Grade 1 Success & USAid

We had our second day at the school, this time teaching two grade 1 classes. This was a much better experience! (Although we sure loved those two-year-olds, too!)

We had roughly an hour in each class. Both classes had about 35 students each, ages 6-7. We warmed up with Simon Says (a new game to them). Next, we had a relay game where we divided the class into four teams. On the board were four columns (one for each team) and we had a topic for each column, such as Body Parts, Clothing, Animals, and Fruits & Vegetables. The team had to write a word related to their topic, one team member at a time, coming up with as many words as they could in three minutes. If a word was repeated or misspelled, it was crossed out. We played the game twice and they got really into it. We were surprised how well they could spell! These kids are smart! Lastly, we played good ol' hangman (another new game for them). They loved it. The hours flew by.

As we were leaving the school we poked our heads in the creche class to wave hello. Those kids (And teachers too!) began to wave and jump and yell! They were SO excited to see us. That was full payment for those grueling three hours the other day!

We left early so Adele could join Geoff for a meeting at the US Embassy with USAid. She loved going through the embassy and learning about foreign service! It was interesting to hear about USAid's projects in Ghana. No pictures near the embassy allowed, so no pictures taken.

We went to dinner at a very modern, delicious restaurant. Its environs, the people and food were in total juxtaposition to anything Adele, Ceci and I had experienced! The Marriott was close, but it is for foreign visitors, and Pinkberry is a familiar american chain, but THIS was stylish and hip, and it gave us a different glimpse into another layer of Accra.

Tap Dancing

Yesterday we spent a good deal of time here in the guesthouse. The intention was to make a plan for the two weeks we have left in Ghana. While we have observed a new culture and met beautiful people and love new experiences, this month in Africa was not our girl's first choice of how to spend their summer. In addition, we don't know the culture well enough to know where we are safe to roam on our own, and even if we did, where would we go?

Teaching in the school was arranged before we arrived. We knew there wasn't much to DO in Ghana, so we wanted to engage in some way. We wanted to interact with the people. Overall, I think we've had some remarkable experiences, but there isn't always somewhere for us to go, or at least go for the whole day. Even our day of "planning" kept them cooped up. In some ways, I feel like I'm tap dancing, trying to make this a meaningful and memorable experience, just like the "creche" class! The process is exhausting and satisfying all at once.

In the afternoon we spent a short time at the Artist Alliance Gallery, a place I had read about before coming. It was small, but had some fun African art, and rooms full of African antiques.

 These next faces were made up of beautiful African fabric pieces!

Geoff had a meeting at the Marriott hotel, where we met him for dinner. It was nice to eat something different than the few choices at our guest house. I gave the salad a try, hoping it would be "hygiene". It turned out to be a poor choice...

A Day as Mother Goose

We started our first day of volunteer work at a local school. We weren't exactly sure what grades we would be teaching, how many classes and for what duration, so we had some English language games and activities planned, and we were ready to wing it for our first day.

When we showed up, the school owner said we would spend our first day in "creche", which means the just walking through two-year-olds. Ok, we were open to holding small kids and reading books and playing on the floor. We were prepared to be flexible! What we didn't know walking into the class was that those little kids watch TV all day, and we were expected to "teach", or at least engage those little ones.

They were finishing lunch when we arrived, and as we learned that for the next THREE hours, we would be responsible to engage 30 two and unders, we were quickly coming up with age appropriate songs. We had time to plan our first two: Wheels on the Bus, with actions, and Old McDonald Had a Farm. I took a quick look around the room. No books and no toys, except for two bags of mismatched lego blocks up on a cabinet. Hmmm. Not a lot of resources to work with!

Engaging two-year-olds takes high energy and enthusiasm. Somehow I managed to reach into the depths of my brain for every song I ever sang to my girls at that age. The girls came up with a few too. After 30 minutes Ceci whispered, "We still have two and a half hours, mom! What are we going to do?" Adele and Ceci learned the fine art of TAP DANCING. Making up something on the fly and making it look good.

We pulled down those lego bags and milked attention for about 45 minutes.

This is my favorite picture of the day. It looks staged, but it wasn't. This was Adele working her magic.

The teachers loved us and videoed a lot of our songs. They wanted to take pictures with us and visit us in America.

After singing every song imaginable, telling stories about gingerbread men running, and wolves blowing houses down, which none of those children understood, and going on bear hunts, and attempting ring around the rosy and London Bridge (the two disasters of the day), and counting blocks and identifying colors and acting like we entertained two-year-olds for hours on end all the time, those little kids started to just lay down where they were and sleep. Right there on the floor, or in a chair. One kid even fell asleep standing up! I had to see it to believe it! Once asleep, they were moved to the corner mats, as you can slightly see in the picture below.

That last half hour we lost about half of the kids to slumber.

