Operation Ghana

Wednesday January 23, 2008

Roosters In The Morning, Roosters All Night Long

I slept like a rock until about 3AM. I thought roosters only crowed in the morning. They crow ALL NIGHT! ALL NIGHT LONG! There were so many wild sounds. One sounded like screeching brakes, another singing and chanting, cars honking, still others like sweeping, clicking and chirping. One sounds like the beep-beep-beep-beep of a digital alarm clock, but it’s not! It’s outside in the bushes. ALL NIGHT LONG!!! I was torn between putting in earplugs and missing these exotic sounds. Could I ever get used to these sounds? I don’t know. Leah, needless to say, slept like a baby.

I finally got up at 5AM to use the bathroom. I couldn’t hold it any longer. Okay, little known fact, I HATE public restrooms and airplane bathrooms, UGH! I would only use them when I am on the verge of death. But just to give you reference. I would GLADLY use a toilet in the dirtiest Wal-mart or public park before using ours here. Do you want to know more? Probably not. Sure there is a toilet bowl but it is more like a latrine.

There is no running water. That means no flushing. There are three large plastic buckets of well water to dilute whatever is in the bottom of the bowl. Ok, are you gagging yet? Well you should be. I am! Sadly, Leah inherited my Public Toilet Aversion (PTA). Add to that she has the MOST sensitive nose. On many occasions she will say she “HAS to go!” Then when we enter the bathroom she’ll pull her shirt up to cover her nose and say, “I can hold it!” I have to hope this experience breaks her of such snobbery. If not she’ll be feeling pretty sick in a few days.

Remember how I said the school buildings are surrounded with cement trenches that run down hill. Just squat and go when needed. Imagine the smell in a corner in a New York City alley. Yes, you’ve got it… sorry!

So, I got up at 5AM and Curry was already up boiling water for showers. You add some boiling water to the buckets of well water. Then you use a large plastic cup to douse yourself and VOILA! “Shower!”

I started slicing some bread, spreading it with peanut butter and honey. Cracked open a package of pop-tarts and VOILA! “Breakfast!” Leah said she was hoping for French toast. LOL.

The weather was still cool this morning and we were planning an 8AM Signing Time performance after their Wednesday morning devotional for the PS and JSS students. I put on my Signing Time clothes and put the colors on my fingers. I brought a small ipod speaker set that is battery operated and we took the dirt road up to the school.

There was a mother duck and duckling in front of Sam and Dora’s house.

Sam was with us in the bus ride from the airport. Dora was home and she helped Alex and Leah catch a duckling (not a mammal).

Leah told Dora, “My little sister Lucy would love you because she likes the name Dora!”

Here, everyone hugs you. It’s not an embrace. It’s more of a distanced hug or pat. No squeezing. Everyone shakes your hand, some of them shake and then as you are letting go they snap your middle finger with their thumb and pointer.

The devotional was all about how 2008 is a new year and you have a new life. 2007 is gone and so is everything may have done. (REPEAT) 2007 is dead. If you lied, stole, cheated or fought it is gone. 2008 is a New Year, new life and new blessing. (REPEAT) God cannot bless you if you lie, cheat, fight or steal. Accept this new life 2008!

Then we were introduced. Curry had told me in advance that the teachers do not like it when people come in from other countries and say things like “In AMERICA we do it like this…” in a condescending, better than way. So I was worried because I really did want to share that in America many different people are learning sign language. Not just the deaf, but hearing families enjoy expressing themselves and have fun communicating through sign language. So that is pretty much what I said. I wanted to communicate that “Everyone is doing it!” and it’s FUN! (There is no need to resist!) For credibility’s sake I shared that we are on TV in America so anyone can turn our show on and learn along with us

As I sang, the kids signed along! I was so glad! I had a nightmare the night before that I stood there and performed and they just stared at me like I was an idiot. For all I knew it would be entirely lost in translation.

We finished up and spent time with the students for a short time since they would be going to breakfast in 10 minutes.

Alex and Leah went to the school water well. They wanted to pump the water. There was a man waiting his turn and he did not seemed to be amused by these oburuni children. He finally waved them off and pumped it much faster himself.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day at the well. The bucket is full of water and this little girl can barely reach the rim!

When in Africa…

It was warming up so we went back to the cottage and I changed clothes. It would not be sweater weather for long! I changed into a bright orange t-shirt. After a short time we went back to the school to visit some classes and work with the children. We worked on helping them watch a written word to the correct object. Then matching the fingerspelled to word to the written word. And finally matching the fingerspelled word to the object.

