Thoughts from the Veranda.

            When was the last time you unplugged? When was the last time you went a whole day without electricity or internet not because you were on vacation or a day off, but because you truly wanted to live the simple life? 

            Jamie and I were born into the beginning of the technology generation. We are the students who taught our professors how to use computers. Computers are the foundation of our days; We socialize through Facebook, write papers and keep a budget with Microsoft office, and learn whatever we desire through Google Search.

            This week we have been forced trade in facebook for conversations, Microsoft office to pen and paper, and we are learning by philosophizing on our new experiences. Our new experiences give way to revisiting old passions.   My artsy friend Jamie spent this morning making the most time consuming yet creative decorations I have ever seen.  While she is being crafty, I’ve sat on the veranda playing the guitar while the sweet breeze swirled around by body and the goats and sheep chattered in the background.  I stare out at the horizon, scattered with unfinished cement block homes, and worship God through my guitar. The goats chatter as if to join me. I could see the small garden of pineapple from my porch.  Yesterday Jamie and I ran down the dirt road from our house to the school, around the school, and then back up.  After some drills in the soccer field we met Sister Mary Elizabeth in the garden. She was planting spinach but explained that it takes two years for the pineapple to grow.

            While gazing over the pineapple garden, I see rows of unfinished buildings. My eyes land on my future school, and I contemplate what fruit I will leave behind. The school is under construction; all that appears are large concrete rooms, decorated only with the cracks in the plaster. Like the pineapple, my growth is gradual. Like the buildings, people are constantly under construction, ever changing. And I am finding that my own soul has caught that vision of Africa.

            For I am slowing blooming and constantly changing. There are rough edges and spiny leaves. A room of my personality is half way built, and then life creates steps to a different floor.

It is not that Ghana will suddenly cause me to find myself-for there is nothing “sudden” in Ghana except power outages. But there is a peace in knowing that one can take time to grow, a peace in knowing that all people are constantly under construction, that comes from living in this place.

So I'll continue to take the time to unplug- not just from technology, but from the worries and thoughts that consume my day. It's time to focus on the important instead of the urgent. I cannot dream of a better place to do it than from my veranda in Kasoa, Ghana. 

Live to love,

Lizziey June