Well today is my last time writing from Africa. It is a bittersweet time. I am really sad to leave and I might actually cry...weird I know. I have already said goodbye to the children and held it together pretty well because they didn't understand I wasn't coming back tomorrow. I have absolutely loved my time here and even though I can't wait to return to life and comforts of home, I can't believe how fast my time has gone by here. To remember Ghana and give you more insight of the things that I love most about here, I am going to list what I will miss most.
*Warning: some may be sarcastic. I know I wasn't sarcastic before but it must be something I picked up here :).
I am going to miss: being called "Yevu", our white parades, the happy faces of the children waving from behind every corner and fence, the happy, friendly of the faces of the Ghanian people as we walk by, the laughs from the Ghanian people as we try and speak Ewe, going to Ghanian hospitals with thoughts of malaria in my head, taking anti-malaria medication, the sticky yet wonderful aroma of deet in the morning, the high-carb diet, Fan-choco, choco delight (sigh), the smell of freshly burned coal in the morning, the enormous potholes filled with bacteria infested water, the goats and chickens aimlessly wandering the street and amazingly dodging the taxi cabs, the sounds of the taxi cabs honking at anything in its way cause in Ghana taxis and vans have the right a way. I am going to miss seeing how tough these Ghanians are as they carry fridges and suitcases on their heads, to name a few. Yes these were witnessed. I am going to miss tucking myself in my bed with my mosquito net every night only to wish I had gone to the bathroom before I did so. I am going to miss boiled groundnuts(peanuts) and drinking soda from a glass bottle. I am going to miss the cultural music radiating throughout the neighborhood until 4 in the morning on Wednesday nights from the church next door. I am going to miss late night chats with Alpha that usually turned into late night U.S. state capital lessons because he knows more than me. I am going to miss fuzzy hair, sticky, sweaty face, no make-up, I look like a boy in pictures look. I am going to miss the stickers that dangerously cover the back window of taxi cabs proclaiming their faith in God. I am going to miss Hi-Life dancing. I am going to miss the smell of the banana tub and the swarm of fruit flies that fly out each time I want a banana. I am goint to miss letting my yellow mellow and having to throw my soiled toilet paper in the garbage can. I am going to miss fans. I am going to miss my feet looking tan from the orange dirt. I am going to miss hand scrubbing my clothes in wash bins and line drying them only to have them rained on. I am going to miss the green grass and plants that grow abundantly and are trimmed with machetes. I am going to miss cold showers that remind me of Bear Lake and only to become sweaty shortly after. I am going to miss not wearing white shirts but creme ones from the children's dirty hands. I am going to miss all the marriage proposals ;). I am going to miss getting urinated on. I am going to miss the chatter of the children and the call of "teecha". I am going to miss the petting of my head because of the amazement of soft hair. I am going to miss the pinching, rubbing and poking of the children wondering if my white skin will come off. I am going to miss spiders on me from the flowers the girls put in my hair. I am going to miss those brown heads. I am going to miss flies, mosquitoes, ants, lizards and anything that crawls and does crawl on my food. I am going to miss the staff here, Christine, Atsu, George, Dela, John, Joe, Alpha, Rebekah, Bertha, Prosper and Xzibit. I am going to miss my fellow volunteers and the moments we have shared. I am going to miss walking by light of a flashlight only to wait 5 minutes for this site to load each link so I could keep you all informed. I am going to miss the quiet peacefullness of this town, the fireflies that you can see dotting the dirt path, the stars that have nothing to dim their light, the wonderful forests and lush plants that surround the area. Most of all, I am going to miss the people and the simpleness and happiness they live everyday. The happiness they have of life when they have next to nothing. The happiness that we all should have everyday when we think of all the wonderful things we have even when we think we don't have much. I am really going to miss how much these people remember where everything they have comes from, our Savior Jesus Christ.
It is amazing to me that just like the scriptures say, the meek and the poor are the ones who do remember the Lord the most. It has become very evident here and is one thing I hope to take with me. I also hope that from this trip I will remember every day that happiness is dependent on my outlook on life and nothing else. I am grateful for a wonderful family and friends that are with me through the good, the bad and the sad. I will miss Ghana and the people, maybe even cry the whole way home, but I am most grateful to have a great home to come back to where we have been fortunate enough to have the presence of the Lord in our lives.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
A New Meaning to Fast Food
While driving to and from Kumasi, I have come to discover a new meaning for fast food. When driving anywhere in the city you will find these "fast food" vendors. It reminds me of Blue Comedy Collar tour where he talks about spontaneous buys such as hot tubs at the county fair. This applies to Ghana. Just in case you didn't have a mirror to check out if you have food in your teeth in the car, why settle for a hand-held? You can buy a full length mirror right in the comfort of your car. There are various things you can buy but I wanted to talk about the food. Our crazy driver, who apparently got hungry on his drive was able to get his meal, roasted snails and some water pouches. This process goes like this. The vendors walk by your car and reach in your window if open or stand there staring at you. All you have to do is reach out your hand and there it is. I actually saw one situation where a woman was running after the car, grabbing food off her head while the car was passing the food down and exchanging the money. Like I said, a new meaning to fast food. Talk about service!
