Our Last Day in Ghana

So, here we are at the last day's update! I'm going to try to stick to the facts, and post again later about my "after the trip" feelings. I know you can't wait for that one. :)

The last day was another eventful one, and we fit as much in as we could before leaving.

We spent Friday morning with our last little Compassion girl, Freda. She shares a birthday with our Carlie, and Carlie had waited ALL week for us to finally meet her friend. Freda lives in a different area than the other two, so we had to save her visit for a different day. It was a treat for us to get to bring Colin, Amy, and Megan along for this visit, to see what Compassion does for these kids, and to get to see Freda's school and home.

(Unfortunately, the man who took pictures for us didn't quite know how to work the camera. So, most of our pictures did not turn out. There were a few that did, though!)

Just like the visit on Tuesday, we were once again humbled by our warm greeting. As we walked in the church where the Compassion office is, we heard music and saw children dancing. Godfrey, the Compassion representative, told us this was all for us. They had been waiting for our arrival! It's just unbelievable that they honor their sponsors this way.

As we met with the staff there, we were once again impressed by all that Compassion does for these kids. And, we were even more blown away when they showed us a computer lab full of Dell computers and learning resources that they had just received from Compassion for the children and the community. It was donated by a single donor and was worth over $30,000. What an amazing resource for these kids and families!

We quickly headed to Freda's school to meet her and see her classmates. Once again, we drove up to see the entire school waiting on the steps to greet us. Amazing!

We walked to Freda's class, which was in the preschool area. Her class was so sweet and were so excited to see us! Freda, however, was a little nervous and very shy. We had already been told that she was a very reserved child, but I think this just completely overwhelmed her! Here is the moment we met her...

She is our youngest sponsored child, and did not speak English as well as the others either. But, even with these challenges, I hope and pray that she understood how much we love her and her family, and that we pray for her always!

As we entered her house, we once again were reminded of the circumstances these families live with. The father lives across town, and the mom and children live with their grandparents. They all sleep in the same bedroom. (This is Freda's little sister, Anita...)

Freda's mother runs a small store attached to the front of their home (which our group was able to shop at on our way out to help support this family. We bought some Obama Cookie Wafers, which were hilarious, and some floor mats for the Village of Love.)

We gave Freda all of her goodies, and enjoyed watching her put on her new dress, new tshirt, new flipflops, and play with her new toys.

The Compassion staff kept telling us that she was so happy. But, the girl only cracked a smile once. :) I wish we could have spent the whole day with her, because I think we could have found those smiles somewhere inside! But, we had a whole afternoon planned with the kids back at the VOL, so we had to say goodbye to Freda after just a couple of hours. It was wonderful to be with her and her family, and we look forward to visiting again.

As we got back to the hotel, we were able to hear the update from the rest of the group, who had been working all morning on the medical needs of the children. They went to purchase mosquito nets for each child in the Touch A Life program, as well as begin an immunization program at the local hospital for the kids. They had quite a few stories about their experience at the hospital, and we are continuing to pray that a good relationship can be established between this group of children and the hospital close by.

We were then able to greet the children as they arrived home, and the medical team began the health screenings right away, to fit everyone in before we left!

Brad was able to respond to some important physical needs of these children right away with the medication he brought, and has also made medical treatment plans for others who he found had specific needs and issues. We are SO THANKFUL that he has been able to help these children in this way! And, we are also SO THANKFUL for all of you who sponsored a child and helped make this happen!! I look forward to sharing more with you after Brad returns and we have more photos of the whole day.

As medical checkups continued, so did our painting, reading, and playing.

We were joined by the Mercy Project team as well, who were heading to Kete Krachi the next day to provide a similar VBS for the Touch A Life kids there. It was fun to have so many people there for a few hours!

That evening, we did a final time of singing with the kids. I wish I could say I got through that without crying. But, of course, I did not. We began singing "God is So Good", which we taught them this week. A verse we added was "He rescued me, He rescued me, He rescued me, He's so good to me." As I looked around at these beautiful faces singing about God's rescue, the tears just streamed down my cheeks. I was so sad to be leaving them. And, I was so thankful for my week with them. I am thankful they are rescued. I also feel that God has rescued me through these last few months. He has rescued me from a status quo life. He has rescued me from the self-centered, all-about-myself American way. And, I am so thankful.

Next we sang Blessed Be The Name of the Lord, which of course did NOT help me stop crying. "You give and take away, You give and take away, My heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name..." He has given us so much, even in our loss. "When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, Blessed be Your name."

