SUNDAY JULY 18
Today we went straight to the home where we attended a traditional Ghanaian church service. This was a new experience for all of us, even those of us who have been to church. The two hour service, which was held outside under a tent in the yard behind the house, was filled with joy and songs of praise. We were blessed with the opportunity to meet a tribal chief who left us with inspiring words of wisdom. The service included much singing and customary dancing and drumming performed by the kids. The children kindly included us in the service. Lilly and Libby, two girl twins of the house performed songs and dances for the group. It was incredibly cute. Belinda led a group dance which was beautifully choreographed and well thought out.
After taking lots of pictures with the children and thanking both Pastor Moses and King Jim, the tribal chief, for their kind words and warm welcome, we finally loaded everyone on to the bus beach-bound in the hot African sun. Upon arriving, we saw fishing boats lining the shore, ready to set sail and bring back their day's bounty. The fishing boats here look nothing like the ones in America, as they are sail boats, constructed of wood and are at least 50 ft. long with beautiful paintings lining the hulls. Once we had settled in on the balcony of the beach house, which looked over the ocean, our crew of 7: Jeremy, Winston, Elena, Taigh, Sebastian, Sara and Lena led the parade into the water. We were so excited to swim in the ocean, and stayed in the water for a good long time. As the sun crept lower towards the horizon, the children from the home and some others that joined in the festivities learned many fun American games and dances such as, "Red Light Green Light", "Button Button Where is the Button?", the Macarena and even some more modern ones like the "John Wahl". Our time on the beach was incredibly fun, but we were also faced with some harsh realities.
Though we did our best to entertain the children, many of those who are not so lucky as to live in the Joshkrisdan Home; the children who spend their days on the beach, began to ask us for money, tell us to buy them food, and that their mom and dad had no money to feed them at home. Due to the communication barrier that we have here; the children speaking primarily Twi and us English, some of the kids from the home who speak English attempted to mediate for us. We were told by everyone to ignore the kids from the beach and not pay them any attention, but it was still difficult to turn them away. The most prominent cultural difference here is that the children who live in the home are the privileged ones and have a better life, whereas the children from homes with mothers and fathers are not so lucky. A concept that is quite different from what we are accustomed to.
After a very long day of fun in the sun, we returned to the home to say our goodbyes, then voyaged back to the hotel for another delicious meal and a much needed sleep.
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