A day in the life...

Each morning I am awakened sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 by roosters, music, yelling, thunder, my host family, or all of the above. Being the great sleeper I am, however, I usually manage to stay in bed until 7:00. Here is my room:

Froukje and I eat breakfast together then head off to the babies home. It is about a 10 minute walk on this road:
On the way home in the afternoon, we stop and buy bread and fruit for lunch (which we eat with peanut butter and jam or honey). After resting (usually waiting for the rain to stop) we walk to town, about a 25 minute walk, or a 20 cent taxi ride. We head back to the Babies home for the afternoon shift between 3:30 and 4:00 and must leave again by 6:00 to make it home by dark. And when I say dark, I mean REALLY dark. Our family provides dinner for us, and we spend the rest of the evening reading, learning Twi and watching TV (if the power is on). I am usually asleep again by 9:30.

Here is my house:

It has both electricity and running water...Sometimes. The power shuts off at least once a day, usually for hours, and sometimes doesn't come back on until the next morning. Running water is even less dependable. When it works, we have a bathroom with a sink, flushing toilet, and a working bathtub. When it doesn't, we have a bathroom with a bowl, a broken toilet, and a bucket of water to bathe. Sometimes it's just easier to shower outside.

This picture (that's Froukje with me, by the way) was taken after we had walked home and got caught in the rain, so we grabbed the soap and showered outside. I think it was the cleanest I've been in a month...

It rains a lot- usually twice a day. When it rains, it pours, and everything floods. This is the street to our house in a daily rainstorm.
Needless to say, my shoes have taken on a pretty serious mud-red tint.

One of the best things about traveling by bus in this country is that you can do all of your daily shopping out of the bus window.
It is possible to buy anything from fruit, bread, corn, and water to toilet paper, toothpaste, belts, and soap. And everything in between. It is incredible to watch these women (almost always women) carry buckets of drinks on their heads and a baby on their backs, making transactions through a window above their heads as the bus pulls away.

Some people have asked about religion in Ghana. It is primarily Christian, with a strong Muslim influence in the north. Mampong is almost entirely Christian, mostly Baptist, Presbyterian, and Charismatic (which is what my family is). I attended part of a Baptist service in Kumasi the first weekend I was here, which was conducted in Twi (so I understood none of it). I have not yet gone to church with my family because we have been traveling every weekend, but I definitely want to do that soon.

Thanks for all the comments!

The Babies Home

While I have internet access, I want to do my best to explain the Babies home and try to post some pictures.

There are 39 children living in the home right now, ranging from 2 months to 4 years old. Unlike a typical orphanage, most of these kids are "half orphans": they have some family to return to when they are 4, but their mother either died, went to jail, went crazy, or doesn't have enough money to care for the child. So the Babies home takes them in and raises them until they are developed and socialized enough to "help instead of hurt the family", as they say.

The kids are loosely divided into three groups: infants (completely dependant), toddlers (walking but not potty trained), and the big kids (everyone else). I work mostly with the infants and toddlers during the day, while the big kids are at "school" (which simply seems to be another empty building in which they play). The schedule for the smaller children is a bit monotonous. When we arrive between 7:30 and 8:00 we change them out of their pajamas and "diapers" and move them from their cribs to a mat covered with a sheet on the floor.

Note: I use the word "diaper" here in the loosest sense possible. It is actually a piece of cloth (by no means soft or specifically designed for this purpose) folded inside a piece of plastic we tie around their waists. Needless to say, this method is almost completely ineffective (bringing a whole new meaning to the word "nappy" for me!). Once the infants are on the mat, we use only a cloth as a diaper (even less effective) and the toddlers run free, using the floor as often as necessary. Luckily the "guy with the mop" comes around about this time....

Then we wait. In the traditional Ghanian way, breakast at 8 frequently means breakfast at 9:30 or even 10. When the food finally arrives, we feed to infants one by one by bottle and the toddlers drink the same stuff out of cups. This, I think, is very impressive. These children can harldy walk and regularly pee on the floor, but they can drink out of an open cup with very little trouble.

We then bathe them one by one in the sink, dress them again in diapers and pajamas, and put them back in bed. Sometimes this takes until 12, so we finish and go for lunch, but usually we are done by 10:30 or 11:00 and are faced with the choice to sit around (as there seems to be nothing to do, even if we ask) or leave and sit at home instead. The afternoon runs similarly to the morning, with a bit more time in the cribs and no baths.

This schedule implies 2 things: 1. the infants and toddlers only eat twice a day and 2. they never go outside. Their entire world consists of 2 rooms, a hallway, and a bathroom for the toddlers (potty training involves making them sit on small pots on the floor of the bathroom twice a day until they 'do something' then returning them to diapers and their cribs). Whenever possible, I carry the children outside and we are working on being able to put the mat outside in the morning instead of on the floor of the same room.

