valentines day

---

AN - That morning we walked to Reuben’s office. Mr. Adotai was taking us to the Odumase-Krobo to visit the Queen Mothers Association. Over the phone, Manye had told Reuben it was best if the girls (us) came to Krobo on Wednesday morning and return home later that afternoon. I was there when Reuben had called Manye. From what I could hear, there was something about Valentine’s Day being a day of celebration, United Way was going to be present and that Chantel and I should join in the festivities.

Both Chantel and I were not clear on what was going to happen that day, but we were both pumped to see Manye once again. The last time we saw her was during her visit to Vancouver in October, she was a speaker on the Focus on Africa Symposium. When we arrived at the village it was clear that they were building something and that there were a lot of oburni’s around helping out. Manye explained to us that every Valentine’s Day, United Way provides volunteers to help with whatever the Queen Mother’s need. Last year, the volunteers help build the local hospital. This year the volunteers are helping build the community complex. United Way also brought with them New Mont, a mining company that mines in Ghana. New Mont also provided some man power as well as supplies, such as water, concrete bricks, barrels and shovels, etc. All these volunteers, United Way and New Mont are here for only one day. When we asked Manye what happens when these people leave, Manye says, that the children help build the complex on Saturday, when they are not in school, and there will be a few hired help for the actual professional stuff.

Another interesting observation that Chantel and I made were that all the Queen Mothers wore t-shirts with logos and phrases from various organizations. It was clearly planned. The dates on some of the t-shirts were from various events from the past. There were t-shirts about today’s event. Manye was wearing one of them. The t-shirt had the United Way logo (the one with the hand and rainbow) with the words “Day of Caring” under the logo. Some of the other t-shirts said: World AIDS Campaign; AIDS Is Caused By A Virus, Discrimination Is Caused By Ignorance; Fight AIDS Not People With AIDS; Deutsche Bank - A World Of Opportunities; Ghana AIDS Commission; DARE and Life Health Foundation International.

The media was also present. There were the village local media to the national media. The different groups of media were equipped with a pad of paper and a pen, to a mic and tape recorder, to a camcorder. We saw that the people (we assumed) was in charge with each group was interviewed. That included Manye, a black women with an American accent that spoke for United Way and a white middle age man, also American spoke for New Mont.

After we were introduced to the Queen Mothers Collectively in a very informal way (Manye grab our hands and shouted among the other queen mothers, these are students from Canada, they know Sherri), hung around, watch people work and the human chain of people to pass buckets of water back and forth. Manye asked us to go with here to a school. So the next thing we were doing was climbing into the front seats of the Queen Mother’s van. We stopped at the school not far from where the building of the complex was taking place. On the side of the road was two furniture pieces. One was a file cabinet made of wood and the other one was a shelving unit/ottoman thingy. They were both clearly second hand, marked up with little scratches. Then these two female teachers came out of the school with a bunch of student. Once they saw the furniture, they ran with their arms wide open. They were so excited. By the time they came to us, they were both flushed with excitement and gratitude. They kept going to the few queen mothers that were represented, including Manye and thanking them. There were also a few moments when they came to thank Chantel and I, which was kind of awkward. Manye says that this school has some the children that live with and/or is cared by the queen mothers. However, the school also have other children from the community that is enrolled, therefore integrating the children into the community. The local news was also present. It consisted of Noah, a very large African man dressed in a t-shirt and denim overalls, holding a little tape recorder that had a very large microphone attached to it. The interviews were of Manye and (I believe it was) the head mistress of the school. Part way, Benjamin, a reporter from JoyFM did a little of translation for Chantel and I since, the interviews were taking place in Krobo language. The only part that was translated for us was when the head mistress was explaining how happy she was and that they had only put in a request for shelving units only two weeks ago.

So after the little presentation we all got back into the little van and proceeded to drive to a building to pick up ice. While waiting for the ice, one of the Queen Mother explains that this place is also a fish freezer building (which explains the smells we were experiencing) and that it was first started by women in1986. This story to me confirms how forward thinking the Queen Mothers are. They take a lot of pride in the women and girls in their community and work very hard to continue the development of strong, intelligent females.

Once we got the ice, we drove back to the sight of construction. When we arrived there, there was a crowd gathered around a group of children at various ages a dressed in their school uniforms. The children were singing and dancing in a circle. Some of the Queen Mothers joined in. Although the singing was sang in a Ghanaian language, we understood that is was very joyful and in high spirits. It was at this moment that Chantel and I looked at each other, and in silence we had both come to an agreement and understanding that we were meant to be here and that helping the Queen Mothers was what we both wanted and needed to do.

After the songs and dances, came the little presentations and speeches. The first to speak was Manye Ester. She spoke about thank both United Way and New Mont for helping with today’s event. She also thanked them for supplying the volunteers and materials. Manye, also spoke about what the community complex will do for the children and women and how it will help development intelligent successful children. The centre will be a resource centre for women and children and for programs to be carried out. Manye also spoke about the community as a whole and they do their best to integrate orphans and vulnerable children into the communities.

