Leaving for Ghana

So today I left for Ghana. It was stressful trying to prepare for Ghana as I left the day after my last final. Thankfully, my parents and Micah did a lot to help me get ready. I'm in the airport in Amsterdam waiting for the plane to Accra. The flight here was great! Every passenger got their own little TV which plays movies, music and games. The airport here is a good transition. It's like a microcosm of the world with people from different countries all over. I saw an old couple walking around the airport (in their 80's) and the wife totally grabbed her husbands derrière. So funny! I guess love can last even when you're old and go around with a walker. I can see my plane now. I'm starting to think I was crazy to go to Africa by myself. I'm definitely a little scared, but praying that God keeps me safe.

Arrival

I'm actually in Ghana! The flight went well. The seat next to me was empty so I got to LAY down and sleep. In the customs line I met a group of students from the University of Mississippi. They're staying in Ghana for two months to build churches. The pastor leading the group gave me his email address and phone no. so I could contact him if I had any trouble. I'll probably email him just to see how the mission trip went. He has built FIVE orphanages in Ghana in the last year. I wonder how one goes about doing that :) I also met a man who was a former diplomat for Cameroon. He'd lived in America and was very interesting to talk to. My volunteer organization told me my volunteer coordinator would meet me in baggage claims, but he wasn't there! I looked everywhere but he was standing outside...his name is Benard. He's a funny fellow. I have a hard time understanding his English, but he's nice enough to repeat himself 3+ times. We took a taxi to a hotel. People from Accra are crazy drivers! They don't signal, cut in front of each other all the time, and honk constantly. At stop lights lots of people come over to the car trying to sell bread, fruit, handkerchiefs, and all kinds of things. They stay there when the light turns green as cars drive past at 40-50 mph. Benard says we have to get up @ 5:30 am, so I'm off to bed.

Benard!

Going to Sekyere

So much has happened today it will take forever to write! Benard woke me up at a little past five o'clock saying I had to hurry and get ready because we had to leave asap. I scrambled to get my stuff together and go. We took a taxi into Accra and met some friend of Benard's. He needed Benard to fill out some papers for him as he'd just gotten back from Spain and needed to prove to the Spanish embassy that he'd returned to Ghana. The embassy, however, opened at 8:30. So we waited around for 2 and a half hours. I could have just slept in... But, it was fun talking to Benard and getting to know him. He says while I'm here I have to let him take me to a Ghanian party. I got breakfast and it was amazing - scrambled eggs in warm bread, mmmm! I watched all the tro-tros (14 passenger vans that bus people around the city) picking up people. There are no signs on the tro-tros, only a man in charge of yelling the destination out the window. Everyone here dresses very nicely - business casual. I feel a little out of place (besides the fact that I'm the only white person around). Most of the taxis and tro-tros have Christian stickers on them that say things like "God's Time is Best," Trust God," "Praise Him," etc. Christianity is kinds of like a brand label here. Many businesses use it in their names like "God is Good Hair Salon," "He is Risen Tools and Handicrafts," and so on. There are people everywhere walking around with baskets on their heads selling things. It is a legitimate way to sell things here and everyone buys things this way. We went to the bus station in Accra and there were people everywhere trying to get me to board their bus. To get your attention they hiss and make kissing sounds at you and if that doesn't work they grab your arm and try to pull you to their van. It was hard to follow Benard! While waiting for our mini-bus to leave it was swarmed with people trying to sell things. They just stand there waiting for people to buy something. For the first thirty minutes on the bus on the way to Kumasi a man stood in the front of the bus and preached in Twi. The only thing I understood was "I am and the way" and "the bible say!" He was very passionate and kept pointing at people. Then when he was finished the bus stopped and he got out. We listened to some interesting music on the way. Lots of Boyz II Men, Celine Dion, and R. Kelly. Haha! Ghanians LOVE Celine Dion, :) Half way to Kumasi our van broke down and we had to wait for an hour while it got fixed. The road is so full of pot holes that we hit one and it broke the exhaust system. After the four hour drive I arrived in Kumasi. What a crazy, busy city! There are people and Taxis everywhere and NO sidewalk. From there I was taken to Sekyere (a small village about 45 minutes from Kumasi). When I arrived at the orphanage there were lots of people outside that swarmed the car. All the children were trying to greet me. Everyone was asking questions and telling me to go different places. It was very confusing. I met Katja quickly. She is a German who is also volunteering at the orphanage. Then people were telling me we had to all get in the car again because something important was happening in town. Everyone was very excited. In the town of Sekyere was a line of people watching Katja and I being led into a special room. Katja explained to me that there was some sort of famous person that had donated $1000 cedis (about $1000 dollars) to the orphanage and that some Ashanti royalty (there is a king of the district where I am staying) came to commend him. There were about 15 men on a platform who were dressed in fancy robes sitting on large ornate chairs. A group of villagers stood to the side of the room while Katja and I got to sit near the men on the platform. I felt odd being given this privilege just because I was a white person. The famous man arrived. He has scars on most of his body from burns and was drenched in gold jewelry. The men held a short ceremony where they poured Schnapps (it has religious significance here) on the ground and prophesied about the future of Sekyere and the orphanage. Then everyone was told to go to the orphanage for the money to be given officially. We were rushed into cars while HUNDREDS of villagers ran full speed down the street to the orphanage. It was quite a sight. I got to meet the famous man and didn't know what to say as I'd only been here a day and didn't know much about greetings and such. After all the craziness was over I got to meet my host parents and the orphans. The children:

