That music I thought was just a party going on next door actually goes on every night. At least it's fairly good music. Not my choice for bedtime music, but not bad. Stuff like the Beetles or Kelly Clarkson usually. Not much heavier than that. I'm used to listening to music as I try to fall asleep, so that's actually helpful since it's not bad music. (My definition of bad music is music in which the lyrics consist of mostly swear words or derogatory terms/ideas). Unfortunately, the volunteers usually stay out later, so I hear them come in at all hours, meaning I don't get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. Then, I'm up at 05:30-06:00 because the sun wakes up then, and I wake up with the sun. I'm a little tired of being tired.
At least I was productive, though. Since we're still waiting on the letters for us to go into Busua schools and teach, I read a book or two, and started on that series, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. I've never read it before, but someone had donated all three of them to TOB, so I started reading them. I found them when I decided to organize the bookshelf upstairs. (There's a bookshelf upstairs for the people in the house and one downstairs for the after school program). The one upstairs was in disarray - books laying sideways, no real order to the piles, different sizes all mixed up together, and it was nearly impossible to tell what books they had or didn't have. It bothered me, so I fixed it.
Apparently, organizing the shelf was Anthony's job. All the kids in the house have their own project to work on, and Anthony's was the bookshelves upstairs and downstairs. Anyway, I had the books organized by genre, then alphabetical by two different sizes, due to the shelves being only tall enough on one shelf for the smaller books. It looked pretty by the time I was done, I thought. That was how I found the trilogy to read, since I hadn't noticed it before. Anthony didn't mind I organized the shelf, but Aankit told me to make sure if I did anything else around the house to be sure to do it with one of the sponsored kids. Volunteers are there for the kids, so we should try to include them in as much as possible. Makes sense, and I tried to do that the rest of the time I was there.
Getting ready for after school, I started to get scared about teaching Monday. I didn't really have much experience teaching young kids, and I'd figured out by now that English was not a strong language for most of the people in the town. I didn't know how I was supposed to approach the class, what I was supposed to say, or anything about what to do. Kathryn and I started chatting, and she's scared too. We sort of decided we'd try to write songs on the board and teach the kids them, starting with the alphabet, since Aankit told us to focus on letters and their sounds for the KG classrooms. I think we both felt better knowing that not even Aankit knew exactly what to do.
After school on Fridays is a big game for everyone. The Busua schools don't do much on Fridays. It's generally physical education, music, and games all day, so the kids are used to Fridays not being academic. Apparently, TOB hasn't challenged that in the after school program, so we had out coloring books, board games, building blocks, and puzzles for the kids to play with in the afternoon. I tried to make the group I was playing with play something that would be educational, and I succeeded for about 10 minutes, but then they went off. At first, they had this bag of 18 dice, 9 colors, 2 of each color. There were 6 of them at my table, so I had them all count the dice, and the people, then split up the dice so each had the same number of dice. (Division, sort of). After that, I asked them to add the numbers on the faces that showed when they rolled them. Some of the kids seemed to like this game, but most of them walked away as soon as I asked them to do math. It was disappointing, but I recognized that they're not used to Friday being a learning day. Eventually, I lost all my kids to football games or drawing. So, I started building with Legos with a couple of boys who came over with a bag of them. It was fun, and I think they're learning balance/center of gravity for building a tall tower, so I felt it was successful. It's draining though. I felt like I could sleep forever when we were done.
I went for a legitimate swim afterward, and that was my first time swimming in the ocean that I remember. I'd gone in it yesterday, but didn't swim. The water is nice, not too cold, but definitely refreshing. It's strong though. Like really strong. The waves are, on average, about 6 feet tall, and the undertow is almost as strong as the waves themselves are. You don't realize how big the waves are really until you actually get into the water and try to stand in them as they're coming at you. There's a little rocky island about a mile away from the beach, and I want to swim to it. After the waves, about an eighth of the way to the island, the water looks calm and manageable. I'm not guessing there are sharks or completely dangerous animals, since people kayak out to the island quite a bit, apparently. After I got back, I asked Aankit if he knew whether it was safe to swim out to the island or not. He told me I should take someone with me, just in case, but it should be safe.
I showered, which is a light trickle of water coming down from the pipe sticking out of the wall, and got cleaned up. Kathryn and Emmanuel were heading out into Busua for something, so I went with them. I saw this cool little kiosk that was selling bags and hand purses. I hadn't brought a purse, and I was figuring out that if I wanted to carry anything, I would need a small bag. So, I found a purse and got it. My first experience haggling by myself in Ghana. It was actually kind of fun. :) Then, it was time to head back for News Hour. On the way back, Kathryn saw a kid catch a chicken for dinner and walk back toward his house with it. She started whining and making little squealing noises and feeling sorry for the chicken. I told her if she had a problem with it, she should just not eat the meat. She can see all the animals before they die around in the streets. She said no, she just didn't want to see it get killed.
I still can't understand much during News Hour because of the British accent, but the discussion centered around various economies around the world, so I'm guessing that was a focus of the news tonight. Then, Anthony and I worked on catologuing the bookshelf I'd organized. We needed to write down all the titles and authors for the house records. We got through the non-fiction, short stories, and poetry books, which consists of the first shelf. Then, we were both tired. I went in to the bedroom to relax and chill before bed. I ended up thinking about how the children here are different from the kids back in the US. Like in what ways they're different. And, noticing that they're more similar than different. Cool how that works, isn't it?
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
First Full Day...Part 2
After school is the main reason for TOB's existence. It's how the whole thing started. The sponsored kids in the house are there because the coordinators originally saw they could and wanted to do well in school. They took it upon themselves to make sure they could continue their education. Now these young adults help with the after school program for kids like they once were. Mainly, after school focuses on remedial reading and math skills many of these kids in primary school are lacking.
My first day of after school, we were trying to get the kids organized into groups so we could teach to their level and not either bore them or challenge them to the point they get too frustrated to learn anything. We had them watch Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob, I believe, while we took the kids one at a time to test their knowledge of letter names and sounds. We just had a sheet of capital (big) letters out of order, and a sheet of lowercase (small) letters out of order they were supposed to identify. Then, we were supposed to have them tell us the sounds of the letters. During all of this we're supposed to note the mistakes they made and what they were. (i.e. if the letter is "h" and they say "k", we write "k" in the box marked "mistakes/substitutions"). I say supposed to because it didn't always work out the way we thought it should.
First off, all the kids are used to doing everything in groups, or at least partners. If one person knows the answer, they just tell everyone else what it is. So, whenever I asked one kid to come over, a few more would follow along. Then, if the child I was testing didn't know the answer, others around the table would answer for them, they'd repeat the letter, and I'd have to mark down what they said. Asking the tag-a-longs to go back didn't work, since other kids just came over. So, I started telling them they could stay, if they could be quiet. That worked for the most part, and I was able to get a fairly accurate reading of whether the child I was testing knew their letters or not.
Secondly, the children would watch me mark down on my paper whether they were right or not. Most of them couldn't read the column labels, but they knew when I switched columns, and would stop and start explaining to me that they didn't really mean what they said. They'd stumble over letters until they hit the right one (the other kids would nod when they got there). Then, they'd sit and refuse to go on until I marked the other column. So, I started just writing the letter they said, whether right or wrong, in the mistakes column, then going back over it at the end and making a check next to the letters that were correct. That didn't attract as much attention, and it seemed to help with not giving indicators of right/wrong answers, since we're not supposed to do that when we first test them.
Then, when we went to sounds for the kids, I'd try asking, "What sound?" and point to my mouth/throat area. Usually, I got a response of a word that starts with the letter, or just the letter itself again. I tried having one of the kids who understood English translate, but that didn't seem to help. So, I gave an example. The first letter was "H", so I'd say, "What sound? B sounds 'buh'. What 'H' sound?" That actually seemed to work for some kids, so I kept at it. If the child didn't know most of their letters, I didn't ask them about sounds, since we figured they have to know what the letters are before they can learn what sounds they make properly.
The part that makes it quite difficult for these kids is that their alphabet is phonetic. So, there aren't names and sounds, there are just sounds. That makes it hard to explain that the English alphabet they need to learn what they think of as two different names for the same symbol. Anyway, that testing took the entire hour and a half of after school, and then we had to split them up into groups based on the results. We created four groups, which would later become five. Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green. We thought we could just add colors of the rainbow as the students became more advanced, and that way, we could remember which group was the lowest in terms of reading skill without making the kids feel bad about being in the "slow" group.