Well today was a normal day, I went to my placement at Happy Kids where the kids are, very happy. P.S. Tara if you want some twins Peter and Paul are adorable. Basically I want to take a lot of them home though :). The lady said it wasn't hard to adopt but I am not sure if she fully comprehended either. I am really enjoying my placement and wishing that I had more time. I can't believe that this is my last week and I only have 3 more days here!! Where did the time go? I am not going to lie, tears will be shed. I know big surprise to those of you that know me well :). I am teaching the 6-7 year old kids the alphabet sounds and trying to show them how to blend words. It is a bit trickier since they don't have a big English vocabulary and they can't tell if the words sound right. I do have some bright kids in my class and I feel very much at home teaching these kids how to read. Again, I wish I had more time.
We had our last Ewe lesson today and learned our African names, my name I made up Afi, since it goes by what day of the week you were born and I don't know. But don't be surprised if I am fluent when I get home...yeah right. One thing that you may need to be warned about however. Some girls were laying out trying to convert themselves from Yevu to Amaybo(black person). They asked our guard Alpha how many more times they would have to lay out to become Amaybo. Thinking it was a clever question and after getting a lot of sun that day, I asked Alpha how many times I would have to lay out. He just laughed and said I am already Amaybo.
A few other important details, I saw my first huge African spider today in our house. It wasn't huge I guess but big and nasty and it almost escaped and I almost lost the ability to sleep the rest of the week with it on the loose. I have also found besides big spiders, that men here are anxious to get married...another reason to stay here. After stepping out of the cab I immediately got a "I'll marry you" no questions asked. Wow that easy huh.
Other than the marriage proposal and big spider, life is great here.
Well today was a normal day, I went to my placement at Happy Kids where the kids are, very happy. P.S. Tara if you want some twins Peter and Paul are adorable. Basically I want to take a lot of them home though :). The lady said it wasn't hard to adopt but I am not sure if she fully comprehended either. I am really enjoying my placement and wishing that I had more time. I can't believe that this is my last week and I only have 3 more days here!! Where did the time go? I am not going to lie, tears will be shed. I know big surprise to those of you that know me well :). I am teaching the 6-7 year old kids the alphabet sounds and trying to show them how to blend words. It is a bit trickier since they don't have a big English vocabulary and they can't tell if the words sound right. I do have some bright kids in my class and I feel very much at home teaching these kids how to read. Again, I wish I had more time.
We had our last Ewe lesson today and learned our African names, my name I made up Afi, since it goes by what day of the week you were born and I don't know. But don't be surprised if I am fluent when I get home...yeah right. One thing that you may need to be warned about however. Some girls were laying out trying to convert themselves from Yevu to Amaybo(black person). They asked our guard Alpha how many more times they would have to lay out to become Amaybo. Thinking it was a clever question and after getting a lot of sun that day, I asked Alpha how many times I would have to lay out. He just laughed and said I am already Amaybo.
A few other important details, I saw my first huge African spider today in our house. It wasn't huge I guess but big and nasty and it almost escaped and I almost lost the ability to sleep the rest of the week with it on the loose. I have also found besides big spiders, that men here are anxious to get married...another reason to stay here. After stepping out of the cab I immediately got a "I'll marry you" no questions asked. Wow that easy huh.
Other than the marriage proposal and big spider, life is great here.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Kumasi
Yesterday I started our weekend journey to Kumasi. Kumasi is west of where I am in the Ashanti Region. The drive should have been 5-6 hours but complications with our driver made it a 9 hour journey. Our journey started out with a crazy driver who drove like a maniac to make sure he could follow his buddy in front of us so he could make it to Kumasi. On our journey on the road, despite our abnormally, for Ghana, crazy driver I discovered that the reason why they don't have painted road lanes, because nobody would use them. There were four or five cars passing in the oncoming lane at a time. Yes I did worry for my life.
Today when we traveled around Kumasi. Instead of taking our driver you endangered our lives and had no idea how to get around this town, we hired a car from the hotel, or a 30 passenger bus for Heather, Val and me. Our driver Steve was able to tell us a lot about the town and take us around to the good sites to see. Our first stop was the culutral center. It was more like a small courtyard with things around it but it was a lot of historical items from the Ashanti king and kingdom. A couple pieces that were really interesting were, a treasure satchel made out of elephant skin that the tour guide said hadn't been open since the 1700's for fear of the fall of the Ashanti kingdom. The second was a drum made of a leopard skin that was used as a war drum. When you rub a stick across the top, it really did sound like the growl of a leopard.
