You are welcome! (a common Ghanaian greeting!)

Greetings from Ghana, Africa. 

We have arrived in Ghana with record speed and ease.  From Atlanta to Accra, there were no glitches at all.  Our transportation was waiting for our arrival to take us to the mall to exchange money and on to Sogakope. 

The hour before dinner was spent unpacking, showering, and relaxing by the not-yet-full pool. The hotel, Shekinah Glory, is quite nice.  We are sleeping 2 or 3 to a room a private bath, plenty of space, air-conditioning, and running water.  Life is most definitely good.

Dinner was a feast of Joliffe rice, white rice, noodles with vegetables, and chicken.  We were all so hungry we might have eaten stale bread, but the prepared meal was delicious!

The team is amazing.  One would have suspected some division between the education majors and others, as there seemed early-on to be two large groups of friends.  The work to prepare for the trip and the journey here seems to have erased any false boundaries between these young adults.  We now have one purpose- the Bakpa Avedo School.

At the end of dinner Kelsey, the reflection officer aptly noted that all of us were tired, so we simply went around the table offering our hopes for our trip.  These young adults were so impressive and thoughtful in sharing their hopes and so honest in sharing their fears.  They are anxious about the unknown of tomorrow’s work- facing the language barrier and connecting with strangers.  They are hopeful about growth- growth for the Bakpa-Avedo students and their love of learning and growth for themselves.  Overall, we are excited and nervous about our job but thrilled to begin.

This morning, as the bus pulled out of the hotel parking lot, you could almost hear the sigh of relief.  This is what we have been waiting for.