Red group kids didn't know their letters. That was the majority of kids, age ranging from 6-13. Orange group kids know their letters, but don't know the sounds they make. This was the next largest group, same sort of range. Then, Yellow group knew letters and sounds, so they started working on combinations of sounds and how that looks in letter form. Once the children started in Yellow group, we thought we'd take the kids who appeared to have at least an intermediate grasp of sound combinations and move them to Green group. These kids, generally, could read on what we'd consider in the US a Kindergarten-2nd grade level.
After the after school program, there was really just enough time to relax and feel calmed down enough before News Hours started. (about 2 hours between the two). I just walked on the beach for a bit and wrote my impressions of the after school program. Then, I tried to understand the news as we watched it. I was still having difficulty with the British accent of the newscasters, and the fact that I'm not terribly globally aware in the first place. But I tried, and I understood some parts. Again, the discussion afterward was mostly the Ghanaian students talking about the news stories, with a few of the volunteers throwing their opinion in. There weren't any comments that struck me as much as last night, but the overall conversation definitely feels different than if we were to have a discussion about the same news in the US. I can't pinpoint exactly how it feels different yet, but it does.
My first day of after school, we were trying to get the kids organized into groups so we could teach to their level and not either bore them or challenge them to the point they get too frustrated to learn anything. We had them watch Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob, I believe, while we took the kids one at a time to test their knowledge of letter names and sounds. We just had a sheet of capital (big) letters out of order, and a sheet of lowercase (small) letters out of order they were supposed to identify. Then, we were supposed to have them tell us the sounds of the letters. During all of this we're supposed to note the mistakes they made and what they were. (i.e. if the letter is "h" and they say "k", we write "k" in the box marked "mistakes/substitutions"). I say supposed to because it didn't always work out the way we thought it should.
First off, all the kids are used to doing everything in groups, or at least partners. If one person knows the answer, they just tell everyone else what it is. So, whenever I asked one kid to come over, a few more would follow along. Then, if the child I was testing didn't know the answer, others around the table would answer for them, they'd repeat the letter, and I'd have to mark down what they said. Asking the tag-a-longs to go back didn't work, since other kids just came over. So, I started telling them they could stay, if they could be quiet. That worked for the most part, and I was able to get a fairly accurate reading of whether the child I was testing knew their letters or not.
Secondly, the children would watch me mark down on my paper whether they were right or not. Most of them couldn't read the column labels, but they knew when I switched columns, and would stop and start explaining to me that they didn't really mean what they said. They'd stumble over letters until they hit the right one (the other kids would nod when they got there). Then, they'd sit and refuse to go on until I marked the other column. So, I started just writing the letter they said, whether right or wrong, in the mistakes column, then going back over it at the end and making a check next to the letters that were correct. That didn't attract as much attention, and it seemed to help with not giving indicators of right/wrong answers, since we're not supposed to do that when we first test them.
Then, when we went to sounds for the kids, I'd try asking, "What sound?" and point to my mouth/throat area. Usually, I got a response of a word that starts with the letter, or just the letter itself again. I tried having one of the kids who understood English translate, but that didn't seem to help. So, I gave an example. The first letter was "H", so I'd say, "What sound? B sounds 'buh'. What 'H' sound?" That actually seemed to work for some kids, so I kept at it. If the child didn't know most of their letters, I didn't ask them about sounds, since we figured they have to know what the letters are before they can learn what sounds they make properly.
The part that makes it quite difficult for these kids is that their alphabet is phonetic. So, there aren't names and sounds, there are just sounds. That makes it hard to explain that the English alphabet they need to learn what they think of as two different names for the same symbol. Anyway, that testing took the entire hour and a half of after school, and then we had to split them up into groups based on the results. We created four groups, which would later become five. Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green. We thought we could just add colors of the rainbow as the students became more advanced, and that way, we could remember which group was the lowest in terms of reading skill without making the kids feel bad about being in the "slow" group.
Red group kids didn't know their letters. That was the majority of kids, age ranging from 6-13. Orange group kids know their letters, but don't know the sounds they make. This was the next largest group, same sort of range. Then, Yellow group knew letters and sounds, so they started working on combinations of sounds and how that looks in letter form. Once the children started in Yellow group, we thought we'd take the kids who appeared to have at least an intermediate grasp of sound combinations and move them to Green group. These kids, generally, could read on what we'd consider in the US a Kindergarten-2nd grade level.
After the after school program, there was really just enough time to relax and feel calmed down enough before News Hours started. (about 2 hours between the two). I just walked on the beach for a bit and wrote my impressions of the after school program. Then, I tried to understand the news as we watched it. I was still having difficulty with the British accent of the newscasters, and the fact that I'm not terribly globally aware in the first place. But I tried, and I understood some parts. Again, the discussion afterward was mostly the Ghanaian students talking about the news stories, with a few of the volunteers throwing their opinion in. There weren't any comments that struck me as much as last night, but the overall conversation definitely feels different than if we were to have a discussion about the same news in the US. I can't pinpoint exactly how it feels different yet, but it does.
Monday, June 25, 2012
First Full Day...part 1
My first full day in the TOB house was a Thursday. I didn't sleep very well, but, for those who know me, that's not much new. The ocean was quite loud, and the music next door didn't turn off until about 03:00. I could hear the house kids getting up and ready for school about 05:30, and decided I should get ready for the day as well, even though I wasn't sure what the day had in store. I decided to skip the shower since I no longer felt sandy and I hadn't been sweating that much. Brushed my teeth using the rest of the water left in my sachet of pure water, and put my hair up in the ponytail I can finally say holds most of my hair. :) After putting on my skirt and t-shirt, I was ready to go.
Unfortunately, I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing at 06:30. So, I went to the bookshelf in the main room of the house and picked a book to read. Yes, I'm a dork like that. Once Aankit got up, he asked me to wake up the other girls. Kathryn was still asleep, but the professors were up and getting ready already. I'm glad for that, since I really hate waking people up and they were willing to wake Kathryn up. We all trooped out and Aankit said we were going to the school to meet the headmistress, Madame Nelson, and see how we could be of help.
The school is about a two minute walk down the road. Yes, there's really only one road. We went into the headmistress's office and she talked about what the school needed, as well as how things run there. She emphasized the lack of proper resources, and that things are done a certain way so we need to respect that. I volunteered to teach, since they hadn't had a teacher all year for KG1 or KG2 (Kindergarten 1 and 2). Kathryn also volunteered, but the professors were leaving in a couple days, so they couldn't really. Jeff was with us and wanted to know if he could observe and do some research for his project. They apparently don't like that, so he said he'd teach, thinking that he could at least get data from one class then. Aankit told us afterward to be careful with the headmistress, since Ghana is very bureaucratic and chains of power are important. That's why we had to go to district office in Agona - because we needed their approval to teach in Busua.
So, after meeting Madame Nelson, we took the share taxi to Agona. (Share taxis are normal taxis that just go back and forth between places for a set price, once they're full). Agona is where district office is, as well as social welfare. Aankit, Yahya, Jeff, the professors, Kathryn, and I all went to the district office and waited to see the president or manager or whatever he's called. Waiting happens a lot in Ghana, by the way. I learned a lot of patience there. Some of it actually stuck with me even.
The district person we were waiting for came out and introduced himself, Samuel, and he brought another man from Accra. Michael was apparently visiting from the Ghanaian equivalent of the state department of education, whereas district office presides over what we might call a county or parish. So, we met with both of them, where they said they needed a letter from each of us explaining how long we'd be there able to teach, what subjects we were able to teach, and where we were going to be. Then, we would get letters from them saying where we'd be teaching and what level, as well as the rules for what we can and can't do. We were told we weren't allowed in the schools until we got those letters.
After that, we walked over to the social welfare office. Aankit's been trying to get TOB registered in Busua as a legitimate organization. Right now, we just have village permission to help teach their kids, but not governmental permission. TOB is registered in America, and either Kumasi or Medina (both places TOB has worked before). So, we went to go check on that. Yahya apparently applied about a year ago is what it sounded like, but they haven't gotten to the application yet. The man we spoke with said a couple days, that's all. As far as I know, by the time Aankit left, they still hadn't gotten to it.
Then, we headed back to Busua and the house to get ready for after school...my first!
