Homestay halfway across the world

I would swear the rooster is walking around my cement floor room by how loud the crowing sounds in my ear. It is only just outside my window. It is 5:30 am. The fan hums to my right and as I roll over in bed the breeze hits me and cools my moist skin. It feels good now that the room is getting warmer and more humid. I lay in bed for several minutes, my weight dents the thin mattress and my head is cradled by a slice of yellow foam. 

I look toward the end of the bed and out the window. I can see the sun peeking through the thick green curtains. I look to my left, my friend is still asleep next to me. I roll over to face the fan. The buzzing fan and sticky air remind me that I am not home. I am halfway across the world, in Ghana. 

I have done my fair share of traveling, and this is the way I like to see the places I go. Through homestays. I get to meet the local people and see what it is like to live in their homes, so different from my own. This way instead of seeing the country as a tourist, I feel like I get to see it as a local. 

During this voyage with Semester at Sea, I have been part of three homestays, one in South Africa and two in Ghana. I have never regretted it. At my last homestay in, Torgorme Village, we started the day with a welcome ceremony, where people were drumming and children were dancing. There were children everywhere of all ages. The energy was as vibrant as the women’s dresses. 

In my first homestay in Ghana, I had one experience that I will never forget. I spent the afternoon with four other students and no less than 20 children around us for five hours. I was with a group of girls, students, and villagers, who were watching all the boys play football. I felt at home. It was like being in middle school again, watching the boys play games while all the girls gossiped on the sidelines. We asked the young girls about their friends, their families, how they like school, and which boys they were interested in. They all shied away from the last question, it is not something commonly talked about in their village culture. When they finally trusted us their smiles were bigger than I had ever seen. 

It seemed that having older girls to talk to was something maybe not be as common in their culture as it is in ours. I realized connection like that is one of the most important things in life, especially for women. That day I saw in action what I believed to be one the most important things in the world, the education of women. Such an education empowers women and empowers the country. One of the most important things is curiosity and information.

In both my homestays in Ghana, I was lucky enough to be staying with teachers in the village. With my journalistic nature, I like to ask questions, while I was staying with these teachers, I was out questioned. One important thing I learned while staying with them is that not only are we interested in them but they are equally interested in us. 

We spent a good portion of the afternoon sitting in the bedroom talking to one of the teachers. We asked him questions about how school works, what the neighbors are like, what church services are like, and how they feel about technology and media. He returned the questioning with how we thought their village was different from home. I said it is a simpler way of life there, not better or worse, it is just calmer in the village. 

He wanted to know what about the village was different from where we lived. My friend and I live in similar areas in the west so we started talking about the mountains of home we both miss so much. I tried to explain to him what big cities like New York City is like with its unnecessarily high buildings and large half-empty houses. It was a more uncomfortable question than I imagined it to be. I have seen all over the world how many people are lucky to have a one to two-room home. It was difficult and seemed selfish to describe to them all that we have when they have much less. In uncomfortable situations like this, I ask more questions. In these situations, I am presented with pearls. Just like a pearl is made I am granted something that is more beautiful than what I had before. 

These people were not looking for pity, just understanding, and being able to live with people all around the world I think it becomes easier to understand them. In the first month of our voyage, I wrote in my own blog about understanding people. “I love to travel and it is always going to be a part of me but whether I am at home or on the other side of the world I am at my best when I try to understand somebody else.” This is how I chose to travel I believe it is easiest to experience a new culture when you're seeing it through someone else’s eyes.  

 I stumble through the dimly lit room toward the door. My feet are still caked with dirt from the day before. A bath will be welcome later but not necessary here, everything seems cleaner in this dark room. I open the door to the smiling face of my host mother and the sun comes up another day. I walk outside and we all gather in front of the house and take our family photo. I promise them the photos, thank them for all that have given me, and hug them goodbye. As I walk down the dirt road I know I witnessed something special, being allowed to live with these people for a night. I don’t want to leave but I have to. I will never let what I have learned to go. I know we can’t really see the world unless we leave our comfort zone, and that is what I fully intend to do. You don’t have to travel the world to leave your comfort zone. I recommend you start now, we will start together, and choose to spend our lives this way.