Ghana- Day 3, February 8, 2011.

We finally all got up at about 6:30 and got ready for breakfast. We ate in the same place that we had eaten the night before, and then went out to see the kids go to school. Some of our group went with them, but I had signed up for the special needs school, so 9 of us walked about 20 minutes to this little community in between our village and another. This is a community that a nun, Sister Patricia started building 30 years ago. It is a place for people with leprosy to come and live.  In Ghana, people with leprosy are just dead to their families, communities, everything. I think this mentality is changing now, but it is because of people like Sister Pat. The community also has a school for kids with special needs. Some of them live on the premises, or they live in the surrounding villages and take a bus to school everyday.
When we got to the school, we were given a choice of what classroom we wanted to sit in and help out in. I chose the “babies” room, and was the only one of us in there.  There was a girl named Lucy in there, from London. She was doing a gap year before University and living in Ghana for 6 months. She had been there for a month already. It was really fun talking to her, and she seemed to appreciate it too!  There were three little boys, Michael, George, and Junior. Junior slept pretty much the whole time, so I didn’t get to interact with him much, but I fell in love with George and Michael.  Michael was about 4 or 5, and George was 7. They both couldn’t speak, or even really move on their own. Very limited motor skills.  Auntie B was the women that was in charge of their room. She was so lovely and so kind. She let me try to feed Michael right away, but he was a little unsure of my new face. 
After a half hour or so of being in the classroom, the boys warmed up to me. We took their play mat outside and brought the boys outside to play. I played with Michael on a big yoga ball for a while, he loved laying on his stomach being rolled back and forth. He laughed and laughed. He had the greatest laugh I think I have ever heard. I video taped him laughing later on, and ever since then, when ever I am in a not so great mood, I watch the video and it makes me so happy. Good Idea on my part! Hahah
I held George, who had pretty severe cerebral palsy for pretty much the rest of the day. I figured out that he loved to hit things because it made a sound. He would swing his arm around hoping to make contact with something that made a sound…sometimes that was my face.  I found this toy that was a ring, and had little balls inside, so when you shook it, it made a lot of  noise. I put it around his arm, and he just shook and shook and shook, laughing the entire time. These boys, along with my friend Patience, definitely have been the highlight of my trip so far.
We had to leave to head back to the ship, so we went back down to the village to say goodbye to all the kids there. My four girls ran to me as I was walking down the hill and clung on. I could always count on them to find me wherever I was. We said our goodbyes, and headed to lunch. After lunch, we made our way back to the ship. The first thing that I did was shower and nap. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally.  I went out that night with some friends to a local bar, and made plans to go to the beach the next day.