Do I have to start packing soon??

Tuesday July 15, 2008: I remember like it was yesterday, I was beyond frustrated after being taken to the hospital the night before I was supposed to (finally) be leaving for Africa and having the doctor tell me I have pneumonia. I was then delayed for a third time and I thought I would never make it. Now I have just over 2 weeks left in Ghana and I am overcome with feelings of achievement, sadness, excitement and anxiousness. Home sounds wonderful but leaving the kids? I’m not sure that I can. I don’t think I have fully grasped the fact that I have actually been living here for the past 5 months and how strange it will feel to not walk down the now familiar uneven dirt path to the main road and wait for a tro tro everywhere I go. Suddenly I won’t have the wake-up call of children right outside my window or feel genuinely adored when I have 6 kids scrambling over each other to give me a hug. When I get back to the U.S., just about every aspect of life in my past 5.5 months will be very different. I guess that is all part of the experience though, never forgetting all that I have learned during my time in Ghana and taking that experience home with me.
On to what I have been up to since the last posting: After meeting Jeanette and our driver friend Duku to pick up our dresses from the seamstress, I spent a long while at a café mindlessly surfing the net. Around 6 my friend Harman picked me up to go to dinner. Harman is a friend I met over Easter weekend at Cape Coast. He is Indian nationality but has lived in Ghana for the past 9 years. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of pizza, spring rolls, and kebabs. After dinner he took me to meet other friends of his at a guesthouse one of his friends owned. We sat outside in a courtyard, drank some beers and had interesting discussions. Being American, there was a lot of talk about U.S. politics, a topic I have not grown tired of discussing. Another topic was HIV. Somehow I mentioned I was teaching sex health at my school and had visited the hospital HIV clinic and apparently this made me an expert. I was answering questions I didn’t know I had the answer to. All in all, an interesting evening. Harman helped me get a taxi that night and made sure he scared the driver a bit to ensure my safety. He was definitely more cautious that I am but I was grateful for the concern and the call to make sure I arrived home in one piece. Saturday I stayed with Tony and Jeanette at the "Palace" and dined on dinner, pasta and salad (Yum!). The deliciousness continued the next morning with a veggie and cheese egg scramble, bacon and toast. We spent a few hours at a nearby hotel pool where ballads by Brian Adams, backstreet boys, and Celine Dion blared all afternoon.
Around 3 I jumped in a taxi headed to the Suame roundabout (all large Ghanaian cities are covered in roundabouts) to meet Naomi and Julia, one of the new volunteers from Germany. Naomi had asked me earlier in the week if I would join her in visiting some friends at a boarding school. Angel Education Complex is a boarding school for children from kindergarten to junior secondary school (JSS), which is similar to our 8th grade. The two girls we were visiting are singers that sometimes appear at Columbus (the church where my host father is a pastor). Linda, 13 and Portia, 15, are sisters and are attending this fairly expensive school. The girls were thrilled to see us and happily took us from room to room, showing us around. I could immediately tell that this was a considerably costly school for Kumasi, though still looks nothing like private schools at home. We were shown numerous rooms in the girl’s dormitory and I was surprised to see that a room the size of mine at home could house 8 to 12 or even 14 girls. There were at least 6 bunk beds in each room. The classrooms were very nice however, with desks meant for older children and actual white boards! We thanked the girls for the opportunity to see a private school and after a few pictures; we were on our way back home. Sunday night: movie night. This time we watched "Ice Age." After the film Naomi brought me a dvd of the girls singing and the kids in my room begged me to put it in. Linda and Portia are very good indeed, and the dvd is actually available for purchase. After 9 pm I told the kids it was time to get to bed, at least for me, since there is no established bedtime for the kids at the orphanage, took a cold bucket shower (the running water is finished for now) and wrote in my journal. I have had to buy two new journals since arriving in Ghana because I write an entry almost everyday.
Monday I did less teaching and more running around trying to make my lists of things I want to do before I leave. First off, the 10 desks were completed and set aside for me to see before they are used. Overall they look great, though the edges are quite rough and I made a note to also find some sandpaper to smooth the desks before the students use them. The total cost to purchase the materials and get the desks put together was 180 Ghana cedis. I also made note that all but two of the chalkboards (in classes 4 and 5) are useable though I want to buy a duster/eraser for each classroom. Most teachers have been using old t-shirts to wipe the boards clean, a method that does not work well. Finally I am hoping to be able to find wood to create borders around the posters I want to put up in the classrooms. Right now I have had a difficult time trying to keep posters (of the world, Africa, ABC and 123 etc) on the cement walls. The classroom walls are so bare and depressing and I would love to live-in them up just a tad.
During all my run-around I noticed one of the boys that live at the orphanage, Samuel, sitting on the stairs looking very ill. He said his stomach is "paining" him and when I put my hand to his forehead, he felt like he was on fire. I walked him up to the main part of the house to see Naomi. She was washing clothes and told him to get some cool water to bathe himself. I decided to needed to help him get the water since he seemed very weak. After leaving him to his bathing I spoke with Naomi. She says the first thing is to cool off the body with water and then he must sit and wait for her. This is the case with all the children when they have fevers, which seems to be all the time. I was reminded of how blessed I am to have the parents that I do. When I am sick at home, I am allowed to lie on the couch all day, in front of the t.v. and my mom or dad makes chicken noodle soup for me and sometimes buys me fruit popsicles. I still get this treatment and I am 22, but I when I was younger I actually enjoyed being sick because I was so cared for. That is definitely not the case here. (Thank you mom and dad).
Before lunch I once again went through all my supplies, sent to me by my mother and family friend Trisha, to see what could be given to what class. I decided each class should get a new box of chalk and I have quite a few new pencils. There are also flash cards and crayon boxes. I have two English books I used in elementary school and a few other goodies to offer as prizes and I decided to write a quiz for classes 4 and 5 with the top two scores in each class earning the books and 2nd prize. Though now I fear I won’t have time to get these and my sex health test completed before next Monday. Busy Busy Busy.
After school on Monday I had planned on going to Tafo-the next large town before near me, before Kumasi, to use the internet and go to the bank ATM. To my disdain the entire branch was out of service and I truly had no more cedis left. The security guard told me I had to go to Kejetia in Kumasi and I informed him that I did not actually have enough pesewa to get there. I then spent the next 20 minutes trying to get a tro tro before the storm clouds overhead opened up. This is one example of a scenario in Ghana that I am not going to miss; when entire bank branches do just stop working and the next ATM is not 30 minutes away. Once I got home those feelings had disappeared and I spent the evening with the kids. I brought my ipod and speakers outside and filmed the kids having a dance party, I also took some pictures of baby Roseman in the outfit I had given to her. After dinner I took one of the word game books provided in a box sent from home and invited some of the kids to fill in the missing letters and write games using alphabetical order. It was me who finally said I was tired and needed to retire for the night, the kids could have played word games until their eyes fell out. This is just one of the MANY things I will greatly miss.