Kwaku (Darling little boy. He cries a lot but loves to be held and hugged. He's had a difficult first year of life. He came from a home with a drunken father and an insane mother who tried to kill him. He's only been at the orphanage for 5 months, but he's transitioning very well. He understands English very well though he can't speak it. He LOVES to eat and HATES to share attention.)

Addo (a 5 year old boy. He's quiet and very smart. He always does what he is told and tries to help his brothers and sisters. He loves to take naps with me in the afternoon.)

Floor Femke (a 5 year old girl. She knows what she wants and makes sure you know it! She can be quite stubborn. She LOVES to play the horsey game (I bounce her up and down on my lap while singing.))

Blessing (an 8 year old boy who is very smart but loves to make trouble. He is always teasing his sister Floor and likes to make grumpy faces when I won't give him candy. He is the leader of the small children.)

Solomon (a nine year old boy who is my little buddy! He looks like he's about 5 years old and is in the class for four year olds at school. He was so poorly taken care of before coming to the orphanage that he is very behind in his development both physically and mentally. He has a very difficult time learning his letters and numbers but is usually the first to learn the games and songs I teach the kids. When he gets mad and does this very funny grumbling thing. I always mock him and he ends up laughing and forgets why he's mad (except when it comes to being mad about candy :))

Atta Koffi II (a 13 year old boy who lost his left leg and part of his left arm as a baby. He gets around on his bum at home and has a prosthetic leg for going to school. Atta loves to sit on my lap and be hugged. He keeps up with the other children well, playing most of the same games they do. Atta forgets how big he is sometimes and wants me to hold him and carry him like I do the other children. He gets very mad when I cannot always do this. But, he forgets he is angry with me very quickly. He loves to watch me read and clean in my room.)

Atta Koffi I (the twin of Atta I. He is very helpful around the house doing a lot of work. He loves to play cards and always wants to know how I am doing. He loves to help his brother though Atta I doesn't always like that so much.)

Richard (a 12 year old boy. He lost his right arm but does very well and works just as hard as the other children. He can make trouble sometimes as he likes to antagonize the kids. Whenever I need help he's always the first to ask to help me. He is always asking me to ask my parents to be his friends)

Miracle (a 13 year old girl who I came to know best of all the children. She loves for me to teach her songs and read her bible stories. She sings the songs I teach her all day long. I go to the market with her most days and sometimes buy her candy (she absolutely loves this). She does a lot of work around the house but is very lazy about it and has to be yelled at by her mother to do anything. She is also very very stubborn, and is not easily swayed.)

Sarfo (a 14 year old boy who is very very inquisitive. He always is asking questions about what I am doing and where I am going. He really wants me and Katja to take him to Germany/America. He loves to play football (soccer) and practices nearly every day.)

