After Ruby graduated from high school, she was free to do whatever she wanted to do. She planned on being a nanny in Miami but that fell through. It turned out to be a very good thing that it fell through. She immediately started on her plan B, which was to go on a volunteer trip in a foreign country. She literally had the choice of anywhere to go and dozens of programs to choose from. It seems like the right fit when she chose a music program in Ghana. She would teach violin and guitar at an after-school program in residential facility for kids who have no place to live. She spent the whole summer working at my music store, earning money, doing any odd job she could find, and saving up for the program. We did a fundraiser at the music store and she ended up taking 8 violins, 10 ukuleles, and two guitars with her to Ghana.
Scott and I drove her to Las Vegas where she caught a flight from Las Vegas to Washington DC. Then Washington DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Then a flight from Ethiopia to Accra, Ghana, where she was picked up at the airport by the people she would live with for the next few months. We took Freestone and Ptolemy along with us to Las Vegas to make it a fun little trip. They were happy to spend some last moments with Ruby. We tracked Ruby's flight progress over the next literally two days. It took forever to get there, but there is no direct route from Salt Lake City to Accra. I had a moment of panic when the flight tracker showed that her flight would get into Ethiopia too late to make her connection. It was the middle of the night in little old Kaysville and I was so scared that she would have to stay overnight in Ethiopia with all of her luggage after being in the air for 24 hours. Then suddenly the flight tracker switched back to its original path and showed that the flight was getting in right on time. It was very weird. So she did end up making all of our connections and everything worked out flawlessly.
After Ruby arrived in Ghana, there was a major period of adjustment. I won't lie. It was brutal. Living conditions were basically squalor covered with sand. James Town, the area of Accra that Ruby lives in, is right on the beach and it is in a very very poor section. There is human waste everywhere, the air is filled with the smoke of burning garbage. Kids were roaming freely all day with nothing to do, which is why this program was started in the first place. Ruby became very ill, like almost everyone does when they first go to Africa. She had a fever and everything was wrong. I think if she had felt better, she would have come home. She said the whole experience was a horrific nightmare. She wanted to challenge herself, though, so she committed to staying at least a month before she made any decisions. That was a long month. She did have some fun though. She and some of the other volunteers took a long road trip to the north of the country where they toured a national park and saw elephants. And she taught a few lessons to the kids who are absolutely gorgeous and adorable. It was a few weeks before school started, though, so she really felt like she was wasting her precious time. Even after school started Ghana just doesn't operate on the same sort of timeframe that the United States does. Everything happens at a more leisurely pace. It can be very frustrating to deal with when you are 18 years old and have lots of plans and lots of things you want to accomplish in your life, to be sitting in a pile of crap and Ghana not feeling like you're contributing anything. It really is an exercise in patience to learn how to adapt to another culture. Ruby understood going in that it was important for HER to adapt to Ghana, instead of trying to make Ghana adapt to her expectations or her life experience. Even so it was difficult. I think as time went on Ruby got more and more enthusiastic about the Ghana experience and it has been wonderful. I am glossing over a lot of details here but it has been so fun for us and such a growth experience to follow Ruby on this journey.
One of the powerful things that Ruby has been able to do in Ghana is to get this sweet little girl in school. Her name is Dutchess and when the other kids went back to school she didn't. There was no money for tuition. Ruby started a campaign and raised money here in Utah to get the chest back to school. She is 12 years old and she can't read. Such a sweet bright little girl just fell through the cracks, and Ruby was not going to let that happen. On my Kindle that I share with Ruby, I noticed books popping up like "Helping your child to read" and "steps to reading success." Ruby was all in, helping this girl. So many times I have wished Ruby could just bring her home to see if little Kaysville.
This is the LDS church in the background. Everything looks bombed out in James Town. I'm so glad Ruby took some chances to travel to other parts of the country, because JT is not a place anyone would ever visit.
In New York, we met an artist from West Africa. He is from Burkina Faso. We bought a little piece of art from him.
Then when we were in Canada, we ran into a woman who had a food stand and she was from Ghana! She was so friendly that two hours later herf gun and friends were visiting Ruby in little Jamestown. Ruby is so funny. She messaged me, "I wanted to read my book and relax, but nooooo! In the two hours you had in Canada, you found the only Ghanaian and had her send her friends to visit me!" Ha ha. That is true.
Washing clothes by hand. I asked Ruby if the bedroom door locks. She said, "Um, it doesn't really close all the way." Great. She shares a room with other volunteers. At first there were 4 women and a guy, then it was just Ruby and one other woman, and now there is another woman, a medical student from Italy. The other volunteer is from Sweden. Ruby went on a trip with her to Cape Coast to see the slave castles, etc. Very sobering to say the least.
The place, JayNii Foundation, is just next to the lighthouse. The time Ruby has spent and is spending in Ghana has taught her a lot and made her grow in many different ways. It will be so great to see her in a month!
