Pictures from Ho

Ho day 1

Here's the "bathroom" at a rest stop. Literally a concrete wall (not a room, just a wall) with a platform behind it. When you gotta go - you gotta go! 

When we arrived at New Seed International (an orphanage) they had a performance ready for us!

The dance troupe.

Everyone wants to hold Ali's hand.

Gray in action :-)

Our crew.

Learning how to do Batik.  Sarah is using stamps and applying hot wax to her fabric.

Mary takes a turn at dyeing her fabric. 

Ho - Day 2

to be continued . . .  (having trouble with connection again)

Monday 6/25 - Thursday 6/28

    Internet service here is VERY frustrating! It has been a busy week with lots to report. Enjoy the read :-)  I'll see if I have any luck with pictures after I post this...


Day 8 - Monday, June 25th


A little trauma today - here's how it happened through the eyes of Mary:

Mary: Today started out like any other day. We woke up at 6:50, had our morning meeting, and ate breakfast. We then headed to our school sites to make brick and teach like we normally do. The platform where we are making bricks has slanted sides which I quickly learned are very slippery, as I toppled over and landed on the corner of the brick mold. I stood up, exclaimed “Ow,” and was prepared to continue with making bricks until Karina pulled me aside because she noticed blood on my skirt. I lifted my skirt and saw that I had cut my leg. It looked pretty bad, but I didn’t think it was a very big deal until Matt rushed over to help. He and Karina frantically tried to contact Dodzi, but cell service was limited so it took longer than expected. I heard them mention stitches and the clinic, but wasn’t paying very much attention as I was laughing at my situation. Everyone was concerned that I was crying but I was fine (I tend to laugh at inappropriate times.) Matt continued trying to dress my wound and debated about whether he could use butterfly strips to close it or not. It was very awkward because the gash is high on the back of my thigh, and I had to sit with my skirt pulled up very high which is not culturally appropriate. Many of the children were staring and everyone in my group was trying to help. With everyone crowding me, I began to feel faint and had to sit down before I passed out or threw up. Finally, Dodzi arrived and he, Matt, and myself made the trip to the hospital. Matt was concerned I might pass out and refused to let me walk without assistance. We made the short trip to the hospital and of course I was the only white person there. The other patients in the hospital sat wide-eyed on their benches as Matt changed the dressing on my wound again while Dodzi told the nurse my information. We were called back very quickly and I realized Dodzi must have called in a favor so that we would not have to wait long. After three different consultations, Dodzi led our little group through the maze of hospital buildings so I could get stitches. I was soon called back and told to remove my shoes before I entered the hospital wing, but Matt and Dodzi were not allowed to come back with me. This was the only point during my ordeal where I felt as though I might cry; being alone in a foreign hospital where only one of the nurses spoke English was terrifying. I began to count backwards from 100 in rhythm with the beeping of a machine in order to calm myself. After what felt like an eternity, I was finally wheeled into a private room where I was given a numbing agent and two stitches. The nurse kept asking me if I felt any pain, and even though it did I kept saying “No” so that I could leave sooner. Once I was all stitched up, Matt and I went to get a tetanus shot while Dodzi paid. My entire bill was only 20 cedi or $11. If I had gotten the same treatment in America, the bill would have been at least $2000. We left with a prescription for 2 antibiotics that I have to take 3 times a day. In six days I have to go back to have my sutures removed. Can’t wait!

 Karen:  I need to applaud Mary for her spirit through this ordeal. When word spread to my group that she had received stitches, comments included  “I would have used super glue before I let them give me stitches”  or “I brought a needle and thread and matches and am prepared to give myself stitches if needed.” But what Mary experienced speaks highly of this area, she received quality attention at a remarkably nice facility. Our catch phrase here as been “We have a plan for that”, meaning safety is concern number one and regardless of the situation – stitches to a political protest, there is a plan in place to keep us safe. It was nice to see this in action J.

