The first of the goodbyes...

This is it folks; almost the end.

Thursday we relaxed. We had had a busy few days and we decided to just chill at home for the day. It was weird to not have any plans or anything to plan for!

Petra went to Kujo’s wife’s to fix her dress that didn’t fit and I walked to town and talked with Smart at his work for a couple hours. We actually had a really interesting conversation. We talked about husbands and wives in Ghana. We talked about whether it is common for men to have more than one wife here, how often men get away with abusing their wives here, and how it can be culturally accepted sometimes to beat your children. I asked him his views on that and we talked about what it would be like for people with different cultures to get married; how Ghanaian culture works after you get married. It was really interesting!

Auntie Joe said that I shouldn’t marry a Ghanaian man because they might come to Canada with me but have a wife and kids back home on the side...haha, thanks Auntie Joe.

Friday we went to Accra. If we don’t see them on our very last day, this will be the last time we see the Biney’s. We got there late in the afternoon and it was so much fun to see the boys again. Michael hugged me right away; I’ve missed him a lot!

All the neighbour kids were in the compound and we spent a while outside learning to dance Azonto. The one boy, Junior, is really good at it so the kids all call him the “Azonto Master” but Michael is really bad so they call him the “Azonto Killer” haha.

Then Kwadwo and Michael took their bath and we all watched Madagascar 2. I fell asleep cuddling Michael. I was exhausted! I forgot what it was like living in a small house with 15 people in it again. Very tiring.

The little kids spent an hour fighting about who had girlfriends/boyfriends and trying to figure out their names. Then they started getting embarrassed and started beating each other up. It was funny.  They would whisper the name of who they liked and then get angry at whoever repeated it. Oh to be young again...

We didn’t have water this weekend; makes me thankful for Asamankese. I’d much rather have power outages than be out of water!

We fell asleep to the sound of planes in the sky taking off. That’ll be us in a week from today. One week, Saturday May 5^th at 9pm out plane takes off from Accra. Where has the time gone!?

Tomorrow is our last day alone and we will go to Auntie Joe’s church for the last time. Monday morning we are meeting the new interns at the airport and we will have a full house...and have to babysit for a week. It will be busy and it will go fast. I will be home before I know it; I’ll be starting my crazy, busy summer and I will definitely miss the relaxing schedule of Africa. 

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES!

GRADUATION DAY.

What can I say about this day...wow...it was busy, exciting, stressful, happy, sad, and amazing all at the same time.

We had quite a bit to do today so we woke up early. Good thing too, because even though we were on a schedule, Ghanaians don’t care. Leave everything until last minute, it’s okay, no rush...YES. RUSH!

We had to go over to Kujo’s wife’s in the morning, drop off some gifts, pick up some dresses, give her some things that were meant for Kujo but since he was gone he wouldn’t be at graduation. Then we had to go to the bank to change some money. We had to do some photocopying quickly and then get back home to finish other arrangements.

We had to wrap presents, sign certificates and get some final things ready to take the school. We piled the drinks with ice-blocks into coolers, picked up the small cakes that we ordered and called Isaac to help cart it all down the school with his taxi. We borrowed an extra 20 chairs from Auntie Joe and stuck them in the back of the taxi too.

I was NOT wearing bandaids in all the pictures today, so I piled on as much makeup as I could onto the front sore and it disappeared for the most part. The swelling has gone all the way down, it just has the sore left. So it wasn’t too hard to cover. The farther back one I had to leave the bandaid on still, but I wore my hair down to cover it and a big earring so that you didn’t see it as easily.

At 2:15, everything was completely ready and all we had to do was put up some streamers inside the school. We got there, and remember how I mentioned that the men came to put the ceiling up in the school yesterday? Ya...they didn’t finish, nor did they clean anything up. Their work benches, all the long pieces of ceiling tile were still stacked in the school. All the packaging from it was scattered everywhere, the whole place was dusty and the men were nowhere to be found. Disaster.

this is what it looked like 40 minutes before grad was supposed to start

 Again, Africa is all about adjusting to the situation, we decided to completely sweep the compound at the school and have it outside. This was actually ideal today: it had poured rain all morning so it was nice and cool out, the sun wasn’t shining hard on us and for the most part it looked like it was going to be done raining. We had the beautiful mountains in the background and the rainforest all around us...why NOT have the graduation outside?

So we put on our lovely kaba and slits, and we set up the chairs and the tables. We set up the area for the students to display their alphabet books and other work books, and we set up a place for the facilitators to sit.

My Kaba and Slit

The children from the village came for the graduation and they were even all dressed up! It was adorable.

 In good Ghanaian fashion, the women slowly trickled in until about 4 o’clock (supposed to start at 3pm) and then everyone was there except Cynthia. That had me a little nervous since she was exactly 50% of my business class, but we started without her for the sake of everyone else who had been...more on time. Smart came to support us and I gave him my camera, which I am SO glad I did; he took so many great pictures and took videos of the ceremony too! (THANK YOU SMART!)

My Business students and I

The ladies sang “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord.” Then my level one students came to the front and recited two bible passages by heart and sang “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” Petra’s level two students came up and each recited a bible passage and then read something from their story books. EXACTLY when it was my business class’ turn, Cynthia arrived. Right on time, better late than never I guess. They recited a bible passage together and each read a little piece about what they had learned about business and why the level two literacy ladies should join the business class next time. They all did such a great job.

Singing Blessed be the Name of the Lord

We gave them each a certificate for their work, a Canadian flag sticker, and a Canadian flag pin. They said they were “true Canadians.” It was cute. We also gave the facilitators their gifts. We got them each 2 yards of fabric so that they can go and make a dress or a shirt and some nice pen sets.

