Swedru; an eye-opening experience

Written by Caitlin Stamford - GapBreak Ghana, 2009

I have arrived in Agona Swedru, so just a quick recap on the rest of our orientation in Accra. We have now finished our orientation, which was really good. We had a day of African drumming and dancing (I failed at dancing, the teacher kept singling me out because I was so bad).

Then we talked to our in-country agent about cultural issues and what our host families will expect and what they will be like. There are lots of things to remember, like we can never, ever use our left hand for interacting with other people (shaking hands, passing things, hailing a taxi etc also eating) because this is their 'toilet hand' (they do not have toilet paper).

The next day we were in for our cooking lessons. We split into groups and together made a meal of Ghanain food. The amount of oil (almost always palm oil) is so ridiculous. My group made red-red which is a stew-thing made with tomatoes and fish and beans, and the only liquid in it apart from a tiny bit of water was oil. Eww...

After we ate our delicious meal (and washed off the puddles of oil on our plates) we headed off to Agona Swedru to meet all our families.

On the way there, we passed many tiny villages. This was when I really started to appreciate what poverty really means. It is so unfair and so crippling and impossible to fix without major, major social and technological changes. These people are just people, like everyone, but born into circumstances that are absolutely impossible to get out of. We are so lucky. I really appreciate that now.

We drove around Swedru and the areas just outside of it to see where everyone lived. Swedru is huge, its a major city, with all the things Accra had but noticeably more run-down. The smell isn't nearly as bad, though, which is nice. Everyone calls out 'Obruni! Obruni' all the time, and the children are so excited to see us. We all feel like celebrities here, just because of where we were born.

My family is really lovely. I am actually living on the compound of the school, so Julie and I just have to walk out of our house and up the steps to be in the classroom. Our host mother, Aunty Mary, is elderly and very accommodating. She has had lots of volunteers before. There are two older girls (20s) who are also really nice, and two younger girls (10) and a teenage guy (15). They mostly keep to themselves and leave us to ourselves unless we ask them a question. They are all busy all the time, so it is hard to make conversation. Our room is big, painted blue and the beds are lumpy and hard and smell odd but we are so tired it doesn't really matter. The shower works, except when the water is turned off, and the toilet flushes. The food is served in HUGE proportions, and they get worried and confused when we can't eat it all. Nobody eats together in Ghana, you are just left to eat alone. I haven't seen much of the house, there are many doors all of which are closed. It is a bit of a maze.

There are chickens (and roosters who start making sounds at 5 in the morning when everyone else gets up) and two very, very small cats. All the cats here are very small. It must be the breed.

Today we caught a taxi into Swedru (it takes about 10 mins) and then met up with Seth (our in-country agent here in Swedru) about an hour after he said he would come. He then took us to the orphanage. When we arrived, all of the kids (about 50) came running towards us and jumped all over us. They are so adorable. All of them have huge eyes and when they smile or sleep they are just so loveable. Their plight is horrendous. The orphanage does the best they can, but they do not have enough money for so many children. The oldest kid is 14 and the youngest is 6 weeks! There are many under the age of 4. All of the others look after the younger ones. There was an 8 year old girl who had taken a 1 year old under her wing. He was not related to her. The smaller ones are not toilet trained, so many of us left smelling like urine. They all just want to be touched, all the time. Even the 1 year olds grab your arms when you are carrying them and pull you even closer, like an instinct. There are different buildings opening out onto a main courtyard, where there is some dodgy playing equipment and dirt. Most of the buildings have the names of previous volunteers painted on them, because they donated the money and built them themselves. They have dormitories, a nursery, a small school and a church.

The people who work at the orphanage are all women. We helped them today while the kids were in school, carrying sleeping children and washing the beds with dettol and doing the laundry (of which there were huge piles) by hand. We are going back tomorrow and then all of next week. After that, we will probably go once a week.