RED

Hello Medaase (Thank you) for reading this!

I learned what the colors on the Ghana flag mean the yellow means gold, black is for hope, green is the agriculture here, and red is the for the blood of their ancestors. On Saturday the 8th I learned a lot about the red on the flag. 

On Saturday, all of the volunteers and inters went to meet at the ProWorld house at 8 am and went to the Assin Manso. This is the location where slaves we taken from all over Ghana and  walked through this long trail and given their last bath in a river. For respect for the people that walked through this path we took off our shoes to become closer with the ancestors. During their last bath the individuals were shaved so no grey hair would be present when they were being shown and sadly not many made it passed their bath. They then had to walk about a week, chained to a huge group of people, to one of the three castles where they were stored before they were sold.  

We then went in our TroTro again to go to the newest castle that also had the most individuals go through it. Going into the dungeons to see where over 200 people were stored did not seem real because it seems like even 50 people sitting would be extremely overcrowded. Food and water was thrown through the holes up above where the sunlight came out and their bathroom was at their feet. The British built a church up above the dungeons because they believed the church was like heaven and those in the in the dungeons belong down below.  This was an extremely sad day and was emotionally draining day. Yet, that night was my first night eating a full dinner completely with my hands. I had FuFu, which is the texture of uncooked bread that you swallow, and fish that was all in groundnut soup; yes I ate soup with my hands!

Sunday is truly a holy day as 85% of the population is Christian and so I went to church. Church started at 9am and the car to come get my host mom (Sister), host brother (Papa), and roommate (Megan) and I at 10am. I was nervous that we were going to be really late but we got to combined church service that was outside but arriving I was pleased to see that everyone was still singing and dancing. The dancing was a line of about 10 men and then 10 women dancing in a line and yes I went to join the line in front of the 400 people congregation! When I joined the line of dancing people one could say there was uproar of laughter.  Church went until 2:30, so the service was 51/2 hours. After church I played with a group of young girls that hang out near my house and leaned some dances, hand games, and a new form of jumping over a rope. The children hear are so independent and more mature, in my opinion, then the children in America. 

Monday I woke up at 6am to sweep the porch with a broom that is a bunch of long sticks with a rubber band around them. This is a common task that all Ghanaians do in the morning and I really wanted to get more involved with the house chores.

This day was the first day I wrote a list of things that I am missing about home.

Family and friends	Quite or a second alone (I’m ALWAYS being watched)
Central Michigan University	Warm showers or ones that is over 3 minutes, but thankful I get a shower J
Drinking clean water for free	Toilet paper and toilet seats
Paved roads	Fish still alive and in a bowl
Fresh air	Chocolate or anything sweet
Being dry (I’m always wet because of the humidity)	Chipotle

I made this list not to dread what I am missing but to make sure that I am more grateful for all these small of these things when I get back.

Tuesday I got ready for a presentation for Wednesday and went out to dinner and hade a creep with banana and Nutella and it was the first sweet food I have had and it tasted so great!  Yet, before I went to dinner I took one of the interns I work with, and my dear friends, Lashae to the clinic and she found out she has Typhoid. This was a scary thought because if I take one bite of food or a mosquito bites me I could get malaria or typhoid, luckily they know how to treat it really well here.

At work on Wednesday I gave a 20 minute presentation to all of the proprietor/ proprietress (supervisors) of the Day-Cares for the proposal of the new bylaw. It was difficult because I had to talk very slowly due to the language barrier. In The Department we are always looking for ways to improve things and since my focus is the Day-Care centers my focus is make life safer for the children and easier for the Day-Care Attendants.

Work to make a change but make sure it is a change that is sustainable and works WITH the current program.

Goodbye!

Aba Lydia