"It was my last day today!!!
I'm very emotional, but stronger than I though I would be. I went to one of the villages in the morning for a quick visit and to say good bye, then I went to Good Shepherd and had a great time with the children, they all wanted my contact information, haha.
I talked with all the teachers and hugged everybody. The hardest part was saying good bye to the kids in kindergarten, because one of the little girls kept saying: "Madam don't go! don't go madam." They all hugged me and asked when I will come back to see them.
With the other ones it was fun, they kept making jokes as always and laughing, and they only let me leave after giving hi-5's to all of them.
In the afternoon I went to Royal Seed. It was really nice as always. I worked hard with my 6 babies, maybe because it was my last day they really left me alone to care for them...haha, and I have to say hunny, it is not easy to be a mother for 6 at a time!! even if it is only for a day. But I like them so much and was happy to be able to spend more time with them. :)
When I left I was so dirty and tired, but with a great feeling of mission accomplished!!! :)
I still have tomorrow and Sunday, so I'll probably go to Royal Seed tomorrow, and pack on Sunday. I don't have much to take back home so it will be easy. I'm coming home only with a few clothes that are left, some souvenirs and almost no money hunny... haha. I gave it all away!
I thank God for everything I experienced here, and now I'm ready to go home :)"
Friday, May 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Last Week..
"Things here are great. I've working at Royal Seed orphanage everyday, and going to the villages once or twice a week. I also went to Good Shepherd school this week, but only worked there one day since not many kids are coming to school yet. Maybe next week will be better.
Today when I was holding little Francisca and she fell asleep, I realized that I don't really have many more days to do that with her. So I enjoyed it as much as I could. I just hold her even if she is sleeping. I take her and Francis to play together, because they are twins and should spend more time together, they are real family to each other. They really have a connection, different than what they have with the other kids. It seems like Francis can already take care of his sister :) Today we played until they were very tired, then I put them both to take a nap. Francis is walking more than 15 steps by himself now and can hold a toy while he walks :)
I'm sure if Noila (my older sister) saw them she would ask me to take them for her... haha All the other babies are doing well, they are healthy and we play all day long! I have lots of stories about each of them.
With a little more than one week left, I'm planning and organizing time to see everybody and give away some more school supplies before I leave. I sure like it here hunny, and I feel like we accomplished many things, more than I expected, even though sometimes I feel like it is too little if you compare with how much help they need. Not financial help only, but someone that could help teaching the kids, giving them some attention and care, and to get them excited about a better future and the importance to have Jesus in their heart.
It is a little hard to write about it because I get too emotional, you know, and I'm sure no one at the internet cafe wants to see me crying. I'll share my thoughts better with you and our family and friends when I get back.
...As I told your parents, my mom is counting the days for me to leave Africa... haha, she is always too worried. But they are happy for me to have done it, and my Dad now talks more about it with everybody, I can tell he now understands and is happy about it."
Today when I was holding little Francisca and she fell asleep, I realized that I don't really have many more days to do that with her. So I enjoyed it as much as I could. I just hold her even if she is sleeping. I take her and Francis to play together, because they are twins and should spend more time together, they are real family to each other. They really have a connection, different than what they have with the other kids. It seems like Francis can already take care of his sister :) Today we played until they were very tired, then I put them both to take a nap. Francis is walking more than 15 steps by himself now and can hold a toy while he walks :)
I'm sure if Noila (my older sister) saw them she would ask me to take them for her... haha All the other babies are doing well, they are healthy and we play all day long! I have lots of stories about each of them.
With a little more than one week left, I'm planning and organizing time to see everybody and give away some more school supplies before I leave. I sure like it here hunny, and I feel like we accomplished many things, more than I expected, even though sometimes I feel like it is too little if you compare with how much help they need. Not financial help only, but someone that could help teaching the kids, giving them some attention and care, and to get them excited about a better future and the importance to have Jesus in their heart.
It is a little hard to write about it because I get too emotional, you know, and I'm sure no one at the internet cafe wants to see me crying. I'll share my thoughts better with you and our family and friends when I get back.