Today I am going to work with class 4 and 5 teachers to write the quizzes and possibly take class 4 to P.E. (weather permitting). Then I must trek to Kumasi to get money from one of the fully functioning bank branches and hopefully purchase mattresses for the few kids still sleeping on the floor at the orphanage. More later!
Wednesday: I am taking a short break after spending the morning sanding the new desks with the sand paper I bought yesterday. After class 5 finishes their lesson I will let them bring the new desks into their classroom. Yesterday the rain came down so I was unable to take class 4 to P.E. but I did spend the second half of school in the vocational school room. While two of the students focusing on catering (Charles and Shonda) were conducting their particles, I was finishing writing my sex health test. The two students decided I should try everything they were making so they brought me vegetable jollof rice, cabbage salad, a beef kebab and pancakes with orange flavoring! All of which was delicious and I no longer needed lunch. Earlier in the day Charles and I stepped outside so I could speak to the headmistress of the technical school he hopes to attend next term. Charles tells me he is interested in becoming an electrician. Because the forms for next term are not ready, Charles cannot show me the application, however, he can bring the enrollment money and the headmistress can write a professional letter to me declaring his admission. Finally I told Charles that I want his family to be involved in his schooling so if they could get 10 cedi’s I would pay the remaining 40 for his enrollment fee. Today I spoke to his grandmother on the phone and everything seems to be working out. His grandmother, Nana, was very grateful. I gave Charles the money today and on Monday he should have the letter from the headmistress. Though I wasn’t sure at first, Charles has proven to be very responsible and serious about his future. I am glad I can offer assistance.
After school I went with Daniel to drop off some of the children at home. Daniel is one of the men living in the community and helps bring the children to and from the school each day. Since the bus broke down months ago, Daniel and a few others go in a tro tro to various areas in the region to pick up kids and bring them to and then from Columbus school. Daniel and I went in the tro tro that drops children off near Kejetia. I have a few photos of about 20 or so kids crammed into the vehicle. After dropping all of the kids off and waving goodbye, Daniel and I began checking off my list of things I needed to do in Kumasi. ATM, buy fruit at the market, purchase sand paper, cement nails, clear tape and phone credit. We checked prices of mattresses but decided to buy them at a place closer to home. I will finish writing my math quiz for class 4 tonight and Friday morning I will give them the test and present awards for the top grades. Class 5 has their English quiz tomorrow where I will also be giving prizes. There is still much to do at the school and orphanage before next week when I go to Accra to meet my friend Rachel. I think I will end up doing two blogs this week. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!
-Erin
I haven't been able to upload pictures lately but I promise to put everything up as soon as I get home. (in 20 days)

(insert title here)

Hello all…it’s Tuesday July 8th and I have less than 4 weeks left. How is this possible? I am still incredibly excited to come home and see everyone but I suddenly have zero time left to do some crucial things while still in Ghana. This week and next week are my last full school weeks left and I am growing sadder by the minute. Before I get into what has been going on this week however, let me backtrack.
My 4th of July weekend was a lot of fun. While I did not get to watch fireworks, I did meet many Americans while at a bar in Accra and people of other nationalities were wishing me a happy Independence Day. I choose to drink Heineken for the majority of the night. While I don’t really like this beer all that much, it was the closet thing to American beer (meaning it was the only beer in Ghana that I could also find in the U.S.). I even have a picture of me, wearing red, white and blue and standing in front of an American flag. On the 5th, Jeanette and I spent the afternoon relaxing and recovering on the beach. We had an equally fun Saturday night and made it home by dinner time on Sunday evening. This was perfect because Sunday night means movie night and I have very few of those left.
Monday: I spent the morning with the vocational school. There were just three students but I could not wait any longer to teach my lesson in HIV and AIDS. Even though there were few students, I think the lesson went well. The students took notes, asked questions and seemed genuinely interested (though they have not seemed that way with the past few lessons). I finished by showing them some more disturbing photos of STD’s and also pointed out my images of the male and female anatomy’s. I hope to do a lesson on rape and on abortion before preparing my test for the class. The rest of the day I spent with class 4 because the teacher, Mr. Osei was out again (though he wasn’t sick, he was taking care of some things because he is going back to school himself). I continued with a math lesson from the previous week and gave them new spelling words for a test this Thursday and then they were taken to the computer room for that class. I’m not sure I have mentioned that the school hired a new computer teacher. This man is much more competent then the last teacher. He actually teaches for one thing and spends hardly any time playing computer games. I’m glad the school is getting actual use of the available computers (other than me typing emails and blogs of course). After school I headed to town as quickly as possible and then straight to the post office. My mom’s package finally arrived, as well as a package from my god mom. I was thrilled to find many supplies for the school and for my upcoming art classes (as well as luna bars, power bars and a people magazine for me). After having a rough time getting a tro tro home on account of a short, but heavy rainfall, I arrived at home just in time to greet two new volunteers. Julia and Christina are from Germany and are here for 6 weeks and one whole year respectively. To celebrate their safe arrival, the girls, Martina, myself, our two coordinators and two guys from the community walked down to the nearby spot (bar) for a drink and some fried rice. I was surprised at the chilly weather. I was still wearing a t-shirt but the breeze gave me goose bumps. I pray that the rainy season goes away very, very soon.
Tuesday: Today I woke up early to workout, clean my room a bit and prepare for my art project with class four. Using brand new crayons, construction paper and stamp art I received in my mailed boxes, I had the kids make cards for Madame Isabella. Isabella is the volunteer from Norway that was here when I first arrived and left in the end of March. The kids still talk about her and I think she would really appreciate hand written cards by them. Secretly I am hoping the new volunteers will have the kids do the same for me after I go because I would love to have something like that to keep.
The project was a hit, though I was very frustrated for a large portion of the class. The kids were so excited for new materials but of course no one wanted to share and everyone wanted to be first in line to use the stamps. I used my loud yelling voice however and things eventually went smoothly. After lunch I spoke with class 5 to ask their opinion on what I should do with the money raised by the young adults at my church. I explained that I would be able to buy either new English books for the class OR pay to get desks made. After much consideration, the class (mainly a few girls I took aside) decided they wanted new desks since they are going to be class 6 next year and therefore should have big desks. I absolutely agree. I decided that I am going to provide class 5 with the desks and decide how to spend the remaining amount of money. For sure I would like to get mattresses for the remaining 5 children still sleeping on the floor at the orphanage and I would very much like to get exercise books for the entire school. I am excited to see what I come up with.
