Chanshegu

This week we had the priveledge of traveling to the Northern Region, and visiting Tamale. Two years ago I taught school in the village of Chanshegu. We wanted to return to the village in order to begin our agriculture and nutrition projects. I was nervous to return. When I was there years before, I would walk down the road and the people would all come out of their mud huts chanting "Madam Jana, Madam Jana." I thought they would not remember me. As we entered the village a young girl on a bike stopped, and said "Madam Jana."

My heart was filled with joy, and the whole village came out to greet me. They had smiles on their dirt stained faces, and they hugged me as they saw me. I was invited to speak with the chief,

who expressed gratitude for my coming. He said when I left two years earlier, everyone cried, and that it was a sad day, but now he is happy, because all of the children have left their mothers to be with me. The village is happy again. He told me our coming was a blessing from God, and that our organization could do anything in the village that I thought was needed. I can't express the feelings I had while there. Joy filled my soul, and I am excited to be able to help these people progress. The chief has called me his joint friend, and has expressed a desire for me to teach him English, and how to read and write.


The humility and genuine love and purity that these people contain is why we are here in Africa. I truly respect them.

Beacon House Orphanage

One thing that we've been doing, but haven't made much mention of, is volunteering at a few orphanages. We spend most of our time at one in East Legon, called the Beacon House. There are about 30 kids there, ranging in ages from 6 months to 14 years. We've been going every Tuesday and Thursday to help teach and to build relationships of trust for some of the adoptions we hope to help with. There is a broad range of ages of children, so it is hard for the one teacher they have to be effective with all of the students. We've been busy singing with them,which is a program called the solfeg, helping them learn how to read, and taking turns working with the smaller kids so they have a little more attention. It's crazy at times and we are both learning a lot about patience :) On Tuesday when we were there,the children really wanted to play "barbies." Two of the children had birthdays that week, so I promised them that we could play on Thursday when we came. These pictures are from that day. Barbies turned out to be dress-up, and it was pretty entertaining! One of the little boys named Gabriel dressed up in a long blond hair wig and high heels and came runnig outside. Unfortunately we didn't get to capture that one with the camera, but it was hillarious. They are all so sweet, and we hope to add to their vibrant personalities the light of knowledge.