My head is spinning. I've been in Ghana, West Africa (the city of Tema) and in some ways, it feels like forever. The sights, the smells...all of it is coming back to me as I walk into the market place. The stalls, the raw meat, the creative carvings and outfits, the dirt, the signs - it's the culture of a 'typical' African country. And yet, Ghana is considerably more developed than other areas I have been.

I've been here a week. I've returned to an 'old home' - the m/v Anastasis. The ship looks the best I've ever seen it. I can tell many people have put in many hours to make her look so well cared for. As I walk the decks, everything is clean, painted, and shiny - a place that is obviously much loved. I feel privileged to be here before she is retired.

Today I spent the morning in an Orphanage. From the time I stepped foot out of the Landrover, I gave a bit of my heart away. The children were so excited to see everyone. Hugs came frequently, and the more comfortable the children became with me, the more I received smiles, hugs, climbing onto my lap. I didn't care how dirty their hands were (although the children were well kept, they are still children!) .

Doreen, the 'mother' of these 35 children is an amazing woman! I spent some time in the 'kitchen' which is outside, with one area covered by a few pieces of wood where they have kettles on an open fire cooking their soup made of palm nuts (from Palm trees). I wish I could accurately describe the process to give you a good picture. My words are probably inadequate, but they start with the plain dirty nuts, then they boil them for about 10 minutes. They are then pounded down in a 'concrete' kind of small bowl with a long pole until it looks like soft straw. The 'straw' is then taken by hand and dipped in water until all of the juices, color, nuts, etc, are extracted from the 'straw', and then put in to a strainer - the end result is a big bowl of pumpkin coloured soup. They then add things like tomatoes, meat, etc to it. They use it throughout the week to feed the children.

They were also taking mini snails (long and narrow), chopping off the ends of them, then they boil them and suck the meat out (I didn't try it, though!!).

Wow... an all day process for their one meal of the day. Like I said, this woman, Doreen is amazing. The orphanage was clean, but sparse. The classroom desks were old and shabby, but I could tell they were being put to good use. I lost a bit of my heart today as I watched those children - so happy to see us - so happy to receive a bit of our attention and love. I am truly blessed and humbled.