SashaLenae: "There is no place like home"

My most favorite quote

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

"There is no place like home"

That is a line from this song that played NON STOP while we were in Ghana. It goes like this,

"There is no place like home, home sweet home, when I go south, west, east and north I will always come back home!"

Anyway, I am home. I am definitely happy to be home, but it is going to take some getting used to again. I never really experienced "culture shock" when I got to Ghana, because I was thrown into the culture so fast, that I had to assimilate quickly in order to get the best out of my time there. And I definitely did, I had the time of my life.

When I got home last night, I was expecting to be overjoyed to have hot water for the first time in three weeks and to be able to sleep in my huge bed. On the one hand, I WAS super excited to have these things, but then all the emotions that I had kept repressed on my trip came out and I started crying almost uncontrollably. Poor Robbie. I had seen so many sad things when I was in Hohoe, but I never really fully grasped how sad I felt about them until I got home.

One thing that I was really feeling distraught over was my friend Godwin that I worked with at ProLink. Aside from working at ProLink, he also is a basket weaver by trade. He asked me for help in teaching him how to export his baskets, so he could make money. I told him that I would, but I just felt so hopeless because I had no idea how to do it. And furthermore, while his baskets are beautiful, I just didn't have the heart to tell him that people in America would probably rather buy a $2 basket at Walmart than pay $15 for a handmade one. So last night I just lost it and cried to Robbie about it. It was not exactly the kind of homecoming I had expected, but I can't control my emotions!

Today I am feeling better. It is going to be an uphill battle adjusting back to the American lifestyle, but I can do it. I also am going to do everything in my power to help Godwin, instead of being sad about it. I took a bunch of pictures of him and his baskets, and I am going to take them to all of these "free trade" stores that are now popping up everywhere, and I am not going to stop until I find one that can help him. That is my goal for now, it really is the least I can do.