Then the students surprised us! They had ANOTHER kaba and slit made for each of us!!! In Kente cloth; truly African. It was so nice of them and we weren’t expecting it at all. Mine fits perfectly, but Petra couldn’t get her bottom on. It was hilarious, Belinda was yanking it to get it up but it wouldn’t go past her butt. Belinda was giggling and jumping up and down to try and get it on. We will just take it to Kujo’s wife to have it taken out for her. They are beautiful!

My new Kaba and Slit from the students

Then Auntie Joe and Auntie Julie surprised us with more gifts! They got us scarves that say “Welcome to Ghana” on them. They are super nice and bright colours! I love them! We are so blessed.

Auntie Joe, myself, Petra and Auntie Julie

All the women wanted to take pictures with us and it was such a fun day! I honestly can’t believe that this is the last day with them. We will see them at registration again on Tuesday with the new interns, but this was OUR last day with them; they last time that they are just our students. It is bittersweet. I am so proud of all of them for their dedication and energy that they have poured into learning and coming out to classes every Tuesday and Wednesday, but I am sad to leave them. I really hope and encourage all of them to continue learning and to be the women that God has intended them to be! 

If you wanna lose your gut, lie on your belly...

Yesterday was busy. We had to run errands to prepare for graduation, arrange for the printing of all the exams and figure out the order for the graduation ceremony that will take place tomorrow afternoon. We had people to invite, drinks to buy, food to arrange, decorations to figure out. It was exhausting. But it was most definitely for a rewarding purpose.

My face improved a tiny bit. The infection started to come out, which again, sorry that is disgusting. But it is a good thing; means it’s getting better. My face is a little less puffy and less sore for sure, but still looks disgusting.

Smart came over in the evening and brought me ice cream and movies and music to make me feel better. It was sweet of him. He taught Petra and I with Belinda to dance Azonto and Sokode and it was nice to just hang out with people our age for the evening.

This morning was just as busy. We had to pick up all the stuff we printed, wrap some of the gifts for the facilitators and arrange the certificates for tomorrow.

Auntie Joe is very busy arranging for the new interns and Auntie Mary and her nieces to come and is cleaning like crazy. She also has a big funeral the day that we leave that she is preparing for since there are about 30 of her family members coming to stay at her compound. She is planning like a mad woman.

Funny quote from her today: We asked her how she got her stomach so flat since she has had 5 children and she said, “ohh, I don’t want to look fat like all these people over there. (Pointing to absolutely nowhere). So I lie flat on my stomach to make it flat and I eat little little. Those people, they take medication to get sooo plump and look fat but I want to look good and I want to live long so I am healthy.”

Putting the ceiling into the school

This afternoon we had exams. (Belinda helped me put bandaids all over my face to cover the gross parts and I was good to go. Here’s hoping I can go without them tomorrow since a professional photographer is coming to grad). 

all "bandaided" up

All of our ladies showed up which was just wonderful!! There were boys putting the ceiling up in the school today, so we couldn’t have the exam inside. We moved all of the tables and chairs outside on the veranda and had the test there. Africa is all about being able to adjust yourself to the situation haha.

They promised us that they would be done and have it cleaned up by tomorrow for the graduation. Fingers crossed!!! It looks really good though!!

  

New Ceiling!!

All of the women did SO good on their exams! I am so proud of them. A couple of them even got perfect. It was wonderful to see how dedicated they have been through this whole process and how much energy they pour into learning.

writing their exams outside the school

Auntie Mary, Kwadwo peed on the front porch of your school today. His mom, Emelia is in my class and she just threw sand over it. Lovely ain’t it?

Kwadwo

Jacqueline, one of my level one students gave me a beautiful Ghana bracelet with the Ghanaian flag and wooden beads to say thank you. It is so nice!

On the way home from class, Jacqueline and I speak French.  I teach her English in class and she helps me practice my French on the way home. It is a perfect arrangement. She asked me how I got the cut on my knee and I explained my little mishap with the monkey in Busua Beach. She laughed and then asked if I had seen the monkey at the neighbours yet...WHAT!? Ladies and Gentlemen, there has been a monkey living down the road from us for 3 months and we didn’t even know about it!! The kids pick it up and hit it and throw it around...it doesn’t bite them...only me I guess...

MONKEY

Pray for us and all the women as they prepare for graduation tonight. They will be practicing their readings and songs, memorizing their bible verses, and inviting some of their families. They may be nervous tomorrow so please keep that in mind as you pray for them as well. For some of them, it may be the last time we see them which is kind of sad; it just shows how close we really are to the end and that is a little bit scary at times. These women have all weaved their way into my heart in a different way and I will definitely be sad to leave them.

Sokode-de-de, Sokode-de-de...

Okay, let’s recap the last few days...

Wednesday was our last literacy class with the women. That is crazy to me, time has gone so quickly. We reviewed with the women to prepare for their final exam that they will write on Tuesday so that they can graduate on Wednesday.

Petra and I also picked up our Kaba and Slit’s Wednesday. They are beautiful. Pictures to come (we are wearing them to graduation)!

Thursday morning, Petra and I left bright and early for Busua Beach. We were allowed one more weekend vacation before we went home, so we picked our favourite place, crossed our fingers for good weather, and set off for the super long trotro ride to the best beach in the world for one last tan.

It takes a really long time and it will definitely make it seem not worth the ride at all, but here goes:

-Take a 2 hr trotro ride to Accra

-Take a 4 hr trotro ride to Takoradi

-Take a 40 min trotor ride to Agona

-take a 15 min taxi ride to Busua.

All for one day at the beach.

Friday morning I woke up with a swollen face and hard infection underneath my skin. Sounds disgusting right? Looked exactly how it sounds...and hurt about 3 times as much. I was at the beach though, so couldn’t really do anything about it. I recruited a couple of girls from the town that spoke decent English to show me where I could buy some Aloe Vera rub to put on it until I got home. That pulled a bit of the infection out, but I didn’t have Tyelonol with me for the pain, so I didn’t sleep at all the entire weekend.

