Where Gnats Roam

Sunday, May 5 : The hotel serves breakfast at 7:30, but I decided to sleep in until we left for church at 8:30. The walk isn’t too long, but it was HOT and HUMID. Instantly sweaty. On the bright side, it makes my hair pretty curly? So that’s kinda fun. The walk to church I was amazed at the energy at church today. The members put their whole souls into the hymns and the speakers spoke very emphatically. The last guy to bear his testimony was practically yelling. We stayed after church and met a few of the members before heading back to the hotel. We got a lesson in handwashing outside with a bucket and a bar of soap and then we went and found some lunch. Kaden giving us a lesson in handwashing We bought some “waakye” (pronounced “wah-chay”, it’s basically just rice and beans mixed together) and some salad on the side. We came back and had a meeting with Jerome, a nurse from the Crystal Eye Clinic, which is where most of us will be stationed this week. We got an ove...

Saturday, May 4th After 24+ hours of traveling, I landed in Ghana! Getting past immigration didn’t take too long and miraculously none of my baggage was lost in transit. I hurried outside to meet the driver that would take me to the hotel, and I was hit with a WAVE of humidity. Holy Hannah. Ghana’s heat is everything people said it would be and more. We stuffed my suitcases in the car along with the eight other volunteers’ stuff and headed to the hotel. Sitting in the van, I finally had time to stop and take in my surroundings. I was speechless. There were so many people and little shacks and businesses. And it was so much greener than I was expecting! The rest of the van was talking and joking around but I literally just sat there and stared out the window in awe of how different everything was. We finally arrived at the hotel, unpacked a few things, received our new phones, changed into clothes that weren’t so sweaty, and went exploring. Me and four others crammed into a car ...

Well, I'm finally on my way to Ghana! I was full of nerves yesterday morning on the way to the airport but that might have just been the rush I got from waiting until the last possible second to finish packing. Now that I've settled into my long flights, the nerves are gone and I'm pretty bored. I have a long flight schedule because I got a pretty good deal on tickets (always so worth it to me), so I have layovers in both D.C. and Brussels before getting to Accra. In preparation for this trip, I've had to read various articles, complete online training modules, and answer very thorough questions about what exactly I've learned. Though a bit tedious, it's part of the reason I chose to work with this program. I wanted to be a part of an organization that understands sustainable development and makes sure I understand it too. Sustainability is vital if an organization wants to make any lasting, meaningful change in a community. For six weeks, I'll be workin...

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