Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Saying goodbye to Ghana


(I typed this up Sunday but our internet decided it didn’t want to cooperate the last few days so I figured I would post it now anyways)

Well this is it our last few days in Ghana are here. Sitting outside in downtown Accra last night eating ice cream for the first time this summer, I already feel so far away from the village where we have spent our past two months, but hearing Charlotte (our friend and a midwife at the hospital in Kasei who is spending a couple of days in Accra) speak in Twi to the people around us is actually very comforting and brings back memories of so many friends from Kasei who are never really far from our minds. Traveling to Kumasi on Wednesday to pick up a package from Aunt Nancy  (thank you so very much!!! J) and getting to see John and Isaac who had just gotten done with an interview for nursing school, sharing jelly beans and granola bars with them and sending back bubbles for them to bring to some of our friends in Kasei was definitely a highlight of our week; even though it was tough having to get back on a bus to Accra and say goodbye all over again. Between walking on rope bridges through the rainforest, staying at a hotel in Cape Coast with crocodiles wandering around, touring a castle along the ocean, working at the eye clinic in Accra, and meandering through the biggest market in Ghana, to say that we have had an exciting week is an understatement, however, all of these moments are combined with hard bittersweet moments of having to leave and missing the way things were, like when a song comes on the radio that we used to always dance to with all of the kids, or a futbol match on tv that we wish we were watching in the waiting room with our friends at the hospital, or when we eat sugar cane and plantain chips for the first time and wish our friends were here to share with, or when they all call us on loudspeaker and even though it is great to hear everyone’s voices we feel lonely by ourselves in Dr. John’s big house thinking of all of them back in the village. Each time I reread all the letters from my family and friends I get more and more excited to see them in only a few days but I am scared about going back because I am scared of forgetting, and I don’t want to forget anything, any of the people, any of the places, any of the things I’ve seen and done. Most importantly I don’t want to forget the things I’ve learned; about being whole, about the healing that each of us needs to receive from God every day, about a faith that is all consuming, that is all you need, all you seek. I don’t want to forget what people here have taught me; about how to love others without hesitation, how to find joy without having expectations that need to be met, how to serve without thinking of your own provision, how to open up freely to others, to relationships, to fellowship, trusting that the Lord holds our lives in His hands. I know that things will change when I go back and in many ways my life will go back to normal but I hope that in at least some ways it won’t or I won’t. I hope that I can share the experience I’ve had with everyone back home that has been in my thoughts while I have been here and that has given me so much support. I hope that I can hold onto and share all of the stories and details of the lives of people here with people back there. When it comes time on Monday to leave, I want to be able to leave and still not let go of this place and these people. 

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