Friday evening we went for dinner at the Alaskan Beach Resort and they have a nice monkey on a leash there...or so I thought...I went to take a picture of it and it wasn’t looking at me. So I yelled at it. It didn’t like that and lept up, grabbed and clawed my leg and then proceeded to bite my knee. Guess that’s why it was on a leash? Folks, learn from me, do NOT provoke a monkey. It wasn’t tooooo bad of a bite, but it hurt, and freaked me out for a split second...and bled.

This is the monkey; right before he bit me and right after I yelled at him

Saturday we made our long way back to Asamankese. When I got back in the compound, my face was gigantic and all I wanted was some painkillers to I looked at Auntie Joe, gave her half a wave and then marched right by her to go inside and drug myself.

No such luck. She noticed, and right away assumed that a man hit me. Nope, just have retarded skin...She said, “that place, Busua Beach, it is NOT good for you. It gives you pomples.” “No, Auntie Joe, it gives me pimples, and these aren’t pimples. My face is MASSIVE!”

Me, being stupid, picked at them like crazy, figuring that the infection in the inside just needed to come out and then it’d be fine. Again, no such luck. I was in so much pain I almost puked. Lovely eh?

Belinda took me to the pharmacy in town and for 5 cedis (which is like $3.50ish CAN) I got my antibiotics for the next 5 days. I have to take 2 pills, 3 times a day. I think that’s a little extreme, but if it will shrink my face back to normal, I am down. I also got this face cream called FunBact but everyone always calls it FanBat...weird...but it seems to be pulling the infection out in combination with the 3 times a day that Belinda soaks my face with steaming hot salt water...they are taking good care of me. And I am a suck I have realized.

Belinda, soaking me with boiling salt water until I puke

I told the guy at the pharmacy that if these drugs killed me, I would come after him. He looked surprised first, then a little worried, and then he laughed. I am not sure if he thought I was serious or not, but at the time when I said it, I think I sounded pissed because I was in so much pain. I also miiiight have snapped at the cab driver and told him to stop looking at my face when he gave me a quizzical look...pain makes me grumpy I have realized...I was just embarrassed.

this is from this morning (Sunday). It was double the size yesterday evening

This morning I didn’t have to go to church. Auntie Joe wouldn’t let me actually....she told me I looked yucky and that people would laugh at me. Super nice eh? No, but it’s true. I did look gross and puffy and people WERE laughing at me.

Belinda and I bonded over doing laundry and Rihanna playing the background. She helped me do ALL of my laundry. I packed all my clothes except a few in my bags already now so that I only have to wash a few pieces of clothing. Most of what I left out I am not taking back home with me so that I can make it dirty and then NOT have to wash it...smart ehhh?

I also cleaned my entire room to prepare for the new girls to come and for us leaving since this week and next will be super busy.

Junior and Kate

This is Junior, rockin the new Jets tshirt I gave him

I had my last business class today. Anita brought her two kids, Junior and Kate, and Cynthia brought her son, Sharon. Uncle Ernest stopped by to visit AND, this is exciting, he took the day off from elections to come to graduation on Wednesday!! YAY! SO happy.

I also got all my favourite African songs on my computer now too. Azonto, Sokode. Oh the joy.

13 sleeps til home time. Auntie Mary comes in a week from today, the new interns come in a week from tomorrow. This is nuts.

Tomorrow will be super busy. We have to completely prepare for graduation. The exams are Tuesday and grad is Wednesday. Fri/Sat we go to Accra to say goodbye to the Biney’s, Monday we pick up the interns from the airport and then begins our last week here. It will go fast, I am sure of it.

Au Revoir. 

Auntie Joe: Advice 102

Today was very overcast so I got to wear pants all day long!!! Big shocker. It was lovely. I miss wearing pants and hoodies.

This morning I got up and went to buy some bofroot for breakfast. I was sitting with Auntie Essie and Belinda, waiting for them to cook when a whole bunch of the kids from the village came over and sat down with us. One of the girls, she must have been around 9 years old had a 2 month old baby on her back. I asked if I could hold him and they just handed him right over. His name is Calvin. He didn’t cry at all and wasn’t scared of me like a lot of the babies are; most scream at the sight of an obruni. I handed Calvin back to the little girl and she grabbed his arm, swung him up on her back and tied him place with her fabric...I am not so sure how good that is for a little tiny baby’s arm to be swung up like that, but the kids just cling to their backs and are almost stuck there like a magnet. I am bringing some 2yrd pieces of fabric back since a couple people were interested in seeing how the kids are tied onto their backs.

The power went off around 9am today and didn’t go back on until about 4:30pm. The fans were all off, so being outside was much cooler. Plus, being overcast and about to rain, it was super nice out today. Ironic because that kind of weather at home is considered crappy, but here it is warmly welcomed.  I read my book a lot today and then got my lessons ready for class later on.

While we were sitting outside, Auntie Joe came up to us and wanted to talk. We started talking about raising kids and discipline as a parent. It ended up being a 3 hour conversation all about her family. She said that it is so important to show your kids to be well behaved and have good discipline because you are their role model and they will follow you.

She says that if you bring forth (get knocked up), then your kids will see that and THEY will bring forth when they are young too and then their children won’t be educated and they will bring forth early too.

She said when her children were growing up and old enough to go to work, she would call them to make sure they were actually at work....EVERYDAY! Sounds a little bit drastic right? Get this, she also asked to talk to their boss each day to make sure that they weren’t lying to her and that they were actually at work. She always knew where they were and always made sure they weren’t lazy.

She said it was important for men to learn to cook, and even if they are bad at it, as their wife you have to praise them for it because they tried to do something on their own. She also added that someday you will make something that tastes like crap too and your husband will eat it anyway because he loves you, so you have to return the favour.