Charles, the only boy from the vocational school came to talk to me again. He really wants to go to a different vocational school in the upcoming term but is unable to pay school fees. On two occasions now he has taken me aside and asked me in a very respectful and serious manner that he would really appreciate my help. I have told him twice now that I will think about it. He says he can show me any paperwork he gets to prove that he has enrolled and he has a cell phone so he can be in touch with me once the new term starts. My only real worry is not being able to help every vocational school student, however he did make a good point in saying that none of the other students have bothered to ask for my help and he would not tell everyone. After thinking about it some more and talking to one of his teachers, I think this sounds doable. If the money I give him (50 cedis) can help him have a future in shoe making or catering or a career as a tailor, then I think it is money well spent. I will let you know what happens. School is now over however and I have a bunch of washing to do. I will write more this week.
Thursday July 10th: School is over and I am catching up on the blog. After spending Tuesday washing clothes, taking inventory on all the remaining school supplies I have available to me, and eating dinner with the new volunteers, I invited all the kiddies in to watch "Cars." Julia (new volunteer from Germany) stayed in the room to watch and hang with the kids. The boys enjoyed the movie in particular, which is funny because there are definitely no sports cars driving around Ghana, yet they took a natural interest in the racing. The movie is longer than I remembered and by the time it was over, it was nearly 9:30 and I had just 4 kids who hadn’t given up and gone to bed. On Wednesday I ate breakfast early and headed to Kumasi around 9am. I arrived at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (K.A.T.H.) by 10 and headed for the HIV clinic. I absolutely regret not spending more of my 6 months working in the clinic though I am grateful for being able to spend anytime there at all. Wednesdays is reserved for counseling. I at first assumed this meant counselors available to talk with about HIV, fears and questions, but this wasn’t exactly the case. Due to the great deal of people suffering from the HIV virus and lack of available doctors and nurses, that sort of counseling is costly. Instead each Wednesday is used to conduct three sessions about using ART (Antiretriol treatment) once you are diagnosed. Samuel, the epidemiologist I worked with the last time I visited the clinic, was conducting session 2 of the counseling requirements. He explained to me that once the patient is not only diagnosed but their CD4 count is below 300, the hospital decides it is wise to begin the medication. The patient cannot begin to receive this medication until they have gone through the three counseling sessions. No counseling actually takes place, rather the sessions are simply to provide the necessary information needed to correctly take the medication. Once they have completed sessions one and two, the final session is meant for testing and to prescribe the dosage. I sat next to Samuel as he spoke (mostly in Twi) to a group of 15 or so people. I also learned that each patient is supposed to bring someone to help understand the directions and importance of taking the medication correctly. Therefore not every person in the room has HIV, some are there to offer support. For whatever reason, this was comforting to know. I of course could hardly understand one word of what was being said but Samuel would stop from time to time and explain to me in English. Clearly there was not a whole lot I could do with me not speaking or understanding Twi and because I cannot come on a regular basis, but I was glad for the opportunity to see what the clinic offers people. Monday and Friday are regular HIV clinic hours for people to visit doctors, take CD4 tests and get their next months worth of medication. Fridays is also the time when children who were born with HIV can come for their clinic checkups. I decided I would really like to come on one of those days. Depending on my schedule next Friday I hope I can take the time to go back to the clinic.
After my hours at the hospital I went to the cultural center to check on some gifts I still need to buy and stopped by the tourist office to figure out the best way to travel along the coast when I my friend Rachel comes to visit on the 23rd. Though I know I could have figured it all out, going to the office was very helpful. I had some time left before I should held home so I thought it would be the perfect time to visit the Armed Forces Museum. I joined another group of travelers for the guided tour but within 10 minutes I had violent stomach cramps and felt as though I was going to faint. I stepped out and rested for a minute, realizing I had been walking all over Kumasi and had not had any lunch. Opps. I decided I had to wait on the museum and went to get an apple before getting on a tro tro home. After eating dinner I felt much better so I spent some time outside with the kids. I was informed that Pastor and P.K. (my two favorites) had not eaten dinner, and it was past 7. Their mother was not around and I do not know where she was. Pastor and P.K. are part of the family of 7 kids all living at the orphanage. Their mother is very much alive and also living in the community but their father has passed away. With their mother gone, the children have to find food for themselves. Some of the other adults told me they had been given rice, but I was not convinced. It is not possible for me to see these kids go unfed so I grabbed a cedi and bought some jollof rice rice with spicy veggie stew) for the younger kids of the family. I was able to get 5 portions for just one cedi. While I cannot do this every night, I was happy to provide them with supper. Before bed, 4 kids came in to get homework help. I struggle offering much help because even though the other kids in their classes may not be orphans, I really do not think their parents are available to provide homework help. Yet, I am living at the orphanage and therefore have a responsibility to the children living here.
Today: School is again over and I had another full day. I started the day preparing for the spelling quiz in class 4 and writing a few notes on rape for my vocational school class. After break I administered the spelling quiz to class 4 and sadly, just 7 kids missed just 2 or less. While the words may have been a bit harder than last time, I gave the kids three nights to study. Since there were so few that earned stickers however, I was able to quickly buy 7 toffee candies to hand out. After break the quiz I headed to the vocational class but they were in the middle of a lesson in catering. They start practicals next week and needed the full day to work on their cooking. Instead I sat down in their classroom to start writing their sex health test I will be giving them next week. After lunch I grabbed class 3 for P.E. They were thrilled, which was wonderful because it means they really appreciate my decision to take them. We spent a full hour playing football (well I sat this one out mostly to take pictures) and I this time the entire class played, including every girl. It still amazes me that class 3, all of whom are younger than those in class 4, are better behaved than my other two classes combined. Tonight I am having another movie night since there are so few Sunday’s left and still so many movies to watch.
Friday: I just wanted to add something short before posting this weeks blog. I had a short day at school today because I had to leave right at noon to meet Jeanette. The two of us then had to travel 45 minutes to the seamstress to pick up our dresses. The seamstress was not able to come to Kumasi today so we went to her. We both had to wait for a few more alterations but I am very satisfied. I am looking forward to wearing these dresses when I get home. I was able to help with an English lesson on prepositions in class 4 and do an art project with class 5. I had them draw self portraits of themselves using the colored construction paper and new crayons I received in the mail. They really enjoyed it. Alright well I am done with this blog. 3.5 more weeks and I am back in the U.S. Shocking.
See you all very soon.
-Erin

Happy Independence Day!