Our next stop was the Kumasi market. Now in order to travel through the Kumasi market there are a few requirements:
1. You need to walk at a fast pace when following our guide Steve.
2. You must be willing to change lanes, cut people off, and bump into the to go where you must go.
3. You must have a strong stomach because the smell of fish, raw meat of all sorts and parts of the animal's bodies will surely make you want to throw up.
4. You must be good at manuevering not only your body but your head around the large, and I mean large items the women are carrying on their head.
5. You must have eyes on your thighs, feet and all sides of your head so as to not step or bump into the raw meat on wooden platters in all directions.
6. You must be willing to walk around in hot, humid weather, that absorbs the smell of fish by the way.
**If you should survive the market, without feeling nausea, getting some kind of liquid on you, not getting your feet ran over by a big cart or being separated from your group, consider yourself lucky:).
The Kumasi market was really quite the experience. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get pictures of the animal hooves, and large snails, among the other things because the people were afraid that us Americans were going to sell their ideas in the states :). So all of you that are tempted...don't! Kumasi market for me was more a place to be survived rather than a place to shop. But with that and malaria, I think I can call this trip a success!
Today when we traveled around Kumasi. Instead of taking our driver you endangered our lives and had no idea how to get around this town, we hired a car from the hotel, or a 30 passenger bus for Heather, Val and me. Our driver Steve was able to tell us a lot about the town and take us around to the good sites to see. Our first stop was the culutral center. It was more like a small courtyard with things around it but it was a lot of historical items from the Ashanti king and kingdom. A couple pieces that were really interesting were, a treasure satchel made out of elephant skin that the tour guide said hadn't been open since the 1700's for fear of the fall of the Ashanti kingdom. The second was a drum made of a leopard skin that was used as a war drum. When you rub a stick across the top, it really did sound like the growl of a leopard.
Our next stop was the Kumasi market. Now in order to travel through the Kumasi market there are a few requirements:
1. You need to walk at a fast pace when following our guide Steve.
2. You must be willing to change lanes, cut people off, and bump into the to go where you must go.
3. You must have a strong stomach because the smell of fish, raw meat of all sorts and parts of the animal's bodies will surely make you want to throw up.
4. You must be good at manuevering not only your body but your head around the large, and I mean large items the women are carrying on their head.
5. You must have eyes on your thighs, feet and all sides of your head so as to not step or bump into the raw meat on wooden platters in all directions.
6. You must be willing to walk around in hot, humid weather, that absorbs the smell of fish by the way.
**If you should survive the market, without feeling nausea, getting some kind of liquid on you, not getting your feet ran over by a big cart or being separated from your group, consider yourself lucky:).
The Kumasi market was really quite the experience. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get pictures of the animal hooves, and large snails, among the other things because the people were afraid that us Americans were going to sell their ideas in the states :). So all of you that are tempted...don't! Kumasi market for me was more a place to be survived rather than a place to shop. But with that and malaria, I think I can call this trip a success!
Is that a tan line or just dirt?
Thursday night we got to experience the Hi-life. No, my spelling isn't that bad. We learned a dance called Hi-life. There is also a Ghanian group here called Hi-life. Basically all there is to the dance is a side step motion. Our directors George and Christine then said that you let the music move your body. Apparently they didn't realize they were talking to a bunch of white people. It was a really fun experience however and a lot of fun just movin to the music and dancing in the moonlight in Ghana, minus the sweat that was puddling on my body in the 101 degree weather, not a joke.
National Ghana Day
Sorry I am a little behind in the blogging. Wednesday was Republic Day for Ghana. On Republic Day the kids don't have a school so as a group we went to the bat cave, or just so really cool caves in Ghana that I don't remember the name of. Anyway to take you on this hike we went on there were 6 caves we went in. The first was a little crawl in crawl out cave and from there they progressively got harder. The third cave is the kicker. To get inside of this cave you have to crawl backwards and down a ladder. While you are crawling you have to avoid the bats flying out of the same small hole. A fellow volunteer, on my turn of course, decided to shine her head lamp on a group of bats inside of the cave. As I was climbing in about 12 bats come flying out. Figures. After a lot of coaxing I was talked into trying to crawl again. The caves were really neat some required so more crawling, rock climbing without gear and a lot of water dripping and mud. Thank goodness we had our fearless leaders, George, Dela, Joe and Boss with his machete.
