How Beautiful Upon the Mountain

The house was full of kids this weekend! Everyone came home Friday night to enjoy a great family dinner of fufu, chicken and stew. Saturday morning we headed to Amezode, which is about 45 mins from Ho and where my friend Sylvester attends Teaching College. We met up with him for a tour of his school and town and then we climbed Mt. Gemi.

If you zoom in on the mountain, you'll see a cross at the very top that was erected by German missionaries. The teaching college was originally a school for the missionaries.









School buildings.









Cimbing and climning.

We made it! I'm not sure why, but when I was taking the pic I made everyone raise their hands and say number one!!!

The drive to Amezode was beautiful through the forest; the road there was recently paved but there was one section (about 3 miles) that hadn't been worked on yet. We went from cruising along on smooth pavement to traveling about 10 mph on this bumpy, dirt road.

Big Dinner at the House: The two other yavus in the picture are two current volunteers with a group called Project Abroad. They are staying in one of Sister Bernice's rooms since they are teaching in a nearby school; it is a great way for her to earn a little extra money!

Some pics

Emmanual and me at Dora Memorial School. I visited the children after classes on Tuesday, took them some snacks, and played a little frisbee. Tomorrow afternoon I pick them up for the weekend.

Oranges. They may look yellow, but they are delicious. This is a common way to enjoy them in Ghana: the peel is cut off and the top is sliced so that you can squeeze the orange and drink the juice straight from the orange.

Elolo wearing a hat that says One For Haiti. The Board of Education rolled out a program to assist with the earthquake relief efforts and asked all school children to bring in one Ghana Cedi (a little less than $1). Great iniative; however, the schools are being very strict with it and any student not bringing in a cedi gets sacked (sent home until they bring the money). Sika was sent home Monday at 10am, so I gave her a cedi and one for the rest of the kids. Like I said great iniative but not so great when orphans get kicked out of school because they can't afford to even donate the money-seems to be defeating the whole endeavor, doesn't it?

On the outdoor patio at the hotel kicking back.

A meal cooked by Sister Bernice's mother: yams (love them), stew and noodles (this is a new one, haven't seen these noodles added to the mix before).

A little frisbee action.

It finally happened! SorryO!

I believe in one of my earliest posts from my time here as a volunteer, I mentioned that the streets are lined with drainage/sewer ditches and that some are covered but most are not. I think I also mentioned that my worst fear was that I would walk straight into one. Well, it has taken a while, but it finally happened....I stepped right into one last night! Hahahahaha! I’m fine which is why I am laughing about it!

It was dark out and I was near the market with six of the kids about to get in a taxi (we had just finished dinner after spending the afternoon playing some games and enjoying cold sodas at Freedom hotel-has the pool). Wallasy is always a little gentleman and opens the front door for me to get in the taxi. So last night he opens the door and just as I am saying thank you, I step forward and my left foot feels nothing beneath it. The taxi was parked right in front of this small hole, barely bigger than my foot and wouldn’t you know, I manage to step directly in the middle of it. My leg went down clear to my upper thigh!!!! I was fine, just very shocked. All the kids freaked out trying to help me up, the taxi driver was crawling across the seat and I was laughing! Also thanking the Lord that there was nothing wet or disgusting that I sank into! Phew! I was also thankful that I was hidden by the taxi door and on the side of the street with not many people, so I didn’t have a huge audience! I managed to get out of the hole with just a bruise on my thigh and two minor scrapes. However, the whole mishap alerted me to another Ghanaian phrase. The word ‘sorry’ or 'sorryo' is used when someone gets hurt, falls, or trips; similar to asking someone ‘are you okay.’ So I had every kid and the taxi driver saying ‘Sorry’ to me and when we got home, they of course told grandma right away so she would look at my leg and she said ‘sorry’ too!