Monday June 30th, first things first…not sure if you will read this Casey but…Happy Birthday, sorry I am missing your birthday for the first time in 9 years. I am happy to report that I am feeling almost 100 % better. The malaria was in fact mild and though I felt pretty sick on Friday, I felt much better by Saturday. I even joined Jeanette in town on Saturday to meet with a seamstress to get more dresses made. On Sunday I was told the baby naming ceremony would begin at 2. While I was dressed and ready at 2, I was well aware that the ceremony would not be starting then. As I was telling my Grandpa last night on the phone, nothing in Ghana happens on time. I believe it was about 4:30 by the time everyone was gathered in the room and all preparations were made. Martina (the other volunteer from Switzerland) is in Accra for the weekend so it was just me at the ceremony. I wore the skirt Delia, one of the vocational school students, made for me and attempted to look nice by applying some make-up. While the entire ceremony was done in Twi, I still found it very moving. Lastly just about a half hour, most of the ceremony was reserved for prayer. When I say prayer, I mean Pentecostal, Ghana prayer so this means loud to the point of shouting. It seemed as though the ceremony is combined with a baptism because the person performing the ceremony put several liquids on the babies head. Georgina looked beautiful as she held her baby and I have a few lovely photos from the day. Halfway into the ceremony the pastor revealed my baby sisters name: Foustina Rosemond Yaa Anima Appiah. Wow, what a mouthful. Her name was then shouted over and over again for quite some time and then people brought forth any gifts for the baby. I had two small outfits, baby wipes and baby booties I found on Saturday. I was told “God Bless You,” numerous times and I simply smiled and nodded in return. After the prayers and gifts (which were to be opened later) a few women that live in the community passed out meat pies and minerals (soda). Just then a storm came out of nowhere and it began to shower outside, accompanied by thunder and lightening. I rushed to my room to put buckets where necessary and scanned the ceiling for any new leak marks. For the rest of the evening the electricity was on and off. I had planned to have the kids in my room for our Sunday night movie. When the generator was juiced up I realized I really did not want 15 kids with wet, dirty feet in my room but at 7pm, like clockwork I hear a knocking on my door. I was in the middle of telling them why I wanted to wait until the next time when one of the older kids reminded me that I could bring the dvd player into the big living room again. Perfect. After setting up everything I had not only 15 plus kids watching the movie but several adults left over from the ceremony. It was amazing how interesting Disney’s “Monsters Inc” could be to people of all ages. The movie finished around 9 and I went back to my room to get ready for bed. I then discovered a new leak…just above my bed. Thankfully it is not too bad and with the mosquito net, the bed was hardly damp. If the rain continues however, it will get much worse. Even though I have told Naomi several times about the various leaks in the roof, I called one of the guys in to see. Arick, one of the guys living at Columbus, and is my host father’s “right hand man,” came in to check it out. There is in fact mold beginning to grow in some places and he had no idea it was this bad. Hopefully the roof will be repaired very soon.
Today is the 30th and tomorrow is yet another Ghana holiday. Therefore I did not expect to see many students in school today. Thankfully this was only the case for the vocational school. While I was disappointed because I had truly spent time on my STD lesson, I felt the three students present were attentive. I had three images to show them and I got the usual reaction to an image of a penis infected by an STD (yuck). On Thursday (with the hope that there are more students) I will have an extensive discussion in HIV and AIDS. I then moved to class 4 to work on their math lesson. They are still working on charts and graphs but most of them are understanding the lessons and they still get very excited when I award them with a sticker for good work. After lunch, as promised, I did an art project with my class. The art project was pretty much coloring pages ripped from a coloring book my mom sent me but I made sure each student had an activity of some sort to complete as well (a crossword, word search, word scramble, connect the dots, a maze, etc.) Using colored pencils and crayons are always a hit, no matter the project. Now I am off to town. Since tomorrow is a holiday (for the workers I am told, no one really knows what this holiday represents), I am going to stay at Alison and Tony’s (in the Palace).
Wednesday July 2nd: Yet another week is half over and I have no idea where the time is going. Monday night I enjoyed a delicious dinner of steak kabobs and potato wedges and a glass of wine. Perfect. I spent the Ghana “holiday” with Jeanette. We were running about all over Kumasi, from the grocery store to the post office, bank, cultural center, etc. We could not stop talking about our experience in Ghana thus far and how few weekends we have left to get everything done.
Today Osei (class 4 teacher) came to school, gave the kids an assignment and quietly slipped out. Mr. Boachie (class 5 teacher) informed me that he headed to the hospital because he was ill. After being sick last week myself, I was sympathetic but I wished he had told me himself. Regardless, I took over the class. We worked on the math lesson, which took longer than normal for some reason, I graded the work and gave stickers to all but 5 kids! They are doing much better. Then I gave them homework-words to study for a spelling quiz tomorrow. I wonder who will do better on their quiz, class 4 or class 5? My class kept asking about P.E. and asked if I could take them this Friday. I took this time to explain that Friday the 4th is my countries Independence Day, so I would not be in school. I am going to Accra to celebrate with other Americans I have met over the past 4 months. A few of the kids looked worried and said, “But you will come back right?” This did make me smile and feel appreciated. I told them I would be here for the remainder of the term-through examinations. This seemed to please them. Now the kids are in the church for their bi-weekly blessing and I am waiting for a new volunteer. I was told a girl from the U.S. (though I don’t know which state) will be coming to Columbus for the next month and will be sharing my room. Hmmm…a few months ago I would have loved the company but now I am being a bit stubborn and realize I have my stuff literally everywhere in the room and can’t see where there is room for someone to move in. I’m sure we will get along great and now I will have another person to celebrate with on Independence Day.
Thursday July 3rd: School is over and I am getting ready to head to Kumasi. I will stay with Jeanette tonight and she and I will leave for Accra early tomorrow morning. I mentioned that they last time we were in the capital we spent a good part of our Friday night at an Irish Pub? Well I called Denise (one of the owners) and she and her husband our putting us up in their guest house for free. How lovely. There is still no volunteer. She didn’t show up last night and no one can tell me when she will be arriving. Oh well, I will be gone this weekend and we will just have to figure out where to put all of our stuff when I return. Today went well, although there was only one student in the vocational school so I have to postpone my very interesting lesson on AIDS verses HIV until next week. I decided to drop nutrition and try to get in a lesson about rape and abortion before I write the quiz I am supposed to give the class. There just isn’t any time left. I began the day with my spelling quiz for class 4. Just as I assumed: half the class wrote every word correctly or missed just one and the rest got at least 5 (out of 10) wrong. I gave them just one day to study so perhaps next week I will give new words at the beginning of the week and have the test on Friday. After the test the class would not stop pestering me about taking them to P.E. After promising me they would do a better job of listening, I grabbed the soccer ball and they ran down to the “field.” We played for a good 45 minutes and I was very proud then I only had to ask three times to stop playing and head back to school. After a lunch of somewhat burnt rice and tomato paste I helped class 4 with their math lesson and now I have to quickly pack and head to town. I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Hopefully it will be great weather. For anyone who will be attending a barbeque, please have a hotdog for me accompanied by a ice cold beer.