Unfortunately, I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing at 06:30. So, I went to the bookshelf in the main room of the house and picked a book to read. Yes, I'm a dork like that. Once Aankit got up, he asked me to wake up the other girls. Kathryn was still asleep, but the professors were up and getting ready already. I'm glad for that, since I really hate waking people up and they were willing to wake Kathryn up. We all trooped out and Aankit said we were going to the school to meet the headmistress, Madame Nelson, and see how we could be of help.
The school is about a two minute walk down the road. Yes, there's really only one road. We went into the headmistress's office and she talked about what the school needed, as well as how things run there. She emphasized the lack of proper resources, and that things are done a certain way so we need to respect that. I volunteered to teach, since they hadn't had a teacher all year for KG1 or KG2 (Kindergarten 1 and 2). Kathryn also volunteered, but the professors were leaving in a couple days, so they couldn't really. Jeff was with us and wanted to know if he could observe and do some research for his project. They apparently don't like that, so he said he'd teach, thinking that he could at least get data from one class then. Aankit told us afterward to be careful with the headmistress, since Ghana is very bureaucratic and chains of power are important. That's why we had to go to district office in Agona - because we needed their approval to teach in Busua.
So, after meeting Madame Nelson, we took the share taxi to Agona. (Share taxis are normal taxis that just go back and forth between places for a set price, once they're full). Agona is where district office is, as well as social welfare. Aankit, Yahya, Jeff, the professors, Kathryn, and I all went to the district office and waited to see the president or manager or whatever he's called. Waiting happens a lot in Ghana, by the way. I learned a lot of patience there. Some of it actually stuck with me even.
The district person we were waiting for came out and introduced himself, Samuel, and he brought another man from Accra. Michael was apparently visiting from the Ghanaian equivalent of the state department of education, whereas district office presides over what we might call a county or parish. So, we met with both of them, where they said they needed a letter from each of us explaining how long we'd be there able to teach, what subjects we were able to teach, and where we were going to be. Then, we would get letters from them saying where we'd be teaching and what level, as well as the rules for what we can and can't do. We were told we weren't allowed in the schools until we got those letters.
After that, we walked over to the social welfare office. Aankit's been trying to get TOB registered in Busua as a legitimate organization. Right now, we just have village permission to help teach their kids, but not governmental permission. TOB is registered in America, and either Kumasi or Medina (both places TOB has worked before). So, we went to go check on that. Yahya apparently applied about a year ago is what it sounded like, but they haven't gotten to the application yet. The man we spoke with said a couple days, that's all. As far as I know, by the time Aankit left, they still hadn't gotten to it.
Then, we headed back to Busua and the house to get ready for after school...my first!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
An Evening to Catch Up
After Ben took my bags up the stairs (he wouldn't let me carry any of them), Tina showed me the room in which I'll be staying. I'm in the top bunk, which worried me at first. See, at night, when I have to go to the bathroom, I generally don't give myself a lot of time, if you catch my drift, so I was a little scared I'd wet the bed or hurt myself getting in/out of bed. I practiced getting in and out a couple times and got the hang of it so I'd be okay.
Tina came back with a plate of rice with this tomato, pepper, and onion sauce on top that was quite spicy. I like spicy foods for the most part, and I enjoyed this too. They knew the six of us would be getting back, so they saved some lunch for us. It was my first Ghanaian meal, since all I'd had that morning was a granola bar. This, in minor variations, was to be my lunch and dinner for the next five weeks. I wasn't sure what to do when I got full, so I ate the rest of it, then felt a bit sick because there was way too much food in my belly. Rice is very filling, by the way. When Tina came back to take my plate and show me where the kitchen was, she smiled and told me it was good I ate it all, since none of the volunteers usually do.
There's no way to get to the kitchen without going outside and down the stairs, which everyone complains about when it's raining, but I sort of like it. It was sunny out the day I got there. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I met the other volunteers: Kathryn, Jeff, Torsten, and the three professors (Shannon, Richard, and I don't remember the other), and we sat and chatted for a little while. Torsten had been working in Kumasi, a city to the north, but his internship/job ended, so he came to TOB. The professors were just checking out the program to see if they could create a class around the program and have all the students come to volunteer as part of the class. Jeff was there for the whole summer doing his study abroad/research for his major - something about international relations or politics or something. And Kathryn was just there for a few weeks because she heard about the program and wanted to try it. She'd been to Tanzania with her parents before, teaching, so she wanted to try this by herself. All of them were intriguing to talk to, and I enjoyed hearing their impressions of Ghana, the kids, and the program itself.
Kathryn and I went out to the backyard/beach because we saw some of Kathryn's favorite kids playing in the sand. She started building a sand castle with them, and I got roped into playing a couple different hand clapping games. It seemed like, once I got the hang of one of them, they switched to a different one to try to teach me. After like a half hour, they seemed to get bored, so I tried to teach them the first children's song I thought of - Ring Around the Rosie. They understood the circle part, and eventually got the fall down part, but the movement of the circle didn't seem to make sense to the kids. This girl came up with her mother, and she spoke very good English, unlike the other kids I'd been playing with. She helped us all get organized into a sort of game. This consisted of me either being a jungle gym or picking each child up and spinning around, dropping them in the sand.
At one point, one kid decided he liked my hair, and tried to take my ponytail. As most of you realize, ponytails are attached. This child didn't, and got frustrated when he couldn't just take it with him. He started to pull, and another kid tried to help me by pulling it back toward me. Unfortunately, that just meant my hair was being pulled in two different directions and it hurt. I kept saying stop, but these two kids didn't understand English. Kathryn finally noticed what was going on and yelled, "Dabi, dabi, dabi". (Pronounced dahbee, it means no). They let go, and I said I had to go inside.
I was right, I did have to be going inside. I rinsed off the sand in the ocean first, which semi-worked. The ocean is very active, so there's a lot of sand in the water in the first place, so a lot of it just stayed stuck to me. Plus, my feet were wet then, so the sand on the beach covered my feet and ankles by the time I got to the house. I had to learn to get used to sand everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I ended up bringing about a pound home with me anyway.
By the time I got inside, it was time for News Hour, which we do every night the power is on. In Ghana, they say "light on" or "light off".We watch Aljazeera, which has usually British newscasters. That first night, I could barely understand what they were saying. British accents aren't terribly easy to understand, especially when you're still trying to take in all the new things you've been experiencing the last not even 24 hours. During the discussion, one comment really sticks out. Henry said, about the US and some difficulties California was having economically, "If it's the United States, shouldn't the other states step in and help California?" For Ghanaian people, community is extremely important, so the idea that the rest of the US would let CA struggle is hard to think about. Whereas the Americans tended to say, CA got itself into this mess, let them get themselves out.
Discussion usually consisted of either small groups of 4-5 or one whole big group, depending on the number of people. For the most part, discussion was a short recap of the news stories, and then everyone's opinions on how the story was presented or what it means or how the people involved could be thinking/what they could be doing better/worse. Sometimes, it got a bit one-sided as outspoken individuals tried to make others see their point of view, but it was mostly open dialogue. Volunteers tried to keep the Ghanaian students in charge of the discussion since the major point of News Hour, aside from understanding the greater world community, is practicing English. In order to do that, the students have to be able to synthesize what they heard and express it. I had an easy time keeping my mouth shut since I didn't really understand what was going on, but I wanted to be able to contribute better in the future.
Then, it was time for dinner. More rice with more spicy tomato and onion sauce. Still good, still too filling. I ate it all because I was still too afraid of offending the cook or the kids in the house. But I knew I couldn't keep eating everything they gave me. I would explode! After dinner, we had a birthday celebration for Ben in the backyard. There was a bonfire, mostly of bamboo, I think. I stuck around to see the fire lit, but my head was pounding and I was feeling terribly overwhelmed, so I went in and went to bed. The windows in the room, though, are just screens with some wooden slates to help support them, so the music and talking/singing from the backyard floated right into the bedroom. Plus, the place next door had music blasting. At first, I thought they were having a party too, but then I realized they do that every night. It's a restaurant, and music is part of their atmosphere. It's usually American pop, rap, r&b, or older rock. Mostly good music, actually. I enjoyed falling asleep to it, even though I felt bad missing the party.
