Yesterday we hiked Mt. Afajato even though it was soo misty and cloudy that you couldn't see anything at the top. They officially have the craziest looking bugs here you have ever seen.
Today we went to placement in the morning and then we went to the monkey sanctuary about 20 min away. The first encounter with a monkey was unsuccessful. He stole my whole banana. But I ended up being able to feed a few of them. I got some great pictures and I am adding a sacred Mona Monkey to the list of things that I am going to bring home in my suitcase.
Then we had another Ewe lesson. I learned how to ask "what is you name?" and "My name is Abena".
I talked to one of my friends here in town who we affectionately call Xhibit. He is going to take Katie and I to his church on Sunday and let us carry his son Calvin on our backs. I have wanted to put every child I see up on my back and wrap cloth around me and then carry bags of rice on my head. Well at least putting Calvin on my back will come true. He's about 1 1/2 years old. Adorable. And Xzibit is making me a mixed tape/cd of all the great songs that we have been jamming out to here in Hohoe. One of which is the "Wifey Song". LOVE that song.
At the orphanage- it's tough being there. No one really knows whats going on. There is no rhyme or reason for doing things, no science behind what they teach or why. The kids just memorize the songs but don't understand that letters make up words and that you can add and subtract numbers. I have been following this one little boy named Papaa and he so severely has dyslexia and there is no hope or help for him here in Hohoe. The teacher just canes him or smacks him over his head. I was trying to explain what it was but she herself barely understands English.
More later. It's so hot here today. It's been nothing but rainy and cloudy but that only makes it more humid.
<3t
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Adventures in eating Grasscutter
Well- I can tell you now that my heart will be broken when I have to leave the children at the Orphanage. I have already fallen in love. The challenges at the orphanage are much greater than I ever expected. Limited books, I teach in a straw hoofed car port outside. The children in my class range from 2 years old to 10 years old. Half of them don't speak English. They are grossly malnourished. I went early last week to help bathe them and they were skin and bones. It truly is what you see on the Sally Struthers commercials. I was talking to the owner of the orphanage and she said that it cost them 20 pesowas per day to stay at the orphanage( 1.41 cedi = $1USD and a pesowas (sounds like peso ace) is like their cents). There is always a smell of urine in their rooms and they live out of draw string bags. It's so upsetting. They just love with you hold them and pay attention to them. You can tell they lack human touch and love. More on them later.
In terms of the cuisine. I have experience three very Ghanaian meals. Baku looks like mashed potatoes but has the consistency of play dough. It's fermented corn/cassava dough mixed proportionally and cooked in hot water into a smooth whitish consistent paste. Served with okra stew and a pepper sauce with fish. Everyone eats with their hands and from the same bowl. Strange. And then I also had Grasscutter. Grasscutter is a giant rodent but looks like a cross between a rat and a possum. Dela who is one of our drivers/house dad came home with it in a bag. He had just killed it. He proceeded to take it out of the bag, lay it on the counter with it bleeding from the mouth and put on a pot of water like it was nothing. Once the pot was boiling, he put the whole grasscutter in a big pot and poured the boiling water over it so he could then proceed to shave it with a cutlass. We looked on in horror and the poor dead animal was being mercilessly shaven in a pot of hot water. Joe and Dela explained it was good meat and that we were going to eat it for lunch the next day. The next day we ate grasscutter with pasta and red sauce. I took a small bite but I just kept having this mental image of it bleeding from the mouth and being shaven by Joe. I'm glad I did it but never again. HOWEVER- the ladies on the streets sell bowfruit (sp?) off of their heads. It is this amazing little ball of dough that kind of tastes like a doughnut but it's bigger, fluffier and not as sweet. God will I miss them when I leave. They are 7 for 1 Cedi! YUM
Sorry Don and John- I am not bringing back a recipe for grasscutter. I am, however, trying to get one for banku. And maybe bowfruit.
Christie- Just tell me if you want a boy or girl from the orphanage and I can pick one up for you. The family who just left started the processes for adopting the one little boy. I'm already to help you.
Son John- You are more than welcome to share this blog with your friend. I would love to hear his feed back.
