Slow Slow Internet!

I’m back to the ridiculously slow internet! Boo!

My 3 week journey with Sam and Ken of Step FaR is now over. It was such a wonderful opportunity traveling around with them. I got to see more of Ghana. I met many awesome therapists! Most of all I made new life long friends!! I am so excited to be a part of Step FaR. Ken and Sam have been awesome. I can’t wait to help them with future projects. Sam has become my African big brother. I am going to miss him a lot! Luckily there is email, phone, skype, and facebook to keep in touch!

The Step FaR trip finished yesterday with a conference called “Life Without Barriers.” It was a forum that brought together various professionals in Ghana to talk about how to help people with disabilities. It was a very interesting conference. Many of the speakers had really good ideas or suggestions. Hopefully, some of them will come true. Ghana has a long way to go, but the dialogue is started. They need a way to put words into action. Hopefully, my volunteer work is helping that some! J

After the conference there was a lunch where I had a little time to network and talk with Patsy and Pastor Allan about some ideas I have for future volunteer work in Ghana. They seemed very receptive. I know they are praying about it so I have faith that something good will come from it! I also talked with two people who have organizations to help the disabled. I’m excited to email with them to find out more about their projects to see if Therapists Without Borders or Step FaR can assist them in any way.

Ken and I drove back to Kpando in the afternoon. Millie, Isaac and Grace seemed very happy to seem me. It nice to be back in my African home! J I missed it. I did not miss the water problems though. Although, I’m use to it now so it really isn’t that bad. Millie and I had a nice time catching up. She isn’t leaving for school until next week so we will get to spend some time together!

I have so much to organize over the next 9 weeks! I need to visit 5 hospitals along with a couple of other organizations. Ken and Sam have welcomed me into Step FaR so I really want to help them continue with their goal of better educating Ghanaian therapists. Also, when I’m in Kpando I have to continue my work at Marquat Hospital! While, in my mind my goals have changed, I still need to make sure Celestine is trained as much as possible since things move slowly in Ghana in terms of getting a real PT there. I’m excited for all these projects. It really makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something. In the grand scheme of things we are just scratching the surface, but we all have to start somewhere!!

Love, Kari