We left off last on Wednesday evening (July 1). After our Bible study we girls went home, readied ourselves for bed, and got to sleep at a respectable hour. NOT. When we're all in a room together, no matter how early our morning wake up call is, we can't resist talking. It's really fun to all be so comfortable and friendly so soon--that is, until our alarms go off at 6:00 in the morning. Thursday we headed off to a village quite near Accra. We set up our clinic area in a shaded spot near the village school. There was also a large grassy field perfect for playing with kids!
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| The clinic! |
I was especially glad about this, as I was on children's ministry with Jules that day. We began to kick a football (soccer ball) around between the two of us and Laura (sidebar: Laura is a missionary in Ghana, and she's our house mom and one of the children's ministry leaders for us!). We attracted a couple of kids, things were going smoothly. And then the schoolchildren went on break. KIDS ON KIDS ON KIDS. We're not sure how many actually attend the school, but at one point I heard from Laura that she'd heard a number like 700 or so from a teacher there. We had two footballs and a beach ball. All three were immediately swept up by different groups of kids. While this was happening, Jules and I were being mobbed by children. We played some different games with them. A modified version of "Duck, Duck, Goose" using the beach ball was really enjoyed, as was a game of "Simon Says" that Jules got going later on. Throughout the day the school had breaks from lessons, so during those times we had the hundreds of children wanting to play with us; at other times it was much calmer, and we were able to do some Bible stories and coloring.
Though it's likely that these kids had seen an "obroni" (foreigner) before, they were really intrigued by our skin and hair. The girls especially wanted to touch and feel our hair. It would start with one child tentatively reaching out to hold my hand. When I made it clear that I was okay with holding a hand, giving a high-five, or a fist-bump, it encouraged the others to crowd in and grab my arms, rub my hands, pet my hair. A few times when I was holding some girls' hands, others would come up to have their turn holding it, but the ones in possession would fight them off. If only I could sprout another arm or two for this trip! The kids were so joyful, and curious, and bold. They are beautiful, inside and out. Recalling their smiling faces brings a smile to my face. It's truly an honor to be someone who potentially leaves a mark on their life.
While Jules and I were sweating all over the place with the kids, our team was working hard on the medical side. Chad was the vital taking champion of the day--he was so diligent about his job, and forged through the day with a lot of determination! John and Rachel (recently graduated from pharmacy school, and in pharmacy school, respectively) again headed up the pharmacy with Sheila (one of our leaders). Helen and Megan shadowed our fabulous doctors. I believe we saw about 140 patients that day.
That evening I was informed that we interns were in charge of heading up a worship time this Sunday evening and we decided to head to the mission office after dinner to practice our singing. Before we got started, however, rain began to fall. Helen, Jules, and I decided to run outside and jump around in it. Upon returning, sopping wet, to the office, we found our fellow interns singing "How He Loves" in the dark (the rain had caused a power outage). We all joined in for what was, in my opinion, a stellar rendition of the song. We went on to sing other worship songs, and Lee broke out the hymnals for us to use as well. We spent a good 45 minutes in the office that evening, praising, laughing, and trying out some really hilarious singing voices. This evening time with my intern family was really special to me. Just as Christ was a relational being, so too are we, and sharing silly moments (like running around in the rain), heartfelt ones (like singing "How He Loves" in the darkness together), and all those in between are not only bringing me closer to my team here, but to my God. Though the acceptance and love I feel from my team is but a glimpse of that which I receive through Christ, it still encourages me to pour out love and acceptance on others, such as the Ghanaian people.
---For those of you who are unfamiliar with the power issues in Accra, let me fill you in. Accra doesn't really have enough electricity. What this means is that everyone is on a schedule for when and how long they receive power. Right now we're on 12 hours with power/24 hours without. We're blessed to have a generator. We do turn the generator off late at night until early morning, however, in the interest of conserving its gas,etc. So right now there's no power, and the generator just shut off (fingers crossed that it was turned off by our night guard and didn't break down)! In addition to this situation, I'm about out of juice on my tablet, which means I'll leave off posting about our final day of clinic this week (Friday) and our day at the beach (today) for tomorrow.---
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