Lexi in Ghana: My Last Day in Abomosu :(

Well. Tonight is our last night in Abomosu. It's a bitter sweet feeling. I have met some absolutely amazing people here; people that are changing lives! But I'm excited to be a tourist and see fun things over the next few days.

So today was a pretty easy day. Elizabeth and I went to a village called Amonom with the distric water official guy, whose name is Nelson. We had a meeting with all the chiefs and elders in the town regarding the boreholes. I don't think I've talked about the Ghanaian tradition for greeting guests to the town and stuff, and it's pretty interesting! First, we ask permission to visit the village and we say why we are there. Well, our interpreter does it. Then, we go around the room and shake everyone's hand. They are usually sitting in a line. To accept our offer and to welcome us, the assembly men & chief & elders get up while we sit down and they shake our hands. Then we proceed with our meeting. At the end, we have to ask permission to leave. We have had to go through this process maybe, like, 4ish times. So anyways, their answers were basically that they love the boreholes and that their community does a good job of maintaining them, and that they need more. When we were done, they offered us a drink. It was pretty funny because Nelson was trying to get us to accept the beer, but we kept telling him that I'm underage in America and we have to abide by University rules and he just kept insisting. He is an older guy, but he just didn't understand! We took non-alcoholic Guiness malts, which were pretty weird tasting. We took forever to drink them, and we sat there for forever and the assembly men just sat there, and then we realized that they were waiting for us to finish our drinks. So we tried to drink them faster, and then we asked permission to leave. Some of the customs here are pretty interesting and I definitely feel lucky that I get to experience them first hand. It's also pretty cool getting to meet village royalty, too!

Basically every village and every family we listen to asks us for something. They tell us, next time you come, bring us clothes, a house, more boreholes, public bathrooms, etc. It's sad because they want so much, and they expect that since we are white, we can just give it to them. But it isn't that easy. We asked the village elders today how much they had in their budget for maintenance of the boreholes, and they have 320 Ghana cedis, which is equivalent to $160 American dollars. Its crazy to think that I have more money than that just sitting in my purse to spend on food and souvenirs and stuff, and they only have that much to maintain their only quality water source. It's sad. I feel helpless, and they expect so much, but we really can't promise anything. We were just basically doing a research project, not buying them new boreholes. I wish I could do more!

The rest of the day, I spent relaxing and cooking. Since it was our last night, Darcy, Sherry, and I cooked a steak dinner for the Abu's. They cooked us a Ghanaian dinner last night, so we cooked them an American dinner tonight! We also had baked mac n cheese, salad, and fruit. It was yummmyyyy. Beef here in Ghana is pretty uncommon, and the beef they do have tastes pretty weird, so it isn't the same as in America, but hey. Steak is steak. Atleast it isn't rice and chicken!

Looking back at my time here, I'm shocked at how many amazing people I have met. Stephen and Margaret Abu are amazing people. They do so much for their community. They really are changing lives! And Seth, mine and Leah's favorite interpreter, was just so nice and such a good guy. He also came to dinner tonight, and he brought his youngest daughter, Benedicta. She was so darn cute! Although he came late, Soup, an American, also ate our meal we cooked. He is living with the Abu's and he is from Utah. He is, like, 26, but he has students from Utah State coming to learn about business by actually giving out loans to people in Ghana. He was a pretty cool guy. Also Elder Dalton is a missionary who originally lived in Washington, then moved to Utah, and is now doing a mission with his wife in Ghana. He was an awesome person to meet. I also met, like, 5 other LDS missionaries from America and other African countries. Honestly, every person I have mentioned so far in this little paragraph is LDS. It's crazy how much they do out here. It's weird because sometimes i feel like we too are on an LDS mission, just because I've met so many LDS people here. The missionaries seem to have a big influence on the people they talk to. It's crazy how much religion can affect culture. Like I said before, some men here have multiple wives, but since Seth and many other Ghanaian men are Mormon, they only have one wife. Subcultures within subcultures within subcultures blow my mind sometimes. And I know there are TONS in the US.

Anyways... It was also amazing meeting some amazing nurses, like Joana from Asunafo. She was definitely my favorite. & meeting the Australians at the Begoro Rehabilitation Center, the villagers in Abomosu and other clinics, and the chiefs and royalty we have met. And not only that, I've made good friends with the girls on my trip! If it isn't obvious, that weird Chinese girl Leah and I have hit it off! We are so similar its insane. & I feel like everyone on our trip has SUPER different personalities. Everyone is completely different. It's weird, but it's good! I've definitely made some friends while living together in this house in Abomosu.

I've gotten so used to life here in Ghana, that sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm in Africa. The scenery, the people, the weather, etc, i am all used to, until I stop and think to myself that I really am in Africa.

I'm going to miss Abomosu. I won't miss the leaky sinks, the toilets that you have to pump the flusher like 50 times before anything happens, the ants that are everywhere, the flying bugs in the kitchen, the daily rice, the sketchy electricity, the heat, etc, but i WILL miss the people and the experience. These will be memories that I will keep with me forever!