Day 64 (saturday)

The food I was given as a peace offering for attending the funeral.

Speaks for itself.

Some of the guests.

The band at the funeral (there was also a more traditional setup on the other side but I didn't want to take too many pictures).

Me and Maureen and some guy trying to sneak a picture of me.

Kwadwo and Peter and some of the other KNUST faculty.

 

I woke up around 4 this morning to go to the bathroom (exciting, I know) and then decided to try the parental units again. I was able to get in touch with them and it was nice. Talking to Zoe was probably the best part, especially when I called her and she ran to her spot at the window. I was able to sleep for a couple more hours and then got up to make some breakfast. The manager had gotten back into town last night after being gone for a week and was in the kitchen so breakfast was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and no coffee! I laid around for a bit and waited for Maureen to call to figure out when we would be going to the funeral. She came back and informed me that we should be there by 2 so we would have to leave by 1. We set off a couple minutes late and traffic was beyond crazy, the weather was warm and the sun was out so we were worn out before we were half way there. We got to the funeral (the man died in canada and will be brought back to Ghana at a later date) and we met the brother (and Maureen's project supervisor). We were ushered into a private room with air conditioning, comfortable couches and offered food and drinks (it is customary to be invited to this type of room and fed and served drinks. As someone visiting a funeral on behalf of one of the family members, this hospitality is customary practice). We were there for awhile and then made our way back down and sat down with the congregation. Kwadwo and Peter showed up and we joined the KNUST staff and walked along the front row and shook the hands of the family and sat back down for some time. It started raining so we went back to the tent (near the room that we were taken to originally) and spoke to the KNUST staff members that were present. We were so tired and were getting ready to leave but had to wait because we were boxed in, Kwadwo offered to drive us to the other part of town as we had to pick some things up from the tailoring shop. There was so much traffic again and by now we were completely exhausted and had headaches. We made some arrangements with the tailor and then caught a taxi back to a junction (I can't remember the name of) and then caught a tro tro to tech junction and finally caught a ride home. We stopped at the pharmacy then headed home and were just a dozen yards away from the gate when I noticed a boy (6 years old) hysterically crying walking in the opposite direction from us. I suggested we talk to him because no one else was with him, he said his grandfather accused him of stealing money and hit him so he was going to go to his mom's place (which was at least an hour and a half drive), by this point he had walked so far. We dropped our things off at the hostel and tried to figure out what to do. I had to use Maureen as a translator but I asked if he knew his mother's number (taking him right back to his grandfather's place seemed like a bad idea) so we called mom several times and it was just going straight to the voicemail. We brought the little boy inside and I gave him a little food and some water while we were preparing to leave again to take the boy back to the grandfather's place. The mom called back and she wasn't interested in coming to get him so suggested we take him in, take him back to his grandfathers house, or try her sister's house who lived nearby. This place kind of hard to get to, it was down some back alleys and around some fields and it was very dark, which made Maureen a bit uncomfortable. We made it to the sister's place (it looked like the buildings you see on tv that have been bombed and deserted). They knocked a few times but it seemed like no one was around. I noticed that the outside lock was not locked so we tried opening the door but it was locked, suggesting that someone was inside. I noticed that the window opening was only covered by a cloth and so I pulled it aside and said that we were around and knocked harder. She finally got up and answered the door (she later told us that she hasn't been in good health recently and the doctor said she has some kind of heart condition. Needless to say, she hasn't slept well at all and that tonight was the first time she has in quite sometime. We felt good about what we did and started walking back home. We got to the main road and were ready to catch a tro tro or taxi back home. Just as we started our journey home, I heard something and noticed that it was the boy crying again and walking in the same direction. Our hearts sunk and we followed him and called the mom again (she really wasn't interested in coming to get him) and the boy was too hysterical to even talk to her on the phone. We sat down for a bit and figured out what to do (Maureen was trying to figure out how we could manage getting the boy back home but I suggested that we needed to keep him close and thought we ought to call someone with the DSW or something similar). We got in touch with Peter and were back and forth with him for a bit and then he picked us up. He had a former student who worked for and lived by the police station and we took the boy there where they can worry about it now (I'm glad it worked out that way to take the liability out of our hands). We finally got back home and I wanted to shower but I let Maureen use it first so I laid down and that was enough for me, I was out quick completely exhausted!!!