Day 39 (tuesday)

The showers (falling out of the wall) at the facility.

I can't always post "good" pictures...this is one of the toilets that the females use (it's safer for them to squat because of various infections they are more prone to).  Pretty sad.

Me and Modesto, the warden, in the room that they've designated as the cooking room...their stove is on the ground (they're able to maintain the flame without firewood but rather surrounding the pot with saw dust).

The stove...it's a pretty cool system.

They get to use current equipment.

Me with some of the girls making beaded jewelry.

 

Woke up feeling refreshed, which was a nice change of pace as of late. The sleep aid works for me I guess. I woke up once in the middle of the night, as I usually do, and then back to sleep and up before 7. I made some coffee and watched the news and some old soccer matches and Maureen made some pancakes (they were more like crepes) but they were actually really nice (sort of bland but a wonderful change of tastes in the morning). Yesterday Ernest said he would be picking me up and would be at the house between 830 and 900 which, according to previous encounters, means probably just after 9. I was still watching tv at 8 and thought about getting ready and out of nowhere I hear Ernest. He came ready to go just after 8 telling me we needed to leave so I hurried to the bathroom and took a quick shower and had to hurry and get ready. When I asked him about the timeframe he specified the previous day, he just said “oh, I did?” and then said that he called the phone (still not sure I buy it entirely) and that he got some message. We left and Maureen joined us as she was going to the campus for some work and eventually worked our way there, taking a different route than yesterday but one that took a little bit longer. We arrived right at 10 (which is the time that we all agreed on so it turns out, Ernest being early was a good thing) and the Warden was sitting out under a tree awaiting our arrival. We spoke for quite some time doing the typical Q and A, he was very informative and elaborated on the questions quite a bit. After just over an hour of speaking with him he took us on a tour of the facility and I absolutely fell in love with the facility (it had more than its fair share of bad conditions though). I was surprised to find a man so passionate about persons with disabilities and, as I learned, one of a very rare breed that cares at all about them (this population is definitely where my heart is). I got a great chance to meet a lot of the residents and observe them in their trades (shoe making, bead making, dress making etc) and I also got to see the conditions with which they live. I also met some of the staff and they were all very gracious and welcoming. I bought a little something and was prepared to get a little more but then it started pouring rain so I helped them clean up their things and pack up to go back inside. We grabbed a tro tro without having to wait too long but I got stuck in the middle of a seat (let's just say they aren't made for tall people) and a woman got on and kept moving over and giving me stern glares when I couldn't move. The adventure continued and my knees felt every bump in the road. As a random tidbit of information, I stated previously that there is no legitimate waste management service nor is there any recycling per se. Most of the garbage, as i've noticed in my travels, ends up in the streams or are pooled into big piles and burned (the smell is pretty overwhelming) and really good for the environment (as are the vehicles with no types of emission checks...black, billowing smoke all over the place). Before we got to our intended destination, traffic was at a standstill and so we got off and decided to walk. Every couple of minutes we would take refuge under a canopy from a storefront. We made it home finally and Maureen was asleep (all the while forgetting to do the things she intended to do and still hasn't fixed her phone [which has now been out of commission for over 2 weeks] and many people have apparently been trying to reach her) so I would wait to eat. I decided to take a ride to a part of campus so I could withdraw money and then stop to get a few things from the store including a box of water. As I was approaching my destination I still hadn't gotten my change, although it wasn't much the cashier on the tro tro was trying to cheat me and when I asked about the fare, the guy just pretended not to understand me but when I was more stern with him and simplified it to “you owe me 5 pesoas!” he smirked and gave me my change (I won't be cheated again or try my best not to be). I walked back to the house and watched some kids playing soccer in a dirt field behind a school and by the time I made it home, Maureen was in and out of the kitchen. She had been preparing a few dishes to last throughout the week (again, she is leaving for Accra tomorrow and won't be back until sunday evening). It will be sort of lonely around the house but I will make the most of my time for sure. Tomorrow I will be revisiting Bekwai and spending the entire day with Lisa. Dinner (fried rice) was good and my bed looked comfy...sort of. Hope I can get some sleep because tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Day 38 (monday) aka the old man's birthday. Love you pops!

