Fantastic FOUR

Every day when I walk to school I pass a little house on the left, tucked back into the tall grass with 4 beautiful children living there. Their names are Andrew (7), Desire (12), Goodwill (10), and Ms. Catherine (14). They are the most down to earth loving family. I can see their love for each other by the way they treat each other- they are best friends! They do everything and anything together and always want to talk talk talk my ear off. Whenever I walk by their house I hear "MAYGENN!!" and they all come running out to give me hugs. At night when I walk by I will heart "Maygen, You are invited" in their raspy childish voices. This means they are inviting me in to eat with them. They make my day every time I see them, they are always so caring and want to know about my day. Andrew asks for me to bring him toffee everyday, "maygen, I want toffeeee.. or maygen, I want a bicycle." Such funny kids- Andrew thinks I can just run home to America real quick and grab him some toffee : )


One day they invited me over to watch them dance. Here is some of their sweet goodness:

They were so hard to say goodbye to, I need to get that little Andrew some toffee!!

Emmanuel's Gift

Meet Emmanuel.
This boy is my everything. He is literally sunshine and radiates wherever he goes. He is always so happy and he is my best friend here. He lives each day to the fullest and ALWAYS has a smile on his face. He lights up whenever he sees me and I love our friendship. He is 14 years old and in my P-5 class. I tutor him every night and we are working so hard on remembering whether 7 is spelled: "seven" or "twenty".. he gets the two mixed up quite a lot : ) but I love him for it. He is the one individual that I am trying to make a difference to. Tutoring him is awesome. He wants to learn and he is always asking for more. It was his idea to be tutored, he would rather learn than play with friends at night. I believe that is what is needed. They need their own desire to want to learn beyond in the classroom so then they try harder and work to learn, instead of just memorize. he does his homework every night and is excited about it. i have been creating his homework in worksheets that I make up and have ready for him each night at 6:30 when I tutor. He LOVES them! It shows him that I care about him enough to take time to make him something special. He gets so excited. He has some misunderstandings still but they are slowly becoming understandings. he just needs a little more explanation of things and he is wonderful! I love that he wants to learn for himself. He tries to never cheat, unlike some of my students.. oh children.. I made him flashcards for him to practice going from the number to the word form and vise-versa. I can't wait to see his progression!

I call him twinkle eyes because his eyes literally sparkle. They are so darling. He also makes a crackling sound with his voice when he is embarrassed or nervous. I love when he gets a question wrong as well, I can see his brain working and he sincerely signs sorry and fixes it. I adore this boy with my whole heart and soul- he is the reason I am here!

NAMES

The name game here is quite the treat. each person is given a name according to the day they were born, so everyone has the same name! here they are:

MALE:

Monday- Kwadwo

Tuesday- Kwabena

Wednesday- Kwaku

Thursday- Yaw

Friday- Kofi

Saturday- Kwame

Sunday- Kwasi

FEMALE:

Monday- Adwoa

Tuesday- Abena

Wednesday- Akua

Thursday- Yaa

Friday- Afua

Saturday- Ama

Sunday- Akosua

Now as you can imagine, this makes for name signs to be very similar.. which makes everything that much harder! i hope you enjoy finding out your ghanaian name!

Love,

Abena

Cape Coast

I have officially hit my one month mark and I am half way done.. I have mixed emotions- I am excited to be home but never want to leave the green, warm, miraculous Africa with the most remarkable people. Their life stories would blow your mind.
For the one month mark, we took a weekend trip down to Cape Coast to go to the Kankum Canopy bridge walk and the Slave Castles. We started off in Kankum. It was so weird to see other Obrunis.. I didn't like it. It was a large tourist attraction but I am happy we went. The bridges are basically a ladder with a board on top the width of one body. There were 7 bridges from tree to tree that I went on. They wobbled sooo badly! At first I was very scared but after my second or third bridge it was all fun and games! It was so awesome to think that I was atop of an African jungle..walking! I am in AFRICA, it still amazes me. The scenery was beautiful! So many different trees, leaves, and shades of green. I loved every bit! The hike up was sweet too because we were walking deep into the jungle.

After finishing the canopy walk we took off to the slave castles. They were fascinating!! We went into the different dungeons and they were pitch black large rooms that fit 2,000 men in their own cells 1,000 females in theirs. They would be there for around 2 months and then be taken in shackles to the "Door of No Return" where they were shipped out to work. The whole slave trade was a secret to the public. If they tried to escape they were thrown in a cell with no air, no water, and no food. They were kept there until they died. What happened here is such a tragedy but nonetheless they are very cool castles and right on the edge of the coast.

