First night without power!

Today, I overslept for orientation (I know this shocks everyone!)  The driver had to leave and come back for me this morning -- so everyone knew I was late - sad - must work on this!  So, my goal for tomorrow is to get up and out on time!  

It's strange, while I am in orientation, I do not feel at all like I am in Africa.  We are mostly an American group; there is one New Zealander, two Ghaneans, and one from further North in africa, who is the french teacher that I made a deal with today to teach me French, in return I promised to share with her my limited Spanish - I have always wanted to learn French!  So, looking around the room, and listening to fairly normal teacher orientation, I completely loose sight of our surroundings. 

 

It was a really cool day here - maybe in the seventies - so we were let out early to enjoy the day!   Several of us walked over to visit an orphanage near the school.  This totally brought me back to reality.  It was the first time our purpose here had really sunk in.  There were maybe fourty kids in the orphanage.  Many of them had disabilities, one precious little three year old was deaf, some were burned, some were scared to speak to us, while others begged just to be held.  A very bright 10 year old, who was blind in one eye welcomed us into their home .  He had just been adopted and was excited to be moving to the states soon.  Wow.  These kids were living in rags and all sharing small living spaces.  Please pray for these kids that I saw today and for the time I will be able to spend with them.

 

(Pictures by Melissa V)

It is 9:30 here and the power just went off, so I know that I am not going to be able to post this tonight - Tomorrow we are off to the big market downtown! We hear that it is very dirty and crowded - but I am all into the experience. I promise to have pictures, if the power is on tomorrow!