I really don’t know where the time has gone. I only have two more sleeps and three full days left in Ghana. Time seems to have moved both slowly and quickly on this trip. I remember the days crawling by in my first few weeks here but now, when I think back to my induction, it seems like it was just last week. Was it really almost two months ago?
I just re-read parts of my blog entries from my first few days here and the sense of Cape Coast as a foreign place seems like a really distant memory. I am now surprised to read about how uncomfortable I was in that first week. My last week here has been full as I tie up loose ends and try to cram in all the things I wanted to do or see in Cape Coast.
I had my last day at Unistar yesterday (I’m taking today off to run last minute errands and pack). The kids were, as always, sweet and adorable. I took my camera to school and it was chaotic as I took pictures during their morning break. It’s lucky that I’m so much bigger than all of them; they almost managed to pull me down in their excitement. I got some videos of them singing at the end of the day too. I can’t wait for people at home to see the footage!!
On Tuesday we did a medical outreach session at a Muslim school in Abura. Anita (the nurse) gave them a sex ed talk which was not as different from the ones at home as I had expected. We dressed some pretty infected wounds and a group of volunteers will return today to follow-up with those kids. I think this will continue with the medical outreach program – if a lot of treatment was given at the outreach early in the week, the group will return at the end of the week to check on those children. With so many people interested in the medical placement I think the program is going to keep improving. When I got here there were only two of us starting the medical placement and now, I think there are more than ten.
On Thursday night I went to the New Life orphanage with Nicole and a few of the other volunteers. We had intended to stay the night but ended up leaving after the kids were put to bed. This orphanage is amazing. It is on quite a bit of land and the kids all seem really healthy and happy. We hung out with them after dinner and watched part of Shrek on someone’s computer. These kids are clearly used to the presence of volunteers and really weren’t shy around new visitors. I had a nice snuggle with some of the little ones during the movie. I have no idea how Nicole, or anyone else, is going to say good-bye to these sweethearts after spending so much time with them.
Today I am running miscellaneous errands. Tomorrow we plan to walk around Elmina (the small fishing town I mentioned a while ago) and then spend the afternoon at the beach. On Sunday I will get on a bus to Accra and then start a very long trip home.
I have heard that the culture shock is worse on the way home than it is coming to a place like this. I suppose this is because you travel to a foreign place with a fairly open mind, unsure of what to expect. But, going in the other direction you expect home to be just as you remember it, without realizing that your perspective may have changed. I am expecting to be surprised at the amount of wasted water and at having the luxuries of electricity and internet always at your fingertips, but since I am expecting these things I don’t think I will be really shocked by them. I’m wondering if I will feel culture shocked by things I haven’t even considered. When I think of home now I find it hard to imagine any of it feeling foreign or strange. I plan to write one more update after I get home – I’ll let you know how I’m adjusting then. This last update doesn’t feel like much of a conclusion; I’ll try to do a better job with the next one.
Take care. See many of you in less than a week!
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