The next person to speak was a woman that represented United Way Ghana at this event. She was black, but had an American accent. She started saying that United Way was very please to be apart of this new project for 2007, the community complex centre will be a “place to develop our children”… “serve as computer centre”… “cultural centre.” The women kept stressing that United Way Ghana supports children in a “community approach.” She also explained that United Way is about helping communities help communities. The woman also spoke about the volunteers and helping out the community and thank you to the companies that join United Way for such a good cause. She said, “Queen Mothers help communities!” United Way and New Mont were there to help communities with the construction of this building. She finally ended with a “Children are the future,” statement.

The next person to speak was a representative of New Mont. He was white middle age-ish. I believe also from the US. He started to talk about that is was the 2nd day of Caring and it was important to be with the community and support communities where we (New Mont) work. He then explained that after the presentations, if the children had and questions or wanted to know how they could eventually work for New Mont, New Mont workers will be around available to help. Then he introduced a African man that was a geologist to talk about his profession with New Mont. The man came out and started talking about Geology and its study in science and then we started talking about the earth, minerals, how the children need to study science, the chemistry behind geology, what a geologist does, how to mine economically, what types of rocks goes to the laboratory… blah, blah, blah. Honestly, this man talked forever, it felt like longer then all the three previous speech prior. It was clear that he was passionate about his work, it was also clear that he was going off on a tangent.

As the presentations are going on there are a group of Queen Mothers that are sitting in a corner stringing beads to make bracelets.

Also going on during presentation is that handing out of little wrapped pieces of chocolates and a chocolate drink. Valentine’s Day in Ghana is also known as Ghana’s National Chocolate Day. We get handed a chocolate drink served in reusable, beaten up plastic mugs. I give Chantel the “don’t you dare drink this… Hep A!!!” look. I had watched the entire time when they were preparing the drink during the geologist droning. The Queen Mothers transported about 8 litres of water by a cooler (one of those coolers you take camping) and pours it into a large metal bucket, then they added the chocolate mix to the water and stirs it was a giant wooden paddle, that looks like it’s been in the family since the birth of Christ, and then they add those huge block of ice that we had gone to pick up earlier. It was quite frightening watching this all happen; I thought to myself, ‘Omigod, they are going to serve it to me, what am I going to do?’ Well they did serve it to us and after a bunch of fake sips and smiles, we were able to give one cup to a Queen Mother that was waiting to be served and with the other cup, we threw it’s content into the dirt behind us.

Once the geologist was done speaking the middle-age, white, male representative returns and continues to talk about community. He spoke about adding value to community health and health initiatives.

Finally when all the speeches were made, New Mont handed out little boxes for the children. We guess that the boxes contained chocolates. It was interesting to watch the children receive the boxes. Unlike the other children that we had encountered in Accra and Legon, these children was much more reserve, quite and shy. The collected their box and proceeded to open them. Most of the children did not eat or play with the contents in the box; they opened it, looked at their gift and proceeded to gingerly close the box and retie the string that it came with.

The children’s reaction to us was with curiosity and respect. None of them tried to communicate with us. There were no smiles towards us, except for one little boy. Before this day, all the children that we saw or met were really… rambunctious. Not shy at all, very vocal and made sure they got out attention. It was interesting to compare their demeanour.

Observing the volunteers that came with United Way, most of them were white, and middle age or older. There were a few younger volunteers, closer to our age. One lady came up to a Queen Mother and handed her a bad full of rubber gloves. While eavesdropping, I heard two volunteers of United Way talk about how today was a good day, that they were actually doing something, and how they wish everyday was like today.

Then came more building materials, three trucks of cement(?) blocks/bricks. Some volunteers went to unload, others watched to see what was next to be done. After about 30 mins since the arrival of those trucks, the volunteers gather around to receive the bracelets that the Queen Mothers were making earlier. Once they receive their bracelets, they get on a big bus (size of one of those greyhound ones) and leave.

The children soon leave as well, and return to classes.

It is now only the Queen Mothers and Chantel and I.

Then, a few men in traditional African clothing arrive. There are three men in total. The one in the middle carries a scepter and has one of the men next to him carry and umbrella that shields him from the sun. Both Chantel and I think: This must be the chief. So, the three men come and they sit with the Queen Mother. Manye stands and talks in a traditional Ghanaian language. It looks like she is explaining the day’s events. After about 25 minutes of this, she turns to us and says, “Come.” We walk over and she introduces us to the man representing the Chief. Currently, the Chief is in the US. We say hello, and tell him how long we’ve been in Ghana and how much longer we plan to stay. Then we have a short conversation (in front of everyone), that we do not need to receive bracelets today, that instead throughout our stay with them, we will receive tons of bracelets, enough to wear all over, our necks, wrist and even our waist. We reply with an okay, and every starts to laugh. Chantel and I come across this a far bit. We don’t know if they are laughing, because they are happy with the idea and are welcoming us, or simply they are just laughing at us and our foolishness. After the laughter we sit back down, observe, trying to understand, as if we are watching a foreign film with out any subtitles.

Once the Chief and his subjects leave, we got to Manye to let her know that we too must leave. We also give her our little tokens of appreciation: an envelope of 200 000 cedis (half from Chantel and I, and the other half from Reuben) and a box of maple cookies that I bought at London Drugs to represent a Canadian gift. Manye discusses with us about returning and how we can stay over night if we like. She says, “You can stay in my apartment.” If was funny for me to hear her call her home an “apartment”. We thank her and head to Reuben’s awaiting driver. It was a long day and we were thankful for the car.

---