PICTURES!

Hello hello hello! I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have written, but things have been crazy and we can rarely get to the internet cafe. So pretty much this is going to be tons of pictures! yes!!

This is the road that we live on in Dodowa

This is our home :) it is made completely of cement with some dirt floors in certain rooms. The black tanks on the left are our water supply for showers and using the bathroom, washing clothes and dishes.

the usual random village kids that run up to us in the street and ask for us to take their picture

The Orphanage!!

This is Beauty. She is three years old. and such a doll! she is very good with English and is often seen with snot running out of her nose :)

This is Irene. She is eating her morning porridge.

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The cutie on the right is Connie. We didn't know her name for a long time because she pretended to not know english....little squirt! The beauty on the right with me is Coco. Her real name is Florence and she is so sweet and helpful. She recently stepped on a nail and had to go get a tetanus shot. I had to hold her down in the orphanage while one of the house mothers burned her foot. They believe that burning any wound will heal it, which is wrong. But we cannot change a culture, so I had to go along with it and sob while she screamed in pain. They do this daily to kids with wounds, that is why the kids always want to come to us for help with cuts and things.

 This is Felix. He is usually seen with a frown on his face but we have been getting him to be happy and smile! That is what makes this job worth it. He is so precious and his smile is to die for!

This is Kwame Adu with little Prince Benedict.

Well folks, it takes about five min to load each picture so I will return with much more!! This is just a taste of what I do. It's fantastic! ;)

Prince......

Hello!! Ok so I have some pictures but don't have a way to get them onto the computer. I know! It's annoying. So next time I post I will definitely have pictures up. Patience....I have definitely learned a lot of that here. Our schedule Mon-Fri is:   1. wake up at 5
                                  2. go to orphanage and get kids dressed and ready for school
                                  3. take kids to school at 6:30 ish
                                  4. go back to house and eat breakfast
                                  5. do laundry and errands
                                  6. go back to orphanage at 3 to play with kids until dinner
                                  7. at 6 go eat dinner
                                  8. 7:30 go back to orphanage and put kids to bed
It is a crazy, long day to do lots of things. but the kids always want to snuggle with you and play. I find that if we haven't been to see them in like a day, that I miss them. Leaving is going to be so hard.
   We have been having some problems with the guy who there to discipline the children. His name is Prince and he is frequently on a rampage yelling and beating the kids. If he ever beats the kids in front of me, he is going to get it. I do not like him one bit. He stays in our volunteer home and at night you can hear him "having a good time" with other women. We have to talk to Eddy about it.
    This last weekend we ventured to Kokrobite Beach which is three hours away from Dodowa. We took a tro-tro, well many tro-tro's to get there and stayed in a nice hotel on the beach! It was so beautiful and we were able to see white people! I only had to pay 10 ghana cedis and 90 peswas for my stay! That is like 6 US dollars. It was wonderful. I got an awesome sunburn that hopefully will turn into a tan. The hotel we stayed in had a running shower and toilet!! Ha is was a nice little vacation. This weekend we are traveling to the Monkey Sanctuary and I can't wait!!
    We have older boys in the orphange who are the nicest boys I have ever met. They are always looking out for us. They walk us home and night and never let us carry anything. They always give us a chair and are so considerate. Ah! I love them with all my heart. Beauty and Godwin are the two youngest and they are characters. They sit and talk to each other in Twi back and forth and back and forth.
     Saturday night, that boys started playing the drums and got a really nice beat going. I started to dance with the little ones and then kinda broke out into my own dance. That is when everyone went wild. They wanted me to keep dancing and dancing. Even the olders girls and the old house mother came up to me all excited and shook my hand meaning they loved that I could do something that is part of their culture. Now everyone calls me the dancer. It was a good way to make the kids feel like they could relate to me. It warms my heart when I can get a sad kid to smile. Felix is like six or seven years old and is always in a depressive mood, but lately I have gotten him to smile. It is my goal to open him up and let him be happy. The best part is when I put him on my shoulders to take him to school. He will actually say things to me now! I want to take him home. Well I will write more later; the girls are waiting for me. We are going to the market! Pictures soon!!!

