Migration

I forgot how congested Accra was. And noisy and exciting and exhausting. I slept in til 8:30 which was glorious. I am staying with a friend on campus who has the most wonderful family.

Yesterday it took me 3 hours to get to the Missionary of Charity house halfway to Tema and out of Accra. I will be traveling there again today. I didnt mind so much though, Ive always enjoyed being on the road and I am getting very good at reading and journaling on the bumpy cramped up in the back of a sweaty and crowded vehicle with babies and overflowing baskets squeezed up beside me.

I stayed at the house for a while playing with the kids and talking to the women until the nuns whisked me out to an urban strip to teach some kids that congregated out of nowhere and put me on the spot to teach them Christmas carols. I had no idea what I was doing but tried to make it up as I went along. I hope I did okay- when people here say "it was fine" you don't really know what they mean.

I stopped at the post office before I left to pick up the mail that had gotten to me while I was up north. On the way out I met a man named Hardy. It was just a chance meeting, he worked for another program out of the IAS where I was based and wanted to know what I was there for, since classes are closed and most people are out travelling. We got to talking and it turned out he had just submitted his masters thesis last year. On exactly the topic that I wanted to study here.

I got all jumpy and excited and palm-sweaty as we kept on talking. He had done all his research on EXACTLY what I was hoping to do mine on (Rural-urban migration and slumisation), and the very reason I am back in Accra. Right now I am printing out his thesis and next week I am meeting him for coffee so we can talk about it.

Sometimes God is so good to me that I actually can't believe it. I mean it is unreal to me, how He can just plant things bit by bit, step by step in our paths out of NOWHERE and just provide for us exactly as we need. I am quite amazed quite regularily.