Kay Again

Hello again! It's been quite a while since anything was posted, so I figured I'd write. We have concluded the last of our homestay in Kumasi with hesitant farewells and a feeling of incompleteness. The family stays were so brief in the course of things, and it seemed like we were all just getting settled when we have to move again. But good things always come in lumpy packages- many of us are now nurturing along hopes of returning to Ghana, or of bringing our Ghanaian families to the United States to visit. I, myself, am hoping to get my host brother to the U.S. to attend graduate school at CSU.
The homestay experience has not been an easy one- but it has been more valuable than any other kind of travel I have ever done. I think that the whole group has benefitted immensely from the experience, and I know that we all have a much more realistic and 'down home' understanding of Ghana now. You simply cannot get to know a culture without forcing yourself to become a part of it; to live as the citizens of that culture live. For two weeks we have lived as Ghanaians, with Ghanaians, and in doing so we have begun to understand the true pulse of Ghana.
Although it is a sad thing to leave those who we have come to care about, I know that everyone is also excited to explore new horizons, and that staying with the families here has prepared us well for what adventures may await.
As has been commented often on the trip, I do not think any of us will have a very clear understanding of how the experience has impacted us until we return home. For me, I simply feel the swelling of my entire being filling with new knowledge, new life, new perspectives. What those things actually end up meaning is still to be written. Travel is like writing a textbook, but not actually reading the writings until you have had the book for some time. When the students on this trip finally begin discovering the revelations from this experience it will surely be an amazing thing. I know I can't wait to understand everything.
We're off to Akokoamong (sp?) today. Four nights and three days working on the new school.
That's all for now!
-Kay