"This is not America..."

Let me begin this post by finishing the quote in the title... "This is not America. This is Ghana. Don't bring your American customs here." This was yelled at us by the angry police officer when good ole Matty boy decided it would be a good idea to say "In America this is how we do it" to the police officer who had pulled us over due to having to many people in one taxi (1 in the front seat and 4 in the back = if your keeping count that is 5 obrunies in 1 car the size of a geo)...[FYI -> Obruni=white person]... I am going to say that because of the 4 BEAUTIFUL women in the backseat we were able to get off with a warning :) This experience should have been an omen for how the day would end... The taxi took us to the central market, we got out, gave him 2 extra credis because we probably gave him a heart attack from being pulled by the cops, and walked down into the market. I have never seen so many colors and smelt so many amazing and not so amazing smells in my life. There were so many people that we had to walk down the narrow ailes holding on to one another. Lauren said," If we hold onto one another they can't break us." I am going to let this be something I always remember in Ghana. If we hold on to each other as a team and work together, we can't be broken! The team that sweats together stays together ;) haha right guys??
Anyway, back to the market...we were on a mission to buy fabric so we could get Ghanaian outfits made! And let me tell you when we finally found the fabric aisle (thats to the right of the Weave/Hair aisle and before the smelly fish aisle, you do not want to get lost there!!) I was amazed at the beautiful fabrics in front of us. I got 3 different pattern types and mom if you are reading this they are VERY COLORFUL!!:) After the fabric we got beads. we then pushed and pulled our way out of the market and grabbed a taxi to get lunch at Big Daddy's (Best Jollof rice ever)and head to the children's home.
The children's home was my high and my low of the day. As soon as we got there we went and put our bags (my camera was in my bag closed up...this is important to note.) on top of the cabinets in the little children's area where some of the older women who take care of the children are close by. We spent the afternoon playing with the kids! It was amazing. They are so loving and they just want to be held and played with. Whitney has fallen in love with a little baby boy and everytime she puts him down or hands him to someone else he cries until she comes back. It is the sweetest thing ever. Let me tell you about a little boy named Nemo. He is so full of life and has the biggest smile I have ever seen. I think he is about 4 or 5 yrs old. I love this kid yall! We danced around the halls and played with a ballon and had the most amazing time. When we had to leave he asked me to take him with me. But I told him I couldn't but that I would be back tomorrow. I also got to play soccer with some kids and let me tell you they are total ballers!! I mean they play with a flat ball and flip flops and the schooled me the whole time!! I loved it, haha!! Well, it was time to call it a day at the children's home and head back for dinner so we went to grab out stuff. I grabbed my bag and noticed my camera was GONE!! We looked and looked and it was no where to be found. We think a little boy took it and we hope that when we go back today they will have found it. I am trusting that God knows more than I do about this whole situation and if he is in control of it then I have nothing to worry about. Please be praying that someone turns in my camera...its gonna kinda be a bummer if I don't have any pictures from my trip.
We decided to head home and find the camera/hope someone turns it in today when we go back. When we got back to the host families house Elliot and Lauren were sitting on his luggage outside the gate. Uh oh, bad news... they had been there an hour and our host family was not there. We thought well thats ok, they will be home soon. Uh oh again, it's getting dark and no one has DEET!! [That is what keeps the mosquitos from biting you and giving you malaria] Good news is that Emma said,"Don't worry, they are really good at treating Malaria here now!" haha well that is sure a relief...hahaha
Lauren and I wrapped up in the cloth we had bought that day at the market, while all the children in the neighborhood were holding onto Elliot and Whitney and asking them to take photos and play soccer. Brother Ben finally arrived and saved us from malaria!! Yay!! We decided to take a chill night and relax.

I decided that today AWA(Africa Wins Again)!! But Joy comes in the morning light ;)
Well that is all the time I have for today, but I love yall and I miss you! Keep praying for me and the team (by the way they are so amazing, I am truly blessed by each and everyone of them) and that I would get my camera back.

-Akwea

You Drink Water from a Bag??