As we sang, and cried, the girls especially became worried about some of us. Emefa dried my tears with her hands, and hugged me, while she cried too. Comfort asked me "Ma Chelsea, why are you sad?" I told her I was crying because I loved them so much, and didn't want to leave. But, I'm also crying because God is so good and I am so happy to see them all so happy. She just hugged me and smiled. Here is little Teiko, cuddling with Ma Amy while we sang:

After some singing, it was time for the kids to show off their African drumming and dancing skills. Oh my goodness, they are amazing. It is so fun to watch them! Joseph is the lead drummer, and is really gifted at it.

I wish I had pictures of the whole event, but the kids had our camera, so we have pictures of the walls, the floor, and a few kids' faces. :) They love taking pictures, and some of them are really good at it. I have a feeling they were dancing WHILE taking pictures that night.

So, this is when it gets sad. We sat for the next hour or so and read with the children, knowing that time was almost up.

By the way, I've never loved bald heads more than I do these. :)

We read as some fell asleep next to us, and after sitting and reading as long as we could, they told us it was time to go.

So, the hugging and crying began. Most of the kids did very well, and although they were sad, they hugged and loved on us, as we promised to come again soon. Many asked for us to write them and tell our kids hello.

A little earlier Mary had asked if we could go sit alone for a minute. So, we went off by ourselves. She told me that she would pray for me every day and I told her I would do the same. I took the opportunity to share a "mother's blessing" with her as well, telling her all that I see in her, and what I pray for her. We just sat and hugged, and I prayed that God would never let me forget that moment. She is a very precious girl, and I know God has very big plans for her. I've really never seen a child with so much of God's spirit in her.

As I was hugging many of them goodbye, I noticed I had not seen Joel. I was looking everywhere for him to say goodbye and finally found him sitting by himself behind the house. As I reached down to pick him up, he was just limp and wouldn't look at me. I picked him up and cradled him like a baby with his head on my shoulder. I told him I loved him and that I would be praying for him and that I would be back to see him again. Then, I felt his tears falling on my shoulder. He was crying but making no noise. I began weeping. Shannon was walking by, and came and surrounded Joel as well, and cried with us.

I carried him to the front of the house and hugged him some more with Mark. I had no words to make it better. And, it killed me to leave them all. Of course, I know they are children and that they probably bounced back by the next day, but something about spending this amazing time with them, and then leaving them, was just too hard.

There were lots of tears as we drove to the hotel to get our bags. And, really, for me, they still haven't stopped. Even as I type this entry, I am sitting with my girls watching videos of our week, listening to the kids sing on the last night. My tears still come very easily. And, this morning, Mark and I were already talking about when we would go back to see them all!

But before I get any sappier, I will close. We hope to have some video to share with you very soon. That is Mark's big project for the evening! And, what is my project? Lots-o-laundry. :)

Compassion International Visit Day

Tuesday, July 20

Tuesday was a day we had been waiting for. For as long as we’ve known we were coming to Ghana, we have been looking forward to meeting our Compassion kids. We were as excited to meet these three girls as we were to meet our precious Touch A Life friends! And, I had a nervous stomach when I woke up, just anxious to meet them and see their faces.

Even though I knew it would be great, I was not prepared to receive the tremendous blessings we did through this experience.

Our driver picked us up very early in the morning, and we began the drive into Accra. After a very challenging search for Compassion’s field office, we finally found their beautiful building, and began our tour.

Lydia, a Compassion employee who arranges sponsor visits, stayed with us the entire day and led us on a tour of Compassion’s facilities.

Compassion’s offices were so impressive. I had heard and read all about how well they keep records, and how focused they are on their mission: to rescue children from poverty. But, to experience it in person was even better. We got to meet everyone who makes the Ghana program run so well. There are 25,000 children in the program, and Compassion’s goal is to increase that to 50,000 by 2013. They just celebrated their fifth year of service in Ghana this week, and we were so honored to visit during such an important time for them.

We got to see where the sponsor letters come in, and how they are reviewed. We even saw the boxes where our three girls’ mail comes!

After our tour, we were taken to our first visit, to meet the directors of the Compassion program for Edwina Atsupuhi. Edwina has been in our “family” since Kendyll was four, so we were very excited to meet her after many letters over the years. As we entered her church, where the program takes place, we were overwhelmed completely with our greeting. Hugs and cheering began immediately, and we were shown our “welcome” sign on the door. Everyone was so gracious and so thankful for our visit. It was very humbling to experience.

They gave us a beautiful gift of African wear for both Mark and me. They were so excited to see us put them on, and cheered again when we wore our new clothes. :)

One thing I was very impressed with at the center was how much detail they gave us about what they do there and how they run the program. Everything is so well organized and very well-run by men and women who really care about these 200 kids. We saw their curriculum, and were presented with the history of their program and the statistics of the children (all by power point!).

