Day 17 (monday)

Just a short walk through campus.

Kumasi Children's home...obviously.

A small courtyard area in one of the housing units, notice the bed pads at the far end.

The children were just let out of a class.  Church on the left, daycare in yellow, school house next to it, housing unit from picture above on the right, and the administrative building just in the picture on the right.

This cute little guy was the first to greet me.

They told me to make a face...I said, I always make a face.

 

Woke up early to warm some water for coffee and oatmeal and Maureen showed up just as I was in the process.  We had an early breakfast and the girls all went to the market before they were going to the bus station to ride to Accra to fly home (it was such a quick weekend but nice to have them around).  Ernest called me to let me know that he was going to be to the house to get me at around 8 or 8:30 and he was right on time.   I was showering and getting ready and eager to go. We departed and were able to snag a ride from one of the students who offered to take us to the children's home because he was going near that part of town.  We arrived and walked into an office to be greeted by the assistant director, Miss Linda.  She was willing to answer what she could but asked that we do a small tour and then talk to the director as she would be arriving when we would finish.  The tour was nice, I got to see the living quarters, the play area, the church, the school and daycare and was glad that I could be there.  When I was done, Miss Victoria greeted us and was ready to answer our questions.   I went through a list of topics that we had developed and included some of my own questions based on the direction of the conversation.  We spent about an hour with her and then went outside as the younger children were having a break from classes.   I was immediately bombarded by the cutest little kid who offered me his candy bar and then opened his arms for me to hold him, it was so sweet.   I spent the next little while playing with kids just observing their time outside.   I also met a few people from various parts of Europe who were at the facility for two months doing volunteer work.   Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and am glad that I get to go back tomorrow to do more observing and less structured Q and A.  It wasn't all wonderful though, some of the conditions were questionable and the living spaces (mainly cribs and cots) were very cramped, so much so that many children sleep on mats placed on the floor because nobody is turned away therefore they have more residents than beds.   The way they refer to the residents who are persons with disabilities were “mentally ill” and “not normal” and were just not able to do anything for themselves.  They were generally seen less by staff and there were a couple of kids that were sprawled out in an 8 by 8 pen in one of the houses we went to with nothing more than a 2 by 6 mat and a cloth and the rest was tile.   The worker who took us on the tour assured us that they were comfortable although if they couldn't think for themselves then I find it a bit hard to believe.   I could go on but I'd like to leave this blog a little decent for the sake of being ethical.  We left to come home and were pretty exhausted (and I forgot to bring some water).   I warmed up some food for lunch and then began looking at my notes and writing this.   I laid down for a bit and the power went out.   Maureen had just gotten back from doing some work at the school and I swept her floors and requested that she take a rest (she resisted at first but gave in finally...she totally deserved it).  I interacted with some of the other housemates for a bit and Maureen woke up.   I'm not entirely sure what we will do now but whatever it is, it will be awesome, i'm sure.  We pretty much just hung out with the other housemates and had dinner, it was really nice.