I returned back home to America this Monday afternoon and was so happy to see my mom, sister, and 2 best friends waiting for me at the airport. This was such a great surprise and really lifted my spirits, as it was very difficult for me leaving Ghana. I created a life there over the past 5 months and fell in love with the country. To just pick up and leave this life all the sudden one day, was one of the most challenging things ive done, much more challenging than moving there! Leaving America, I knew id see my family and friends again and that they would always be there for me. Leaving Ghana however, I was not sure when i would see all the amazing people i met again. Its not a question of IF i will ever go back, only a matter of when. My experience in Ghana was life changing to say the least, and if i could go back and do it all over again, i would in a heartbeat! These are pictures of my final days in Ghana which consisted of going back to the orphanage, traveling up to the Northern Region with my friend Kelsey, and just saying my goodbyes to everyone.....
My friend bought the orphanage a Christmas tree as the children wanted one so badly and never had one. These are some pictures of the tree decorating (paper decorations they made and balloons)
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| My roomate Jessica, and friend Kelsey! |
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Kelsey and I left Accra earlyyy Monday morning and flew up to Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region. When we arrived, we took a taxi into the center of town and immediately went to the Metro Mass bus station to buy our tickets for the 1:30pm bus to Mole National Park. We had a lot of time to kill, so we explored Tamale for several hours.
First thing, we went to the market in search of the "fetish" section. After going around in what can only be described as a maze, we found it! We saw scraps of tiger, leopard, snake and crocodile skin, horse tails, a lion skull, elephant skin and much more! This section of the market is a living relic of ancient superstition, black magic and voodoo witchcraft that used to be so prevalent in Ghanaian society and religion. Now, most people come to this section to buy ingredients that they use in their own recipes to make herbal remedies to cure a variety of illnesses.
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| As we sat in Tamale drinking a soda, children would come up to us and i would offer them a shiny happy face sticker i brought along with me. Soon, they would go off and get their friends to bring to me to get a sticker as well. It was too cute. This is a picture of them across the road coming to get their sticker! | | | | | | | | | |
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After a 4 hour drive on the bumpiest road i think in all of Ghana, we arrived to Mole National Park late at night. We woke up early the next morning to go on a safari walk to see some animals!
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| Mud Huts |
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| baboons |
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| warthogs | |
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| cob |
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| elephant footprints...sadly no sightings! |
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| monkey |
After our safari hike, we left mole and went to a nearby village called Larabanga. This village is entirely Muslim and is known for its Mosque which was built in the 1400's, according to the people who live there (however the true date is uncertain)
From Larabanga, we wanted to get a car to either the town of Wa, which is the capital of the North Western region, or to Wechiau, which is the location of the hippo sanctuary we were trying to get to. The probability of us getting a car was very low, so one of the people in the town offered to take us on motorbikes for 40 ghana cedis each. We decided this was our last and only option, so we took it. We were under the impression that we would each ride on a seperate bike, however it turned out that one man (the one above) drove kelsey and I on the back of his bike. This was a 3 hour ride, on mostly bumpy dirt roads, and although may not have been the smartest decision, it turned out great and we got to see so much of the countryside! We woke up early the next morning and went in a canoe to see the hippos!
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| Baba, our guard! |
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| First Starbucks! in DC |