...As I told your parents, my mom is counting the days for me to leave Africa... haha, she is always too worried. But they are happy for me to have done it, and my Dad now talks more about it with everybody, I can tell he now understands and is happy about it."
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Part of the Family
"Today was a great day of work at Royal Seed, they are very nice to me, and we all work hard feeding the kids, bathing, playing, and doing all sorts of things we would do in a big house with a huge family, much bigger than mine in Brazil :)
Today they told me that it is a Ghana tradition that only the mother can carry her own baby on her back, or somebody from the family, many volunteers don't get to do it, and Naomi - the director - came to me to say that they think I'm part of their family and that is why I get to carry the babies on my back too, only then I realized that nobody else does it. It makes me happy that I'm close to them.
I don't know if I told you, but little Francis, the boy from the twins, walked his first steps last week with me!!! Can you imagine how happy I was? I came outside and wanted to show everybody that he could walk 2 steps!!! He is doing great, we practice everyday and by the time I leave I hope that he will be walking everywhere by himself :)
Also, there is a baby called Junior, they said at the police station that he is 7 months old, Naomi thinks he is 9, but I think that he is 12 months old already. Since the first time I saw him, he never smiled, he was always crying and can't really stand up by himself yet. I'm pretty sure he has some sort of special needs, but even though I could try to figure out with some psychology tests, it is too early to diagnose. Well, I've been trying to spend some more time with him lately, and today for the first time he was laughing :) it made my day! It is funny how jealous he is with me, if the other kids try to play with me when I'm holding him or when they touch my legs he cries so much... haha, I'll find a way to deal with that. But I'm happy with his progress."
Today they told me that it is a Ghana tradition that only the mother can carry her own baby on her back, or somebody from the family, many volunteers don't get to do it, and Naomi - the director - came to me to say that they think I'm part of their family and that is why I get to carry the babies on my back too, only then I realized that nobody else does it. It makes me happy that I'm close to them.
I don't know if I told you, but little Francis, the boy from the twins, walked his first steps last week with me!!! Can you imagine how happy I was? I came outside and wanted to show everybody that he could walk 2 steps!!! He is doing great, we practice everyday and by the time I leave I hope that he will be walking everywhere by himself :)
Also, there is a baby called Junior, they said at the police station that he is 7 months old, Naomi thinks he is 9, but I think that he is 12 months old already. Since the first time I saw him, he never smiled, he was always crying and can't really stand up by himself yet. I'm pretty sure he has some sort of special needs, but even though I could try to figure out with some psychology tests, it is too early to diagnose. Well, I've been trying to spend some more time with him lately, and today for the first time he was laughing :) it made my day! It is funny how jealous he is with me, if the other kids try to play with me when I'm holding him or when they touch my legs he cries so much... haha, I'll find a way to deal with that. But I'm happy with his progress."
Church
"It was really nice to go to church with the kids today. It is so different, they amaze me with their customs and passion worshiping God. We were squeezed in a small bus for more than 2 hours because the church was in Accra, and the kids were singing the whole time :)
"The service was a little too long, about 4 hours, and we all got very tired. I helped more with the babies, holding and walking around when they cried, feeding them, etc. I couldn't really understand the sermon and songs because it was in their language but some of the girls translated a little for me.
Everybody was nice to me there, they gave me water and food and wanted me to dance with them... haha, I did! They love singing and dancing, they actually dance a lot! It was intense and very interesting. I filmed and took pictures to show you.
Yesterday at Akosombo Dam was very good too. The dam is huge and very important to Ghana, maybe the most important thing for the entire country. I have lots of pictures, but I didn't find anything about Ron Sullivan, but they talked a lot about the World Bank and how Americans helped them financially.
Happy Easter to everybody!!! have some good food and chocolate :)
I'll be working at Royal Seed for one more week at least, I really like it there :)"
"The service was a little too long, about 4 hours, and we all got very tired. I helped more with the babies, holding and walking around when they cried, feeding them, etc. I couldn't really understand the sermon and songs because it was in their language but some of the girls translated a little for me.
