Since I last wrote everything has changed. As the following report explains, most of it is for the better. The past few weeks have been extremely challenging mentally and physically. Oftentimes I wonder why I am here and sometimes briefly question whether I will survive the experience. Different portions of this entry were written at different times during a period of rapid change so please excuse any tense errors.
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| Bella |
Family Life
I eat alone in a small room at a small table facing an empty wall. Once I have finished though I sit with Christy and her family as they eat. It is quit a different experience. Seated on short stools around a small table, they eat, talk and laugh. After washing their right hand they dig into whatever slime and stew they have prepared. At first it bothered me that they eat with their bare-hands, but now I can see the practicality. There is no such thing as leftovers. Every bit is consumed and scraps are feed to the animals.
After meals I sit with the children. At three years of
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| Edward |
age Bella, Christy’s daughter, is divalicious. She never goes to school, won’t take off her pink dress, dances everywhere instead of walking, must be bathed first and eats whatever she wants (ex. candle wax, plain butter and any food I have not eaten from my meal). Stella, one of Christy’s daughters, has two boys named Collins and Edward that are always around too. Edward is probably a little over a year old and is often bouncing and singing while tied to Stella’s back. He is one of the strangest children. He can walk but crawls up the steps feet first. He doesn’t like the animals near his food so they will sit him outside the cooking hut with a stick. He is dedicated to his job. Once when a chicken got past him, he tackled it to the ground. Edward
also carries an old jug around with him. It doubles as a drum and a seat. Collins is the most mischievous. He is always stealing food and blaming it on Edward. He is a very loving individual though. He kissed my camera screen when I showed him a picture of his brother and made a bed out of plastic chairs for himself and Bella to nap on when she wasn’t feeling well. The never-ending compassion and entertainment makes me feel at home.
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Collins |
GRE Prep
For some odd reason I thought that I would study some for the GRE while I was here. I figured I would have the spare time to really give it the attention it deserves. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead I read poorly authored elementary books and teach children to read words like it, is and the. It doesn’t help that most of the time I hear pure Ewe twaddle. I rarely speak in complete sentences either. “I go now,” is about as complex as it gets. My lack of lexical complexity is sure to earn me excellent marks on the GRE!
Africa’s Gift to the World
Ghana has an obsession with Barak Obama. His name and image can be found on underwear, notebooks, car stickers, shirts and the list goes on. It is fascinating. My favorite Obama product is a flashlight that casts the image of an American flag alongside Obama’s face. The kids can tell me more about Obama than their own President. I just hope that Obama is at least making some money off the enterprise so that he can repair our economy.
GVN Pulls the Plug
The Global Volunteer Network (GVN) is the well-established organization that I used to find my placement with BRIDGE, my local organization. Recently, GVN has decided to withdraw their support. Their reasoning and the influence of their decision on my stay are complicated. As of December 1st, GVN will not send any volunteers to BRIDGE and I will receive my four months of money back. That means I can either stay here and pay BRIDGE directly or simply go home. At this time I haven’t decided what I will do. I have accomplished nothing in my 6 weeks here. I would hate to leave with nothing to show for my efforts, but I am not sure that even if I stayed for years I would get anything done. Without other volunteers to follow my work I find it difficult to believe that any of the sustainable development projects I would like to initiate could be carried out after I have left. I will keep you all updated on my decision.
Out of the Village
The other volunteers and I set out on a Thursday for Cape Coast. We traveled by tro tro and bus for 6 hours to our destination. It was a long complicated day, but a break from village life was absolutely necessary. Nestled about 200 yards from the Cape Coast Castle, the Beach Oasis Resort was the perfect getaway. I think I spent most of my time in the shower, but the rest of the place must have been nice too.
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| Cape Coast Castle |
Early on Friday we toured the castle. It served as a slave departure port under various foreign reins. The pitch darkness and filth of the dungeons stood in stark contrast to the airy comforts of the castle above. I couldn’t even fathom the scenarios described by our guide. The experience was deeply depressing albeit thought provoking. Though no long specific to one race, human trafficking continues to plague our world. You can add human trafficking to the list of things I don’t understand.
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| Kakum Forest Canopy Walk |
On a lighter note, that Saturday we ventured to the Kakum Forest to do the canopy walk. We followed a meandering trail through the forest to the base of the platform. Suspended among the treetops were a series of rope bridges. At times it was irking yet exhilarating to be so far from the ground on such a wonky structure. We didn’t see even the slightest sign of wildlife, but the view over the bush was stunningly expansive. As far as sightseeing goes that was the extent of our adventures.
Near Death
As I traveled back from Cape Coast to my village I began to feel slightly under the weather. I thought it was evanescent but instead it lingered until it came to a climax then lingered again. I thought I was going to die at one point. I was sweating. My stomach was growling and head was whirling. The old naked lady outside my window only made matters worse. Strangely at one point she was listening to Montgomery Gentry on the Ghana country music radio station while killing a chicken. Earplugs were insufficient. Excuse my gore, but in the night I upchucked my brains out and didn’t eat for the next four days. At one point I was so hot that I chilled bags of pure water on the concrete floor then piled them on top of me as I lay sprawled on the floor. This was refreshing, but didn’t last long. A mouse crawled across my leg just as I was about to fall asleep. This brought my brilliant idea to a swift halt. Tuesday and Wednesday were miserable.