Tina came back with a plate of rice with this tomato, pepper, and onion sauce on top that was quite spicy. I like spicy foods for the most part, and I enjoyed this too. They knew the six of us would be getting back, so they saved some lunch for us. It was my first Ghanaian meal, since all I'd had that morning was a granola bar. This, in minor variations, was to be my lunch and dinner for the next five weeks. I wasn't sure what to do when I got full, so I ate the rest of it, then felt a bit sick because there was way too much food in my belly. Rice is very filling, by the way. When Tina came back to take my plate and show me where the kitchen was, she smiled and told me it was good I ate it all, since none of the volunteers usually do.
There's no way to get to the kitchen without going outside and down the stairs, which everyone complains about when it's raining, but I sort of like it. It was sunny out the day I got there. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I met the other volunteers: Kathryn, Jeff, Torsten, and the three professors (Shannon, Richard, and I don't remember the other), and we sat and chatted for a little while. Torsten had been working in Kumasi, a city to the north, but his internship/job ended, so he came to TOB. The professors were just checking out the program to see if they could create a class around the program and have all the students come to volunteer as part of the class. Jeff was there for the whole summer doing his study abroad/research for his major - something about international relations or politics or something. And Kathryn was just there for a few weeks because she heard about the program and wanted to try it. She'd been to Tanzania with her parents before, teaching, so she wanted to try this by herself. All of them were intriguing to talk to, and I enjoyed hearing their impressions of Ghana, the kids, and the program itself.
Kathryn and I went out to the backyard/beach because we saw some of Kathryn's favorite kids playing in the sand. She started building a sand castle with them, and I got roped into playing a couple different hand clapping games. It seemed like, once I got the hang of one of them, they switched to a different one to try to teach me. After like a half hour, they seemed to get bored, so I tried to teach them the first children's song I thought of - Ring Around the Rosie. They understood the circle part, and eventually got the fall down part, but the movement of the circle didn't seem to make sense to the kids. This girl came up with her mother, and she spoke very good English, unlike the other kids I'd been playing with. She helped us all get organized into a sort of game. This consisted of me either being a jungle gym or picking each child up and spinning around, dropping them in the sand.
At one point, one kid decided he liked my hair, and tried to take my ponytail. As most of you realize, ponytails are attached. This child didn't, and got frustrated when he couldn't just take it with him. He started to pull, and another kid tried to help me by pulling it back toward me. Unfortunately, that just meant my hair was being pulled in two different directions and it hurt. I kept saying stop, but these two kids didn't understand English. Kathryn finally noticed what was going on and yelled, "Dabi, dabi, dabi". (Pronounced dahbee, it means no). They let go, and I said I had to go inside.
I was right, I did have to be going inside. I rinsed off the sand in the ocean first, which semi-worked. The ocean is very active, so there's a lot of sand in the water in the first place, so a lot of it just stayed stuck to me. Plus, my feet were wet then, so the sand on the beach covered my feet and ankles by the time I got to the house. I had to learn to get used to sand everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I ended up bringing about a pound home with me anyway.
By the time I got inside, it was time for News Hour, which we do every night the power is on. In Ghana, they say "light on" or "light off".We watch Aljazeera, which has usually British newscasters. That first night, I could barely understand what they were saying. British accents aren't terribly easy to understand, especially when you're still trying to take in all the new things you've been experiencing the last not even 24 hours. During the discussion, one comment really sticks out. Henry said, about the US and some difficulties California was having economically, "If it's the United States, shouldn't the other states step in and help California?" For Ghanaian people, community is extremely important, so the idea that the rest of the US would let CA struggle is hard to think about. Whereas the Americans tended to say, CA got itself into this mess, let them get themselves out.
Discussion usually consisted of either small groups of 4-5 or one whole big group, depending on the number of people. For the most part, discussion was a short recap of the news stories, and then everyone's opinions on how the story was presented or what it means or how the people involved could be thinking/what they could be doing better/worse. Sometimes, it got a bit one-sided as outspoken individuals tried to make others see their point of view, but it was mostly open dialogue. Volunteers tried to keep the Ghanaian students in charge of the discussion since the major point of News Hour, aside from understanding the greater world community, is practicing English. In order to do that, the students have to be able to synthesize what they heard and express it. I had an easy time keeping my mouth shut since I didn't really understand what was going on, but I wanted to be able to contribute better in the future.
Then, it was time for dinner. More rice with more spicy tomato and onion sauce. Still good, still too filling. I ate it all because I was still too afraid of offending the cook or the kids in the house. But I knew I couldn't keep eating everything they gave me. I would explode! After dinner, we had a birthday celebration for Ben in the backyard. There was a bonfire, mostly of bamboo, I think. I stuck around to see the fire lit, but my head was pounding and I was feeling terribly overwhelmed, so I went in and went to bed. The windows in the room, though, are just screens with some wooden slates to help support them, so the music and talking/singing from the backyard floated right into the bedroom. Plus, the place next door had music blasting. At first, I thought they were having a party too, but then I realized they do that every night. It's a restaurant, and music is part of their atmosphere. It's usually American pop, rap, r&b, or older rock. Mostly good music, actually. I enjoyed falling asleep to it, even though I felt bad missing the party.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
The Kids
Before I continue with the rest of the adventure, I thought it prudent to explain a little about how TOB works and introduce the kids in the house. TOB sponsors eleven (I did my math wrong earlier, sorry) kids to keep going through school. They've been working with these young adults for a number of years, and the TOB house is their home. Some of the kids don't have parents, some have one parent, some have both still, but, for some reason, they felt they could do better with TOB. All of them are dedicated and smart and want to continue school. In Ghana, primary school dropout rates are insanely high, so making it into Junior Secondary School or Senior Secondary School is an accomplishment in and of itself. So, TOB acts as 'parent' to these kids, while running an after school program to help younger kids learn basic literacy and numeracy skills.
The kids in the house consist of: Anthony, Ben, Divine, Yahaya, Emmanuel, William, Henry, Henrietta, Adu, Louis, and Valentina. You'll get to know them a bit more through the rest of this blog, but here's a short intro to each of them.
Anthony plays guitar and likes reading. He's called the librarian by the other kids in the house, and he's sort of quiet until you get to know him. More of an introvert than anything, but he tends to hold challenges until he wins or has to concede. He's stubborn, quick, and fun, and it's hard to get him to focus on something he doesn't want to do. Oh, and he's a computer nerd.
Louis (pronounced like Louise)is harder to get to know, but he's a bear when you do. English isn't as easy for him as most of the other kids, but he works hard at learning. In fact, he works hard at just about everything. Even though he's not very academically strong, you more often see him working from a school book than out playing basketball with the other guys. Whenever I started to get down or feel sad, he'd ask me what's wrong. I usually said nothing, but it was still nice to hear someone care.
Ben is a basketball player at heart. He's almost always out on the court shooting or bouncing the ball (which was a volleyball until someone managed to bring in a basketball) if he's got free time. When we're in discussion mode, he generally listens without comment, but when others shut up long enough, he's always got something to say. He's really good at blending into the background and just watching a scene unfold, but he's totally down to have fun when it's time. And, man, does he got some moves on that dance floor!
Divine is a troublemaker, and Tina's older brother. He likes trying those odd things which sound cool, but anyone who sat and thought it all out would see it's a bad idea, like trying to get Jasper (the house dog) to bike down the front steps. It would be cool to see, but putting him on a bike at the top of the stairs and letting go is not the way to do it! If something needs to get done, he'll get it done, but if it's not pressing, he'll be real laid back about it. Always good for a laugh, and easy to tease because he'll tease you right back.
Adu is another quiet young man. He sits on the sidelines and smiles that little smile which seems like he knows something he's not telling you. Even though he generally has an opinion which is very well thought out, he usually keeps silent. You have to push him to talk academically, and even personally. He also plays basketball a lot, and was in charge of organizing volunteers to get the basketball court done.
Emmanuel is very outspoken. He's confident and well-spoken in his opinions and ideas. However, it's hard for him to be wrong, too, and constructive criticism isn't received too well. He's always trying to help the volunteers find what they need, and he was our Twi language instructor during our time there. Even though he's always trying to help, a lot of the time he takes charge instead of working together with others. As a conversationalist, especially about touchy subjects, he's very good at keeping his head cool and his ideas easy to understand and argue.