Everybody was nice to me there, they gave me water and food and wanted me to dance with them... haha, I did! They love singing and dancing, they actually dance a lot! It was intense and very interesting. I filmed and took pictures to show you.
Yesterday at Akosombo Dam was very good too. The dam is huge and very important to Ghana, maybe the most important thing for the entire country. I have lots of pictures, but I didn't find anything about Ron Sullivan, but they talked a lot about the World Bank and how Americans helped them financially.
Happy Easter to everybody!!! have some good food and chocolate :)
I'll be working at Royal Seed for one more week at least, I really like it there :)"
Friday, April 22, 2011
Cooking
"It's for Grant... because I was wearing his college shirt that your mom gave me in one of the pictures and I though how he would cook with this huge spoon and pans.It is at Royal Seed orphanage, cooking food for 130 kids. I just help sometimes, but the ladies who really prepare it are very skilled and strong."
Treating Open Sores at Royal Seed OrphanageTeaching Outside
"Today I went to the a village to teach again, its called Bentum, the one in the picture (but this pic was taken long time ago :)). It was really nice, I got to clean and treat their wounds and talk with them, and as always, we can see how happy they are for having someone to care for them.
Today even some grownups came to ask for help, but besides cleaning their cuts, the only thing I could give them was some Aleve (Ibuprofen) that I had in my bag. It was touching how humbled they are and how thankful too. Many of them have joint pains, in their knees and hips, I advised them to see a doctor... well, sometimes I wish I was a nurse too!!
Before going to the village I worked at Royal Seed. I had a great time caring for the babies as always, but I also got to play with the older ones today, and you should see how much fun we had when they were teaching me how to play their "hand games" and songs... I loved it and I think that all the people watching us were having fun too, they were laughing as much as we were, haha
Today even some grownups came to ask for help, but besides cleaning their cuts, the only thing I could give them was some Aleve (Ibuprofen) that I had in my bag. It was touching how humbled they are and how thankful too. Many of them have joint pains, in their knees and hips, I advised them to see a doctor... well, sometimes I wish I was a nurse too!!
Before going to the village I worked at Royal Seed. I had a great time caring for the babies as always, but I also got to play with the older ones today, and you should see how much fun we had when they were teaching me how to play their "hand games" and songs... I loved it and I think that all the people watching us were having fun too, they were laughing as much as we were, haha
I also helped them pumping water from the well for a few hours, it was a great exercise, my arms are a little sore. They carry water to help the neighbor with his construction across the street.
It is all good here. The days go by fast and I'm always learning something different and enjoying every moment with these kids here. :) I've been eating a lot of rice this week, its even funny. I ate rice for lunch and dinner since Sunday and I'm sure I'll have it tomorrow again :) but its pretty good!! I'm sleeping my normal now, so I go to bed later and wake up early, do a little exercise whenever I can and read before breakfast. Besides the bible I'm also reading one book you dad gave me called "The Power of Purpose".
It is all good here. The days go by fast and I'm always learning something different and enjoying every moment with these kids here. :) I've been eating a lot of rice this week, its even funny. I ate rice for lunch and dinner since Sunday and I'm sure I'll have it tomorrow again :) but its pretty good!! I'm sleeping my normal now, so I go to bed later and wake up early, do a little exercise whenever I can and read before breakfast. Besides the bible I'm also reading one book you dad gave me called "The Power of Purpose".
The mornings are always nice :) At night I write my journal, read some more, or hang out with the other volunteers sometimes. We are now 3 volunteers in the house, Amanda from Wisconsin, Bryan from Pennsylvania, and I. But they will both leave soon and I'll still be here. We all work in different places.
On Saturday I'll go to Akosombo Dam, and I'm very excited, its a short trip and I'll come back on the same day. It is the last trip around here before I go home :)"
On Saturday I'll go to Akosombo Dam, and I'm very excited, its a short trip and I'll come back on the same day. It is the last trip around here before I go home :)"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)