Abraham (a 13 year old boy. He is very intelligent and is always making something. He made me a wire bicycle, a bracelet out of a cardboard toothpaste box, a paper hat, and a leather heart necklace. He speaks English very well and amazes me with how mature he acts compared to the other kids.)

Ebenezer (a 15 year old boy who is quiet and is often out and about doing things. He is very independent and is very helpful in resolving disagreements between the children. He wants to be penpals with my parents.)

Vivian (a 16 year old girl. She has lame legs due to polio but amazes me with hard she works to get around. She has to leave school an hour before the other children to get to school as it is so difficult for her to walk with her crutches. Vivian is very independent and quiet.)

Gladys (a 16 year old girl. She works very hard with her mother to cook and clean. She stays home and doesn't go to school as she is waiting for the scores of her exams to come back.)
I met Nana (my host father) and Margaret (my host mother). Nana speaks English very well and Margaret speaks almost no English.
I also met Thomas, a volunteer from England. He leaves tomorrow though.
My first dinner at the orphanage was boiled plantains and cassava. Plantains look like bananas but are much firmer and don't really taste like anything. Cassava is a little bad for you as it contains some cyanide. Everyone here says you should only eat it twice a week because it will make your eyes bad if you eat more. You eat the root of the plant and is sort of like a potato but somewhat stringy. At the orphanage everything is served with a soup that you dip your food into. It is usually a fish sauce with oil and cassava leaves. The food here is very filling. I don't really care for it.
After dinner Katja, Thomas and I went to the "British pub." Its a little room with a few wooden benches. We got cokes and I got to learn a lot about the orphanage. I am sad Thomas is leaving already as I like him very much.
I set up my bug hut which everyone here thought was very weird. They were all trying to change how I set it up because they didn't think it would work. I share a room with Katja. The orphanage is a cement house that is rather large. There are bathing rooms that are tiled (there is no actual toilet or shower though). There is electricity but my room has a single bulb and I still have to use a flashlight to find anything at night.

Waiting at the Spanish Embassy. People sell goods from the buckets on their heads.

There goes a tro-tro!

My first night at the orphanage. (From left: Me, Miracle, Atta II, Margaret, Katja, Solomon, Nana, Kwaku, Floor, and Thomas)

Floor and Kwaku watch Thomas eat

Group photo! Sarfo is in the far back. In the middle row are (from left) Solomon, Richard, Abraham, and Floor. In the front are Blessing and Atta I.

First Day at the Orphanage

This morning breakfast was amazing. I got lots and lots of fresh bread and a drink called Milo. Everyone in Ghana drinks it. It's like hot chocolate w/o the sugar. I got porridge which I couldn't really eat. It tastes okay but the texture is weird - like water with little chunks. The volunteers are responsible for bathing the children every morning and night. The children take the bathing order very seriously as it changes every time and each child always wants to be first. We bath the children in front of the house with a bucket of water and a sponge. They hate the cold water. I had to help Katja fetch water. It's about 1/4 of a mile total to the water pump and back. It hard to carry so much water that far on your head. My neck is weak i guess. Today I went with Katja to school since there is nothing to do at home. I thought I'd just observe for a day. But when the head master heard I was interested in teaching he brought me into the 5th grade class, handed me an open book, said "teach this," and left me alone with a class of 30 kids. Their teacher was gone that day I guess. I managed well considering, but the kids here are not used to thinking or engaging themselves in learning. The teachers in the other classes showed me how they want me to teach their classes English. They have me write a paragraph from the textbook on the chalkboard. Then, I read them the paragraph a few times. Then the children must stand and read aloud the paragraph over and over again for half an hour. Then you post questions about the paragraph that the children must answer in their exercise books. The problem is that the kids don't actually know the content of what they read. They can't read individual words. They just memorize what I say and repeat it. I looked back in their exercises and the children get very bad scores on all their assigments. Many scores of zero! The books the Ghanian government issues are very very bad. There is no order to the content and they require me to teach much more than English. They want me to teach the kids about telling time on a clock one day, weight measurements the next, and how to use "many" and "much" properly in a sentence. Oy! At the end of the day the headmaster gave me a schedule. I teach 5 classes a day ranging from grade 1 to grade 6. This is going to be a lot to keep up with. Tonight Nana gave me an African name. The day you were born on is very important in Ghana. It's what determines your name. Since I was born on a Friday my name is Afua (sounds like Affia) Saffoa (the name of name of Nana's father). Since all my papers said Laura that is what everyone calls me, though they have trouble pronouncing the R so they all end up calling me Lola.

