My Journey to the Motherland- Accra, Ghana Day 2
After 24 hours of traveling to get to Accra, I thought I would be exhausted. My excitement must have overridden the tiredness, jetlag, and time difference.
The night before when w
e arrived at the Airbnb space we rented in The Gallery. We stocked the refrigerator with bottled water that my fellow speaker, Justin’s, parents had graciously brought us. Winter at home but summer in Accra, those bottles of water were a must whenever we headed out (and even when we were in). We met our chef, Naomi, who would prepare our meals when we were eating in, but we explored restaurants a lot.
Our driver, Bizmark, picked us up and took us to Justin’s parents house to begin our day and our journey in Accra.
Delia Akousa with ACC Tours arranged our amazing itinerary including one of my first experiences in Accra. A hair braiding appointment.
I was pumped and couldn’t wait to experience getting my typical hair style of braids done by women who own hair braiding! We met up with Justin’s family, and his awesome, super helpful stepmother. Helen took me to my hair appointment. The shop was quaint, and the owner and her two young helpers welcomed me with smiles as we selected the hair we’d use. I showed her two pictures of styles. And she chose one and got to work. We talked some and smiled a lot as they each participated in braiding my hair, sometimes all at once.
I was very happy with the final style and even happier about the experience of having these beautiful Ghanian women braid my hair.
When Mama Helen picked me up, we headed to the hospital.
Yes, the hospital. Didn’t think I would experience that in Ghana!
Luckily, it wasn’t serious. Our other speaker, Valda, had experienced vertigo and was still dealing with challenges from it so she was getting checked out.
She was released, and everything was okay.
Although we missed Afrochella, we did make what was apparently the last event of the Year of the Return. A foam party on the beach! Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.
When we got in, I met a group of young adults who were fascinated that I was American. We talked about how they dreamed of one day going to and living in America. Talk about perspectives.
I headed in excited about my first full day in Ghana and looking forward to what was to come.
My Journey to the Motherland- Accra, Ghana Day 3
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I’m Summer Owens, and my passion is helping youth and young adults realize success no matter what obstacles they face. As an international resilience and leadership keynote speaker, author, S.O. What! Success Coach, and creator of the S.O. What! Literacy, Life Skills, and Character Education curriculum, I empower people to say, “So what!” to even their greatest challenges. provide a framework to help people see past their challenges and focus on solutions using the S.O. What! Success System (Overcome Obstacles + Eliminate Excuses + Calculate Choices = S.O. What! Success). Through keynotes, workshops, books, online courses, and workbooks, I use life’s challenges and my own story of resilience as a rape survivor and teen mom success story to help others confidently pursue their dreams.
Looking for an inspiring college motivational speaker? A high school literacy curriculum? A middle school life skills workbook? A great example for teen mothers? A women’s empowerment or single mother’s conference speaker? I’m your girl and will help any audience say, “S.O. What!”.
