Obrunis* Abroad

38 hours, 3 separate planes, and a taxi ride later Mary and I arrived in Accra, Ghana on Thursday night.  We spent the evening eating pizza and catching up with some old friends in the capital city. The next morning we continued our journey to the Kingdom Cares Mission Center. Another 3 hours in a taxi went by before we arrived in Asikuma. We were greeted at our new home by several familiar faces and many smiling kids.

We have spent the past two days getting settled in, learning the names of our 32 newest roommates, and acclimating ourselves with the Ghanaian culture. Although they have been very full days and we find ourselves quite tired in the evenings, I think we have received more hugs and cuddles in the past two days then I could possibly count. The love and happiness that surrounds this center is absolutely incredible.

So far we have played with a deflated basketball, a skip it, rocks, a flashlight, and shoes. It amazes me how kids who have so little can find such happiness in everyday objects. As I sit here writing this blog Helena, one of our youngest roommates, is using a piece of fabric to try and capture birds on our porch.  The children are so content with what they have it is refreshing.

As far as education is concerned we met a wonderful volunteer named Emily. She is working with the Olive Branch program and has been working on a summer school program with a handful of the kids here.  Yesterday we got to sit in on a class with the older girls. They were not supposed to have school because it was Saturday, but they insisted on having class anyway. Their excitement and eagerness to learn is unlike anything I’ve seen before. We have girls at all different abilities. I worked with a wonderful girl named Gifty who seemed very advanced with her math abilities. Mary worked with another named Abbi who struggled with recognizing and writing her numbers. It makes me wonder about their past educational experiences. I question how these two girls coming from the same place and being about the same age can vary so much in academic ability.

Mary and I are excited to work with Emily for the rest of the week to start finding out the different strengths and areas of improvement of the children at the KCI mission center. This will help guide the planning process for school once it resumes and allow us to adapt the curriculum to best the meet the needs of all our learners. This seems like a daunting task, but Mary and I are up for the challenge.

We are looking forward to finding out more about the students and the amazing staff, and volunteers we have the pleasure of working with as well as ourselves.

Please continue to follow us on this journey and share what we are doing. We are always more than willing to answer questions or give more information. If you feel compelled to make a donation or support the school in some other capacity please either email us at kccschool15@gmail.com or visit Kingdom Cares International.

Peace and Blessing,

| Anna |

* P.S. An Obruni is a white foreigner. If you plan to visit Ghana be prepared to hear this from every new person that you meet or see.