Christmas, Ghana style

Well that was certainly a memorable, if not very exciting, Christmas. Here's the rundown. The night of the 24th, Richard stepped out the back door, cut down three tree branches, stuck them in a jug and called it a Christmas tree. We decorated it with some balloons we found and 6 minutes later, the decorations were complete (Mom, that's about how long it took you too, right?). On the morning of the 25th, we discovered that Santa had delivered gifts from America! (Somehow, he got hold of John's stinky old sneakers and used them as stockings)



One of my gifts was beignet mix (for those non-Chandlers out there, it a seriously important culinary Christmas tradition), which was a very exciting surprise. So I taught John and Mavis how to make them, and got to share a Chandler tradition with my adopted family in Ghana. A very cool experience.

Then we sat around and complained about being too full....for most of the rest of the day. We exchanged presents with our family- they gave Mo and I dresses and John and shirt, all hand-made. We gave Mavis jewlery and a hand-carved comb, Richard a framed pictures of his family, Rejoice a bracelet and waist beads, and the new baby (due in February) beads as well.

At about 4:30, we ate our big Christmas meal- Fufuo and stew with goat meat. It was delicious, but didn't quite taste like ham and turkey and chocolate pie.



The 26th is also a holiday in Ghana, as well as market day this year (every Wednesday in Mampong). So we spent a few hours in town and at the market, then headed up to the babies home to check on all the kids. We were shocked when we walked through the gate to loud music and laughter- it turns out they celebrate Christmas every year on the 26th with a festival, including community children and their families. It was so great to see. The kids got juice and cookies, there was lots of music and dancing, and classic festival games like musical chairs and tug-of-war. I must say I was very excited to see the children out in their best having a good time playing with toys and other children.



The next morning we left for Accra with ALL of our belongings. I'm sure the sight of us navigating the tro-tro stations each carrying 3 bags was quite humorous to whomever was watching. Today was Mo's last day in Ghana and she declared that she wanted to spend it on the beach. So we awoke this morning, packed up, and headed to Baja beach just outside Accra for a wonderful day of swimming and relaxing.

We are just now about to take Mo to the airport, and I just don't like it! Ghana in my mind includes Mo and I know it will be such a different experience without her here. I could not have been more fortunate to be placed with her those many months ago- I have absolutely found a life-long friend and travelling companion!



And with that, I must sign off. I'm sorry the pictures are not loading today; I'm not sure why. I will try to add them next time. What was the most memorable part of your Christmas?

Happy Christmas!

Back on the road again. Last Thursday we left Tafi Atome, travelled through Accra and Kumasi and we are now back in Mampong. It is a strange feeling to be back here after all I have done in the last few months, I feel like the place has changed so much but I think it was probably me and not the city that did the changing.

Though I ask everyone what Christmas is like here, I still don't have a good idea of what we will do tomorrow, so I will have to post about that after the fact. The 26th is also a holiday here, and I do know there is a town-wide pool party (that's right- a pool party...in December!) on the 26th, which should be quite interesting.

It was sad to leave Tafi Atome; it has come to feel very much like home. Mo and John will not return, but I have decided to continue working there next year. It was a tough decision, as the work there is not easy, but I feel like I can do more there than I can in the Babies home, and the experience will be more satisfying for me as well.

So here is my plan right now: Mampong until December 27th, then to Accra to drop Mo off at the airport for her flight on the 28th (Ghana will be such a different experience with her gone!!). Then John and I will travel along the coast through new years' and until he leaves on January 8th. I will stick around in Accra and leave the next day to Ethiopia. One of my very good friends from University is working there and I am going to visit him. I will be there until January 22nd, when I will return to Ghana and to the Monkey Sanctuary.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas- please eat lots of Turkey, ham, chocolate, beignets, and anything else you eat at Christmastime for me. We will be having rice, Fufuo, and goat meat. And enjoy the cold weather- despite what the locals say, it is not cold here.

Here are some pictures from our last day in Tafi Atome- the kids were very sad to see us go, and the adults thanked us with bottles of gin and beer (yikes!)

And finally, here is a picture of Patrick. We met him in Ho on our way through last week. He is so excited to be in school again! His mom came by before we left and thanked us with LOTS of oranges and bananas. Thank you for your help with that decision.

