Blogs from Volta, Ghana, Africa - page 11

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Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 13th 2008

Woke up today at 7:30 for breakfast. We sat around most of the morning and decided to skip teh mountain climb. We walked to the town closest to PML and visited Jahwill's friend Zacki Devine, a rasta. He lives by the river surrounded by palm trees with his rasta wife and rasta son, Zacki. We pretty much sat around there all afternoon. They gave us fresh pineapple (delicious!) and Zacki taught us an African board bgame that I'm planning on buying to bring home. They treated Rebecca's bug bites with REAL aloe vera plants and gave us fresh avocadoes when we left. I've noticed at most places we've visited that if the women do visit with guests at all it is for a very short period of time. They continually work. I also noticed that although ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 12th 2008

Woke up ready to go to Paradise Mountain Lodge with British Rebecca, Matt, and Emily. Found out in the morning that Jahwill and Henry would be joining us. We all crammed in to one taxi and started our way to PML. We stopped at a casket shop in Hohoe that was actually really cool. They make caskets here in any shape or design, all around $300.00 When we finally arrived at PML I was floored by the insane view. You can see for miles and miles. After we sat around for awhile Jahwill took us on a "hike" to a secret waterfall. This was no ordinary hike. We basically walked through crazy jungle terrain (thorns, poisonous plants, etc) for 45 minutes. We finally arrived at the waterfall and it was so serene and peaceful. We were ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 11th 2008

Woke up and went to Christ. I taught the oldest class. We talked about vowels, addition, and subtraction. I was so surprised to see that although the kids are 8 and 9 years old, they still count with their fingers and toes. We colored and I showed them a picture of my house. No matter how hard I tried to explain I don't think they understood the concept of snow. I got two packages today which was actually really exciting. One included a baseball and two baseball gloves so we played catch for a long time in the afternoon. I went to the market with Emily in the afternoon and bought some fabric. Even though everything is super cheap here it's weird how fast you can run out of money. I stayed in at night (here ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 10th 2008

Woke up and went to Christ which was a lot of fun today. I let the kids play with my hair which left it pretty disgusting and dirty. In the afternoon I went to Jahwill's with Teal, Matt, and Diana. We helped him take down his store because of the rain which was actually a lot of work. I can't believe he does that every morning and night. He took us to a different village with secluded waterfalls which was about 20 minutes past Christ Orphanage. When we arrived we were informed that we were all supposed to bring a bottle of gin to the chief for use of the waterfalls because we were white. When Jahwill told them we didn't have gin they wanted $2.00 each from us. Jahwill fought with them for over half ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 9th 2008

Woke up and went to Christ. I was really excited to go. Easy day there and it went really fast. We sang a song that goes, "1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Pouding fufu near the door. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Lunch is ready don't be late." Makes absolutely no sense and doesn't rhyme, but I love it. Where in America would you hear a song about pounding fufu? It's really cute, especially since they have no idea what they are saying. I got another package today (thanks Mom!) which was sooo exciting, especially since it wasn't expected. For lunch I tried banku for the first time. It was awful and it tasted like an Asian delicacy I once had in America. It's kind of like a sticky rice/jello texture with absolutely no taste but a ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 8th 2008

Nothing good to say about Monday as I was throwing up all day. It's awful to feel that sick in a foreign country. It makes you really homesick. On Tuesday morning I woke up feeling a little bit better but decided not to go to Christ as they don't even have a toilet there. I laid in bed all morning and surprisingly felt a little bit better by the time everyone got back. We sat around in the afternoon and I ran errands all day after that, probably walking five or six miles in the blazing sun. After errands we ate at home base with no power. A bunch of us decided to walk to the internet, over a mile away, and then realized when we got there that the town doesn't even have power. AHHHH!!! ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 6th 2008

Woke up super early to a rooster crowing a million times. It was so close to our room I literally thought the rooster was inside. I fell back asleep on the porch for a few hours. Played with Ayi in the ocean again today and a woman named Joyce of Africa came back. She is FABULOUS and old, but doesn't like the sun because she says it makes her appear too old looking. She also loves to be gawdy because you've "only got so much time to be gawdy." Weather was complete sun today. One unexpected thing I love: bucket showers. It's oddly refreshing to shower outside. I also forgot to mention that yesterday a cop let me carry around his AK47!!! I jokingly asked if I could hold it and he responded, "Okay!" Wow. We ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 5th 2008

We went to Christ in the morning where they had a long ceremony for Malissa and Michelle as it was both of their last days at the orphanage. It was really sad. The older kids cried when they realized that they were leaving and not coming back. I got my first package today (thanks Jean!) and FIVE letters! The cheese popcorn is already gone and the Coke Zero is refrigerating as I write. It was super exciting and a huge spirit lifter as today was a really hard day with everyone leaving. It's really strange how close you get to people when you are surrounded by them litererally 24 hours a day. A new group comes tomorrow morning but we won't be around for them as we will be in Kokrobite. We said our goodbyes and ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 5th 2008

Woke up (sleeping on the floor...gross!) after the concierge called three times before 7:00. We finally left for Kokrobite and faced awful traffic when leaving Accra. When we did arrive to Big Milly's Backyard, I must say that I was not impressed. The ocean was filthy and our room stunk like pee, but hey, it's Africa! We hit the beach immediately and I played with a rasta's son named Ayi. We played in the ocean and he repeated absolutely everything I said. The weather was cloudy but being this close to the equator you tan anyways. When we ate dinner I met a guy from England who is travelling from France all the way down to South Africa and will be climbing five mountains and running five marathons on the way to raise money for charity. ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 5th 2008

Woke up and ran to the post office to deliver postcards. Today at Christ Linda saw me and immediately recognized me! She tried to say my name which was a big improvement. The housemother yelled at her because she thought Linda was bothering me so I yelled at the housemother to leave her alone. Emmanuel pooped all over himself again today. It's really depressing to watch these kids do that to themselves and not even realize anything is wrong. We don't even find out it happened until we realize the massive amount of flies covering the kids. Today I learned how to say "You are beautiful" in Ewe and I told Patience, a 7 year old girl who takes care of the rest of the kids that she is beautiful. She smiled really big and covered ... read more




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