Thoughts from a gulleyfluff

Jan. 23, 2022

Day 4 of Hope

In 2019, I went to Ghana, Africa with a team of medical professionals to provide care to the rural villages there. We would arrive at the field and pitch a tent and begin. Sometimes, even a herd of cows or goats would pass between the tents, as if nothing was there. We got local nursing students to interpret for us because the majority of the villagers spoke Twi. The people that came to receive care dressed in beautiful Kangas, shirts, and pants of bright, vibrant colors. It was at medical clinics where these precious people were given bags of clean drinking water as they waited under the hot sun. Whenever we had a breaking moment, I would stand and take it all in, every moment, every image, every sound. I observed the children playing and laughing, dancing and squealing, smiling and giggling. I observed the adults chatting with each other and honestly laughing as much as the children. They waited for hours for their turn, many with bare feet, and those with shoes, were muddy and extremely worn. These people with so little material possessions, who were at the medical clinic with disease, such as Malaria, were filled with joy and hope beyond anything I had ever seen. Their lives however big or small, contained a richness many of us only dream of. These people were truly alive with infernos of hope dancing in their bodies.