Life in Ghana

I cannot believe I have already been here one month!!!! God is so good! By the grace of God I have been healthy and strengthened each day to continue to serve and love in the Lord's mighty power! I feel so at home here at the Village of Hope surrounded by all these amazing children! I have been trying to learn some words to communicate in the primary language of this area, which is Twi (pronounced tree) and Fanti. There are some sounds that my mouth has a hard time making, but I am trying. One of the first words I learned was thank you because I was told that Ghanaians really like when we Americans say thank you in their language. I also wanted to say I love you to the children in their language, so I use that word all the time too. When I said it for the first time to my little 8 year old friend, Ruth, her eyes just lit up and she laughed. Now we say it all the time to each other! And I taught her and some of the children I love you in sign language.

I have also enjoyed learning more about the Ghanaian culture, but I have so much more to learn. Two and a half months just is not long enough (I know my mom thinks it is though). Here are some new phrases and words that I have learned since I have been here:

"Rubber" means a plastic bag
"Flashing" means dialing someones cell phone number and then hanging up before the person answers. They do this so the number appears and that person calls them back so that they do not use their own phone credit.
"I'm coming" means I'll be right back
"Plaster" means a bandaid or bandage (The children are always asking me for a plaster when they get scrapes and blisters)
"Slippers" mean flipflops
"Dress" means clothes

I also learned it is not appropriate to wave with your left hand, of course, after I already did so. Good to know. You should only wave with your right hand or both hands, not the left because it is considered unclean. You should also only accept items from others with your right hand. When you eat, you only wash your right hand, the hand you will eat with (you don't use silverware). You will be given some soap and a bowl of water before a meal to wash only your right hand. When you are eating, if someone walks by you, you need to invite them to your food by saying "your invited." People will not usually eat from your plate, but you need to offer.

When I was at one of the children's houses during dinner, a child said "your invited" to me. I decided to pass on the fish head, but I had a bite of the banku (ground maize and water pounded into a large ball) dipped in sauce. Stephen who was sitting right next to me popped the fish's eyeball out and ate it. I heard a crunch. I tried to keep my stomach from churning too bad between watching him eat the fish eye and the smell of the fish itself. It was hard since fish grosses me out, and the kids eat the entire fish. I have eaten both banku and fufu (ground plaintains and cassava with water pounded into a large ball), which are traditional foods here. They are pretty good in soup.