17 days to go...

Blessing it now out of the hospital and doing just fine. His medical bills only amounted to 50 cedis. Not quite like the states huh! I also donated 50 cedis to the Osu Orphanage via Latoya Egbert who has been volunteering there. She said they really needed some things and wasn't able to raise a lot of money back home. I'm meeting up with Madame Sela (I've been spelling her name wrong all along) at the orphanage tomorrow and we will be picking up tile so that we can tile the main living room area. I was going to fix some plumbing in the bathroom, but there is curently another bathroom under construction and once it is built they will not be using the old one anymore. So instead we're going to tile the main living room. Right now it has concrete floors and minimal seating. The children are always sprawled across the dirty concrete as they watch the television. There is another volunteer from the UK who is apparently also working on improving the living conditions at the orphanage, so I'm going to e-mail her and figure out what all she is doing. I will also be purchasing some seal-tight containers to place their food in because the kitchen is infested with large cock roaches and rats. A lot of work...not a lot of time. But I'll get it done. Thanks again to everyone who has donated...it means so much!

As my time in Ghana is quickly coming to a close, I'm having very mixed emotions about leaving. In just 17 short days, I will be boarding a plane for Europe. I'm very excited about coming home and spending time with my family, boyfriend, and friends...but I will be very sad to leave as well. Living in Ghana has opened my eyes to a lot of problems the people here face. My roommate asked me one day if I think Africa will ever develop. There are a lot of theories claiming that so long as Europe and the Americas are prosperous, Africa will not be. My general impression is that Africa could potentially develop, but not without a lot of effort on its own behalf.

Living here has also shown me that the American perception of Africa is very exaggerated and incorrect. Africa is a very large continent with a lot of great people and a vast, wonderful culture. The people here may not all be as wealthy as Europeans or Americans, but this does not make them inferior or even less culturally advanced. As I recently wrote in the East Tennessean, our differences are only skin deep.

Furthermore, I would like to officially announce that I am in the beginning stages of writing a book about my experiences living in Ghana. I am hoping that this book will help raise awareness about the need for volunteers in African orphanages, as well as help to erase the African misconception that most of the developed world believes. If I am able to get this book published, I will be using the proceeds toward traveling back here and building/helping orphanages.