guess that´s how I sort of feel right now, in between three different worlds with memories, the present and my future all rolling around in my head. Ghana, Spain, Australia.
And now I sit in the living room of my cousin Iratxe´s home, its a very beautiful little town. I haven´t had the chance yet to walk through the streets, but driving back home last night at 10PM the street lights were that European orange that made the streets look so antique. At first I was really worried about the language barrier in Spain, but on my flight from Casablanca to Barcelona I sat next to a man who couldn´t speak English and we had a perfectly fine conversation. And even last night with Iratxe and her parents, I could have a perfectly fine conversation - it may have been simple but still my ability to communicate is not entirely hindered. I think my Spanish is better than I thought and with time, precisely two and a half months, my Spanish will improve.
Yesterday I had my first warm shower in two months, and let me just say it was a pretty heavenly experience. I also had my first real salad in two months, which also was a heavely experience for my tummy! I really feel like a princess here, I have my own room, my own wardrobe, I can drink out of the tap, I dont have to wear shoes in the shower and i am treated so so well by Iratxe and her family. Iratxe is a nurse and so she works from 8AM until 1PM, and her parents, my Tio and Tia also work in the mornings so I will be alone in the house each morning.
This weekend Iratxe is taking me to the mountains with ten of her other friends, im looking forward to it though i think im going to be very very cold.
I was writing on the plane and thinking about what I hope to gain from this experience and I guess what I basically came up with is that I hope to understand my heritage more, understand myself more (when I walk the camino), be fluent in spanish and adopt some more mindsets of this culture that I can keep with me forever.
Until next time,Hasta Luego!
