African Adventure Attempt #1
Friday, December 23
At about 9 this morning 5 other volunteers and I left Dodowa to make less than a 2 hour trip to Kokro Bite, where there is a beach and excellently inexpensive souvenir shopping.
Unfortunately, we failed to calculate our times correctly. We not only forgot it was a Friday but we forgot it was THE last shopping day before Christmas celebrations begin and that our trip would take it through the shopping districts of the capital. Soooo it took us 4 hours to make it most of the way there, about to get on one last tro-tro(van-type public transport) when we noticed the time and how long it had taken us to get there and decided to turn around. Then we spent so long waiting in traffic to travel less than 30 miles (about 3 hours) that we all got sunburnt. Ridiculous.
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| Abena playing on Christmas day |
Many times, adventures in Africa do not quite go the way they were planned.
Christmas in Ghana
Sunday, December 25
When you’re used to snow and cold this time of year, it’s hard to convince yourself it’s Christmas when you got sunburned waiting for the bus the day before. But alas, it came even without the snow or cold. The volunteers planned to spend Christmas Eve day with the kids playing games and singing and dancing, but their landlord loaned them a TV and they proceeded to watch a few Nigerian films on repeat for 9 straight hours, leaving little for us to do. So we spent what time we could with the kids that could be pulled away from the TV and spent the rest of the evening at home.
Christmas day was a much more enjoyable celebration. The children were provided a day full of excellent food thanks to some generous volunteers and the mad cooking skills of Sister Beatrice, who is also the volunteer’s cook. Starting at about 10 am, she and some of the older girls began preparing fried chicken, fried rice, and salad for 85 people. That was to be finished in time for the evening meal. In the meantime, we chopped fruits purchased by a volunteer to make fruit salad. You haven’t had a fruit salad until you’ve had one with pineapple, mango, banana, papaya and oranges that haven’t traveled more than a few miles and are still hot from the sun.
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| Volunteers helping to distribute fried rice, fried chicken and salad for Christmas dinner |
While all the food preparations were underway, there was a church service held in the courtyard of the orphanage run by a few of the children and one of the men who works there, Prince. At various points in the day there was drumming and singing, blasting Ghanaian music and dancing, handing out of gifts from volunteers and Ma Jane alike, and to end the day we watched “The Lion King”. It was a long, exhausting, hot and wonderfully fulfilling day.
For those that don’t know, here in Ghana greeting are very important. You always say, “Hello, how are you?” to the people you see on the streets and when asked the same you always answer, “I’m fine.” I was happy to discover that the day or two before Christmas the greeting changed to “Hello, Merry Christmas!” with a response of either “And a happy new year!” or “ And many happy returns!” Living in a country where wishing someone a Merry Christmas has become a reason to be affronted, I took every opportunity to say “Merry Christmas” as often as possible and was happy to be met with gratitude and returned sentiment.
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| Bernice resting after the holiday weekend |
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| Volunteers at Eddie's Christmas party |
Following Christmas, the volunteers all traveled to Madina for a Christmas party at Eddie’s house. I had a wonderful time listening to a drum circle and trying to master some Ghanaian dances. There was good food, good drink, good music and good people to be enjoyed by all.
African Adventure Attempt #2
Tuesday, December 27
Leaving from Eddie’s (following the party) early this morning we gave it another go and finally made it to Kokro Bite! Instead of the 4 hours of not getting there we spent the first time, it took us less than 2 hours to make it there. I spent the day jumping through waves and buying trinkets on the beach before making the long slog home. Happy to be back home in Dodowa again!
Getting in the Groove
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| Foster and I |
Wednesday, December 28th
Tonight, I spent a great deal of time with a young boy named Foster. I knew and adored him the last time I was here, but I had a great long conversation with him this evening where we discussed the following things:
Foster is 11 years old and his favorite subject in school is computer technology where they learn to use computers by drawing a keyboard on a small notepad and pretend to type. I asked him what he wants to do with computers and he said he wants to be a pilot. When asked where he wants to go when he can fly he said the USA. I asked him where in the USA. I’m not sure he realized how large a place based on his face when I told him it’s about 30-35 times the size of Ghana. I told him about how where Sarah, another current volunteer, lives in California where it never gets too cold. I told him that where I live it gets snow and far too cold. We talked about how Ghana is warmer because they are closer to the equator and when he said he was told the sun doesn’t reach America I corrected that misconception, though I informed him about the 2 months of darkness and light that occur in Alaska during their summer and winter and he was astonished that this was yet ANOTHER part of the USA.
