How can I put the Trent-in-Ghana experience on paper, an experience that two years later still permeates so many aspects of my life? Without a doubt, the best part about the Trent-in-Ghana program is the fact that it allows you so much freedom to follow your heart and your dreams while in Ghana. You aren't visiting a country on an organized tour, you are living in another country on a program that gives you the tools and avenues to settle in and to branch out. I want to focus my reflections on discussing my living situation in Accra and on my internship in Tamale. For me, my experience in Ghana truly exemplifies the statement "home is where the heart is". I moved to a country where I knew no one and left with deep bonds of friendship and family that remain strong to this day.
I and another Trent-in-Ghana student had the amazing opportunity to live in a large family house during the first semester in Accra. It was an intense, almost overwhelming experience, to become part of an extended family of over fifteen people in one compound. Days were filled with the laughter and the excitement of new friendships, early mornings were permeated by the sounds of gentle Ghanaian gospel music as the tropical morning breeze filled the house. The five children living in our compound became an integral part of our lives. They laughed at our gradual process of learning "how to be Ghanaian" while we fascinated them with our awkward inabilities to clean our clothes by hand, to prepare meals from scratch over a fire and multiple other inadequacies that life in the West simply does not teach you. Weekends were full of trips to our family's hometown, church, and frequent visits to the house by other extended members of the family.
The second semester allowed me to move to Tamale and begin working with an organization focused on community water and sanitation projects in rural agricultural villages in northern Ghana. My living accommodations took on a new shape and excitement, I found myself living in a communal compound on the outskirts of the city sharing space with five different families and nine children. With my rent at only $4.50 Canadian a month, living accommodations were somewhat different then in Accra! The situation was definitely more challenging as water, electricity and personal space were sometimes in short supply. However, I can only remember my time shared with these families as an intensely rich and profound experience. Days began with sweet callings to prayer hailing from the surrounding mosques and the smells of morning rice and stew cooked by one of the mothers in the compound. Time in the compound seemed to fly by, there was always a game to be played, a meal to learn how to cook, water to be fetched, neighbors to be visited and new friends to be made. Although I was only in the compound for four months, the bonds made during this time were intense. I got to learn the personality of each child, a little bit of the four different Ghanaian languages spoken in the compound and the realities of what it means to live intensely connected to your source of food and water and to the whims of the dry season weather in northern Ghana.
Since I have returned from Ghana I have caught myself overwhelmed with feelings of nostalgia and sadness that the most profound and intense experience of my life is over. However, by God's grace (an expression you'll quickly pick up in Ghana), I've been able to return to rekindle friendships and bonds on a return trip to Ghana and through frequent emailing. To anyone debating whether to take off on this amazing experience I can only tell you that it will allow you to experience and learn things that after you have returned you will wonder how anyone can understand what life is about without having lived what you have lived.