The walk home

The trek home from the orphanage to Teshie-Tibebiano (home) is always an interesting adventure, and yesterday was no exception. Megan, Jessica and I were sitting in the tro tro during rush hour traffic (which sucks majorly here!) And we decided we didn't want to wait in the tro tro and we were just going to walk home. We were walking along, trying to dodge the mud and puddles that are ever present. As we were walking we met a Ghanaian woman named Happy. She started talking to us about where we are from and what we are doing and how great the work we are doing here is. She told us about her aspirations to visit her relatives in the Bronx but she said she didn't have the heart to stay there. She told us about her husband who is a writer and a preacher. We reached her house and we were preparing to say our goodbyes when she said that we needed to come into her house and meet her husband (John) and her 3 kids. So we went into her house which was a 10 x 10 foot room with a small couch, 1 foam mattress which sleeps the whole family and a small desk where John does his writing. We sat on the couch and met the whole family. They were so nice and generous, one of the little girls even started wiping the mud off of Megans feet. We talked with them for about 30 minutes about the books John has written and the volunteer work we are involved in here in Ghana. John was so articulate and wise despite the fact that he has no college education. Before we left, John read us a verse from the bible and prayed with us. His prayer was so sincere and all about us and our work and asking for great success with the children and asking that our hearts can truly be opened for these kids, it was a really great prayer. As we were getting ready to leave, Happy brought us pineapple. I don't usually eat pineapple in the states, but here it is absolutely amazing! It is so sweet and juicy and just soo good! So we took a peice of pineapple and Happy and her daughter kept telling us to take more and more and more. I was so taken aback by their generosity and sincere love for us. I had brought a couple of small rubber balls with me to the orphanage and had them in my bag still. I pumped up the balls and gave them to the kids. They were so thrilled! I'm sure I caused a headache for John and Happy, but the children loved them. Happy took down our phone number and said she would call us to go to church with them and then have fufu and banku. I really hope that she calls so that we can get together with these amazing people again and try some local food :S. I will definitely be bringing some crayons and paper for the kids next time we go down there.