After the castles we went and had lunch at a resort right on the beach! It was a blast to play in the sand and feel the ocean! We had so much fun just running around and taking a break from all the stress; it felt like vacation. There were so many white people there and they were all very fat. They were all laying around drinking and smoking and being lazy, I was embarrassed for them. It also broke my heart that someone would travel all the way to Africa to do that, that isn't Africa at all- I can get that in Florida... I love the beach though!!

Ghana's Beautiful Children

I have gotten so attached to these beautiful children and have now found myself making the 20 minute walk to the school and back 3 times a day to see their shining faces. Each one of them radiates. I can't even describe the love I have for them. When I am with them I am filled with pure happiness from head to toe that I can find nowhere else.. they make me the happiest person alive. I love each chance I get to learn from them because each of them are SO happy all the time and they are just overjoyed to be around anyone who cares.

Church at the school with the students on Sunday was breathtaking. When we walked in they were all dressed in white! They all looked like little angels. They are taught the most plain and simple principles but they are so deep. We learned about King Solomon and how he was very rich but he did not ask God for more money, no he asked for wisdom to know his people. The children were taught that they too must not ask for any material possessions but rather things we can take with us like wisdom. The kids are counseled daily to pray for wisdom to learn and to know the things their teachers are teaching. They have the kindest hearts that are so full of love for everyone and everything! We learned the acronym PUSH as well: Pray Until Something Happens! We also learned to pray for the world, then family and others, then finally yourself. We talked about when we pray.. do we only pray at night? or in the morning? or can we always have a prayer in our hearts at all times of the day. They definitely understand about prayer and I am humbled by them. The other night one of the boys had his eyes closed in the middle of the school signing in the air. When I asked him what he was doing he said he was praying to God that Ghana would win the world cup! Well Daniel's prayer was answered! Yesterday I ate lunch with a small boy and he prayed over his half of a fish and some beans.. it was nothing, but he thanked God for the abundance that he has. It is so touching every day being around such sweet spirits. They are beautiful from the inside out. I want to bring each of them home with me! I love spending every moment I can with them.

I started tutoring a girl named Ruth from the p-5 class, where I am now teaching math. After one day she has grown so much! SUCCESS!! Today she could not sit still because she wanted to do every problem on the board to show she knows how! She was soo excited, and I loved seeing the emotion in her face. There is no greater joy. I have the best job in the world. I love it here, I love everything about it.

It's a Charmed Life

The Lord has calmed my spirit and I know this is a trip centered with His help. Today I feel so lucky and grateful to be alive! I love the work I am doing here and I get more attached to each student every day. I never want to separate from them. I feel so much joy and love being here! This is the greatest thing I have done in my life. I have had so much stress taken off my shoulders since Comfort has been teaching daily, along with Edith. (That is my P-1 teacher and her student teacher. They have started to come to school every day to team teach so I have been teaching P-5 every day: math in the morning and then tutoring in the afternoon). Wow! What bright students I have! I love being in the P-5 classroom feeling each of their rays of Sunshine! They are some of the sweetest kids and just looking into their eyes your heart melts.
Ephraim Abbey is the most darling boy. He is eleven and one of his pupils is blue! He is very very smart and has the best personality. so genuine. Today I looked over at his notebook and he had written in bubble letters with a pencil "Meghan + Abbey = Love". He got so shy when I saw it and he kept asking "who told you!" funny boy. I am going to die leaving him, he is my little helper and always has a smile on his face. He is so kind about everything he does and is always making little noises. He is the best side-kick. Ephraim, along with many others like Frempong twins and kwadwo Boakye. They are all so much fun to teach and spend the day with. I look forward to the day and time I get to spend with them. I am so grateful I got the chance to help in the P-5 class and I know it is a blessing given graciously. I recognize it very well. today we taught 1,000,000 and how to spell it out. We also did review and I am impressed by how fast they can grasp concepts.
I don't want this feeling to go away! I know it doesn't have to if I am keeping my mind in the right place and giving it my all. I live for this. Find the good and be happy about every day. Be ever so grateful for everything whether big or small- come what may and LOVE it.

COMFORT

my teacher comfort is the greatest blessing at the school that i have. she might not come every day but the days she does she is fantastic. the whole point of my being here is to help these children more than they can imagine and then leave here with them not being worse off and to have a way to keep improving when we are gone. Comfort, i believe, will do exactly that. she is the teacher of my P1 class and she does a tremendous job. her relationship with the kids is remarkable! she thinks up new lesson plans that are hands on every day and is always engaging each of the students. she is learning sign and is picking up on it quite fast. she is such a funny lady! some funny facts about her are: she bobbles her head when she talks and always closes her eyes. her favorite thing to say is "uh huuuh". she has been teaching for 30 years and know exactly what she is doing! and she loves me like her own! she buys me treats every day and when she is teaching she always looks at me and tells me good pointers about being a good teacher.

i feel like i have learned more from them about teaching, children, culture, and the joys simply of being alive, than i have taught them.

