Busy...Busy...Busy

Hello again. Today is Tuesday June 17th and I officially have just over 6 weeks left in Ghana. I will be arriving at JFK on August 5th and though I do not have a flight to Seattle just yet I assume I will be home that day or the next. All feelings of loneliness or homesickness that I have felt at one point or another while in Ghana have vanished. While I am very excited to get home and see everyone, I have a ridiculously long check list of things to accomplish before leaving.
Let’s see: I left my place at 8:20am on Thursday to head to Accra. After a hell of a time getting to the bus station, then choosing to take a tro-tro, and wait for it to fill up, I was finally on the road around 11:30 (two hours after I had planned to leave). While I thought I would save a few cedi’s by taking a tro-tro, I now see that I got what I paid for. I was the only white person in this 20 person vehicle and not one spoke enough English to communicate with me. I had my book and ipod for this very reason but just as we turned on the engine to get going a man jumped on and began saying a long prayer in Twi. This was not a problem except that NOTHING is done quietly in Ghana and therefore he was in fact shouting for 20 minutes in a language I do not know. He then proceeded to preach about health (from what I could tell when I heard him say HIV). He then held up photos of various advanced states of STD’s in the genital area. Hmmm…I was not aware that with my 5 cedis to go the 4 hours to Accra I would also get health information. Of course this was also in Twi and therefore I had no idea what was going on and attempted to ignore what was going on by turning the volume on my ipod full blast. Five hours later we arrived in Accra. That would make the time around 4:30. Great. I called Patrick and met him at the college. I was mistaken before. While Patrick is the president of a college in Ghana, it is not the University of Ghana. He started Ashesi College 6 years ago. This is a private school focusing on business and math. He was getting ready to go home and I was not able to see much of the campus but it was just as well (I was hungry). We hopped into his Honda CRV and drove a ways through Accra to his home. I learned that he is has a masters in Business from Berkeley and his wife, an American, is from Seattle. We arrived at his home complete with watchman to open the gate. There is a basketball home in the drive way and a backyard with grass, a swing set and two bunnies in a large crate (belonging to his daughter). I was expecting a house that reminded me of home but this was more than I expected. He has a lovely home and two great kids, Nana age 13 and Efia age 6. I had such a great time in the familiar family atmosphere. We ate a family dinner and talked about Seattle (Patrick’s wife Rebecca is an alum of Roosevelt High School) and I played board games with Efia. That night I slept in the air conditioned guest room and felt right at home. Friday I said goodbye to the family as they went off to school and to work as I was told to relax in their home until it was time to meet my friend. I gratefully thanked them and spent the morning watching children’s films, reading and eating scrambled eggs with cheese that their live in nanny prepared for me. Around 3pm I left to meet my friend Jeanette at the tro tro station, she also had a long journey from Kumasi. We had planned on going straight to the beach an hour away but then decided to stick around Accra for the night. We grabbed a taxi to an area called Osu to check into the Salvation Army Hostel where you pay 6 cedi a night for a small bed in an room of 12. We were lucky however and were able to have a room all to ourselves. After checking in we went to explore Osu. There were many restaurants and places to see, overall Accra is completely different from Kumasi. After dinner we headed to Ryan’s Irish Pub (which we learned about from the Ghana Bradt guide). From the moment we walked in we forgot we were in Ghana. Jeanette and I made our way to the bar, she was very excited to have a Carlsberg beer (since she is Danish and everything). We met the owners, a sweet British couple with Irish roots and proceeded to spend the next three hours talking to them about travel, volunteer work and Ghana all while sipping beer, Irish coffee’s and various other drinks (and I should mention that this was the case because the owners felt they should take care of at least half of our bill). From there a friend I had met in Cape Coast came to pick us up and we headed to Champs Sports Bar. I had heard about this place and wanted to check it out. Friday is karaoke night and I felt as though I walked into any bar located on University Ave in Seattle. We ended the night at a club which also reminded me of home. Wow. While I enjoy going out and somewhat forgetting where I am, I am very glad that I was not placed here my whole 6 months. I much more prefer to live in Kumasi where I do not have all the luxuries of home and feel as though I actually am somewhere completely different. Saturday and Sunday we were at Kokrobite, just one hour west of Accra. We opted to stay at the cheap guesthouse (7 cedi for two of us) instead of the overpriced “Big Milly’s Backyard,” though we did spend most of our time there. Saturday was Reggae night and there were more obruni’s in one place than I have seen since arriving in Ghana. And at least half of these obruni’s were from America, I am amazed that I can tell the English language from “American English” so clearly now. I had fun talking about American sports, the upcoming election and just about life in the U.S. I think I may be coming back to Accra for the 4th for I can celebrate among other Americans.