Henry, Henrietta's twin, is one of the most sociable people I've met. He loves getting to know everyone - the volunteers, the kids, the townspeople, and other tourists along the beach. It's hard, sometimes, for him to focus on one thing though, and he'll often start conversations without completely finishing them. His faith (Christian) is very important to him, but he's also fairly open to trying to understand other spirituality/religion. Another important thing is his art. To me, he sort of took on the role of protective older brother (he's younger than me), and, in a way, he does that with everyone in the house.
Henrietta is Henry's twin, and very quick. She's got a great command of English, probably better than half the kids in my introductory English class in college. She's also very social, but in a different way than Henry. She's always out in the village trying to meet people and figure out how TOB's presence can be helpful to them. As a female in Ghana, she's taught to stay in the background and be silent. She has a hard time at times speaking her mind, but has gotten a lot more comfortable with showing her confidence in her abilities and ideas.
Valentina (Tina) is the youngest kid in the house, Divine's sister, and she's the only one still in primary school. Around the house, she's extremely helpful and knows where most everything is. If she makes up her mind to get something done, she'll do it, but if she decides she's not doing something, no one can make her do it. She's pretty laid back, and likes to create/make things.
Yahaya is one of the most hard-working people I've ever met. Anything that needs to be done, if he sees it or knows about it, it'll get done. He's always smiling and ready to help. Oftentimes, that means he picks up the slack for others, which you can see can be frustrating for him, but he doesn't generally say anything about it; he just does it. He's not in school (graduated), so he does a lot more while the others are at school.
William is also graduated from school, and he's the TOB in-country director now. He runs the logistics of the house when there can't be a foreigner there in the house. He's great with money and finances, and can keep even that crazy house organized. Sometimes, it seems like he stays in the background, not really participating. I think that's his way of staying objective in a situation. When all the coordinators are away, he's the 'house dad' instead, and that requires a lot different relationship than 'brother' like the others have.
I miss all these kids, and I hope I can go back someday to see them all again, how they're doing and such. The other important people to know are the TOB coordinators: Aankit, Megan, and Mike. Aankit was there for the first half of my trip, a little longer. He's more process oriented and really wants things to get done how they're planned on paper. He has taught in school before, which makes him a valuable resource for new volunteers. Megan came for the last half of my stay. She's younger and more detail oriented. As much as the process needs to be there, Megan wants the outline to be filled in first. Mike isn't technically a coordinator anymore, but he helped start TOB, and now works somewhere else in/near Busua, so he came to visit a lot and the kids still call him 'Dad'. He's way more laid back and loose, tending to spontaneity and impulse rather than careful planning and process instructions.
And, of course, the other volunteers. I won't go into them now, since you'll meet them throughout the rest of this, but they're there, as well as the people from the village, the after school kids, my kids, the teachers, and all the other people I met while in Ghana. Hopefully, this gives you a little outline to understand these next entries as they come up.
The kids in the house consist of: Anthony, Ben, Divine, Yahaya, Emmanuel, William, Henry, Henrietta, Adu, Louis, and Valentina. You'll get to know them a bit more through the rest of this blog, but here's a short intro to each of them.
Anthony plays guitar and likes reading. He's called the librarian by the other kids in the house, and he's sort of quiet until you get to know him. More of an introvert than anything, but he tends to hold challenges until he wins or has to concede. He's stubborn, quick, and fun, and it's hard to get him to focus on something he doesn't want to do. Oh, and he's a computer nerd.
Louis (pronounced like Louise)is harder to get to know, but he's a bear when you do. English isn't as easy for him as most of the other kids, but he works hard at learning. In fact, he works hard at just about everything. Even though he's not very academically strong, you more often see him working from a school book than out playing basketball with the other guys. Whenever I started to get down or feel sad, he'd ask me what's wrong. I usually said nothing, but it was still nice to hear someone care.
Ben is a basketball player at heart. He's almost always out on the court shooting or bouncing the ball (which was a volleyball until someone managed to bring in a basketball) if he's got free time. When we're in discussion mode, he generally listens without comment, but when others shut up long enough, he's always got something to say. He's really good at blending into the background and just watching a scene unfold, but he's totally down to have fun when it's time. And, man, does he got some moves on that dance floor!
Divine is a troublemaker, and Tina's older brother. He likes trying those odd things which sound cool, but anyone who sat and thought it all out would see it's a bad idea, like trying to get Jasper (the house dog) to bike down the front steps. It would be cool to see, but putting him on a bike at the top of the stairs and letting go is not the way to do it! If something needs to get done, he'll get it done, but if it's not pressing, he'll be real laid back about it. Always good for a laugh, and easy to tease because he'll tease you right back.
Adu is another quiet young man. He sits on the sidelines and smiles that little smile which seems like he knows something he's not telling you. Even though he generally has an opinion which is very well thought out, he usually keeps silent. You have to push him to talk academically, and even personally. He also plays basketball a lot, and was in charge of organizing volunteers to get the basketball court done.
Emmanuel is very outspoken. He's confident and well-spoken in his opinions and ideas. However, it's hard for him to be wrong, too, and constructive criticism isn't received too well. He's always trying to help the volunteers find what they need, and he was our Twi language instructor during our time there. Even though he's always trying to help, a lot of the time he takes charge instead of working together with others. As a conversationalist, especially about touchy subjects, he's very good at keeping his head cool and his ideas easy to understand and argue.
Henry, Henrietta's twin, is one of the most sociable people I've met. He loves getting to know everyone - the volunteers, the kids, the townspeople, and other tourists along the beach. It's hard, sometimes, for him to focus on one thing though, and he'll often start conversations without completely finishing them. His faith (Christian) is very important to him, but he's also fairly open to trying to understand other spirituality/religion. Another important thing is his art. To me, he sort of took on the role of protective older brother (he's younger than me), and, in a way, he does that with everyone in the house.
Henrietta is Henry's twin, and very quick. She's got a great command of English, probably better than half the kids in my introductory English class in college. She's also very social, but in a different way than Henry. She's always out in the village trying to meet people and figure out how TOB's presence can be helpful to them. As a female in Ghana, she's taught to stay in the background and be silent. She has a hard time at times speaking her mind, but has gotten a lot more comfortable with showing her confidence in her abilities and ideas.
Valentina (Tina) is the youngest kid in the house, Divine's sister, and she's the only one still in primary school. Around the house, she's extremely helpful and knows where most everything is. If she makes up her mind to get something done, she'll do it, but if she decides she's not doing something, no one can make her do it. She's pretty laid back, and likes to create/make things.
Yahaya is one of the most hard-working people I've ever met. Anything that needs to be done, if he sees it or knows about it, it'll get done. He's always smiling and ready to help. Oftentimes, that means he picks up the slack for others, which you can see can be frustrating for him, but he doesn't generally say anything about it; he just does it. He's not in school (graduated), so he does a lot more while the others are at school.
William is also graduated from school, and he's the TOB in-country director now. He runs the logistics of the house when there can't be a foreigner there in the house. He's great with money and finances, and can keep even that crazy house organized. Sometimes, it seems like he stays in the background, not really participating. I think that's his way of staying objective in a situation. When all the coordinators are away, he's the 'house dad' instead, and that requires a lot different relationship than 'brother' like the others have.
I miss all these kids, and I hope I can go back someday to see them all again, how they're doing and such. The other important people to know are the TOB coordinators: Aankit, Megan, and Mike. Aankit was there for the first half of my trip, a little longer. He's more process oriented and really wants things to get done how they're planned on paper. He has taught in school before, which makes him a valuable resource for new volunteers. Megan came for the last half of my stay. She's younger and more detail oriented. As much as the process needs to be there, Megan wants the outline to be filled in first. Mike isn't technically a coordinator anymore, but he helped start TOB, and now works somewhere else in/near Busua, so he came to visit a lot and the kids still call him 'Dad'. He's way more laid back and loose, tending to spontaneity and impulse rather than careful planning and process instructions.
And, of course, the other volunteers. I won't go into them now, since you'll meet them throughout the rest of this, but they're there, as well as the people from the village, the after school kids, my kids, the teachers, and all the other people I met while in Ghana. Hopefully, this gives you a little outline to understand these next entries as they come up.
The House
The first floor has the kitchen, office, and after school room. That's where we held the main part of the TOB program. After school, which I'll go into detail later, is our way of helping kids learn basic literacy and numeracy. The second floor is where the sponsored kids and volunteers live. There's a main room which is where we do News Hour (I'll explain that fully later). The sponsored boys have their room, the sponsored girls have their room, and the volunteers are split between the other two rooms, boys in one, girls in the other. When we got a big influx of volunteers, some of the girls stayed with the sponsored girls, and we made the side rooms downstairs into bedrooms for the overflow.
