Past Due

This is an old post that I meant to be put up before I Ieft Ghana, I didn’t have Internet for the last week.  So, that didn’t happen, but here it is now.  I will have another post soon. 

Amber Mills has updated her status.

The Tokor Beading Women showing off their products.

After much deliberation, I have decided to return to the states on Thursday.  The reasons are complicated.  I could waste hours of your life explaining everything, but it isn’t important.  The bottom line is that I have made the best decision for me.  Though my trip has been truncated, I do not feel that my efforts have been fruitless.  As I will explain I have accomplished some things in Abuadi since I arrived.  In Tocor, a village just 10 minutes away, I have also been helping with the construction of a school and with a women's beading group.  I feel occupied, but I couldn’t do what I am doing for the next four months.  Therefore, this will be my last entry in Ghana.  Have no fear though I am heading to Chile next!

My Ewe Education

If you are in the Volta Region for any time at all, you WILL learn some Ewe.  All of my progress can be attributed to the hard work of everyone I pass going anywhere.  Women will stop in the middle of the road to greet me and baby me through my reply.  Faceless voices will beckon me in Ewe from within their cooking huts.  Sometimes I don’t even know how they know it is me.  Does my walk sound funny?  Can they see my white skin gleaming through the cracks?  Or, do they have yavoo radars?  I always make an awkward attempt to reply.  Afterwards, they laugh whether I get it right or wrong.  More often than not I have no clue whether I have given an acceptable response.       

The children have also taken it upon themselves to teach me.  They have me repeat after them all the time.  I think they think I am “special” because I am old and don’t know Ewe.  One of the kids suggested that Brad, another volunteer, should learn Ewe so that when he goes home he can get lots of money from teaching all the Americans.  Good thought, huh? Slowly but surely I am learning. 

Orphanage Fun Day

During my time in Goefe I visited the local orphanage everyday.  There are 14 children ranging in age from 3 to 15.  As I entered the front yard for the first time they rushed at me from the porch.  I stopped walking to brace for impact.  This was my first mistake.  Never stop moving.  The moment you stop you are immediately transformed into playground equipment.  With each visit I learned a few orphanage survival techniques and grew more and more attached to the children. 

Moses eating the paint.

On Saturday I returned to the orphanage to do some activities.  It was pure insanity.  We painted and drew with crayons.  I taught them to make twist friendship bracelets.  Then we did some relay races and team building games.  There were a few glitches along the way. Moses wouldn’t stop eating the paint.  Acre knocked over the water not once, not twice, but three times.  Josephine kept pulling Makafui’s bracelet off.  But, for the most part I would consider it a success.  At the end of the day I played Shrek on my laptop and within 30 minutes they were all asleep.  I snuck out the side door as they slept.  I haven’t decided if I will return.  People rush in and out of their lives constantly.  I think I prefer to make a silent exit.

  

Please Excuse My Ranting

The four school buildings in Abuadi are rubbish.  If there are walls they are cracked and caving.  If there is a floor it is crumbling and uneven.  If there are windows the shutters don’t close.  If there are desks they are broken.  Of these issues, I felt like I could improve the desk situation. 

I began by asking the headmasters the number of students enrolled.  Then I counted the number of desks as well as the number that needed fixing.  According to my calculations, 45 desks needed to be repaired and 40 needed to be purchased.  I decided to tackle the repairs first.  It was arranged that the ten carpenters in the village would meet me at the school early Tuesday morning to begin the work.  I was reassured that they were offering their services free of charge and the job would be complete before school began. 

One working and 5 watching.  TYPICAL.

On Tuesday I was quite capricious.  I was excited, frustrated, annoyed and satisfied all in a nine-hour period.  I bought the nails, arrived at the school at 6:30am and waited.  Around 7:30am the kids started arriving for class, but it wasn’t until 8:30am the carpenters began to show up.  Only 6 of the 10 came and only four brought their hammer.  Why would a carpenter go to work without a hammer?  In the time that I was waiting I had sorted all the desks in all four buildings according to the repair needed.  So, I put the men straight to work.  The repairs were not difficult, but when professional carpenters struggle to hit the nail on the head things take a little longer than expected.  Their philosophy seemed to be that if they put enough nails in it and hit it enough that it would stay together.  I was able to overlook the skill deficient for a while because they were working so hard, but that didn’t last long.

An hour into the job my counterpart informed me that in their culture the carpenters would receive alcohol to drink while they are working.  I told him that in my culture, drinking at school in the presence of children is illegal.  That got me nowhere.  I gave them the alcohol and from then on the work efficiency declined exponentially.  As soon as the alcohol arrived there was never a lack of supervisors.  At any given time there were at least six people watching the two people working.   The entire group would wait until the last desk in the classroom was complete before moving to the next room as a group.  This wasn’t the first or last time I would be completely perplexed by their strategy. 

I am not experienced in carpentry, but I think you are allowed to improvise with materials at times.  There were spare desk parts piled in the back of every classroom that I repeatedly suggested using.  They refused and in return suggested that I write down what I needed to buy for them.  I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “This is how it must be because this is how it has been done.”  If everything is always done how it has always be done then nothing will ever change.            

I took a break from supervising to talk with the headmasters.  Instead of being thanked for my contribution, I was reprimanded for doing the work during school hours.  I was then chastised for not just purchasing all new desks.  Furthermore, it came to my attention that the school isn’t even using all the desks they have.  The headmasters don’t know how many kids are enrolled at their schools or they are just trying to see how much they can get out of me.  Either way, they aren’t getting new desks from me.

At the conclusion of the day, I thanked the carpenters and reassured them that the children will benefit greatly from their work.  As I turned to leave the compound, I noticed the men lingering.   My counterpart pulled me aside and ask what I planned to give the men for their hard work.  I was slightly enraged.  So much for them volunteering their time.  Contrary to every Ghanaian’s belief, I am not an ATM.  I had nothing to give them.  I told them I would get back to them soon, but I don’t know if I will.  Do I pay them?  If so, do I pay the men who never swung a hammer?  Do I pay the guy who showed up at 11:30am?  I will figure it out. 

In all 105 desks were repaired.  I was proud of the accomplishment, but baffled by the day’s occurrences.  At times I felt that I was being culturally insensitive while other times I felt I was being spineless.  I came to Ghana to help with whatever I could, but I didn’t come here to give handouts.  I didn’t touch a hammer and I barely moved a desk all day.  To me it seems they don’t want me here they just want my wallet here.

I know that at times this entry was slightly negative.  Please realize that I am sharing with you a very limited portion of my experience.  It is easy for me to write when I am frustrated, but difficult when I am happy or busy.  There are aspects of Ghana that I love so don’t think I hate it here.  I got the opportunity to travel north this weekend to do some hiking.  I got to see a new area of the country and spend time with the other volunteers that I have grown quiet fond of.  It was wonderful and I would like to tell you all about it now, but realistically you won’t hear about it until I am stateside.  Thanks for reading!