The journey back to Kumasi on Sunday was just as long, if not longer but thankfully I had Jeanette for company. I arrived around 9pm, very tired so the movie night was pushed until Monday. I also learned Sunday night that there was in fact school last Thursday and Friday (the headmaster had the dates wrong). I was upset to hear this because the whole point of my trip to Accra was because I would not be missing any school. This is actually midterm break week and I therefore have just tomorrow before the kids are off for the rest of the week. Shoot. On Monday I came to school and headed straight to class 4. They were working with protractors and learning how to draw angles. Osey and I walked around helping the kids steady their hands and understand the difference between an acute and an obtuse angle. During break some girls from class 5 were asking me about giving them another quiz. I love how excited the kids are about learning. This time they wanted a spelling quiz. I said I only have stickers to give out as prizes but that didn’t seem to bother them (meaning they are not just in it for the chocolate biscuits). I went to work choosing 10 words for a class 5 spelling quiz to be held on Wednesday. Monday night came around and I had no idea where the man was with the tv (that I paid to be fixed). My host mother, Georgina allowed me to use the living room television to set up the dvd player and 20 kids piled in watch “Brother Bear II.” I love to watch how animated their faces get when watching what they call “toys.”
Today was busy. I came to school and attempted to get the printer to work to print off some information about STD’s that I had found earlier but it was a no go. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some information for my vocational school sex ed class. I then continued working math with class 4 and gave the chosen ten words for the class 5 spelling quiz tomorrow. After a lunch of rice and tomato sauce I took the excited class 4 out for P.E. This may sound like a fun time but I usually spend the 30 to 60 minutes breaking us silly fights and listening to pleas of “Madame, no girls! Boys play first, then girls,” or “Madame, the boys won’t let us play.” As much as I would love the class to play coed football, it seems impossible and so few girls actually want to play so forcing the boys to sit aside and watch is an extremely difficult task. Oh well, at least they are outside getting some exercise. Earlier in the day I found my dear Abigail. Late last week she hit her ankle on a pole of some sort and it not only swelled up but looked infected. I had to explain very slowly to her mother that she needed to go to a clinic to have a doctor look at it but from what I was told, her mother did take her. I come back and on Monday I see that her ankle looks much worse. I plead with her mother to take her again and say I will pay for any medication but she needs to get it cleaned and looked at once again. Today Abigail’s mother came to me and explained that the doctor gave her one injection (I’m not sure of what) and she needs two more (for one cedi each) and she was also given a prescription for some antibiotics and a topical solution. I gave her a measly 5 cedi and everything was taken care of. Wow…medical care really isn’t too expensive. I will keep you posted on the status of her ankle. After school I rounded a corner to come to the school to type and I found a teacher beating three children fiercely. While I struggle because I do not want to undermine another teacher, I was not able to stand by and watch. I demanded to know the crime and I learned that they had missed their ride. The school bus has long since broken down and for the past two months children have been taken to and from school in tro tros. I guess the three children did not hear a calling for the car and therefore had to collect money from the headmaster to get home. Yes I understand that this is a problem but they are kids for god’s sake and they were busy playing. After 4 months I am still cringing every time I see a cane raised overhead.
