Written by Phoebe Copeland - GapBreak 2009 Ghana
The Sunday before last I attended my first Ghanaian church service.
Imagine... you are wearing two singlets, and a long skirt past your knees in 30 plus heat surrounded by 100 other ghanians (men on one side and women on the other) and your basically standing up- clapping, singing and dancing in a foreign language for 3 and a half hours..... Fun ? Well ill let you decide - It was certainly an experience.
Half way through the service my gorgeous host sister Rita wrote me a note saying " Prasie and give thanks to the lord and sit when you are tired" - in which georgie and i sat immediatly after reading. But on a serious note church was amazing and very entertaining.
Then on Monday (27/4) it was our first day at the Nyamekye (Namichi) orphange - which is a 20 min tro-tro ride from Swedru --- or 1 hour if a) there is a blown tyre, B) a misscommunication with the driver and you end up at the wrong orphange an hour away (that was akward) or c) engine complications in which the tro-tro cant get out of first gear and bunnyhops to the nearest 'mechanic' --- All of which we have experienced.
NOTE: Basically a tro-tro is a van type vehicle that looks like a piece of tin on wheels which rattles through every pothold and speedbump. Although the speedbumps are made of dirt so that the cars have worn down a tyre track in the bump that completely defeats the purpse of the speed detterent in the first place.
But dont get me wrong we get to our destination in one piece (almost) , generally ghana time ( an hour late) and have managed to pay a minimal fee - around 70 pesowas = 70 cents for 30 mins.
NOTE: Still not used to the cars driving on the opposite of the road - crossing the street is quite a challenge and gets me eveytime.
So.. the orphange was on a rather large piece of land where there is a wooden building for cooking next to a concrete dinning hall. Then there is the main dormitory separated into boys and girls of bunk beds and plastic matresses and the office of "Madam" and then a few classrooms built by past volenteers which they have painted and labelled their name and country.
For the first day we just played and cuddled the children but for the past two weeks we have been doing a range of daily jobs from washing clothes and dishes, cleaning dormitory's, sweeping, mopping and folding clothes, while the boys have been building a wall.
Despite this work it is often very disheartening to return an hour later or a day later to find much of your work is more or less the same as it were before the job.
Many of the children are sadly malnourished - they have thin legs, arms and necks but very swollen hard belly's. If you ever got a snack our of your bag or some water you would quickly find yourself mauled by the children.
Most to all the kids are not toilet trained. The older ones go and wee in the garden or on the ground (even though there are toilets) while the youngers one can not control themselves and go anywhere anytime. I have been weed on several times.
Also many of the clothes and beds smell like urine---- its situations such as these that come to make you feel truly blessed for the kind of lifelsyle you have lead.
At the end of each day at the orphange you feel completely and utterly drained - both emotionally and physically.
The Reward? when a child smiles, stops crying or falls asleep in your arms- as above all else, they just want love and affection.
So from monday to friday we worked at the orphanged and after had an hour of drumming lessons. Then on wednesday we had our first obruni meeting where all the while people in Swedru gather. There were around 10 other obrunis and ourselves. It is a good place to organise our weekend trips.
Then last friday we left the orphange and went straight to Winneba for our first weekend away. Winneba is a 30 min tro tro ride south of swedru on the coast. On the first weekend in May Winneba hosts the annual deer hunting festical - Aboakyir - in which there are four teams, red, yellow, white and blue who leave Winneba on Saturday morning around 5am to the bush and return only once one of the teams has caught an antelope. Then on sunday they sacrifce the antelope in the streets.
During this time the streets of winneba are alive with music, food and games. The festival is 300 years old and the biggest in all of Ghana. When it first began the men chased another human and sacrificed him, then it moved to a lion and now it is an antelope....
Despite going to Winneba for this prestigious festival we manage to miss both peaks as they infact caught the deer so fast they sarcficed it on saturday... much to our dissapointment. But we still had a fantastic time in Winneba- we went to a very nice hotel called Lagoon lodge- with a beautiful view of the mountains- where almost all the obrunis in winneba where staying.
The lodge had a fantastic restuarent which was also good. We strolled along the beach and enjoyed the festival by night where a few of us scored free t-shirts. However the beach at winneba was very dangerous and even us strong Aussie swimmers could not brave it. Althougth this coming weekend we plan to travel to Cape Coast the largest city in the central Region of Ghana and can hopefully swim there.
Next Tuesday we begin our teaching placement at our schoool. Luckily for Georgie and I we live at the school- i can jump from our back door step to the creviced of the school which is quite convenient.
My family are fantastic here and georgie and i love going home to them at the end of the day to play cards with our sisters and teach them songs.
I am healthy and happy- hope all is the same wherever this finds you.
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