Can't wait to show pictures when I get home. Tomorrow we are hiking Mt. Afajato at sunrise. Should be amazing. <3
In terms of the cuisine. I have experience three very Ghanaian meals. Baku looks like mashed potatoes but has the consistency of play dough. It's fermented corn/cassava dough mixed proportionally and cooked in hot water into a smooth whitish consistent paste. Served with okra stew and a pepper sauce with fish. Everyone eats with their hands and from the same bowl. Strange. And then I also had Grasscutter. Grasscutter is a giant rodent but looks like a cross between a rat and a possum. Dela who is one of our drivers/house dad came home with it in a bag. He had just killed it. He proceeded to take it out of the bag, lay it on the counter with it bleeding from the mouth and put on a pot of water like it was nothing. Once the pot was boiling, he put the whole grasscutter in a big pot and poured the boiling water over it so he could then proceed to shave it with a cutlass. We looked on in horror and the poor dead animal was being mercilessly shaven in a pot of hot water. Joe and Dela explained it was good meat and that we were going to eat it for lunch the next day. The next day we ate grasscutter with pasta and red sauce. I took a small bite but I just kept having this mental image of it bleeding from the mouth and being shaven by Joe. I'm glad I did it but never again. HOWEVER- the ladies on the streets sell bowfruit (sp?) off of their heads. It is this amazing little ball of dough that kind of tastes like a doughnut but it's bigger, fluffier and not as sweet. God will I miss them when I leave. They are 7 for 1 Cedi! YUM
Sorry Don and John- I am not bringing back a recipe for grasscutter. I am, however, trying to get one for banku. And maybe bowfruit.
Christie- Just tell me if you want a boy or girl from the orphanage and I can pick one up for you. The family who just left started the processes for adopting the one little boy. I'm already to help you.
Son John- You are more than welcome to share this blog with your friend. I would love to hear his feed back.
Can't wait to show pictures when I get home. Tomorrow we are hiking Mt. Afajato at sunrise. Should be amazing. <3
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Week One and Weekend in Cape Coast
Well Week One has been terribly interesting. Started Placement, went to the Wli Waterfalls (amazing) although I'm convinced I have a parasite in my brain thanks to my grandmother. I had my first Ewe lessons, African Dancing and drumming and I petted a goat.
I started out at St. Francis working with three children named Freeman, Zackaria and Anita. I was working with the reading program and one on one tutoring. They are out 10 years old and have varying degrees of knowledge and ability to speak English. My Ewe is lacking so it really is comical. But free time is a blast. The kids here do this dance and chant that goes "Bom Bom Bomba Leeka..." and then they "Shakey Shakey Shake Your Body". It's a must see. So cute.
As much as I love St. Francis and especially Anita, I am starting to go to the Christian Orphanage tomorrow. I will get there around 6:15am to help bathe 25 children and then feed them breakfast and off to their lessons. I have a lot of research I have to do for my intern program and I won't be able to do it at St. Francis.
SIDE NOTE: Goats and chickens run wild here, like squirrels and birds back at home. One goat just stood at the door and thought about coming into the internet cafe.
Well I have been officially welcomes in Africa. I think I could not have make up a better story if I tried---
17 of us started out renting 2 vans to bring us on an 8 hour journey to Cape Coast. Then we met three Spaniards at the internet cafe (Alex, Ramon and Pablo) who all work at the Christian Orphanage with Momma B and invited them along on our weekend adventure. Before we left, my friend Rachel came down with Malaria and could not come and ended up leaving home to Canada. Thursday afternoon, I am talking to my mother and my cell phone breaks. Won't work- No alarm, no buttons. Dead. Gret Start.
So Friday comes along, 20 of us eat a quick lunch and we leave our home base at 1pm. The Bank here in town was closed early because they had a system failure and I was completely out of cash (along with 10 other people). The two security guards who flanked the door with AK47's told up there was another Barclay's bank about 3 1/2 hours away in another little town but they closed at 4pm. We tried to make a mad dash in our vans down there in town but didn't make it. However their ATM worked but for the Brit (David) and the three Spaniards- they couldn't exchange their money.
12 hours later 14 of us arrive outside of Cape Coast. Two people ended up passing out while in the vans and came down with Malaria and or Typhoid Fever- a 4 hour detour to the hospital and then the Holiday Inn that Obama stayed at while he was here, then the Spaniards took a trip to the black market to exchange money.
One Africa- amazing huts with thatched roofs on the rocky cost of Southern Ghana. It's run by a guy who is originally from New York- very Rastafarian. Each of the huts were themed- mine was the Harriet Tubman room. Jody, David and I shared that hut. We had all bought sangria and beer and planned on staying up and enjoying each other company and the scenery however buy the time we got there all we wanted to do was pass out. 8am Breakfast was toast and pineapple and instant coffee.