Before I go for the day I want to mention the chalkboards. Daniel, a man who lives at the Columbus community, painted all ten boards over the weekend. They look very nice however, the 4 boards along one of the walls (the empty classroom I use sometimes, class 4, 5 and vocational school) have a problem. When it rains, these boards become drenched and therefore the paint in affected and they are useless until 100 percent dry. Once again, shoot. I am kind of at a loss here. I doubt anyone will be building a cover to protect these boards when it rains and therefore the classes mentioned will have to use the old chalkboards until the paint dries. Someone explain to me how the money I spent wasn’t a complete waste please? I was on the verge of tears when I thought about other projects in the school I could have put that money towards. I guess I just need to learn that I can’t fix everything. Well that is all I have for today, more tomorrow.
Wednesday 6/18…school is over and the kids are at church. I wanted to add a bit more to the blog before posting it. After school yesterday I spent the afternoon hanging out with the kids and other women that live at Columbus. Georgina was sitting outside with baby Yaa (she will finally get her name at her naming ceremony this weekend). I immediately take her into my arms to play with her. She is almost 3 months old and is becoming so animated. I love to see her smile. I also used my camera to take some videos of the kids dancing. I has intended to get a video of P.K. laughing (since his laughter is so infective and I am going to be so sad when I can’t hear it everyday) but I can’t bring out my camera without at least 5 kids wanting to pose. With video’s I can capture the kids voices and movements so I think I am going to be taking many more in the next 6 weeks. This morning I arrived early to school in hopes of printing some notes for my lesson with the vocational school. The printer was working but I had just three pieces of paper to use. I printed what I could about various STD’s then headed to the vocational school room. I walk in and find two students present. I don’t understand why the vocational students cannot get their act together and come to class. From what I see, the students are not serious about learning and therefore it makes the teachers lazy. After speaking to the two teachers however, I can see it from their point of view. The vocational school has little to no resources. They are supposed to have classes in cooking, sewing, shoe making, hair dressing in addition to business lessons (math), the classes are very limited however. There are two sewing machines (and supposedly 15 girls enrolled), very little cooking supplies, and no workshop on shoe making or hair dressing. The teachers then tell me they need my help to raise money. While the entire school of Columbus needs to be redone, I can see why the vocational students decide to come 50% of the time. I told the teachers if the girls put together a proposal telling me what they need to become successful at this vocational school then I will seriously think about raising money when I get back to the states. After that discussion I went on with my lesson about STD’s. The two students were actually quite interested and while they knew the names of some of the diseases I discussed, that was all they knew. Next week I hope to have pictures to go along with the diseases (and I hope for a larger attendance). After that lesson I moved to class 5 to administer their spelling quiz. I was taken back to my 5th grade class with Ms. Kolling at John Hay when she would stand in front of the class giving the spelling test, I would be nervous and forcing myself to keep my eyes on my own paper, oh memories. Overall the kids did very well, many getting all ten, plus my extra credit word correct. At least 10 had zero correct however so I will do what I can to work with these students. After the quiz I took class 5 out for P.E. I enjoy taking this class out much more than class 4, they tend to listen to me.
Alright well I am off to Kumasi. I will be staying with Jeanette tonight (since there is no school tomorrow or Friday), she works at a rehabilitation center for disabled teenagers. I am looking forward to seeing what she does on a day to day basis. I have many things planned this weekend, including a full day with Naomi on Friday. We are going to go to the central market to buy more material for me to get another dress made, are going to two museums and the zoo. Saturday night I will be with Alison and Jeanette and I few other ladies. We are going to get dressed up and try to find a place to get some decent coaktails…we’ll see. Sunday is the ceremony for my baby (host) sister, I’m not sure what this entails, but I’m looking forward to it. Have a great weekend and check back again next week!
-Erin