This is a view of the second floor main room from the doorway of the boys' room for the kids in the house. The door you can see is the volunteer boys' room. To the right, just off the frame, is the volunteer girls' room, and behind and to the left is the house girls' room.
This is a picture of what the volunteer girls' room looks like. The bed closest on the right ended up being taken out because it made more sense to have the group of new girls in the room downstairs, since they came in a group. I was the top bunk by the window.
I spent most evenings in the house, since I determined I did not like the Ghanaian past times of drinking and smoking. I also would sometimes walk along the shore at night. Mostly, if I was in the house, I was relaxing. Otherwise, I was outside working, downstairs (which didn't feel like the same house) planning/teaching, or in Busua school down the street teaching. The house itself was pretty upscale for Ghanaian standards. We had electricity and running water, if the electricity was on and the pump had water in it. Usually, everything worked, but not always. The ceiling leaked when it rained hard.
The third floor, which was never finished, everyone called the roof. There were drying lines hanging in the main part, and there was a little lean-to-type cover over the staircase from the second floor. Almost no one went up there unless they were hanging laundry, and I found it was a good place to escape and watch the village life go on around us, or watch the ocean, depending on the side of the house I went to. It became one of my decompression/thinking spots where I could really sit and reflect on everything happening in what seems such a short time. This area just behind the half wall was where I went a lot. I has a great view of the ocean, and is fairly hidden if people do want to come up to do their laundry. I slept up here on a mat with my mosquito net more than once. :)Friday, June 22, 2012
Getting to Busua
Everyone in Ghana is up about 05:00, and those who aren't, are up when the sun rises, which is 05:45. Because it's close to the equator (practically on it), daytime is always 6-6. Anyway, Aankit and Jeff didn't get up until about 07:00, so I just sort of watched out the window at what was going on. Kids started getting to school, and women and children were getting buckets of water. There were kiosks opening and people sweeping steps or entryways. It didn't look busy though, just active. People weren't walking as if they were the white rabbit, but just patiently making their way about their everyday business. It was calming.
Once the boys were awake, we all got ready to go. It was satisfying to be able to brush my teeth and spit over the side of the stairs (which had no railing, by the way). Jeff got donuts from a street vendor, and Aankit got me a water since I still hadn't exchanged money. Water comes in these little 500 mL bags that you gnaw a hole in on a corner to drink from. The bags are really sturdy, so they don't tend to accidentally break. You can also get bottles of water, but they're not worth it since you can't really reuse the bottles. Plus, the bags are made in Ghana, so you're supporting Ghanaian industry. It confused me at first because I didn't know where to put my bag when I finished drinking the water. There isn't a waste removal system in Ghana, so people just throw their garbage in the gutters on the side of the street. It makes the place look dirty by American standards, but somehow it doesn't feel dirty in Ghana.
We took a taxi to the Medina market, where we found a share taxi to the airport. A share taxi means that once there are four passengers, the taxi leaves, and it's a set price (unlike most things) to get there. We had to go to the airport to exchange my money, as well as pick up three professors who were coming to check out the program. We had to walk about half a mile, me still with all my luggage, which was starting to get heavy at this point. Once we got the professors, we found a tro-tro, which is like a minivan, to take us to Busua. Aankit held out in the market for an air conditioned vehicle so we'd be more comfortable. So, all of us packed in with our luggage, and we were off to Busua.
The ride there was long, about 6 hours, and the road was really good in places, really bad in others. Through Accra, and the other major cities on the way, it was a six-lane divided highway, and some corners even had traffic lights! The majority of the lights didn't work, so there was a policeman directing traffic at those intersections. The ones that did work were just like the ones here. (And by 'here' I mean WI, not MI since MI is just weird :P ). With one exception. The lights, before they turned yellow, flashed green once. It was a nice warning since, for most intersections, people just sort of go and keep going. There's some sort of agreement as to how things flow, but usually it's not organized, so drivers occasionally (mostly) ignore when it turns red until the other cross street starts going.
In between cities, the road was dirt and full of potholes like the ones through Medina. That actually felt safer since there were fewer people to hit and we were going slower. People on the side of the road heard the car and got out of the way. If they weren't getting out of the way, the driver would honk and they'd move. The car rarely slowed down, except for goats. (I learned why later). I spent most of my time looking at the plant life on the side of the road. It was gorgeous and full and green. A lot of it looked like what you might find in the Midwest, but some, like palm and coconut trees, were obviously different.
There were farms spaced out along the road, and occasional stands selling fruit or veggies. It was interesting to see the people as we passed, but I was tired, so I dozed most of the way there. We had two bathroom breaks, which consisted of pulling to the side of the road and watering a tree. The first time, I felt a bit self-conscious, but then I got over it. When in Ghana... :)
We pulled into Busua and the kids in the house came out to grab my bags and show me to my room. And then the adventure really begins.
Once the boys were awake, we all got ready to go. It was satisfying to be able to brush my teeth and spit over the side of the stairs (which had no railing, by the way). Jeff got donuts from a street vendor, and Aankit got me a water since I still hadn't exchanged money. Water comes in these little 500 mL bags that you gnaw a hole in on a corner to drink from. The bags are really sturdy, so they don't tend to accidentally break. You can also get bottles of water, but they're not worth it since you can't really reuse the bottles. Plus, the bags are made in Ghana, so you're supporting Ghanaian industry. It confused me at first because I didn't know where to put my bag when I finished drinking the water. There isn't a waste removal system in Ghana, so people just throw their garbage in the gutters on the side of the street. It makes the place look dirty by American standards, but somehow it doesn't feel dirty in Ghana.
We took a taxi to the Medina market, where we found a share taxi to the airport. A share taxi means that once there are four passengers, the taxi leaves, and it's a set price (unlike most things) to get there. We had to go to the airport to exchange my money, as well as pick up three professors who were coming to check out the program. We had to walk about half a mile, me still with all my luggage, which was starting to get heavy at this point. Once we got the professors, we found a tro-tro, which is like a minivan, to take us to Busua. Aankit held out in the market for an air conditioned vehicle so we'd be more comfortable. So, all of us packed in with our luggage, and we were off to Busua.
The ride there was long, about 6 hours, and the road was really good in places, really bad in others. Through Accra, and the other major cities on the way, it was a six-lane divided highway, and some corners even had traffic lights! The majority of the lights didn't work, so there was a policeman directing traffic at those intersections. The ones that did work were just like the ones here. (And by 'here' I mean WI, not MI since MI is just weird :P ). With one exception. The lights, before they turned yellow, flashed green once. It was a nice warning since, for most intersections, people just sort of go and keep going. There's some sort of agreement as to how things flow, but usually it's not organized, so drivers occasionally (mostly) ignore when it turns red until the other cross street starts going.
In between cities, the road was dirt and full of potholes like the ones through Medina. That actually felt safer since there were fewer people to hit and we were going slower. People on the side of the road heard the car and got out of the way. If they weren't getting out of the way, the driver would honk and they'd move. The car rarely slowed down, except for goats. (I learned why later). I spent most of my time looking at the plant life on the side of the road. It was gorgeous and full and green. A lot of it looked like what you might find in the Midwest, but some, like palm and coconut trees, were obviously different.
There were farms spaced out along the road, and occasional stands selling fruit or veggies. It was interesting to see the people as we passed, but I was tired, so I dozed most of the way there. We had two bathroom breaks, which consisted of pulling to the side of the road and watering a tree. The first time, I felt a bit self-conscious, but then I got over it. When in Ghana... :)
We pulled into Busua and the kids in the house came out to grab my bags and show me to my room. And then the adventure really begins.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Medina - The First Night
Leaving the airport, I was with Aankit, the program coordinator, and Jeff, another volunteer who was there from the beginning of May through the rest of the summer. I had my bags, and we caught a taxi. The airport officials try to keep other taxis away from the pick-up area, hoping that arrivals will take the airport taxis. Airport taxis are terribly expensive, though, so we walked 50ft down the road and caught another taxi. This was an experience of firsts for me.
