Sunday, April 17, 2011
Giving out bananas at the 'Monkey Sanctuary'
At the Monkey Sanctuary around Volta River region. I didn't want to touch them in the beginning, but after a while they seemed too cute to not touch :)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Taking Care of Babies at Royal Seed Orphanage
"I had a good day today. Just working with the kids, playing with them, hugging them all as much as I can and even in our 1, 2 or 3 minutes conversations I try to say things that I think will help them, about God, their future and family, things they could do to help the country, and how much Jesus loves them :) Even though I get frustrated with seeing some things in this country, I like Ghana and I'm glad came here.
This is the last week at Good Shepherd before the break, then I will only see them after 3 weeks. While they are on vacation I'll be working at Royal Seed orphanage as I told you, doing more work with the babies, and going to the villages in the rural area to teach the children that can't go to school.
I'm very excited about it, the work at the villages is really what I always wanted to do :) It is great to help those children and see how happy they are when we go there. It is like giving them a gift that they were waiting for so long, and I feel the same way having the opportunity to be here and meet them.
The work with the babies at the orphanage is great as well. Its always shocking and sad to see how many babies are left at the police station, bus station, markets and many other places everyday. They are usually dirty and sick, and we get to care for them a few hours a day. But God is good and they soon are better and at the orphanage they have a home and "family" to care for them.
The money from the donations is such a great help hunny, please let them know that they are feeding many hungry children, babies, and giving a pencil and notebook to many who maybe would never have it if it wasn't for their help. Besides buying them school supplies, I also buy lots of diapers, medicine, bags and bags of rice and vegetables and whatever they need urgently.
As you know I'm accomplishing my second month here this week, of course it feels like more, but I'm really happy to be doing it and there is a lot more to do before before I leave. I miss you, my family and my friends, and I'm counting the days to see you all again.
Last weekend I went to Cape Coast, about 2 hours from Accra. I got to visit the Cape Coast Castle, one of the largest slave-holding sites in the colonial era. It was sad to see and be in the rooms where thousands of slaves were kept, just like animals, suffering and dying. It made me think a lot about our history and these people here -I'll share with you my notes when I came back. I found out that one third of all the slaves from West Africa were sent to Brazil, making our country the one that had more slaves than anywhere else.
I also visited the Kakum National Park and got to go on the Canopy Walkway. It was one of the best things to see here. The canopy is a very unusual bridge, there are actually 7 bridges together with a length of about 1,000 feet hanging on trees at about 130 feet high, and we get to see the forest walking above it. It is beautiful!
I'll try to send pictures sometime when we have electricity here, now we only have the noisy generator at the cafe and it is very slow. haha"
This is the last week at Good Shepherd before the break, then I will only see them after 3 weeks. While they are on vacation I'll be working at Royal Seed orphanage as I told you, doing more work with the babies, and going to the villages in the rural area to teach the children that can't go to school.
I'm very excited about it, the work at the villages is really what I always wanted to do :) It is great to help those children and see how happy they are when we go there. It is like giving them a gift that they were waiting for so long, and I feel the same way having the opportunity to be here and meet them.
The work with the babies at the orphanage is great as well. Its always shocking and sad to see how many babies are left at the police station, bus station, markets and many other places everyday. They are usually dirty and sick, and we get to care for them a few hours a day. But God is good and they soon are better and at the orphanage they have a home and "family" to care for them.
The money from the donations is such a great help hunny, please let them know that they are feeding many hungry children, babies, and giving a pencil and notebook to many who maybe would never have it if it wasn't for their help. Besides buying them school supplies, I also buy lots of diapers, medicine, bags and bags of rice and vegetables and whatever they need urgently.
As you know I'm accomplishing my second month here this week, of course it feels like more, but I'm really happy to be doing it and there is a lot more to do before before I leave. I miss you, my family and my friends, and I'm counting the days to see you all again.
Last weekend I went to Cape Coast, about 2 hours from Accra. I got to visit the Cape Coast Castle, one of the largest slave-holding sites in the colonial era. It was sad to see and be in the rooms where thousands of slaves were kept, just like animals, suffering and dying. It made me think a lot about our history and these people here -I'll share with you my notes when I came back. I found out that one third of all the slaves from West Africa were sent to Brazil, making our country the one that had more slaves than anywhere else.
I also visited the Kakum National Park and got to go on the Canopy Walkway. It was one of the best things to see here. The canopy is a very unusual bridge, there are actually 7 bridges together with a length of about 1,000 feet hanging on trees at about 130 feet high, and we get to see the forest walking above it. It is beautiful!
I'll try to send pictures sometime when we have electricity here, now we only have the noisy generator at the cafe and it is very slow. haha"
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Exams and Teaching in the Countryside
"Today I worked at Good Shepherd with the 1st grade again, it was good, they are having their exams for the term this week, so I get less time to teach them. There are definetely some challenges here at school but I wont go into them now..:)
During the exams many of the kids don't get the right answers because they can't read. And it was also hard to see the teachers beating up the kids with the stick when the kids don't really do anything bad. I stay in the classroom during the tests because if I leave they get caned even worse.
Well, it might be like that almost everywhere. Sorry to share bad news.
But it was good to have a nurse who is from England and is volunteering around here for 4 weeks, taking care of the children and cleaning their open sores and giving them medicine. It makes such a huge difference since many of them never get this sort of help.
