Akwaaba!

Akwaaba! (which means welcome in Ghanaia). We arrived safely in Accra Saturday morning and have been keeping busy since we landed!!

We headed off to the Ghana, Kerri and I were lucky enough to be bumped up to business class. The reclining chairs made the 11 hour trip way more enjoyable than last year! We met Sammy's father and his brother, Patrick, at the airport and grabbed a quick bite of Ghanaian rice before we got ready to head to Obuasi. On the way we stopped and ate some banku at Sammy's aunt's house. The food tastes pretty much exactly as I remember it tasting! We then hopped into the car for our five hour drive to Obuasi. This ride was a bit more comfortable then last year since we upgraded to a 12 seater van. The route that we took this time had many more trees, dirt paths, and bumps! The drive is long but it is so nice to pass through the different towns and landscapes.

We made it to Obuasi and stopped to say hi to Sammy's mother. She is ill so she has to stay with her extended family so that they can take care of her. After seeing her we headed to our new home! The house we are staying at is in a different neighborhood then last year. It is closer to the orphanage so now it only takes about 10 minutes to walk there as opposed to the 45 minute walk we had last year. We got home and started to get settled. I feel right at home sharing a room with 3 other girls and 1 shower with 6 people. Luckily we all got showers in before the water stopped working! We do not have a cook this year and with a few minor setbacks, like no utensils, dishes, and a fridge that doesn't work, we are getting creative with our meals!

After showering and napping we headed to town for a late dinner and to celebrate John's (he's Micheal's cousin) birthday. A bunch of the boys from last year came out with us- it was so great to hang out and see them all again! Then we headed home to pass out for the night.

Sunday morning I woke up early to the sounds of tons of birds and the Ghanaian women chanting as they headed to mass. We had breakfast and headed to the Catholic church with Patrick and Sticky. The first church we went to ended up having mass later then we thought (such is Ghana). After some driving around we went to a beautiful church in town. I love how universal the Catholic church is because even though I'm so far away from home I can participate with all the Ghanaians and we all know the same prayers. After mass we had our first MRE's (that's meals ready to eat for all you who aren't savvy in military terms). Then we headed to the Adullum orphanage. It has definitely been the best part of the trip! I was so happy to see my old friends there and I am getting to know lots of new ones too. The children are so beautiful and joyful- I just want to take them all home with me!!

Sunday night the girls prepared some scrambled eggs and toast- Ghanaian style :) And then we spent the night catching up with some more of our friends.

Today, Monday, we got up at 6 to take Curtis to the hospital in Kumasi. He is a 6 year-old who lives at Adullum and he is suffering from malnutrition because he will not eat. We spent a good portion of the day at the hospital waiting. All I can say is that the people in Africa are far more patient then we are in the US because the lines were huge! As always we made new friends. We even ran into someone from Nigeria and picked up a few phrases! Curtis is spending the night at the hospital so hopefully the doctors can run enough tests to determine what is wrong with him- please keep him in your prayers!

On the way home we were able to visit Patrick's sister Birtha who has gotten married and is now pregnant! It was so good to spend time with her again- she is one of the few girls that we were able to get close with last year so it was great to have some 'girl time' with her!

That's all I have time for now, but I'll be back! I am loving every minute of this trip and I can't wait to see what the rest of it will be like!