The women who work at the Babies Home are very harsh with the children, which is frequently very difficult to watch and even harder for me to bite my tongue, but it is simply a cultural difference. There are no toys or books out for the children, either in the home or at the school. They entertain themselves with each other, sticks, and anything they pick up off the floor. The sad thing is that I have seen 2 locked storage rooms full of donated toys. Likewise, their clothes are ripped and dirty, and I have seen boxes of new clothes that aren't being used. There is not much I can do about that, so our solution so far is to take toys with us (bubbles, chalk, stickers), use them, and carry them home again. We are also trying to reorganize their clothes storage system, so hopefully we will be able to incorporate some new clothes into that.

One project I do want to undertake is installing a bookshelf of books in the school and hopefully setting up a story time with the big kids each day. I will let some people know when I am ready for donations of that variety. It is certainly not my place to change the way the Babies Home is run, but I am doing my best to help the children and leave a positive mark.

There is so much more to tell, but that will have to do for now. It takes about 10 minutes to post pictures, but I will post as many as my time allows. First is the market picture I was unable to post lost time, then a few from the Babies Home.

Here are the babies on the mat in the morning.

An adventurous weekend

I am sorry it has been so long since I have been able to post. The internet in Mampong is broken, so we had to wait to travel to the bigger town of Kumasi to find a cafe that works. Thank you all for your comments and emails ( and enormous packages of food...) they mean a whole lot to me down here.

This weekend, Froukje (the Dutch girl I live and work with) and I travelled to the Mole National Park. We left Thursday night intending to take a 6-hour busride to Tamale scheduled to arrive around midnight. The bus left 3 hours late then broke down 2 hours into the trip. We were confidently told that someone had called Kumasi and another bus would be there to pick us up and finish the journey shortly. 8 hours later, we were still sitting on a broken down bus. When the sun came up Friday morning, Froukje and I left the broken bus and grabbed a tro-tro to a nearby town, found a bus going in the right direction, and got to Tamale just in time to catch the bus to Mole (we were supposed to have almost a full day in Tamale first). On the way to Mole (a 4-6 hour drive) our headlights stopped working, so we stopped for about an hour to try to fix them, couldn't, so drove on without lights. On a very dark night, on a very winding and extremely poorly kept dirt road. What an adventure. 32 hours after leaving Mampong (17 waiting and 15 moving) we finally got to the park!

Mole is the most touristed spot in Ghana, and there were not many people there. The tourist industry is very new in Ghana, and they definitly have a long way to go, but there is alot of potential! We took a safari walk and saw lots of babboons, warthogs, guinea fowl, bushbucks, and even a few elephants. Other than that, however, there is not much to do at the only place to stay in the park.

Travelling home was a bit easier- we were lucky enough to meet a group of Americans studying in Accra that had chartered a bus to Mole, so we caught a free ride with them back to Kumasi! It was a good thing too, because after having to pay to get there twice, Froukje and I were VERY clost to running out of cash! It was a great weekend though. I am not home yet, so I don't have pictures to post of this, but I'm afraid the animal pictures won't compare much with the ones we took in Tanzania last summer.

Our adventure this weekend seems to be common travelling practice around here. I have learned that if you really need to be somewhere on a certain day, allow 2 to get there!

Many people have asked about the weather here. So far, it is extremey similar to August in Virignia. It gets very hot during the day, but always rains and the rain usually cools it off for a very pleasant evening and morning. We are in the rainy season right now, in a few months it will get hotter (yikes!) and very dry. The daily thunderstorms are incredible. The thunder rolls for minutes because there is nothing to block the sound! It's beautiful.

Well, I survived my first week in Mampong. I am really struggling with what to post; I want to tell you everything because everything is new and different! And before I forget, here is my mailing address if you feel the need to send me anything:

Richard Frimpong

Box 367

Mampong, Ash

West Ghana

AFRICA

I will start with some basics. I eat a lot of bread (perhaps breadsticks from Olive Garden was not a smart last meal in the states...?!) Breakfast is bread and tea, lunch is bread and fruit. Dinner is usually rice or noodles or yams (like potatoes) with a vegetable or meat sauce or concoction of some variety. The jar of peanut butter I brought is definitly getting good use already. I am hoping to find some jams this weekend to make the bread a bit more exciting.

The official language in Ghana is English. Everything else, therefore, is called a "dialect". the dialect in this area is Twi. I would call it more of a foriegn language than a dialect....I can't understand a word of it. I am getting some books to try and learn it, it is difficult not to understand what most people are saying. Anybody with an education can also speak English, but it is not their first language, and not many people are educated (including those who work at the babies home). It would also be nice to be able to communicate with the children better.

Wednesday is market day in Mampong. If it works, there should be a picture here of the market. It is a great experience (much more calm in Mampong than in Kumasi) and things are very cheap!

I live for about 2 dollars a day- that pays for lunch and water and sometimes a snack in the afternoon. A tro-tro (vaguely defined as any vehicle moving between towns stuffed with as many people as possible for a very cheap price) from Kumasi to Mampong is about 85 cents. It takes an hour.

My family is very nice. They seem to be very well off, with running water and TVs. There are always lots of people in the house, and the tv is Always on! Again if it works, here is a picture of Richard (dad), Mavis (mom) and Rejoice (2 year old daughter).

