Home is Where the Heart Is

The best part about coming home from a long trip is ... everything. Getting off the plane at Sky Harbor after the last two or so months in Ghana, I couldn't help but think of the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy stepped out of the black and white into the Technicolor world of Oz. Everything is so intense in the wake of my travels; my love and affection for my husband, love for my kids, appreciation of food, good roads and a soft bed. It's all so vivid and extraordinary.

Even after a couple of days, I am still at a loss when people ask how my trip went. A mishmash of emotions gets stuck in my throat and I don't know where to start. I don't know yet what to feel. I wake up early in the morning, well before the sun, thinking about children left behind and challenges ahead. Throughout the day, I remember funny moments with volunteers. I try to share the stories, but somehow always seem to end with, "I guess you had to be there." It is very difficult, I'm finding, to have feet planted in two different worlds. Over time, though, I know I will adjust, just like I always do.

So many things happened on this trip.

We delivered a great deal of aid to children in an orphanage, then came to the difficult decision that the administration was mismanaging funds and donations so seriously that we can no longer help there.

We talked to children about their hopes and goals and helped them to make dozens (hundreds?) of dream pillows, donated by beautiful friends from all over America, so that they would never forget to dream.

We granted five scholarships for school children who needed a chance to learn in good schools, including a former child slave who touched us all.

We interviewed nearly 40 child slaves, many of whom were terrified to talk to us. We cried knowing they all had to return to their abusive masters and horrible conditions as soon as we left. Many were treated for malaria and other illnesses and injuries while we were there, and we knew that our smiles were the only kindness they would receive.

We found the child slave I snapped a photo of nearly two years ago. At the ti me, he was about five years old. I have looked at his photo nearly every day since the day I captured his hollow pleading stare looking over the side of a fishing boat on Lake Volta. I had the opportunity to hug him and tell him I am coming back for him ... and I will.

Our volunteers started a medical clinic in a rural village, teaching basic first aid and care for the most common illnesses and providing medications and a sustainable means to obtaining more.

We witnessed the death of a baby and saved the life of a young man. We also felt the pain of the death of a little girl living as a child slave whom we'd interviewed less than two weeks before she died, and know we may be the only ones who mourned her loss.

Volunteers conducted HIV/AIDS testing on 97 rural villagers and educated many more on ways they could protect themselves. Five tests were positive for the virus, and many more tests are needed.

Most significantly, if there was a 'most significant,' though, we committed to building a children's home for rescued child slaves. We obtained land from a wonderful village out of view from Lake Volta where we hope to bring the first 30 children by Christmas next year.

And on a more personal level, I shared laughter, tears, sweat, food, horrible travel days, beautiful fun days, more laughter and sometimes even deodorant and soap with some of the most wonderful people on the planet. I think, in my struggle to adjust back home, it's missing them that is the most difficult.

Life truly is not about what you have or how you earn your money; it's whose life you touch, and who you let inside to touch your life, that really matters. I am so humbled to be living a life in which I can love and be loved.

Amanda Christmann Larson is director of Compassionate Journeys. If you would like to volunteer in Ghana, West Africa, please visit www.compassionatejourneys.com or call us at +1-602-708-9664. Our volunteers make a difference!