Sickness and Poverty... but that's just us

This entry will be the condensed version of my 11-page written journal entry, ok? haha

Echo, the boy with cerebral palsy that I'm working with has shown some real improvements already... he never used to be able to lie on his stomach and push himself up but now he can, and he's a lot more lively than he was before. It's really cool, and I'm not the only one to notice. Yaw on the other hand, took a bit of a turn recently but is doing ok now. The other day there was a teacher from Canada visiting, who had matched some of the older kids with a class of kids back home for penpals. Of course I was excited about this because I have a penpal here who I've even met up with a couple of times, and I helped one boy, Ebenezer, write his letter to Noah in Canada. Noah asked if Ebenezer likes pickles (his favorite food), but these kids have never seen a pickle before, lol.. I suggested he ask what Noah likes to do during the day and say what he likes, and he wrote "I like to sweep, wash the bowls, and fetch water." hmm.

We planned a going away bash for some of the girls who are leaving, and went to Accra on friday night. We stayed at the YMCA and had the whole place to ourselves with our own kitchen, living room, and wraparound porch with a view. As we packed into a taxi and crammed our way over there, I was sitting on Pippa from England's lap and my entire left leg fell asleep so that when I got out of the taxi my legs just came out from under me and I tripped and fell twice and couldn't even put my flip flop on after it came off.. laughing our heads off the whole time, ahh, such a wierd feeling. That night, we actually got dressed up and actually put makeup on and actually went to a nice restaurant! We met some girls from Holland doing an internship for their master's, and went to a sports/karaoke bar called Champ's. That morning I had thrown up my breakfast and was pretty tired but I managed to hold out until about 2 am nonetheless haha. We got up and sang "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" to the crowd and got some good applause, haha. it was so much fun. The next day I went to the craft market with some of the girls and there was lots of beautiful things for sale, and I bought a painting. For some reason my VISA wasn't working so I didn't have much to last me the rest of the weekend and felt a little guilty about the purchase.. but oh well, I got it for 10 cedis instead of 30. There was a group of guys that brought us to a drum shop and taught us how to play a jembe, and they gave a pretty sweet demonstration.

We got back and cooked up a yummy dinner, but I threw that up too. The only thing I was able to hold down was a bar of Kingsbite Ghanaian chocolate, mm. That night, I went to bed but most of the girls stayed up to play charades. At 2 am I'm woken up by Olivia from the US saying that they had to take Gizelle from England to the hospital after she was convulsing and her hands turned blue from being so cold. Initial tests ruled out malaria and they didn't know what it could be, but it was critical. They had taken her to a really crappy hospital where they tried to weigh her when she was unconscious ("Uh, it won't be the right measurement if we have to hold her up") so they took her to a nice western clinic where she was taken care of, and later discovered that it was in fact malaria. The next morning, I borrowed some money to go back to Ofaakour to call the insurance company for her and make sure she was covered. I packed up my stuff (including the cooking pot we brought that didn't fit in my bag, and a frying pan) and caught a taxi to the tro-tro station. Along the way, the driver asked if I would marry him. I said, "You'll have to ask my dad for permission, but its 4am where he is and he wouldn't be very happy" haha.. then somehow changed the subject. Then in another taxi, I sat next to a guy in a suit, drinking a juicebox, asking me if I've been "born again" and he insisted he would have someone track me down and take me to his church. um, thanks?

When everything was sorted out, I got some more money and made my way back to Accra and visited Gizelle in the hospital. Without getting too personal, it was pretty scary to see her condition and I sure hope I don't end up in the same boat. She's now back home but still recovering. I stayed for a while and then left to make my way to Tema to visit Irene again! When I got there, I didn't recognize where I was so I handed my phone to a lady selling cabbages and she talked to Irene and told her where I was. My battery died, and she called over her friends to see if their battery or SIM card could be swapped with the obruni's, while I sat amongst the cabbages trying to explain what my braces were for. Irene showed up minutes later with her sister Lauretta, and they were beautifully dressed in their Ghanaian outfits. We taxied to their cozy little one-room house and I met their brother Jonathan. We watched soccer on tv and I doodled on their computer, while we charged my battery. Irene and I went to dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant and met up with her ex-boyfriend (an obruni guy born in Sierra Leone, lived in Lebanon, moved to the Ivory Coast and then Ghana for 7 years), and a South African friend, Chris, who was very nice and offered to pay for the meals. We drove back to the hospital and Irene (who had met Gizelle before) came to see her, and then drove me and Sophie from Sweden (who wasn't feeling well herself) all the way back home.. and we didn't get lost!

On monday, after spending time at the orphanage, I took Miriam (one of the Ghanaian girls living in the hostel, 15 years old) to Accra to see Gizelle. We stayed at the hospital for about an hour before we continued onto Nyamekye, a community where Miriam used to live but hasn't seen since she left 5 months ago. She lives in the hostel with her family while they're building a house in Kasoa. It was fun to meet all her old friends and see where she used to go to school, and how much the community has changed in such a short time (for example, a church went up near her school). They were excited to see Miriam and her obruni friend. When I leave Ghana I'm going to give Miriam my phone, so she got some of her friends' numbers on it but they keep calling me now haha. Yesterday they needed me at the orphanage so I couldn't go back with her, so I just gave her some money to go by herself.

Some more little things to mention:
- Guatemala had dogs. Ghana has GOATS. So many cute garbage-eating goats.
- The difference between how Guatemalans and Ghanaians carry their babies on their backs is that in Ghana they always have the feet sticking out.. I've walked around the orphanage with a few myself, heh. And I've never changed so many diapers in my life.
- The only time I've ever felt even slightly threatened here in Africa is when a drunk guy came up to me and Irene when we were catching a taxi and he was asking for money and grabbing at me, and when I got in the taxi he grabbed my hair and we were like, "drive!" and he got off with a chunk of my hair, lol. Irene was so apologetic but she was yelling at him in Twi for me, heh.

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Part of trip: Ghana

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