But the best part of the day was when I got to talk about Jesus with many children. There are a few of them who always follow me everywhere, so I went to sit under a tree to rest and get out of the heat. About 10 kids sat there with me and I started telling them the story about the little boy who got to meet Jesus in heaven, but because God wanted to answer his father's prayers, He sent the little boy back while he was still in the surgery room - it is a real story from the book "Heaven is for Real", they were so excited listening and I told them the boy is now 12 years old and still saying that we have to have Jesus in our heart so we can go to live with Him and God father in Heaven. By the time I was finishing the story there were more than 20 of them sitting around and listening :) which made me so happy! I sang a song with them about Jesus, then I kept telling them how much Jesus loves them and wants to have them all in heaven with Him, and other things... I didn't really expect to get the chance to talk with them about this. I know God had that moment prepared for us and He was right there as I talked with the children. I asked them if they wanted to say a prayer inviting Jesus to live in their heart an take care of them, they ALL said yes, so we did :) They closed their eyes and I said a prayer to which they said amen.
And by that time a mean teacher was already calling them to come out of there and he was holding a stick in his hand. But I made sure they didn't get punished for that. It was such a great thing hunny. One of those moments I will never forget, the ones that make this "Journey of Faith to Africa" totally worth it!
I worked there until 3:30pm, then I met some other girls from Germany and Denmark, and also my friend from Wisconsin, and went with them to a village far from where we live to teach the kids that don't get to go to school. It was another great moment. These kids were so poor, almost none of them have clothes, shoes, food, and much less school. I had a group of about 50 kids, sitting -again- under a tree, no board, no notebook or pencil, none of them spoke or understood English very well except for a few words. So I taught them to count in English, the colors, the ABC, sang songs, and told them stories - they were so eager to learn, even though they didn't understand me and I didn't understand them either, they wanted to hear, and repeated everything. Some of the men and women from the village, some were even their parents, who could understand English came to help me, and they translated as I talked :)
By the end I used the coloring pencils and crayons that I always carry with me (I didn't know I was going there today so I didn't take much) I divided it among them -even breaking the 48 crayons in pieces, and they had so much fun coloring as if they had done it before, and maybe they didn't! They also showed us some things such numbers and songs in their language.
All I can say is it was really good!!!
After 6 weeks here, today was one of the days I had the chance to help the most. I'll be going back there 2 times a week and bring a board and supplies for them, as well as medicine and food. There is a lot more I want to tell you, but I don't have much time here since I stopped at the internet cafe on my way back from that village, it is already dark outside. But I'll tell you more when we talk next."
During the exams many of the kids don't get the right answers because they can't read. And it was also hard to see the teachers beating up the kids with the stick when the kids don't really do anything bad. I stay in the classroom during the tests because if I leave they get caned even worse.
Well, it might be like that almost everywhere. Sorry to share bad news.
But it was good to have a nurse who is from England and is volunteering around here for 4 weeks, taking care of the children and cleaning their open sores and giving them medicine. It makes such a huge difference since many of them never get this sort of help.
But the best part of the day was when I got to talk about Jesus with many children. There are a few of them who always follow me everywhere, so I went to sit under a tree to rest and get out of the heat. About 10 kids sat there with me and I started telling them the story about the little boy who got to meet Jesus in heaven, but because God wanted to answer his father's prayers, He sent the little boy back while he was still in the surgery room - it is a real story from the book "Heaven is for Real", they were so excited listening and I told them the boy is now 12 years old and still saying that we have to have Jesus in our heart so we can go to live with Him and God father in Heaven. By the time I was finishing the story there were more than 20 of them sitting around and listening :) which made me so happy! I sang a song with them about Jesus, then I kept telling them how much Jesus loves them and wants to have them all in heaven with Him, and other things... I didn't really expect to get the chance to talk with them about this. I know God had that moment prepared for us and He was right there as I talked with the children. I asked them if they wanted to say a prayer inviting Jesus to live in their heart an take care of them, they ALL said yes, so we did :) They closed their eyes and I said a prayer to which they said amen.
And by that time a mean teacher was already calling them to come out of there and he was holding a stick in his hand. But I made sure they didn't get punished for that. It was such a great thing hunny. One of those moments I will never forget, the ones that make this "Journey of Faith to Africa" totally worth it!
I worked there until 3:30pm, then I met some other girls from Germany and Denmark, and also my friend from Wisconsin, and went with them to a village far from where we live to teach the kids that don't get to go to school. It was another great moment. These kids were so poor, almost none of them have clothes, shoes, food, and much less school. I had a group of about 50 kids, sitting -again- under a tree, no board, no notebook or pencil, none of them spoke or understood English very well except for a few words. So I taught them to count in English, the colors, the ABC, sang songs, and told them stories - they were so eager to learn, even though they didn't understand me and I didn't understand them either, they wanted to hear, and repeated everything. Some of the men and women from the village, some were even their parents, who could understand English came to help me, and they translated as I talked :)
By the end I used the coloring pencils and crayons that I always carry with me (I didn't know I was going there today so I didn't take much) I divided it among them -even breaking the 48 crayons in pieces, and they had so much fun coloring as if they had done it before, and maybe they didn't! They also showed us some things such numbers and songs in their language.
All I can say is it was really good!!!
After 6 weeks here, today was one of the days I had the chance to help the most. I'll be going back there 2 times a week and bring a board and supplies for them, as well as medicine and food. There is a lot more I want to tell you, but I don't have much time here since I stopped at the internet cafe on my way back from that village, it is already dark outside. But I'll tell you more when we talk next."
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