Awoenam

YEA!!!! Awoenam is growing healthy and bigger! Awoenam is the three-year old girl we met on the last trip that had recently been brought to Sister Bernice because of concerns she was not being taken care of properly by her sister. I finally got to see her yesterday and can’t possibly describe the joy! She looks so happy and beautiful and she is talking! Sister Pat, the woman that is caring for her in her house, is such a loving and wonderful, new mom to Awoenam. I have no doubt that she is in great hands. My mom loves Awoenam and developed a very special bond with her last time, so she did some extra shopping for Awoenam and sent many dresses (or as Sister Pat said, the dresses are plenty) with me, as well as the cutest, sun hat, shoes, and baby doll (it even says mama and cries). I again had the great privilege of sharing these items with her and I WISH I had captured on video Awoenam’s response to the doll! She absolutely loves it and won’t let go of it; she is being a very good mommy and giving the baby lots of hugs and kisses! She even fed the baby some of her candy I brought! The dresses my mom sent are adorable and I will hopefully be able to load a pic of her in one of her complete outfits. I was able to learn more about Sister Pat and Awoenam yesterday (I won't lie, I really was questioning why Pat would take in a child...what was in it for her...isn't that awful?). First off, Pat has one son that is 24 and lives in Accra. When I commented that now she has the chance to raise a girl, she responded with ‘thanks to God’s grace.’ She really feels honored to do this and her love and care for Awoenam shows through; I can tell Awoenam loves her too. Awoenam’s mother died and her father either left or also died, leaving Awoenam’s older sister to care for her. Her sister was only in high school and she became pregnant and dropped out of school. Pat and other neighbors noticed that Awoenam was malnourished and not being watched after, so someone came to Bernice for assistance (because of her organization for orphans). Sister Pat offered to take in Awoenam if her sister agreed to register her with Bernice. Pat has a big heart; she also cares for her aunt who has suffered a stroke and cannot walk. Thank God for people like Pat!

Awoenam in one of her outfits from Mama Carol (or as Pat kept referring to her, Big Mama in the US -sorry mom, I know you will hate the sound of that- but I am Little Mama, Sister Pat is Mama, and you're Big Mama =)).

She had some great smiles playing with her baby, but of course I couldn't capture any. Whenever she knew I was taking a pic she would look at the camera very seriously. I kept telling her to smile and show her teeth; her response was to open her mouth wide and 'show me her teeth.' Love it!

She was also very excited about this hat! At one point I took it off because it was in the way. When her neighbor came by, she ran for the hat to put it on and show off!

Here are the new shoes so far:

Wallasy, Elolo, and Sika

Thank you Sister Cassie!

Living the Good Life

Even though my friends here speak English to me, they have some different sayings that I didn’t always understand at first. Now, even though I can still only speak a small amount of Ewe, I find myself speaking their English dialect to communicate more effectively (I’ve caught myself once or twice saying these at home too). Here are a few examples:

If you only want a small amount of an item or there is only a little of something left, you describe it as ‘small, small.’ For example, ‘I speak Ewe small, small.’

If you have a lot, if something is full, the word ‘plenty’ is used versus I have enough. For example ‘the tomatoes were plenty at the market.’

If someone has a cut or other injury, instead of being hurt, it is described as the cut is ‘paining’ them.

If something is broken, it is described as ‘spoiled or finished.’

If a pen runs out of ink or the food runs out, it is also ‘finished.’

If you want to get out of a tro tro or taxi, you want to ‘alight.’

Home is referred to as ‘the house.’ Example: Will you be in the house at 10am or I am going to the house.

If you are leaving or walking away from someone but will be returning, you say ‘I am coming’ or vacaba in Ewe (this one really tripped me up at first). Someone would say to me I am coming and then walk away from me and I wouldn’t see them for another two hours! =)

This is small, but I enjoy it for some reason: The response to ‘good morning’ is usually met with a ‘fine morning.’ I think I’ll try that more often; it just seems less robotic to me.

One of my favorite things to say in Ewe that is very helpful when spending lots of time with the kids: caba, caba! Which means: quickly, quickly!

Our swimming adventure on Saturday, once again was successful. Since my mom wasn’t here, Grandma (Bernice’s mom) came with us to help me keep an eye on the kids (not that she can swim). There was a beautiful wedding taking place at the hotel, which meant a lot of additional Ghanaian children were hanging around. So my kids and I had an audience of about 10 kids and several adults staring at us in the pool! In this area of Ghana, swimming is not something they do for fun nor do most people know how to swim because areas to swim are not plenty. =) One of the boys, Emmanuel, spent some time near one of the fishing villages, so he is the only one that actually knew how to swim and he even beat me in a race (I was actually trying to win)!

