“Akua! Akua! Good morning.”
“Yes my sister. How are you?”
“Please, I am fine, I hope you are also doing fine.”
“By Gods grace.”
“So the obruni’s are leaving eh? Back to America?”
“By Gods grace, do I lie?”
“Eh! Please, do you dink that dey have done well? Dat dey have finished der job?”
“Mmmm, Somehow.”
“Will dey come back?”
“Somehow.”
“Please, and dat dey are writing some kind of book, eh?”
“Mmmm. But you know de proverb Auntie, one should not believe all stories narrated by a solitary traveler.”
“Eh!”
“Yes yes, but der are a few to tell it, but it is unfortunate I have been so busy. I enjoyed der stay. I myself will miss them.
“Well at the gate of heaven then?”
“By God’s grace, somehow.”

Akua

Stars

Hello everyone!

The power has been going out a lot lately, but it brought about a really cool experience. When it is that dark you would not believe the night sky. Our group sprawled out on the concrete one night after dinner and just stared up at the spectacle, mostly silent, just taking in the feelings that come with the closure of an experience abroad. Gipsy and Danielle only gave it a 2 on a scale of ten for spectacular stargazing on account of a few wispy clouds, but Chase and I were convinced it was one of the most beautiful things we have ever beheld. Akua came out to offer us a lantern, unable to see why we were so boggle eyed about the whole thing, and went inside laughing at us. Shelley was—I don’t know, she didn’t say. Just, there.

Love,
Ava

Email Home- "Goodbye Ghana"

Well, it is here.

I have emptied out my dresser (suitcase) and repacked everything, just
to make sure it all fits again.  To my surprise it does.  Yet, the
most important things I am taking home are not the sort of things I
can smash into my suitcase.

I was almost surprised when I went to Kumasi alone to find that it is
familiar, and dare I say, normal.  I feel safer here than I do in
Provo at night.  The wild chaos of the hawkers and the taxi crossing
that once stopped me dead in my tracks, all of it is just a new and
different reality.  I went on my merry way, did my shopping, enjoyed
the sensation of getting lost but having no strict time constraint to
worry too much about it, and hopped in the tro tro home.  I think we
can get used to anything, I really do.  I have found that naming
things helps a little bit.  The three inch diameter spider that was in
the kitchen for a week I named Bernard, and he stopped scaring me.  In
fact, I was a little upset that Nate squished it.  There is a mouse
living at the other house.  We just ignore it, and it works.  The heat
I once found unbearable is normal, waking up at 5 AM is normal, and
just in time for me to leave.

I did get a chance to go to the bush again with Maggie, doing her
interviews about maternal health.  Their well is broken.  Rachel Morse
donated money anonymously earlier here to fix it.  Of course, it
didn't stay anonymous, and they asked us for more money.  The hard
questions never seem to end, and the answers are much fewer.  Those
women amazed me.  They live too far away to go to the clinic since the
path to the main road is a three hour walk.  Most choose to have their
babies at home and by themselves rather than take a motorbike into
town or deliver on the side of the road.  One woman we meet had 11
children, all born at home and by herself.  When Maggie asked what the
biggest pregnancy concerns are she said sometimes her feet swell and
it makes it more difficult to work.  Work.  That is the biggest
concern?  I am a princess and a pansy.  I will never forget that
village.

I am a whirlwind of emotions.  Reality and time are knocking on the
doorstep of my denial.  I am ready to come home and see the people I
love and miss, but what if the lessons, the memories grow dimmer
because they are not something concrete to stick on a bookshelf to
remember my time in Ghana?  The last few years of my life have been
spent preparing for this short three months, and it is over.  Now
what?

I have no doubt I will always remember and be a little different
because of my wonderful time here in Ghana.  I'm ready to write the
next chapter of my life, trying not to just endure the time until I
make it to India next summer.  Life can be whatever you make it
wherever you are.  I didn't have to come across the world to find
adventure, but I am lucky and glad I did.  No doubt life won't end
just because I step on that plane.

Thank you all for your emails and support.  I will be spending ten
days in England, but I will be home at the end of the month.

Love you all!
Rach

Marriage Proposal:  "Will you manage me?"
Business Name:  God's Time is Best Auto Mechanics