I didn’t know I was Ghana miss it this much.
Since I’ve been back this summer has felt like a dream. There are a few things that have helped me to remember not only how real this experience has been, but how important it has been as well. Being in Ghana has reminded me that we don’t live in a vacuum and we can relate to anyone as long as we are willing to be open understanding. Just about every day since I’ve been back in the states people have asked me about my experience and my time there. I’ve been trying my best to condense this two-month experience in to a two minute response, but honestly it’s been difficult and impossible.
It feels as if I’ve lived an entire life and trying to figure out how to meaningfully discuss this trip and everything about it is a task that I’m still struggling with.
My experience in Ghana has felt unreal with it’s fair share of ups and down. I would have never been able to anticipate the impact that I was left with. Everything I do reminds me of my time there, even down to random inside jokes. (Sadly I often have no one to share them with, because no one will understand.) What’s even worst is adjusting from being surrounded by the same people everyday to only being able to communicate with them sparingly through WhatsApp and Snapchat. Its been a strange adjustment, but its working itself into my new version of normal.
Side note — to those who have never been to Ghana, you might not understand why this is so important to me. But I miss fried yams and pepper sauce like crazy. This was my standard meal for lunch just about every day and to just have them ripped away from me has been cruel and unusual punishment.
My sense of normality has now and forever been changed by sense of relativity. What’s normal for one person may not be normal for another. Normality is often dictated by culture and this trip has challenged me to judge less and look at the world more patiently and openly.
Being exposed to the amount of poverty and disparity was frustrating enough. But not being able to address the larger systemic issues often left me feeling powerless. But working with Bright Generation Community Foundation reminded me that working to create change on the seeming small scale can create a large and impact in people’s lives. You can still work with people individually to combat some of these issues and empower communities through sometimes seemingly simple solutions. Even though it felt at times I wasn’t able to make the impact that I wanted to, I was reminded that my trip and this experience does not end here. Whatever line of work I find myself in I know that I will devote myself to social change domestically and abroad.
