Don’t get used to this posting-all-the-time thing, but lucky you, here’s another, while I have the chance!
Yesterday was a busy day. I went for an early morning run with Stephen, who knocked on my door beforehand to ask if I had footwear…and then went next door and was talking in Fante to the other boy, I think borrowing some shoes to run in. He didn’t run me into the ground, so that was inspiring. Granted, he was wearing someone else’s shoes, and they weren’t running shoes, but I’ll take the handicap. After my bucket shower, I checked my watch and noticed that I had run and finished showering before 6:30 in the morning, a new Shawna record by about three hours. After breakfast, I walked over to the Coconut Grove Hotel, to meet with Lankesha (the manager) who is helping me in too many ways to count. I may be staying at a hut that he has built when school starts up, for a little while until I can find somewhere else to live. He is a very nice, very busy man, who immediately informed me that he had to leave for Accra in 20 minutes (this was 8:30am) and then proceeded to do the following: drive me to the hut, but the contractor couldn’t find the key so we looked at it through the window; then we went back to the front desk where Lankesha attended to all sorts of important business for close to two hours; then, the contractor found the key, and we drove back out to the hut to look at it again (it’s one room, looks pretty much the same from the window)… and finally he dropped me at the school on his way out at 12:30.
At 1:00 pm, I was invited to attend a meeting for CCAPSTU, which is an organization started by two of the graduates of Christ Cares school, sort of an alumni club. Their aim is to see to it that the school keeps improving, so future generations can proudly say they have graduated from this school. They are very passionate about doing their part because of what has been given to them – it is very inspiring to hear them speak. Otoo, the president, is an especially eloquent speaker, with wonderful ideas. The headmaster, Ben, and I were the guests, and as such had to sit at the front of the room and periodically give speeches...having not been warned of this little custom, I did my best, keeping it brief, praising them for their hard work, and encouraging them to communicate with me on any issues regarding CCAPSTU and the school. Ben, in turn, gave speeches approaching a half-hour (no joke), complete with parables, metaphors, arm-waving, short stories about the Roman Empire (what??), and audience participation. Guess I did that wrong. Now, this being Ghana, the meeting didn’t actually start until 3:30, because no one except me was there at 1. The meeting was a great eye-opener, I really enjoyed getting to hear what the students think should be done to improve education at the school.
Before dinner I played some games with the kids that gather in the schoolyard every afternoon. They taught me some singing and dancing games that they like to play, and some clapping/hand slapping games along the lines of those patty-cake games you used to play in elementary school. Basically it was a chance for everyone to point and laugh at the ‘Obruni’ (white person). Good times. We had electricity for about an hour at dinner, and then it went off in the middle of cooking so we lit a lantern. After dinner, I was pretty tired, so I went upstairs to write some notes and go to sleep early, but at 8:30 or so, Maxwell and Otoo knocked on my door, and asked if we might talk. So we dragged some chairs outside, and talked in the dark for about an hour and a half – they wanted to talk some more about their concerns, and I tried my best to answer their questions about certain policies, and why they are the way they are. I praised them for asking questions, said that it is good to question why things are being done in a certain way, instead of just accepting it. I also had a number of questions for them – the school system is very different here, so it was interesting to hear what they had to say to that effect. I was very happy that they felt comfortable enough to come and talk to me. I encouraged them to please keep doing so, to keep the dialogue open for the improvement of their school.
Well, my time is about up here, and I’ve got to head back for lunch. I hear we’re having groundnut soup. That’s peanut soup to us Americans. Sounds delicious!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
I made it!
Hi Everyone!
Here's a long one!
Well, i made it to elmina safe and sound. first of all, sorry for the no capitalization, but the shift button doesn't really work on this computer so i'm going to mostly skip it. i made it into accra on wednesday night (the 22nd0 and my friend Collins picked me up from the airport. Collins used to work with my dad, at the aluminum plant here in ghana, and i had met him when he stayed at our house when i was 7 years old. he is so nice, and was shocked that i'm taller than him now. haha! so he took me to my hotel, where i stayed for two nights, near his house. he took me to a delicious lunch of red-red, which is a popular ghanaian food made with beans in a sauce made of tomatoes, onions, palm oil, and something kinda spicy...and i'm sure some other ingredients...and then fried plantains, that you eat with the beans. they're a little red too, collins said it's because of the palm oil. it was DELICious. sorry, tried the capitals again, didn't work. on friday, a man name jojo picked me up to take me to elmina. i was going to take the bus, early in the morning, had my ticket and everything, but then i made some phone calls to tell people i had arrived, and jojo said to cancel my bus ticket because he was driving to accra anyways, so he would come get me. so that's what we did. he is very nice, just like everyone else in this country. everyone is so friendly and always trying to help me out.