The Sekyere Rehabilitation and Orphanage Centre

The amazing view from the orphanage porch.

There are around a total of 50 chickens and ducks that roam the orphanage yard. They're everywhere! This guy woke me up throughout the night with his crowing.

There is no logical order in the books...in these pages for instance, the kids learn about sayng yes or no, then how to tell time, then how to form sentences, then how to write :/

I Miss American Food!

I've been having trouble eating the food here. First off, I don't get lunch which sucks because that means I have to wait 10 hours between meals. The kids get lunch, but not the volunteers which I don't understand. I often get yam (like a dense but spongy potato) and fish sauce. It makes me gag a little, but since it's all there is to eat and since I don't want to offend my host family I eat it anyway. I went to the market with Miracle for the first time. I saw the fish they buy. The fish are in piles on a table sitting in the sun while flies swarm all over them. Teaching is going okay. I've tried to use some different teaching methods, but the children are so used to not having to think they don't even try. I tried having the kids do group work but they just looked at me like I'm crazy. The children's English is so bad. Even grade 6 can barely speak it even after having 6 years of English classes. No one can write an original sentence. They can only repeat things. It is a lot of work for me to teach. It's more like charades and pictionary. In grade 4 I spent the whole hour teaching them the meaning of 4 words. I spent ten minutes going over each word. I reviewed each word a few times as well. Then I gave them an exercise where the children had to match the word with the definition. I basically told them the answers before letting them complete the exercise. Somehow most of the children got 2's out of 4. I don't understand it.

My English is getting worse here. The children learn British English, so I have to teach with a British accent or else one of the teachers corrects my pronunciation. I also hear bad Ghanian English and Katja's English with a German accent. The way I talk now has turned into a conglomeration of all these accents. I have no idea how that happened, lol.
The children in school have been teaching me Twi. It's very fun and they clap and cheer whenever I learn a new word :)
Tomorrow I get to go to the internet in Kumasi with Nana. He wants me to type profiles of all the children for a website he's making. I'll get to email people!!!

The kids having lunch - avocados right off the tree!

The school next to the orphanage - is closed down due to lack of funding.

Vivian on her way home from school, talking to friends coming back from their farms.

The market in Sekyere


A not so yummy selection of sea food


Something a little more fresh...


A woman selling food at the market


Yam and cassava with fish sauce/goo :)

Katja "enjoying" her dinner. She didn't like this picture, but I think it's great!

The house kitties - Simba and Sonja

Out and About

At the internet "cafe" (it's not really a cafe. it's a room with a bunch of computers) the power went out. I had to wait 2 hours to get back online and finish writing the profiles. Taking a taxi here was interesting. Here there are single and shared taxis. The shared taxis are cheaper, but you share the taxi with a lot of people. In a car the size of a corolla there are two people in the passenger seat and four people in the back seat.
Walking through Sekyere is also very interesting. Me and Katja are the only white people here for miles. White people are fascinating to Ghanian people, especially in the small town of Sekyere. They all want to meet you and know your name. They want to touch your skin and ask to be your friend. They always call out "Obrunni, obrunni!" (white person, white person!) to get your attention. The little children sing a song out to me ""Obrunni, Obibibi!" which means "White person, black person!"). They follow me around waving their little hands singing as they run. It's like being a celebrity or something. I barely stop waving my hand all the way to school everyday. A lot of people I've never met know my name as well. It's all very odd.