Additionally, when I plugged in my computer to look up what I should get from the pharmacy the socket shot sparks at me and smoke poofed from the wall. Not only did this fry my computer battery, but it also blew the only functional socket in my house. So, I blindly ventured to the chemical store (a.k.a. the pharmacy) to get something. I wouldn’t have made it to the hospital an hour and a half away so this was my only option. The lady working there ask me about my symptoms and concluded that I had/ have malaria. She gave me some pills and I left skeptical of what I was going to find in my bag. She gave me some weird blood tonic pills, 400mg ibuprofen (a dose that no one my size should take) and a malaria medicine that no one in the developed world has heard of.
I was pretty wiped for the next few days, but made it to the hospital the next week. I have never in my life seen anything like this hospital. The check in area was complete chaos with hundreds of people clamoring about. I checked in at one window to pay. Then I checked in at another window to tell them I don’t have Ghanaian insurance. At a third window I was ask my birthday. Next, I waited about an hour for my name to be called and retrieve my folder. I took my folder to the nurses’ station and sat waiting for 2 hours to see the nurse. She took my blood pressure and ask me about my symptoms. To see the doctor, I returned to the waiting area to sit for another 5 hours. I finally saw the doctor after 8 hours of waiting. He never took my temperature, touched me or ask me any questions. He simple said I didn’t have malaria, wrote me a prescription for ibuprofen and sent me to go to the lab for blood work.
Blood work makes me very uncomfortable. At the time I had no idea what the blood work was for, but later determined it was a test for malaria. I have a passionate hatred of needles in general, but I believe petrified would more accurately describe my status when heading toward the “vein puncture room” in a dysfunctional, unsanitary, Ghanaian hospital. Furthermore, I had to watch the ten people ahead of me get jabbed. I am not going to lie; I had to go the bathroom right before I went to do a little pump up dance. As I sat in the chair I was sure I was going to pass out. I was extremely irritable and hadn’t eaten all day. When the phlebotomist asked for my thumb I was really confused, but then he swiftly pricked my finger and collected a sample. I waited 9 hours for a finger prick.
By that time the hospital was closing for the day so I had to return early the next morning for my results. It was too late to get transportation back to my village so I pampered myself with a stay Ho at Chances Hotel. I got a good meal, nice shower and a cool night of sleep.
The following morning I made it to the hospital by 8:00am. Per usual, I waited for an hour before the lab tech handed me my results. There was not one word on the entire page I could read. I went to ask him what it said but he had already shut the door in my face. Out of desperation I returned to the nurse’s station and ask them. They couldn’t read it either and informed me that the I must see the doctor for the results to be read and that there would not be any doctors there for the next two days. I was enraged and stormed back to the lab. After begging the receptionist, she fetched the lab tech. He reluctantly told me that it said they found no malaria parasites. At first I was elated, but then I was concerned. If I don’t have malaria, what do I have? At this point I don’t know if I had / have malaria or not, but I am feeling better.
Festivaling
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| Charlotte after her race |
Evidentially, we are “festivaling” in honor of the mountain if there are rocks along the road with splashes of white paint on them. Festivities began with a children’s barefoot race to the mountaintop and back. It took a mere 38 minutes for the winner, who appeared to be a 30-year old high schooler, to return. As the runners came in the women would dance and sing around them while fanned them with cloth. They then poured water over their head, put powder all over them and handed them a Fanta.
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| Visiting Dance Crew |
At the ceremony I was seated with the elders. They paraded in with the chief and sat at the head of the crowd. There was an auction, story telling, dancing, music and a donation challenge thing. The majority of the time I had no clue what was going on. Later I found out that the money raised will go to build the community center. The winner of the race was also announced and given his prize. He was supposed to get a TV, but instead was given lame luggage. “Festivaling” continued into the night with dancing and drumming, but since I was still not feeling 100% I skips out.
To the Top
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| Me half way up the mountain |
Upgrading
Due to complicated circumstances, it was decided that I would move from Geoffe. I gave up on a community that had shown me no support and no promise of change. The dramatic parting was inexorable. I was disappointing an entire community as well as crushing Christy’s dreams. She was balling her eyes out as I drove away. I felt like a horrible person for leaving, but it was the best decision I have made on my journey thus far. My new placement in Abuadi is simply amazing. I sense that I can accomplish something here. My room is clean, insect free, and equip with a fan. My caretaker, Favor, is affable, but slightly stiff with me at this point. I hope she will relax a little. Ebullient, intelligent and driven, my new counterpart, Anani, will be wonderful to work with. Three notebooks of committee information sat on my bedroom table awaiting my arrival. On my first evening the entire committee came to greet me and I was given a proper tour of the entire village including key introduction. I can already tell that this committee faces many of the same challenges as my previous, but they are sincere and hard working. Project ideas are plentiful so I think my first task will be to prioritize needs. I am really excited to start working.
Congratulations if you made it through all of that. Thanks for the attempt if you skipped to the end. Again, I am sorry for the novel. I rarely get Internet access and have a lot to say. I will update everyone on my new project soon, but until then PEACE.