i finally got to elmina around 5;30 pm, so it was almost dark (the sun sets at 6 here). ben, the headmaster of the school where i'm staying and working, greeted me and introduced me to a thousand people whose names i forgot instantly. then, someone shot an alligator across the street. seriously. everyone went over to see it, and he dragged it off with a mob of cheering kids following him. welcome to africa.
ben and mr. annan took me to see my room, which is huge!! a lot bigger than i expected. it is next door to his office, which has a toilet (a real toilet) and an area for my bucket shower. there is no running water though, so you flush the toilet with a bucket (sound familiar, travel buddies?) and i'm getting the hang of the bucket shower i think. yesterday my hair looked like there may have been an oil spill on it...i didn't do a very good job of rinsing. haha. today i think i got it though. we haven't had electricity since i got here, we were supposed to have it last night but it went out, so everyone has been going to sleep really early. but then again, everyone gets up around 5 or 5:30, so i guess that's the trade off. seriously, this morning i was going to go for a run, and the girls came to my room after i had woken up but before i had REALLY woken up, and said "why did you not go for your trot this morning?" and i said because i overslept, but COME ON it was 5:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tomorrow, i will go though, because as i was walking over here to the internet, a boy stephen (one of the students) walked with me and said he was going to go running with me but i didn't go. oops. didn't know i had a running buddy. so i will go tomorrow, and i'm sure stephen will kick my ass, it'll be more like a slow jog for him i'm sure.
the school is on vacation right now, for about two weeks until it starts again. every morning, ben teaches some vacation classes, though. i sat in on his english class yesterday. ben and his family live at the school, in a house right next to it, and there are some students (8, i think) living here too. all boys, in summer. so it's nice, i'm just gettting used to everything and meeting the people that i will be working with. i'm trying to learn some Fante, but so far all i know is akwaaba (welcome) and medasi(thank you). we walked into town yesterday, to meet ben's mom and his sister connie, and then i walked back with ben's son maxwell. maxwell is off at high school now (on a Tomorrow's stars scholarship), and he is VERY bright. it was great to talk to him, he speaks perfect english and was explaining a lot about ghana to me. he wants to become a doctor.
last night, i got to help make fufu, which is another traditional dish. fufu is like a dough when it's done, but it's such hard work!! you cook plantains and cassaba and then pound it all together. it's a little more complicated than that, but basically there is a giant mortar and the pestle is this 6-foot long stick, and you have to pound it really hard. it took a long time to make, and my arms were sore! but then you eat it, in a soup with fish. you eat with your hands. and, lucky me, i got the honor of being served the fish HEAD which i ate, to be polite, but i do not reccomend fish eyes. i felt like maybe i was on fear factor, like someone should be momentarily walking up to me with a chest of cash... but nope. anyways, it was very good. the soup was a little spicy, which i like, of course.
this morning, i was in the kitchen with three of the girls, and we were all eating our breakfast, when ben came back from church and said "i like that you are part of us!" and i said that i like it too! thank you!! that made me very happy. i was warned that i would be eating alone, that they would always serve me first (yes) and then leave me to eat alone, but so far i have always been eating with someone. i'm not sure if that's good or bad, but i like it! i think it may be because i don't know how to eat anything with my hands so they like to be there to laugh at me!! but i mean seriously, how do you eat soup with your hands. atleast i have some eating tutors.
last but not least, here's a nice sign for you all. i saw this one in tema, outside of accra; "Because He lives fast food"
miss you all!! if you want to text, please see george's comment on my last blog!!
love shawna
Here's a long one!
