In the fourth grade, Natalie and I started a lucrative business painting can tabs with nail polish to string onto necklaces for Magellan Charter School’s Marketplace. I distinctly remember digging through the 5 for $5 baskets at Claire’s Accessories to find an assortment of colors of polish to paint with. With mom’s help I hit the jackpot: blue, green, pink, red, and orange (for only $5!!!! Oh wait…there goes the Beanie Baby money). The sad thing is that I think I still have these bottles of nail polish in a caboodle in my bathroom (shoutout to the 90s). Apart from painting can tabs, these lovely colors also served their intended purpose, adorning my toenails. Orange toenails are always a good choice for fair-skinned feet.

This past weekend I got to experience the orange toenail phenomenon of my tween-age days once more… Early Saturday morning the NYU in Ghana group rolled out of Accra to visit and spend the night in Kwamoso, a village in the eastern region. There we partnered with Habitat for Humanity to work on a home-in-progress in the village. Specifically we were to make and lay bricks. I spent a good part of the day with a group of gals stomping clay in a giant pit (grape stomp-style. see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMS0O3kknvk). This clay, after softened with water, would be made into the bricks to build the home. It was messy yet unbelievably awesome. We all wondered why our backyards at home were not equipped with giant mud pits when we were children, rather than sand boxes. After our work-day finished, we attempted to clean the mud off of our feet and legs and found that we were left with toenails dyed orange from the pigment in the clay.

A pounding African rain hit in the afternoon, preventing us from further work on the house. We were sent to the homes where we’d be staying for the night. Three other students and I found our little concrete room we’d call home for the evening, and then we set out to find our means of bathing. To have an authentic village experience we were to take a “bucket bath.” In order to do so, I was given a metal pail to fetch water from a large cistern that collects rain water as it drips off a roof. The pail was then taken to a concrete latrine/bathing chamber of sorts. One of my friends went first, and immediately exclaimed, “There is a goat in the shower!” Who knew that the bathroom doubles as the village goat hangout when rain hits? Somehow my friend cajoled the goat out of the latrine, and with my little washcloth and bar of soap, I proceeded to take a bucket bath.

Because of the rain, the village sort of shut down and most village members were MIA, even the owner of the home I where I stayed. This sort of put a damper on the cultural experiences that were planned…like interacting with our hosts and drumming and dancing around a bonfire, a favorite activity of us NYU students. Left in the village for the remaining 20 hours with no real planned activities led to some negative feelings concerning our situation. Looking back today, though, I will say that it was so rewarding to experience such a different way of life.

Honestly living just for a day in the village sent my head reeling with thoughts concerning the rich and poor and righteousness which led to thoughts on guilt and contentment and the Lord’s provision…thoughts I wish I could better articulate. My mind was a real mess coming off the weekend. I dove into Scriptures – a proper depiction with the flood of passages I read. 1 Timothy 6:6-21 unlocked so much truth – stuff I’m still a bit overwhelmed by, but truth nonetheless – and I found such peace in seeking the Lord and recognizing Him as a Rich Giver through which great wealth can be found. I encourage everyone to read Paul’s words in that passage.

Also…I got my hair done! My “do” is officially called a “Rasta Twist”. Instead of braids I have about 200 tiny twists all over my head. Last Thursday afternoon, five women set to work on my hair in a sweet salon in the Osu area. With that many hands it only took 2 hours and 45 minutes (compared to 4-6 hours otherwise). It was quite uncomfortable having my head pulled in five different directions at once, but it’s been so worth it. Any sort of primping now consists of tying my hair in a big knot. The twists could last for about two months…we’ll see how long I can hold out.  Check out pics on my photo page!

One last short story: we got a puppy at the house. One of my housemates bought it off the street for 10 cedis then took it to get all necessary shots and such. Unfortunately, puppy had to leave today. NYU Ghana doesn’t have any explicit rules against pets; however, it operates under NYU in New York, which does. It was a sad day at Solomon’s Lodge, but he’s now in the loving arms of one of our professors.  It was wonderful having my puppy fix for about a week.

I feel really Ghanaian this week after spending the night in the village, having my hair done up African-style. This week I also participated in a drum circle (who knew the white girl could pull off polyrhythms?), and yesterday I visited our lovely seamstress, Marjorie, to have some clothes made with lush Ghanaian fabrics. I need some sleeves for London! And I’ve begun to involuntarily outstretch my arms and close my eyes to soak everything in on my now-familiar daily walks.

My toenails are now painted red to hide the orange coloring. And I apologize for the unnecessary story at the beginning; however, it was quite fun to reminisce about the Magellan days. Ghana is wonderful.  It’s wild to think I’m nearly halfway through this adventure.  Much love, and I pray all will experience rich goodness this week.