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Published: March 16th 2008
Hello again to everyone. Again I have been warned by my father about my bad spelling problem, so again I apologize for any mistakes I make. This week has proved very interesting. Since yesterday our house has had to endure a power outage...the first long one we've had since we arrived in Ghana. It turned off yesterday at 11a.m. and didn't return until today at noon. And no power = no fan or light. Last night we were very careful not to burn down the house with all the candles we lit, keeping them anchored in empty beer and Fanta bottles (not the most sturdy apparatus'). This morning the heat was so unbearable that many of us sought refuge yet again at the pool, which proved for a very relaxing afternoon. I also used FanIce as a means to cool myself down. For those of you who don't know, and I'm certain that is most of you, FanIce are packets of ice cream that are carried in small carts on wheels that men run around with, honking their second-hand bike horns hoping to find wearing oborunis, such as myself, in need of a sugar boost. They sell three flavors: vanilla (which
tastes like frosting), chocolate (which tastes like chocolate milk), and yogurt (an interesting yet refreshing combo of ice cream and yogurt). FanIce has become my savior in this country and I will forever hold a special place for it in my heart, that and the fact that it only cost 30 cents for one packet.
My Twi is becoming much better as time goes on. I've learned most of the introduction phrases and am trying to get the pronunciations correct. It is a very tonal language and if you say something on a "down" tone as opposed to an "up" tone, it may mean two very different things. I'm very good at saying things like, "Ouwra maakce" (o-ura ma-ache) which means "good morning sir." OR "wo ho te sen." which means "how are you?" These are very basic, but it makes me feel as though I'm really trying to integrate myself into the culture; and most Ghanaians are very appreciative that we as oborunis are making an effort to learn their language.
On Friday three of my housemates and I had a very exciting experience. As we were waiting to cross one of the major highways to get some groceries,
we realized that the other side of the highway was being blocked by policemen, and we very quickly realized that the president of Ghana lived right around the corner. As armored cars and men on motorcycles zoomed around the corners with flashing lights and sirens, we tried to guess which car the president would be in. It became obvious that he was probably in the only car with the Ghanaian flag attached to the front that rounded the corner at that moment; and as we peered through the semi-tinted windows of his vehicle we saw him turn and wave at us! The four of us had to do a double take to make sure that we all saw the same thing, but sure enough we all saw a distinct wave. We looked around to see if there was anything around us that may have provoked his acknowledgment, however, the only thing that stuck out was us: four very touristy looking oborunis in a mass of Ghanaians...therefore, we would like to assume that he was very much waving directly at us. Afterward, we all went home and bragged that we were now best friends with the president and everyone else was
very jealous to learn of our experience.
In addition to being star-struck, I actually did some very productive things this week. I finally received my internship through CIEE's Development Studies Track. For the next three months I will be working at a place called Today's Choices, which is a vocational school for teenage girls. Most of the girls at the school have been sexually or otherwise abused at some point in their lives as well as come from extreme poverty. The founders of Today's Choices are a reverend whom everyone calls Uncle Sammie and his wife who is conveniently named Comfort. Both of them are very dedicated to trying to help these young girls break the cycle of poverty by teaching them a skill such as cooking/catering, hair weaving and braiding, or sewing and seamstress work, so that they may graduate and start their own independent businesses instead of relying on the charity of others.
I will be teaching them English three days a week, something that I have never done and is a lot harder than I ever thought possible. In addition to that I will also be doing exercise with them, counseling girls who need someone to listen
to them and support them, and just be their friend, someone who they know cares about them and wants them to succeed. All 125 of them already call me Sister Kelsey and give me tons of hugs every time I come and go. However, after talking to Ophelia, a 13 year old girl in the hair braiding section of the school, and learning about how she neglects her hopes and dreams of studying science at the University of Ghana because her family can't even afford food, I became inspired to do as much as I can for these girls.
I would very much like to start a library for these girls so that they may practice and continue using the English that I teach them, as well as try to raise funds to buy a computer for the school so that some of them may learn to type. I'm not sure where to start or how to go about doing that, so if anyone has any ideas, resources or contacts for me, I would be most appreciative. This is most definitely not a guilt trip by any means and I don't want to sound preachy on any level, but if
Jordan being silly at Today's Choices
I learned that if you call someone 'silly' in Ghana, people take great offense...so really I should say this is Jordan being 'funny' not 'silly'anyone is looking for an opportunity like this or is interested in getting involved with this project, any of the following would be greatly appreciated:
Books of any sort
Medical supplies (Advil, Tylenol, Band aids, First Aid creams, etc.)
English teaching materials (flash cards, workbooks, lesson plans, etc.)
School supplies (pens, pencils, notebooks, paper, erasers, etc.)
Art supplies (paper, markers, colored pencils, etc.)
Absolutely anything else that you would like to contribute
Some of my peers and professors have suggested trying to set up book drives through schools and libraries back in the U.S., so if anyone is interested in setting something like that up, PLEASE send me a message through this blog or e-mail me at dalrymple@wisc.edu These girls really need all the help they can get in order to sustain lives for themselves, and I know that if any of you were to be put in my shoes you would feel the same way. OKAY...humanitarian note over, thanks for bearing with me.
On a lighter note, our CIEE group went on a day trip yesterday around Accra to the W.E.B. Du Bois center, the Kwame Nkrumah monument and the National Museum of Ghana. It proved very interesting
Stephanie striking a pose at Today's Choices
The three of us work together 3 days a week teaching English and becoming friends with the girls and I learned quite a bit of history about Ghana's political background and major figure-heads. I also had a field day at the National Museum due to the amount of lithics and pottery they had (what I sorted through all last semester), as well as the artifacts they had from the classical Greek and Roman ages (also what I studied all last semester). I went a little picture crazy (not knowing if picture-taking was really allowed), but come on they had the Chariot Winner from Delphi (a very famous statue that I've only seen pictures of in texts books)...was I really expected to not drool over that?! Okay okay, I realize I'm making myself sound utterly ridiculous. Anyway, I had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back and immerse myself in more of their artifacts.
That's really about it for this week. Thanks so much for reading!
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