Day 4 - Spirit of Adventure

We piled into Alan & Patsy’s van, they are the two missionaries here with Joni & Friends who Jean has worked with in the past. It is through Joni & Friends and the Wheels for the World Program that initially brought Jean to Ghana nine years ago. They are the two most loving, compassionate people you will ever meet in your life. For those unfamiliar with the program, they send wheelchairs all over the world to people in need. But it is so much more than that, the distribution process occurs over a period of about a week and they bring a team of PT students, OT students, mechanics and technicians with them. Instead of just giving any old wheelchair to anybody, the individual is assessed and a proper fitting is done and an appropriate cushion is made etc. The wheelchairs are all donated at various points throughout the U.S. and then sent to prisons where the prisoners restore them to working order, fix any broken parts and then they are shipped out. It is Alan who woke up in the wee hours of the morning and drew the center on a piece of paper, he had no idea what it fully would mean, but the vision was there, the vision of the All Africa Disability Center. Together with Patsy, the two of them made that a reality. As we piled into their van to drive through the nightlife of Accra, it struck me, where does this spirit of adventure come from? I know it is not for everybody, there are some people who would literally be unable to function coming to a place like this, a place that is perhaps far out of their comfort zone, a place where the process is so hard to understand, because it is constantly changing. And yet, this same place, is the one that excites something deep within us who are here, a place where you can see hope, a place where you can make a difference every minute of every day, a place where human potential is oozing out of every corner if your eyes are open, a place where there are no complaints because all you have to do is look down the street and you will see five or more people significantly worse off than you. It is risky, it is adventurous, but it is wondrous.

But this did get me thinking, where does this spirit of adventure come from? Are we born with it? Is it something we learn along the way from our parents, our upbringing, our own experiences? Why is it that some people have it, and others don’t? For me, I like to think that perhaps it was a survival tool. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, you made fun out of even the worst situation, look at it as a learning adventure or an expedition. As an adoptee, perhaps this was something that I just learned from that early age in order to make it in the big scary world. I mean how many other babies do you know who would jump on a plane at 2.5 months old headed for the US from India without their parents?? Just saying :-)

But, I also think that credit ought to be given where credit is due. My parents encouraged and nurtured that sense of adventure in all of us. From made up puppet shows to fortresses in the living room to allowing us to go off with the neighborhood kids and climb trees and literally, “go on adventure!” as we would all parade out the door – had they not let us do that, I may not be where I am here today, in the middle of Accra, Ghana on an epic adventure with some amazing people.