Bringing Ghana to Michigan

The title may sound quite poetic, however, that was not my intention. Tonight, Ghana LITERALLY came to Michigan. A good friend of mine was coming over for dinner for the last time before I was to leave for another 4 months. So I decided that would be a good time to prepare a Ghanaian dish. My mother and sister were also present while I fumbled around the kitchen chopping up vegetables and dousing everything with oil. Clearly I was stressed out, but things were slowly moving according to plan, and soon various dishes would grace the table with their presence. This was UNTIL the power went out.

When I’m over in Ghana, this is a weekly occurrence, and not too big of a deal because it IS so common. We are prepared for it over there. But in the middle of suburbia, plenty of things go wrong. Dinners are screwed up, the washing machine doesn’t finish its cycle, and commercial sized freezers begin to defrost. It was also a bit inconvenient that my mother had just done her massive grocery shopping that morning. So, the slowly warming fridge was chock full of fruits, veggies, and new bottles of condiments. Apparently some power line went down and our mile block and a few extra places were out of power. You may not find this to be much of a coincidence, but I sure do!! The ONE and ONLY night that I plan to make Ghanaian food, my family, our neighbors, and I have ourselves a Ghanaian-style, electricity-free night. Funny huh? After a frantic switch to our outside gas grill and with some MAJOR help from my loved ones, I was able to finish preparing the yam balls and chicken. After our yummy meal, we had no Internet, no television, no video games, and no excessive phone use (save those batteries!) to keep us busy. Instead a few of us sat around a candle in the kitchen and chatted until bedtime. Even though it caused a few extra stressful moments, I thank God for the opportunity to share with my family, a little glimpse into the Ghanaian life.

Haha…

A quick update from my life this summer…

I’ve been able to visit with many friends and family members.
I have had WONDERFUL Sundays with my church.
Also at Northbrook, I was able to share my stories and life experiences from the past year in Ghana during the ice cream social that was hosted. It was just an incredible program and couldn’t have gone smoother. I would like to thank everyone who attended. It meant SO much to me that you were all there. I ALSO want to thank all the people who couldn’t come because I know there were plenty of you who would have come had you the time or ability. So THANK YOU everyone!!! ☺

With two days left in Michigan I have plenty to do, so I’ll bid you adieu!!

I’ll miss you all so much, I can already feel it!!
With love,
Meg