I don't have any pictures of our high-energy singing, because we were NOT thinking about pictures! I'm glad I got a few during the block building part and toward the end. Those kids were so adorable.

Three and four-year-old siblings came to pick up their two-year-olds, and off they went to board the bus and go home! Kids grow up quickly here.

We were SO exhausted on that bumpy and long ride home. We had taken on a hard challenge! Yet, we worked as a team to make it work. I was proud of these two! There is a Pinkberry near where we are staying, and they most definitely earned a Pinkberry!

A Day with Locals

The woman who runs to the water company we toured, named Suzi, and her sister, Lizzie (and adorable son), came and picked us up for the day. First we went to a grocery store to buy some chicken, because we told Suzi we weren't totally comfortable with watching her kill and de-feather a live chicken! Phew!

Next, we stopped by the Medina Market to get some ingredients for a local dish, fufu with peanut butter soup. Suzi walked in with a clear mission, and there wasn't much time for us to fully absorb the colors, smells and delights of the market, for we were just trying to not lose sight of her in the labyrinth of stalls!

The constant stream of women with large bowls on their heads are those same women who provide a Walmart experience while at traffic lights. They go to Medina Market, load up, and resale at a higher price to the cars waiting at the red lights.

There were loud preachers at every turn in the market. I asked what church they were from, and Suzi responded, "Their own, one-man, church. They feel they are called of God." Boy are they zealous! One agreed to have his picture taken.

Next we headed to Suzi's home where she was giving us a cooking lesson. Here is her market basket...

We spent two hours in her "white person" kitchen, melting drip by drip from the heat, learning to make peanut soup. Suzi is full of sass. She is bossy and commanding and fun. We told her she was a queen bee. When we explained what that meant, she laughed and said proudly, "Yes, I am definitely the Queen Bee!"

Lizzie had the job of preparing the cassava root for fufu.

Ceci and Adele had the job of entertaining her baby.

Since the kitchen stove was occupied with several pots, the cassava cooked outside.

Once cooked, the cassava and some cooked plantain was pounded until very sticky, in a starchy way. Ceci took a turn pounding. It was serious work!

We had been told by quite a few people that fufu was disgusting, but Suzi is a caterer (in addition to making water), and she convinced us we would like her fufu. This was our best chance at giving a local dish a try.

One has a ball of fufu, pours stew over it (including the chicken) and eats it with one's fingers. It was messy. I never quite got the "scooping" down, but did eat most of the dish. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't choose to eat it again. Adele didn't care for it, but did a great job eating quite a bit. Ceci didn't care for it either, but somehow she was seen as the most appreciative eater and became Suzi's favorite!

After a late lunch we went to Suzi's salon where the girls got their hair braided. It took 2.5 hours! $4 each.

The ladies (customers) at the salon were out of a movie. They laughed and chatted and shared their secrets. It was really entertaining and delightful.

And lastly, Suzi took us to her seamstress to get measured. Another day she is going to take us to a fabric store where we'll pick out fabrics to have skirts and shorts made. Suzi is treating us right.

We came home pretty pooped out! But getting a real glimpse of a Ghanaian day was memorable and full of new experiences!

The Weekend

We had a pretty low-key weekend. Geoff was off working on Saturday, so the girls and I went to an American Football Camp at a nearby school, put on by NFL player, Ezekial Ansah. It rained all morning, so the field was pure mud. About 500 high school kids (give or take a few years on either end) showed up to play, with another 300 or so to watch. It was so much fun!

They had 40-yard races. We saw the last few.

Here we are with Ziggy (Ezekial Ansah). He was so gracious and encouraging to these boys. He is from Ghana, went to BYU, tried out for the basketball team twice and didn't make it, then went out for track, and the track coaches brought him over to the football program his last semester of school. His natural athleticism took him straight to the NFL where he plays for Detroit. He is a great role model for these Ghanaian boys. That is our guest house driver, Joe, with us too.

Sunday we went to church and spent the afternoon enjoying having Geoff around and relaxing. Another busy week is ahead, so it felt nice to lay low. Plus, it can take up to an hour to load pictures for each blog post, so it is a good day to catch up! Here we are with some of our new friends.

Ceci did some long church meeting phone art.

 

Here is a family-style dinner at our guest house. Food is usually rice and some kind of meat/fish dish. While good, it is getting a little old. However, I'm not cooking it or cleaning it up! The World Cup is always going too, which is fun.

Sunday night game night with Dan and Tony! Dan is Ziggy's football agent, and Tony, a former NFL player, ran the camp. Both are fantastically good people who we loved sharing meals with and getting to know. They both leave today.

Tagging Along on Business

Geoff is learning how business works here by visiting and meeting with lots of small businesses. One day we tagged along to a water factory and small clinic.