After swimming we found a place that could feed and sit all us (13 in total) and thanks to my Aunt Dorles I was able to treat the kids to a good dinner out. I asked the kids what they would choose to eat if they could have anything they wanted for dinner (I named all the Ghanian dishes and options, which are some good ones and asked if they wanted fish, chicken, or even goat...yuck) and they ALL said RICE and chicken!!! What? Rice, seriously? I’ve seen them get served rice multiple meals in a day, so this was surprising. I asked again and they were in a agreement. Luckily the place we found served fried rice also, so they all at least got something a little different and tastier. They also got pepper stew and fried chicken; it all looked delicious (I was the only one that ordered the more traditional dish, fufu)! They were a very happy group! Thank you Aunt Dorles; they will still be getting some fish later this week as well!

I haven’t experienced any real jet lag the first few days here and have been so thankful for high energy levels! I even managed to get a run in yesterday (this is the first time I have ever worked out in Ghana; Ghana is usually a work out in itself)! I woke up very early to avoid the heat. I set my alarm for 5:00am, right when it starts getting light, but I was actually awake at 4:30 excited for the day! I went to the stadium in Ho which meant having to find a tro tro or taxi that early in the morning on a Sunday, luckily it was market day so it didn’t take long. One of the boys Wallasy came with me to keep me safe (mmmm...he’s 12 and weighs maybe 80 lbs), so I let him listen to my IPOD while I ran. It felt great and I will be heading there again tomorrow!

Speaking of running, I have to share how matter of fact Ghanaians are with weight. While it is such a sensitive subject in our culture, they just view it as any other characteristic, such as hair color. So when describing another Ghanian person that is overweight, they have no hesitation in saying, the big girl and they hold out their arms in a way to mimic being big. It could be offensive if it wasn’t so shocking and funny. Anyways, they are usually a little more sensitive to foreigners because they know our culture treats this differently. However, now that I have been running more, I do weigh less than previous trips. So my friends here keep telling me, ‘wow, you reduced.’ Our friend Richard (from internet café and helps Bernice) was the funniest about this, he was commenting that I reduced and we started talking about running, etc. Then he said, ‘good you are no longer heavy. Why is it that Americans are always so fat?’ Ha, ha, ha! Oh my goodness. Not sure how I should have taken this whole conversation, should I have been offended? Maybe, but I wasn’t at all, he wasn’t trying to be mean, just stating the truth. He even did the arm mimic when he was talking about the American volunteers he’s met. I told him not all Americans are fat, but our country does have an overweight and obesity epidemic probably because the overabundance of food. He said but Ghana has food everywhere too. Which is true. While the marketing differs greatly between our countries, everywhere you turn in Ghana there’s a person carrying some type of food for sale on their head (it rivals our fast food frenzy). My other response was our abundance of luxury that diminishes the natural activity levels in Ghana (i.e. personal cars that take us from point a to point b, washing machines, dishwashers, TV, etc).

Yesterday I took Sika, Elolo, and Wallasy (all three live with Bernice’s mom) with me to visit the kids at the boarding school since they have never been there. When I took the kids out on Saturday it was like trying to free my kids from prison! They are very strict at the school with giving the kids permission to leave, which is good really (I don’t want just anyone coming in and taking them), but it took me an hour to get them out of there which was a little frustrating! So Sunday we just went to visit, but they were very busy studying for their final exams which start tomorrow. It was nice to see that even on the weekends they had extra classes they could participate in for reviews and I learned that often in the evenings they will have some type of cultural group come in and perform for the kids. Sika, Elolo, Wallasy, and I headed to the market for a couple of items. We had unsuccessfully shopped for shoes the day before, so when we passed a few stalls of shoes Wallasy spotted a great pair of tennis shoes and before long I was bargaining for pairs for all three of them. I feel like a I actually got a good deal (the day before I wasn’t which is why we didn’t buy any). The shoes are sooooo cute! I’ll have to get a picture of them today (Cassie- this is what your donation will go to, shoes for the kids!)! Elolo and Wallasy both got tennis shoes (Elolo’s are Addidas-they were only $5- he will be styling) and Sika got fun sparkly black shoes! They can wear them for school and church.

