I am sitting on the seventh deck forward, one hour before dock time.  I do not want to leave Ghana.  It was, in it’s own distinct way, the most beautiful place I have ever been.  If I had to choose one thing that makes Ghana the amazing place it is, I would say the people.  I cannot even begin to count the number of conversations I exchanged with men and women in Takoradi, Accra, Tema, Busia Beach, and in vehicles from one of those places to another.  My friends laughed at me because when we were anywhere, I could always be found in the back of the pack, talking to someone I ran in to along the way.  So many times I was told things like “Two different colors, one people,” “Unity is Strength,” “We come from different places, but you are my sister and I am your brother,” “It takes a village to raise a child,” and more.  Each and every quote sank into me.  I heard each independently.  I thought about every word as its own.  How can people of so far away care so much and be so kind?  It is difficult to wrap your head around, but they just simply do care that much, and they just simply are that nice.  I visited Tema New Town, a small village in Tema, where we were treated as though we had lived their our entire lives.  At the beach, about fifty Semester at Sea students, faculty, and life long learners worked together with twenty-five Africans as we pulled in a boat and it’s fishing net.  The same night I spent hours flipping with the children and doing handstands as if they were my best friends.  On our walk away from the port, a Scottish man who works in Ghana gave us a ride to the market circle.  It’s a long stretch, but think about what our world would be like if every single person thought with the African mindset?  We are all one.  We are all brothers and sisters.  We, as a community, raise each other.  We do not exist as individuals at all, but as a group of people, animals, and all things, living in the same place.  It’s good that I do not want to leave this place, because now that I have been touched by Ghana, I will come back.