Next she came to naming your children. She has 5 kids:

-Her first born is Juliette. She said she looked through baby-name books and since Juliette was born in September, and lots of people’s names in September started with J, and Joan of Arc is good and strong, she picked Juliette....ya, I’m not sure how that one makes sense either...Juliette lives with her husband and children in Italy.

-Next is Kingsley. He is the first boy, so he needs to be the ‘king’ of the household since the father is dead. I actually kind of like this name for a boy. He lives with his wife and daughter in Chicago.

-Next is Mavis. Apparently that doesn’t mean anything, but she is her last born.
-Then there is Isaac. She said that Isaac means humble and since they already have a strong girl and a king, they need a humble man. He just got married this past December and lives in Takoradi (here in Ghana) with his wife.

-Then comes Sampson. Auntie Joe said that if anyone comes to harm his brothers and sisters, Sampson would stand at the gate and say, “NO! I AM STRONG. YOU WILL NOT HURT THEM.” (Since Sampson is a strong name). She also acted this out by raising her arms up and spreading her legs out to demonstrate blocking anyone trying to get in the gate. He is almost done his undergrad in pharmaceuticals in Accra.

-Then comes me, because Auntie Joe said that she would adopt me. She also said that I should come back and visit Ghana for good, marry a Ghanaian man and then I can be a part of her family forever. How sweet.

She then proceeded to show us LOTS of pictures of her family. She also tried to get us to watch a 2 hour video of Isaac’s wedding and engagement parties, but we thankfully escaped that once...thank you power outages?!

I REALLY want to video tape one of these conversations sometime so you can experience what kind of language she uses. It’s SUPER entertaining.

Class today went really well. There were no facilitators today; Kujo is gone now, Uncle Ernest has been gone for 3 weeks (he also works for the government and has to regulate the voting process going on right now), and Auntie Julie was traveling. It was just Petra and I.

We did review for the exam that we have a week from today, tomorrow we will do the same, and then next week is it! Exams and Graduation. We are almost done, folks. This is crazy.

Here’s hoping the power stays on for the rest of the evening so we have fans for sleeping...

Azonto, azonto, azontooo

Saturday, Auntie Joe was gone and the whole compound felt quiet.  It was strange. You know the feeling when your parents leave for the weekend and you have the place to yourself? That’s kinda what it felt like. Auntie Joe is ALWAYS around.

Stephanie came over with Belinda in the morning. She usually follows her around for a couple hours on the weekends in the morning since she doesn’t have school. (Stephanie is the bofroot lady’s daughter). I took her by the hand to go buy some bofroot and they had some music playing from their phone (the traditional African song, Azonto, you should google it). The kids are all fantastic at dancing to it! Stephanie showed me how well she could dance to it too, it was super cute.

Auntie Essi, the bofroot lady, said that she wanted to come to literacy classes next session. I encouraged her to come out. She knows some English but it’s pretty broken, so I told her that the new interns would be here on April 30^th and that May 1^st would be the registration for the new classes. She told me she wouldn’t have any use for learning English and that the certificate would only help her to sell bofroot. Then she laughed and said she would come. I really hope she does!

Kujo came over in the afternoon because it was the last time we would see him before we go. It is so sad; we are already having to say goodbyes. He was supposed to come over the evening before, but it got a little dark and he has a motorbike and said and I quote, “I didn’t want to come in the dark. It’s a two-legged one, the thing that I drive, so it would be bad. You could slip on some small small stones and be down.” Kujo, since he is a  teacher, is finishing up a course at a University about 7 hours away and will be gone until May 6^th, which is the day after we leave. It’s too bad.

Kujo will be missed big time! He was so helpful all the time; he always came to the school to help out during classes, he organizes the whole program with Mary from here since she can’t always be here, he took us to Koferidua to renew our Visa’s even though he was supposed to teach that day, and he invited us into his home more than once to visit, eat his wife’s cooking, and to play with the kids in his compound. He was so welcoming and so friendly and we really appreciated everything he did for us! So thank you, Kujo!!! We will miss you.

It’s kind of scary that we had to say goodbye to him already, it just hits us harder that we are so close to going home. It’s scary. Auntie Joe talked to us about that today too and I am for SURE going to cry when I say goodbye to her. She is like my mom and today she told me she would adopt me if I wanted to stay here since she “only had 2 daughters and she needed more.”

At the market there is a girl who sells onions who often likes us to stop by and chat with her. She has pretty decent English, so it’s not too bad to take a few minutes to talk with her. On Saturday she decided that she would come with us when we go to Canada. She has some pretty large boobs and she decided to push them together in her SUPER low-cut shirt saying that the “boys in Canada, they will LOVE me. I will say, HEY Obruni, I love you and then they will see my breasts, just look at my breasts, they will want them.” I couldn’t help but laugh super loud at her and explain to her that she can’t come to Canada and call people by their skin colour, or tell random people that she loves them and expect them to be accepting, OR shove her boobs in people’s faces and expect proposals...although that last one is more likely than the others...

It actually baffles my mind at how huge the women’s boobs are here! I saw a billboard for a lingerie store that advertised having bras up to cupsize K. K!? HOLY CRAP! You would have to pay big bucks and have bra specially made to fit your boobs if you were that big in Canada. YIKES. No wonder their boobs droop so easily!

On Sunday, we didn’t go to church. Auntie Joe was still traveling and she said that we could just stay home and rest. Thank goodness. It has nothing to do with church in general, but some time away from Ghanaian church was welcomed after last weekend when we had to go to 3 services in 4 days.

We have been here for 3 months already and Yaa is JUST learning our names now. There are some...reasons...as to why she hasn’t yet, but she is pretty excited that she can remember them now. Instead of shouting “Obruni” through the window, she now yells, “CARO! PEEECHA!” It’s pretty cute.