He told me that he likes cats better than dogs and he used to have a cat named Jack who had kittens, which I thought was a little odd for one named “Jack”. I asked him what his favorite food is and he said rice. I asked if he likes jellofrice, a local spicy rice with vegetables, or fried rice and he said “yes, but I mostly just like rice”. I think this boy is living in the right place since we eat rice nearly every day. I told him my favorite food back home is mashed potatoes, which I gladly and enthusiastically explained to him. He told me he loves pineapples, oranges and apples though he isn’t much fond of mangos or bananas. I told him my favorite fruits are pineapples and raspberries, which he had never heard of before. We spent some time looking at stars and I pointed out Orion and the Big Dipper to him, explaining about constellations and promising to learn more so we can continue to learn together.
At one point in the evening, the conversation turned to a song on the radio. I asked if I’d ever mentioned that my dad works in radio. He looked very surprised, so I took that as a “no”. I explained what my dad does and he looked fairly disbelieving. When I called him out on it and asked if he believed me he said “no!” So we made a phone call to prove it. I got my dad on the phone and told him I had my good friend Foster who didn’t believe my dad worked in radio. He told him he did indeed and explained a little bit about what he does to Foster. Once the phone call ended I told Foster he could tell his friends he knows Dean, a radioman. J
12:52pm Thursday, December 29th
Since leaving for the orphanage around 9 this morning these are the things I have done:
-Played a game of “Bottlecap Football” with Kwame. This consisted of two teams of players, mine being Coca-Cola and his being Star beer caps, flicking the caps to move a bean into the opposite goal set between two small rocks. I won 4 to 1, but to be fair I had some assistance from Eziekial and Isreal alike.
-Re-dressed Daniel’s infected toe and leg
-Dressed Junior’s swollen, infected boil on his shin. Went to the pharmacy to retrieve a 1 week dose of antibiotics for him, it is not looking well and I’m afraid he is putting on a brave face and not letting on how much pain he is in. A twice-daily dose for 7 days cost me 12 cedi in donations, which is less than 8 USD with no insurance, just going to the pharmacy and asking for it.
-Rocked Chucu baby to sleep
-Cared for Isreal after he was sick in the courtyard, got him water and put him to bed.
-Taught Daniel how to count the number of letters of on his shirt and practiced counting with him, Prince, Princilla and Akofa.
-Waited patiently for Courage and Foster to return from chores so they could teach me to play football, though they didn’t return in the morning. Hoping they will still be up for teaching me this afternoon!
11:31pm Thursday, December 29th
From talking to other volunteers before returning I discovered that in the next month or two there would be 2 newborn babies at The Potters Village (formerly WORCSA). My lovely mother went out and bought towels and crafted handmade cloth diapers and purchased many towels for the kids because I told her they could use them. My parents also bought many children’s belts, which are always in desperate demand and punched extra holes in them to ensure we had sizes for all the kids. Tonight I brought all these things to Ma Maggie, the woman who cares for all the youngest kids as well as taking the pregnant women back and forth from the hospital for their regular visits. The donations were met with many thanks and blessings. Thanks to all of the generous donations that have been sent with me I was also able to assure her that we will have money to cover whatever hospital bills they will incur through the process so we can make sure they mothers and babies are safe and sound.
I spent a few hours with Rosemary and Foster tonight, teaching them about different tribes of people I’ve been learning about from watching BBC’s “Human Planet” and about coral reefs (which they had never heard of) and other animals I’d learned about from “Planet Earth.” Foster has a great affinity for climbing trees and loved hearing about a particular tribe who build their homes in the tops of jungle trees in a society where the social stature of the family is measured by the height of their tree home. I also told them about tropical fishes and octopi. I sang them a few songs and then they proceeded to spend a great deal of time teaching me more Twi phrases which I’ll combine with my previous knowledge and pass on to you. My computer doesn’t speak Twi and I suspect very few of you read it so I’ll spell the phrases as best as I can phonetically.
Eti sen=How are you?
Eh yeh=I’m fine
Ye deen=Be quiet
Day be=No
Oh bwa=You lie!
Ampa=It’s true/yes
Me ko fi eh=I am going home
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| Irrelevant to Twi, but adorable nontheless. Koko rockin some shades. |
May pa chow=Please
May da say=Thank you
Ntem ntem=Hurry up!
Ko chwi-cwhi woozy=Go brush your teeth
Bra (with a slightly rolled “r”) fi eh=Come to the house
Ko koda=Go to sleep
Ko jar-eh=Go and bath
Ko didi=Go and eat
Men ko bibi ah=Don’t go anywhere
Da ben=What else
Da ben a o pe=What do you like?
Ooh free-e=Where do you come from?
Men-e-yeh=Don’t do it
Ko a sorray=Go to church
Tena see=Sit down
Sorry=Stand up
Jai=Stop
My personal favorite because it’s super fun to say
Ko inka-tinka-tay=Go slowly
When next I post, I'll have all the information on what donations have purchased in the time I've been here. I'll see you all in the new year!!
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