Safe and Sound

I have arrived!!!!!

What a great feeling it is to be back. I was nervous because although I had been excited and looking forward to coming back I didn't get that excited feeling deep down......but don't worry as soon as I stepped off the plane in Accra I couldn't stop smiling and was giddy.

Francis picked me up at the airport and we went straight to Osu Children's Home to see if they had my room prepared for me. As I had worried, the room was taken and they told me that I wouldn't be able to move into the orphanage until the 1st of Feb. So I spent the next 5 hours of my day figuring out where I was going to stay for the next two weeks.

I am going to be staying with Auntie Helena, who is my partner in Mawuli Apeme (my foster home). I am actually, technically speaking, working through her NGO here in Ghana called All Hands on Deck for Africa. The reason I am not going to be staying at her house the entire six months is because she lives outside of Accra in a "suburb" called Adenta (where the boys foster home is located). It take almost an hour and a half to travel there because of such horrible traffic. So after these two weeks I will move back into the orphanage where I spent the last month of my first trip to Ghana. It is much closer to the office where I will be working on the administrative part of Mawuli Apeme.

However, Auntie Helena's house is the nicest I have seen in Ghana. I have a room to myself with my own bathroom and it is very nice. However, having said that, I still had ants crawling all over me as I was trying to sleep last night.

While I was at the orphanage yesterday I was waiting outside the office to speak to the supervisor and a police car pulled up to drop off a child. This is one of the main ways that children are brought to Osu Children Home. The boy took a seat next to me and proceeded to stare at me for the next 15 minutes straight. I tried to speak to him and ask him his name in twi but I only got a faint smile with no response. When Agnus (a woman who works at the orphanage) came out to deal with him she mentioned that he was 8 years old. After she asked him his name and he didn't respond she asked the police officers if they had named him yet. I was slightly confused but continued to listen. They responded no they hadn't and so she said oh well then I need to give him a name. She told him that his new name would be Kojo because he was brought to the home on a Tuesday. How does that happen?! He is 8 years old and for 8 years of his life he has had a name and now he has lost his identity completely. I am amazed every day here.

Ghana is DEVELOPING!! I am seeing it before my eyes and it is unbelievable. Since I was here six months ago pot holes in the roads are being fixed, gutters are being covered, trash is being cleaned out of the gutters and taken off the streets. There is this place on the side of the road where it used to be piled 6 feet high with garbage and it has now been turned into a garden where I can see cabbage and other vegetables growing! As I walk down Oxford street the vendors have been moved mostly off the sides of the roads into confined areas that are more like little market places (there are still some exceptions). Chop Bars are being forced to organize themselves and Danquah has been completely re-done. Hopefully this is a sign for the future and what is to come!

I have a Herbert #2 living in my bathroom. For those of you who don't know, Herbert was my lizard that lived in my bathroom at my host family 2 years ago.

I got pretty homesick last night. I think it was the initial nerves and the act that I was overly tired but I am feeling refreshed this morning.

Auntie Helena and I spoke for a couple hours ago yesterday on all the plans we had and wanted to discuss for Mawuli Apeme. Some of these ideas include: possibly buying land to build a foster home on, creating a start to finish start a foster home plan, open up the bank accounts to the boys, and become more efficient in keeping track of where our money is going.

Seeing my children has been the most amazing part so far. They were not there when I originally got there because they were in school but I was there as they started to come back from school and as they walked through the gates and noticed me they broke out into a sprint and tackled me. Raymond my toddler remembered my name and surprised me from behind with the biggest grin on his face. It is so good to be back, and so good knowing I have so much time to make a difference in the way Mawuli Apeme will be running.

I am going to start going to Helena's office tomorrow to get to planning but for today I am continuing to see those I haven't seen yet.

Life is good.