When I got back from Oyoko (where the internet is) Miracle came into my room and saw my bible. She asked me to read to her. I asked what she wanted to hear. She didn't know the story of Adam and Eve, so I started at the beginning. I had an extra bible with me that I gave to her. She was ecstatic. She loves it.
After their bath today, I read the kids the Jungle Book story. I had them draw the characters from the story and they were very confused. They don't know how to draw! Miracle kept trying to interrupt me to help her with homework. I told her I'd help her after coloring, and she was very mad.
Katja leaves tomorrow to travel to Cape Coast. I hope I can handle everything at the orphanage on my own. I've missed home a lot this week. I love being here, but thinking about home makes me sad. So, I try to not think of all you people in America (sorry :) )
A Ghanian taxi

Already Sick

Today was a rough day. I feel ill and have a fever and am dizzy. This morning Miracle was still angry at me about her homework. She wouldn't let me have the bucket to fetch water. I don't know what to do when the older children when they misbehave! I don't think time-outs work for 14 year olds :) I wish I hadn't gotten the bucket because I had to fetch water five times today. I was left alone with all the children today. I felt guilty laying in my bed so I taught them some games that let me sit. I taught them that bobo-ski-wotlin-totlin game where you sit in a circle and slap each other's hands. And I taught them the Father Abraham song which they loved! Nana asked me to make posters of the house rules so I also did that today. Rule 1 is "No Hitting." People in Ghana hit each other all the time, even the adults! At school when a child is late or misbehaves they get caned. Some of the teachers even hit the children for getting an answer wrong in class. They hit the kids so hard that they scream and cry. All the other children laugh and don't get in trouble. I don't like it.
Tonight I had the children show Nana what I'd taught them. He liked it very much. He didn't compliment me or the kids though. I know he liked it because he asked me to pay to have a TV crew come out and tape the kids doing the songs and to pay to have it put on TV. Nana asks me to give him money nearly every day. It's a rather awkward.
The older kids play Scrabble almost every evening.

I brought toys for the kids thinking they wouldn't have many. But, they have an entire closet FULL of toys! They're stacked half way up the walls.

I GOT RICE! I was overjoyed to get familiar food! :)




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The kids playing a clapping game

Still sick...

Being ill doesn't count for much here. I get woken up every half hour to "can I use your comb?" "can I use your pen?" "come out, so and so wants to meet you." I missed church today though, which is sad. I think it would be interesting to see how church is in Ghana. Miracle came afterwards to tell me how church went. Apparently they don't have communion at her church...interesting. She wanted me to read about Moses and the plagues. Everyone here is very surprised but delighted to know I am a Christian. Perhaps most of the volunteers they've had are not?

All Better!

I didn't make it to school on Monday or Tuesday since I was still feeling sick. And now I am missing my morning classes. I am better now, but school is canceled when it rains. Ghanians think being in the rain makes you sick.
I'm having a difficult time with Nana. He keeps asking me for money. And he asks for things I don't think he needs. He wants to get a computer and meanwhile the kids are wearing clothes that are falling apart. Honestly, I don't trust him. He talks about how he has to work all the time (he's a taxi driver) because he doesn't get enough money from donors. Yet, I always see him playing checkers in town and Katja runs into him at the internet cafe nearly every time she goes there. And, I often see his empty taxi parked in town. Every weekend he goes out with his friends while his wife stays home to take care of the house. I'm sure some of this is part of Ghanian culture where the woman does all the work at home, but Margaret has 13 kids to take care of as well as volunteers to feed! I'm sure that is more than most women in Ghana have to handle. He barely spends any time with the kids.
One good thing is that the kids have gotten a little better about not hitting each other. They love the "toilet game" where they pull my hand like a lever and fall between my legs. It's never boring hanging out with them. They've all got strong personalties. They are very happy children overall. They just need to learn how to control their anger.
I tried fufu for the first time today. It's cassava and yam beaten together until they turn into something that looks like bread dough. But it's the consisntency of over-chewed gum that's gotten too soft. I couldn't eat it! It's the first thing here that I physically couldn't make myself eat. Ew!!

Fufu with fish sauce...never eating this one again.

Isaac walked to the orphanage almost everyday just to help make Fufu.



