Our Visiters From Abroad

Post by Karly Oberski | Source: click here

Yesterday we visited Bright Lilies Nursery School. It has been my favorite part of the trip thus far! The school used to be more underdeveloped; however, as a result of the expansion of Accra in the last few years, it has developed into one of the nicest preschools in the area. Though they were a little apprehensive to interact with us, the children are so wonderful! It was probably the first time they had ever seen white people. We all had separate stations for the nutrition assessments for the kids. Mine was the last station – “check out”. I was to fill out a report card based on the information sheets the other students filled out at their stations. I then determined their nutrition status based on these measurements – underweight, normal weight, or overweight. Fortunately at this nice school none of the children were clinically underweight. The children also received a toy at my station after completing the assessment. The toys were graciously donated by my Aunt Sue for me to bring to Ghana. Even if the kids were frightened and had tears in their eyes from station to station they were sure to dry up after receiving their toy! 

This beautiful girl’s name is Florence. I want her! Looking at her, I can definitely understand why Brangelina adopt so many foreign kids! She was one of the very few who would actually share her name with me. The toy she chose was a little fan with an M&M guy on with which also included little M&M candies. One of the teachers said all of the other kids were jealous of it and she would probably still be playing with it in a year! 
After the assessments were finished, we presented a few small tokens of appreciation to the head teacher. Dr. Tayie brought a suitcase full of toys, coloring books, crayons, dry erase boards, pencils, and a few other items. Once the suitcase was opened, the kids came swarming! In their gratitude, the teachers offered us juice. In Ghana, it is rude to refuse food that is offered. We gladly accepted. The common juices over here are very fresh and natural with very little additives. A few of the children snuck outside to join us. 🙂 

Before leaving we tried to sneak in a little play time. By then some of the children started to warm up to us strangely colored people. 

We were sad to leave these precious children but hopefully someday can return and visit again.