One, driving in Ghana. Roads are dirt roads with major potholes. Some parts of roads are paved, but the pavement is just a collection of rocks with mud, maybe cement, to hold them together. They're generally about the width of two small cars, and this is a three-lane road for the most part. Taxis are small, old cars that have been cobbled together from scraps of other vehicles. Most are stick shifts, and some don't shift in the order we're used to. Horns work from a button on the radio or by pulling/pushing the blinker lever. Police don't enforce traffic laws, if they exist in the first place, and intersections don't have stop/yield signs. It feels like you're going to die the entire time you're in the car. They don't have seat belts, except sometimes for the driver. The whole car feels like it'll fall apart. Between potholes, they go about 80mph, and slam on the breaks right before the hole (which is about as big as half the car) to crawl over it, then speed up again. Sometimes, if their directionals work, they use them, but most often they don't (work or use them). It was, in short, terrifying.
The second thing that was odd for me is that almost everything in Ghana is decided by haggling. Aankit talked with the driver about how much to take us to Medina, a suburb of Accra. We were staying the night because I got in late and it's a 6 hour drive to Busua. Aankit says the driver gypped us, but I was just glad to get out of the car. Medina is where Teach on the Beach (TOB) started about 8 years ago, and Aankit still had contacts there so we could get a room to stay in for the night. Anyway, Aankit and the driver were arguing the entire 20 minute drive to Medina about how much it should cost. Aankit kept saying we were social welfare, helping kids, and the driver was telling him how he's got this brother who's sick. It was entertaining, and I eventually did learn how to haggle with some success.
We made it to Medina, and dropped everything off in the room. Aankit and Jeff wanted to go for a walk, so I went with them. Medina is a concentration of unemployed young people, so there's a lot of activity at night. Aankit and Jeff went looking for Solomon, who's their marijuana dealer. Aankit doesn't smoke except in Medina because in Busua he's like the house dad. I refused to take part, but wasn't sure I could find my way back to the room, so I stuck around while they all smoked and chatted. I explored around where they were, just to stay away from the smoke and to see a little of the land. Apparently, smoking and drinking are the two main pastimes for Ghanaians. Not really something I wanted to find out. :/ But, the town is pretty, in a dirty sort of way.
All the houses are squares of mud and/or cement stacked onto each other, and then a roof of some sort of wood, maybe tin or aluminum. Along the road are kiosks, which function as a house for some families. The kiosks are usually painted some color to represent a phone or internet provider. Glo (green) was popular in Medina. There are a lot of partially built buildings, which usually haven't been touched in a year or two. People build when they get money, stop when it runs out, so the process is long. The buildings are all very close together; it's a dense population.
The people I saw were mainly young adults, and they reminded me a lot of high schoolers in the US because the guys walked with their shorts hanging below their butts, showing their boxers, and the girls walked in groups and flirted. Those who didn't have children tied to their backs, that is. Overall, I wasn't that terribly overwhelmed or surprised with what I saw that first night.
The room was small - about 3 yards by 5 yards. I got the bed, Aankit and Jeff shared a mattress on the floor. If I had to go to the bathroom (which I did way too often), I had to go outside, down the stairs, around the house and the house behind it, into this little shack over a hollow stone cylinder over a hole in the ground. There were no lights, so I couldn't see anything. I think I would have preferred to just pee off the side of the staircase. But, I made it through the night, and got a little sleep even.
During the night, roosters kept crowing. And the church down the street kept having groups of people singing and shouting and speaking in tongues. At least, until about 03:00. (Times, when important, will be in military time because that makes more sense to me). It was relaxing and peaceful, I think because they weren't speaking/singing in English. I'm not a huge fan of Christianity, so in English it probably wouldn't have been as comforting, but I felt better listening to it. It was humid and hot, so that didn't help, but the breeze through the window screens was nice. There was a lizard in the room, which I watched for a little while. It was about 2 inches long and black. Adorable. :) Aankit had lit a mosquito coil, which is probably full of cancer-causing chemicals, but drives mosquitoes away extremely effectively. I didn't get one bite that night.
My first night was definitely an introduction, but one I didn't quite understand yet.
The second thing that was odd for me is that almost everything in Ghana is decided by haggling. Aankit talked with the driver about how much to take us to Medina, a suburb of Accra. We were staying the night because I got in late and it's a 6 hour drive to Busua. Aankit says the driver gypped us, but I was just glad to get out of the car. Medina is where Teach on the Beach (TOB) started about 8 years ago, and Aankit still had contacts there so we could get a room to stay in for the night. Anyway, Aankit and the driver were arguing the entire 20 minute drive to Medina about how much it should cost. Aankit kept saying we were social welfare, helping kids, and the driver was telling him how he's got this brother who's sick. It was entertaining, and I eventually did learn how to haggle with some success.
We made it to Medina, and dropped everything off in the room. Aankit and Jeff wanted to go for a walk, so I went with them. Medina is a concentration of unemployed young people, so there's a lot of activity at night. Aankit and Jeff went looking for Solomon, who's their marijuana dealer. Aankit doesn't smoke except in Medina because in Busua he's like the house dad. I refused to take part, but wasn't sure I could find my way back to the room, so I stuck around while they all smoked and chatted. I explored around where they were, just to stay away from the smoke and to see a little of the land. Apparently, smoking and drinking are the two main pastimes for Ghanaians. Not really something I wanted to find out. :/ But, the town is pretty, in a dirty sort of way.
All the houses are squares of mud and/or cement stacked onto each other, and then a roof of some sort of wood, maybe tin or aluminum. Along the road are kiosks, which function as a house for some families. The kiosks are usually painted some color to represent a phone or internet provider. Glo (green) was popular in Medina. There are a lot of partially built buildings, which usually haven't been touched in a year or two. People build when they get money, stop when it runs out, so the process is long. The buildings are all very close together; it's a dense population.
The people I saw were mainly young adults, and they reminded me a lot of high schoolers in the US because the guys walked with their shorts hanging below their butts, showing their boxers, and the girls walked in groups and flirted. Those who didn't have children tied to their backs, that is. Overall, I wasn't that terribly overwhelmed or surprised with what I saw that first night.
The room was small - about 3 yards by 5 yards. I got the bed, Aankit and Jeff shared a mattress on the floor. If I had to go to the bathroom (which I did way too often), I had to go outside, down the stairs, around the house and the house behind it, into this little shack over a hollow stone cylinder over a hole in the ground. There were no lights, so I couldn't see anything. I think I would have preferred to just pee off the side of the staircase. But, I made it through the night, and got a little sleep even.
During the night, roosters kept crowing. And the church down the street kept having groups of people singing and shouting and speaking in tongues. At least, until about 03:00. (Times, when important, will be in military time because that makes more sense to me). It was relaxing and peaceful, I think because they weren't speaking/singing in English. I'm not a huge fan of Christianity, so in English it probably wouldn't have been as comforting, but I felt better listening to it. It was humid and hot, so that didn't help, but the breeze through the window screens was nice. There was a lizard in the room, which I watched for a little while. It was about 2 inches long and black. Adorable. :) Aankit had lit a mosquito coil, which is probably full of cancer-causing chemicals, but drives mosquitoes away extremely effectively. I didn't get one bite that night.
My first night was definitely an introduction, but one I didn't quite understand yet.
The plane ride...made it!
I made it to the Madison airport plenty early, since I was afraid of getting left behind. The man who gave me my boarding passes and took my checked bag was extremely helpful. He went through and explained who I'm supposed to ask if I have questions and what happens when I get to O'Hare and Heathrow. I felt a little better after listening to him. I got through security and they didn't even have to pat me down or anything, so I was all set. I chatted with one of the security people in the hallway about her son, who's three, if I remember correctly. She showed me a picture and he's adorable. Then, I just went to my gate and waited for about an hour and a half until my plane showed up.
The first plane was the little one - three seats across, one on one side, two on the other. I got placed on the side with just one seat, so that was good. I wasn't expecting all the sounds to be so loud, so I was jumpy and the flight attendant kept asking me if I was okay. She seemed nervous, like maybe I was jittery because I was going to do something stupid or whatever. I don't know, but she didn't help much at all. Luckily, it was only a 26 minute flight. I worked on a hard KenKen puzzle so I wouldn't get overwhelmed, and that worked quite well.