       Changing gear – this afternoon I had the opportunity to go with my group to an island community. This involved going to a marsh were we piled into low boats that could best be described as a cross between a rowboat and a canoe.. A native stood in the back and using a pole, guided us across the water way to an island. The simplicity and peacefulness of this ride ranks right up there for me in favorite experiences here in Ghana.  Once on the island we were toured through the village – the first time we have actually walked among the huts and witnessed village life up close. I continue to be struck by the joy these people have. Their smiles can light up a room and they are very welcoming and happy to see us. We visited a couple of shrines, were shown many idols and learned about their traditions.  The longer we walked, the more children our group attracted and by the time we returned to the boat area, we had a substantial following. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Day 9 - Tuesday, June 26th

Group collaboration today . . . 

Group:  Today we went to Molly, Gray, Sarah and Mary’s school to build blocks because the president cancelled school across the country. Both groups teamed up to make as many blocks as we could in a four hour period.  The groups split up with Ali’s group making blocks first while the other group played games with the children.  The main games we played were "bomb bomb bomb balita", a dancing game that is very easy to catch on to.  After two hours we switched.  By the end we made 95 blocks!  When we left we headed back to home base for lunch and then at around two we went to an orphanage home called Our Father’s House.  At Our Father’s House there were eight boys who range from ages 8-15.  These boys were rescued from child slavery on Lake Volta which actually enslaves about 2,000 boys and girls.  The boys’ main jobs were to fish.  Our Father’s House, a Christian based nonprofit organization, makes it a point to love and care for the boys, who are always well fed and have sturdy rooms.  After we learned about how the home worked we were challenged to a game of futbol (soccer).  Although we were older, stronger and in many ways more experienced we couldn’t keep up with the boys.  We later decided that  they won because they played as a brotherhood and we didn’t. 

Day 10 - Wednesday, June 27th

Group:  Today was a strange day.  At one our school's there were no students again. At the other school  there were students but no teachers showed up.   The result,  many blocks were made. Both groups have passed the century mark in number of bricks!  Our afternoon activity was very interactive. We were taught traditional drumming and dancing.  It was a lot of fun as everyone got a chance to participate and it showed just how uncoordinated Americans are!  The music that was played attracted many otherspectators including more yevus (white people).  The dances were a lot harder than it looked and was different from any sort of “American” dance.  Afterwards we played on the  beach with all the local kids!

Day 11 - Thursday, June 28th

Gray:

After a morning of service we had lunch and then shortly after, made our way over to KilKor. Kil Kor is a traditional Ghananian village close to the border of Togo. When we arrived, we had to walk through rain and mud to get to the first hut. Before we could enter the shrines, the girls had to change out of their clothes so that their shoulders were bare. They provided us with colorful pieces of fabric and  helped us wrap it around our bodies. The boys had to change into just a wrap skirt. Once we had all changed we walked a short distance to the first shrine. The room was a little crowded so they moved us to another area where the spiritual administrator of the shrine was waiting for us. As soon as we were all seated, the administrator began explaining the significance of the shrine. This particular shrine paid homage to the god of thunder and we all watched as our directors offered palm wine and various items to the god. The administrator went on to explain the hierarchy of spirits and also talked about the designation of the chief people of the shrine. Then we were able to ask questions about the role that the shrine plays in the community and the particular practices and the rituals of the shrine. For example, the shrine deals primarily in healing acute insanity and infertility. After all questions were answered, people had the opportunity to take pictures with the high priestess. We walked back through the ran, changed, and then got on the bus to go back to home base. We hot home a little past 6 and had a quick dinner before our speaker arrived. His topic for the evening was polygamy and its history in Ghana. He explained the various advantages and disadvantages that polygamy offers and his personal vies on the subject. He was funny and engaging and we learned a lot. We are all looking forward to our last day of service tomorrow, although it will be bittersweet as leaving the children will not be easy.

