We visited the State School for the Deaf and got to meet tons and tons of lively fun loving kids who lovvvvvvvvved getting their photo taken. Anita had made a statement earlier in the course that when you are from a different culture you can feel like you have a disability. In visiting these schools I did feel out of place. I did not like parading in and out of classrooms and it made me feel strange. I wish we would have had more structured time to interact with the kids and an activity planned to do with them. Walking around saying hi and taking pictures was nice and the kids were great... but something about it felt odd.
Especially at the School for the Deaf I wanted so badly to be able to communicate with the students, and they tried to communicate with me. I felt frozen and frustrated, I just wanted to talk to them and I felt guilty that I came into their environment unarmed with a way to connect. It was a hectic site visit as we were running low on time and being hustled quickly. What I can say though... these kids are so happy! Everywhere we go the kids are hilarious, warm, energetic, loving, friendly and a blast to me with. I would love to do some more work in a focused way with the schools in Ghana and get a better look into the system.
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