T.his
I.s
A.frica
Greetings from Hohoe, Ghana! I can't believe I am really here. It is absolutely like NOTHING I have ever experienced before. It has been a few days since I have been here, and this is the first time I have had internet access so I am going to give everybody a day by day play by play.
Saturday: After MUCH flying, Susan and I finally arrived in Accra. The humidity of Africa hit us like a rock the second we stepped off the plane. I explained it to my mom like this: the heat of Las Vegas with the humidity of Florida. Yikes! We got picked up at the airport by our driver Dela. Once we got in the taxi (a beat up sedan) he turned to us and said, "This is going to be a bumpy ride" Great I thought... better put on my seat belt! Observation number one: there WERE no seat belts! The drive from Accra to our house in Hohoe was four hours. Only half of that time was spent on a paved road, the rest was on dirt. There are no street rules here that I can figure out. The driver would just go on whatever side of the road had less potholes, then quickly swerve out of the way when oncoming traffic came close. (and I mean REAL close). It was Independence Day when we got here, so even though it was 1am when we were driving, people were out on the streets dancing, listening to music, and doing all sorts of things. I saw a HUGE fire on the side of the road, and nobody in the car even batted an eye. Like I said... no rules.
Sunday: I had to be woken up by Christine, our House Manager because I slept in so late... 9am Ghana time. Which by my internal clock was 2am. All the new volunteers had an orientation all day, followed by a quick walk to the town, which was abruptly stopped when it started raining. HARD.
Monday: Monday was a holiday so we didn't go to our placements this day because they were all closed. Instead, the new volunteers (there are 5 of us, all women) went to a local orphanage called House of Hope. The children were adorable. They came running to the car shouting "Yevu Yevu!" which means "whiteman" It is not derogatory, just a way of identifying us. Then the children played drums for us and sang. There are 29 of them total, and only ONE house-mother that lives there and cares for them all. So volunteers are definitely needed. The kids range in age from 5-16, but the cool thing is that every single one of them is sponsored in some way by somebody around the world. It is good to know that the money for those things actually gets to the kids. Though they only have a one room school house, with no chairs, desks, or chalkboard, they were extremely happy and loving.
Tuesday: This morning was our first day of placement. We loaded up in the van and dropped everybody off carpool style. My placement is closer to the city, but I was dropped off last. Christine used to work at Pro-Link so she came with me which was nice, but I still made some big blunders. First, the staff (one man one woman) said "You are welcome" (their greeting) in Ewe (the native language) and I said, "Sasha!" durrrrr. They wanted me to help teach computer classes today, and I went to the lab where I met two girls my age, named Peace and Gracie. Peace was the usual teacher, but she asked me to teach Gracie how to do some things on Microsoft Excel. Of course, I didn't know how. So in the end, they ended up teaching me some things. Also, midway through my lesson, *Warning, gross story coming* I had a sudden stomach ache and had to go to the toilet. So, long story short, there is only one toilet in the whole building, and I clogged it up and had to go ask the director of the program to unclog it for me. Let's just say, today was a humbling experience.
I realized that just because they people live in what all of us would consider extreme poverty, that by no way dictates their smarts. I have found myself in a few situations were I was nicely explaining things in layman's terms, only to find out that the other person already knew what I was talking about. like I said, humbling.
I love my housemates, they are treating me great and feeding me great. I am so happy to be here, but still not "comfortable" yet. And definitely missing everybody back home!
For now I will leave you with a quick story. This man named Alpha works at our home and asked me where I was from last night. I said, "Do you know where Los Angeles is? I live about an hour north of there." And Alpha looked at me and said, "Lompoc or Santa Maria?" Of course I asked him when he was there, because how else would he know LOMPOC of all places. He just laughed hysterically and said, "Sha-Sha, you are funny!" Well, come to find out, the man in a geography WIZ. I will say it one more time, this experience is very humbling. :)
My most favorite quote
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.
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