-Erin

Malaria...

Tuesday June 24th, I am at school trying to get started on this week’s blog before break time is over. Another blog, another week completed in Ghana. Yesterday was my official 6 week left mark and I am filled with different emotions. While I am not totally wishing for another 6 months and am truly excited to get home, I do not wish these last 6 weeks to go by any quicker than they are going to. My time in Ghana has been an unbelievable experience and I my journey is coming to an end. Thankfully I still have time to check off my to-do list though I was able to get a few things done this past weekend. I am also happy to report that the young adults group from my wonderful church (UCUCC) is going to give me quite a bit of money to put towards the Columbus preparatory school and orphanage. The young adults group is going to dip into their personal account and I will help them fundraise when I return. While we are still deciding how to best use the money I am fond if the idea of building new desks for the older classes. If you have checked out my pictures website recently, you will see a photo from the exam period and it is clear that the desks provided are much to small for classes 4 and 5. Building new desks should not been too difficult. In addition I would like to provide each student with exercise books and new pencils. If there is any money leftover I would like to accommodate the few children at the orphanage still without a proper mattress. Foam mattresses cost between $15 to $20. I am excited to offer assistance to the school however we decide to spend the money.To once again continue where I left off in the last blog: I spent last Wednesday evening with my friend Jeanette (from Denmark) at her project. She is working in a different town just outside of Kumasi at a rehabilitation center for the disabled. I saw very little of the center Wed. night but on Thursday she took me to the various classrooms. The center is primarily a vocational school. Being a government run center, they are supposed to receive adequate funds to provide necessary materials for the different classes as well as room and board for each student. Jeanette informed me that the government has neglected to give any financial support for the past two years. The center has been running off of strictly donations since then. Even with this being the case, the classrooms seemed well stocked with supplies compared to the vocational students at my school. There was a room for shoe making (I ordered a pair…3 Ghana cedi each!), a room for hair dressing complete with sink, various blow dryers and products of different kinds, a room for sewing, weaving, carpentry and catering though that class does not seem to be in high demand. All of the students are disabled in one way or another but their disabilities are vast in variety. Jeanette serves as a teacher for all other subjects, primarily science and math. Each day she takes certain students (all aged 13 to 25) out of their classes to work on the basics. Since I was there to both observe and be of help, she put me to work. Thursday was her deaf group and she gave me the three oldest boys to work on math. Before I go any further I want to mention the blackboard at the school. The boys stared at me strangely because I seemed very interested in the chalkboard. The board looked more like the chalkboards I am used to and I had to find out what type of paint was used. I spoke with the headmaster and he informed me that it was in fact crushed battery acid mixed with a basic black paint. Well that doesn’t help me one bit. I refuse to use toxic chemicals in an area with so many children so I am just going to live with the faults of the blackboards at my school.After learning about the board, and forcing myself to ignore the fact that I had to come in contact with crushed battery acid, I began my lesson. While these boys were relatively older than the kids I teach at my school, Jeanette told me to stick to basic addition an subtraction. After a while I tried subtraction using borrowing, something they had clearly never done before, but both I and the three boys found this to be fairly simple. I continued and by the end of my lesson I was teaching multiplication. I demonstrated problems like 4x3 by drawing four groups of three objects like circles, apples, hearts etc. I then had them first count the number of objects and then the number of groups and finally count the total number of objects. I really enjoyed working with these boys, and though I was a bit nervous in the beginning and probably used overly exaggerated hand movements, I realized they can understand me. I applauded each time they answered the problem correctly and they rewarded me with huge smiles. After the lesson Jeanette gathered her group and my group together to play a memory game. They students clearly loved this game while Jeanette personally made with the help of former volunteers. After lunch we headed to town and to the cultural center. I had seen an absolutely gorgeous painting of elephants at a watering hole and decided I had to get it but when we came to the stall I was told the painter had just sold it an hour before. He said he could easily paint me another so I will be able to pick that up next week sometime. Friday was another long day. I woke up early to get some washing done, though I admit Naomi helped me quite a bit (hand washing bed sheets is quite the ordeal and I watched in awe as my sister completed the task like it was nothing). Around 10:30 Naomi, her younger sister Adelaide (yes my host father, the bishop, has 4 children and 3 different mothers) and I headed to Kumasi. Adelaide, 13, has been living at Columbus for the past month and left to go back to Accra (she lives with her mother) and to school this past weekend. I wanted to take her out for a fun day before she left. I had a list of things to accomplish before the day was over and our first stop was the Kumasi zoo. Break is over however so I must go and return after school. School is over for the day and I can continue my blog. The Kumasi zoo is both better than what I expected and worse. After paying just 1 cedi, 40 pesewa for the three of us, we walked in and almost tripped over 3 huge peacocks. There are many more animals than I was told but the cages and facility as a whole needs work. We were able to see the whole zoo in an hour though we were taking our time. I felt most sorry for the various chimp and baboon species. They looked so depressed in their cages, though when a group of primary school students arrived at the zoo the chimps became riled up. A woman also walks around selling peanuts that people then take a feed to the monkeys (totally ignoring the signs that say “do no feed the animals.” There was a man hanging out by one of the chimpanzee cages and we began chatting. He is from South Africa and is a cameraman filming a new series on animal planet about rescuing chimpanzees and reintroducing them into the wild. I told him I would look out for not only the show but the chimp named Martha that he and his team are taking out of the zoo confines and are bringing her down to South Africa to a monkey sanctuary. Now I can say that I have met knew a chimp before she became famous. Finally we stopped by the leopard and lion exhibit (though I can hardly call it an exhibit). The poor single leopard is in a cage smaller than my bedroom at home and is all alone. And the lions looked quite underfed if you ask me. After the zoo we headed for the central market to find some fabric for me to get another dress made. I can get cheap cotton fabric for 1.50 Ghana cedi per yard (I need three to make a dress). I then had various other errands to run and it was nice to have company. We had planned on going to Manchyia (and area of town) to visit the Chief’s Palace and Museum (my organization spent time here during orientation but since I missed that week, I have to go myself), but time was ticking and we has to postpone the museum for another day. I also want to visit the Armed Forces Museum at some point (this is right in town across from the post office) but will do that on my own. Before heading back home I treated the girls to pizza at Vienna City (a restaurant/bar/pool hall/casino). Both Naomi and Adelaide had never had pizza before. I ordered a soft drink for each of us, veggie spring rolls and a margarita pizza. It was quite entertaining watching the girls eat pizza, unaware of the hot, stringy cheese and the need to use both hands to separate and eat the pizza. In Ghana it is considered very rude and a traditional crime to do just about anything with your left hand (thankfully I have been excused from this many times, it is hard to remember to wave only with my right hand), and therefore I think Naomi and her sister were having trouble eating the pizza (not wanting to pick the whole thing up at once). Though the bill was somewhat pricey, they were extremely grateful and I was able to share an American dish with them. We quickly headed back to Columbus only so I could grab my backpack, turn around and head back to Kumasi and to “the Palace” to meet Alison, Tony and Jeanette for dinner and a night of