Always in My Heart (SAT 3/18)

Our last day in Ghana began with a debriefing meeting.  It was a great chance to share and reflect on what we had learned as a group, with all twelve teachers back from the field.  We had two special guests join us, one from T-Tel and and advisor for the Ministry of Education.  They wanted to hear about our host school experiences and to get our feedback on the rollout of educational reform for the country.  It was awesome but also humbling to think that our observations and ideas were important enough to help shape the upcoming national educational reform.  

After lunch, we split into groups and I went for some last minute shopping to spend my remaining cedis.  I also spent a little time by the beautiful pool, just soaking up a few last rays of the hot sun, since I had heard that cold weather and snow had returned to Lawrence.  

We checked out of our hotel at 6 p.m. and headed to the airport for a 10 p.m. flight.  It was pretty hectic getting through all of the lines but we made our flight and settled in for 11.5 hours on the plane.  We were wondering if Delta would serve us one last Ghanaian meal, and sure enough, I had a meal of jollof rice at about 12:30 and a strange curried vegetable hoagie for the 3:30 a.m. breakfast meal!   Unfortunately our plane was 40 minutes late arriving.

That left two of us only one hour to get through customs, bags rechecked, and onto the connecting flight.  We were so thankful that about 100 people gave us cuts in line.  The ONLY way we made it to the gate was sprinting with our backpacks almost one mile, and luckily the plane we needed to catch was running about 10 minutes late.  Two flights later, I was in KC, 26 hours after leaving for the airport.  

I am still reflecting on everything I saw, heard, tasted, learned, and shared in Ghana.  I feel so fortunate to have been selected for this program, to share it with an incredible group of TGC teachers, to meet up with gracious and welcoming hosts in Ghana, and to have spent two amazing weeks in a country that I have come to love.  Ghana has many challenges ahead, financially, environmentally, and educationally, but I hope to see the reform starting to make a difference in the lives of the Ghanaians.  The high value they place on education gives me hope that they will break through and find more security and prosperity in coming years.  

Ghana will forever be in my heart and on my mind.  I dream that the classroom connection seed that we planted will bloom and grow.  I want this to be just the beginning, rather than the end...