Comfort is a great woman with a great heart. she is very good at taking concepts and making them come alive! i am grateful i am in her class and got paired with her. she has started to come to school a lot more lately and i am grateful for that because it is her that is going to make the biggest impact when i am gone. i have no doubt that she will keep improving as a teacher and my kids will keep loving to learn when i am gone.

 In Ghana, there is one deaf student to every six hearing. i have 22 students, so that means my 22 students have 132 hearing students to match up to and be just as brilliant and successful. i am working hard!!

GHANA WON THE WORLD CUP AGAINST BRAZIL! 3 - 4 AND THE STREETS WERE WILD!

FATU FUSEINI

When I first arrived in Ghana I pegged him right off the bat and wanted to be his friend. His sense of humor is hysterical to me. He is so sarcastic! Which means he is very smart and talented-it's hard to get your expressions of sarcasm across in sign language- at least I think it is. He always makes me laugh and I can't ever get enough of him! He was very shy when I first met him but now he is warming up to me. He is the sweetest boy-the jock of the school... the lazy one that is tooo coooool... however, he works very hard and is very smart!



"Dear Gril,
I am happy to write you this letter. How are you. I need fried. My love for you, And i'll always love you happy so I like look Beautiful gril. I love you. you are mys eveyone. It is mice to know that your the ohly you love coundl be replaced to me becasure of you, i'm never sad and blue you brighten up my day, with a lot of love from you friend. Thank you.

Fatu Fuseini

P.S. I love you nSA"

Ghanaian Culture

Here are just some fun things i have learned about their culture since i have been here.. some you might find pretty entertaining. We are not in America anymore.
1. tro tros are fast! there is no law here- at least no one to enforce it. the cops sit on a bench and just wave their arms to tell you to slow down, tro tros are so fast and the mate hangs out the window yelling the next destination so if you want to get on.. point your finger to the ground and they come to a screeching stop.
2. everyone holds hands except who you would think. boys hold boys hands and girls hold girls but there is NO public display of affection here between man and woman.
3. "Bra" means come
4. they hate when you window shop and they get offended
5. They are offended easily so you must keep your word- if you say you will come back.. you better go back or they will give you the silent treatment when you see them next.
6. They are very blunt and want to know details. everywhere i go we talk to EVERYONE on the street or they get offended that you don't say hi. and after you say hi they say "where are you going, what is your name, where are you from, where do you live, can i come to america with you, i want to marry you" one of those.. or all..
7. They don't go outside in the rain much, so when the obruni's do.. they all laugh
8. Akwaaba means welcome
9. if you are white, or an obruni here, you are a celebrity and everyone touches you
10. the first sign any of the deaf kids are taught is "punish" so sad.
11. medase means thank you
12. to bargain here is easier than stealing candy from a baby. sometimes i feel bad because i totally rip people off
13. The students get whipped if their fingernails are long or dirty.
14. if you are 1/2 black and 1/2 white you are looked down upon as having slave trade rape genes
15. you DO NOT use your left hand here- i found that out the hard way at the bank, the teller yelled at me..
16. pears here are really avocados
17. oranges are green
18. everyone says "i love you" to us everyday.. i don't think they know the meaning..
19. one woman tried to convince us she was all of our mothers so we would pay for her tro tro.. yes a 250lb BLACK woman is my mother from Africa... ok....? makes sense.
20. lizards are INFESTED HERE! they are literally everywhere in all shapes and sizes. i find them in the shower and by my head where i sleep..
21. only the rich have carpet and you MUST take your shoes off.
22. they hunt for snails at night with flashlights and then sell them as a delicacy.
23. Obama is the biggest celebrity and they have t shirts- posters- the kids books have his face on it.. bags.. biscuits.. everything! and America is called the Obama state. they worship him here!
24. fan ice- it is frozen ice cream in a plastic pouch that is AMAZING! i wish they had them in America
25. obruni means whiter person and obibini means black
26. the children allll stand with one hip jutted out
27. the women carry the babies on their backs tied on with fabric and then 50lbs or more on their heads balanced perfectly with a little round piece of fabric
28. when it rains... IT POURS
29. they pee everywhere. doesn't matter who is there to see it or if it is 2mm outside your classroom door.. they are going... Ghana has a scent... it is everywhere and horrible
30. the children run wild with no supervision. every child for themselves.
31. Religious  saying are everywhere and make no sense; "Jesus never fails haircuts"
32. when a man and woman are dating the man then takes on all of her financial support
33. they are named by the day they were born. i think i was born on a Tuesday (mom correct me if I'm wrong) so my name is Abna
34. they make kissing and hissing noises to get each other's attention
35. the kids are SO proper
36. everyone wears Ralph Lauren and Dolce and Gabana... strange..
37. They all call each other "chaley" ... Charley without the R when they great other Ghanaians...
there are sooo many more but i think 37 is enough.. this is a hefty list! i hope you had fun reading them... but that is just a taste of this land! LOVE IT!