When I got to O'Hare, I'm pretty sure I looked like a small child seeing the Easter Bunny for the first time. Not with the excited part though. Everything is so big and bright and there's so many people you can't even take a step without running into four of them. I got in at gate G, and my flight left from gate K, which I was told is about a 40 minute walk. Whoever may have mentioned that (ah hem...) was terribly wrong, by the way. It only took about 15 minutes to get to my gate. Of course, I had a few hours to kill, so I wandered around for a while. I found the food court, and got food, since I've heard the plane food is not great and not enough to satisfy (also wrong, whoever said that). There are outlets along the wall in O'Hare, but I didn't need to charge anything, so I found one that didn't work so people would leave me alone, and sat down with my puzzles.
People usually walked away when I told them the outlet didn't work, but one guy decided to sit down and try it anyway. I didn't say I told you so when it didn't work because I just wanted him to go away. Except he didn't, and started telling me about where he's going (South Dakota) and why (an uncle who's sick and needs help with his computer repair shop). Then he gives me a headphone and tells me to listen, but the music is loud enough I can hear it without putting it in my ear. It's not bad - a sort of mix between Nintendo music and Green Day. Apparently, he made it and sells it online. He handed me a business card after about two hours of telling me all about himself. I think I nodded once the entire time. People are odd.
I got on the plane to Heathrow just fine, and I was in the back in the aisle, so I didn't freak out at all. My seat partner is a seasoned traveler, so she talked about what would happen when we got to Heathrow and I felt a lot better. She was headed to South Africa for an internship in a social work position. She slept most of the way, and I tried, but that just was not going to happen. The flight was mostly uneventful, except the babies up front deciding in the middle of the flight to throw up on the people sitting next to their caretakers and then cry the rest of the way.
Heathrow is even more overwhelming than O'Hare. I had to go through customs, which I guess I wasn't expecting, since I wasn't leaving the airport, but I did. Apparently, the rules are different through UK customs than for American Airline rules. So, my scissors I had with me was too long for the UK, even though it had an inch to spare for AA rules. So, they got confiscated. :( They tried to take my mosquito net too because it has structural poles in it, and they didn't understand why I had tubular objects in my bag. I had to empty both of my bags completely, then repack them after the agents cleared everything besides the scissors. That was frustrating.
Heathrow is so big, you have to take train cars/buses to get from terminal to terminal. It was a 20 minute bus ride from the terminal I landed in to the one I had to leave from. Then, I had a trolley-thing ride from the main area of that terminal to get to my gate. It was confusing and busy and I really do not like Heathrow. But I only had to be there for about 2 hours, luckily. My plane got off without a hitch, but I was not as lucky with my seat partner this time.
He was a drunk, 30-year-old Ghanaian native who hadn't been home in ten years because he was going to college somewhere in Colorado. And, apparently, the slightly rainbow-looking bracelet I made on the last flight offended him greatly. As he put it, "The girls are fine; that's sexy, but the guys - that's just disgusting. It's wrong." (My bracelet, by the way, was red, yellow, green, and blue). I tried very very hard to keep my mouth shut because I did not want to get into a verbal argument on a plane with someone I'd be spending the next 6 hours dealing with. Luckily, the first drink he ordered on the plane made him pass out for the rest of the flight. :) This flight was a little harder, mostly because he made me angry right off the bat. But, again, I made it through and landed safely in Accra.
Customs in Accra consisted of handing in my disembarkation form and getting fingerprinted, then having my bags 'searched'. They only searched about a quarter of the people's bags who came through, and I wasn't one of them. I just walked out into the pick up area and waited. An officer saw me waiting and offered to let me call someone to see if they were coming to pick me up, so I did. After I got confirmation from William that Aankit was indeed on his way, the officer asked me for a tip. I declined, figuring he'd offered, I didn't ask. That's very common in Ghana - people being nice just to get money. Aankit showed up soon after, and we left the airport. I was in Ghana.
The first plane was the little one - three seats across, one on one side, two on the other. I got placed on the side with just one seat, so that was good. I wasn't expecting all the sounds to be so loud, so I was jumpy and the flight attendant kept asking me if I was okay. She seemed nervous, like maybe I was jittery because I was going to do something stupid or whatever. I don't know, but she didn't help much at all. Luckily, it was only a 26 minute flight. I worked on a hard KenKen puzzle so I wouldn't get overwhelmed, and that worked quite well.
When I got to O'Hare, I'm pretty sure I looked like a small child seeing the Easter Bunny for the first time. Not with the excited part though. Everything is so big and bright and there's so many people you can't even take a step without running into four of them. I got in at gate G, and my flight left from gate K, which I was told is about a 40 minute walk. Whoever may have mentioned that (ah hem...) was terribly wrong, by the way. It only took about 15 minutes to get to my gate. Of course, I had a few hours to kill, so I wandered around for a while. I found the food court, and got food, since I've heard the plane food is not great and not enough to satisfy (also wrong, whoever said that). There are outlets along the wall in O'Hare, but I didn't need to charge anything, so I found one that didn't work so people would leave me alone, and sat down with my puzzles.
People usually walked away when I told them the outlet didn't work, but one guy decided to sit down and try it anyway. I didn't say I told you so when it didn't work because I just wanted him to go away. Except he didn't, and started telling me about where he's going (South Dakota) and why (an uncle who's sick and needs help with his computer repair shop). Then he gives me a headphone and tells me to listen, but the music is loud enough I can hear it without putting it in my ear. It's not bad - a sort of mix between Nintendo music and Green Day. Apparently, he made it and sells it online. He handed me a business card after about two hours of telling me all about himself. I think I nodded once the entire time. People are odd.
I got on the plane to Heathrow just fine, and I was in the back in the aisle, so I didn't freak out at all. My seat partner is a seasoned traveler, so she talked about what would happen when we got to Heathrow and I felt a lot better. She was headed to South Africa for an internship in a social work position. She slept most of the way, and I tried, but that just was not going to happen. The flight was mostly uneventful, except the babies up front deciding in the middle of the flight to throw up on the people sitting next to their caretakers and then cry the rest of the way.
Heathrow is even more overwhelming than O'Hare. I had to go through customs, which I guess I wasn't expecting, since I wasn't leaving the airport, but I did. Apparently, the rules are different through UK customs than for American Airline rules. So, my scissors I had with me was too long for the UK, even though it had an inch to spare for AA rules. So, they got confiscated. :( They tried to take my mosquito net too because it has structural poles in it, and they didn't understand why I had tubular objects in my bag. I had to empty both of my bags completely, then repack them after the agents cleared everything besides the scissors. That was frustrating.
Heathrow is so big, you have to take train cars/buses to get from terminal to terminal. It was a 20 minute bus ride from the terminal I landed in to the one I had to leave from. Then, I had a trolley-thing ride from the main area of that terminal to get to my gate. It was confusing and busy and I really do not like Heathrow. But I only had to be there for about 2 hours, luckily. My plane got off without a hitch, but I was not as lucky with my seat partner this time.
He was a drunk, 30-year-old Ghanaian native who hadn't been home in ten years because he was going to college somewhere in Colorado. And, apparently, the slightly rainbow-looking bracelet I made on the last flight offended him greatly. As he put it, "The girls are fine; that's sexy, but the guys - that's just disgusting. It's wrong." (My bracelet, by the way, was red, yellow, green, and blue). I tried very very hard to keep my mouth shut because I did not want to get into a verbal argument on a plane with someone I'd be spending the next 6 hours dealing with. Luckily, the first drink he ordered on the plane made him pass out for the rest of the flight. :) This flight was a little harder, mostly because he made me angry right off the bat. But, again, I made it through and landed safely in Accra.
Customs in Accra consisted of handing in my disembarkation form and getting fingerprinted, then having my bags 'searched'. They only searched about a quarter of the people's bags who came through, and I wasn't one of them. I just walked out into the pick up area and waited. An officer saw me waiting and offered to let me call someone to see if they were coming to pick me up, so I did. After I got confirmation from William that Aankit was indeed on his way, the officer asked me for a tip. I declined, figuring he'd offered, I didn't ask. That's very common in Ghana - people being nice just to get money. Aankit showed up soon after, and we left the airport. I was in Ghana.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Excuses, Excuses
So, I apologize profusely to anyone who was watching this for updates. I was told there was wi-fi, but, what they meant, apparently, was that there are modems you can use to dial up internet, but they're little USB drive things, and the NOOK I brought with me doesn't have a USB port in it, so I was unable to access internet whilst in Ghana. I did make it, and I did make it back. Now, I will be attempting to create posts from my rather extensive journal entries, and I hope, within a week or so, to have my whole trip up here for you to read. Travel well!
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