Reflection: Mission Ghana: Discovering Joy

Ghana - kids smile

By Zion Banks, Editor, The Triad

I went there to deliver a lesson, but it was a group of 12-year-olds in a small rural Ghanaian village who ended up teaching me something truly beautiful.

Joy is universal. It speaks all languages. From Georgia to Ghana, children share the same simple needs—to be loved, to be cared for, to be given kindness so they can grow and thrive.

As part of Governors State University’s annual visit to Ghana, we brought gifts—ten black duffle bags filled with school supplies and toiletries: sanitary napkins, computers, star stickers, colorful Sharpies. These were more than just gifts. They were a tangible expression of love, a warm embrace sent across the ocean to our little brothers and sisters hungry for education in this tiny village.

The children sang their national anthem with fierce pride, their voices firm and clear as they pledged in their hearts to stand against oppression. Then, in a joyful surprise, they pulled us into a dance celebrating the cockroach—“kakalika” in Fante—a symbol of resilience and survival in their culture.

After the song and dance, we broke into smaller groups to talk handwashing—a simple lesson with a powerful goal: to keep disease at bay. Hygiene is taught and retaught across Ghana with care, a constant message of health and hope.

In my group, we put together a rap, a beatbox, and a playful handwashing demonstration that had giggling 12-year-olds clapping and smiling wide. At the end, we quizzed them on what they had learned, trading their correct answers for colorful suckers.

Each time a child shouted “me, me, me!” in Fante, the joy in their eyes exploded into cheers and laughter. Though we were in a remote village thousands of miles away from home, the excitement to learn, the eagerness to participate, could have been found in any classroom anywhere in the world.

It was deeply humbling to witness the pure power of a child’s joy—children untouched by the cynicism and corruption of the Western world, their hearts still wide open.

When we left, they chased after us, clasping our hands, begging for more candy, their smiles full of hope and sweetness.

In that moment, I was reminded that children everywhere need just a little sweetness to thrive—and that joy is, perhaps, the purest form of gratitude.

Zion Banks is a graduate student at Governors State University. This reflection is the last in a series of stories reflecting on her recent trip to Ghana with the Governors State University Global Health Brigade.