This particular water factory sells 2 million bags of 30 sachets each every month. The sachet makes the water less expensive than a bottle of water, and is biodegradable. In addition, it is pure spring water, filtered three times just to make sure it is free from contaminants.

Women take their babies to work until they can walk, then they go into school. During a meeting, Adele, Ceci and I got to watch this little guy. No complaints!

Here are the women who bag the water. They work 8-hour days and make under $100 per month, which is good pay here.

The filtering area.

Loading the delivery trucks.

The delivery drivers account for what they've sold (stealing water is the main issue of the business.)

Next we went to a local clinic. We stopped to talk to a group of passing girls.

This clinic made me want to pray extra hard that we won't need medical attention while here! A valiant doctor uses his own money to fund this clinic, and I admire the good they do, but still. Here these people are cutting and rolling up gauze on these desks. Not sanitary!

Surgery anyone?

I was told it was nicer than most clinics, and the patients seemed well cared for. The generous doctor was an inspiring man.

Mangoes here are SO good!

In Ghana there is no need for a Walmart, because anything you could want comes to you at stop lights.

Everything from toilet paper and windshield wipers, to lint rollers and milk! Plus more!

The people who walk between cars don't stop to beg. You want it or you don't, and they don't waste time with those that don't. I appreciate that. These vendors are at the bottom of the job market. They come to the city looking for work. They buy what they can at the market and resell it car to car. People buy stuff, which is great! Again, how do they balance this stuff!

A School & Cocoa Farm

There are many connections here from people we know at home, so we meet many people who are eager to show us around. The football camp people also know some of these people; that is why they are staying here at the same place and interacting with similar people. One such person is named Afasi.

Afasi is one of those people that knows everyone and how everything works in Ghana. He took us all to visit a school where he was making a donation from an American donor. The American donor Afasi represents here is very well known and respected, so we were treated as very distinguished guests. We got a tour through all of the classrooms of this very nice, private school.

Children are put in school as soon as they can walk.

They were very serious, almost afraid of us. We tried to ask questions about their work and engage them, but they mostly stood silent, answering our questions timidly.

By age 8 or so they are easily speaking in English and French. They will soon be adding Chinese to their languages. English is the common language, though. It is how the various tribal groups communicate with each other.

At the end of our tour it was lunch time and the children left their classrooms. It was like they were set free to be themselves. They surrounded us and gave us five and wanted to interact. These older girls loved Adele and Ceci.

I suggested to a group that we go play soccer in the little parking area, as our donation included a few balls. This is us making our way.

It wasn't organized play, more just a ball chase.

As soon as a ball was seen, swarms of kids came to join us. There must have been 150 kids going after that one ball! They were laughing and screaming and having so much fun.

Some teachers told me the only white people and/or Americans they see is on TV, so it was really good for us to be there in person.

Spectators.

More pleas to adopt African cuties.

In all government/public schools, as well as many private schools, children are required to keep their hair short. The explanation was to keep distraction at bay, much like the purpose of a uniform. This school was a mixture. Maybe a parent's choice?

Many asked Adele if her hair was real (long hair here is only had by extensions). They also asked if she was Chinese and if Ceci was Indian! Ha! They had never seen braces before and kept asking Ceci what was in her teeth.

This picture started off wth a few kids, but more came running to be in it. First smiles.

Next, funny face!

I wanted to hang out with these kids all afternoon. They were so much fun! 

After about 30 minutes of play we noticed a man walking along the second floor yelling at the kids while tapping a cane stick in his hands. Those kids scattered to their classrooms lickety split. It then made sense why they all looked afraid to speak to us in their classrooms. They were afraid to make a wrong move!

Apparently, beating children is common. It is their form of discipline at home and at school. Children must behave. This is among all classes of people. Control by fear.

During all of our play there were some children at the gate who can't afford school. They really wanted to be a part of the fun. Adele saw them first and walked over to say hello. The older ones spoke English and we found out their names and ages. Occasionally we would break apart from the students and go try to include these children. People on the outside looking in. Looking in at what they don't have but would like: fun, education, food, clothing, money, opportunity, clean water, health.

We drove through Afasi's hometown on our way to a cocoa "factory" and farm.

A glance at a common market scene. We are astounded by what these people carry on their heads. This man has fabric, the woman behind him has eggs, and we saw a woman carrying a huge tub full of water bottles! Sometimes they have a round piece of fabric on their head to even things out and make it softer. Often it is right on their head. Unbelievable, and very resourceful!

Ghana is the world's second largest cocoa bean producer. The grow it, pick it, dry it, grind it, and sell it. They don't have the means to add value to it other than that. Then other countries resell chocolate in various forms back to Ghana, and most people can't afford to buy it.

I only got one picture of us in front of a pile of cocoa pods.

