Hey all,
Well, it has become that and more. Accra is wonderous because it is just so alive, you wouldn't think you would find so many people out in about in one place whether at night or during the day, but this place is just constant movement. We had to switch hotels yesterday, but the upgrade was a good one. The internet is faster and allows me to keep my loved ones up to date on my situation here.
Our Vacation Bible school has become everything we felt it should be, from the first day we broke out the theme song to Son Treasure Island and decorated Beautiful Gate Center; orange, red and blue fish dance on the walls and we brought backgrounds of the ocean covered in seaweed to line the stone walls. The pink house where the majority of the 28 sleep is small to keep so many, so many sleep outside in the church/ an open gazebo type area...cold concrete floor, instruments in the front and older beige chairs that line the area for the congregation..it is also now the main location for our groups VBS. We've held a puppet show with a tickle crew, singing times and I've played more games in the past 3 days then I have since middle school.
They love soccer so you better believe that's going to be my grand finale. The kids are kind-hearted, sweet souls and some of them have lived on the street for most of their lives...for this reason among so many others do I cherish being here and serving them even if at the end of the night they have to go back out into the street.
There's a sort of tearing of the heart when you think that all some of these kids have is what the center can give them on a day to day basis..and yet they stay because they have protection, friends and some kind of shelter.
Resources are just not enough......so, we make do with what we can bring and the Lord provides more for these children than I think we ever could. Our days have been spent mostly inside...though we toured the city on Saturday and I saw the same. Same smiles, same kind eyes, same sympathetic spirit....it's a blessing and a true learning experience for me....plus pages and pages of notes. The heat is magnified with the smoke burning garbage in some of the communities surrounding the center, but if we hadn't walked around giving flyers I would have seen the beauty within the difficulty.
The little ones walking around selling goods, while balancing it on their head with ease and perfect poise. Dresses flowing, some dragging through the red clay as mothers walk speaking the local language..Twi truly only spoken in Ghana by a small million or so. Purples and reds color the dresses and a little head pops out of a pouch they tie along their back and smiles at me as I pass. These reflections, these memories are gifts....and I am treasuring every sight. Hope to continue posting tomorrow. Hope all is well, and your as blessed as I am through family and good friends. I've now prayed in 6 different languages..and they're forcing me to speak french lol.
love u guys
-Cristela
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