The Last Days

Yesterday I went to the Culture Market in Accra. It's a huge outdoor market that sells everything from fabric to carvings to drums, and so many more things. It was pretty stressful because all the shop owners were yelling at us to come look at their shop, saying "looking is free" and "no pressure to buy," but of course they put a ton of pressure on us. If I even started looking at something they would name me a price. And of course the first price was always ridiculously high. One man told a girl that one yard of fabric was 48 cedis, and eventually she got it for 8. You have to learn to be firm and assertive in order to not get ripped off.

I only have the rest of today and then I leave tomorrow afternoon. I have an overnight flight but the airport is about an hour and a half away so I have to leave in the afternoon. It's really hitting me now that I'm leaving. When I first signed up for this trip, I thought 4 weeks would take forever. But it seems like it's gone quicker than it possibly could. I've really bonded with some of the kids, especially a few of the younger girls, and it's going to be hard to say goodbye. Last night I was lying on the picnic table in the courtyard looking at the stars with a few girls cuddled around me and lying on me, and we all started crying at the thought of me leaving on Friday. How often in life will I be in a situation like this? To be constantly surrounded by loving, caring kids who are so happy, despite the seemingly hard lives they lead? The girls kept asking me to come back. I really hope I do get to come back and visit someday.

There are 3 girls who were here for the night who were some of the first volunteers of the Worcsa program. They're traveling around West Africa and are spending some time here. A lot of the kids remember them and are so glad to see them again, although not all of the kids were at the orphanage yet a year and a half ago when the volunteers were here. It's strange to think about how everything might change or if there will be new kids if I come back to visit.

This will be my last update from Ghana. When I get back I'll be able to post some more about my trip, and some pictures as well! See you back in the US!

Volta Region

Even though the rainy season in Ghana lasts for several months, it still seems like no one has gotten used to it. When it rains, everything slows or stops. Last Thursday it was pouring all morning, so getting all the kids to school went extremely slowly. Breakfast was late because it took a while to make the fire to heat the pourridge. We waited for a while to see if the rain would stop so we wouldn't have to walk to school in it, but it never did. One of the girls told me that if it didn't stop raining, she just wouldn't go to school because her exams were finished anyway. Finally, we had to force all of the kids to trek through the mud and  streams that had covered the roads to get to school. There was legitimately a small river covering the path on the way back to the volunteer house.

On Friday morning after we got the kids to school, 4 other volunteers and I left to go to the Volta region for the weekend. A lot of the kids at Worcsa are from that area, some are even from the two towns we stayed in, so it was exciting to see where they're from. When we got to our first hotel in Hohoe, we were informed that one of our rooms was double booked so we would have to pay for a more expensive second room. Despite arguing with the hotel employee for at least half an hour over it, we were still forced to pay for the more expensive room. If that happened at home, the hotel would have at least offered us a discount of some sort. Like I explained before, there's a huge difference in customer service here. If the employee had offered us a discount, he would have had to pay for it out of his pocket, so he just didn't bother.

Saturday was a very full day. We went to the Wli waterfalls in the morning, the highest falls in West Africa. They were breathtaking to see, and the spray got us soaked. Along the path there, our guide picked us fresh cocoa fruit to eat! (The raw fruit tastes nothing like chocolate.) Then we went to the Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary. Our guide gave us each a banana, and if you held it out in your fist, the monkeys would jump on you and take a piece of it to eat!

It's getting down to my last days here, and I'm starting to feel really sad, even though I do have 5 days still. I'm at the mall today because I need to print out pictures to make a poster of myself to hang in the orphanage before I leave. I need to come back tomorrow, and there are several other things I need to do here before I go. I'm already feeling a bit overwhelmed, like I won't have enough time, but I'm sure I'll get it all done. Being away from the kids for even a weekend is difficult, I can't imagine what it will be like having to say goodbye to them on Friday..

Cape Coast

Since the volunteers technically get the weekends off, it's a great time to get in some travelling and see the country. I certainly came here to volunteer and help out, but I'm not sure how soon or if I'll ever get back, so I want to do as much travelling as possible while I'm here. This past weekend I went to Cape Coast with two other volunteers, Aoife and Gwen. We were so proud that we managed the whole trip by ourselves, as we'd all only been here 2 weeks. But it was a very easy and very relaxing trip.

We went down on Friday and spent the rest of the day on the beach. The current is really really strong which makes swimming in the ocean pretty dangerous, so we didn't go in. On Saturday morning we travelled to Kakum National Park, about 45 minutes away, and did a canopy walkway. It was really cool! We walked along wooden plank walkways and held on to ropes, and the view was beautiful. We went to Baobob restaurant for lunch, and then in the afternoon visited the Cape Coast Castle. It was one of three main castles in Africa during colonial times where slaves were gathered and contained for 3 months before being shipped to America, Europe, or the Caribbean. On Sunday morning we had a lovely breakfast on the beach, sipping (instant) coffee and wiggling our toes in the sand, before heading back to the hectic life at the orphanage.