Three days in Ho

 We have been back at home base for two days now. Internet has not been cooperative!! Here's an attempt to get caught up on what happened over the weekend. I will try to post photos later, but the system is not cooperating right now...

Day 5 - Friday,  June 22nd

The girls all gathered together to put together these thoughts:

Group: We had to wake up super early this morning to leave by 7:00 AM.  We got on the bus for a three hour bus ride to Ho where we will be staying for two nights.  Along the way we stopped at a gas station, Sarah and Molly had the privilege of being the first to experience a true Ghanaian “rest stop,” in the U.S we would call this bathroom a platform behind a wall (see picture below).  Some of us went in the general store and bought a lot of cookies, sort of like the sugar wafers in the U.S.  As we continued our bumpy journey we headed to the New Seed International Orphanage.  When we were welcomed to the orphanage the kids performed multiple dances for all of us.  This orphanage cares for kids who are infected with HIV/AIDS however they do have children that are not infected.  The orphanage does not house the 200 children, instead they are distributed to families in the village.  The orphanage does provide lunch for all of the children and free education up until the 6^th grade.  After we talked about leadership with the headmaster of the orphanage we got to play with all of the little kids.  For the first few days we were not allowed to take pictures, so today we took so many pictures with the little kids and they always asked to see the photos.  When we left the orphanage we were on our way to the Village Exchange which deals with influencing pregnant teenagers.  This facility also cares for the children of the mothers that use their services.  Along with daycare and a learning environment women create fabrics and jewelry.  The type of fabrics they make are called batik and we had the opportunity to make our own designed fabric as well. Then we boarded our busses and went to the hotel that we are staying in for the weekend. We got our rooms (all air-conditioned) and have been spending the evening relaxing and some of us went to the pool. We have to wake up very early tomorrow as we have a lot of things to do. So good night from Ho!




Day 6 - Saturday, June 23rd


Our second day in Ho through the eyes of Sarah and Mary:

  Today we woke up very early (before 6!) and ate our breakfast at the hotel. We hopped on the bus and headed to Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. Here we walked through the forest in search of monkeys that we could feed. We encountered a few, but were told not to feed these ones, so we continued on our journey. After what seemed a long time searching, we finally came upon a group. In order to feed them, we held the banana firmly in the center and they would peel it and take the fruit out. It was really cool to have them jumping from tree to tree all around us and come so close to get food. Unfortunately the monkeys weren’t very hungry, so some of our group did not get to feed them. We went back to the information center and once again boarded the bus. From here we went to lunch at another very nice hotel. Molly, Ali, Gray, Karen  and Sarah all tried some grass cutter, which is a large rodent. Finally the moment came to depart for the waterfall and we were so excited. We reached the bottom of the mountain where the waterfall was and could see it on the side of the mountain. As we hiked up the trail, our guide kept stopping to show us different plants and the anticipation was building. When we got to the waterfall, it was even better than any of us could have expected. It was one of the most amazing things that any of us had ever witnessed. From over a hundred yards away, the wind was whipping our hair and mist was blowing on us. We have never changed clothes faster and we ran to the water, all worries of a potential parasite pushed to the back of our minds, ready to jump in. Everyone on the trip was splashing around and yelling in the water. It was one of the coolest experiences we’ve had and as we played a traditional game in the water, we didn’t want to leave. Sadly we had to eventually get out and hike back down. At the bottom, we shopped at a craft market and all bought lots of things. We all tried out our bargaining skills, which most of us do not have, so we relied on Dodzi to help us. He even got into a heated argument with a vendor because he refused to lower the price. Back on the bus with all of our purchases, we were all exhausted. After a three hour ride back to the hotel, we all ate dinner, relaxed and we are going to sleep very soon. Tomorrow should be another fun day as we head back to home base!


