Dear Ghana

Dear Ghana,

You, my dear friend, really know how to make an impression. You have taught me so much and opened my eyes to so many things.
I'm totally in love with you. I know, I know, to love a country is completely mad. You can never love me back- not in the way I love you.
You've intoxicated me with you smells and sights and sounds. The scents of tea bread and Milo in the morning make me swoon. Watching children dance and red earth rise in the wind captivates me. Hearing horns honking and the sellers in the market settles my mind (though I could do without the guinea fowl in the mornings).
You know how to celebrate, even in death. You know how to laugh and dance and sing and you always figure out a way to get me to join in.
You are beautiful. Beautiful in more ways than I can explain. Your tall grasses and flowers of astounding colours, your fruits of amazing flavours and your people of every shape and size are all a part of the wonderful kaleidescope that makes you such a beautiful place.
Now, before you let the flattery get to your head, you should know, sometimes, I can't stand you. Sometimes I want to leave you, to never see you again and to push you from my memory. When I sit at the hospital and see things that I would never see in Canada, I want to scream at you. When I see ribs on children, instead of clothes I want to cry with you.
Sometimes you cheat me.
Sometimes you take too many risks.
Sometimes you say the most aggravating and frustrating things.
You expose me to these things almost daily and you push me to a point where I think I am done with you completely.
But then you pull me back in.
Whether it be with a kiss from a child or with some really good wakeye, you manage to regain your hold on me and remind me why I love you.
You make me laugh and cry, and love and hate. Sometimes all in one day.
Ghana, I do love you. To quote Savage Garden- Truly, madly, deeply. The day that we will part from each other is coming closer, I know it will be a very sad day for me. I feel selfish in hoping it will be for you too. I feel conceited in thinking maybe you will miss me, when you have so many other things to focus on- other than a 19 year old white girl who lived in you for six months.

All I can really hope is that we will see each other again soon.

Well, that's all for now.

With much love,
Aryn Marie Otterbein

PS: Go Black Stars!!!!

Apologies

I know I know, I the point of a blog is for it to be updated.
I'm sorry I haven't written in a while.

And I'm sorry that this entry is going to end very quickly.
I really haven't been in the space to write about everything that has been going on in the past little while. I haven't quite debriefed my experiences for myself yet. But when I do, there will be a new entry.

But I will give a brief update on the more general activities that I have been participating in.

The last three weeks in the village were chanllenging, amazing, beautiful, sad and rewarding. I went through a lot of ups and downs in those three weeks and I'm incredibly sad that my time with my village family is over. My departure included hugs, laughter, well-wishes and a Fanta party.

The group and I were then off for travel time. This section of the program gives participants a chance to see more of the country and to learn about the past, the present and the future of Ghana.

First we learned of the past. We made our way to Cape Coast and we toured Cape Coast Castle. We learned of the architecture, Ghana at that time and of the horrible history of the slave trade in Ghana. We entered the dungeons where slaves were kept for a minimum of 6 weeks and we walked through the door of no return.

After Cape Coast we headed to Tamale, in the North. Tamale is where Mark and I will be doing our work placements once travel time is over. We spent the week there helping to prepare for a Christmas party that is hosted every year by Dr Abdulai, a great man who runs a free medical clinic. The party itself was a bit intense. I also visited my work placement, Anfaani Children's Home, and met the children and some of the staff working there. I also spent the majority of our time in Tamale recovering from a particularly nasty bout of malaria. Not a fun experience.

We then headed to Mole National Park. I'm pretty sure every white person in Ghana was at Mole while we were. It was bizarre. But we saw warthogs, baboons, antelope, monkies and ELEPHANTS! I love elephants and I felt like a kid in a candy shop when were stood about 20 metres away from them.

We then left at 4 o'clock in the MORNING to head for Nkoranza. We arrived at Operation Hand in Hand, a community for abandoned disabled children. It's a beautiful place which would explain why it was booked up. So the Flock moved to another hotel (run by the same management).

The next day, Caitlin and I made a rather spontaneous decision to go back to Kasseh-Ada to pick up our Christmas/Birthday packages. There had been complications with mine and I had to go pick it personally and if I didn't before Jan 2nd, they would send it back to Canada.

It was great to come home and see my family (who I had been missing very much).
We spent a day relaxing with Dinah (our host) and her neices and nephews who were with her for Christmas vacation.

We left the next day. December 31st/my birthday was really intense and I'm still not quite ready to write about it. You can read about it on Caitlin's blog though.

I've also posted new pictures on Facebook, as has Amanda.

I will write again when I'm settled again.
We're heading to an Eco village and then to Kumasi (boo!) for a retreat before we head off for our work placements.

I miss and love you all!

Peace
Aryn