Day 52 (monday) Last day/week of observations

My last place of observations.

Me and the head of the shoe making area (also a former resident).

A shot of some of their livestock and washroom.

A shot from outside of their wood shop.

A look inside one of the resident halls.

A closer look into one of the washrooms.

 

I woke up around 6 this morning but felt pretty good. I went to bed a little later than normal last night because I was waiting around to chat with my brother. I wasn't able to connect with him and went to bed around midnight because my eyes were getting too heavy. I had noodles and coffee for breakfast again and then listened to music and watched episodes of things I've already seen. Kwadwo called to make sure everything was alright and to make sure Ernest was going to get me. Today is the last day of observations, therefore the last facility that I will go to and it's kind of bittersweet. I got ready for the day and was ready to go. I was messing around on the computer and Ernest called to let me know he had arrived. We set off for Edwenase and it was business as usual. We made it to our transfer station and Ernest asked around about the place (Kumasi Cheshire Home) but no one knew what we were talking about so I decided that we should just take a tro tro to the rehabilitation center for persons with disabilities that we had visited and find out from there where we needed to go. We were approaching the place and just as we were passing by, I noticed that the Cheshire Home was on the same road. We got out and approached the place. I wasn't really sure what the home was before I came but as we approached, I learned that it was a home for persons with mental illnesses. I was looking forward to it. We made our way to the director's office and he was aware that we were coming and welcomed us into his office. He excused the other people in his office and spoke with us exclusively. I conducted my interview and it was a good experience. Midway through, a group of medical students from one of the universities stopped by unexpectedly and he had one of his interns take the students on a tour while he was talking to us. Then we toured the facility and it was also a pretty neat experience. Some of the residents partake in various trades (i.e. basket/bag making, shoe making, dress making etc...) and I like to support that and found a cool shoulder bag for only 3 cedis (unreal, that's about 1 dollar and 50 cents, they should be charging at least 5 times that much) and they should totally be charging at least 5 times that much. It was interesting to see the facility but a little more fascinating to hear the people talk about what mental illness was (which was very limiting). We finished our tour and said our goodbyes and made our way towards the vocational rehabilitation center to look at more of their bead work. From there, we caught a taxi towards home but as we approached our junction we noticed that traffic was at a standstill so we got out and looked around. I noticed that we were close to the DSW so I asked Ernest if we could visit Priscilla. She was so happy that I had sought her out and gave me a big hug. We chatted for a little while and then began making our way to the place where we needed to catch a tro tro to tech junction. I stopped at a store and bought a cool little statue (carved out of wood) and then we wandered to our spot. In the meantime, I noticed that it was unusually busy and learned that a famous footballer was driving through and people were literally coming out of the woodwork to catch a glimpse of this guy. There was quite the entourage and line of really nice cars being escorted by the police. They got stopped in the heavy traffic too (which I thought was pretty comical) but we passed them, heading in a different direction. We got to our destination and then headed to gates where I bought a couple things. Ernest was heading to campus so I just told him I would walk home and he could just head across the street to campus (he kept telling me that it was too far to walk and insisted that he come with, not knowing that I walk that route almost everyday, sometimes more). I made it home and took a much needed shower and then fixed some lunch. I took a nap and then got up feeling pretty refreshed and wrote for a little bit and watched more reruns. I'm doing ok with staying healthy and the mosquitoes, for the most part (at least on everything above the knees), but my poor feet and the lower portions of my legs are getting torn up, very itchy. I'm not too concerned about it but it sure is annoying the s#*% out of me. Going to spend some time talking with two of the closest people in my life tonight and am looking very forward to seeing them, home is where the heart is. I got to reach out to them, with a few hiccups, but it was absolutely amazing, they mean more than the world to me. Maureen got to meet Des and Alex and it was so pleasant, she was so happy to meet them. I exhausted my credits and checked in with my ma. I laid down and finally shut my computer off around a quarter after 11.