We left that morning thinking we were going to do the canopy walk, the slave fort the crocodile farm and the bead factory. Off we left for Kakum and the Canopy walk. Hundreds of people swarming everywhere. a 45 min hike with 7 stops along the way brought us up 12 stories up into the Canopy of the Kakum Rain forest. Oh and I got my first official injury- stubbed my toe god awful. I had to wrap it in a tissue- took a picture of it. The canopy walk scared the pants off of me. The Spaniards were rocking this skinny rope bridge- 12 stories up in the air!!! I survived it (will show you amazing pictures) and decided to eat lunch there at the park. 3 hours later only 10 of the 14 ended up getting our lunches. My burger was maybe 2oz and topped with laughing cow cheese spread and placed in between two sliced of white bread. We left then for St. Georges at Elmina Castle which is one of the oldest slave forts. Thousands of people crowding the streets and hundreds of boats in the ocean fishing and the people bombarding the vans with necklaces and food to buy. A little girl with a baby on her back and fabric on her head and carrying a tray of jewelery dodging in and out of traffic. I've never seen anything like it. (Again insert pictures here).
We literally could not get out of our vans because the people were crowding our vans with things to sell. I got about 5 pictures of the outside of the fort before my full battery camera mysteriously died. We toured the fort and even into the dungeons where the slaves where held, beaten, sold and rapped. Very strange feelings in there.
I was glad I went there. There was one point went an African man said to us - "Don't you feel sorry for what your forefathers did to my forefathers?" I didn't know how to react to it. Very awkward. Momma B just looked at him and said "I'm Native American!"
By that point another girl was passing out (you guessed it Malaria and or Typhoid Fever). So we never ended up going to anything else because by that point it was dinner time and we decided to go to the hotel to hot showers and a good meal.
Needless to say when we got to Coconut Grove they had a "system failure" and lost all our reservations. 2 rooms was all they had left at $179 each so Katey, Dani and I decided to steal a van and go back to One Africa. So the three of us ate dinner of pizza and plantanes on the rocky shores by candle light.
The next morning we all met up, on van went to the hospital and the other back to Hohoe. I left on the one to Hohoe. In the van were 4 Americans, 3 Spaniards, a Brit and a Ghanian driver. 3 hour left in our ride our driver pulls over and says he wants to buy something. The next thing you know a boy runs over holding a chicken with its feet tied together. The driver and the boy exchange harsh words and the boy walks away. He tells us the chicken is too expensive. The Spaniards pitch in some money and the driver calls the boy and chicken back over. All of a sudden the live chicken comes through the window and lands in between Ramon and Alex. Katey yells "We've turned our van into a Freakin Tro Tro!!" Hence the chickens name was Tro Tro. So for three hours on the way back to Hohoe, Ramon and Alex babysat Tro Tro as he went to the bathroom and clucked and flapped. Hysterical.
I'm doing batiking lessons later tomorrow and more Ewe lessons. I am also getting some shirts made because I had bought the most amazing fabric. Pictures Later.
Miss you all.
I started out at St. Francis working with three children named Freeman, Zackaria and Anita. I was working with the reading program and one on one tutoring. They are out 10 years old and have varying degrees of knowledge and ability to speak English. My Ewe is lacking so it really is comical. But free time is a blast. The kids here do this dance and chant that goes "Bom Bom Bomba Leeka..." and then they "Shakey Shakey Shake Your Body". It's a must see. So cute.
As much as I love St. Francis and especially Anita, I am starting to go to the Christian Orphanage tomorrow. I will get there around 6:15am to help bathe 25 children and then feed them breakfast and off to their lessons. I have a lot of research I have to do for my intern program and I won't be able to do it at St. Francis.
SIDE NOTE: Goats and chickens run wild here, like squirrels and birds back at home. One goat just stood at the door and thought about coming into the internet cafe.
Well I have been officially welcomes in Africa. I think I could not have make up a better story if I tried---
17 of us started out renting 2 vans to bring us on an 8 hour journey to Cape Coast. Then we met three Spaniards at the internet cafe (Alex, Ramon and Pablo) who all work at the Christian Orphanage with Momma B and invited them along on our weekend adventure. Before we left, my friend Rachel came down with Malaria and could not come and ended up leaving home to Canada. Thursday afternoon, I am talking to my mother and my cell phone breaks. Won't work- No alarm, no buttons. Dead. Gret Start.
So Friday comes along, 20 of us eat a quick lunch and we leave our home base at 1pm. The Bank here in town was closed early because they had a system failure and I was completely out of cash (along with 10 other people). The two security guards who flanked the door with AK47's told up there was another Barclay's bank about 3 1/2 hours away in another little town but they closed at 4pm. We tried to make a mad dash in our vans down there in town but didn't make it. However their ATM worked but for the Brit (David) and the three Spaniards- they couldn't exchange their money.