That is Afasi in the center, and the other guys, aside from the cocoa guy holding the pod, are part of the football camp group.

The ride home through the mountains was long. It gave us a lot of time to ask Afasi questions. I'm not sure I understood everything 100%, but I want to remember what I heard. Hopefully I can build on this initial understanding.

In the towns and villages, there are goats, chickens and occasional cows seen. All skinny. There are fewer dogs. I asked if they eat the eggs from the chickens, or if they milk the goats and cows. He laughed incredulously and said, "We EAT the chickens, goats and cows (and dogs)!" Again, they can not add value to eggs or milk. There is no refrigeration or pasteurization, so they eat their animals and buy imported milk. So couldn't they milk a goat or cow and sell it in small batches to the local stores who must have refrigerators for the imported milk? I guess there is the pasteurization and clean bottle issue. These are the kinds of things Geoff is here to explore and figure out. It is all very interesting. The need is so great. As a result, children in the towns and villages often can't afford the imported milk, and they rarely afford eggs, if there even are any in their markets. Lack of protein is common.

Children in these same locations most commonly die of malaria and cholera. There are obviously some measures to prevent malaria, but even when one gets it, they can be treated successfully. Most people can't afford to get to a hospital and the medicine is expensive. I asked if the medicine were provided locally if people would pay for it. He said they would, it just isn't accessible. Cholera is just plain deadly, but education and access to clean water would solve the problem. The problems and lack of resources seem endless. Even human resources are scarce. A few Ghanaians have been educated abroad and bring great skills to their country, but they are few. The teachers in schools aren't trained. The government schools are not good and teachers are lacking skills, but so are the private schools! One private school is affordable because they recruit out of high school, give an ipad with the curriculum on it and give them a classroom full of students, so teacher training and development is essential to raise a generation of thinkers and capable workers.

Maybe most suppressing of all is the overall belief system. Afasi explained that many people are Christians, but the traditional belief system trumps all other beliefs. As a member of the Mormon faith, he said the missionaries come and try to impose American beliefs on the people, but that we do not understand that we can not change the cultural beliefs of the African people. For example, no Africans go to the beach or near a river on Tuesdays. It is believed that if you do, you will be cursed by the gods, as well as everyone else for not keeping you away. Or if someone gets sick, they wonder who cursed them. Afasi told of someone at a church function who had brought a dish of food to share. Someone died suddenly, soon after the church event. The blame was toward the person who brought the dish of food to share. Authorities were called and the person was arrested and sent to jail. It so happened that this person had connections. An autopsy was performed (a very uncommon thing to do in Ghana), and it was discovered that the dead person had a very advanced case of cholera. The imprisoned food bearer was released from prison, with a tarnished reputation and family relations that were leery of his integrity.

The King of the Ashanti (ancient kingdom that still exists) is more powerful than the current president. I can only make sense of it by comparing it to the Pope and the Italian government. If not in modern times, than like in times during the Renaissance, for example. When the Ashanti king or his "traditionalist council" states that punishment from the gods will come to any who make music during such and such dates (weeks at a time), the government and police will enforce it. These superstitious beliefs are stronger than any gospel belief or government law. It is so deep in their psyche and world view, that they see any other belief as an imposed belief.

I was reminded of a woman I met last year who visited with an African tribe who was seeking help. They felt the entire tribe was cursed. After visiting with them she tried to explain that the curse was self-imposed; their belief that they were cursed is what kept them feeling cursed! I can now see this for myself. For an entire continent. I pressed Afasi (respectfully). Wasn't this fear? He agreed that it was, but he, nor anyone he knows, is willing to go against it. Fear is a bondage. It is a master. But I acknowledge that the fear is real for these people. I acknowledge that I'm just scratching the surface of this belief system and there is still so much to understand. Sure, I can hear this and think this is all crazy, but it has made me wonder what belief systems our culture has that keep us in bondage, or even personal beliefs I have. Who am I to judge?

While we are here we will go see a slave castle, the point where captives boarded ships on their way to a life of slave labor. As I've driven around and looked at this beautiful people going about their lives, I tried to imagine a rounding up to sell them off. The thought is revolting and evil! People just like you and me. Yet child sex slavery is still very common here. Parents sell them off, and parents (local or international) continue to buy. Afasi, frustrated with his own people, does not seem so marred by his people's history. He sees that they still take part in slavery, so how can they shun it.

This was a 90-minute conversation. I hope to process it all and make sense of it enough to continue to ask questions. I appreciate Afasi's willingness to be open, to be okay with my confronting his beliefs. I appreciate that he wants to share what is real here in Ghana and in Africa.

Every day I pray to have eyes to see, ears to hear and to feel what God wants me to feel. This day took me to some limits. Maybe some day I'll have words to express it. I now pray God will help give me compassion and a clear view of TRUTH.