A Dream Come True: Day 16

Woke up this morning to a nice breeze and decided to go for a run. (My workouts here have been little to nothing and I figure, if I don’t start working out a little now, I’m in for a very unpleasant surprise when I get to my Boot Camp class when I get back.) I did about 10 laps around the soccer/football field behind the student center and watched some of the kids play soccer while I ran. When I got back, I took a shower and breakfast was waiting for us when we got downstairs. Porridge & fried egg. Mmmmm. More fiber and protein for my wailing stomach. But it was good. Had some hot green ginger mint tea (from my bottled water of course) to wash it down. Then I spent some time upstairs watching a little t.v. and getting ready for my talk later. Angie came up to join me and we caught the very beginning of a movie called, “Rebound” with Don Cheadle about Earl “The Goat”- the old Harlem, Rucker Park basketball start who never made it to the pros due to drugs. Good movie. Right when it was over, a man came by the house to tell us that the session that I was to speak at was about to begin. We asked him what time and he said “3pm.” Angie said, “But it’s 3pm right now.” So we rushed to get dressed to head out and low and behold no one was there. We should have known. Even I by now know about Ghanaians and their time. So we waited there for about an hour until it actually began. All the high school kids came in. They were blasting their music and in their cliques and laughing and joking. It was no different than that very same sight at Franklin or New Brunswick. Crazy how similar kids are.

Finally about 250 of them were all in one room and I was introduced and I went up to speak. I talked to them about having to define yourself, for yourself, by yourself. I kinda made that up when I got up there though lol. But I just spoke with them about how everything around us for all of our lives is set out to shape us into definitions and images that are contrary to what God called us to be. So that was it I a nutshell. Told them a little bit about myself and my story and talked about letting go of the past in order to see clearly for your future, so on and so forth. At the end, I asked if anyone had any questions about anything. They all just stared at me with these blank faces. In my mind I was like “Well okay. Guess I didn’t really get through.” Lol. Anyway, I just thanked them and said a prayer for them all and then went to the corner where Angie was to get my things. Well when they dismissed one girl came up to me at the end and said she had a question.

Then like 30 more rushed over. It was so overwhelming. They asked all sorts of questions about life, career, relationships, beauty and self-esteem. It was really great. A real dream come true because I love speaking to teenage girls and it was always a dream of mine to speak to some internationally…especially in Africa! We talked about everything and then we all exchanged emails and facebooks and after I prayed with a few of them. Later on Angie and I watched a movie and then headed to bed. What a fulfilling day it was.