More shoe shopping to come; it is such a joy and blessing to see the kids get so excited about picking out something they really like, brand new shoes that they got to pick themselves and are just theirs! I thought Elolo specifically was going to burst with joy when he saw his shoes being placed in the bag (he literally was jumping up and down, pulling on my arm, asking ‘my shoes, my shoes?’)! Out of the five of us (including the salesman), I am truly the lucky one.












Kids at the boarding school (Noble is the one standing up then Emmanuel, Sammy, Elikim, Patricia, Patience, Peace, and Edem). All the kids in this pic, except Patience and Patricia, are enrolled in the boarding school.











Edem and Peace relaxing at the pool.










Sammy's hair was a bush when I picked him up from school so we went to the barber! Poor Sammy, everyone is just standing around, staring at him and then I start taking pictures! He, he.

Ghana: Is it an Addiction?

It seems I am only good at blogging when I am in Ghana (which makes sense....this is a blog about Ghana). However, my friend Maasen told me I was about to be bumped off of her list of ‘blogs she follows’ (www.maasenyourface.blogspot.com), so I figured I better get back to Ghana and get blogging! Besides this pressure to blog, I’m sure any of you reading this knows by now, that I am just in love with my kids in Ghana and can’t bear to stay away too long....I admit it may be an addiction, but what a good one! This wasn’t a trip planned in advance, it all came together in a matter of weeks. Like so many times before, the timing and logistics of this trip just fell into place and felt right. So I took the plunge and if God is willing, I will get to visit Ghana twice this year. The original plan was to come in the fall with my mom again; she couldn’t take time off work this early in the year, so I am traveling solo. While it seems a little strange not to have her here this time, I am also looking forward to being selfish and having the kids all to myself and being able to walk more places (sorry mom-love you)! Plus it really reminds me of when I was here the first time. I even traveled by myself from the airport this time (a first)!

While I only arrived in Sokode today at 11am, I’ve already had a full and wonderful day catching up and have felt great after my 18 hour journey (fyi- I really wrote this Friday night, but just now posting)! My travels here couldn’t have gone any easier- thank you to those who prayed for just that! From the lack of traffic on Highway 270 at 8:45am to the angelic curbside luggage checker that helped me get my bags to weigh under 50 lbs to the entertaining and inspiring Ghanian man sitting next to me on the plane to the relatively comfortable tro-tro ride, I felt God’s hand all the way.

Since the kids are in multiple places now (boarding school, Bernice’s/’the orphanage,’ and her mom’s house), I made multiple trips around town to let them know I was here. There are currently six kids in the boarding school thanks to everyone that helped our fundraising efforts (there were originally seven, but Princilla proved to be too young to stay there and is at another school now and living with Constance). I got to tour the school and see where the kids sleep. They are adorable, the boys all have the top bunks- three in a row, with Sammy in the bottom middle bed. The girls sleep in a bunk together too. They seem to be doing well and when I drilled them about the school, they still said they really like it, just the food could be a little better. They have final exams next week that they need to pass to advance to the next level, so this will be a true test to see how much they have learned.

Thank you to the many people that provided items for me to bring along on this trip! I stuffed two large suitcases full with lots of clothes, toys, crafts, vitamins, and old phones! It is a privilege to be the distributer of such great gifts and to see the smiles!

We have a day at the pool and shopping for new shoes planned for Saturday and a visit to see Awoenam. Bernice tells me she has grown a lot already in the past 6 months and this is incredible news! I’ll work on getting some pics of her and the other kids on here soon!

Aaahhhh, internet that works….

Well, I didn’t keep up with the blog this trip. Our time just went so fast, getting to an internet café was not convenient, and when we were there is was too frustrating to load pictures. So, below is an array of photos illustrating this year’s trip.

We saw a few new things this year, but for the most part Ghana, to me…and now my mom even….just seems normal, normal for Ghana, that is. We’re becoming use to it, use to a different culture, sounds, smells, foods, and even a different perspective on time! You never know what might happen in Ghana, so we’ve learned to just go with it.