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Making Fufu - it's mixed by being hit with a big stick

Trip to Kumasi

Today Katja and I left school early to go to Kumasi. We met up with Katja's German friend Michael who works at the internet cafe in Oyoko. We had some awesome food in Effiduase (something not made out of cassava or yam...yea!).
The people in Kumasi don't pay so much attention to white people like in Sekyere. But they do try to sell you things. They will follow you trying to get you to buy something. One guy grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go. It hurt!
We went to a supermarket in Kumasi. They only had one kind of shampoo! A little different than in America :)
Katja and I are staying the night here. Our hotel has running water and a toilet! Granted the water comes out of a faucet at my knees and the toilet is broken...but still! There's a toilet!!! It's much better than going to an outhouse that sometimes has worms crawling on it.
We had dinner at Vic Baboo's, a place that's "famous" for it's good food. I'd say the quality is a notch below Denny's :)

Michael and Katja

You can't keep your bottles in Ghana...they get sent back to the factory and are reused

Chicken and fried rice...yes, a meat other than fish - yea!

The supermarket in Kumasi - so many cracker choices!

Prempeh II roundabout in Kumasi

Presbyterian church of Kumasi

View of Kumasi from my hotel balcony

Football and a Funeral

This morning Katja got up and went to (supposedly) the biggest market in Africa. It's a huge maze! It's 14 football (soccer) fields large! It's setup is totally random, so it was hard to find what we were looking for. There are people hacking up a pig on one side and someone selling sandals on the other side. We first bought Baflots which are sweet bread balls that are deep fried. So good! After wondering around for an hour we finally found material. We're going to have a seamstress in Sekyere make clothes for us. We found some movies to buy as well. The movies here are so funny! The story lines are like soap operas and the acting is really over dramatic.
We went back to Sekyere today for a funeral. Neither of us knew the man who died, but Nana wanted us to go. Margaret loaned me some traditional Ghanian clothing to wear. The skirt was a little hard to walk in and the head wrap gave me a headache. But, Nana was ecstatic about how beautiful he thought Katja and I looked. Haha! At Ghanian funerals everyone sits in chairs in a "U" shape around a picture of the person who died. First we went around the "U" greeting everyone in the front rows. Upbeat African music is played with singing and drums. People traditionally give the family of the person who died a donation for funeral costs. People can sit at the funeral for as long or little as they like. Nana had us sit for only about five minutes. Then, we went and got drinks at the "American Pub" (it's not so American looking, lol) and went back home.
After the funeral Katja and I left for Kumasi again. We met up with Michael and two more German friends of Katja's - Julia and Hannah. I can follow a conversation between two Germans pretty well - three is hard and four is really difficult. They all talk so fast! (Or at least it seems that way). It's been interesting getting to talk to Germans and see how they view what's going on in the world. Julia is from East Germany, so it was interesting to hear what her parents and grandparents thought about growing up in the DDR.
Our tro-tro broke down on the way to Kumasi! We got very lucky to find another one down that could fit four people. At the stadium we bought all kinds of fanfare. I think we were wearing more Ghanian stuff than the actual Ghanians!
Ghanians would stop us in the street all surprised and happy - "You support Ghana?! You support the Black Stars?!" It was great.
The game was interesting, but the student section at gopher football games is much more rowdy and exciting. I think I find football (soccer) rather boring to watch :/
But I got to have ICE CREAM at the game! SO good! You suck it out of a bag, but it's still yummy.
Katja is staying with a different family near Accra for a week, so I was on my own to get home.
It was a little scary. I got in a taxi outside the stadium. Traffic was dead stopped, so all these men kept coming to my window. Some of them were very nice and asked me how I liked the game. A few asked me to come home with them. Once stuck his had inside the taxi to stroke my face. Awkward!
Thank God I met someone I knew at the tro-tro station in Kumasi. Naomi, a teacher at my school, was there and she helped me find a tro-tro and a taxi in Effiduase.

Part of the market in Kumas

The market was very busy and it was a tight squeeze through the market pathways

More market

Mmmm...fish!

Walking around with my yummy Bahflot (sp?)

Katja and I in the traditional Ghanian clothes...good lookin' huh?

Hannah and Julia at a restaurant in Kumasi

Katja and Michael eating American food

We got into the Black Star spirit

Check out those earrings

Some guy walking around the stadium with a smoking pot...not sure what that was about

Libya vs. Ghana

Katja and I in the sun

The guy behind me at the match was wearing a MN Vikings jersey!! I asked him about it and he had no idea what I was talking about and pretty much ignored me. Wonder where he got the shirt from...

Julia, Hannah, Michael, and Katja enjoying the football match