In other news...

Well, the bank account still has the wrong names on it, the community is still taking more money than the sanctuary can give, and the chiefs share a bottle of gin before every meeting (they meet at 6:00 am). So work is slow. It is impossible to educate the whole town and the chiefs refuse to listen but we can teach individuals who want it. There is some progress. We have spent many hours meeting with the chairman of the TMC (Tourism Management Committee) and I am confident that at least his bookkeeping will be accurate starting in the new year. We also managed to divide the 47% into a few categories: 5% to the chiefs, 10% to sanctuary upkeep/improvements, and 32% to community development. That's a big step. If the percentages are set and educated people are responsible for dispersing the money, we might be getting somewhere. But enough about work.

In other news, Mo decided she must see Togo before leaving Africa so she has been there for the last week, due back tomorrow. John and I biked to a lakeside town called Kpando (pronounced Pandu with a sharp 'p') on Friday, which involved about 5 hours on bikes and a few big hills, then hiked up the tallest waterfall in Ghana, Wli (pronouned Vli) on Saturday, an all-day hike. Both trips were absolutely worth the work, though my quads may not agree.


A few weeks back, we also discovered Mountain Paradise Lodge, located a 30-minute bike ride then a 45-minute hike (or a 10-minute drive) up a mountain. The first time we went, just to visit, we met the owner, Tony, and talked about our work at Tafi. His eyes lit up. He said he loved running the lodge but hated keeping books, so asked if we could help him find an efficient bookkeeping system. So we got to know him, the lodge, and his business style and returned the following week. From breakfast to dinner last Tuesday we went through all of his old receipts, bills, and finance books to make some sense of it. By the end of the day, we took him from 7 illegible books down to 3 new ones, and set up a simple daily and monthly routine for him.


It was a long day's work, but extremely satisfying. The effect was immediate; there was no committee meeting, no chief's approval, no signatures required. When we suggested a few small changes on the bill he gives customers, he opened his computer and made the changes. I cannot explain what a good feeling it is -next to all these days at Tafi- to see our work realized so quickly. We will continue to keep up with his progress each week. Tony is a very smart guy with a lot of passion, and he dreams big. When we asked him what his goals were for the lodge, he said (and I quote): "The day that I can sit back and drink my beer is the day we have light aircraft here. Oh, excuse me [as he takes a phone call for reservations over Christmas]". Tony is a fun guy to work with.

There is so much to tell, every post is a challenge to condense the facts, emotions, and experiences, and then put them all in words. And now here is a beautiful daily-life picture and some more adorable monkeys, as requested.

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions. We will certainly make sure Patrick is able to finish his school year and I will speak with Mavis about other opportunities for her to start her business. In the meantime, we have made two small investments in Tafi. The first: Mo, John and I decided to donate the supplies and our time to repaint the main office building. The tour guides helped, and the seven of us had a blast!


Second, John and I purchased three bikes last week. These bikes will primarily be for our use until we leave; however, we bought them because Sylvester had mentioned he wanted to set up a bike rental in Tafi to help himself through school. So we are in the process of entering into a business contract with him wherein we will maintain primary ownership of the bikes but he will be in charge of the rental company. This benefits four different parties: we can get around easier while we are here, Sylvester can learn the basics of running a business (he is interested in pursuing this), tourists have another entertainment option, and the Sanctuary benefits from the tourists' satisfaction. We've had the bikes less than one week and I think we've already gotten our money's worth!

We also cleaned up the office a bit. We added a donation box and a "tips are appreciated" sign (both of which paid off within the day) and arranged the brochures for other tourist attractions in the area. We have a big meeting with both the committee and the chiefs and elders on Thursday morning. The goal of the meeting is to get the green light on some imperative goals (the committee seems to be on our side; it's the chiefs we have to convince).

As it is now, the old committee members are the only ones with access to the sanctuary's bank account, the chiefs constantly take money from the office without recording it, and there is one lump percentage of the profits that is assigned to the chiefs, committee, sanctuary upkeep/improvements, and community development combined. Basically, according to the books the sanctuary is pulling in a ton of money but the bank account is empty.