Day 7 - Sunday, June 24th


Molly and Sarah were the group leader's today and provided the following:


  Today we woke up in Ho and got ready for our adventures around Ghana. We left the hotel after breakfast and headed to the bus for a 2 hour ride to a Kente weaving village. Here we learned about the history of their craft and how the Ghananians idolized spiders and their intricate webs. The studied these webs and used them to develop their craft. We went into the factory where they made the fabric and were shown how to use the looms. It was then our turn to give them a try. Some of us were offered a six month job to stay and work - we were that good!! We were extremely proud of our weaving accomplishments. Our next stop was for lunch in Ho, this time at a hotel on top of a mountain overlooking the valley. The view was beautiful, like nothing we'd ever seen before, and the lunch was delicious.  Then back on the bus for a bouncy ride back to home base. After picking up some snacks we arrived back home and played games until dinner. A storyteller from the community came and taught us the history and importance of storytelling in Ghana culture and also told us two stories. We ran out of time for the GLA students to tell one of their own, but we will use the techniques we learned to bring stories back home. After a long day of traveling (total of 7 hours on the bus) we will be heading to bed soon. Night night!!

Day 4 - June 21st

Busy day and early morning wake-up tomorrow so here's a few highlights from the day from Ali, Molly and Karen:

 Ali:  I was able to teach today!  It was fun! I got to teach the students about curved, bent and straight lines with Karen and my new friend from Molly. I never really learned the bent line thing in school but was still able to teach it. The kids keep impressing me with how much they know. I really enjoyed having the teacher there with us because when the kids weren’t able to understand what we were saying he was able to translate for us. We played well off of each other. I tried to teach them hangman, but it was a failure so we moved on to science.  At recess and all the little kids wanted to hold my hand and they held it as if it was different from theirs. We played group games such as “Head – Shoulders – Knees and Toes” and then we moved on to block building that had been delayed from earlier because of rain. It was exciting making 23 today compared to the 12 we were able to make yesterday in the same amount of time.

Molly: Today teaching went way better than expected! We were able to take up the whole class period of profits and losses and most of the kids seemed to understand even the harder problems.  It was awesome to see the kids come up to the board and even if they needed some help, work through the problems and explain to the class how they did them.  We also went to visit host families, which was at first intimidating.  The house we visited was a headmaster of a house and he was very friendly.  First he showed us how his wife made cookies, then the children of the neighborhood who had come to meet us tried to teach us to dance.  The Americans had absolutely no rhythm and looked like fish flopping out of water while the Ghanains all moved in sync with the songs they were singing.  Next it was time for us to teach them something…so I decided to teach them to play duck duck goose.  They enjoyed the game and seemed to include everyone, even the smallest children.  The women who watched became so amused and also enjoyed watch the children play a new game.  It made my day to think that we can teach them something new, but also learn so much from them and their sense of community.  It made me mss the days when I was amused by anything and everything outdoors and could play until the sun went down with my friends. 

Karen: My day started with a 6 am  two-plus mile  barefoot run on the beach with Molly and two others. While this in itself was fun, the real treat was stopping by a group a fishermen and helping them pull their boat on shore in a huge tug-of-war type fashion.  School was great today as well. I started out with Ali and Molly from Kentucky in a second grade class and thoroughly enjoyed team-teaching with the girls and regular classroom teacher. Part way through the class another man came up to the window and motioned for me to come outside. He asked if I would go into the class next door because the children wanted to see a “white lady”. The classroom teacher, Bianca, had a great personality and spoke beautiful English. She walked me around the classroom and had each student (all 35 of them) stand and introduce themselves. She then pulled a chair to the front of the class and had me take a seat. It was then the kids turns to ask me any questions they wanted. Soooo much fun! After a bit, one raised their hand and asked if I could teach them a lesson. Bianca pointed me towards the board and asked me to work with them on upper and lower case letters. What a treat. The afternoon was spent with all of our students from GLA going out in the village to meet their host families. I accompanied the adult leaders to the home of the town King or Chief. Essentially his role seems to be like that of a mayor. All civic cases go through him and a group of elders he oversees. He was dressed in traditional Ghana garb and graciously spent more than an hour answering questions about government, history, culture and traditions. I struggled a bit with his English and do not dare to quote him on anything! Very informative and entertaining.