Sunday afternoon she had a friend over and I didn’t realize that there was anyone else there. Yaa called me over to the door and I was wearing my bra and little shorts. Petra and I generally don’t wear much more than that around the house since it’s so hot and Belinda doesn’t care, Yaa doesn’t care, and Auntie Joe just laughs at us. At least her friend was a girl and not a random guy. Whoops.

I had class later in the afternoon. Cynthia wasn’t too too late this time, but Anita couldn’t make it at all. Cynthia and I learned SO much. I asked her to speak at graduation to the level 2 literacy women about why they should continue on and take the business class. She came up with the following paragraph that she will read next Wednesday:

“I am Cynthia Ador and in 2011 I started the level II classes and I graduated in November. I am a market woman. I do my own job. I think I have to know more about business and keep practicing my English so that I will be a great business woman in the future. There is no other way that you can achieve your goals than to keep learning and practicing.

Being in the business classes helps me to know more about business, how to keep records, how to care for my customers, and how to know when I am losing money or making a profit.

The business classes have helped me to practice good English. I am urging all women to devote their time and everything to become stars. Thank you.”

SHE WROTE THAT ALL ON HER OWN! I am so proud of her.

We learnt about balance sheets and income statements and how they can be the result of good record keeping. She fully understood the difference between the two and even understood the concept that the balance sheet had to have Assets and Liabilities that balanced. She even learnt how to make her own and memorized the different components of each statement!

She is learning SO much and I am so unbelievably proud of her. I don’t think I can say that enough.

After class, I went with Cynthia to her house. She had invited me and wanted me to see where she lives. She has a small apartment that she and her 3 boys share. They have one bed, a simple mattress on the floor for all of them, in their one room “house.” A little TV in the corner that sits on a stool, their clothes sit in another corner, and her dishes in another. It is tiny, and yet it is just enough for her and her small family.

Cynthia has some news that she said she was okay with me sharing. She is expecting a baby. Actually, she is expecting a baby on MY BIRTHDAY! September 11^th is the due date, she is 4 months along. She showed me the ultrasound picture of her baby that she is going to name, Aseda, whether it’s a boy or a girl, because it means a “blessing from God.”

She has a difficult family situation and she will be going through some tough times in the next few months as people start to find out that she is pregnant. She is asking for your support through prayer so that she may have strength to withstand anything that comes her way. She is excited about this baby, but nervous about what people may say as she is not married right now.

I think we can learn a lot from her. All you can do is pray and rely on God to help you get through the hardest times. Cynthia said this to me, “I know that people will talk, and I know that people will hurt my feelings, but this baby is a blessing from God; it is God’s will. This hard time will only be one chapter in the story of my life and I know that I will get through it and I will have this beautiful son or daughter to remind me that God is good.”

Cynthia is a beautiful woman, and I fully support her. I am so so very proud of her.        

Church Jukebox...

Today we went to Accra.

We left in the morning, bright and early so that we could get there before it got hot. The tro was pretty full by the time we got to the station which was nice, we didn’t have to wait too long before we left and were on our way.

The roads were pretty sloppy because of the rain from yesterday so it took a little longer. Almost 3 hours this morning. The weather was actually cool all morning, so the ride wasn’t too too bad. The driver did hit an all time high on the radio volume though; it was hitting some extreme decibels! That, in combination with the heat can make for a pretty killer head ache, so the iPod definitely helps. I usually listen to my iPod on the tro; gives me a chance to listen to music in English and just have quiet time on my own, not to mention makes the ride go a little faster. When we go to Accra, we often just go there and back in one day. That is 6 hours on a trotro. They aren’t exactly built for comfort and personal space is limited. That makes the ride seem quite a bit longer, but I don’t mind. In the mornings I am excited to get to Accra and at night I am very excited to go back home, so neither ride is bad.

We reached Accra around 9ish in the morning. We had to go to the bank and then we wanted to look around the Art Centre for a bit. From there we went to La Badi to see the Biney’s.

I mentioned in a previous blog that Mummy’s mom, Grammy had passed away. We really enjoyed meeting Grammy and we are thankful that we got to do so before she passed and we really wanted to extend our condolences to the Biney’s.

Mummy gave us a huge hug and she looked great. The boys are on holidays so they were home which was really exciting! Michael greeted me with the biggest hug in the world and didn’t let go of me the entire time we visited. I promised that we would visit one more time before we leave and he has already planned for us to go to the beach, play basketball, watch Madagascar, and read bedtime stories. I love this boy.

Mummy told us the story about what happened to Grammy. When we had visited last, she had gotten much more weak and couldn’t walk or eat by herself anymore. They didn’t know what was wrong, but they knew she was sick. After we left, she started to get a little better and she even walked on her own one day! (They filmed it actually, which is a great memory to have now!) Mummy thought that this meant she was turning around and would be fine. The Sunday evening she was really weak again and went to bed. Mummy checked on her lots and in the morning she wasn’t doing well. They rushed her to the hospital, but they didn’t have beds and wouldn’t take her. They had to get turned away from 3 other hospitals before going to a private clinic which they had to pay 500 cedis just to get admitted!!! Just ridiculous! Grammy passed away and they revived her. After that, Mummy told us she fought the oxygen and IV and said it was her time to go, and she went to be with Jesus Monday morning. She was 87.

It was really hard on the boys, Michael and Kwadwo were a mess for a couple days, she was such a present part of their lives.

They are doing fine now though, and they just shared lots of really nice memories and they are using pictures that Melissa took and pictures that I took for her funeral and they had fun showing us pictures and videos of her. It was SO good to see the family again. I’ve really missed them.

We went to Osu to look around a bit before going home again this evening. We have learned how to get around the city pretty efficiently on the tro’s and getting back to Asamankese is strategic too. There are two places that cars for Asamank leave from; one place is always passenger cars but take FOREVER to fill up, and the other has every other as a passenger car but doesn’t take long at all to fill. We are learning to pick and choose properly. We have spent a few times sitting in a tro for hours waiting for it to fill all the way. Leaving with one open seat is NOT acceptable.