Now as I was talking with my mother the other day, she was wondering if all I eat is choco delight. Well, although it is a nice treat all the time when I am not eating meals that is not all I eat. I also eat Fan Choco (frozen chocolate milk) :). Ghana is famous for it's chocolate so I definitely came to the right place. A few things that they eat here are rice, pasta, rice, potatoes, rice, pineapple and mango. They change the all carb diet up occasionally by adding a red sauce made from a pepper called a Pom nut and sometimes throwing in green peppers and chicken or occasionally beef. When I was in Cape Coast I ate a dish called Red-Red which is black-eyed peas and a red sort of sauce over chicken and fried plantains(yumm..they are like bananas). There has also been some interesting stuff I have eaten. Banku is one it looks like a ball of mushed up rice which is made of corn flour. To eat this banku, you dip it in okro soup. To describe this soup to you better, it looks like a spinach soup in an orange juice but when you dip the banku, it strings up like it has cheese in it. I didn't eat very much that night. For the most part I really enjoy the food there isn't a lot of variety but, it is very tasty and has enough spice to please my tongue. It has really made me appreciate though the variety of foods we have in the states. One more thing that I have eaten a lot of is crackers. That is about all they have in a gas station is dozens of types of cream crackers. I think I will be okay without crackers for a while.
Now as I was talking with my mother the other day, she was wondering if all I eat is choco delight. Well, although it is a nice treat all the time when I am not eating meals that is not all I eat. I also eat Fan Choco (frozen chocolate milk) :). Ghana is famous for it's chocolate so I definitely came to the right place. A few things that they eat here are rice, pasta, rice, potatoes, rice, pineapple and mango. They change the all carb diet up occasionally by adding a red sauce made from a pepper called a Pom nut and sometimes throwing in green peppers and chicken or occasionally beef. When I was in Cape Coast I ate a dish called Red-Red which is black-eyed peas and a red sort of sauce over chicken and fried plantains(yumm..they are like bananas). There has also been some interesting stuff I have eaten. Banku is one it looks like a ball of mushed up rice which is made of corn flour. To eat this banku, you dip it in okro soup. To describe this soup to you better, it looks like a spinach soup in an orange juice but when you dip the banku, it strings up like it has cheese in it. I didn't eat very much that night. For the most part I really enjoy the food there isn't a lot of variety but, it is very tasty and has enough spice to please my tongue. It has really made me appreciate though the variety of foods we have in the states. One more thing that I have eaten a lot of is crackers. That is about all they have in a gas station is dozens of types of cream crackers. I think I will be okay without crackers for a while.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
"Do not scream. It is bad." and Ghanian Hospitals
First of all, I hope this doesn't raise an alarm but I did get to experience a Ghanian hospital yesterday. After getting back from the weekend trip, we went to placement as usual in the morning, I started at an orphanage called "Happy Kids", which Tara I picked out your little boy his name is Junior:). He is so cute and is one that likes to learn most of the time (for a 2-3 year old) and very energetic. Near the end I started getting abdominal pain, lightheaded, headache and feverish no big deal so our groups leaders decided better safe than sorry. We drove 1 hour and a half to Ho because the hospital in HoHoe would have been a little scarier. We got there and went on what felt like a wild goose chase getting our information in a folder, blood tests (don't worry they had sterile needles) after 3 1/2 hours we finally got to waiting for the doctor which took another 2 hours of waiting before we got into seeing the doctor for him to read our blood results. It was a long, icky process for him to say well you probably have malaria. So I tried not to get sick but it looked like it happened anyway. Don't worry Jenny I'll get rid of the germs before I come home :). After taking the medication as much as I don't want to have had malaria, I feel much better. The other volunteers think it makes a cool story to say that I had malaria anyway. What do you think? Ha I would have rather not.
So today thinks were back to normal we had another typical Ghanian rainstorm which is nothing that you would see in Utah. It will be overcast pretty much all day and maybe sprinkling then you can hear the downpour coming. Now, this isn't just any downpour it is like you are underneath a faucet. These rainstorms have all possible downpour power. You will be soaked in seconds if you are caught in it. The rainstorms also usually only last for maybe 10 minutes if that so like some other volunteers if you get caught you can just hangout under a overhang with some goats and chickens til it stops.
After the rainstorm the day went on like normal and I learned another Ghanian lesson. Screaming means something here. I was walking with the twins, Kaitlynn and Jen on our way to the internet cafe and we heard the bullfrogs that hangout in the 3 foot ditches here. Since we don't normally see bullfrogs we like to shine our flashlight down and look at them. Now it rained a good 3-4 inches so there was alot of water in the ditches. We shined our light down and normally the bullfrogs can't hide cause there is no water, but today it did a little fish jump and jumped out at us and then under. All three of us got startled and just let out a little scream. Immediatly 3 big, strong, Ghanian men came to our rescue:). They asked if we were ok and laughed at us that we screamed over a frog. Then they told us that you don't scream here it means your in big trouble. It was really great that the people here are so anxious to help when they here someone scream. We also decided that these people must be really tough if screaming is rare.