We are headed to Ho (not quite sure where that is other than a 3 hour bus ride away) tomorrow and am not sure what the internet service will be. . . The plan is to stay there for two nights so please be patient with us! We are having a grand old time J

This is Esi. She just climbed on my lap and hung out.

Waving from the beach balcony.

Chillin' with fellow GLA members.

New friends.

Playing "The Village" during free time - note Molly is sleeping in front right!!

We went to the beach balcony to write in our journals. Nice view!

Pictures!

Getting ready to go through customs in Ghana.

Amazing how awake everyone looks!!

Our first meal in Ghana, pizza at the mall. Okunlola (group member from Nigeria/Texas) was celebrating her 16th birthday. The cake was a sweet touch :-)

We boarded a bus to take us 3 hours from the airport to our destination in the Volta region. It was dusk as we left Accra. This picture was taken through the front window of the bus. Very common to have people walking up along cars (not necessarily stopped ones) selling all sorts of different items. We continue to be amazed at how they are able to balance their wares on their heads.

We did not see this facade upon our arrival as it was dark, but this is our home for the week. The beachfront Lorneh Lodge.

Molly, Mary, Sarah and Gray try out the swing in front of our home.

These fishing boats are pulled ashore each morning to empty out the nets.

 A team of men helping pull in a boat.

Dodzi serves up fresh coconut on Wednesday night.

Day 3 - Wednesday, June 20

Day three in Ghana through the eyes of Molly and Gray:

            We woke up and began working at our service sites this morning after breakfast.  We are divided into 2 groups, where Ali and Karen are together at one school and Molly, Gray, Sarah, and Mary are at another.  The group of 4 was introduced to a headmaster who spoke about the importance of the difference between a leader and a boss, challenging us to lead the children today, and others into the future.  We next learned how to make “blocks”, Ghanaian version of bricks, made out of a mixture of sand and cement.  First you measure out 12 bowls full of sand, then mix the cement and water multiple times.  Next you fill block molds to the brim and hit it over and over to insure there are no air bubbles, or your brick will fall apart when you try to take it out of the mold.  After finishing an entire bag of cement, about 20 blocks worth, we began playing with the children who were on break.  Some people in the groups played catch with some of the boys, we taught them to play “Down by the banks”, a hand clapping game, and also “Miss Mary Mac”.  Next we were thrown into a classroom, between the ages of 9 and 15 ranging for grades 4 to 6.  Each group’s experience in the classromm was very different, but we enjoyed the politeness and playfulness of the children.  We had trouble crossing the language barrier, because although most of the children spoke English, it was hard for them to understand us and vice versa.  We had to find creative ways of presenting materials to make ourselves understood.  On the playground, most of the students spoke Ewe, their native language, and it was at times uncomfortable when one child would say something, and run away, making all the other children laugh.  After leaving the schools we made our way back to home base for lunch.  After about an hour we left home base and went to get lessons in Ewe.  All the children from the schools around our language teacher’s house gathered around the gate to watch us learn.  Next we came home and had a talk on leadership.  There were a lot of interesting scinerios and questions that had to do with real life situations dealing with leadership and others views.  It was very enlightening to hear others perspectives, not only those with the same learning experiences as us as Collegiate students.  After the sessions were let out, we had free time, which was spent on the beach playing with the natives.  A soccer game ensued, the yevus (whiteys) vs. ameyibos (blackeys).  Unfortunately we lost, but had a wonderful time chasing after the energetic young ones as we pulled up our skirts and fell in the sand.  Next we enjoyed fresh coconuts on the beach, all splitting them and eating them with spoons.  Dinner was a surprise to all, with fish and chips, pineapple, watermelon, and cabbage salad.  We all enjoyed our French fries with ketchup just like at home! After dinner, we had a speaker from the local radio station come to talk to us about modern Ghana.  He was very interesting, telling us most of the history, and then answering many questions, but also asking us questions about America and our views of Ghanain.  He was interested in our education system, our voting process, and laws.  We are now playing a version of “Mafia”, or as Sylvia likes to call it “Villagers”…About to turn in for a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrows work at our different schools. Nighty night J