Hard time sleeping again and my back hurts, i'm not entirely sure what the plan is today other than I know I'm going to Edwenase to the rehabilitation center. I'm not sure what time someone is going to pick me up or who is (Maureen said that Kwadwo was trying to get in touch with someone else, other than Ernest [as he had an interview for graduate school] to take me. I had suggested that the time in the day that we went wasn't a big deal and that the last time I went, the warden wasn't even up yet but none of that registered with her.). I listen to books on tape and am now not even grasping the message but a good sleep is hard to come by these days (i'm not entirely sure why, perhaps its the temperatures or something else). I got up for coffee and for one of the first times, there was no hot water prepared (not a big deal at all, just kind of surprising) so I will make a sandwich and have some water. A small kink in my neck and a moderate headache and decent back ache won't deter me from my adventures today, I'm 100% ready and dedicated to do what I came here to do, I can complain about those ailments when I get home, there's not enough time to do that here (and, I know, people suffer through worse everyday). I watched France 24 to catch up on world news and then helped Maureen with her internship applications to UNICEF. There were some minor corrections that I suggested but overall the application was pretty good (makes me think that I need to be doing a lot more). I got ready shortly before 10 as that was the time Ernest would be done and stopping by to get me. I laid down for a bit and was chatting with Maureen and then I decided to grab the phone (it was dead) to see if anyone had called. A short time later, Kwadwo called and asked if I was in Edwenase, haha, then he suggested that Ernest would come by and get me to take me there (that was the plan already), I was thinking that I would just go tomorrow. We set off for Edwenase and it was quite the adventure. We went through kejetia market to find a connecting vehicle and it was chaos all around (as per usual) and then finding a vehicle that was going where we needed it to go was tough and even when we found one people were fighting each other off to get on so we waited. We got to the rehabilitation center and I saw the warden sitting out in the same place talking with a couple of other people. We approached him and he wasn't too excited to see us (and not prepared). He suggested that we were disrespectful last time by just leaving and because we didn't call to let him know (even though our schedule said we were to be there this week) he wasn't prepared to meet with us. He didn't seem to want to comply at all but I was able to calm him a bit and agreed to meet him tomorrow, at his convenience. We will be heading there tomorrow morning and plan to be there no later than 10. Sort of a wasted trip but i'm absolutely glad that I can still get the information. As for now, I am completely exhausted and my headache persists quite strongly. Started watching the England v France match and the power went out just after England scored...I told Kukuah that we were going to miss France scoring (sure enough, they did!). The lights came back on a while later and we got to watch the rest of the match. It started raining pretty hard and we thought that the power would go out again (it flickered a couple of times but stayed on). Maureen had to catch up with some friends so I didn't have access to the internet for the rest of the night (I was able to see my dad today to tell him happy bday, so glad that this is possible). The next match wasn't being shown on tv so I had to check with Cookie because she was following it on the internet and listening to it on the radio (I couldn't really follow it because all the stations were being broadcast in twi). For the next couple of hours I just listened to some music and another book (this time it is: To the Lighthouse.). I was pretty tired but restless again so I decided to use some help in sleeping.

Day 37 (sunday)

Got up a couple times and out of bed shortly after 7. Also realizing that the roosters from next door start their morning calls at around 5 in the morning...sometimes ok but mostly annoying. Maureen was setting off for church, I decided not to join her this time. I had my oatmeal and coffee and finished up with some of my observation writing. I began watching some TED talks which were very informative and beneficial and took notes on them. Maureen returned a short time later and prepared a nice salad and we ate it while we watched tv. We went back to our rooms and I listened to my book. It's becoming common, and comical, to hear Amofa belting out the tunes (he's always in the common room or his own room which is right next to mine [window to window anyhow]) and I don't mind it but it sounds like sick birds chirping hysterically. A while later we decided to eat a late lunch and I watched some of the Euro (Spain v Italy) match. Originally Amofa looked only at one station which wasn't playing so I went to my room for a few but when he left, I bolted to the common room and checked the other station which was playing it so I watched the remainder (most of the first half I had to use credits from the internet to watch it online so i'll have to recharge it tomorrow) of the match on tv. The next match wasn't being played on any of the stations so I was kind of bummed about it but I was a trooper and watched Adventure 2 (yeah, starring the Rock) but it was really the only choice...better luck next time. I took the lightbulb from our shower and put it in my room (we were told that the uncle was out of town [convenient, no doubt] and that we are responsible to replace it because there weren't any on the premises and the uncle usually buys them in bulk. I feel like it should be the responsibility of the property manager to take care of those things...Maureen sided with me and we decided not to buy a new one based on principle [not to mention it was too late and a sunday]).