Well, i made it to elmina safe and sound. first of all, sorry for the no capitalization, but the shift button doesn't really work on this computer so i'm going to mostly skip it. i made it into accra on wednesday night (the 22nd0 and my friend Collins picked me up from the airport. Collins used to work with my dad, at the aluminum plant here in ghana, and i had met him when he stayed at our house when i was 7 years old. he is so nice, and was shocked that i'm taller than him now. haha! so he took me to my hotel, where i stayed for two nights, near his house. he took me to a delicious lunch of red-red, which is a popular ghanaian food made with beans in a sauce made of tomatoes, onions, palm oil, and something kinda spicy...and i'm sure some other ingredients...and then fried plantains, that you eat with the beans. they're a little red too, collins said it's because of the palm oil. it was DELICious. sorry, tried the capitals again, didn't work. on friday, a man name jojo picked me up to take me to elmina. i was going to take the bus, early in the morning, had my ticket and everything, but then i made some phone calls to tell people i had arrived, and jojo said to cancel my bus ticket because he was driving to accra anyways, so he would come get me. so that's what we did. he is very nice, just like everyone else in this country. everyone is so friendly and always trying to help me out.
i finally got to elmina around 5;30 pm, so it was almost dark (the sun sets at 6 here). ben, the headmaster of the school where i'm staying and working, greeted me and introduced me to a thousand people whose names i forgot instantly. then, someone shot an alligator across the street. seriously. everyone went over to see it, and he dragged it off with a mob of cheering kids following him. welcome to africa.
ben and mr. annan took me to see my room, which is huge!! a lot bigger than i expected. it is next door to his office, which has a toilet (a real toilet) and an area for my bucket shower. there is no running water though, so you flush the toilet with a bucket (sound familiar, travel buddies?) and i'm getting the hang of the bucket shower i think. yesterday my hair looked like there may have been an oil spill on it...i didn't do a very good job of rinsing. haha. today i think i got it though. we haven't had electricity since i got here, we were supposed to have it last night but it went out, so everyone has been going to sleep really early. but then again, everyone gets up around 5 or 5:30, so i guess that's the trade off. seriously, this morning i was going to go for a run, and the girls came to my room after i had woken up but before i had REALLY woken up, and said "why did you not go for your trot this morning?" and i said because i overslept, but COME ON it was 5:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tomorrow, i will go though, because as i was walking over here to the internet, a boy stephen (one of the students) walked with me and said he was going to go running with me but i didn't go. oops. didn't know i had a running buddy. so i will go tomorrow, and i'm sure stephen will kick my ass, it'll be more like a slow jog for him i'm sure.
the school is on vacation right now, for about two weeks until it starts again. every morning, ben teaches some vacation classes, though. i sat in on his english class yesterday. ben and his family live at the school, in a house right next to it, and there are some students (8, i think) living here too. all boys, in summer. so it's nice, i'm just gettting used to everything and meeting the people that i will be working with. i'm trying to learn some Fante, but so far all i know is akwaaba (welcome) and medasi(thank you). we walked into town yesterday, to meet ben's mom and his sister connie, and then i walked back with ben's son maxwell. maxwell is off at high school now (on a Tomorrow's stars scholarship), and he is VERY bright. it was great to talk to him, he speaks perfect english and was explaining a lot about ghana to me. he wants to become a doctor.
last night, i got to help make fufu, which is another traditional dish. fufu is like a dough when it's done, but it's such hard work!! you cook plantains and cassaba and then pound it all together. it's a little more complicated than that, but basically there is a giant mortar and the pestle is this 6-foot long stick, and you have to pound it really hard. it took a long time to make, and my arms were sore! but then you eat it, in a soup with fish. you eat with your hands. and, lucky me, i got the honor of being served the fish HEAD which i ate, to be polite, but i do not reccomend fish eyes. i felt like maybe i was on fear factor, like someone should be momentarily walking up to me with a chest of cash... but nope. anyways, it was very good. the soup was a little spicy, which i like, of course.
this morning, i was in the kitchen with three of the girls, and we were all eating our breakfast, when ben came back from church and said "i like that you are part of us!" and i said that i like it too! thank you!! that made me very happy. i was warned that i would be eating alone, that they would always serve me first (yes) and then leave me to eat alone, but so far i have always been eating with someone. i'm not sure if that's good or bad, but i like it! i think it may be because i don't know how to eat anything with my hands so they like to be there to laugh at me!! but i mean seriously, how do you eat soup with your hands. atleast i have some eating tutors.
last but not least, here's a nice sign for you all. i saw this one in tema, outside of accra; "Because He lives fast food"
miss you all!! if you want to text, please see george's comment on my last blog!!
love shawna
Monday, August 20, 2007
My Cell Phone!
Hi Everyone!!