Day 2 - Tuesday, June 19th

    Daylight brought with it a wonderful surprise. We're staying right on the beach! It was dark and we were exhausted last night so this information did not sink in. The girls are all paired up with other girls from around the country in little "chalets". Private baths and ceiling fans were not expected so this has been a nice surprise. The leaders here have been very impressive thus far. Gentle spirits, they have provided us all with great information, expectations, and encouragement.
   I forgot to add one of the gems from our bus ride yesterday; We kept passing signs that read "Overspeeding Kills". Apparently speeding is fine, but they have to draw a line somewhere!

   Ali and Sarah put together the following summary of the day:

     Today we woke up and had orientation where we learned all about Ghanaian culture and expected behavior in the community.  Orientation included a tour of our boundaries, where we are staying is a beach resort, so the beach is 100 yards away.  After orientation we had lunch (most of our meals are a mix between American and Ghanaian) and then headed to our school sites and then local markets.   Sarah, Gray, Molly and Mary are all at one school and Ali and Karen are at another school.  The children were so excited to see all of the girls and they started singing songs about yevus (white men).  At the markets we found fabric that we wanted to be made into bags, pants or dresses.  Sarah and Gray chose to make a skirt, Mary chose to make a skirt and a bag, Molly chose to make two bags and a dress and Ali chose to make a bag. Karen is going for the pants, bag and backpack. Once we had met with the seamstresses about our new clothing we returned to home base.  Some had reflection time and others played card games on the patio.  After dinner we learned how to make blocks (cement bricks) and how to teach 40-60 primary school kids.  We had Steven, one of the GLA assistants give a quick tutorial on how to make these cement blocks that will be used for making a barrier around one school and a canteen in another school.  We were all exhausted and wanted to go to bed at 8:00 but were told we couldn’t until 10:00.  Its 8:30 and it has been a long day!  

The internet is incredibly slow and on and off - very hard time trying to load photos. Will give it another shot tomorrow :-)

Day 1 - Monday, June 18th

   Well, we finally boarded the plane at around 12:30 am  but it wasn't until about 1:30 that we left the gate. Dinner was served somewhere around 2:30 and thus the start of messing with our body clocks. A little more than 10 hours later we arrived in Ghana - 3:30ish in the afternoon local time.  Mary jotted down some notes from yesterday, which I've elaborated on in italics.

Ghana Blog

·      6/18/12

o   delayed flight

o   customs

§  girls didn’t have yellow fever proof - our girls were fine, but it was a bit scary for the other two as the threat was that they would need a new shot. Thank you to Claire for sending us with photocopies of our girls shots. I pulled these out and explained that we all had them. This explanation, some confusion coupled with a text from one of the moms and we were all through.

o   went to the mall modern mall with food court and nice bathrooms :-)

§  pizza

§  couldn’t bring bag into grocery store

o   can’t flush toilet paper this will take some getting used to!

o   3 hour bus ride  very nice bus and the roads were really good as well (not what I was expecting)          

§  police check points we came across about 5 of these. Very normal. They never boarded our bus, but merely shined their flashlights in and then waved us on.

o   stars are really clear

o   lizard in room

broken shower

Here we are on the shuttle. Look out Ghana . . . here we come!

 Oops - this one should have come first- at the 

Holiday Inn waiting for the shuttle.

Ticket counter.

Making new friends by the minute. By the time they all arrive there should be 17 of us on the flight! Plenty of time to get to know each other. Flight departure is delayed at this point until 12:05 (am). Parents - don't expect our arrival phone call until a bit later than expected!

Hail, hail, the gangs all here. (will meet up with more when we actually get to Ghana)