Time's Up!

The last few days in Ghana were full of getting in my last bits of culture, food, and saying goodbye to all the people I got to meet while I was there. After the screening, we said our goodbyes to the kids that we got to work with. One kid in particular, Nicholas, was sad all day because he knew it was the last day to see us all, and anytime he would see me, he'd just look up at me and say, "Forever?" All I could tell him was hopefully not, and that I'm glad we all got to meet each other. But it's great to see the impact we had hanging out with these kids for just a month. 

The last day came and went by super quickly and before I knew it, I was off to the airport. Just like when I arrived, there was no fancy tunnel that connected the gate to the airplane door. Instead, I boarded a shuttle bus that took me to one of the several planes ready for boarding on the tarmac, I got off the bus, and approached the Delta plane. I had a slight Macaulay Culkin à la Home Alone 2 moment where I wondered if I walked towards the plane headed for somewhere other than New York, like Casablanca or Dakar. But I did manage to find my plane, take my last steps on African soil, and head up the stairs to the cabin door.

On the plane, I sat next to an older woman who I think was experiencing her first plane ride ever and first excursion out of Ghana. She barely spoke English, had to have me help her with the seat belt, and have a fellow passenger help her fill out her immigration documents. As I was ending my adventure in Ghana, I thought how exciting it must be for her to just be starting her adventure to somewhere new. 

And soon after, the plane lifted off the ground and I was left with a beautiful view of the African coastline at night while listening to my new playlist of Ghanaian popular music. Eleven hours later, I was greeted in New York City by some muggy weather and a bit of culture shock. The first things I did were get a freshly-brewed iced coffee, take a hot shower, and do laundry by machine. These were just some of the conveniences I wasn't able to have since July.

Being in Ghana and working with Akosia was an awesome experience that I would definitely do again. I got to get acclimated to a completely new place, meet some great people from all around the world, and do film work with some amazingly-talented kids. And in the under two weeks that I have been back in the States, I can't stop talking about it... I came back with some awesome experiences, memories, and some great sneakers...

For anyone interested in doing a project like this, check out the Akosia website for some more information (http://www.akosia.org/). Or you can always ask me more about it! To my loyal followers, thank you for checking out this blog, and I am sure that there will be plenty more to come in the future. I have one in the works, movieswithoutborders.blogspot.com, so be sure to check that our in the coming months!