These are simple- not easy, but Simple- problems to fix. Our two main objectives right now are to get the names on the account changed to the members of the present committee and set up a separate account in the chief's name, into which the community's and chief's money will go. If we can successfully separate the percentages and book keeping and give the correct people financial power, Tafi Atome would be completely financially secure. Here's the trick though: we are not the first, second, or probably fifth person to explain this to them. When I cleaned out the desk in the office, I found some very well written documents by organizations and volunteers alike proposing the same things, frequently in the same manner. Frustrating. The guides seem to believe that the three of us have what it takes, and I really hope we do, but we are just amateurs going on common sense and making it up as we go.

On a lighter note, here are some great shots from our everyday life in the beautiful Volta region and the beautiful people (and animals?) with whom we live!

Happy Thanksgiving

This was certainly a most memorable Thanksgiving! Last week, John got an infection in a cut on his leg so we went to the hospital in Ho, the closest big town, to have it checked out. To ensure the quickest recovery, they admitted him and set him on IV antibiotics, to be discharged Friday. So Thursday morning, Mo and I headed to the Bishop's house (a fortunate friend we met last time we stayed in Ho). His daughter, Emelda (who happens to have formal culinary training), accompanied us to the market and helped us prepare a Thanksgiving feast. We transported it from her kitchen to the area outside John's hopsital room

And proceeded to gorge ourselves in true Thanksgiving style. We had: a roasted chicken, french fries with ketchup, baked apples, salad, garlic bread, and pancakes and vanilla ice cream for dessert (a European touch from Mo).

The hospital visit put us back another few days getting started on our work at Tafi, so we are just now rolling on some of our ideas. Our mission is trifold: to assist in business management, tourism development, and community work (anything the community needs help with like teaching, tutoring, painting, farming, digging, etc.)

The four tour guides with whom we primarily work are wonderful, especially Sylvester- an extremely selfless and well educated Tafi native with an irreplaceable smile. The seven of us will work together to accomplish our goals (benefitting from the duel perspective of tourist and native guide) and will then report to the Tourism Management Committee, who ultimately must run everything by the chiefs and elders. This, predictably, has the potential to slow progress, since each decision must pass through three levels of authority. However, we are starting small and trying to stay optimistic through the slow pace of change.

In the meantime, the people of Tafi Atome have truly stolen our hearts. They are happy, proud, and extremely generous with the little they have.

An English woman a few years ago began a sponsorship program to enable more children to attend school. The program seems to be working well (I will provide details in the next post if you are interested) but it is not perfect. One of the tour guides, Patrick, is in a polytechnic University in Ho, thanks to a sponsor. Last Monday, he left the village to begin his second of three years, but returned Tuesday because his sponsor could no longer support him and had not paid his school fees. Sylvester explained the situation to us when we asked why Patrick was still here.

We want to help Patrick, but the situation is a tricky one. We cannot simply hand him the money, and if too many people hear we sponsored him, we will have beggars on our doorstep. After much conversation among ourselves and with Sylvester, we decided it is appropriate for us to sponsor him this year and try to keep that information among ourselves (he only needs about $150 USD).

Now here is my question to you, the ones who have sponsored and supported me to be here. Do you think it is appropriate for me to help sponsor Patrick with the money I raised before arriving in Ghana? I am struggling with this question because Patrick is a personal friend who is in need. Though the money may help many down the line (like his future family), it is going towards an individual. What makes the greater impact: helping a few individuals or providing something for a group (a school, orphanage, or program)?

There is a second case I am struggling with even more. Before we left Mampong, Mavis (our host mom) explained to both Mo and myself that she plans to turn the empty building behind their house into a cold store (where you buy frozen meat and fish). But she needs some help with the startup money and asked if we would donate to her. Again, this is a situation where I would be helping a personal friend; however, this is something she wants to do. The family does not need to depend on the money she will make. How much does that matter?

These are questions I have been seriously considering recently and, though I know the final decision is my own to make, I would love to hear your input. Your support is a very important aspect of my trip.

Life with the Monkeys

Well, I have a new place to call home. We made it down to Mampong after my last post just long enough to see our family and unpack then immediately repack. We jumped back on the road and headed to Accra to greet John, who arrived very early Monday morning.

