Finding a Niche

I can never decide if that word is pronounced "nitch" or "neesh", but I think I finally found one here in Eguafo. We have had several volunteers leave in the past two weeks. I miss them but going from 8 volunteers to 4 seems to have opened more energetic space. And physical space too, since i now have my room to myself.

I've been looking for something that can be my pet project while I'm here; some small thing I can do to make a small difference. So last week while in Cape Coast, I tracked down a packet of needles and two spools of thread. And I began mending clothes. At first I was focusing on school uniforms, because the children wear them everyday and most of them have sleeves hanging half off, or the bottom seam of their pants ripped open.  Then I started getting all types of things given to me. Soccer shorts, skirts, trousers, anything really. It's a minor thing, but I feel productive and the kids get to keep wearing their clothes. Well, they'd wear them anyway but at least now their underwear aren't hanging out the back of their pants.

I've also gotten to know some of the Center kids so much better, and we have some characters. Last week, the kids were breaking up rocks into gravel to spread under the tile of the new orphanage building - at least that's my guess at the purpose - and one boy Dominic who is 12 was sitting on top of the barrel the workers mix concrete in. He's a skinny little dude with the best giggle, and I looked over at one point and gravity had taken over. His rear end had sunk down in the barrel and his arms and legs were sticking straight up and he couldn't get out or stop giggling. Edwin, one of the older boys, had to go lift him out. It was good comic relief - in fact, Dominic usually is.

These kiddos start to dig in to your heart, and you see so much potential in some of them, but with very little outlet. They will be hard to say goodbye to.

Tough Cookies

I realized I haven't written much about the school and the kids.  The orphanage, Sankofa Children's Home (you can google that for the web page) is home to about 18 kids, most of them adolescents.  The youngest is probably 8.  They range from a few kids whose parents or relatives can't afford to care for them, some children who were street hustlers and have been brought to live in Eguafo, and a few whose parents didn't want them, for whatever reason.  Hard to imagine, I know.  Because the kids are older, our duties at the orphanage are pretty minimal - we work mostly at Sankofa school, which serves teh village children ranging in age from 2 years to 20 years (preK through grade 9).  We do spend time with the children at the orphanage - which we call the Center - watching them have their traditional African dance and drumming lessons and tutoring them, and just generally speaking English with them.  One of our group volunteer goals before we leave is to make sure all the kids get mosquito nets.  Right now, i believe only 3 have nets. 

Days at school are pretty chaotic.  Besides the obvious physical differences between a rural African school and a US school, i've also found that teachers sometimes just choose to not show up, to leave, or to go to the break area and nap.  And you can probably guess there's no such thing as substitute teachers here.  As volunteers, we try to cobble together a lesson whenever possible, but discipline is pretty much out the window because the students know that we won't cane them - unlike their teachers.  You end up just trying to find small ways to feel like you're doing anything, such as taking one student aside and explaining addition for the umpteenth time with your fingers.  Or holding the little ones, because they just want to be picked up. 

The kids are also tough.  An American child wouldn't last 5 minutes.  Not only do kids regularly get caned for bad behavior or bad grades, but they also wale on each other constantly.  I've had to pull 8-year-olds apart more than once.  It's so amazing - they beat on each other, scream and cry, and get over it.  Tough cookies.  I guess when you're hauling 3 gallon buckets of water on your head from the age of 6, you're no pansy.  They also sharpen their pencils with razor blades.  Now there's a surprise - you start to confiscate it but realize they're only trying to sharpen their pencil, and then they put it back in their pocket (or their mouth sometimes!).  More than one fight has been nterrupted with half-sharpened pencil and razor blade in hand.

Of course, the students are also very sweet and generous.  While they may ask for money or toffee (generic word for candy) without flinching, they will also offer me a bite of their rice-in-plastic-bag snack (no thank you) or help me with my laundry or sweep our front porch.  Next week is the last week of exams (another study in lack of infrastructure and organized time) at the school, and then it's summer break for them for August.  I think we'll be working more closely with the Center kids during August and helping construct the new house they are building.

One day here begins to drift into the next.  They are all generally the same, but different in small ways.  You start to wonder what it would be like if this was what your future held, and there wasn't an end date to your time here...I think there is just a whole different mindset.  It's something we discuss a lot around the dinner table.  Thanks to all of you that are reading and keeping up with me.  I look forward to sharing my adventures with you in person in September!

