Football Star visits Becky’s Home- orphanage, school, and football game

Ghana football star Christian Atsu’s visit to Becky’s Orphanage Home, School and Soccer game was a great joy, it also inspired the staff and volunteers to even do more caring for the kids.

This week was another very busy week! I am loving that I am staying busy and working with the children as much as I can.

Last Saturday (June 18) I brought a boy from school to the orphanage with me. I brought the 9 boxes of crayons donated from 3M with me and we used coloring books that were already at the orphanage. Everyone shared the colors. I think the time worked out so well because there were plenty of crayons to share. The kids were quiet and getting along very well. Then I read with Esther, Desmond, Justice, Kwame, and Kojo. I left the crayons or colors as they call them with Fafa. It was a good day to be with the kids and I was the only volunteer there.

I spent Sunday morning at church. A new volunteer came so I went to the orphanage with her. The lady at the corner store went to Kasoa on Friday and she specifically bought a huge bag of ties for me to give to the kids. They are rubber bands, but skinny ones. I handed them out to the kids and then played with them to make them win the rest. I didn’t give all of them out on Sunday. Then we colored again. The girls were cutting up snails to cook for dinner. I attempted to do it. It was very strange.

Mary came to school on Monday and looked SO MUCH better. All the late kids at school were forced to stand outside the gate. Then one kid got bit by a scorpion, once they tied a bandana to his wrist and put onion on his finger to get out the poison, they had me take him to the clinic. He had to get 2 injections and medicine. We made it back to the school and he was fine. His father came to see him, but his mother was working at the farm so he didn’t have his medical insurance. At school, Doris (mother at orphanage and KG 1 teacher) wouldn’t let me leave the class until I ate some of her banku. I am not a huge fan of banku, so it was hard for me to stay and eat it. Kojo, Obi, Prof and Justice kept telling me EAT ALL. At break, I gave Mary biscuits. This is where the lesson is learned to always give, no matter how little you have! Mary proceeded to share her biscuits with all of our orphanage kids. It is truly the sweetest thing. Esther tested positive for Malaria today too. So we started her treatment.

Mary came to school on Tuesday, but our kids were very late. I pretended to beat them as they came through the gate because they were late. I know it isn’t their fault, so it is just a joke. I tried to help the kids in KG 2 with repeating this one line and almost none of the kids would put “his” in the sentence. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to say that. Doris had me eat her Waayke today. I like that much better than Banku. But when I tried to leave the kids came to find me to tell me that she wanted to see me so I could eat more. Our kids didn’t eat lunch until 2 today, so I wasn’t very happy. At the home, I played ties ALL afternoon with the kids. My arms were getting sore!! They all were cheering me on to win. This week also brought me hugs from Godfred, one of the kids who doesn’t give too many hugs to me. It felt so good to start connecting with him. He was helping me win the ties by giving me certain ties he said would be better to throw. The kids also made up a song for me. Since Vida( another house Mom) calls me Beta Beta. The kids now go around yelling Beta, Beta, Bethany and chasing me around.

Mary did not come to school on Wednesday and I came home to rest early since I had a headache. After lunch I went to help in the KG classes and then played a game similar to mancala at the orphanage. The kids were helping me win. Then they all had to start weeding for special visitors.

Our kids did not go to school on Thursday. Mary was there so I gave her money for lunch. Our kids were preparing for the visitors on Friday. I bought a huge thing of biscuits for Isaac’s birthday for the kids. Landy came to Seth’s at lunch, so after I ate, he and I went to the orphanage. The kids were watching a movie, but they took turns playing me in that mancala type game. I played ties with the kids and when Isaac came back from town, I had everyone sing to him and gave everyone the biscuits. 2 kids were feeling sick and 2 volunteers who are nurses were there. I taught them how to do malaria testing and they did the finger pricks and I did the rest. I have seen it done and had it done so many times, I know how to do it. I just do not like the finger prick park. The 2 kids we tested, were also positive for malaria. Rough day for them.

Yesterday (Friday) was such an exciting day! The kids did not go to school again. I was told visitors from the UK were coming but I had no idea the NGO was bringing a soccer star who plays for Chelsea! They brought Christian Atsu who is originally from Ghana! How cool! The day started with ceremonies at school. Culture dances began the ceremony. These were so cool! There were 7 kids dressed in culture clothes and danced for a long time. These are dances to the beat of drums. They were amazing! Then the soccer star visited every classroom and gave a talk to the kids. They had photographers there and everything. They headed to the orphanage after lunch. They met with the kids, took a tour of the orphanage, and gave them autograph cards and books. He spoke to them about education. When he visited the bedrooms, he actually asked every kid their name. It was so sweet. Then there was a futbol game. I went with them because they asked me to do an interview about how the orphanage has changed since my first time in 2013. But all of Senya found out he was here. I have never seen so many people here. They crowded the cars, and just kept running to the car. I had never seen anything like it. We went to the field for 5 minutes and it was crazy getting him through. He gave a quick talk to our soccer boys and then we came back to Seth’s school for interviews. The NGO is Arms around the child and Christian Atsu is an ambassador for them. They are hoping to get donations for us and maybe even in the future get volunteers. It was truly an amazing day for Becky’s Home.

via Futbol Star visits Becky’s Home- orphanage, school, and futbol game. — Bethany Grupp