Even though the weekend was a nice break, it was great to get back to Dodowa. I really missed the kids, and the routine of the week. Also, 4 new volunteers came this weekend so it's cool to show them around. Right now we're at the mall, and we're going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II at the movie theatre! I'm so excited, it's like a little piece of home while I'm here.

I've only been here for a little over 2 weeks but it feels like it's been much longer, and it's sad to think that I'll be leaving next Friday. When I first got here, I felt especially dirty all the time, and dreaded waking up at 5:30 every day to get the kids ready for school, and thought I would get sick of the yams and rice and noodles we seemed to eat every day. But now I've fallen into a routine while I've been here and it all seems normal. I feel very comfortable here, and it's great to be able to say (type) that because I was worried I wouldn't be able to adjust to the different lifestyle. I'm going to be so sad to leave, I'm going to miss the kids so much, and also the culture and lifestyle and Ghana. I definitely think I'll experience a little culture shock going home.

Adjusting

This weekend I went to Kokrobite with 6 other volunteers. It was about a 3 1/2 hour tro-tro ride, which probably sounds awful but it goes pretty quickly when you're on the tro-tro. Plus we had to get off and on different tro-tros a few times, which made it go faster. We stayed at Big Milly's, which is apparently the best place to stay in Kokrobite because it's right on the beach, and on Saturday nights they have reggae night so we didn't even have to go anywhere for entertainment.

We got lunch at Kokrobite Gardens, an Italian restaurant/hotel, and I got pizza! It was so good that I ate the whole thing in one sitting. I'm not used to having anything but rice or noodles for a meal. It's still a little strange that you don't always get ice water with your meal like at home. It's only safe to drink filtered water, at least for a foreigner who isn't used to (read: immune to the diseases in) the ground water, so you had to pay around 2 cedis for a bottle at lunch.

It's also hard to adjust to how friendly everyone is here. At home, we are taught to not talk to strangers and to always think about your own protection and self-defense, but here everyone is so friendly and they will take offense if you aren't. You greet everyone you see, even strangers you pass on the street. (People here say "ete sen," which means "how are you," to which you reply "eh ye," which means "I'm fine." You are supposed to say eh ye even if you aren't fine, because they believe that if you say it, it will eventually be true.) When we were in Kokrobite, the locals at the table next to us at dinner struck up a conversation with us. They see that kind of thing as common, while normally I would be wary about their intentions. Of course I'm still being safe and careful, but I also don't want to be offensive or taken advantage of as a foreigner. It's difficult to see the line between friendly and disrespectful in a country with such a friendly and open culture.

Going to the orphanage every day fills me with incredible joy, to see kids who have come from such different backgrounds and hard lives, yet they still play together and smile every day. Some of them never had a family and grew up on the streets, and some of them do have a family that chose to give them up, either because they couldn't afford to take care of their children anymore or because they just didn't want them. Parents will even send their kids to the orphanage because they know they will have a better life there. At least they are guaranteed enough to survive.

Even so, life at Worcsa is far from perfect. Yes, the kids eat three meals a day, have rooms to sleep in and clothes to wear, and go to school, but that is nowhere near enough. They get no variety of nutrients from their food - their diet consists mostly of bland grains and a few types of pourridge. They eat very few fruits or vegetables, and almost no meat. They all either share straw mats on a concrete floor (with no blankets) or squish in three to a bed. I often see some of them wearing the same clothes two or three days in a row, and if they can't find their shoes they can't go to school because they don't have an extra pair. The public school system here is very inefficient, the kids learn almost nothing. The lucky ones get sponsored to go to Word of Faith, a westernized private Christian school, but by the time they start they're already so behind in their studies and need extra lessons to catch up, plus it costs about $1000 per year to sponsor a student.

It's hard being here and not being able to find a solution for every problem I see, because I lack both time and money. I'm definitely planning on keeping in touch with Worcsa when I go home so I can continue to help them out in any way I can. The kids here are great, they're very strong but they all have such good hearts. Despite any issue they might have, a tickle or a hand-game will never fail to put a smile on any of their faces.

Differences

I didn't have as much time on the internet yesterday as I wanted so I couldn't write a very big post, but I'm back at the internet cafe in Dodowa now and the internet here is much cheaper than the Accra mall, although it's also much slower. It was nice to get out of Dodowa for a little bit. On the way back from Accra, we stopped at the market in Medina and shopped around a bit. They sell all kinds of things - shoes, clothing, bags and backpacks, cds, dvds, fabric, and tons more. I finally found some fabric I like and this morning I dropped it off at a seamstress to be made into a dress! I'll pick it up next week, I can't wait to see how it comes out.

