Internship Coincidence 

Coming to Ghana I did not expect to find anyone who had heard of my hometown, but I have been shocked by the people I have met here who have connections to Lancaster County. I started my internship with Hope Community Children’s Home in Haatso on Monday, which is about a ten minute tro tro ride from the University. The children’s home is in a church called Hope Community Chapel, which is a beautiful place on a quiet road with lots of friendly people. In one of my first conversations with my mentor Pastor Ashley, he asked where in the US I was from and I said Pennsylvania. He said, “Oh have you ever heard of Lancaster?” I was so excited and said I had because I live in Lancaster. This was very special because even a lot of the Americans in my program had never heard of Lancaster, so I’ve been explaining the Amish a lot. He then said, “you may have never heard of it but I go to a small town called Mount Joy in the summer.” At this point I nearly fell out of my chair because that small town is my home! We were both very excited as I (probably too loudly) said that I live and go to church in Mount Joy but went to school in Elizabethtown. He explained that his church is affiliated with Hope Community Church in Mount Joy, and a team from that church comes to visit in the summers. He has traveled to King of Prussia, Lancaster, and Lebanon for conferences and meetings before and stayed in Mount Joy for some time. For the rest of the day I was still in shock that of all the internship sites I could have been placed with, I was paired with a man who has been to my hometown in the middle of nowhere! Before I left home I was given a postcard with the name of a family I could contact in Ghana, and turns out that family works with Pastor Ashley as well! I still cannot believe all the coincidences and how small the world has become. So far I am loving the internship and spending time with the people and the children at Hope Community. Everyone has been very welcoming, and the kids are getting a good laugh at my attempts to dance like them and speak Twi. I am now hoping that through these crazy coincidences I can connect Hope Community with my home church and find a way to support this amazing organization!

Classes Don’t Start

Classes started last week, but at the University of Ghana apparently the first week of class matters even less than it does in America. Most of the professors do not come to class, and even less of the students make the effort to move in until the second week. This was very difficult to wrap my head around, but I did end up having two classes with a professor and a lesson so that was exciting. So far I think I will be taking working with people with HIV/AIDS, philosophy of social work, popular music in Africa, intro to Twi, and my internship. Classes are held once a week usually for about two hours, which is a little different than the typical class structure at Penn State but I think it will be nice only having each class once a week. That being said my closest class is about a 30 minute walk from my dorm so early classes will be a struggle!

Culture Lessons

I have had several opportunities to explore the local culture here at the University of Ghana, which started with a traditional African dance class. I looked ridiculous trying to keep up with the dancers teaching us, but luckily the rest of the Americans with me seemed to struggle just as much. Regardless of the fact that we all butchered the dance that our teachers made look so easy, it was fun watching them perform and somewhat learning the basics. Definitely glad I am not getting graded on that lesson!

I also learned to hand was my clothes on Friday, which was a huge task but surprisingly fun. It will be less fun when the sun is out and I have a large load to do, but I felt very accomplished by how clean my clothes looked and that I had personally washed each one. It definitely put into perspective for me how much I take for granted in the US and the luxuries we view as necessity! I can’t believe I used to complain about doing my laundry at school when I had my own washer and drier in my apartment. I definitely will never take washing machines or air conditioning for granted ever again!

After washing my clothes I went to the Medina Market with several friends. For those from Lancaster, this place is like Roots on steroids. It is huge and crowded and you can buy anything under the sun. It was incredibly overwhelming but very interesting to see. The size of the place and endless amount of products for sale was incredible, and after two hours the only thing I purchased was more clothes pins for my laundry!

My most recent experience was a cooking lesson where I made gari fortor. After getting the supplies from the market we had to chop the vegetables, cook the sauce, mix the gari (ground cassava), cook the chicken, and fry some eggs. It was very unique and unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before but it was very good. Hoping I can find somewhere back home to buy cassava!

Horses on the Beach

On Saturday my group ventured out to Labadie for a beach day. We were very excited to go horseback riding on the beach because that is what Labadie is known for. It is a bit overwhelming because everyone there was trying to sell us different things and get our attention, but we managed to still have a fun and relaxing day in spite of being offered bracelets and mangos every 30 seconds. Horseback riding on the beach is definitely different from riding back home in the grass, but it was a fun experience I was not expecting! The water was also very warm which was a nice surprise.

Three weeks and it already feels like I’ve been in Ghana for months. I am loving the people, food, and even some of my classes. So far I have no sunburn, but I am dreading the end of winter when it will get even hotter!

Location: Haatso, Ghana