Becker senior Alyssa Gruenes spent part of her summer in Ghana, teaching youngsters in Ghanaian schools.

Gruenes attended the mission trip through Global Leadership Adventures, inspired by the Peace Corps. Since the Peace Corps is not open to high school students, GLA was inspired by the same qualities to give high school students the opportunity to make a difference abroad and experience the world in a new way in the years before starting college.

Gruenes’ mission trip occurred during the weeks of June 26 through July 11. It was her first mission trip. Krobo is the name of the village she and her group stayed in, and is also the name of one of the languages they speak.

Much of Gruenes’ first week included cultural immersion to better understand the different way of life, while the second week was when the service started.  The GLA students were split amongst a nursery school and a primary school, and each day they would create a lesson plan for the following day of teaching. 

Every afternoon and/or evening, the 17 GLA students would do a GLA activity which focused on many different areas - leadership, being a global citizen, controversial topics, how to handle tough situations with other people, and many more.

“The highlight of everyday was time at the park,” said Alyssa. “The park was nothing more than an open dirt field with patches of grass. There were two soccer goals, but neither of them had a net on.”

Each day Gruenes and her fellow missionaries would spend two hours at the park playing with the kids. 

“A few of the girls on my trip had brought some jump ropes, soccer balls, and a few other games that we would bring to the park,” she said. “In the beginning of our trip we would plan some activities to do with the kids. Our goal was to teach them teamwork. So many of the activities we planned were games that would revolve around this goal.” 

However, Gruenes said, most days the kids were too excited to see them and just wanted to talk and run and play. 

“Every day was the same walking down to the park, the kids would run up to you and grab your hand and pull you away to play. They would almost claim you as their own — if one kid grabs your hand on the walk down to the park, you were ‘theirs’ for the day.”

Sometimes the children would even get aggressive towards each other if another kid tried to play with the missionaries. 

“Two of the girls who ‘claimed me’ were Harriet and Esther, whom I became extremely close with,” said Alyssa. “Because we would go to the park every day at the same time, sometimes if we were a little late getting to the park the kids would come up and wait for us at the home base.”

Gruenes said many of the girls wanted to play with her hair or play hand clapping games, while most of the boys usually just played soccer. 

“Often times, we would just sit and talk and they would climb onto our laps,” she said. “This was the time where I learned the most about who they really were and their culture. Throughout the two weeks we were all able to make some pretty unbreakable bonds with them. This made the goodbyes almost unbearable.”

 Gruenes said she learned so much about Ghanaian culture, being a global citizen, leadership/becoming a stronger leader, and so much about herself and who she is becoming. 

“Most of the first week focused on cultural immersion, so we knew how to better interact with the people of the village we were staying in,” she said. “It wasn’t until the fifth day that we began our service - to educate the children of Krobo and teach in the nursery and primary schools.”

The 17 GLA student missionaries were split among the nursery and primary school. Six of them split up in the nursery, and the other 11 split into smaller groups to teach grades four, five, and six in the primary school. 

“Those that taught in the primary school had an additional mission - to dig up, mix, and lay down new cement on the floor in one of the classrooms,” she said. “I chose to teach in the nursery, specifically with the two and three year olds. We only had five days of service, which lasted roughly three hours each day.” 

Each day before service the GLA group would create lesson plans. Those that taught in the primary school focused on teaching English, but because Gruenes was with two and three year olds, she taught things such as colors, shapes, and body parts. 

“All of these activities were so much fun and taught us so much,” she said. “Just some of the cultural immersion activities we did included going to Cedi Beads (a well known bead factory all throughout Ghana), learned the art of Ghanaian dancing with professional dancers, attended mass at a local Catholic church, did Batik cloth dyeing, had an official Krobo naming ceremony. 

“Everyone in Krobo has a special and unique Krobo name, as well as their regular first, middle, and last name,” Alyssa said. “The Krobo name you get is based on your status within your family. For example, I was given the Krobo name Ayerki (ah-yay-ki), because I am the youngest of two children.”

During the naming ceremony, the missionaries were dressed in Ghanaian clothing and had clay painted onto their bodies.

“The naming ceremony consisted of a lot of singing and dancing, hiking up Boti Falls, where we experienced the most beautiful view of nature I have ever seen in my life.” 

They also learned about the history of Krobo and the Dipo (a traditional rite of passage for Krobo girls) and met with their “host families” 

They also spent the day at a resort called Sajuna  —where they also had a boat ride down the river and went under the famous Adomi Bridge. 

“We also got fitted by a seamstress who made us clothing out of Ghanaian patterned cloth,” said Gruenes. “We shopped at a local market and learned the art of negotiating.”

 “I can’t even begin to describe just how amazing this experience was,” said Gruenes. “The people of Krobo are the absolute kindest, happiest, most genuine, most loving, and most welcoming people I have ever met. I never expected my perspective on life and life itself to be changed this much in just a few weeks. These kids, the Krobo community, the entire GLA staff, and all of the new friends I made have taught me more than I could have ever imagined. Their endless love for each other and life was incredible. I love Krobo and its people unconditionally.”

Alyssa is the daughter of Joe and Stephanie Gruenes of Becker. Alyssa plans to  attend either the University of Minnesota Duluth, University of St.Thomas or University of Nebraska Omaha to pursue a business/management and leadership degree. She hopes to become involved in many clubs and activities in college, just as she is in high school.  

“Alyssa made a bold choice to travel independently halfway around the world to make a difference in the lives of others,” said Joe. “It speaks very highly of her character. Her immersion into the Ghananian culture and the training Global Leadership Adventures provided on leadership allowed her to grow as an individual and as a leader. The aspects of leadership she learned while she was there was very powerful.  We are  extremely proud of her!”