So I have only two more days left in Tamale. This trip has really flown by. In just a week I will be in the Netherlands, and in 14 days I will be back in the States. While I am excited to see my family, I don't want to go home. I have come to the realization that I am most at home when I don't have a home. For me, the unpredictability of a new culture, the excitement of meeting new people, and the experience of being forced into a new mentality is where I am most comfortable. I don't plan to stay back in the States for too long - I can't. And you could argue that it is the "travel bug" but this is not some random, new thought. This trip has been a confirmation of something I have felt ever since Nicaragua in 2005. IBI this summer just made the feeling stronger and then it was all confirmed while in Ghana. So, I plan to volunteer/work whatever abroad.
That aside, I think I am getting sick. I may have an ear infection, and today just took everything out of me. I went with Dan out to a village to do some voice testing for a dub of their Jesus film in a local tounge. On the way out to the village, I started to get hypoglycemic (if that is how you spell it, I am used to a Mac that corrects everything) and light headed and dizzy. Dumb me, I didn't ask Dan to stop for something sugary (i.e. Coke) and it just made things worse. On top of that, I had only had a bowl of cereal and then fried yam for lunch, so it was nothing but carbs and that didn't help. So I got home, wiped and queasy. I am hoping sleeping in tomorrow will help. Di says it is important that I feel good when I head to Accra, but more importantly when I am travelling. Sick notice aside, it was pretty awesome to see what Dan and Di do on a daily basis. We took a three hour drive (mostly on a dirt road that wasn't nearly as bad as the one to Mole National Park) out to a small village and then Dan just tested some locals to see if they would be good for dubbing a Jesus film for evangelism. You have to hand it to Dan for his fevor and desire to evangelize. And honestly. there are many Ghanaians that need the sort of hope that religion, either Christianity or Islam has to offer.
On another note, this past weekend, deep in discussion, i was talking about the needy culture of Ghanaians with a few of the people I met at Mole Park. The next day, on the way home, I had my first experience of what they were talking about. Dan stopped to visit with a friend from primary school. A boy came right up to my window while I sat in the car waiting and begged. He knew right away to come up and beg. He didn't even try the round about way of guilting me into giving him money by first friending me and being polite. He just came up and said (verbatim) "Give me a biscuit."
What have we done? In our attempt to eradicate poverty and bury the memory of the White Man's Burden, we have created cultures that demand, and demand freely. This boy, as all the youth have learned, when a white person appears, then you know that money and aid is going to come. How pathetic and embarissing knowing that my own people have created that culture.
Unabashed plug here, that is why microfinance works (to an extent, but that is another argument). Teaching responsibility and a good work ethic is the only way these people will ever lift themselves out of poverty. Just dumping billions in aid isn't the answer and it must stop, or the next generation will learn the same method of getting by in the world.
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Hope you are doing better, flying with an ear infection can be bad, so take some gum to chew. Dan and Di are shedding the hope of Christ among these people and that leads one out of spiritual and material poverty. As you say they are to be commended to God for their work and stewardship.
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