relaxing in front of the tv (and the air conditioning). Jeanette and I spent the rest of the weekend with our friends enjoying the use of the kitchen, hot showers and comfy couches. Saturday night the ladies and three two guy friends of ours (plus a visitor from Arizona) went out on the town enjoying wine at a fancy hotel followed by beer and pool. While I am doing things I can very well enjoy while in the states, I am meeting new people, those that I would never have had the chance to meet had I not come to Ghana. Sunday evening I had the kids back in my room for our weekly event. I couldn’t help myself while in town this past weekend and I bought a new Disney collection dvd full of children’s movies from the past three years or so. The kids choose to watch “Over the Hedge” Sunday night but I think I will start having movie night twice a week because I want to watch some of these movies. Back at school on Monday I went right to work grading the math quizzes for class 4. Twelve received at least 75%! A good number received failing grades but between yesterday and today I spent at least ten minutes with each student (other than the above average 12) going over their quiz. More than half could answer the problem correctly when given the time. Three kids were absent yesterday, including Elizabeth Sawaa (the girl whose mother died a month ago, the same girl who has failed her past two grades but was not allowed to be held back). Elizabeth received 30% on her grade (sadly, this was just below the average grade of 40%) so this morning I took her out of class and she and I worked on not only her quiz but some other topics she missed while mourning for her mother. After speaking to Mr. Osei (class 4) and Mr. Boachie (class 5), I think she will in fact repeat class 4 next year, which really is the best thing for her. Well this is all I have thus far. Tomorrow I teach another sex health lesson on STD’s but this time I am equipped with visual images of genitals infected with various STD’s and new notes to better explain each disease. I’m anxious to see how it will go. Wednesday 6/25: school is finished for the day. I have to head into town briefly and I hope to get back before it starts to rain again. Last night I felt like I was back in Seattle. It was raining from 5 to 11 pm! I know it is rainy season but that seemed a bit extreme. The bucket I placed under the major drip spot in my room was half full this morning. And then just after breakfast, it was raining again. I just pray it dries up before the end of July (for my planned birthday weekend at the beach). School went well today. I finished going over the class 4 math quizzes with the kids that were absent before and Mr. Osei started a new lesson teaching the class how to use charts and draw graphs. I helped students understand the charts given and draw the correct graphs. There was a lot of erasing involved but I believe most recent a perfect grade. I began the day trying to write out as many notes as possible for my class on STD’s but once again there are just 4 kids here so I decided to hold off on my lesson until tomorrow and hopefully find a few more images online today. I did sit and talk with the vocational students however. One of them told me that they need my help. I’m sure their teachers (both whom were not present today) put them up to this but I gave them my full attention. While I agree that there is no motivation for the kids to continue coming, I also know it will take A LOT of donations and time to get an adequate vocational school up and running. While the school could thrive in the future I told them that I honestly think they should consider going to a different school next term. This may not be the “words of advice” I should be offering but I believe it is the best thing for them. Due to the heavy rain last night the chalkboards on the far walls (classes 4, 5, and vocational school) are drenched. Thankfully, the old chalkboards are available still and the teachers do not have to put their classes on hold. One of my coordinators, Douglas, stopped by today to see what I mean about the boards. He says Columbus (the pastor, my host father) will have to build an attachment to the roof to keep the rain from coming into the classrooms. Well, good, I’m glad we figured out what must be done, when this will get accomplished, I dare not say. And look at that? I am done typing for today and it begins to pour outside once again. I’m tired of rainy season, even if it is easier to sleep at night…I hope dry season comes again soon.Friday June 27th: I am quickly posting this blog and headed back home to sleep. Yesterday I felt quite ill and last night was no fun at all. I just spent an hour at a private hospital (with my host sister) and I was informed that I have a mild case of malaria. Well I guess I was bound to get it sooner or later since just about every other volunteer has had it at least once. I have to admit I was a bit nervous to get my blood drawn here but the needle was taken out of it’s individual, sterile packaging so I’m sure it’s fine. The doctor taking my blood wasn’t wearing any gloves however so that made me a bit nervous. In total with doctor consultation, lab work and prescription I had to pay 20 cedis. I guess that is cheap compared to home but I wasn’t prepared for that. Oh well. So I hope to have a full recovery by Monday. I missed school today and therefore also missed my STD lesson AND an art project with class 4. They will just have to wait until Monday. I was able to do an art project with class 3 yesterday before I felt sick and hung out with the two vocational school students yesterday as well. Delia, one of the students, made me a dress with some of the fabric I bought last week. I’m excited to wear it at home. Well I guess that is it for now. Have a great weekend!
And now…just as I was about to cut and paste this blog onto my website, the network goes down for who knows how long. Oh well. Back to my home for now and will just have to wait until tomorrow to post this.
It is now Saturday afternoon. I was able to get plenty of rest last night and am feeling a bit better. Two more days of medication and I should be a okay!

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

7 more weeks...

Hello again…I know I usually write more than one blog per week but there is always so much to share. Today is Tuesday June 10th around 4pm. School has ended, all the children are gone and I am alone to type. Since posting my last blog, I have been quite busy. Like I briefly said at the end of the last post, I went to a wedding on Saturday. I have now been to two weddings, both of which last under 5 hours, or less. The wedding itself takes maybe an hour or so and in the wedding on Saturday, at the Catholic Church, a presentation of the marriage certificate was part of the ceremony. How interesting. After the ceremony and many pictures we headed to the reception just across the road. The next two hours included toasts from the wedding party, eating, drinking, dancing and cutting the cake. The whole ordeal was over by 3 o’clock. Personally I love weddings and I think the reception/party should last until LATE in the evening but that is just one of the many cultural differences here. My friend Jeanette and I took a taxi to Allison’s place (a.k.a. the Palace) to take HOT showers and relax under the air conditioning. Am I cheating by doing this? A part of me thinks I should be waiting to experience any luxuries until I get home in August but then I think, naw…I deserve a hot shower. We then took her company truck to go to a store to buy a bottle of wine and try a meat shop I had heard about from the Canadian ladies (Heather and Leanne). The 4 Villages Inn Meat Shop (ran by a Ghanaian that spent about ten years in Canada) is small but lovely. The owner let us sample some cut ham and roast beef slices and they literally melted in our mouths. He has a farm so the animals are not out and about eating garbage. We bought some ham and some beef and some Canadian bacon for the next morning. My Saturday night feast was wonderful…ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches and real soup and red wine from Chile. We settled in for the night to watch wonderful girly movies and gossip. Sunday morning Allison took us to a church she sometimes attends named the Calvary Charismatic Center (C.C.C.). This church building was quite large and full of people. We walked in and were greeted with loud and wonderful gospel music that lasted at least 20 minutes. I was pleased to find out that the music and the sermon were all spoken in English. While this church was also a bit too over the top for my everyday taste, I really enjoyed myself and would like to go back before I leave. We headed back to the palace after church to cook up a great Sunday brunch of eggs, fried roast beef, baked beans, tomatoes with cheese, Canadian bacon, orange juice and a huge tray of fruit, it was truly a treat. That night I returned back to my place for a dinner of rice and vegetable stew. Since the television in my room is still broken I was not able to hold Sunday movie night but I did invite the kids in to draw and listen to music.