first post from africa

Oh my goodness! I am in Africa!! It is more beautiful then I ever thought it would be. As soon as I arrived off the plane, everything was so different. It is so much greener here; trees and plants everywhere! It is also extremely humid and you are dripping all the time. You also never ever feel clean :) The streets are mostly dirt here in Dodowa (pronounced doe-doe-wah). The people are beautiful and very often when you pass by children on the street they yell "abruni" at you meaning white person. Mango trees cover a lot of the land, yes, dad you are probably way jealous. I have not tried one yet but oh boy I am going to eat a lot of mangos. Banana trees are also everywhere as well. Our volunteer house is nice compared to others. It is a cement house with a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a toilet and shower area. We take bucket showers because there is no running water. The showers are cold but it feels so nice compared to when you are sweating all day!  Our room is the hottest because there are six of us in there. My roommates and volunteer mates are all girls from Canada. They are super nice and really easy to talk to. Kristen, who has been here for a little over seven weeks, has been showing us how everything works and taking us to places.
       Even though all of this has been so wonderful, my favorite part has been the orphanage. As soon as we got there for the first time, all the kids were sitting quietly listening to a church group that came to visit, but as soon and the group left, the kids came to us and began to touch our faces, arms and hands. They asked us our names and we began to try to learn their's. There are 79 kids in this orphanage. The youngest is 3 months and the oldest is 19. They are so cute. They are so friendly and really good to each other. They have to look out for one another because no one really takes care of them. Even the 2 year olds are very independent. They smile and hang on you because they are so excited to see us. They love to be held and kissed and hugged. I think I am gonna like it here!! One thing that is really sad is the conditions that they live in. Most of them sleep on the floor while others have bunk beds. They go to the bathroom wherever they want and are constantly dirty. They get a bucket bath everyday before school. They get three meals a day of mush which they love, and don't have toys or nice clothes. They do have shoes though. If they don't behave, the house mothers beat them. Mamma Jane owns the orphanage and is there very rarely. I am constantly putting band aids and antiseptic fluid as well as calamine lotion on systs and heat rash. I love these kids already and I have only been with them a day!! oh my goodness! Their names are beautiful. They are beautiful! As of right now I am not allowed to take pictures at the orphanage but we are working on that. So, pictures to come!!

less than 5 hours left

Hello, Caitlin here! It is the night before I officially leave fore Ghana and I could not be happier! I am so thankful for all the support and donations that I have received. Knowing that friends and family stand behind me in this journey makes it worth the preparation. I am blessed to know all the wonderful people that I have come into contact with. Whether I have done crazy photoshoots with you, been to Del Taco in the wee hours of the morning, become an ultimate rebel by putting soap in the fountain, danced and sung my heart out, or just had a good talk, it has changed me for the better. I am so excited to embark and make a difference!! Hopefully I have access to internet often so I can document the wonderful experiences. Here we go!! TO GHANA!!!

          Guess who got their visa in the mail?!! Here we go!

27 days and counting!

My word, how time flies! I am less than a month away from my big adventure. I have everything ready except one last doctor's appointment. Months of planning, working, and scheming have come to this final month. I am more than ready. I do have worries about actually getting there to Ghana, but know that it will be so wonderful. I fly to Denver, Colorado; then to DC and finally to Ghana. I have only been on a plane once in my life and therefore am not too familiar with how everything works, but am confident that I can find help along the way. I know this is where I am supposed to be, and I couldn't be happier!!

73 days left...

The only thing left to pay for is my visa! Oh my lanta...I have everything pretty much taken care of. This is what keeps me going in school and work. I tell myself, "for Ghana," and then I push myself. We all have struggles in life and mine is school. I struggle with motivation, but now I have one! Do it for Ghana!! One thing that I have learned recently is to enjoy life NOW. As hard as it may be, we have to learn to enjoy the simple things and count our blessings. We cannot wish our life away! Live fore the moment and appreciate God's creations and blessings. Easier said than done right? Something that helps is to find a motivation. Something that is worth fighting for. It will push you to do great things! Another thing that I live for is my family. I cherish them more than ever and look forward to weekends when I can go home and see them. Aren't they beautiful?? :)

This is what it is all about man. I am so grateful for my family and that they push me to do what I want to do and what makes me happy. They have always supported me through thick and thin. It is because of them that I have the desire to serve in Ghana. It will be a wonderful experience, and I hope that I can teach those children everything that my family has taught me. I hope to be a mother figure to those kids just like my mom is to me. Thanks family! I love you!
73 days left! And still counting baby!