This week’s blog post comes to us from Jasmin
I landed in Accra on June 18th, a wide eyed girl ready to see what another country had to offer, the first country I had ever been to. I stepped out of the airport to a road I had never seen before and people I had never seen before. My only solace was the fact that the weather felt much like Georgia in the summer, humid and sticky. But I was definitely far from the peach state. After a week or so things started to fall into place. I, along with the other interns, were to visit our first orphanage on Monday. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and any thoughts I had completely escaped once I arrived. The kids were running around, excited to play, had the biggest smiles I had ever seen, and held so much joy in their eyes.
One young boy, about four years old, was running around with me holding a yellow balloon. We ran and ran, and were now outside when he suddenly stopped. He was motioning as if he had to go to the bathroom. I asked him to hand me the balloon and then he could go. In his four year old mind, he was reluctant to hand me the balloon, afraid I’d take it from him. But after a few moments of reassurance (or maybe his urge to pee increased), he handed me the balloon and went to the restroom. The smile on this kids face was the biggest I have ever seen, and over something so small, he was going to the bathroom on his own.
He wasn’t the only one to smile at the simple things. All the children expressed joy while we were there. It was the one thing that caught me off guard. Nowhere in my expectations did I for see such happy children. They have every reason to not be, yet here they were. It made me want to spend my days happier for the things I had, the things I probably take for granted.
Spending time with these kids was probably one of the hardest yet most rewarding things I have had to do. And when I think back to this week, I will hold the image of the young boy smiling as he went to the bathroom, I will hold the image of the children smiling and waving as our car pulled up. I will hold the image of everything that made them happy.