Alone in Accra

It's been about 48 hours since Erik and the students left and I'm now slowly making my way back into reality here. I got on a public trotro for the first time in weeks and instantly missed James' clean and roomie trotro. My seat was unusually high and I kept hitting my head on the roof and the seat was not bolted to the floor so we kept rocking back and forth every time the driver hit the brakes. Where is James???

I went to Nima yesterday. It was my first trip there since the students left. The Nima kids seemed down. They were not their usual happy playful selves. I knew this trip would impact both groups but the impact was much deeper than I ever expected. In these past three weeks the SF students bonded with the Nima kids as much if not more than I have in 3 years.

The potential for these strong friendships was evident to me on the first day. I was expecting the Nima kids to be very shy but they were actually outgoing and curious to find out about the Americans. I smiled as I watched Ajara and Naomi holding hands, Yaw asking Erik question after question, and many of the young boys chasing after Marcio. That first day in Nima exceeded my expectations ten fold. It was the highlight of my trip and a day I will never forget.

The experience overall had it's ups and downs as one would expect. Ghana is not for everyone so the SF students did a great job coping with the heat, pollution and power outages. Erik & Vivian also did a great job helping with the planning and logistics. One of our biggest challenges was getting the kids out of bed in the morning. We quickly learned that they would get out of bed for the internet. So we scheduled internet time in the morning before heading off on our daily activities. Who ever came up with this idea is a genius!

This trip has been more than 2 years in the making and I can't believe it's over now. I'm excited to get back to SF to start looking at the photos and get the editing process started for our big show at SF Camerawork. I really shouldn't say it's "over" because I believe some of the SF students will return to Ghana to work with the Nima kids. When the SF students were crying on the last day I told them not to think of this as the end but the start of long friendships and many more trips to Ghana. I often tell people that you can't go to Africa just once and I think the SF students have caught the Africa travel bug.

To the SF students: You are always welcome in Ghana. AKWAABA!!!!!