Tuesday evening, we arrived in Tafi Atome, the small village and monkey sanctuary. The three of us (John, Mo, and myself) will live here until Christmas, helping with tourism, NGO proposals, and hands-on work with the children. There are three schools and an orphanage in this town of less than 1,000. The children are wonderful, we already have a strong following that hang out in front of our hut almost all day wanting to talk, play, and learn. The orphanage has 43 children in it, about half of whom have poor family in town, the other half are true orphans.

We are much more secluded than we were in Mampong- surrounded on all sides by monkey territory. It involves either an hour walk, 30 minute bike ride, or 10 minute taxi ride (which you have to call) just to get to the junction to find transportation anywhere else.

Being so secluded, it is a bit more involved to find internet, so my posts may come less frequently, I'm sorry about that ahead of time. I will try to post well when I get to post!

In typical Ghanian fashion, we arrived on Tuesday but have not started work yet. We will meet with the tourism committee tomorrow morning (a group of elected community members) to talk about what they want from us, and hopefully to pitch some of our ideas. I am optimistic that we will be able to make an impact on this village. They seem open to new ideas and truly rely on money from tourism to survive. In the meantime, we have had a great time with the local children, who seem to be more respectful and speak more English than those we encounter in Mampong.

We felt immediately welcomed and at-home in Tafi Atome, they are taking very good care of us. Because it is such a small town, everybody knows who we are and why we are there. Just walking around, we will get smiles accompanied by "welcome" or "thank you!". Plus I think it is just the greatest thing that I finally live where seeing monkeys is just as common as seeing goats or chickens! I just don't get tired of that.

I promise next post will have pictures!!!

Je ne comprends pas!

That is one of about 4 things I can say in French (and it's not pretty...). Between Mo and myself, we could confidently navigate any country in which the primary language is English, Dutch, Spanish, German, or Italian. They speak French in Burkina Faso. It was the first time in all my traveling when 98% of the people we encountered did not speak a word of English. It certainly added some excitement to the trip. Each encounter became an interesting mix of charades, guessing games, and lots of laughter. Since we didn't speak the language and wanted to visit some of the more obscure spots, we decided to travel in style. We hired a car and a driver. Unfortunately, our driver was part of that 98%. Despite the impenitrable language barrier, I found Burkina Faso to be an amazing country and the people as nice as could be.

Burkina is rated as the 3rd poorest country in the world, but I would never guess that from traveling there. The people are happy, helpful, and proud of their heritage. The streets are clean (at least cleaner than Ghana's). There is almost no crime and I certainly never felt threatened or unsafe. We encountered very few beggars and did not see many people living on the street. The nicest thing for me was that I felt much less aware of my whitemess in Burkina than I do in Ghana. People didn't stare, point, laugh, or scream when we walked by. Taxis hassled us less, and there were very few calls of "abruni" (well, it's "le blanche" there). I always felt relaxed walking around.

And now, in no particular order, a few of the fun and memorable things we did in Burkina: I rode a camel, slept under the stars in the desert, bribed the Ghanian embassy to give our passports back, ate roadkill (for Breakfast!), swam in waterfalls, sat on a crocodile, went to a cattle market, and bought a kora (that's a beautiful traditional west aftrican instrument I studied last year).

That last one has made traveling back through Ghana on tro-tros very interesting. It was a great trip, but it's also good to be back in Ghana. Though I enjoyed the challenge of learning French in 10 days, it's nice to be able to communicate with people again. Plus Burkina was HOT!! They are already in their dry season; it didn't rain the entire time we were there. In fact, the first time I saw clouds in the sky, we were on our way back to Ghana. I would regularly drink 5-7 liters of water in a day, without changing the frequency of bathroom trips. Unless it was just bought (which involved stopping every 20 minutes or so), the water we drank was hot. Not luke warm, but close to boiling. When I carried 3 satchets from the car to our room one afternoon, they burnt my arm. Then we drank them. It was unpleasant. But completely worth it.

I'm sorry I don't have pictures to add to this post, but we are still not done traveling. We are in Techiman now, slowly making our way down to Accra.

Happy belated Halloween. We were in Ouagadougou for Halloween here, so we went to an overpriced supermarket, bought some overpriced snickers, and handed them out to people we met, desperately attempting to explain why we were giving out candy. It worked sometimes, mostly they just walked away very confused. Then we ate the rest of the candy for dinner. An interesting halloween, I must say.