Trash, And Other Thoughts

Until very recently I had not seen a real trash can in this country. It's funny to realize how ingrained it is in us from an early age to put waste in some sort of receptacle. Here, not so. Trash is thrown on the ground, in the gutters (3 foot deep crevasses in the streets), out windows - anywhere basically. I walk by one sizable trash pile on my way to school each day. The smell is significant and there's usually chickens digging through it for morsels. Delish. In Eguafo we have one bag in our kitchen for trash, and I'm pretty sure it just gets dumped in the heap. But hey, at least the obruni feel better. When you're in a city, you learn to just throw the trash down. It feels WRONG, but if you didn't, you'd just have pockets full of trash. (Not to be overly graphic, but this same principle generally applies to human waste. I've seen people go pretty much anywhere. I try to admire the lack of shame for general functions of the human body...) Anyway, this weekend two other volunteers and I traveled to Koforidua in the Eastern region of Ghana. Travel here is not easy. It couldn't have been more than 160 km total, but it was 7 hours each way of bone - jarring trotro ride. I'm learning to turn a switch in my brain and become catatonic to endure the rides. The main reason we went to Koforidua was to visit Boti Falls. The falls were beautiful, maybe 60 foot drop into a lagoon. It wasn't crowded either and was reminiscent ofJurassicPark, minus the velociraptors. Imagine my surprise to see a legitimate trash can at Boti Falls. With wheels and a lid and everything. How commendable to try to keep nature unspoiled! I was so amazed by this trash can, and kept looking at it. Looked just like ones at home. As I got closer and looked at the top of the lid, I see "Property of City of Austin" on this green trash can in the middle of the Ghanaian bush. I was completely shocked - I think I screamed even. Multiple pictures were then taken as proof. Then, leaving the falls we caught a trotro heading back into town. We climbed into the very back row and set off. Sixty seconds later we hear a very loud and distressed "MAAAAAA!!". We scream, turn around, and there's a goat tied up in the cargo space behind us. My first vehicular livestock experience. I told myself he was being taken to meet his new wives, and not some less happy ending. The next ten minutes of the ride were punctuated with the goat wailing every 20 seconds. I was glad for him when he and the farmer reached their stop. Besides seeing objects from home and goats in minivans, traveling within Ghana makes me grateful for Eguafo, and that's good perspective. I'm not just obruni in Eguafo, but when I walk up to buy toilet paper (no Quilted Northern, mind you) or a Fanta, kids call out "Madam Amanda!". A good reminder that while I'm far away from home, Eguafo is my African home for now.

Mind Over Matter

This past weekend some other volunteers and I went to Kakum Natl Park. It's a rainforest and they have this canopy walk through the trees. It's supposedly 30 meters above the ground. Um, not sure, but it's pretty high and the bridges are ladders with wooden planks over them, roped together with net around them. If you know me you know my moderate aversion to heights. But I did it! Seven bridges through the African rainforest and it was beautiful. As with most things on this whole trip, it's mind over matter. If I wasn't good at that before I will be when I leave. After Kakum we went to a monkey sanctuary nearby that was started by a Dutch couple who moved to Ghana nine years ago and have lived in the bush since. No electricity, running water or Internet. They didn't know Obama was president until 15 months after the fact. They rehabilitate orphaned animals and reintroduce them into Kakum. We saw monkeys, civet cats, hyras (?), and snakes. There was a green mamba who had fallen into the snake pit from a tree. Um, if it can coincidentally fall in the snake pit, I'm sure it could happen to land on a shoulder. Deadly poisonous snake. Awesome. We then had lunch at a place where you can pet crocodiles. I maintained a respectful distance between the croc and myself. Our transport for the day was tro-tro. Imagine the oldest, squeakiest minivan possible and the. Drive it over pothole covered dirt roads at 50 miles an hour. If you pretend it's a roller coaster and let your. Key relax like jelly it's not so bad. Weekend excursions seem to be a necessary diversion from life in Eguafo. It makes the time tick by a bit more quickly and spices up the routi e. it's hard to feel very impactful here - but i think that as with most things you have to find the small ways you can make a difference. I've started reading books in English to Comfort, a neighbors child, each night. I help a fellow volunteer with evening tutoring, and just hang out with the orphanage kids (who are all mostly teenagers so don't need bath/bedtime help). This is certainly not an easy experience and I already feel the quick lessons of gratitude for my life in the West. Mind over matter.

Culture Shock...And Awe

Well this has been quite a week.  I arrived ni Eguafo, my village, on monday and it was a slap in the face.  Not in a bad or a good way, but life is completely different than anything i've ever experienced.  There are 7 other volunteers in the 'house'.  We have two rooms with two sets of bunk beds and that's it.  We have electricity, which most of our village does, so it's actually quite luxurious in that erspect.  We have the only flushing toilet in Eguafo - granted, you have to walk to the faucet on our side o fthe village to fill a bucket to fill the tank to flush - but still.  Every evening i enjoy my bucket shower.  We have a wooden stall next to the tiolet that we stand in and dump water over yourself from a bucket.  Quite refreshing, actually.

It's very difficult to put into words what life is like here.  Extended camping trip with a roof, I suppose.  There are goats, dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks everywhere.  The goats make such a racket but generally quiet down at night.  \i was wakened this morning by hymns played over teh village loudspeaker and the routine crowing of teh roosters.  Also, the faucet for our side of the village is in front of our house.  Which is super convenient for us, but you begin hearing buckets fill at 5:30 am when the sun comes up.

The kids are kids, what can i say?  They are funny and love to hang out with us.  Their English is very limited, but we tutor some of the older ones in the evenings.  During the day we teach at school, which is more chaotic than my worst day in the classroom in the US.  Could it be that chickens and dogs walk through our open-air classrooms every day and teh kids are a little wild because they know teh obruni (Twi for 'foreigner') won't cane them?  Maybe.

Anyway, the saving grace for the adjustment period is the other volunteers.  These people are all (except one) about 10 years younger than me but they don't seem to be.  And they didn't beilieve my age either so I love them fo rthat!  We definitely support each other - talkng things out, airing frustrations, sharing plasters ('band-aids').  Every meal is eaten around the table together, which builds the bonds for sure.

Internet access is a 40 minute trek to Cape Coast but \i will try to update when I can.  Want to get this posted before anything (internet, power, computer time) is finished!