12 hours later 14 of us arrive outside of Cape Coast. Two people ended up passing out while in the vans and came down with Malaria and or Typhoid Fever- a 4 hour detour to the hospital and then the Holiday Inn that Obama stayed at while he was here, then the Spaniards took a trip to the black market to exchange money.
One Africa- amazing huts with thatched roofs on the rocky cost of Southern Ghana. It's run by a guy who is originally from New York- very Rastafarian. Each of the huts were themed- mine was the Harriet Tubman room. Jody, David and I shared that hut. We had all bought sangria and beer and planned on staying up and enjoying each other company and the scenery however buy the time we got there all we wanted to do was pass out. 8am Breakfast was toast and pineapple and instant coffee.
We left that morning thinking we were going to do the canopy walk, the slave fort the crocodile farm and the bead factory. Off we left for Kakum and the Canopy walk. Hundreds of people swarming everywhere. a 45 min hike with 7 stops along the way brought us up 12 stories up into the Canopy of the Kakum Rain forest. Oh and I got my first official injury- stubbed my toe god awful. I had to wrap it in a tissue- took a picture of it. The canopy walk scared the pants off of me. The Spaniards were rocking this skinny rope bridge- 12 stories up in the air!!! I survived it (will show you amazing pictures) and decided to eat lunch there at the park. 3 hours later only 10 of the 14 ended up getting our lunches. My burger was maybe 2oz and topped with laughing cow cheese spread and placed in between two sliced of white bread. We left then for St. Georges at Elmina Castle which is one of the oldest slave forts. Thousands of people crowding the streets and hundreds of boats in the ocean fishing and the people bombarding the vans with necklaces and food to buy. A little girl with a baby on her back and fabric on her head and carrying a tray of jewelery dodging in and out of traffic. I've never seen anything like it. (Again insert pictures here).
We literally could not get out of our vans because the people were crowding our vans with things to sell. I got about 5 pictures of the outside of the fort before my full battery camera mysteriously died. We toured the fort and even into the dungeons where the slaves where held, beaten, sold and rapped. Very strange feelings in there.
I was glad I went there. There was one point went an African man said to us - "Don't you feel sorry for what your forefathers did to my forefathers?" I didn't know how to react to it. Very awkward. Momma B just looked at him and said "I'm Native American!"
By that point another girl was passing out (you guessed it Malaria and or Typhoid Fever). So we never ended up going to anything else because by that point it was dinner time and we decided to go to the hotel to hot showers and a good meal.
Needless to say when we got to Coconut Grove they had a "system failure" and lost all our reservations. 2 rooms was all they had left at $179 each so Katey, Dani and I decided to steal a van and go back to One Africa. So the three of us ate dinner of pizza and plantanes on the rocky shores by candle light.
The next morning we all met up, on van went to the hospital and the other back to Hohoe. I left on the one to Hohoe. In the van were 4 Americans, 3 Spaniards, a Brit and a Ghanian driver. 3 hour left in our ride our driver pulls over and says he wants to buy something. The next thing you know a boy runs over holding a chicken with its feet tied together. The driver and the boy exchange harsh words and the boy walks away. He tells us the chicken is too expensive. The Spaniards pitch in some money and the driver calls the boy and chicken back over. All of a sudden the live chicken comes through the window and lands in between Ramon and Alex. Katey yells "We've turned our van into a Freakin Tro Tro!!" Hence the chickens name was Tro Tro. So for three hours on the way back to Hohoe, Ramon and Alex babysat Tro Tro as he went to the bathroom and clucked and flapped. Hysterical.
I'm doing batiking lessons later tomorrow and more Ewe lessons. I am also getting some shirts made because I had bought the most amazing fabric. Pictures Later.
Miss you all.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wezzo from Hohoe
My layover in London was successful! I took the tube to Piccadilly Circus (suggestion from John!) and wondered around until I realized I was standing next to Big Ben and the Ferris Wheel and Parliament. I had a full English breakfast with rashers and black pudding and tea of course!I can't wait to post the pictures. I could easily fall in love with London. I met the nicest Polish woman on the Tube who helped me get back to Heathrow. Then a met a British woman named Nicolette who was going to Ghana to meet her Lebanese boyfriend who lives here. My flight left early so we could get in before Obama . On the flight over I saw the the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert. So cool.
Then when I got to the airport the hotel never came to pick me up so Nicolette's bf used his cell phone to call the hotel and fight with them. Once he finally came it took 3 1/2 hours to get to my hotel because we got stopped by the cops, road blocks for Obama then we took a u-turn in this beat up jigsaw puzzle of a car/taxi across a hour lane high way and grass median. I was so happy to get to my hotel which was nice. Then I was picked up in the morning by Dela and 5 hours later I found myself in Hohoe (The town in pronounced "Hoe-whay") trying to speak Ewe (pronounced "A"-way). I have met really nice people here and have had amazing food. They have this mashed yam thing called panquo (sp?). I looks like mashed potato dough but has a sour flavor. The cooks are going to teach me how to make it.
