I haven’t had internet for the past week or so, so here are a bunch of updates…

Sometimes in Ghana, you just have those days…those days when you come home from a long day of meetings to realize that you have run out of drinking water, and a power outage makes the pitch black walk into town to buy some more seem too difficult of a task, and you sit around the small pot of boiling water, dripping with sweat and willing the water to cool down enough to gulp in down….I guess the water shortage can be considered a good thing when you have also run out of toilet paper :).

We’ve settled into Lawra pretty well…power outages, bucket showers and all…especially considering that whenever we are having one of “those days” we know that everything will be ok once 6:00pm rolls around and we get to see Paul. At six, we head down the dirt paths to the small houses surrounding the hospital to pick up our basket of supper. Before we make it past the hospital gates, Paul sprints up to greet us, running in his adorable 3-year-old way, half waddling and all smiles.

Children Playing Outside the Lawra District Hospital

Our first hesitant evenings of kicking a ball back and forth have soon progressed into our own version of “football,” played with the crumbling foundation of a half-finished building as goal posts, and three worn out balls, not one of which could be considered a true soccer ball. By the time we have played for about 10 minutes, we are usually joined by Paul’s older brothers and a gaggle of kids who live on the hospital compound and whose parents or siblings work as nurses. There is something about running through the dirt and weeds, dodging the occasional hospital admin on their motorbikes, and yelling in victory after scoring a goal that is the best stress release ever!

Emma