Our first night was great because it rained harder than I have ever seen it rain in America. It woke me up, but was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Our first full day in Kumasi was astounding. We got to sleep in and go to the pool for the afternoon. But my favorite part was walking to town to catch the taxi. We saw so many beautiful people! The children yell at us and wave. They call us "obruni" which is what they call white people. I feel like I am in a Where's Waldo book. haha. Whenever they see one of us they point and yell "obruni". I'm not used to having everyone watch me. I think I kinda get how celebrities feel. We even had people taking pictures of us on their camera phone (I was probably taking a picture of them, so I didn't mind. haha) I love how friendly the people are here. They always want us to take them to America with us!! I love the colors I see everywhere. All the shops and buildings a long the road are covered with so much color, especially red, green, and gold (The colors in the Ghanaian flag). After the pool we went into town and got our money changed from US dollars to Ghanaian Credis(it is a 1 to 1 ratio, so its easy to exchange! Thank God because we all know how bad I am at math!) We also got cell phones for emergencies! If we drink the water here it would make us sick, so we buy water all over in bags. It is the coolest thing ever!! You just bite off the corner and drink!! We have all been singing dracula because one of the taxi drivers had it BLARING in his car...haha...not my favorite song to have repeating in my head! We are going to go see Ghana play Lybia on Sunday!! GO Ghana!!!

Times up....ill write again soon!! Keep those prayers going!! Next ill be writing about the Children's home...so get excited!!

AWA...Africa Wins Again...

Hey yall!! I'm officially in Africa. Safe and sound in Kumasi after the craziest day of travel ever. We left RDU at 6 a.m. and got to the JFK airport at 7:30. Matt, the most amazing travel partner ever, and I then sat in the JFK terminal until 5 that night! We sat on the plane for an hour before take off and then on the way to Accra, Ghana we were told that we had to make an unexpected stop in Dakar, Senegal because we needed fuel. That is always the thing you want to hear on a plane over the ocean. [haha] On the plane I met some cool families going to Ghana to visit family and friends. I also met Rachel, a four year old little girl in a pink dress. I thought she was the most precious kid I had ever seen. When they turned off the lights in the plane for everyone to sleep, Rachel decided to turn into a screaming banshee!! Needless to say, I got maybe 20 minutes of sleep on my 12+ hr night flight Anyway, we landed safe in Accra, got our bags after what seemed forever, went through customs smoothly, and met Whitney, Lauren, and Emma outside! From the airport we took a taxi to the bus station where we got on a bus to Kumasi. About 15 minutes into our trip the bus stops and the driver comes back to inform us the bus has overheated and we are waiting for another one to pick us up. Well we finally got to Kumasi over 6 hours later [it was only supposed to take about 4] This was an AWA moment. The title of this post, AWA...Africa Wins Again..., is the saying that we as a group have adopted using whenever something doesn't go exactly right. We got to our host families home and met our house mom, Agnes, and her son, Ben. They are amazing! I love them already.

I love Africa.

I'm running out of time, so I will have to continue this part of the trip the next time we get to use the internet... until then, I love you all so much...thanks for reading and continue to pray for our trip!

So I never thought I would be a "blogger", but here it is my first "real" blog. It has taken me so long to actually write this thing... I mean if you think about it there is a lot of pressure that comes with the action of writing one's first entry into the blogging world. I need to be witty and interesting and actually write something with meaning that doesn't make whoever reads what I'm gonna say fall asleep... I thought about breaking down the meaning of life (I mean I can totally do that being a 21 year old college student who knows everything already...obvi) Then I heard a guy named Dan Allender speak at Cornerstone a couple of weeks ago (since then I have probably listened to the podcast of that talk about 20 times...it will rock your world...check it out http://unccornerstone.mypodcast.com/index.html). As most of those who are reading this know I am going to Ghana, West Africa this summer for four weeks to work with the people there through medical service work. I realized that the best way to begin my blog would be to tell my story of my experiences this summer in AFRICA... My story will mark me, so here it is...

I guess to understand my story of Africa I have to go back to a dream I had beginning at the age of 5 and have continued to have to this very day because it will help you understand why I am going to Africa. [My dream begins with me realizing I am floating in a muddy river holding onto an iron framed bed like the ones you would imagine being in a very poor run-down hospital. I look up and see that I am not the only one floating down this muddy river, but I begin to look around and see hundreds of African people(don't ask how I know they are African, but I just know). All of these people are laying on the iron framed hospital beds and I don't know what is wrong with them but they are all very sick. I am swimming from bed to bed in this river helping each person. I know I am supposed to be there.] I wake up from this dream every time wanting to be in Africa and I just have this feeling welling up from deep inside me that I am supposed to be there. I know that I want to help others and I want to love on people in other countries who have never had someone love on them before.

The world is in such need of people willing to show them compassion and mercy. I know this is my calling in life; my heart is showing others compassion and love through taking care of people. I feel that more than anything I want to interact with people who have nothing in common with me, and yet still show them mercy and tenderness in their time of pain each and every day. My passion for life and my passion for people in need comes together perfectly in this trip to Africa. I can not wait to show others how there is a Love that can change the world, there is a Light that shines in the darkness...

Now that you know why I am going to Africa this summer I hope that you will enjoy reading my story...