So today thinks were back to normal we had another typical Ghanian rainstorm which is nothing that you would see in Utah. It will be overcast pretty much all day and maybe sprinkling then you can hear the downpour coming. Now, this isn't just any downpour it is like you are underneath a faucet. These rainstorms have all possible downpour power. You will be soaked in seconds if you are caught in it. The rainstorms also usually only last for maybe 10 minutes if that so like some other volunteers if you get caught you can just hangout under a overhang with some goats and chickens til it stops.
After the rainstorm the day went on like normal and I learned another Ghanian lesson. Screaming means something here. I was walking with the twins, Kaitlynn and Jen on our way to the internet cafe and we heard the bullfrogs that hangout in the 3 foot ditches here. Since we don't normally see bullfrogs we like to shine our flashlight down and look at them. Now it rained a good 3-4 inches so there was alot of water in the ditches. We shined our light down and normally the bullfrogs can't hide cause there is no water, but today it did a little fish jump and jumped out at us and then under. All three of us got startled and just let out a little scream. Immediatly 3 big, strong, Ghanian men came to our rescue:). They asked if we were ok and laughed at us that we screamed over a frog. Then they told us that you don't scream here it means your in big trouble. It was really great that the people here are so anxious to help when they here someone scream. We also decided that these people must be really tough if screaming is rare.
The Weekend
This weekend a group of eleven of us piled in a van and traveled to Cape Coast. Normally the trip would take about 6 hours but we hit 3 hours of rush-hour traffic in the capital city Accra. Salt Lake rush hour doesn't seem so bad no does it? Basically it is because there are no lanes, people are right up at your window selling things and everyone is trying to just squeeze in. Our trip was made a little longer by our named friend Bruce, a cockroach, who decided to peek out his head and say hello from inside the seat. Yes, mom I did scream and No I couldn't help it. After leaving the house at 12:30 we finally got to the hotel at 10:00. The hotel was called One Africa. It was right on the coast and absolutely beautiful. I also acquired my first Ghanian boyfriend. He was talking to for 20 minutes while my group very politely left me alone to talk to him. He was very sad when I said I was going to go to bed instead of staying up with him...weird :). The next morning we woke up and traveled to Kakum National Park which is a rainforest and went on a canopy walk. There are seven bridges that are built in the canopy of the rainforest. It was absolutely amazing. I took several pictues but words nor pictures can describe how beautiful and crazy it was to walk in the tree tops. Our next stop was Hans Cottage where we got to touch and have a picture with a crocodile. I know scared of a cockroach but want to touch a crocodile. I can't explain it. Of course though when I step off the step to approach the crocodile, he starts crawling toward me so I jumped back on the step. After the crocodile, we traveled to Elmina where they have one of the first slave trading castles. It was really interesting to see and really sad to learn about the conditions of the slave trade. A lot of us being white, felt like we shouldn't be there; but it was a really good experience. After the castles we walked through the town just looking around. It was amazing the difference between Elmina and HoHoe(where I am staying). The town seems poorer and not as friendly. They probably get more tourists and some seem to be shaking their heads thinking, "Here are more of the rich white people." That evening we had a delicious meal of chicken and french fries. Although the food is wonderful here, we have realized how lucky we are to have a variety of types of food instead of the same basic staple foods. So French fries were a treat! There was a show of native dancing and I went to go peer over the edge of the balcony and one of the dancers started creeping over like it was a hunting dance, I started backing away and he ran after me. He pulled me down on the floor and he taught me some dances. It was kind of embarassing but fun. After we did our own little African dances in the waves that were coming up on shore.
As we were walking through town, I saw one of the most welcoming and familiar sites. A big red building with a black sign that read "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints visitors welcome". I have to say that was a highlight of the trip. Earlier outside of the castle a boy I talked to had gone to church at the "mormon" church before so he told me the starting time. I was able to attend on Sunday morning and a fellow volunteer, Travis, came with me. Even though one of the speakers spoke in the local dialect, it felt like home away from home.
As we were walking through town, I saw one of the most welcoming and familiar sites. A big red building with a black sign that read "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints visitors welcome". I have to say that was a highlight of the trip. Earlier outside of the castle a boy I talked to had gone to church at the "mormon" church before so he told me the starting time. I was able to attend on Sunday morning and a fellow volunteer, Travis, came with me. Even though one of the speakers spoke in the local dialect, it felt like home away from home.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
"Hello" "I am fine"
I didn't explain the title. Whenever you say "Hello" the Ghanian people just reply "I am fine."
