Hi! Well, after 2 days of traveling I finally ended up in Ghana. I met up with a girl named Holly at the Airport in Los Angeles and we traveled together. We flew to New York where we met up with a few other people that would be on our team. After a 10 hour flight we got to Accra where our hosts picked us up. The Sonius’ were my host family and once I got to their house I was very excited to sleep lying down after 15 hours sitting up on planes and almost ten hours in airports. The next few days were orientation. Our host families went through what we were going to do and some things about the Ghanaian culture. We also learned some words in Twi (pronounced chi) -- the main language besides English. We learned your Ghanaian name is based on the day of the year that you were born. In that case, “Ye freme” (my name is) “Ama” because I was born on a Saturday. Most of the people in Ghana get very excited if you introduce yourself using your Ghanaian name, especially if you happen to be born the same day as whoever you are talking to. There were a few other interesting cultural things as well. One of those is that you do everything with your right hand, from taking or giving money when you buy something to anything that requires you to use your hands. Your left hand is considered dirty. Also you must never show the bottoms of your feet to someone because it is considered very disrespectful. Men especially may not sit cross legged with a foot on one of their knees and women must always be sure to have their feet on the floor. On the evenings of orientation I had time to just hang out with the other interns. I shared a room with two girls: Jackie and Holly (the girl I had traveled with from LA). They were great room mates and we were always laughing. I got to know most of the interns pretty well but I definitely got to know Jackie and Holly the best. We were a team of 9 interns in total. On the evening of our second day of orientation we got to go to the market. The people sell a lot of handmade things that are very beautiful. The Ghanaian people are very friendly and welcome you into their shops. My attention was turned to the artwork being sold. Every painting was so unique and beautiful that I wished I could buy them all and use them as wallpaper all over my house. On July 2nd it was our first day of work at Theovision. Theovision is the mission organization in Ghana that we partnered with while there. They started something great called a Listener’s Club. They go into different villages with a radio and play portions of scripture that have been recorded. Lots of people come and just listen to the Bible being read because a lot of them cannot read on their own. After listening to a short passage, whoever is doing the listening club asks the people what they heard, what it meant, and how they are going to apply it in their lives. When we arrived, the people at Theovision had just built a medical clinic that had never been used. This is where we worked for the next few days. We worked all day until about four in the afternoon. At the beginning of the day, Carolina (an intern from Ecuador) and I went around painting the little kids’ faces. It was fun to draw on their beautiful faces and see them smile. In the evenings the interns practiced taking vital signs on each other so they would be better prepared in the coming days. When we were out in the villages and did not have a clinic, we would set up tables under the trees. One table was for vital signs where two people would work, three tables were for our two doctors and our doctor in training, and one table was a “pharmacy.” Before I get too far I need to explain something. I have had no medical experience -- except for the fact that my mom is a nurse. I went on this trip to work with the kids that were drawn in with their families by the medical help the team offered. Two other women, Dorothy Nelson and Tracy Martin, were in charge of the children's program and they had planned out a great program for the kids. The more villages we went to, the more we realized a structured children’s program was not going to be an option. There were just too many kids to plan for and not enough people, supplies, or order to have them all sit down and listen. My job basically consisted of doing crafts with a few of the kids -- groups of about 20 each. The rest of the time we just played games and got to know the kids. Every village varied in size, but most of the time we had about 200 or more children with only 3 or 4 of us children's workers. I loved it because I actually got to talk a little more to the kids whereas it was hard for the medical people to talk to them because they were trying to see so many patients. So, that was basically my job, playing with the kids in the nearby schools in the villages or the kids waiting with their parents to see the doctors. The Ghanaian children’s names are so interesting! For example some of the little girls I met were named Princess, Vanilla, Believe, Patience and Knowledge. A baby I grew particularly fond of was named Cereal. One of the men from Theovision told us another African tradition. Most children in Ghana have two names, a Ghanaian name and an English name. Names are very important, so you give your child a name after people you have great respect for. One little boy named Gideon loved to be picked up and spun around until I thought my arms would fall off. Soon all the kids wanted to be twirled. Not all our trip was work (although we did work a lot!). Our first Saturday in Ghana we went to Till’s beach for the day. Holly and I met a 6 year-old girl and her older sister on the beach. The little girl was a great dancer and we danced with her for a long time. Everyone else was being taught a dance by some other people on the beach. On Sunday we went to a very upbeat and colorful church. The kids love to teach us new songs and games as well. They all know the song “read your bible pray every day” and sing it all the time. The second week we all went to a hotel to stay for the week in order to be closer to some of the other villages. We spent two days in each of those villages. In one of the villages I got to hold a baby on my back like the local women do. Another day in a different village I was amazed at how organized the children were. I played games with them the whole time and it was very hot with no breeze whatsoever. When the children’s part of the day was over I was sent over to the pharmacy part of our clinic to count pills. It was great after a hard day of work to do something mindless (like counting pills) under the trees in the shade. It was quite relaxing. In the village of Pram Pram there were very few patients and therefore very few children. It was an easier day that consisted of counting pills and catching baby goats and baby chickens. Pram Pram was very beautiful and right on the coast -- about 20 minutes from the sea. The ocean breeze was wonderful. This was just a little bit about my trip. I could fill pages describing what I put in my journal and what is in my memory! I cannot thank you enough for your support and your prayers. It was a wonderful experience!!! Lotsa luv, Jenny