In the middle of the power point, I noticed a woman sit down next to Mark. Soon, we figured out that this was Edwina’s mother and baby sister! We interrupted the entire talk because we had to hug her neck! She was so sweet, and so was little Esther (although she wasn’t too sure about us!)

After the presentation, we got to see Edwina’s folder, full of copies of each letter we had written, every photo we have sent, every picture Kendyll and Carlie had colored, and even how the money was used any time we had sent a birthday or Christmas gift. It was AMAZING to see and brought us to tears to see how each thing has been cherished, both by this family, but also by this organization.

After a while, it was finally time to go meet Edwina!! We were taken to her school, which was precious. We were a spectacle for sure, as every child there noticed our presence and were quite distracted from their classwork. Oops!

As soon as we saw Edwina, we recognized her, and I started squealing and waving. She was still in class, so we waited while her teacher finished talking to the class. As soon as she was done, Edwina ran to us at the front of her classroom, and I scooped her up and hugged her. It was so good to know her in person after years of seeing only pictures.

We also got to meet her twin brother, Edwin, who I had also heard about but had not met. After sitting with the class and meeting lots more of the children, we headed out to see Edwina’s home.

Before we drove to the house, we were told more about her situation. I knew that her father had died when she was younger. There had been another father figure in their lives, but he has now left the family too. So, for the last few years the family had lived in a “non-permanent structure”, which I found means “They do not really have a house, they have a storage shed that they use as a home.”

It was very sad. It was literally a shed that we Americans would use to store our lawn care equipment. This family of four lived in one room. They slept on a foam piece on the floor, and sat in plastic chairs on the other side of the room. They cooked outside in the street with other families, and did not have much at all in the way of possessions.

As we entered the home, they showed us where to sit, and we began to show her the things we had brought with us. She was all smiles, as she saw new clothes, art supplies, bubbles, and a bag full of other things. We also brought her mother some rice and candy for their neighborhood friends. Oh, how I wish we could have done more! Like buy them a real house! :)

But, still, even among such poverty, where most everyone struggles to have enough for their children, I’ve never seen such peaceful, happy, unselfish people. They were so grateful and said so many times how blessed they were by this visit. But, the truth is, Mark and I were blessed so much more.

From there, we got to take Edwin and Edwina with us to our next visit with Abigail. Abigail lives in a different area of Accra, so they got to travel across town with us. We were informed as we got in the car that these sweet ones had never been in a car before, or traveled across Accra. That blew my mind, as I think about how often we are in and out of the car in America.

Of course, the car ended up being quite a part of our Compassion story. We were traveling with Lydia and Michael from Compassion, and had a taxi driver who waited at each place with us. We stopped for Cokes at a gas station, and came out to find the cab driver with the hood up. The car was not working.

As much as that inconvenienced our plans, I am very glad it happened. Until then, Edwin and Edwina had stayed pretty quiet, not speaking or smiling unless we talked to them. But, at the gas station, I was able to play with them some while we waited, and they seemed to open up. {Of course, I’m sure that the two huge packages of cookies, Pringles, and cokes helped them open up a bit too!}

After we took some silly pictures, and learned some silly hand games, it was time to find a new cab driver and get on with our day.

As we drove across town to finally meet Abigail, both of the children crashed in the car. Of course, there is nothing better than holding a precious sleeping child, especially one who I know now has a full tummy and a happy heart. I was in heaven. :)

Next stop was the Compassion program at Abigail’s church. Again, we received the royal treatment. Welcoming hugs, blessings on our family through beautiful prayers, and another wonderful gift. This time, we received yardage of African fabric! {I can’t wait to make ragdolls or maybe papooses for my girls, and our new baby with it!}

Just like the first center, we were given an overview of their program, and got to see Abigail’s file. We are her second sponsor, since her first sponsor stopped supporting her. The program director told us that Abigail was crushed when she heard that she was no longer being sponsored, and then was extremely grateful when she heard we had committed to her. That made our visit even more meaningful to us.

As we left the center and arrived at her school, the children were already on their way home that day. We got to hug Abigail and her sister right away, and enjoyed seeing how beautiful and tall she was in person. She was very shy and very polite. Even with her hesitation, she was smiling and happy. And, told us she had waited all day to meet us. :)

We went right to her home, which was a bit larger than Edwina’s, but still very basic and small for a family of seven. Her mother and five siblings live with her, and were all so incredibly sweet. All of the neighbors and their children joined us, as we shared our gifts with Abigail.

Every time Abigail opened something we brought, the whole family broke out in cheers, claps, and “Oh, God Bless You!” Even Abigail, said “God Bless You” every time we handed her something new. She was so thankful and so careful with each and every thing. It was amazing to think that she had never received so much at one time. And, sickening at the same time, to think of the excess we live with and how normal it is for my kids to receive a new toothbrush or a new shirt.

