As you remember I traveled to Ghana almost a year ago. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I remember watching the plane land in the dark of the Ghanaian night. The ground sparkled with light and buildings; I could have been landing in Greenville. Strangely enough that’s how it felt. I felt like I was landing in a place familiar to me. Not because I had been there before, but because of the anticipation and the preparation. Because of all the time we had spent learning about the country and the experiences I expected to have. While we were there we travelled to many of their major cities, learned about their understandings of Christianity, their concept of dance and music, and took part in their cultural practices. All of which I don’t have time to go into here.

But the most memorable section of the trip for me was our visit to the village of Abrobino. Unlike the cities we visited most of the people in Abrobino did not speak English, which made our stay there interesting. We had translators for the adults but by the end of our stay there we did not need them. We communicated though gestures: pointing and touching. It was amazing. We did not speak the same language but it appeared and felt like we did not have a language barrier. We never had a translator for the kids. When we arrived scores of children surrounded the bus and there was not a moment we were in the village that each of us didn’t have at least five children holding our hands. One day I was walking with those kids all around me and my mind drifted back to the Freedom Project. I knew that that summer would be the first summer since sixth grade that I would be spending away from the Freedom Project and I reflected on the reasons that was. Somewhere along my Freedom Project journey I had lost track of why I worked there. I had forgotten why I loved being a teacher and why I went back every year. Something happen that changed that. And even though I only spent a few days with the children in that village I found myself connecting with them and being excited to see them. The same is true with all the kids I work with now. At school I teach Gymnastics to kids twice a week and I find that the days I go teach them are the happiest days of my week. I love seeing them around Berea and I love the feeling I get when they hug me good bye or want to sit beside me in class. All of it reminds me of the feelings I used to get in the Freedom Project. And the feeling I wanted back. Ghana put me back on track to finding that thing. That’s the most important thing I brought back with me.