Today was a free day, so this morning I chose to go back to the Kumasi Children's Home. Since it was Sunday, they had a church service and I held a sweet little girl (who i also played with on friday) through the service and she fell asleep the instant she laid her head on my chest. It was really nice, though I felt a little uncomfortable when he called us visitors up to the front and prayed for us. But it was sweet. Kwabi (I learned the name of the little boy from Friday) turned around and saw me during the service, did a double take, and then just got the hugest smile on his face. It warmed my heart so much that he remembered me and was excited to see me. I definitely shed some tears when I had to walk away from him at the end of the visit, because I knew this time there would be no seeing any of them again. On a happier note, the kids all remembered me as the camera girl (of course) so I shot through another pack of film for them, and they just loved it. I hope that they are able to keep those photos for a long time and that they'll think of me, and all of the other great people that came with our group, whenever they look at them.
Our next stop was a "football" game featuring Kotoko (the Kumasi team) vs. T. Youth. Girls got in free (woo-hoo!) and the best thing was that we got to bring Edward and Solomon, two of the older boys (our age) from the orphanage, along with us. They were such nice guys and I know we've all really bonded over this week. It's not everyday that you can make such amazing friendships in such short periods of time. Goodbyes after dinner were another teary affair, but I know that we were all so happy to have gotten the opportunity to know one another and I really hope we can keep in touch. Back to the game, it was actually a lot of fun! I'm not crazy about soccer, but the atmosphere was just wonderful. The band never stopped playing, people never stopped cheering and blowing horns, and everyone just seemed so engaged and joyful. It was a really great thing to be a part of. The Kumasi team was victorious (with a thrilling end score of 1-0 <-- sarcasm) which was really great! Our bus driver Francis who is typically so stern and reserved was hilarious, donning random Kumasi paraphanelia and getting in a heated debate with another attendee about who the best soccer team was. It was all spoken in Twi, but it didn't matter, we all found it hilarious anyway. I really love that our driver and tour guide have pretty much become part of our group and join us and have fun with us on all of these outings. This evening we asked our tour guide if we were his favorite group and he just nodded his head. success!!
After getting back from the game there were guys around the hotel selling, as always, and I ended up getting two leather bags. And I didn't have to pay for them! I traded a pair of ked's, three thrift store shirts, a bottle of lotion, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Say what?! I wish I had known that American items were things they wanted because I would have stocked up. I think it's interesting, but maybe not so great, that western wear is such a huge deal here. He asked if I had any men's clothing, because visitors like us are often the only times they have access to these unique types of clothing. There's quite a huge secondhand market in most parts of Africa and the prices they charge are SO much more than what the items are worth or what we would pay back in the states. I think it's really unfortunate that our western style is dominating consumer wants and pushing out the desire for local and traditional garments in some social groups. In addition it makes people feel the need to spend exorbitant amounts on "obruni wawa" (literally translates to "dead white man's clothing") which does nothing to promote their own artisans, industry, and culture. In these next few days, I'm planning take more notice of the way people are combining the two styles and possibly ask some questions to get a few opinions on the influx of western dress.
Tomorrow we head for Cape Coast, where we'll be staying at a fancy schmancy resort on the beach for a couple of days before heading back to Accra! I'm so excited!!
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