Wednesday July 11, 2012 Africa:  Day 31

            It wasn’t until morning that the animal sounds I heard last night were (hopefully) just coming from creatures of some sort running around on the corrugated aluminum roof outside. 

            I had a very disturbing dream last night, as well. I’ve actually had a few recently which is really nothing new for me.  Last night I dreamt that the ghost of K.’s brother came into our bedroom (everything seemed so realistic-I could see the mosquito nets, the mattresses, the green wall, and Kelsey sleeping next to me).  The ghost started attacking me and was about to bite my neck when I was finally able to scream loud enough for Kelsey to wake up.  I pried off one of the arms the ghost had around my neck and told her to hold it. Finally I got the other one free and had Kelsey hold that one, as well.  I then proceeded to choke the ghost until it died.  (I didn’t know you could kills ghosts).  I then  drug the body into the living room and threw it out the window.  Other weird supernatural beings kept trying to come in the window, and I had to fight them back, too.  I really wish I didn’t have to have these types of dreams as relatively often as I do.

            We enjoyed the morning at  K.’s house.  It started with a morning devotional where K. led us and his family in a couple of gospel songs and a prayer.  We ate a breakfast of hot chocolate and some sweet cornbread, then the kids took us on a walk around the camp.  It was fascinating to watch the morning routines- moms outside bathing their kids in large buckets, kids walking to the market stalls for various household items, and countless chickens and goats running around adding their own energy to the busy atmosphere.

            We spent some time watching K.’s kids and some neighbor kids dance and play.  They had a great time taking hundreds of pictures with our cameras.  S.’s friend came over to braid Kelsey’s hair.  It wasn’t quite done when the van showed up with D. and F., so she stayed behind while the rest of us went over to the school across the road.

            We split ourselves up between three different classrooms to teach the oldest elementary grades and the junior high and high school grades about teen pregnancy.  Liz and I went to the class of 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds.  I managed to avoid having to teach sex education lessons during my five years as a teacher, but I guess I couldn’t escape it forever.  The principal told us to only teach abstinence, and I tried to focus on the importance of sticking to long-term goals.  I had the kids talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up, and tried to explain the added difficulty of becoming doctors, lawyers, and pilots if they were also mothers and fathers before they finished high school.  The teacher then took over the lesson and gave a 15-minute sermon on how the kids should stay out of trouble and ask more questions because we had come all the way from America to teach them about this important topic.  It was definitely an awkward ending to an already awkward lesson.

            After the camp we dropped our things off at the hostel then headed to Osu to meet up with a couple of our friends for dinner. We enjoyed a great Italian dinner at Mama Mia (the first time I have had corn on pizza), and went to bed exhausted after a very busy, but very fun couple of days.