Hello dear friends and supporters!
I arrived back in Dodowa this past Monday and I'm startled to say the week is finished already. I arrived to an exceptionally involved and passionate troupe of volunteers, which was absolutely heartening. In a meeting this past Monday we discussed all of the things they'd done last week and that bit of the conversation alone carried on for nearly 45 minutes due to the sheer volume of accomplishments!
The numbers of children here have increased greatly since I left in March. In fact, when I initially visited in 2011 there were around 60 children. When I was heading home exactly 1 year later, there were 85. And today there are 110 happy children inhabiting The Potters Village! While this is of course a happy circumstance in many ways, it has quite drastically increased the need of the home.
Our current needs are as follows;
-Money for food!! When I arrived on Monday, I was informed that there was no food in the store. Sister Beatrice and I went to see and indeed, there were a few cups of corn that had been scattered about on the floor by rats and the only other food in the house was a large bag of rice that was being kept in a separate place so as to be protected from the rodents. I used all the donation money I had at the moment (around $700 USD) and visited the market with Sister Beatrice on Wednesday. Already that food is finished. And so we start again. We need between $3-4,000 each month to fully supply The Potters Village with enough food for all the growing children. We are currently negotiating agreements with organizations in the country who would be able to help us some on this front, but at the time we depend entirely on you.
-We have 7 children who are moving from jr. high to sr. high and need to have sponsors for their education. Myself and a few other volunteers will be traveling about to the various high schools with said children to collect the exact prices for tuition, boarding and necessary school supplies but from the schools we have already visited I feel confident saying that sponsorship of a child would cost you less than $500 for an entire year, all inclusive. If you are interested in sponsoring a child please feel free to contact me via email at radlittleturtle@gmail.com and I will offer you more specific information as soon as I have it for myself, likely by mid-week.
-The Potters Village received a donation of 10 desktop computers that are currently set up in the office waiting to be used. In order for them to be in working condition, we need $25 per computer of $250 in total to make that computer lab a working reality. The children all have computer classes in school but only one of the 3 schools the children attend actually has computers. The others draw a keyboard on a small bit of paper and practice typing that way. Still, computer classes are overwhelmingly a favorite among any survey of children you ask. It would be really splendid for them to have this as a resource to further their education.
Those are the current needs as they stand today-if there is anything else you personally would like to donate that isn't on this list please contact me directly.
I've been enjoying myself immensely this past week. For the first time in my travels (up until last week the only country I'd been to outside my own was Ghana) I started by journey in another country. I began in South Africa, where a dear friend of mine was married last weekend. The first 3 days of my adventure were filled with such joy, such majesty and beauty that it has only served to help me love each and every thing and person I encounter more than I ever have before. I can't thank Amy and Leendert enough for that, I know you two will continue to have the most brilliant of adventures :)
I'm still learning the names of the 25 new arrivals, but on Friday I was blessed to have some individual time with a new (since I was last here anyway) little lady by the name of Vincentia. She was at the volunteer house seeking something or another from Sister Beatrice when it suddenly began to POUR. I was the only volunteer in the house so I went out to the shelter of the porch and sat with her. I've been practicing my new ukulele since arriving, we we had a little bit of music time together before she noticed the background on my phone was a fancy little picture of myself with my family. She grinned widely and started correctly identifying the people in it joyfully. I shared all of the pictures I have on my phone with her (...like 400) including one of red stew that I made at home. Red stew is one of my personal favorite Ghanian dishes and when she saw it her eyes LIT UP and she started to pretend to eat the phone, giggling wildly. Turns out it's her favorite too :)
Each time I return I love love love to see the changes in the children I've seen in previous visits. The two best examples I can use are that of Godwyn and Beauty.
When I first arrived, both Godwyn and Beauty had arrived in the month previous. Godwyn was under 1 year old and had been left in the jungle to die. He was rescued and brought to The Potters Village where his situation was drastically improved. When I arrived and first met Godwyn, he was incredibly emaciated and clearly malnourished. He looked like a tiny, sick old man. His hairline had receded, his eyes and his stomach bulged and he cried woefully in reaction to most situations. When I was leaving the first time, he was just beginning to speak and only a very little. He would answer ''I'm fine'' when asked how he was or respond with his name, but that was the extent of it. Not to say it wasn't terribly exciting, all of us who had been watching him adjust were overjoyed at this milestone.
Beauty arrived within a month of Godwyn. She came from a similarly unfortunate situation. She had been left with her auntie and cousins who, for whatever reason, beat her regularly so severely that this 1-year-old would seek shelter under the nearest chair or table. They would feed her only on the floor and when they offered her food they would wait for her to start eating and then steal the food away from her once again. It eventually came to a point where the auntie decided she was no longer willing to ''take care'' of Beauty and left her in the street alone. Being that it was in a small village, the other people recognized the child and where she belonged and called the police. Beauty was removed from her custody and the woman received a small fine for her actions (less than $20). When Beauty arrived at Potters Village, she was similarly unhealthy. The most notable characteristic in my eyes was her understandable animalistic reactions when she was eating. The entire length of my first stay here, volunteers knew that they couldn't approach Beauty while she was eating. As such a young child, she used to straddle a bench alone and feed herself, lashing out severely if anyone came within even a 10-food radius of her, clearly fearing that her food would be taken away. She was and always has been a lovely child, and there were moments of joy in her but like Godwyn she spent a great deal of time crying at the drop of...well, anything.
When I returned last year, I came into Dodowa just before dinner and HAD to run to see the kids before I could possibly eat. I ran across the football pitch where I met up with Kwabnasaray and Maxwell and we continued on our way. On the front step of the orphanage sat Godwyn and Beauty hand-in-hand who stood to greet me as I approached ''Hi! I'm Godwyn, how are you?" and "Hi! I'm Beauty!" were the first full sentences I'd ever heard out of their mouths. I nearly cried just at that. If you think children grow up fast when they're in your own home, try leaving them for 9 months and trying to come to terms with how different they are, woah! In the 3 months I spent here on my last visit, it was a joy to watch Godwyn and Beauty grow and interact differently with volunteers and their fellow children alike as they clearly benefited from the love, attention and general care they had been receiving.
Now this time, Godwyn and Beauty have both grown almost incomprehensibly in my eyes. On the day I first arrived, Godwyn ran towards me pointing to the boy's room and said ''Jayne! They are calling you!" to which I replied (in disbelief that I'd just heard that to begin with) ''Who is calling me?". He answered ''Jayne, please. Prince is calling you from the boy's room. Let's go find him!" And so we engaged together in a goofy little game of seeking Prince. Both Beauty and Godwyn now speak exceptionally well and I am happy to say that they both spend most of their energies making themselves and others giggle :) Just yesterday, Mama Jane was conducting a meeting with the children and Beauty stood off to the side stark naked dancing and giggling happily to music that could only have been playing within her head. Earlier this week, I was in the courtyard later in the evening speaking with Bra' Daniel while the power was off with one child on my knee and Beauty shakin' her body like a jellyfish in front of me taking intermittent breaks to laugh at herself and say something obviously entertaining in Twi. I'll totally take credit for the dancing like a jellyfish bit of it (that's how I dance for the kids...or anyone else when they request I dance) I loved seeing her so joyful. I think I've seen Beauty cry 2 times this week and neither time for more than a few seconds.
It's these stories that clearly demonstrate to me the phenomenal things happening here at The Potters Village. My words are one thing, but experiencing it for yourself is quite another. While we appreciate all the financial support you have to offer, if any of these stories have touched you I am inviting you now to come and join us and be a part of this process, I promise you won't be disappointed :) All the love in the world and until next time-
Jayne
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