We got home in the dark, which is always great because that means it’s not so hot out. Sweating on tro’s isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but I guess everyone smells, so it really doesn’t matter.

We got back to Asamankese and stopped by Smart’s on the way home. He is helping arrange a couple things for the graduation ceremony that is coming up quickly. He said that I can request some songs for church on Sundays and he will make sure that they are played so I can hear English songs and feel more at home. (Yay!!).

We got home and Auntie Joe was standing outside in the dark. She has a funeral at her home town this weekend and was supposed to be gone by the time we were back. Apparently her son was supposed to bring the car but hadn’t showed up and she was NOT impressed. Ohhh teenage problems that carry from country to country. I am pretty sure she has left now, although I am not exactly sure.

22 sleeps until I get on the plane. Gettin excited! Belinda and Auntie Joe are already sad; I think I am definitely going to cry when I have to hug them goodbye. Blah...

Kaba and Slit.

This morning we decided to go fabric shopping. Belinda went with us to look around and we are each making a long dress called a kaba and slit. It is the traditional Ghanaian dress that the women wear pretty well everywhere. They are beautiful and I think I would regret not having one made while I am here, so we went in search of the perfect fabric.

I found what I wanted, and we took it to Kujo’s wife who is a seamstress. We picked the design we wanted, I drew how I wanted my dress to look, and then she measured me everywhere. It is amazing that we can buy fabric and make a dress specially fitted to us for as cheap as we can here. I’m excited to try it on; we get them on Wednesday!!!

We visited Cynthia at her little stand today and bought a pineapple from her. There was a lady carrying bananas on her head and I felt like bananas, so I asked her to stop. I wanted the green ones because the heat here makes the yellow ones SO squishy. They are gross. I realized after asking, that the green ones were on the bottom of the pyramid and she had to take all the bananas off the top just to get the ones that I wanted...whoops...I felt a little bad, but she charged 10 pesewas for one banana which is just crazy so I felt less bad.

Smart was helping me with some stuff on my computer and realized that I had a virus on my USB so he took it off and then offered to load Norton Anti Virus on my laptop for me too. One less thing my dad has to do now? I have gone like 3 years without Anti Virus on my computer. Probably not smart. Ha...smart...see what I did there? Belinda is trying super hard to set up Smart and I. It’s hilarious. Every time he is around she giggles and says that he loves me and that we should date so that I have to come visit her in Ghana, haha. Even Auntie Joe laughs when he comes around and gives me little looks. They are too funny. He is the same height as me and from Ghana...I don’t want to live in Ghana for the rest of my life. They aren’t getting anywhere with the whole set-up thing...

We had our hardest rain storm yet, and even though Petra and I tried to close all the windows, we forgot the bathroom and we opened the door to see a HUGE puddle on the ground. Whoops. Probably should have thought of that.

So today, Auntie Joe was talking to Petra and I and her dogs were sitting on the porch to get out of the rain. These are gross dogs. They are old and dying and SHOULD be dead right now. Auntie Joe said that she didn’t have the heart to hit it over the head. She had had it for toooo long and she would feel so sick and sad. When it died, she would bury it out back. We asked how many dogs she had buried back there and she said at least 10...oh my. She said this one dog that she had brought forth and then forth and then forth...which means she had 3 litters...but all those puppies died.

She had 3 dogs and their names were, Hope, Faith and Lion...HAHA. Ohhh Auntie Joe.

And yup, that’s it for today.

I am "Smart"

Yesterday and today are literacy class days.

Yesterday I did laundry in the morning; I needed to do it desperately since I haven’t since I was on vacation...yup, I am gross. I washed my bedsheets too which is SUPER hard to do. They are so thick and big and how the heck am I supposed to scrub them all the way? So I just soak em for an hour or so and then attempt to half-ass ring them out and put them on the line. It will be wonderful to be able to just stuff them into a washing machine again when I get home.

We walked to town to run some errands. We passed Smart and he was just passed right out in front of his store. There is something about the afternoon sun in Ghana that just puts everyone to sleep. No matter where they are.

We grabbed fanmilk on the way home and for 25 minutes, I literally just sat in front of my fan eating my frozen fan choco. It was a glorious feeling.

Class in the afternoon was small. The CAC church has built a HUGE new church building and half our class is from that church. They have a grand opening soon and so they women have been very occupied with that and some of them are responsible for keeping it clean each week so it takes them away from class which is too bad.

I had 2 women in my level one class; Victoria and Mercy. We actually learnt quite a bit with such a small class, not that I wish that for every class, but it was kind of nice for the day. I found a new word that they cannot say at all: “brush” and “toothbrush.” They cannot say the “r” and they say “blush” and “toofblush” all the time. It’s hilarious. Even Auntie Julie does it. She had me teach the entire lesson all alone since it was all about sounds and she could not manage to do them right. It was a lot of fun. We had some good laughs.

Vida came again which was awesome! She is wonderful to have around and her two children, Irene and Chester, always come with her which is so much fun! Irene was sucking on markers though, and had it all over her face...and Auntie Mary? I apologize, but she drew all over your school; on the pillars, on the step, on the floor...I would suggest bringing crayons with the new interns instead? I am sure the rain and the hot sun will make it disappear in no time, and she is WAY too cute to scold. I tag NOT being the one to do that.

All the beautiful little children from the hillside came down again and they were hugging me. We sang “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and they ALL knew my name. Finally! I don’t think I can express to you how excited I was that they all called me by my full name without hesitation at all. It’s an amazing feeling!!!!!

