A few volunteers celebrated their birthdays while in Ghana and it brought up the topic, so on several different occasions I would ask children at the orphanage when their birthday was. Some children answered back immediately with a date or grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the calendar on the old brick wall, their little hand pointing up to their day. Then there were the kids that smiled and looked at me with confusion on their face, a look of insecurity. "Your birthday?" I would ask again. They would look at me again with the same look. I remember the first time this happened I was baffled at the realization that some of these children did not know their own birthday, some of them did not even know their true age. Some children were told their real age by chance if they got sick and had to go to the hospital, realizing they had been telling everyone the wrong age all along. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of this.
At the orphanage a young girl who knew her birth date came up to me for about a week straight, each day counting down the days until her birthday. She was clearly beyond excited. She kept saying, "They will pour water on me!" She always said this with a smile on her face and excitement in her voice. Out of celebration, the children in the orphanage would dump buckets of water on the children on their birthday as well as some of the volunteers on their last day. She was so stoked at the idea of this simple bit of acknowledgement on her birthday. When the day came and the water was dumped, she was on cloud nine. It was such a simple act of recognition but it completely made her day. That just went to show me that all anyone wants to know is that they are seen, loved and special in some kind of way. It shocks me how selfless many of these children are, making sure that others are acknowledged before they feel the need to be recognized themselves.
The children love to draw pictures and write letters for the volunteers and I was always so happy to receive a folded up piece of paper from the hands of those cute little people. One day I was given a letter and was pretty shocked at the words written inside of it. Towards the end of the letter it said "On the 15th of August sing this song. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENSYN!!" The words that followed were the lyrics of the birthday song that is sung at the orphanage, each line was followed by x4, meaning to repeat four times- SO CUTE! I laughed to myself and felt so much love. I had only told this little friend of mine my birth date one time, and days later he gave me this letter, it was the sweetest thing. I couldn't help but be amazed by these children. Some of them had no idea of the date of their birth, and here they are making it a point to make me feel special. It didn't matter that I would be celebrating it a month after I left them nor that they wouldn't be there to celebrate with me. They went out of their way to make me feel so loved no matter the fact that I would be on a completely different continent, no matter the distance that separates us.
Tomorrow I will be celebrating the big 2-0 and I have already been reminded of the occasion by my family and friends for more than a week. My sister-in-law gave me a card today and I found out that she has been conspiring with my mom in getting me an awesome gift, I just got a text from my mom saying "Call me when you get up tomorrow(your birthday!)" and this morning when my brother was letting the dogs out I heard him tell the dogs that tomorrow was my birthday. Ha! It's these moments that are so spectacular. It isn't about the things I will get for my birthday, it's about my people. The people that surround me make me feel so special and loved and I am so incredibly thankful for the day that each of them were born. I wish that I could celebrate every birthday with everyone on this planet. To let them know that that particular day and moment in time will forever be special because it was the moment they were brought into this crazy world.
Now that I am home I see my birthday a bit differently. I know that tomorrow I will read the words in the letter given to me from my sweet little Ghanaian friend over and over again and dream of the day I get to see all of those sweet faces again. I know now how monumental birthdays are, that they mark a day that has forever changed the world. I feel so thankful for my own birthday, for the opportunity I have been given to be a part of this amazing, magical life.
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