We changed our plans for this weekend and are instead going to a hotel on a beach a few hours away tomorrow for the night. Maybe next weekend or the weekend after we'll plan the trip to the monkey sanctuary. I definitely want to go while I'm here, everyone I've talked to who has been has raved about it.

I knew that life here obviously wouldn't be the same as my life at home, but sometimes I still find myself shocked at things I know would never happen in the US. There are tons of small children, as young as 3, who just wander the streets by themselves or in groups with other children. They obviously know their way around, but I can't help but think they should be with someone older. The tro-tros have no schedule, so if you want to take one to a specific place, you have to stand at a stop and yell the place you're going at them as they drive by, and if they're going there they'll stop and let you on. They're also full to bursting because once the right one comes, no one wants to have to wait for the next, and they're extremely rickety and run down. One of the volunteers who has been here for a while said that once he was on a tro-tro when the tire popped. The customer service here is also so different. In the US, you're taught that the customer comes first, but here the customers comes whenever the employee feels like serving him. When I was at the mall yesterday, I went to the food court to get lunch and I had to wait a few minutes for the employees at the register to stop talking before I could order. No one here is in a rush or cares about being on time, so no one gets annoyed when things go slowly.

Short Update

I'm at the mall in Accra right now, the internet here is much faster than at my local internet cafe. I took the tro-tro here (it's the public transportation here, like a bus network except run-down vans instead) with the other volunteers, it was a little over an hour trip and it only cost 1 cedi 25 peswa (aka super cheap). It's so nice to have air conditioning, and I'm going to get pizza for lunch! I only have 4 minutes of internet left so unfortunately I don't have time to write out a big entry, but nothing that noteworthy has happened in the last few days. I'm traveling this weekend, I'm going with the other volunteers to a monkey sanctuary and waterfalls a few hours away, so I'll write a post about that after. Hope everything is well with everyone at home!

First update!

     I am alive and well in Dodowa, Ghana! This is my first time on a computer since I got here, as the internet cafe in town has been closed whenever I've tried to stop by. I only have a little bit of time but I have SO much to say! There is so much that is interesting and different that I want to talk about.
     Ater somehow entertaining myself at JFK for 7 hours and making it through an 11-hour flight, I finally landed in Accra! I almost didn't get a vegetarian dinner on the flight, and I was convinced my luggage was lost at the baggage claim, but I was so happy to get there. I spent the first night at the IVHQ volunteer house in Accra with about 15 other volunteers who had all arrived for the July 1st orientation date, although we were all in different programs. The next morning we had an orientation by Edward Adeli, the coordinator of Ghana Volunteer Corps, for whom I'm technically volunteering. We were all introduced to the Ghanaian culture and customs, and even learned a bit of Twi! Then I, along with 5 other girls in my program, were driven to the volunteer house in Dodowa where we are living.
     As soon as we walked in the gate, four young girls ran up to us and hugged us and put their arms around us and wanted to be picked up. They all had huge smiles on their faces and loved to see us. It's a really great feeling, to have a kid run up to you and hug you without even knowing you. It was the same when we went to the orphanage for the first time, all the kids bombarded us and went down the line shaking our hands and asking "what is your name," like it was a phrase they had all learned and memorized.
     The kids are so amazing. There are 72 of them, ages 2-18. Most of them aren't actually orphans, Worcsa is more of a shelter, but sadly they will get a better life going to an orphanage rather than growing up with their family. They get fed three meals a day and go to school, which is not guaranteed everywhere in the country. There are only about ten rooms for all of them, so the older ones squeeze three to a bed and the younger ones share straw mats on the floor. It may sound like they have an awful life, but they're all so happy. They love to laugh and play games. They also all take care of each other like one huge family. They help each other and comfort each other, and also discipline each other. The orphanage is run by "mothers," one or two of them, but they're pretty absent from every-day life their. The orphanage is essentially self-sustainable, which is amazing to see with such young kids from all different backgrounds.
     There are 6 other volunteers already here, they're a really great resource to kind of show us the ropes. Unfortunately two are leaving this week, but this weekend the ten of us remaining are taking a trip to go to a monkey sanctuary and waterfalls a few hours away. We have the weekends off, so a lot of volunteers travel then.
     It's definitely much hotter here than at home, and it's pretty much constantly hot, all throughout the day and night. It's also the rainy season so it's very humid, and the air is very heavy. But I think I've already gotten used to always being hot, and always covered in a thin layer of grime. Unforunately we don't have running water (although luckily we have electricity) so the only method of showering is filling up a bucket with water and then pouring it on yourself. It's not very easy.
     This is definitely not all I want to say, but it's getting dark already and I need to get back. On Thursday I'm going to Accra for a few hours and will get to use a faster computer there in the Apple store at the mall, so I can hopefully write another update and maybe even post some pictures (I've been taking a ton). Hope all is well in the US!