I found out yesterday that one of the girls in my class, Juliana Tetteh, just lost her sister and her father. She hadn’t been coming to class for the past 5 or 6 sessions and I was wondering why, but had no way to find out. Kujo informed us that she had lost two of her family members so keep her and her family in your prayers. She is only about 20 years old, so her sister and her father are probably not that old. I am not really sure what happened.

Next week we have review for the final test and then the following week we have the exam on the 24^th and graduation on the 25^th. It is coming quick. Pray for the ladies as they prepare for both the final test and the final ceremony. They are nervous about taking tests, even though I know they will do a great job, and they are very excited to have the graduation ceremony with their family and friends and receive their certificates!

The power went off at about 6:30pm, so I decided to just go to bed around 8:30 and I slept through until the morning. It felt fantastic!

This morning I went to go and buy some bofroot for breakfast. I sat down on the ground to chat with Auntie Essi for a bit and Belinda was there too. I have some little marks on my arms from my sunburns at the beginning of the trip and they look like mosquito bites so this guy came up to me and said, “oooh. You have mosquito bites. I am so sorry. Did they bite you in the night? You should come sleep with me!” ...no thanks...like THAT will help with mosquito bites? Blah.

It will be SO refreshing to go home and be able to walk down the street without the guys asking to marry you or telling you that they love you.

Smart was walking by too so we talked for a while. It is so nice to talk to a guy who is just friendly and has good English. I appreciate that about him so much!

We read outside of the store this morning and saw quite a few people we know walk by which was fun. The breeze is always so refreshing in the morning outside. Have to put in our time before it is unbearable outside!

Auntie Joe was walking around without sandals on this morning which is SUPER uncommon. That never happens. They wear shoes everywhere and always ask us why we aren’t wearing shoes.

When I asked her, “Auntie Joe! Where are your slippers? Why aren’t you wearing them?” She said, and this is the quote of the day... “Oh, I have left them in my room. I am doing acupuncture (as she walks back and forth on the gravel driveway). Sometimes you need to go barefooted on the small small stones to acupuncture your legs. It is verrrry nice.” Such a cute lady.

We walked to town to see Smart and Cynthia. Smart is a graphic designer and his Facebook page has a huge picture of his face and then a slogan that says, “I AM SMART!” haha. It’s hilarious.

Cynthia was setting up her table at her temporary place, which got moved down the road since unfortunately the man that she was beside before was not being very nice to her. She was very happy to see us and have us encourage her. I am very proud of her.

My Level One Ladies

Class today had a much better attendance. All of my ladies were there today!! That was great! Vida brought her kids again, and Emelia was there with her son, Samson. We brought stickers today and the kids had lots of fun putting them on their face and all over their colouring pages.

Samson, rockin' his stickers

We taught the women, “Our God is an Awesome God” and they caught on pretty quickly! We had to explain the meaning of “awesome” to them, but they got it.

The men that are building the wall around the school were almost finished today. At one point they all went behind the school to the creek to get water and to wash off and cool down. They all came walking back ... hmm... big, muscle-y guys without their shirts on...

After class, we went with Kujo and about 6 of the CAC ladies to say our condolences to Juliana. We walked from the school with them to Juliana’s house where there were a couple of benches and chairs set up.  Juliana and her mother and her brother were sitting there and we all sat down. I didn’t really know what to expect, but the 3 of them came around and shook each of our hands to say thank you for coming and then they explained what had happened.

Chester and Irene love stickers too!

Apparently the sister had been sick for about a month and she lived in a village a little ways away. They found out that she had died, so the dad traveled to the village to see the body and make arrangements. All of a sudden, he got really sick and the family was told that he had died as well. So the family has lost their sister, daughter, husband and father within a very short amount of time.

We said our condolences and then Kujo asked for one of Petra or me to pray for them. That was pretty intimidating. Petra had a VERY worried look on her face, so I prayed. I have no idea what it sounded like, but I was just banking on the fact that half the people there couldn’t understand a word I was saying anyways, and did my best.

Closing the Class

From there, Kate and Diane wanted to show us their house so we passed there on our way home. Their sister had just had a baby a month ago, so we got to see her as well. She was teeny tiny and Ghanaians, even if they will be super dark, are born with lighter skin. She was super cute.

One month old baby!!!

We got home around 7 and I was STARVED. Mercy gave us free bananas so I devoured a couple of those and then Belinda had supper waiting for us. Yum.

Smart even called me to remind me to finish up one of my scholarships. Merci beaucoup. 

 It was a busy and tiring day. Time to rest. 

One of the boyyys.

This morning, in good Ghanaian fashion, was a holiday after the holiday. Auntie Joe and the Presby Church has an annual picnic on Easter Monday and of course, we were invited.

Auntie Joe told us to be ready to BE at the picnic at 8am. We thought that was a little extreme for a picnic but hey, African’s tend to do things earlier, so we were up and ready on time. Smart had visited us last night before and told us that people played football (soccer) and card games and board games. He said that only guys play football usually because the girls don’t want to play with the men because they are too fast. I asked if I could play, and he told me to bring my shoes in case the girls played. I hate board games, but I LOVE to play soccer.

All ready for the picnic :P

At 10am, Auntie Joe was finally ready to go. We had put water in the freezer and brought coke and packed lunches. Belinda made us Panini sandwiches to take along and we bought some bofroot too. She put hotdogs and margarine in between bread, and put it in a Panini grill. A little strange, but they didn’t taste that bad. Petra HATES margarine which I had forgotten, so it was a painful lunch for her because the margarine was just LOADED on that sandwich. We came outside and Auntie Joe was all decked out in her Presby fabric and a Presby hat. I was JUST about to make fun of the hat when she pulled out two more, one for each of us to wear. And get this, they were VISORS! Whoot.

I just laughed and took a few pictures in them to humour them, and brought it with me without wearing it.

We love our hats......

