Enlightenment in the bush...

10/27/07 Oh, tonight is beautiful… my host brother and sister, ages 10 and 4 and I are sitting on the porch, listening to the rain pounding on the tin roof, with Jack Johnson crooning through my tiny travel speakers. I have just given them paper and pencils to draw and they are so happy. They have the greatest imaginations.
For the past few evenings, I have been playing Mancala with my 10 year old brother. We have so much fun; the whole family sits together, we usually laugh and I don’t even know why because I’m never sure of what they’re saying, but you can’t help but laugh along with them. See, I’m learning a different language than what is spoken here, so I only learned the basics to survive, which means I’m in the dark a lot at home. I’d imagine that I’m usually on the same page as the four year old, we both are getting about 5% of what is said and are always laughing just because.
One surprising thing that will leave most of my girlfriends with children gasping, is how unsupervised the children are in Ghana. Hannah (4) just runs around the village with all the other small smalls (little children), mostly toddlers. They’re all alone but with a thousand eyes on them at the same time. Once, I came home and Hannah had a machete and an enormous kitchen knife, one in each fist, and was banging the dirt with both of them. Her friends, who are two and three years old, just watching, nearby. I stopped, dead in my tracks and just watched, stunned, shaking my head. I almost screamed out for her to stop, but realized I’d probably do more damage stunning her, than if she just continued on as she was. Its hard to wrap my brain around some of these things. The 10 year old is basically totally on his own to romp around the village as he chooses. Who knows where he goes or what he does, its beyond me- I’m guessing he has some pretty good adventures.
Tonight, I was planning to cook for my family, but I couldn’t buy all of the ingredients, so I now have to wait until next Saturday. The syrup was far more expensive than I had planned and I can’t serve French toast without syrup, it’s the best part. I’m nervous about this endeavor because I have to cook it over a coal fire stove. I’m sure the experience will end up on here, for your enjoyment, at a later date.

10/30/07 I am no longer skeptical about anyone I meet, frankly because for over one year, every being I have encountered has been simply amazing. Could this be perception, or is it that I’ve entered some sacred place? Ha ha... Maybe both, none the less, I am still surprised and delighted by this simple, beautiful truth. I realized sometime last night while reading Eat, Pray, Love, which I highly suggest, especially if you’ve ever related to me at all. In fact, if you so, you will gobble this book up and savor every word, pausing only to silently cheer on the author on her trip of self discovery. Ok, so I realized that all of my relationships are a direct result of how I how I view myself. If I love myself and I think I’m doing the best I can, I pretty much think exactly the same about you. Likewise, if I think I’m a loser and I think I’m ugly and I’m obsessed with negativity of what I’m not doing correctly or not getting out of life, then that’s how I’ll see you. AND treat you, no matter how much I love you. Example, when I was a little girl, I hated going to school because I had terrible fear and anxiety. I was scared to death to speak, I thought everyone hated me, felt inferior, I could carry on and on but you get the point. Well, everyday, when my tired, single mother walked through the door, I’d greet her in the most unkind way, almost barking at her, what’s for dinner? My tone so full of disgust, as though she'd been lounging around all day instead of teaching then tutoring right up until that very moment. This wasn’t because I hated her, it was because I hated me. I hated life, really. Keeping this in mind, leads me to another realization, the only thing I can do to insure that my relationships remain healthy, at least on my part, is to love who I am. Just to love all the parts of me and then send that love outward.
I’m still chanting Namaste and its working. In fact, since I wrote about Techiman, everything’s changed. I look forward to my two hour commute. Now, I greet everyone! One day, some children asked my name and now, every evening, on my way home, as I near the station, this entire family sits on their porch chanting, Erica! Erica! But it sounds like, Air-reee-cah! Air-reee-cah! It’s so funny and I love it.
I love my host family, and I know they love me, even though we will never utter these words to each other. I suppose there is no need to say it. Today we traveled to a community and spent time at an orphanage for children abandoned by AIDS. Everyone there was so positive and strong and full of integrity. Here, in the Peace Corps, no matter what your job is, you must also educate about HIV/AIDS. Most people in Ghana do not believe the facts, so many people die and never know they have it. We also visited a wonderful compound/ playland for children who are mentally handicapped. This place is run by a Dutch woman, and Bob, her Jewish husband from Chicago. Quite a funny guy, kept reminding me of a round, boisterous Woody Allen. This place is amazing, containing everything a child could want, pool, games, toys, art, flags, grass to run around in, and tons of love. I love this couple just for creating this place. A group of us are going back on a weekend to spend more time. While I was thiere, this frail little boy with a nose that was running all over his face and hands just ran up, dancing and jumped on my lap. I was startled at first, but then I thought, Hi God, and talked to Him to whole time I held this little boy. It was remarkable, completely remarkable.

11/03/07 Here's a picture of the French Toast that I made for the trainers, in preparation for the meal I'll cook for my family, there will be more pics to come of this day, but here's one for now. It was so amazingly delicious. More sugar than I've eaten in a long, long time. And yes, folks, that's homemade chocolate syrup...