Life is Beautiful

I got the chance to go to Church twice while I was in Africa and it was beautiful! It was the most amazing experience and one that I will never forget! That alone was worth my whole trip out here! I loved being in a place that felt like home and getting to worship in the familiar ways I have cherished and loved my whole life. It was a sweet experience to see that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the same-all the way across the world in Africa.

I love these children! They are each beautiful in their own way.. oh goodness..

This is the awesome walk i take to school every day! It's about a 20 minute walk to and from school and hilarious every time with either children yelling "Obruni dance!" or old men wanting your hand in marriage and for you to bring them back to the "Obama State" with you!

Shannon Hunter, Natalie Nordstrom, Meghan Smith
Callie Wilson, Eva Miller, Briana Stevens, Rachel Carter
George Ketchum
This is the gang. Here are the beautiful people I am privileged to be with every day! They teach me so much and I am thankful for each one of them! this is us in Mampong with our Obama biscuits! they say "united biscuits" on the front and actually taste, umm ok.. but not my favorite! I love these kids!

This is the first Ghana meal i had! The famous FUFU. it is pretty raunchy...It is a thick, dough like West African food made by boiling and pounding a starchy vegetable such as yam, plantain, or cassava. The above picture is ground nut soup with Fufu mixed in with it. They usually eat them both together and it honestly tastes like uncooked pancakes/mucus... the texture is horrible..Since we have arrived, the food has gone down hill too, sadly.. hopefully it will pick back up! here at the internet cafe in kufordua there is a cafe connected with AMERICAN FOOD! we are going to try it after we are done here, pray it is good!

FUFU:
Note: Conventional west African fufu is made by boiling such starchy foods as cassava, yam, plantain or rice, then pounding them into a glutinous mass, usually in a giant, wooden mortar and pestle. This adaptation for North Americans may trouble you if you try to stick to minimally processed foods. But it's worth trying at least once with west African groundnut stews.
2 1/2 cups Bisquick 2 1/2 cups instant potato flakes
Bring 6 cups of water to a rapid boil in a large, heavy pot. combine the two ingredients and add to the water.
Stir constantly for 10-15 minutes -- a process that needs two people for best results: one to hold the pot while the other stirs vigorously with a strong implement (such as a thick wooden spoon). The mixture will become very thick and difficult to stir, but unless you are both vigilant and energetic, you'll get a lumpy mess.
When the fufu is ready (or you've stirred to the limits of your endurance!), dump about a cup of the mixture into a wet bowl and shake until it forms itself into a smooth ball. Serve on a large platter alongside a soup or stew.

PICTURES!

This darling boy's name is Christopher. He is very independent and likes to do everything himself. He can walk up stairs perfectly and he gets around great, his legs though are barely mobile. It's heart-pulling to watch him.  he is a joy! he always has a huge smile on his face and i have never seen him cry or get mad. He is an example to me in positivity and optimism. This is my student Samuel. He is a very sweet boy who has a lot of energy. I think he might have anger problems though because, well here's a scary story for you all:
One day I arrived at school so excited to teach. I could feel in my bones it was going to be a good day. I walked in and the room was literally going wild. They were like savages trying to fight for their lives. This little guy ripped a wood plank off a desk and was running around hitting a girl with it while she screamed at the top of her lungs. When I grabbed it from him, luckily without getting hit, he then found a large stick that he was hitting with.. I repeated the steps of taking objects he was beating others with several times- it was the hardest day in Africa. Outside of the classroom though he is attached at my hip and wants to be loved. Poor boy, I love him all the more though.

This is Emmanuel. He is in my P-5 class and the biggest joy in my life. He brings me so much happiness and constantly is making my days brighter. I tutor him every night in math and he is always wanting more and more problems. He has a passion to learn and loves, no wonder-he has the best teacher : )

They love chalk. They love everything that can be done with chalk. They eat it, They play with it, they throw it at each other.. and they put it all over their faces. What a fun toy huh?

They are all so beautiful!