It has been a busy few weeks here at the Children’s Village! My time this week has been mainly focused on the twelve boys that were recently rescued from human trafficking on the Volta River. The government requires them to get medical screening after they have been rescued. Many children endure physical, psychological, and sexual abuse while they are working on the Volta. Sometimes, they only receive one meal a day. No medical care is given, and they are exposed to parasites that live in the water. These children have been through so much, and it has been awful to learn some of their stories. They are so young have endured some of the worst of humanity. My heart hurts for the pain that they have been through.
Taking the children for the medical screening means driving to the capital city of Accra. Our days start out very early to get a head start on the horrible traffic that surrounds the city. Once we finally arrive, we take the children for check ups at the government hospital. I wish I could show you the look of amazement on their faces as they saw a big city for the first time. Most of these children have only been in rural villages their entire lives. They have never been to a city. Their eyes were wide as they leaned forward in their seats toward the window, absorbing all the sights and sounds.
Traffic takes about two hours to go a very short distance. Vendors walk up and down in between vehicles, selling various objects from soap, to fruit, to sachets of water. Cars use their horn very frequently, sometimes as a warning for their crazy driving. I’ve seen many cars drive down the center of a two lane highway, honking their horn and flashing their lights, so they don’t have to wait in the line of traffic. Buses speed on side streets down rocky, dirt roads to try and avoid sections of cars parked bumper to bumper. It seems like they will take any crazy route to keep moving and avoid standing still. It was during this time we discovered that one of the boys gets car sick, which made for a long rest of the journey.
We arrived to the hospital and were placed in a room to wait for lab work to be performed. Business today was much like any other day, running on Africa time. This means several hours late. I heard this saying the other day here. They said, “ Americans have all the clocks, but us Africans have all the time.” It’s an adjustment to go from American expectations of time, to the expectations in a different culture.
As we waited in the room, about 20 other children arrived that were rescued from the same location as our boys. Smiles grew on their faces as they recognized the familiar children, and chatter grew loud in their local languages. As we waited, an intense game of Uno began. This proved to be very difficult because very few of the children speak English, and very few knew how to actually play Uno. They began to throw down any card they wanted at random times and draw as many cards as they wanted from the stack. It took a long time, but we finally were able to play a few successful rounds.
Finally, it was the children’s turn to get lab work drawn and see a doctor. When we were finished, we decided to take the boys for a treat. We planned on taking them to the mall for their first experience of eating pizza! The Accra mall is very much like a mall you would see in America. Fancy stores, expensive price tags, air conditioning, and a wide selection of restaurants. These boys walked around the mall, overwhelmed by the wealth. These boys came from very impoverished situations, but there is large discrepancy between the classes in Ghana. There are people that are extremely wealthy, but more frequently are the cases of poverty.
We ordered a few different selections of pizza for the kids to try to make sure they all found something to enjoy. However, they did not enjoy the pizza at all! They stared at it, not really knowing what to think. Meanwhile, it was the first time I had eaten pizza in a while, so I was scarfing it down. They picked at it, trying random toppings off of the top, but none of them even finished one piece! They said they would rather have rice! I never thought I would meet a child that didn’t like pizza, but these children had probably never eaten anything besides traditional Ghanaian food. We tried to convince them it was good by naming off other children from CORM who love pizza, but there was no convincing. We ended up taking the pizza home and buying them joloff(a traditional rice dish) instead.
We returned home after the long grueling days thinking that the children probably didn’t have that great of a time. Blood draws, the pizza fiasco, long car rides, and car sickness made us think that the days didn’t go that well. We had split the new boys into two groups to take to Accra. The first group came home and shared stories of their experiences to the other group, and they were actually jealous! They couldn’t wait for their turn to go to the city.
It has been such a blessing to get to know these boys and spend time with them. They each have such unique personalities, and even though they may fight and bicker like brothers, they also take care of each other and watch out for each other. These boys are so strong to have experienced what they have been through.
This coming week, a group of counselors from the states will be arriving to give training with the City of Refuge staff. We will be splitting up all of the children up into small groups for bible studies. These counselors will be training us in basic techniques to care for children who have been through such horrible trauma. They will also be training the staff in self care. Hearing the traumatic stories of these children can take a toll on us too, so it’s important that we also take care of ourselves.
I feel so blessed to be part of such an amazing organization, and work with such wonderful staff who give their all in caring for these children. This place really does go by the philosophy that it takes a village to raise a child, and we all use our individual strengths to help the children in any way we can. It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of something making such a positive impact. Thank you all for your well wishes! Please pray for the success of our small groups, as we keep America, and the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey lifted up in prayer.
