It all started just before my Freshman year of college...haha just kidding, we don't have to go back THAT far, but that IS when my GREAT friendship with Kellie Jackson (who is now Malloch) began. She was a senior on my soccer team and I came in as a wide eyed freshman who just learned how to socially cope with people my age, haha. She taught me many things. Some were procrastinating and staying up way too late in the library with friends, but the more important ones, that stuck with me, were a sweet ab workout, a love for the inner city, mad soccer skills, and how to have an actual relationship with Christ. She is an incredible friend to have and I'm so grateful that we still stay in touch. When we met she had a passion to move to the inner city (which she has been successful in doing and is currently kicking the crap out of whatever black force is trying to bring down kids from 14-21ish and getting them G.E.D.s and job opportunities). Another of her passions was to somehow get to Africa and bring her fervor for Christ and volunteer heart. This is also part of the reason she married Darrel who also shared these passions. When I met her, I sucked in the inner city passion which scared my mother just a bit, and left the "Africa thing" alone. Looks like that came back to bite me, but GOOD THING, because Kellie and Darrel were able to come visit! Once they heard I was living in Ghana they tried with all their might to get here as soon as they could and they did! The bummer of it was, the time that they were able to come was just 4 short days before I was supposed to leave for Europe with the girls.
So even though we had a tiny amount of time together we were able to do quite a bit:
Chill out time at our local spot
Trashy Bags (a company that is working on cleaning up Ghana and producing fashion pieces at the same time! Please click the link to find out more information in my "Good Links" section on the right side of my blog)
Here we are in the taxi on the way...
Had dinner with one of my adopted families :)
While I was at school they visited the orphanage
Went to an art market for local carvings and paintings
Had dinner at a restaurant that sells typical Ghanaian dishes
They spoke to my students about what they do in Chicago
Our final night was spent at one of my FAVORITE restaurants where the losers treated me to dinner, and the owner gave us drinks on the house!
I love them both sooooo much and was so so so so so sad that I had to leave them.
Here's a picture of all of us before we left for the airport:
After I left, they spent time chilling, going to the beach, out for dinner, and much more! :) They both said they really enjoyed their time here and they can't wait to come back!!! This was just a little preview because I decided that they're going to come work at my school yay! I hope they're okay with that! :) Love you guys!!!! :)
Alright, so the blogs to follow will be about Europe!
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