Ghanaian Thanksgiving

This Friday will mark the halfway point in our trip. In discussing it briefly the other day with one of the other girls, it often feels as though we just arrived here in Ghana and we can remember our first days here as though they were only last week. Other times it feels as though we've been here for a year and we know how to get around and how to do things the Ghanaian way.

Having only about 7 weeks left here in Africa brings conflicting emotions. There is so much that still needs to be accomplished here. There are many more conversations that I need to have and people that  I need to help and encourage in some way. There will be, Lord willing, more visits to Vida's shop, one of the ladies in my Level 2 literacy class. One of her daughters, Dorothy, is 18 years old and loves to ask me a gazillion questions about Canada, about who and when I will marry and what I think about this, that and the other thing in Ghana. Although I'm technically there to meet with her mother, I end up spending more time talking with Dorothy. She took me to see her high school on Saturday and I'm pretty sure she really just wanted to show off her obruni friend to all of her classmates. (It's a boarding school, which is why they were there on a Saturday.) One thing about Vida, though, she has such a giving, hospitable spirit! I can never leave from a visit without some small treat as a token of appreciation for visiting her.

I woke up yesterday morning to the morning sun and lush, green trees and plants outside. With all of the rain that's been pouring down lately, everything has turned a deeper, healthier shade of green. There was no cool breeze and no colourful, falling leaves. As I got ready for school, I placed a plastic bag of freshly picked leaves in my bag, as well as a small stack of paper. I found crayons at the school that were already peeled and I leafed through the Beginner's Bible until I found the story of Jesus and the 10 lepers. Standing in front of 20 KG2 children, who cannot sit still and who hit each other for anything and everything and sometimes even just for the fun of it, I told them the story of how only one leper out of 10 came back to Jesus to say thank you to Him for healing them. I love how their eyes light up and get all big and attentive when I tell them a story, especially a Bible story. It's as if they know that it is more important than any other story. After their little brains had grasped a story of Jesus and they remembered that we say "thank you" when someone gives something to us or does something for us, they sat in their little, plastic chairs as I handed out paper, crayons and leaves. When I was a child, my brother, sister, mom and I would go for a walk in the woods every Thanksgiving and chase the falling leaves and take some to our home that was filled with the savory smell of roasting turkey. We would then do leaf rubbings with the leaves that we had brought and use them as place mats for our Thanksgiving dinner. Why not do the same thing with my Ghanaian students?

Auntie Emma came to Asamankese yesterday with a turkey for us. She's such a wonderful, thoughtful woman! As Belinda finished preparing her first Thanksgiving dinner, Emma came to the school with a bag full of lollipops and every child in the school took their chairs outside to sing some worship songs and both the Ghanaian and Canadian national anthems (which they also sing every morning). Then I stood up in front of these small blessings and told them that it was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and why we celebrate it. I think the teachers were more curious to hear about the reason for our celebration than the kids were, for trying to explain immigration and life in the New World to 4-6 year olds is tedious work that requires wise word choices. After the children had boarded the bus with their lollipops in hand, the teachers and workers, all sat down to a Thanksgiving meal of our own - Ghanaian style - complete with turkey, vegetables, jollof rice (basically the best thing known to man) and even cupcakes! It truly was a feast that I was thankful for....though I must say that I missed my mom's stuffing.

Today is a national holiday as the Muslims celebrate the beginning of Ramadan. More on Muslims later.