This trip to Akaa has really changed my outlook on life. It is so easy sometimes to take thesimple things in life for granted. The fact that I have to walk two steps out of my dorm room to get a drink from the water fountain has never seemed like a luxury before. The people of Akaa have to walk several hundred yards down andup steep terrain in order to get water from a small spring. Water is just oneof many examples of how easy accessibility to essential or materialistic resources can completely alter one’s lifestyle and values. I will also never forget when we all left Ghana. Mama Vick (the chief’s wife) and her daughteraccompanied us to the airport making it their first time traveling outside of the Eastern Region. As we sat in the waiting area of the airport we could all tell just how new /out of place everything was to them. They had never seen the crowds of people, lights, air conditioning, cars, vending machines, and the list goes on. I watched as Mama Vick sat in near silence while consistently fidgeting her legs as she waited with us all. They were new to so many modern technologies that the rest of us were used to experiencing in everyday life. It was certainly eyeopening to see her vulnerability in a situation that the rest of us were completely used to. I can’t help but admire Mama Vick because it takes a lot to put yourself out there into a completely new environment like that. More people need to follow in her footsteps. Gaining new perspectives on life are what makeyou appreciate and understand how the world can work. I have learned from personal experience that new things, places, and people are what make life all the more beautiful. Ghana was the experience that solidified that belief for me.
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