Day 36 (saturday)

Woke up a couple times again, this time probably because I had a hard time falling asleep because of the smoke smell in my room. Went to use the restroom in the middle of the night and realized that the water is off, got out of bed just before 7 and it still wasn't on...I have to go soooo bad, it's starting to hurt. The coffee and hot porridge aren't helping either. It's ok, everything turned out fine, I woke up the property manager (Amofa) and he switched the tanks and turned the water back on, SUCCESS! For the most part of the day I was reading (listening to books) and relaxing. I got up and went into the common room and saw that Ghana was playing their second World Cup qualifying match against Zambia. It was a pretty unmotivated effort by Ghana and they lost 1 – 0 (Zambia is the current African champion). I came back to my room for a short time and decided to make some more food (bored hunger is a killer) so I boiled some water so I cold finish the cerevita. I used a towel to hold the pot while I stirred it around a bit and was bummed when then cereal smelled burnt. It turns out the burning smell wasn't the cereal at all, it was, in fact, the towel that had lit on fire. I swirled it around and the flame didn't go out (duh!) so I quickly put it under the faucet (glad the water was on). I'm so good in the kitchen. Most of the rest of the evening I spent to myself as no one else was around and Maureen was crying a bit (when I inquired about it she didn't really respond and needed to be alone for a bit...then she stated that she just has a lot on her mind and her leg hurts). Just before I was going to set off for bed, her light bulb burned out as she was preparing to read so I took mine out and put it in her room. I was a bit restless but eventually worked my way to sleep.

Day 35 (friday)

Just my brunch...so tasty and pretty healthy too!

Some interesting "knock offs" I saw at the store.

Woke up a couple times in the night but finally got up around 7 (seems kind of late) to fix some breakfast. Coffee and cerevita and I felt like a champ. Maureen was up marking the rest of her papers and then prepared a nice little breakfast plate with a salad and some bread, very tasty. I spoke with Lisa this morning to ask whether I could accompany her for a day in Bekwai to visit and offer some assistance to the places I visited last week. She happened to be not going in today and was buying some materials for the students so we agreed that I would join her next week. I listened to more of the book and just sort of relaxed, wrote a bit and was preparing to go to town in the afternoon. We left for town to take Maureen's phone in to get fixed (the screen is broken) and she's been putting it off for a couple weeks now. When we got there she was informed that she needed to charge her phone before the guy would work on it (why he couldn't do it is still beyond me) so she would need to bring it back another time. Afterwards we visited the place where I originally bought my modem so I could learn how to “bundle” with their service (turns out that you can only do that in 15 and 30 cedi increments). They tried to get me to buy the 45 cedi package (good for one month so long as you're not downloading anything, he says) and I told him that i've been here for just over 30 days and i've spent 80+ cedis and have only had just under 2 weeks of service. I've had them recharge it and still don't have service and i've added some...they couldn't explain anything to me (I also later found out from an off duty employee that their internet service is actually not the best...glad I know that now) other than buying the 45 cedi package and bundling it (Maureen was with me to make sure I was understanding everything) and telling me that I had paid too much (no s*&$). We walked around some shops and ran into some familiar people/vendors from before. Nothing was really jumping out at me so we moved along. We walked around town for a bit and Maureen insisted on showing me another store that I hadn't seen, I obliged, and it was like a new D.I. and an old sears meshed together. I also wanted to point out some slight differences in brands, for example, they are MAN trucks not MACK trucks and it is Sammy the Sailor and not Cap'n Crunch...just thought it was kind of funny.  We grabbed a couple food items and began the journey back through town and trying to find a tro tro back to one junction and then to ted junction. We stopped and grabbed some of the ground nut candy from before and then headed home. We grabbed some red plantanes just before home and then got in. I was pretty exhausted so I laid down and listened to my book for a bit. Maureen took a much needed rest while I watched the Poland v Greece football match. Jellof rice tonight and tomato stew was a nice end to the day. I sat and listened to the rest of my audio from last week and took some notes and will refine the rest this weekend. Maureen insisted that she light some mosquito papers for my room (my legs are riddled with little red bumps, in fact, i'm trying to figure out what I could make out of connect the dots with the mosquito bites) and it was a bit overwhelming and kind of gave me a headache. She came back a few minutes later and turned off my fan and said that the smoke was really pretty bad and then said that she hadn't tried it before and probably wouldn't try it again (I was an experiment today).

Day 34 (thursday) June 7th LIVE TO INSPIRE!

Back at the children's home...Maureen and Samira holding one of the little guys.

Really like this sign of solidarity...meant to catch the whole shot but like this one a lot!

One of the little guys that followed us around...he was having fun playing with rocks and a coke bottle.

This guy (his name escapes me) was so happy that I came back around.

