Arrived in Ghana Email

Over the next few days—during my trip to Ghana—I will be sharing bits and pieces with those of you who have joined this “journey to touch and be touched” by joining me on this journey to change the world (one child at a time)!


So…here goes:

March 23, 2007

Yes, I finally made it. We have already had a blast with the kids. Aimee is sold out with black kids. She loves on them as much as me. She is really taken with Richard. She loves the underdog also.

The kids were so happy and fun. They had made me pictures thanking me for giving them a new life. John's picture is priceless. He drew a gigantic egg and it is being held up with two hands. He said, “that is Ma Pam's hand and she is so gentle and she takes care of us”. I thought I was going to die with joy.

The kids are all doing great--actually better than great. Aimee recorded an interview with them last night with Matilda translating. They really shared and opened up. They said they are sad at night when they still think of their friends that are working on the boat. They want their friends to be rescued also. That was a tearjerker. They told how they were cold in the dark and waking up at midnight to go to work. They said the biggest blessing is eating here all the food you want without having to work for your food. Hagar said she loves not having to carry a baby on her back all day and then getting beat my the master if the baby would not stop crying.

There’s so much more to share!

They have all been placed in classrooms according to their levels. It is just so wonderful to look through all their school papers and see how far they’ve come. To tope it off, they are so proud of their work. We had to go through each paper and they would tell us: “Duck” “Airplane”-- so wonderful. They love learning. We helped them with their homework last night. Kojo has perfect penmanship. Hagar is now reading. It’s all just mind-blowing!

We’ve found out some interesting details about some of the children who are living here. Muhammad does have a mom who is a street child. She is going to vocational training provided by Village of Hope. Fred said she has visited Muhammad a couple of times. He does not think she can take care of him. He is planning to ask her if she will consider releasing Muhammad for adoption. Being a street child herself, she actually gave birth to Muhammad on the street. He had Guinea Worms so badly that he was close to death when Fred found him. He took him to the hospital and paid for medical care. He was also infested with mosquito bites

Prince and Princilla were born to a street mom who is labeled as “crazy”. Her mental condition made it impossible for her to care for the twins. She was demon-like when she had the children. She would not allow the neighbors to help with the kids. She would not let anyone come near them. The authorities had to step in and remove them from her care. We will have to get the grandparents to release custody of them. The mother would not qualify. They were nearly starving also. The neighbors would try to throw food to them because the mother would not let them get near.

There is a new little girl living here name is Aquina. She is about 4 years old and she’s beautiful. She was rescued from the Northern area along with four others. They had been totally abandoned and were living on the streets. They have been here two weeks. Aquina is radiant. Fred is going to meet with Romana and see what they can work out to explore possibilities of making it possible for some of these children to be adopted into loving homes. Fred said he gets frustrated because the Ghanaians won't take care of their children but then won't sign over rights either. It is a cultural issue that he wants to change. He said they just are clueless about adoption. They simply don't understand the concept.