I am overwhelmed with thanks and gratitude to the most high God, King of my life and lover of my soul. Today God graced me with the opportunity to visit one of Ghanas most popular school and orphanage. I went to worship with them. I put my Sunday best attire on and got on the bus. The ride was exactly an hour drive from my residence. During the ride I looked at all the beautiful people walking to their respective services. They were huddled in both big and small groups, walking, running, packed like sardines in buses, cars, even bikes. I had no more views of people fifteen minutes into the drive. I just saw land. I saw vegetation and devastation as some of the land was filled with trash and dust. I thought about what I would say to the children when I saw them. I even thought about the way I expected them to look- poor, down, melancholy, distraught. I dozed off until I heard our guide projecting. The bus stopped in front of a ground auditorium. I looked outside from my window and saw faces. They were black, bold and without blemish. They smiled and were excited to see me, me? I made eye contact with one girl and I dont think we left each others sight from the time I first saw her and the time my feet hit the ground. The head staff at the orphanage ushered us into the auditorium. They were expecting us and knew where we were from, but we, even in our hearing about them, knew nothing. They seated us in the center of them. The middle and high school age students were all dressed in white. The girls were on the left and the boys on the right. The elementary students were seated on both sides of us. Staff, parents, foster parents, cooks and village volunteers were all in the back of the auditorium. The director of the school warmly welcomed us, everybody clapped and smiled hard until their cheeks touched their eyes. Then, I heard a small girl lead the first verse to a song. Soon after all of the students stood up in their white clothes and began to join her. I died. Everything that defined me before now was no more. I was in heaven listening to angels singing praises to God. I felt no pain, I knew no sorrow, I understood all that was important and was raptured by the harmony of their praise. Never had I ever heard such a beautiful sound in my life. There were no instruments because they were the instruments. There was no fancy glass windows and steeple, they were the church. I closed my eyes and from deep within I felt an overwhelming joy that I have never known. It traveled through every fiber of my body. I could not contain it. It turned into sweet juice like the berries here and salty like the slave shores. I breathed deeply and out of me it leaked from my eye lids. Moaning followed. I was speechless. My tears worshiped and danced on my face. I breathed in all of their passion and was filled. They had little, but so much- I came with much, but had so little. Ive been searching, Ive been looking, Ive been unconsciously conforming, but now- I just am. I am the only me there will ever be and my genuine praise found familiarity in this place of raw, natural, authentic and original worship. Africa, even with its sin remains to be the best of all humanity. This is our home.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 18:40:08 +0000
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