(Day 18)

On this day we went to a school in Foso.  Pastor Sam’s brother is the Head Master of the school. Pastor Sam is in charge of many schools across the area in which he directs leadership programs for the teachers, helping them to become better at their work.  They are even made a connection with a program in the UK that has teacher conferences that sometimes these teachers get the opportunity to go to.  I feel that Pastor Sam is so involved in many different areas of this place, helping in as many ways as possible.  We were driving down the road and he randomly started laughing and smiling.  He said, “Helping all of these people makes me so happy.” It’s just so amazing to see someone who was from Ghana, had the opportunity to leave, get his doctorate in counseling psychology and then decided to come back and devote every moment of his life to helping as many people as possible.  He really is doing an incredible thing here.  I feel that I don’t even know half of what he does because every day I learn something new about how far his program reaches.  

At the school, we went around to each classroom and were introduced to the children.  They were all perfectly behaved, standing up when we walked in, sitting down when told. It was odd to see such well behaved children.  Later Pastor Sam told us that having white people come to visit the schools makes a very big impact.  Often seeing that a white person has traveled to visit them, inspires them to work harder in order to maybe be able to go somewhere in the world when they get older.  I did not realize how much of an impact is made just by seeing our faces there.  It was very powerful to know that just my presence could make hopefully even a slight change.  After this we traveled to a few other schools.  At one in particular, it seemed as though the children had never seen a white person up close before.  They attacked us like celebrities.  They were swarming around us, reaching and fighting just to be able to get close enough to touch us.  Drew told me later that they were even stroking his leg hair.  It was overwhelming in a good way.  The kids were so cute and I wanted to make them all happy so I stayed for a while just reaching my hands out to each of them.  Some things make me want to cry here and this is one of them.  I am just a human being but to them I am a celebrity.  They will go home and say “I have touched a white person today.”  I feel good and bad about this.  It is amazing to be a positive image to others.  However, it is very distressing to realize how esteemed white people are and how loved America is from a distance idealized perspective.  I live there and I don’t find it to be so good.  I don’t see the positive aspects of white people over others.  I see greed and selfishness.  I see people living only for their own happiness and well-being. But like I have said before, even the small amount of money that my family has is riches to the people in these villages.

Ever since getting here, I have been wishing that my family was here with me.  My parents would love it here.  They would cry and want to stay here forever in order to help as much as possible and become close with the people here.  

Later in the day, we went to a plantation.  A man from Mississippi came to Ghana about 10 years ago and met a Ghanaian woman here.  They got married and bought a large piece of farm land from her family.  He had a lot of money so they re-did the entire thing and now it is all fenced in, the grass is all mowed down (a rare sight here), and there are rows of orange trees, papaya trees and other plants. He also decided to try and grow plants that are not native to this region such as broccoli, beets, star fruit, black eyed pees, sweet potatoes, and he even has a grape vine.  It was all very cool to see.  It didn’t look like anything that other farms here look like.  Normally these trees are all grown in the middle of an untamed jungle like region with every other weed and tree and vine in the way.  Pastor Sam was very impressed because he saw it as a future opportunity.  If he could turn the farm we were working on in Dwenase into something this well organized, that would be an amazing success.  They also had a guest house with very big wooden beds and a real kitchen with a table and everything.  It was a very nice place and it is always amazing to meet new people with different life stories, all adding to my knowledge of the world.  Everyone I meet has something new to tell me about life.  It’s amazing.

This was a very long day of meeting many new people that Pastor Sam was acquainted with. He told us that he likes to introduce us to as many people as possible and tell them of our work on the farm and how well we are doing because white people working on the farm is a good promoter of farm work and makes people want to do it more. They often see it as very menial work that they do not want to have to do, but having us come all the way from America to do it, makes it seem much more vital.

Another thing that is good about going places with the Reverend is that he always informs us of things about Ghana that we would not know otherwise.  He gives us an inside look into what happens under the surface and all of the things that need to be corrected.  He was explaining to us that the governmental system of taxation is done very badly.  The taxes are completely equal for the poorest person and for the richest person.  You could make 20 cedis a month or 2,000 cedis a month and still have the same money taken from you.  This leads to an excess in crime because people become beyond the point of desperate.  All of this is very bad.  Sometimes I feel so frustrated about politics and systems of government.  When I was at home I couldn’t wrap my head around our issues, and here I can not wrap my head around their issues either.  It is all too much to even begin to analyze because everywhere it seems that people are just taking random action, not planned or thought out or for the best interest.  It seems like there are no professionals.  Presidents and leaders are supposed to be like a father taking care of their children, wanting the best interest for the family and each member of the family.  But I just don’t see that happening anywhere except for in places like Scandinavia.  It’s so complex and I am sure people talk about this kind of thing for hours and years so I will just leave it at that.  

Another random tidbit- So I didn’t realize at first that although ProWorld picked us up from the airport upon arrival, that they expect us to find our own way back on a tro-tro (which is like a public bus/van transport).  This is pretty stressful because it’s a lot of planning and Accra is 3 hours away.  But, Pastor Sam has a son who is going to the U.S. in a few weeks to visit some schools and see how he likes it there.  It just so happens that he is flying out the same day as me and on the same flight to Boston.  The chances of that are ridiculous.  I can’t believe it.  So now I am getting a ride with them to Accra on that day that I have to leave.  All problems solved.  It’s amazing the coincidences that happen around me and to me.  I feel blessed.