One last thing before I leave tomorrow: I have a cell phone in Ghana, and texting costs the same as it does to text your friends here. It's 10 cents for me to send or receive international texts, and it should be the same for you! Check with your plan to make sure, but if you have unlimited texting, this should be included.
Here is my phone number:
+233(Ghana country code)-0249-824041
Don't forget to put your name at the end of your text though...I don't have all your numbers on the Ghanaian cell phone! Hope to hear from you all soon!
One last thing before I leave tomorrow: I have a cell phone in Ghana, and texting costs the same as it does to text your friends here. It's 10 cents for me to send or receive international texts, and it should be the same for you! Check with your plan to make sure, but if you have unlimited texting, this should be included.
Here is my phone number:
+233(Ghana country code)-0249-824041
Don't forget to put your name at the end of your text though...I don't have all your numbers on the Ghanaian cell phone! Hope to hear from you all soon!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Ghana Adventure is About to Begin!
Thank you all for supporting Tomorrow's Stars -- an organization creating educational opportunities for children in West Africa. As you all know, I am leaving very soon to do four months of volunteer work for Tomorrow's Stars in Ghana. Here are some details about my trip!
I will be in Africa from August 21st, until December 18th, 2007. I will be living in the small fishing village of Elmina, which is on the coast, to the west of the capital, Accra. One of my main contacts will be a man named Ben, who has been working with Tomorrow's Stars from the start. Ben is the headmaster of the primary school that Tomorrow's Stars funded and helped build -- Christ Cares School. Contrary to the name, neither I nor Tomorrow's Stars are doing any kind of missionary work: I hear that names like this are quite common in Ghana, and many people make lists of their favorite signs (like, "Blood of Christ Hair Care." Seriously.).
I will start out by meeting with Ben, who has generously arranged to let me live in the school until it starts up in a few weeks. They are putting windows and doors on "my" room as we speak! (The rest of the school does not have windows and doors yet.) I will be very busy trying to get to know everyone, and working on establishing relationships for the rest of my time. There are many, many educational projects in the area, both current and potential, so there will be no shortage of tasks to keep me busy.
The local language is "Fante," and English is the official language of Ghana, though I hear it is very different and takes awhile to get used to. Many people speak this Ghanaian English, and it is supposedly the language taught in schools, though this may just be in theory. Most people of older generations, and young people who are not educated, do not speak any English at all.
I am so excited to embark on this fantastic adventure! As always, if you have any questions or would just like to say hi, please email me! My address is spingucsd@hotmail.com, and I'd love to hear from you!! And if you would like to learn more about Tomorrow's Stars, go to the website. Their contact information is there, and they are some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.
Check back periodically -- I will be posting throughout my stay in Ghana....when there is electricity...
And thank you all so much for your support!!!!
I will be in Africa from August 21st, until December 18th, 2007. I will be living in the small fishing village of Elmina, which is on the coast, to the west of the capital, Accra. One of my main contacts will be a man named Ben, who has been working with Tomorrow's Stars from the start. Ben is the headmaster of the primary school that Tomorrow's Stars funded and helped build -- Christ Cares School. Contrary to the name, neither I nor Tomorrow's Stars are doing any kind of missionary work: I hear that names like this are quite common in Ghana, and many people make lists of their favorite signs (like, "Blood of Christ Hair Care." Seriously.).
I will start out by meeting with Ben, who has generously arranged to let me live in the school until it starts up in a few weeks. They are putting windows and doors on "my" room as we speak! (The rest of the school does not have windows and doors yet.) I will be very busy trying to get to know everyone, and working on establishing relationships for the rest of my time. There are many, many educational projects in the area, both current and potential, so there will be no shortage of tasks to keep me busy.
The local language is "Fante," and English is the official language of Ghana, though I hear it is very different and takes awhile to get used to. Many people speak this Ghanaian English, and it is supposedly the language taught in schools, though this may just be in theory. Most people of older generations, and young people who are not educated, do not speak any English at all.
I am so excited to embark on this fantastic adventure! As always, if you have any questions or would just like to say hi, please email me! My address is spingucsd@hotmail.com, and I'd love to hear from you!! And if you would like to learn more about Tomorrow's Stars, go to the website. Their contact information is there, and they are some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.
Check back periodically -- I will be posting throughout my stay in Ghana....when there is electricity...
And thank you all so much for your support!!!!
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