Not sure it is obvious from the pictures, but the kids are growing so much! Of course, as my friend Maasen pointed out to me last night, kids do that. Yes, they do and it is a good thing. It means they are getting the necessary nutrients and are hopefully developing healthy bodies….but still it makes me a little sad. Sad that they will eventually outgrow the cute, cuddly stage and sad because I miss out on much of their lives and the changes that occur between these visits. Regardless, this trip was blessed with much happiness compared to last year. While it was hard to leave again, it felt different…it was okay. Now I am hopeful for their futures and know that with the Hopkins Foundation we are on the right track to ensuring that they will no longer be forgotten about or abandoned in life.

While there are still many kids we can’t help yet this year via boarding school, the fact that seven of the orphans are enrolled and will head off on September 6 is amazing! The Hopkins Foundation hasn’t even been up and running for a year yet and already it is able to make this impact! I just have to say thank you, thank you, thank you again to everyone that has helped support these efforts so far! May God bless you! I wish each and everyone of you could see these children in person and see the impact that you are making in their lives!

I had a little pep talk/heart-to-heart with the seven kids that are enrolled this year: Peace, Noble, Elikim, Sammy, Princilla, Edem, and Emmanuel. I just wanted them to know how many people are making their schooling possible, believing in them, and showing them love. Our work to give these children better lives is far from over, so I don’t want to get a head of myself, but……..I just pray for the kids to feel the love that so many of us have for them, that this love is enough to overcome anything from their pasts, that it makes them grab a hold of the opportunity and potential school offers, leading them to successful lives, and that one day…they’ll pour that love back out to others in need.

I never got to update about the 2nd yard sale….it was also a success and helped with Elikim and Sammy’s enrollment. After the yard sale and several other donations from my friends Maasen and Amy, we raised another $500.00. Josephine also had a friend that agreed to sponsor one of the kids, getting us to the seven! THANK YOU!!!!!

Bernice's neighborhood in Sokode

Melody-Wonder's daughter (he teaches at the school I worked in). We met her last year when she was very tiny.

Our boys playing football with some local kids in Ho. Sokode versus Ho. Sokode won (6-4), whoo hoo!

Big boys playing football. That's Adaklu Mountain in the background....I climbed it, piece of cake. =)

Dora Memorial School. This is the boarding school the kids will attend.

Here are the first seven (oops, six, Princilla is missing from the photo) to enroll in boarding school. From left to right: Elikim, Emmanuel, Sammy, Noble, Peace, Edem.

This is where Bernice's mom lives in Ho. Love the tree.

On the trail to Wli Waterfalls

We crossed the river eight times using these bridges.

God's beauty.

See....my mom really did make it.

Mmmm....I just like trees.

Bernice (left) and her mom.

Huge bamboo

In the forest looking for monkeys.

Monkeys!

Noble feeding a monkey in the tree.

Elolo's turn. We had a ton of monkeys gathering near us waiting for our bananas.

Elolo worn out after a day of swimming.

We took the kids to dinner after swimming. They're enjoying a local dish called banku.

Awoenam. She is three years old, but like Elolo was malnourished and neglected and therefore is the size of a one year-old. She was brought to Bernice, who placed her with a nice woman named Pat. When we first met Awoenam she showed no emotion and wouldn't make any noises (for us nor for Pat). After a few encounters with my mom she was a laughing, happy baby! My mom fell in love!

Friends. Emmanuel and Noble. So cute.

On the way to the monkey sanctuary and waterfalls. Tro-tro with flat tire #1.

Flat tire #2 and our boys trying to lift the tro-tro. It worked.







Entertaining themselves and making me very nervous while we waited for a new tire !

My old friends, the DiVOG boys: Richard, DJ (with the wild pants), and Robert. Mypa (not pictured) and Robert took my mom and me out in Accra our last night in Ghana. It was great to see life in the capitol and all the expats!

I may be in Ghana and they may call it Maize, but looks a lot like Central Illinois to me. This is on the farm behind Bernice's house, she owns several plots.

The boys working on the farm. They are growing cassava, yams, and maize.

Sammy wasn't working too hard on the farm, he found this nice tree.

Gorgeous.

Leaving......