Educate Ghana

I just finished this video of my time in Ghana.  It is geared towards the importance of education, but still helps you get a feel of what it is like over there.  Because I had to compress it the quality may not be as good as the original, but it gets the job done.

I hope this helps you to see why it is that I am involved in such a thing, and why it is so important to me.

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Ghanaian Experience

I've had a number of people ask me what my time in Ghana was like, and so I thought I would post it here for everyone to read. I really can describe it in one word: Indescribable. But, I will try to do more than that.

From the moment I arrived to the moment I left I have never felt so loved and accepted in my life by people that I have never met before. They wanted to carry my bags everywhere we went, I never walked to my hotel alone (it was always with around 5 other people) as they wanted to be sure we were always safe, I was fed for free by people who normally charge for the food, I was "adopted" by a family and given a family name of "Nartae Nartey," everyone wanted to say hi, all the kids would wave and want to talk to you. It was such a wonderful feeling, and I really felt as though I was a member of their society. People had the attitude of, and would constantly say, "We are one world, and we are one people." They didn't care about your life story, your color, your situation, they just genuinely loved you. I came to see that that was a trait of the Ghanaian people towards any visitors, not just those that are of a different race.

At the same time, I felt very humbled and simple in my way of life there. I bathed in a tub with buckets of water as we didn't have any running water. At the end of every day I was so dirty and sweaty that the water ran brown as I bathed. Walking through the streets and dirt paths I felt as though I was one of those people. I ate like them, lived like them, and even learned a bit of their language.

Outside of going through and listing out everything that I did and saw, the trip was absolutely amazing. If anyone ever has the opportunity to go, it is not something that I would ever want to miss. You will not be disappointed. I was so impressed by the people and their desire to help me and my friend who I joined over there. In only a weeks time I came to love a people and a place so very much, and I am so very grateful to have been able to go. I hope to be able to go back soon, and to go back often.

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Ghana, West Africa: The experience of a lifetime!

After a week in a country you've never been to it can be hard to describe the experience, your thoughts and feelings, and really convey how you feel about something.  Needless to say, my time in Ghana this last week was indescribable.  So, I have decided to just post some of my favorite pictures (picking from over 300 is tough) in hopes that this will show a little of what I came to love so much in such a short time!

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If the world were different...

I was talking to a friend of mine today and had this random thought.  As we talked about it for a moment I decided that I wanted to post about it.

So I wonder, why is it that if you want to be healthy you have to pay so much money?  I walk through a grocery store and everything that is supposed to be healthy for you or organic is so dang expensive.  Yet, when I walk through the junk food section and such it is much cheaper.  I don't understand this at all.  In fact, it seems quite ironic to me.  I mean, there are so many warnings and such that tell you the effects of not being healthy.  Doctors are always talking about what you should and shouldn't do to be healthy.  Yet, they all charge a ton of money for it.  But, if I want to be unhealthy it is basically free.  In fact, it can be completely free.  It is unhealthy to sit and do nothing and if I want to I can do that without a problem.  But hey, think about all the money you are saving by being unhealthy.  Maybe I should be unhealthy for a time and then use all the extra money to buy something to make me healthy again.

But then I started thinking, well if the world were the other way around, or backwards from what it is now... would I then be obese?  So, I started to wonder what I would look like if I were obese.  My friend suggested a site (thank you Krista!) and I went and put my face on an obese kid.  Therefore, if I were obese, this is what I would look like.

Create your own FACEinHOLE

All in all, I have come to the conclusion that I will live with the way the world is.  After seeing this image I don't think I could live with myself looking like this.  I think I will stick to the health and spend the extra money.  But... it is still ironic if you ask me.

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St. Patty's Day in the Chi

If you have never been to Chicago for St. Patrick's Day, then you might want to find an excuse.  I'd only heard about this before, and now that I live in Chicago I get to actually experience it.  I heard it was dyed green, but I had no idea what they were actually talking about.  So, here it is, the dying of the river.  It looked like the Ghostbusters needed to come after this because Slimer has just had his way with the river.   

Talk about a difference in color.  The contrast was crazy.

Then of course you get to enjoy the town the rest of the day with all the interesting people around and everyone looking for their favorite Irish pub.  This guy had to have been the most popular guy in all of Chicago for the day.  I swear he took at least 75 pictures in the 10 minutes it took for me to get and eat some food.  Why didn't I think of this?  I would have so many friends now if I had.  Oh well, maybe next year.

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