"Hello" "I am fine"
Another wonderful day in Ghana. I am really starting to appreciate the slow pace, we often refer to as "Ghana time". Everything is fine when it happens. Schedules are not important and actually you can expect things to not happen on time or right away. The people are so trust worthy and happy and friendly. Today some children came up and just started hugging us in the street. I joked with a fellow volunteer, Val, about how they haven't had the "Don't talk to strangers" talk. The wonderful thing about Ghana is it isn't necessary. Plus being white we are absolutely loved here :). Maybe I'll stay.... ha ha jk. Today at the daycare was good. Another day of being the human playground but amongst the playing and the subconscious repetition of my "teaching" I did teach the children "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" which they absolutely loved. There are a few children that are between the ages of 4-5 that asked my name today and now instead of calling me "Yevu" the call me "Alitha". I guess now I can add that addition to the many names that I have been called. It was funny because on little girl Florence, who is probably 4-5, kept correcting the little ones about how to say "Alitha". It was so cute I couldn't bear to correct her. :) This afternoon a few children from Val's class came to play soccer, all 45+ of them. They asked to see pictures of me so I brought out a few pictures that I brought from home. So Smith's and Gracie you are famous now! They were really interested that I had an "Amaybo" (black person) family member. It became a game to find me in the picture because my fuzzy hair up in a pony tail and no make-up doesn't really look like the person in the pictures. A young girl was really excited to have a new "Yevu" friend and asked me to read a book to her. There are so many things that are taken for granted at home. I think of my kids in my first grade class that don't have a lot and get excited to have a new book, but that is nothing. These kids are excited to see a storybook and to be able to own their own would be a dream come true. Any kind of toy or belonging is precious. In the daycare today, a boy brought a toy car with him which was obviously cheap plastic. By the end of the day it was in pieces but instead of being tossed to the side, the children were fighting over each piece. One piece was used as a cell phone :) . Children are the same worldwide, their imagination is all they need.
For our culture experience tonight we had a talk about the cultures of marriage. Just as our countries view is changing so is theirs. They used to be betrothed, have forced marriages(if their children seem to be having a hard time the parents will abduct a girl and lock her in a room with a boy until they get married, mom and dad don't get any ideas), they did get married for love but betrothal was more common. In this country, the woman clearly stated that man was between a man and a woman as god intended, live in mates are frowned upon as well as divorce. It was comforting to know that some places still think that.
That is another thing that I really love about this place. They are really religious, predominately Christian, and they are not afraid to show it. They love Jesus, they pray all the time, and even kind of funny, the shops all have some sort of religious name for example, "Share the Love," Light of Christ" and then it will have some word or two of what they sell like fabric or food. It is really funny but cool at the same time to see their dedication to the Lord.
For our culture experience tonight we had a talk about the cultures of marriage. Just as our countries view is changing so is theirs. They used to be betrothed, have forced marriages(if their children seem to be having a hard time the parents will abduct a girl and lock her in a room with a boy until they get married, mom and dad don't get any ideas), they did get married for love but betrothal was more common. In this country, the woman clearly stated that man was between a man and a woman as god intended, live in mates are frowned upon as well as divorce. It was comforting to know that some places still think that.
That is another thing that I really love about this place. They are really religious, predominately Christian, and they are not afraid to show it. They love Jesus, they pray all the time, and even kind of funny, the shops all have some sort of religious name for example, "Share the Love," Light of Christ" and then it will have some word or two of what they sell like fabric or food. It is really funny but cool at the same time to see their dedication to the Lord.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Hohoe Central Market Daycare
First of all pretend this is Tuesday.
Today was my first day of placement. I went to the Hohoe market daycare. To better help you understand the conditions of the daycare, there were about 60 kids between the ages of 1-5, mostly 1-3, in about a 20x30 space outside fenced off with dirt floors. The 3 hours I was magically transformed into a human playground. The children were so excited to see a "Yevu" that they all wanted to touch and play with me. Some children would approach me and poke my skin as if they were wondering if it was possible that it could really be real. Well not a lot of learning took place as I am sure would be hard in the first place for the 3 ladies there. It made me think of how much I complained about the mess that my own class made with math manipulatives or game pieces when the only way these kids could learn is from two posters, animals and fruits and vegetables, and the teacher pointing and they repeat. Education in Ghana is a lot of memorizing because there is not enough supplies for each child. How fortunate we are.
