God Loves Africa the Most

By Andrea Myers

Everyone wants to make a difference. Everyone wants to change the world. Not everyone gets the opportunity.
When Andrea was given the once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Africa and work with children, she was excited to finally get her chance to matter.
Open-minded and not knowing what to expect, Andrea lived in the town of Hohoe, Ghana for six weeks. Spending mornings working in a pre-school and weekends traveling, she soon learned that people of Africa didnt need her. She needed them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9781465314512

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June 23, 2008 – 1st Day in Ghana

I left Arkansas not long ago and am now in Africa. We rode in last night under the African moon. There was an orb around it like I’ve never seen and it gave me peace. I’m in Africa. After 48 hours of plane delays, missed connections, and a year’s worth of airport bonding, I was in the far away place where part of myself never believed I would go.

The drivers met us outside the airport. We were hard to miss since there were only seven white people in the airport. We loaded ourselves and our luggage into the Cross Cultural Solutions, CCS, van and began our three to four hour journey to the place that would be our home for the next six weeks.

On the side of the road, or sometimes in the middle, there would be goats and I would get so excited. By about the 107th time of seeing the goats, I realized they are like our squirrel population back home, or Africa’s squirrels, as one girl put it. People were walking along the road, even at midnight. Some would be selling various things and we pulled over at one point to buy bread. There was a van flipped on its side at one point with a group of people standing by it. Our driver didn’t bat an eye as he swerved around it, not even touching his brakes. I kept going over the scenes as we drove on, describing them elegantly in my head. But nothing could explain the Botanical Garden-like scenery that guided us to what would be our home for the next six weeks. In the distance there was a mountain, but not a long chain like Colorado Mountains. This mountain stood by itself and stood proud. It was like it was his (or her) job to watch over Ghana. Every so often it would dawn on me that I was really here and my excitement would cause me to jump and smile and gave me the adrenaline to stay awake. I was embarking on a very personal journey.

The store signs as we got closer to Hohoe were all spiritual. God’s Eye Photos and I am proud of God bumper stickers intertwined with the Catholic Holy Trinity Church and other protestant churches.

The compound where we will be living is a house, a beautiful house with multiple rooms that are filled with four to six volunteers each. Our bathroom has a sign that says, If it’s yellow let it mellow. But if it’s brown flush it down. Our common area is full of furniture covered in African prints. I went to sleep in my net-covered bed listening to the sound of some of the other girls crying. It made me sad for them but I was too excited to miss home.

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. today, too excited to sleep after one of the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had. I showered in a cold shower, which surprisingly wasn’t bad. Since everyone else had been to a day of orientation, they knew what to expect, but because of the plane delays, I missed the first day. Everyone from our house got in a van to go to orientation and rode over the bumpy dirt roads to a beautiful pink building where we would learn how to interact with the Ghanaian children and locals. When the van door opened, we were greeted by about four little ones waving and one was shouting, You’re welcome! You’re welcome! A girl with the program commented that we are like rock stars to them. And it was true. We were greeted like Angelina Jolie on the red carpet. It was an amazing experience. To know someone wants you there and you’re welcomed with a grin and sparkling eyes, now that’s love.

Tonight we went to a drum-dance performance by a bunch of children, probably ages three to ten. It was a contrast from listening to Aladdin’s A Whole New World and the top American pop songs like we did last night. The boys drummed and the girls danced. The talent they had at such a young age was incredible. Afterwards, we all danced with them, but not well. We took pictures of and with the children, sometimes at the child’s request. They would take a picture and then reach for the camera so they could review it. Looks good was the typical response, complete with a smile.

Being downtown and driving in last night, I couldn’t help but notice the people wear everything from the typical Ghanaian head-to-toe brightly printed tunics to jeans and Chicago Bears t-shirts. Men and women wear all that you would expect in Africa and all that you would expect in New York City. Another thing I noticed were the people (women, children, and men) carrying baskets and other things on their heads.

June 24, 2008

I woke up early again after a night of vivid CSI-like nightmares. Maybe it’s the malaria medicine. Fried eggs for breakfast – delicious.  The first day of placement, which is where each volunteer is placed depending on preference, was today. Caitlin, one of the other volunteers, and I are at Mama Pat’s Daycare/Preschool. The classroom is a cement cubicle with wooden benches serving as tables and chairs. The first thing the kids did was the five-year olds stood in the front and counted to 50. If they messed up, they started over. The class, two to five-year olds, then went over the alphabet, colors, body parts, and songs. I