We loaded into the Presby van and went to a town about 20 minutes down the road from Asamankese. I thought we were late, but it hadn’t started yet, so I have nooo idea how she figured it would start at 8. I think they give themselves times that are about 3 hours too early so that they actually get places on time. I am convinced.

The little boy played his drums at church!

Anyways, I expected the games to start right away, but apparently we had to have church again first. I didn’t realize, although I should have expected as much.

lovely children..

 -the man in front of me had an open wound on his foot and flies were eating at it. It almost made me hurl

-the pastor, in the middle of prayer, turned around and asked me why white people have small and pointy noses while black people have wide, flat noses...random?

-the cute little boy brought his drum with him so that he could play during praises

-Felix ALWAYS dances with the women, it’s hilarious. He is a fantastic dancer, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him dance with the men...

 So at around 2 we started the games.

A beautiful girl at the picnic

Some people played cards. Some people played board games. Some played ampe. The men played football. I was kind of glad to get out of the football game because I am not that good and as soon as an obruni is playing something, everyone watches. Since the women weren’t playing, I figured I wouldn’t get to play.

Smart told me I was still allowed to play, so I grabbed my running shoes. As soon as everyone saw that I had them with me, they insisted that I play. I was a little hesitant because it was all black men, from the age of 20-30 and they are HUGE and fast and athletic and especially good at football but I am not one to turn down a challenge. There were no women playing at all. Petra hid her shoes so that she didn’t have to play. (she took pictures). I really wanted to play, but it was pretty intimidating at first.

Me and all the boyyys

Finally, I decided to join and it was a lot of fun. I SUCK at soccer I’ve found out, although the guys insisted that I played hard. I certainly did, I was SWEATING! Oh my it was gross. But I really miss playing soccer, so it was fun, and even though everyone was watching, it got less intimidating once I was into the game and figured out who was all on my team. (all the guys look the same when you don’t know them).

I played :)

Auntie Joe and Auntie Julie and the Minister of Education were all pretty impressed that I joined, and it earned us a ride home in his car in air conditioning. RIGHT ON! 

Churchie Church, Church.

Happy Easter. I think it’s holidays like this that really make me miss being home. I miss being able to go to my home church, sing songs in English, hear the traditional brass instruments...

Ghanaians don’t do “family” things for Easter. They just go to church for an extra hour and a half...

This blog may make me seem SUPER frustrated with life here, but I do really like it here. I have just had an exhausting and frustrating day. Blogging has helped unleash some of that frustration.

We got up this morning and I had to iron my dress...I wasn’t going to, but Auntie Joe said that I should. I’m just glad she couldn’t see the ketchup stain from last week and the spot where I spilt tea on it this morning...yup. I am SUPER clean. Blah.

We got to church around 9:30am. They were singing praises and playing music and there was a little boy in a John Deere t-shirt playing the drums. He couldn’t have been more than 4 years old, he was pretty talented!

The choir director was all decked out with his little plastic keyboard that had a tube attached to it which he blew into to keep it running...strange? He also had sunglasses on...inside...he looked like Kanye...

The women’s group had traded their white tops and black skirts from Good Friday to all white wear with white cloth on their heads as well, for Easter.

The congregation was LOVING the music this morning so dance time went a little longer. We had to dance at the front for a good 20 minutes.  A little intimidating at first, but you definitely get into it. Besides, if you don’t dance, you have Auntie Joe dancing towards you and saying, “are you feeling shy? Come and dance. Follow me,” and off she dances to the front. Might as well follow.

Doris was there, Felix and Smart were there. The Minister of Education was there.  It was nice to see familiar faces.

After that came the rough part. As soon as praises are done, comes the 3 hours of talking in Twi. Today, that meant 4 hours. It was a challenge.

First they called the Harvest Committee up...we didn’t know that this was happening until I started looking around and reading a little pamphlet that a man was holding from far away. Of course, Auntie Joe and Auntie Julie were on it...so were about 40 other members of the congregation, who they called up one by one, stating their name and what group of the church they were leaders for. They all sat in chairs on the left side of the stage for the rest of the service.

Then came the half an hour long prayer.

Next was the sermon. That wasn’t so bad...I people watched and journalled through the whole thing anyway. The pastor said, “Petra” in the middle of his sermon and we thought we better pay attention. I don’t think he was actually talking about Petra, but it caught our attention. Halfway through, we looked at the clock and Petra whispered, “this is NOT going to be done before 1pm.” We were getting ansy.

Next came the offering. There were about  7 of them while a man SCREAMED some stuff into the microphone while trying to get more money in the bowls. It was at this point that I bailed. It was super hard to breath in that church and I was not able to sit still for any longer listening to Twi. I think my little heart issue was acting up again because I was NOT okay during that church service. I just got up and left for a bit to sit outside.

When I came back in after about 20 minutes, it was announcement time. For an hour. I know this sounds bitter, but Petra and I were exhausted and just tired of not being able to understand what was going on. I realized how hard it is to sit like a lady and definitely was sitting in a dress with my knees up on the pew in front of me. If I did this in church at home my dad would have smacked my legs down...you just TRY and get me from here, Dad. Hehe.

I looked around and noticed many people in the congregation had their eyes closed and looked like they were sleeping, so I decided to join them. Of course, they just had their eyes closed and were listening as I was slowly falling asleep...but they didn’t know that...

This evening I had class. It was supposed to start at 2pm, but all the churches in the town closed pretty late (ours closed at 1:30pm...blah) and I welcomed a later start when the women didn’t show up. For some reason, church services just WIPE us out and make us exhausted for like 2 hours afterwards. I am so looking forward to church services back home!

We learned about financial statements in class and they are working on making their own income statements and balance sheets with as much information as they could gather. They have been collecting information on their revenues and expenses since near the start of when I arrived, so we are working on it. They are definitely adjusting well and that makes me excited!

26 DAYS TIL HOME! THIS IS NUTSSSS!

The countdown!