In Twi, which day of the week you are born is very important. They actually give you a name depending on your day. Everyone asks me, so if anybody knows what day of the week I was born, could you please let me know...I look foolish when I don't know the answer!

The babies home definitly needs help, but I have not decided on an exact project yet. There is a small school for the older children with no books in it, so that might be an option. However I have seen that mostof what is donated to the home goes in closets and is never used, so I want to make sure whatever I contribute gets use! I will keep you posted on what I decide to do.

That is all for now! I hope the pictures work.

Finally in Mampong

First, I would like to share a first-time experience: I have not seen another American since I got onto the plane to Accra in London. In all of the traveling I have done, I have never been the only American, no matter how remote or how small the group. The other volunteers with child aid right now include 3 from Holland and 2 from Tasmania. The 6 of us are the only white people I have seen since arriving in Accra. Incredible.

I feel like I have been in Ghana for a long time. It turns out it just takes a long time to get places. So far I have had too much down time, but that is due to change very shortly. Finally I have reached Mampong, the town in which I will live for the next 8 months. I am with a girl from Holland, who will live and work with me for the next 2 months. We arrived by tro-tro (basically any vehicle that will transport as many people as can fit in it) The first stop was the host family. I met Richard, the dad, Mavis, the mom, and Rejoice, the 2 year old daughter. There are others that live there, but they were out working. I have my own room, which has a bed and dresser in it, and share a bathroom with the house. There is a toilet (that flushes!) and a bucket next to a drain for a shower. The family seems to be pretty well off- they have a rug in the main room and a small TV.

The next stop was the orphanage. And here I lose the ability to properly describe what I see. There are 39 kids there right now, ranging from 2 months to 4 years. This is a babies home, so once the children reach 4, they must go elsewhere. We arrived at changing time in the younger house, where 20 or so infants and toddlers were running around with no pants on... The older children go to "school", really another building to occupy them during the day. There are 2 teachers and a volunteer in this room. The kids were completely wild, and extremely attention-deprived. The jumped on us, pulled on us, hugged us, and just touched us the entire time we were in the room. The clothes ranged from a dress with no buttons (and nothing else) to pants and a shirt and maybe a pair of shoes.

I will start out working in the house of smaller children- helping with bathing, feeding, playing, loving, and putting to bed. I work from 7:30-12:30 when I go home for lunch, and return to work 3:30-7:30. That is all I can say about it so far, I will have digest some to try to properly describe it.

Feel free to leave comments or questions- I find it is quicker to get to my blog than to my email (it only took 4 minutes to load instead of 6) And let me know news of home, I am VERY disconnected!

A few things I have learned

I have a lot to say today, so I'm going to put up two posts. Here are a few observations or facts I have learned since being in Ghana:

-The most common way to purchase water is in a sealed, clear, plastic bag. It costs about 40 pesawas (less than 40 cents) and to drink it, you simply bite off a corner and squeeze it into your mouth.
-Never whistle in the evening in Ghana- they believe it calls up the snakes and Ghanians definitly don't appreciate it
-Kumasi is home to the largest market in western Africa. We went there on the slowest day, and it was completely overwhelming- there are no words to describe it properly.
-Never give or recieve anything with your left hand in Ghana-it is reserved for unsanitary things, and it is considered very rude to use it otherwise.
-I have not seen a single Ghanian carrying, selling, or smoking cigarettes.
-I am hungry most of the time. Every morning for breakfast we have had bread and hot tea. Lunch is 6 hours later, and is a rice dish. Dinner we have eaten in restaurants so far. This may change as I begin eating with my host family this afternoon.
-Ghana is in the midst of a currency change. Right now (until January) both old and new are in circulation so it is quite confusing. But in either currency, everything is extremely cheap. 1 ghanian cedi (a little less than $1 USD) is too much to cary- most vendors have a hard time giving change for that much.
-pictures may be very difficult to post- the computers are so old many of them do not have USB ports; I am still working on this.
-And finally, this is going to be an extremely challenging adventure! I have only just visited the orphanage but my heart was wrenched and my patience tested. More about that in the next blog.

Akwaaba!

I made it! Both of my flights were on time so it took 21 hours (including a three hour break in London to visit with my friend, Andrew). We were supposed to leave for Kumasi this morning, but one piece of my checked luggage didn't make it last night so we have to stay in Accra and wait for it to come in tonight.

The first song I heard in the taxi on the way to the hotel last night was Britney Spears' "hit me baby one more time" and that's how I knew I must be in a very foreign country...

Accra is a neat city. There is a great dichotomy between the new SUVs on the road and people pulling carts full of crops on the side. There are big, modern-looking buildings adjacent to run-down marketplaces. All the people seem very kind so far. I enjoy the city, but I am excited to see what my own town is like!

I can't post pictures yet, but hopefully I will be able to do that next time I get online.

It is very exciting to be here, but I definitly miss you all. Hope to hear from you soon.