DAY 4 GHANA- last day

Fred’s teacher, who we met earlier in the week, is a nursery school teacher at a local daycare center.  We went to visit her today as we had promised and had the best time!  Right as we walked in all of the children started chanting the word for “White People” in their local language.  All 60 of them were giggling and dancing on the tables.  The school was an open-air structure with a board separating the area into two classrooms- one for small children and one for the 4 and 5 year olds. The six of us girls split up and I went to play with the older kids.  We introduced ourselves so they didn’t have to call us ‘white people’ anymore and then we taught them their lesson for the day- Body Building Foods (Proteins).  We also taught them the song and dance “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes…” as well as Simon Says (except we changed it to Tammy Says because they liked her name best).  We colored protein foods with the kids and chatted for an hour or more before leaving.  None of the kids wanted us to leave, it was adorable.

Fred took us back to his mom’s house and she made us a delicious lunch that we ate with our hands like the locals.   It was red-red (black eyed beans with a greasy sauce) and fried plantains.  While we were eating outside under the mango tree a local shaman doctor from across the street came and visited with us.  He was born in Ghana, but grew up in London and recently moved back to help his people.  He was incredibly well spoken and had fascinating stories about his healthcare practice.  After our meal Fred’s mom gave me the bag I had her make with fabric I purchased the day before and Fred gave us some CDs of ‘hip-life’ Ghanaian music.  We walked into town for some final souvenir shopping before saying goodbye to Fred and making our way back to the shuttle to board the ship and leave Ghana.   We all left feeling satisfied with our local experience and loving the Ghanaian culture.   Now we are on our way to one of the countries I have been most excited for, but also our last port of the journey- Brazil.