Among the chaos, one little child started saying something to me in Ewe, of course, I had no idea what she was saying. She looked distressed about it and after several huh's and umm's she said in broken English..."ur-i-nate". Oh go go was my response. As I followed her with my eyes as to where she was going, I noticed a nice line of children outside paints down "urinating". I didn't realize it was potty break time. :) Oh the simple life. After a short ride, the "Yevu" ride began again. I attempted to teach a few body parts by incorportating the tickling and touching but I think they just liked the tickling and touching. The taxi driver obviously heaven sent, arrived to save me from turning into the ride.
Wednesday:
I would just copy and paste the above message and you would get today's message about the daycare. To save you some reading time and me some typing time I won't. After our placements today, we went on a casual hike to some waterfalls. I can't remember the name of them but they were really amazing. We all took some time to allow the waterfall to beat on our backs and walk underneath it. It was really fun. Also along the cliff were a lot of brown spots. (This is for Uncle Dave) I thought they were goats on the mountain :) but it turned out to just be bats. But it wasn't just 50 bats, 100 bats, I think it would be safe to say there were thousands of bats covering the wall. The were screeching and flying around and everything. It was quite the sight to see but I am really glad they stayed up on the cliff. Everything about Ghana is so culture oriented and community oriented it has been really fun so far. I sometimes forget I have only been here for 4 days and cannot wait to see what happens in the next 2 1/2 weeks. Thank you all you loyal blog readers (and commentors). Pardon my spelling and grammar, it shouldn't be affected but it is :). I also want to apologize for the lack of pictures. It takes about 15 minutes to load them on a good day and good days are rare. I will post pictures when I return so you can view them then and I can have the luxary of fast internet:)
Today was my first day of placement. I went to the Hohoe market daycare. To better help you understand the conditions of the daycare, there were about 60 kids between the ages of 1-5, mostly 1-3, in about a 20x30 space outside fenced off with dirt floors. The 3 hours I was magically transformed into a human playground. The children were so excited to see a "Yevu" that they all wanted to touch and play with me. Some children would approach me and poke my skin as if they were wondering if it was possible that it could really be real. Well not a lot of learning took place as I am sure would be hard in the first place for the 3 ladies there. It made me think of how much I complained about the mess that my own class made with math manipulatives or game pieces when the only way these kids could learn is from two posters, animals and fruits and vegetables, and the teacher pointing and they repeat. Education in Ghana is a lot of memorizing because there is not enough supplies for each child. How fortunate we are.
Among the chaos, one little child started saying something to me in Ewe, of course, I had no idea what she was saying. She looked distressed about it and after several huh's and umm's she said in broken English..."ur-i-nate". Oh go go was my response. As I followed her with my eyes as to where she was going, I noticed a nice line of children outside paints down "urinating". I didn't realize it was potty break time. :) Oh the simple life. After a short ride, the "Yevu" ride began again. I attempted to teach a few body parts by incorportating the tickling and touching but I think they just liked the tickling and touching. The taxi driver obviously heaven sent, arrived to save me from turning into the ride.
Wednesday:
I would just copy and paste the above message and you would get today's message about the daycare. To save you some reading time and me some typing time I won't. After our placements today, we went on a casual hike to some waterfalls. I can't remember the name of them but they were really amazing. We all took some time to allow the waterfall to beat on our backs and walk underneath it. It was really fun. Also along the cliff were a lot of brown spots. (This is for Uncle Dave) I thought they were goats on the mountain :) but it turned out to just be bats. But it wasn't just 50 bats, 100 bats, I think it would be safe to say there were thousands of bats covering the wall. The were screeching and flying around and everything. It was quite the sight to see but I am really glad they stayed up on the cliff. Everything about Ghana is so culture oriented and community oriented it has been really fun so far. I sometimes forget I have only been here for 4 days and cannot wait to see what happens in the next 2 1/2 weeks. Thank you all you loyal blog readers (and commentors). Pardon my spelling and grammar, it shouldn't be affected but it is :). I also want to apologize for the lack of pictures. It takes about 15 minutes to load them on a good day and good days are rare. I will post pictures when I return so you can view them then and I can have the luxary of fast internet:)
Monday, June 22, 2009
Veggimate vs. Choco Delight
Well, let's think about that for just a second. Which sounds better? Well so you can make an informed decision Veggimate is basically yeast spread which tastes like salty brown goop and Choco is short for chocolate. All I can say is they must have known I was coming because there is all the Choco Delight I could dream of.
Today in the land of Hohoe,(Ho-way) we had some more orientation. Not the most exciting, and then we visited the markets. I always enjoy going and visiting the markets and seeing the variety of things being sold there. I both some fabric which I am hoping to take to a tailor tomorrow to have dress made. There were all sorts of things from fish in all forms, headless to body parts, purses from a Thai rice bag and all sorts of fabrics. After the market, it seemed as though we walked around the entire town of Hohoe to get to the bank. So lucky for us we got to continue our "white parade" becoming even more familiar with the shouts of "Yevu" (white person). One day I'll remember the response of "black person" in Ewe to shout back at them.
