From Me to You: Ghana - Vol. 2
Written: 06/19/2018
When Things Go Wrong: A Theme. More like, a theme of this trip, one that I've been grappling with. My last Ghana journal was about my hopes for this leg of the trip and my excitement about returning to this beautiful country. I've been so consumed with living each moment that I haven't journaled since. In the week since I've been here, though, so much has happened. My host family has been as wonderful as I hoped, and have done an excellent job at being hospitable and trying to help me adjust. I've begun working out of the UNFPA Ghana office on on the Accra portion of the project, and I did my first school visit this morning (see GLISS blogpost here)! I've also been to some of Accra's hotspots with my host siblings, visited a small zoo, gone to my first Catholic church service, and seen all different parts of the city - with much more to go, I'm sure. I've been welcomed warmly into every space that I've entered here so far, and the warmth I felt in this country the first time I was here has surrounded me again.
Despite so many positives, I've hit some major roadblocks as well, the biggest of them being my relationship to food here. I don't generally take well to spicy foods - which make up most of the dishes here - so my initial adjustment was to that difference. Pushing myself to try new foods has never been my strong suit, but I made it a point this trip to do so. However, I've learned that I like fufu and - sorry, Nigerians - Ghanaian jollof rice, along with some other dishes. The big wrong thing here, however, is that I began to feel sick to my stomach on my third day here, and have been suffering from a specific kind of traveler's ailment, if you catch my drift. This is accompanied by major cramps that have made it nearly impossible for me to comfortably eat for nearly five days now. I've been juggling this with trying to be respectful and gracious of what's being offered to me, but feeling so sick in a foreign environment has definitely put a damper on my spirits and left me with the most serious bout of homesickness that I think I've ever experienced. Over the weekend I had to really re-center myself and my purpose for being here in order to pull myself out of my blues; though I've heard so many positive stories about it, traveling abroad alone is hard.
It's not even just the distance or difference that bothers me, but more so experiencing all of these new things on my own without someone experiencing the same things to confide in. My previous two abroad experiences were done with a program of some kind, granting me a support system that is simply non-existent this trip. For me, that's been difficult.
Nevertheless, I finally reached the point on late Sunday night (or early Monday morning. . . I'm still not sleeping very much) that I realized that my own attitude counts way too much in this. Yes, many things have not gone my way this trip, and some circumstances have been uncomfortable, but my own outlook has been a contributor to what's wrong. So, I'm trying to incorporate more of what I know settles my mind and soul into my day, things like Facetime and conversation with friends, gospel music playlists, new Netflix shows and documentaries, and now, writing. Another big boost was my project work this morning, which reignited my sense of purpose for being here and excited me about the rest of what I'll learn and discover in Ghana.
As I'm writing these words, James Fortune's "It Could Be Worse" has just begun playing on the most recent gospel playlist I've found. "Praise now, it could be worse," the chorus sings. So, that's what I'll do.
When Things Go Wrong: A Theme. More like, a theme of this trip, one that I've been grappling with. My last Ghana journal was about my hopes for this leg of the trip and my excitement about returning to this beautiful country. I've been so consumed with living each moment that I haven't journaled since. In the week since I've been here, though, so much has happened. My host family has been as wonderful as I hoped, and have done an excellent job at being hospitable and trying to help me adjust. I've begun working out of the UNFPA Ghana office on on the Accra portion of the project, and I did my first school visit this morning (see GLISS blogpost here)! I've also been to some of Accra's hotspots with my host siblings, visited a small zoo, gone to my first Catholic church service, and seen all different parts of the city - with much more to go, I'm sure. I've been welcomed warmly into every space that I've entered here so far, and the warmth I felt in this country the first time I was here has surrounded me again.
Despite so many positives, I've hit some major roadblocks as well, the biggest of them being my relationship to food here. I don't generally take well to spicy foods - which make up most of the dishes here - so my initial adjustment was to that difference. Pushing myself to try new foods has never been my strong suit, but I made it a point this trip to do so. However, I've learned that I like fufu and - sorry, Nigerians - Ghanaian jollof rice, along with some other dishes. The big wrong thing here, however, is that I began to feel sick to my stomach on my third day here, and have been suffering from a specific kind of traveler's ailment, if you catch my drift. This is accompanied by major cramps that have made it nearly impossible for me to comfortably eat for nearly five days now. I've been juggling this with trying to be respectful and gracious of what's being offered to me, but feeling so sick in a foreign environment has definitely put a damper on my spirits and left me with the most serious bout of homesickness that I think I've ever experienced. Over the weekend I had to really re-center myself and my purpose for being here in order to pull myself out of my blues; though I've heard so many positive stories about it, traveling abroad alone is hard.
It's not even just the distance or difference that bothers me, but more so experiencing all of these new things on my own without someone experiencing the same things to confide in. My previous two abroad experiences were done with a program of some kind, granting me a support system that is simply non-existent this trip. For me, that's been difficult.
Nevertheless, I finally reached the point on late Sunday night (or early Monday morning. . . I'm still not sleeping very much) that I realized that my own attitude counts way too much in this. Yes, many things have not gone my way this trip, and some circumstances have been uncomfortable, but my own outlook has been a contributor to what's wrong. So, I'm trying to incorporate more of what I know settles my mind and soul into my day, things like Facetime and conversation with friends, gospel music playlists, new Netflix shows and documentaries, and now, writing. Another big boost was my project work this morning, which reignited my sense of purpose for being here and excited me about the rest of what I'll learn and discover in Ghana.
As I'm writing these words, James Fortune's "It Could Be Worse" has just begun playing on the most recent gospel playlist I've found. "Praise now, it could be worse," the chorus sings. So, that's what I'll do.
From Me to You,
Sydney
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