"Obruni, Obruni, How are you doing?"

It was only 2 days in when my first tragedy hit. I was having a friend of mine, Precious, take my picture and she accidentally dropped my camera. Because it was turned on and ready for her to take the lens was out and it hit the ground the wrong way and it no longer works. In America this would not be good but I could get it fixed or heaven forbid I buy another camera. Here in Wiamoase it is devastating!

There are so many things that I want to capture and bring home for others and for my memories so I hope to figure something out soon. Also we had another problem. Mike woke up this morning and stepped on the floor into water. The toilet had leaked all night and flooded part of the house. So we all got up very early to hand mop the floor until there was no more water. Then we hung everything that was wet out to dry.

I am sorry there are no pictures yet as we have to go to a bigger city, Mampong, in order to put pictures up. But as I sit here typing I will describe the scenery. Everything is very green and lush. There are chickens and cows wandering around, and the dang rooster that don’t shut up all day. The school campus I live on is very quiet today because the students went home for the semester and will return a week before I leave. There are short palm trees dispersed among some other kinds of trees we don’t have in America. I love trees so you can imagine my joy of being here in Africa.

I was walking down the red dirt road today and I was thinking how hot and beautiful Wiamoase is and how grateful I am to be experiencing it first hand. I hadn’t walked to far when I was surrounded by school kids all yelling, “Obruni, Obruni, How are you Obruni?” Some little kids are scared of me and don’t know what to think-they think I am a ghost with my white skin. Other kids just want to touch me and so they wipe their hands and gather around to touch. Some kids want to share with me their limited English. It is very heart warming and I feel a little bit like a celebrity. There are more marriage proposals, people who jokingly want me to take their child with me to America, and always the Ghanaians are so kind and loving!

A wise man, Samuel,that I met today told me that it is good that I have come to Ghana so I can be grateful for all I have in America. He said that when things might be rough with Obama and the economy that it is okay because it is worse in Ghana. He told me to be grateful and to share that message with my people. And so I am humbled by his words and my first hand experience here in Ghana.