After our journey around the town, we had a traditional drumming and dancing festival. It was a very cool time to see their traditional dances. I think however, the real reason why they wanted to come perform for us was to see the white people who don't know how to dance. Well we tried anyway and sure enough the had a good laugh. It was fun regardless.
Today in the land of Hohoe,(Ho-way) we had some more orientation. Not the most exciting, and then we visited the markets. I always enjoy going and visiting the markets and seeing the variety of things being sold there. I both some fabric which I am hoping to take to a tailor tomorrow to have dress made. There were all sorts of things from fish in all forms, headless to body parts, purses from a Thai rice bag and all sorts of fabrics. After the market, it seemed as though we walked around the entire town of Hohoe to get to the bank. So lucky for us we got to continue our "white parade" becoming even more familiar with the shouts of "Yevu" (white person). One day I'll remember the response of "black person" in Ewe to shout back at them.
After our journey around the town, we had a traditional drumming and dancing festival. It was a very cool time to see their traditional dances. I think however, the real reason why they wanted to come perform for us was to see the white people who don't know how to dance. Well we tried anyway and sure enough the had a good laugh. It was fun regardless.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Woezo! (Welcome)
I have arrived safely in Ghana! My first few days have been exhausting and overwhelming. After a 24 hour trip I finally arrived safely arrived in Hohoe in the Volta Region of Ghana. The plane ride was long and the 4 hour bus ride was bumpy. I discovered that in Ghana, they don't use seat belts to prevent you from falling out forward but to keep your head from hitting the ceiling. It is like a little roller coaster with the little lurch in your stomach as you go up and down the bumps. After a long trip, we arrived a home base. We took a tour around town and become what felt like the "white parade." We did a lot of waving,"hellos," and nodding of the head to the local spectators. In return, we received a lot of "Woezo!" and "Yevu"(white person). The children are absolutely excited to see these white people. The people here are friendly and not shy. We saw a little boy with great talent, who while waving and saying hello, also was relieving himself :).
Yesterday we had our first visit with the children and played a game of catch. After a long day of traveling, parading, and playing, I layed on the couch, since I was too tired to sit up and took a long nap. I woke up, had a cold shower and slept some more. I slept in a bunk bed covered with a mosquito net. I felt like a kid again when I would make forts out of blankets. It was a very peacful sleep. To those of you that know me well, it will be a surprise for you to know that with all that excitement I woke up this morning, or this afternoon, around 12 just in time for lunch.
I had my first Ewe [e-way] lesson today where I was able to understand exactly how my English Language Learning students must feel and the exact point that my professors in ELL classes were trying to get me to understand. I practiced forming my lips exactly right to make the correct sounds just to forget it 5 minutes after the lesson.
So far it has been good and has brought me nothing but excitement and anticipation of things to come.
I will try to post pictures as much a possible but am not sure how long they take to load. Until next time, I love you all and so far have not contracted any illnesses, come across any big bugs, and haven't seen many animals, just goats.
Yesterday we had our first visit with the children and played a game of catch. After a long day of traveling, parading, and playing, I layed on the couch, since I was too tired to sit up and took a long nap. I woke up, had a cold shower and slept some more. I slept in a bunk bed covered with a mosquito net. I felt like a kid again when I would make forts out of blankets. It was a very peacful sleep. To those of you that know me well, it will be a surprise for you to know that with all that excitement I woke up this morning, or this afternoon, around 12 just in time for lunch.
I had my first Ewe [e-way] lesson today where I was able to understand exactly how my English Language Learning students must feel and the exact point that my professors in ELL classes were trying to get me to understand. I practiced forming my lips exactly right to make the correct sounds just to forget it 5 minutes after the lesson.
So far it has been good and has brought me nothing but excitement and anticipation of things to come.
I will try to post pictures as much a possible but am not sure how long they take to load. Until next time, I love you all and so far have not contracted any illnesses, come across any big bugs, and haven't seen many animals, just goats.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Africa!!!
Hey all-
Many of you have been bugging me about starting a blog so here I am caving into peer pressure. I begin my adventure in 10 days!! Hopefully I will keep this up to date:/ For those of you that know me really well I am bad at any kind of communication other than phone or face-to-face. I will do my best.
Love you all!
Many of you have been bugging me about starting a blog so here I am caving into peer pressure. I begin my adventure in 10 days!! Hopefully I will keep this up to date:/ For those of you that know me really well I am bad at any kind of communication other than phone or face-to-face. I will do my best.
Love you all!
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