After a while, the family presented us a gift and once again, I was humbled and honored that a family who has next to nothing would provide something for us! We received a beautiful Ghanaian scarf, which we modeled in all the family pictures after that!

We said goodbye to her sweet family, and took Abigail, Edwin, and Edwina out to dinner. Their pictures do not express even an ounce of their excitement to be in a restaurant and to have so much food put before them. They all ate about half of it, and took home the rest. We gave them extra drinks and some other goodies for their families, and you would have thought they had been given the world.

During dinner, we got to have a lot more conversation with each of the children, and they were so precious to listen to. Abigail told us about her aspirations to be a nurse someday, because when she had malaria last year, the nurses had taken good care of her.

Edwina and Edwin played soccer with bottlecaps, and took home a pocket full to play later with their friends.

There were just so many wonderful moments spent with these kids. I couldn’t express all the stories and sweet moments if I tried. But, overall, it was one of the best days ever.

To give to these children, to hug them and love them and encourage them was one of the biggest blessings I have ever received. And, we can’t wait to see them again on our next trip!

After we dropped them all off at home, I cried as we headed home. I was overwhelmed by the goodness of the day, even amongst the poverty and heartache of their lives. But, I was also overwhelmed with two things: how do I tell others well enough, and what else do I do now that I know?

So, here I am telling you about it, though probably not well enough. And, I am determined to do more to help these families, and to encourage these children.

A couple of thoughts:

During the course of our visit at Abigail’s center, we were told that this was only the second sponsor visit they had received at this center in over five years. I was very surprised. I thought for sure other children receive visits from sponsors, but we learned today that not only do many never receive visits, but many also do not receive letters.

This broke my heart, and definitely encouraged me to be even better at writing my children in Ghana. I realize now how much they wait and rejoice over a letter from their sponsors. And, conversely, I see how crushed they must be when they are not one of the lucky ones who receive a letter. When Mark asked the coordinator what we can do to help these children receive letters, she so graciously responded, “Oh, we understand, Mark. We understand that Americans are busy. It is okay.”

No. That’s not okay. We are not too busy to write a 5 minute letter that will CHANGE a child’s life. How dare we think that our to-do list is more important than blessing a family across the world who lives in a storage shed….who has no possessions to call their own, but who produced a small bag of our family’s letters and photos from their bed while we were visiting.

Edwina’s family had every single one of our letters. They have nothing. But, they had our letters. I can’t believe I’ve been selfish enough to think that those letters can wait until I have more time to write.

I’m now making the time. It’s so important.

And, now that I’ve seen these faces, I can not forget.

A Ghana Weekend!

It's been a Ghana celebration weekend at our house.

First, we've been CELEBRATING because we now have twenty-six children who will have their entire medical screening paid for! THANK YOU so much to those of you who have already jumped right in.

That leaves 38 more precious smiling faces like these:

And, about 31 days. That is a pretty good ratio! We can surely get at least one child {or maybe two} sponsored a day! Thanks so much for making it happen. (If it's the first time you're hearing about this, click HERE to find out more!)

I know we'll get all 64 kids taken care of...because these smiles...

are just too hard to resist!

And, speaking of smiles, those of you who have sponsored a child for the one time medical screening costs, will be receiving your child's bios and pictures in the next two days. They will come from Touch A Life. So, if you have not left an email address for us, and would like a bio, please email your contact info to us at: mark@hischase.org!

Now, more about our Ghana weekend:

Saturday, our family spent the day shopping for our Compassion kids. We are pretty much giddy that we get to go visit our Touch A Life kids AND our Compassion kids on this same trip! Edwina, Freda, and Abigail all share birthdays with our three girls...and all live near Accra, Ghana, where we will be.

So, we're getting to spend a day with these three girls and hopefully their families! And, of course, we are bringing them a backpack full of goodies...clothes, shoes, art supplies, jumpropes, bubbles, candy...so fun!

Our girls had such a fun time shopping for each of their little friends, and I just love watching them have such joy over giving to these sweet ones, who they have written back and forth with and have prayed for.

Then, Sunday has also been a "Ghana day" because the Ghanaian soccer team played in the World Cup....and WON!

We all painted our faces and watched the game together this morning. {I may have been reading my Family Circle magazines while "watching". But, don't tell.}

We were very excited to watch the underdog Ghana team win, and will be cheering them on to the end! Just watching their proud fans in the stands made me smile. They were decked out in Ghanaian colors and spirit from head to toe. And, by the way, that is where you can really see some good victory dancin'! And, of course, these three fans made me smile too with their self-painted flags:

So, we hope to have many more Ghana celebrations around here! Two more World Cup games this week, and MANY more medical sponsorships on the way! GO GHANA!