It is amazing here. Surreal.We wandered the village yesterday and because it was Sunday there was drumming and music all around. The children are so interested in getting their pictures taken and shaking your hand. They shake hands by slapping hands, pumping and then snapping off of your hand. Later today we are going to the market and having a drumming lesson.
I start my placement tomorrow at St. Francis and they want me to help out with the visual arts programs. We get to go to the Wli Waterfall on Wednesday!!!
This weekend a whole bunch of people are thinking about traveling to Cape Coast and renting a van, staying in huts on the beach, going to the castle and doing the canopy walk. In total it should be about 120 Cedis (pronounced CD) which is about $90 USD.
I'm sure there is so much I am forgetting about but I definitely want to have a party with pictures and stories when I return.
I miss you all!!
Then when I got to the airport the hotel never came to pick me up so Nicolette's bf used his cell phone to call the hotel and fight with them. Once he finally came it took 3 1/2 hours to get to my hotel because we got stopped by the cops, road blocks for Obama then we took a u-turn in this beat up jigsaw puzzle of a car/taxi across a hour lane high way and grass median. I was so happy to get to my hotel which was nice. Then I was picked up in the morning by Dela and 5 hours later I found myself in Hohoe (The town in pronounced "Hoe-whay") trying to speak Ewe (pronounced "A"-way). I have met really nice people here and have had amazing food. They have this mashed yam thing called panquo (sp?). I looks like mashed potato dough but has a sour flavor. The cooks are going to teach me how to make it.
It is amazing here. Surreal.We wandered the village yesterday and because it was Sunday there was drumming and music all around. The children are so interested in getting their pictures taken and shaking your hand. They shake hands by slapping hands, pumping and then snapping off of your hand. Later today we are going to the market and having a drumming lesson.
I start my placement tomorrow at St. Francis and they want me to help out with the visual arts programs. We get to go to the Wli Waterfall on Wednesday!!!
This weekend a whole bunch of people are thinking about traveling to Cape Coast and renting a van, staying in huts on the beach, going to the castle and doing the canopy walk. In total it should be about 120 Cedis (pronounced CD) which is about $90 USD.
I'm sure there is so much I am forgetting about but I definitely want to have a party with pictures and stories when I return.
I miss you all!!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Packing
Visa: Check
Hotel Reservation: Check
I received my placement and I am going to St. Francis Demonstrative Primary School. The headmaster, Linda, would like me to help with some of the children they believe have learning disabilities. They are also going to have me help out at two of the Orphanages.
So, because I am going to be a teacher, I have to dress the part which means- my knees can't show, no jean capris (which I bought two new pair of) and I must wear close toes shoes. In 103 degree weather, I have to wear close toed shoes. I have started to lay everything out so I know what I have. Thus far I think I am good to go.
Any suggestions?
Also- I know that it is a short walk from out Home Base in Hohoe to the internet cafe in town- so I am going to try to post two to three times a week about what is going on.
Oh- one more thing. I am going to have an international phone while I am over there. HOWEVER: please note it will cost my 2.10 per minute every time you call me and leave me a voice mail or call to chat. So, unless it is of utmost importance- text or email would be my preferred way of communication.
Here is a video of a girl who did just what I'll be doing. It put my parents at ease after they saw it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l4OCmz3w_k
Hotel Reservation: Check
I received my placement and I am going to St. Francis Demonstrative Primary School. The headmaster, Linda, would like me to help with some of the children they believe have learning disabilities. They are also going to have me help out at two of the Orphanages.
So, because I am going to be a teacher, I have to dress the part which means- my knees can't show, no jean capris (which I bought two new pair of) and I must wear close toes shoes. In 103 degree weather, I have to wear close toed shoes. I have started to lay everything out so I know what I have. Thus far I think I am good to go.
Any suggestions?
Also- I know that it is a short walk from out Home Base in Hohoe to the internet cafe in town- so I am going to try to post two to three times a week about what is going on.
Oh- one more thing. I am going to have an international phone while I am over there. HOWEVER: please note it will cost my 2.10 per minute every time you call me and leave me a voice mail or call to chat. So, unless it is of utmost importance- text or email would be my preferred way of communication.
Here is a video of a girl who did just what I'll be doing. It put my parents at ease after they saw it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l4OCmz3w_k
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