On Monday I headed to Kumasi early to meet Jeanette and another girl named Mika. Mika is from Japan and has been living in Ghana since September 2006. She leaves in 3 months. She also took intensive Twi lessons and can speak the Ghanaian language fluently. This amazes me. While I have learned the basics, learning the language seems impossible for me. While I am still unsure exactly what Mika is doing in Ghana (she may speak fluent Twi but her English is not great), she is working with AIDS research and prevention. She invited Jeanette and I to the KATH teaching hospital to see how the HIV clinic is ran. I have been on the grounds of the hospital but never inside. I was amazed at how crowded and obviously dirty the main facility was. Mika told me that there are smaller and preferably more clean private hospital, this is the best public, government hospital. We had to walk to the very back of the hospital to the HIV clinic so I had time to take in all that I was seeing. Everything seems archaic in the way the hospital organized patient files and forms. People were lying on the floor waiting to be simply checked in and I grew nervous when near a man with a hacking cough, TB is very common in Ghana. When we arrived at the clinic, Mika did most of the talking and you could see people’s faces brighten when they heard this obruni speaking perfect Twi, it made me wish I has spent more time at least trying to learn more of the Ghanaian language. Jeanette and I met a few of the men and women that run the clinic and they answered basic questions. Mon, Wed and Fri the clinic is used for HIV counseling and administering medication. The same facility is used for a TB clinic in Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was told I could be of assistance once or twice a week if I wished. I told Samuel, a local epidemiologist who has never left Ghana that I would like to take him up on the offer. While I am sure I will have trouble with many of the patients that do not speak English, I can help with paperwork and help counsel those that are educated. I looked around the room. There were probably 50 or so people waiting to be called to get their HIV medication. Some were older (elderly starts around age 50 in Ghana) but many people looked quite young, close to my age and each person in that room was HIV positive. While I am aware of the extremely high HIV and AIDS rates in Africa, it is a very different feeling being surrounded by so many people living with this virus.
Jeanette is interested in becoming a midwife when she returns to Denmark and is therefore interested in volunteering on the midwifery floor. Mika took us to that section of the hospital to see first hand what happens there. We were invited to observe a nurse as she took the necessary information from a woman 7 months pregnant visiting a doctor for the first time. After taking her height and weight and asking about family history the woman was asked for a sample of her urine. She returned with a small vial which she handed to the nurse. The nurse then took out a swab stick with sensors on it and tested the urine right in then and there without concern of gloves. Wow. Before leaving Samuel gave me a whole box of condoms to distribute in my vocational school class as well as a penis model and leaflets with information about HIV. All in all I learned much about the public health care system in Ghana in just one day. I look forward to spending more time at the hospital in the weeks to come.
Today I spent the morning with the vocational school students. After the initial laughter upon presenting the penis replica we got down to business and discussed the ways to protect yourself against STD’s and unwanted pregnancy when they decide to have sex. I had each student practice putting a condom on and correctly disposing of it once finished. They took away two condoms each. I also addressed the birth control pill and explained how inexpensive the pill is. Next week I will continue the sex health class with information on STD’s.
After break, as promised, I had a multiplication quiz with class 5 with more chocolate biscuits for rewards. They did better overall than class 4 but many still struggled. All were able to get a biscuit before returning to class. Tomorrow I do the same thing with class 3 but will stick to the 2 and 3 times tables. Then after lunch I continued working on math with class 4. I am determined to see every student in class 4 get 100 percent on their math homework before I leave. I’m crossing my fingers. Now I am off to do some washing and hang with the kids. More later.
Wednesday June 11th, another school week has come to an end. The kids are at the church and I am off to Kumasi soon to post the blog and check on a few things. This week is midterm break so there is no school tomorrow or Friday. I will be heading to Accra tomorrow to visit the University of Ghana. Friends from my church at home, The Warrens, are good friends with the president of the university and they have made it possible for me to meet him. The school president kindly invited me to stay with him and his family tomorrow night in Accra. There is no for sure plan for the weekend but I think I will remain in the country capital until Sunday. This morning I held my third multiplication quiz for class 3. The class is allowed to use their times tables for everything which gave me limitations to my quiz. I stuck with the 2’s and 3’s times tables. About half of the class answered their question right away but the other half needed exaggerated help. Still, every student was able to get a chocolate biscuit eventually. As soon as I was finished with class 3 I was literally pulled to class 4 by my students to mark the math exercise and give out stickers. While many still received 50% and below, the numbers of students getting just one wrong or all right has increased. One boy in particular, Jah Bless, that I have grown fond of but who never seems to grasp what I am trying to teach him got 5 out of 6 on his exercise. I was so proud of him and I could tell he was proud of himself because he was grinning from ear to ear. Elizabeth Sawaa (I mentioned her a while back) has returned to school. Osey (the class 4 teacher) told me he did not think she would be coming back to school since her mother passed away almost a month ago. Elizabeth is the girl that has failed to pass both class 2 and 3 but her mother did not want to hold her back and she therefore gets further and further behind. I was very happy to see her back in school but we have a lot of work to do before I leave. I had hoped to take the kids to P.E. today but I am glad that the teachers felt they needed the full day to teach since the kids are going on school break tomorrow. I agree that in class work in more important than playing football but I assumed both class 4 and class 5 teachers would be happy to give the kids to me for the afternoon. Instead I helped Mr. Boachie (class 5) administer a science quiz to his class and listened to Osey give a Twi lesson to class 4.
Blackboard update: I was able to sell the remaining 5 bags of cement for 40 cedis and friend is going to pick up the paint for me. I know I will be gone this weekend but one of the men that live at Columbus offered to do the painting for me. I hope to have all 10 chalkboards painted black and spotless when I return. I am off to town to get my errands done. Dad and Grandpa: I will be speaking with you on Sunday. For all the other dad’s reading this blog: I wish you a happy father’s day!
