Check out my links to watch a video my fellow travel buddy, Alexis, created following our trip AND the music video to my orphans favorite American song!!!

I’ve put the links below in this post as well:

Like many other first year members of STEP, I had set my mind on using my STEP funds to Study Abroad. When I was wait listed for the Study Abroad program I had applied for, and ultimately not accepted in to, I had no idea what my next step (pun intended) was going to be. It wasn’t until I received a STEP email with a letter attached from a fellow STEP participant, Alexis Dunning, who was looking for someone to do service with abroad. After reading through her letter and looking in to the program she wished to complete, I knew this was the PERFECT opportunity for me! I sent Alexis an email that evening, we arranged a dinner, and the rest is history. We decided that evening that we would travel to Ghana for roughly 2 and a half weeks, and volunteer at a local orphanage.

Alexis and I only met a couple of times to discuss the details of our trip to Ghana, and communicated mostly through email/text messages when discussing where we would be going, what type of service we wanted to do, buying plane tickets, etc. So when we met again at the airport, we were still very much strangers to one another. However, by the end of our first day of traveling and settling in to the volunteer house in Ghana, I knew Alexis and I were going to become fantastic friends!

Never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted the impact traveling abroad to serve would have on my life. My journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the beautiful African country of Ghana helped me gain incredible perspective on life and the world around me, develop relationships with people from around the globe who shared my desire to make a difference, experience an entirely new culture first hand, truly impact the lives of 43 children, and so much more.

Speaking of the 43 AMAZING children at the Savior Children Foundation Orphanage, I can tell you that I have never in my life fallen in love so quickly to other human beings until the moment I met these children. As an education major, working with kids has always been a passion of mine. Being in a classroom with children, helping them to achieve their greatest potential, and striving to make a difference in their futures have always been aspects of my career and personality that drive my daily actions. However, the love I have for these children is beyond any other. I can honestly say that I feel as though I have 43 children of my own. I miss them each and every day, and am counting down the days until I can fly over the Atlantic to be reunited with them once more!

It is truly difficult to put in to words how much I learned about the people of the world, the Ghanian culture and MYSELF. When I left Ghana, I left pieces of my heart behind in the hands of the children I was blessed to care for, the Ghanian people who are so incredibly kid, and with the other volunteers who became my family in just those couple short weeks.

To those of you who read this entire passage, or even just skipped to the bottom, please feel free to contact me if you have ANY other questions regarding the specifics of my trip!

Medace, Nanti Ye!

My trip to

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