 

Made sure I woke up at some point in the middle of the night so I could post to my facebook account on the one year anniversary of the blessing and passing of one of the most beautiful and inspirational people I have never met. Her father was online and I knew exactly what I was going to say...it was wonderful. I will surely hold my own moment of silence today in honor of Brynn. I laid back down for a couple of hours to a knock on my door, we were planning on going to the market early in the morning and Elom was packing the rest of her things so she could leave the house by 7 a.m. I began helping her and one of the bags I took sort of started to fall apart and the handles broke off in my hand and a hole ripped in the top, I guess that's what I get for helping. I made a little sandwich and waited for Maureen. 7 o'clock rolled around and I was wondering why she wasn't out and about and I asked Elom and she said that Maureen had left earlier but didn't say where she was going. This apparent miscommunication (although I can't make myself more clear) is frustrating because I was planning on accompanying her and just wanted to get out of the house, maybe she just needed her own time but I just wish she would tell that to me (see comment from previous posts about not wanting to disappoint anyone and risk doing so by non-effective communication). She came back a while later, said she knocked several times but I was awake around the same time to see Elom off so we must have just missed one another. It doesn't help that her knocks (in order of trying to be nice) are more like scratches. Now i'm just having the cerevita (hot cereal) and coffee and learning to take a back seat to myself and just reflecting on more important things. I was able to see Zoe today and it totally lifted my spirits. There were some comments about Brynn online today and an absolutely beautiful video that helped me reflect on the experience and brought with it a nice wave of emotion. It felt nice to reconnect with that side of me but was bittersweet at the same time. I made sure to tell those close to me that I loved them and then I laid my weary little head to rest for a bit. I collected myself and began preparing some food (not really, just making a sandwich to tide me over for a little while). Maureen was back and had been in the kitchen for a good portion of the rest of the afternoon preparing all sorts of food items for the week. I was watching Ghost Rider (super lame) because it was the only thing on tv that was either on the correct station or wasn't a commercial for something (daytime tv sucks already but it's maybe a little less than desirable here) and eating some bean stew and fried rice and then went back to my room. Maureen finished cleaning up (she didn't want my help, I asked). She rested for a bit (i'll admit that I am absolutely exhausted, mostly emotionally, and could very easily rest too) and then we set off for the children's home. Many of the kids were in their rooms when we got there but there were a handful of kids playing soccer and some younger ones roaming around so we just sat with Samira for a bit and played around with some of the kids and enjoyed being with them. It started getting dark and we still had to stop at ted junction to get a few things before we went home. We got home and Maureen started marking some papers and I had some food and laid down with my ipod playing The Sound and the Fury. Good night! Continually inspired and continually living to inspire! Although I think about her often, this day is especially dedicated to Brynn Barton (Brynnstrong!)

Day 33 (wednesday)

Just a little something I found...It's nice to drink something other than water and coffee every once in awhile.

 

Got up around 5:30 today and couldn't really lay back down comfortably. Coffee and oatmeal followed by some serious laying around. I got up and going and started writing up my observations. I really got into it a little bit later and put my headphones on and just zoned out and the writing just flowed, it was really pretty inspiring to relive the moments I had. I did a little bit of cleaning around the house while Maureen was gone and then laid down to rest for a short while because I was going to prepare to go back to the children's home. I got up and showered and was awaiting Maureen's return so we could depart but 2:30 rolled around (she was planning on coming back for me just before 2) and she hadn't returned so I decided that I would make a quick trip to the supermarket and just as I was leaving, she returned. She took some time telling me all about her day and that ultimately she was really tired but never could just say that she wasn't wanting to go to the children's home today (it's amazing how important it is for the people I've met here to not disappoint anyone...so much so that they will agree to something if they think it's what you want but in doing so they often neglect to communicate their dispositions effectively...I'm very grateful for sure!). I informed the housemates that I was going for a walk and that I would be heading to gates to the supermarket. I picked a few things up and a big bag of rice and walked home. I've been enjoying grilled corn so I stopped at one of the street vendors and got some to eat on the walk home. I passed by a school and stopped to watch some kids playing soccer in the field and then came home (soaking wet). The temperatures have been really nice for the past few days with the rains cooling it down but it is still very humid. I got back and made a few things to eat and had another cup of coffee and watched some tv with Elom (she is still around but is actually leaving tomorrow morning, bus ticket in hand) and chatted for a bit. Another slow day but by no means lacking of good energy. Maureen's cousin came around and was chatting with her for some time and then left. We spoke for a little while and I was watching tv (nothing on that I could understand (mostly terrible series shows in spanish with English dubbed in) before some the rice was done. We ate and were talking with Elom. I have come to find out that just a few nights ago that a woman was robbed just outside of our hostel and within the last couple of weeks people have been stealing laptops and one was taken at gunpoint (I still feel pretty safe but it's crazy that stuff like that is happening so close to home) so needless to say, I will continue spending money on credits to use the internet and will certainly not take my laptop out of the house.