-Erin

Happy first week of June!

Back at school…today is Wednesday June 4th. School ended early so that children can go to the church and be blessed. I never mean to sound disrespectful but I really do not see the need to cut school early twice each week so the children can sit in the back of the church, talk and not pay any mind to the service. I guess I just do not understand.
The first thing I want to address in this week’s blog is Ellen. After speaking up about my disapproval of the way she was being treated last Tuesday, she has seemed to disappear. This of course made me worry a bit, “now what have they done with her?” but I was informed that she was brought back to Tema (a city not far from Accra) to live with her mother and be “healed” at a church in Accra. I wish her luck.
I spent the past weekend on various beaches along the coast. I was much closer to the western border of Ghana this time in a town called Axim. While I could not afford to sleep at the fancy resort some of my friends choose to stay in, I was able to spend the day on a beautiful, secluded beach. My tan truly is coming along but I fear I too often forget my sunscreen and I know I need to watch out. Tans are great…but are a BIG price to pay for future wrinkles and the possibility of skin cancer. I promise myself (and my mother) that I will do better in remembering to apply sunscreen, liberally, while on the beach.
We (Heather, Leanne, Tony, Alison, Klarta from Switzerland and myself) played beach volleyball in the rain (it is rainy season so we can’t be sun bathing all day long) and had great food. I stayed down the road in a different resort that had accommodation for budget travelers. However, I personally preferred the Axim Beach Resort as it too was beautiful with charming double rooms with breakfast included in the price of the room. I am perfectly content. The tro tro ride home however was an all day process but I made it in one piece.
This week I have continued working with class 4 teaching math lessons. Yesterday the 9 kids I spent extra time with seemed to really understand how to find the area and perimeter of a shape but then today I looked over their homework and it was as though they forgot everything I taught them yesterday. Boy, do I have an unbelievable level of respect for any teacher anywhere, this is a HARD job. Tomorrow I am holding my multiplication quiz for class 4. They should have been studying their 2, 3, 4, and 5 times tables to prepare for the quiz tomorrow. I will use the flash cards mom sent me in the mail and have chocolate cookies for rewards. They seem excited but I have my doubts as to how many of them will be successful. We will see.
I put the sex health class on hold for this week. In order for me to properly teach the girls about safe sex methods, I need props and information. Yesterday I met a woman from Japan who has lived in Ghana for over a year. She is doing some form of AIDS research though I am not certain of her exact responsibilities. She invited me to join her on Monday at the teaching hospital to visit the AIDS ward, meet patients, doctors and other researchers. She also told me I would have access to condoms, a penis model to help demonstrate how to properly use a condom (hopefully a can discuss female condoms as well) and will also be able to borrow books to better teach sexual education. I am really looking forward to this. While I have enjoyed teaching overall and have really bonded with my kids, I originally wanted to come to Africa to volunteer in health care. If this visit on Monday goes well, I may be cutting down my teaching hours to just three days a week and volunteering with Mika (the woman from Japan), learning more about AIDS research. I will start my sex ed course again next week, hopefully armed with colorful pictures and printed hand-outs.
Well that is all I have for today. I promised to help with homework tonight for a few of the kids living at the orphanage. I do enjoy being a tutor to the children, mostly because I vividly remember those that helped me with my homework in daycare and after school. Without their help, I’m not sure I would be where I am today so I am happy to provide the same guidance to others.
Friday (June 6th) afternoon…the kids are once again at the church for their bi-weekly blessing. I usually head to my room during this time and intentionally avoid going to the church on Fridays but I think I will join them for the last hour of the service today. The week has gone by quickly. On Wednesday I ended up joining Klara and Nana (one of our organization coordinators) to the nearby craft center. Klara is heading back to Denmark next week and she wanted to buy some more gifts for people. I did buy a few bracelets for friends but held off on any wood carvings just yet. There are so many beautiful crafts to buy but I am doing my best to not only wait until my last month here but also to reevaluate my funds. I also know that the first price I am told for any given item is usually about 50 percent higher than the necessary price. While I wouldn’t say I have great bargaining skills, they are improving. After the craft center I came back to hang out with some of the kids. I brought out my camera and that is always exciting for them. If it were up to the kids I would be spending the entire night snapping photos of them in various poses. I also worked on some homework with the older kids.
While watching Forrest Gump on Thursday morning (before school) I heard a loud pop come from the television and then it went blank. Shoot. I have no idea when that will get fixed. I guess I have to remind myself that I was extremely spoiled having a tv in my room but still, I didn’t even get to the part where Forrest and Lieutenant Dan became shrimp boat captains. In addition to the tv breaking, we have been without running water for over a week! I can still “bath” but it is in the form of bucket showers. I know, I know, poor me. I’m kidding, I lucked out before because most people do not have access to showers while in Ghana. Thursday was a very long day for me however. I was busy in school helping the class 5 teacher give an English lesson and after break was the multiplication quiz for class 4. Overall they did better than I expected but I was most defiantly nicer than I should have been and gave multiple chances to some of the kids. They really enjoyed the chocolate biscuits though and I think it is incentive to study harder for the next quiz next week. I made myself hoarse however yelling at the kids to be quiet, sit down and DO NOT help by giving out answers. I may have been yelling at them but I was laughing to myself because while it is very difficult to give a quiz when all the kids are running about, I totally understand what it is like to be their age and how easy it is to get carried away by talking to your friends. Many of these kids remind me of myself just 10 or 12 years ago. I made the mistake of letting kids in class 5 and class 3 see my chocolate biscuits so now I am giving quizzes to both of those classes next week as well. Thankfully, biscuits and cookies are quite inexpensive in Ghana.
After school I went to Kumasi to spend some time on the internet and then met up with friends for Heather and Leanne’s good-bye dinner. I have already had to say bye to many friends I have met in the past 3 months but I have faith that I will stay in touch with most of them, which is very cool. And lastly today…school went just fine. I went over class 4’s homework for the week and gave out stickers to those that got at least 80 percent correct. I think it took a while but I can see the stickers and the cookies are real incentives for the kids to actually try when doing their homework. If I missed giving out a sticker, that student is immediately asking me to correct myself and produce a sticker for all to see. Time to join the kids in church and relax for the rest of the evening…tomorrow I will be joining the rest of the volunteers in my organization at a wedding. William (the head coordinator for ICYE in Ghana) is getting married and we are all invited. I will write about it before posting the blog tomorrow.
Hello all…I just got finished with the wedding. It was held in a Catholic church and was lovely. It was great to see all the other volunteers again too. A lot of the service was actually in English, which was very helpful. I am off to stay the night in “the palace” again. The evening will be filled with grilled cheese and movies. Have a great weekend everyone!
-Erin