Life-Changing Experiences
The past couple of weeks have been filled with a few of the most life-changing and emotional experiences I’ve had in a while. Short summary: Bright Generation is a Giving Partner for Toms’ One For One campaign (such an incredible initiative) and I got to photograph a distribution at a small elementary school in the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. BGCF also distributes micro-loans to women with families to help them purchase land and start a farm so we got to visit that farm on the same day as the Toms distribution. Finally, my absolute favorite excursion of the whole trip was when we went to Busua, a small beach village.
We knew we were going to get to do a Toms distribution but had no idea when. One day we came into work and were told the next day was set aside for a day of giving and exploring. We packed up a ton of boxes of Toms shoes in a ton of different sizes for the kids and their teachers. Seeing the smiles on their faces was so heartwarming and I was overwhelmed with gratitude and joy the entire time. The kids were so happy and were dancing for hours with their shoes, waving Toms flags. This moment was definitely impactful for me and made me so thankful for the little things I have — especially a pair of shoes on my feet every day. On the same day, we visited one of the farms Bright Generation distributes micro-loans out to. The women were so incredible and I have such admiration for the work they’re so dedicated to doing to keep their family thriving. I loved getting to meet them and walk around the flourishing farms they’ve all developed.
Visiting Busua was absolutely hands down my favorite adventure of the entire trip because of the people and the beauty of the village. While we were there, we met two amazing people at our hostel: one from Austria and another from Belgium. They were both traveling throughout Ghana just exploring and surfing. We spent the weekend with them eating good food, watching incredible sunrises, and surfing! The beach was so soothing and I felt like all my frustrations and worries melted away when I was surfing and just standing in the ocean. Like I’ve said earlier, water is incredibly healing for me and I could tell it was for a lot of the kids in the village too. They loved running through the water, jumping into the waves, with huge smiles on their faces and would even pull me in with them to enjoy it with them.
I absolutely loved the kids we met while in Ghana. They were so sweet and would hold my hands and followed me everywhere. They’re so adventurous and genuine. Meeting the women that have the privilege of receiving a loan from BGCF was incredibly empowering. I love seeing the large role women have when you’re farther away from the cities and more in the rural villages. There is much less of a gender gap in the villages, from what I’ve noticed and it was very nice to see.