In some of the classes children are copying words from the board, but they do not realize it is actually a word that means something. And they do not know that the letters they are writing correlate to a manual alphabet as well. To them copy a word from the board in their notebook, may as well be art! If you don’t know that a C is a C and that an A is an A and a T is a T and that together they make a word and that word is CAT and that means the animal and the sign for it is like you are showing whiskers… then for all you know you are copying shapes!

The first class was younger maybe 7 and 8 year-olds. They really struggled making the correct matches. Keep in mind if the children are born deaf they start their education at age 6. Prior to that they sit at home with no communication. If they lose their hearing from sickness, then they start school whenever their families find out there is a deaf school. That is, they start school IF their families can afford to send them here.

The second class was a little older, 9 and 10 year-olds. They were begging for a challenge. It was interesting, just like in any class, there were kids who could do the work and others that really struggled with it. Some could match the written word to the image, but could not match the fingerspelled word to the image. When we finished, we took pictures together.

It is hard to get a good picture, or good video because as soon as they spot a camera, they are all in front if it. Or there are dozens of hands are in front of the lens. The kids love to be in photos. I wonder how many shots of hands in front of the lens Aaron got.

The kids went to lunch. On our way out there were 8 kids outside of the classroom, standing near the stairs. The colored tape on my fingers was coming off because of the heat, so I showed them. I left each of them with one blue or orange taped finger. I hope a riot did not ensue later.

As we headed back for our lunch, we spotted a mother hen and baby chicks in front of Dora’s house.

She came out to help Alex and Leah catch them. I asked her what other baby animals she had hiding in there. Alex and Leah chased orange-headed lizards as we went back for our lunch.

Our lunch consists of our choice of the following;
A. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
B. Packets of tuna fish
C. Tuna salad kits on crackers

Today we had B and C, since we already had A for breakfast. It was not bad. Not bad at all.

Next we packed up and started walking up the road. We bought oranges, ice cream and Fanta sodas.
(notice the platters with hard boiled eggs and oranges on their heads)

People stared and honked seeing so many white people all together. They especially stared, or told their friends to look at the oburuni children, Alex and Leah. We scared more infants.

We passed a cemetery. The first headstone I saw said “Madam Lucy”.

I want to go back and take pictured for my oldest sister Carrie. When she lived back east she would go to the cemetery and make tomb stone rubbings.

We passed an Orthopedic Specialty Hospital. I really want to go in there and check it out! Maybe Lucy would appreciate the change of atmosphere.

We passed the deaf high school too. It is the only deaf high school in Ghana. All 13 deaf PS/JSS schools lead to this one place. They only accept the students with the highest test scores. 50 girls and 100 boys.

We saw the local hospital. Derek walked through it with Curry, Heidi and Alex. Derek said it was his worst nightmare to be very sick and treated in one of those rooms or a place like that. Heidi had fainted or had a seizure the first day they arrived. She spent the night in this hospital. While they were in the hospital waiting room, another patient died. He was covered with a sheet and the body stayed in the waiting room. A group of mourners came in and started wailing. When Heidi was brought into a private room there was some discussion between the doctors and Curry and Robi about what they should do and what Curry and Robi would allow them to do. Our side thought the doctors were saying they wanted to give Heidi a drape so she would feel more comfortable. Robi and Curry basically felt that there was NO WAY they were going to let anyone take of Heidi’s clothes. Heidi was just pretty out of it and still remembers nothing. Remember how I said they speak English in Ghana but the accent can make it difficult to understand? Turns out they were not talking about a drape to make her more comfortable. They were talking about a DRIP. An IV! When Curry and Robi realized that, they stood even firmer. NO WAY. They were not going to let them put a needle in her. The doctors said, it would only be a drip of sugar water. Still, Curry and Robi were more concerned about where that water came from and what else might just live in it. No needles, no water, no blood! The total bill for a night in a private room was $26.

My favorite thing at the hospital was a sign that said “Births/Deaths” with an arrow pointing the same direction.

Do you really want birth and death in the same area? And do you need to direct people toward death? “Oh excuse me I was looking for the cafeteria and accidentally ended up in death! Well there’s no going back!”

From the hospital, the guys all took a taxi back to the cottage. Leah, Heidi and I bought hair extensions and made an appointment at a salon to have braids done. Then we took a taxi back to the cottage, it cost about 30 cents.

Aaron met us at the door with ice cold, glass bottles of Fanta.

As much as I tried not to, I HAD to take a nap. I know it means I may be up at 4AM, but I was OUT! I said, “Please don’t let me sleep more than an hour!” I then slept for 3 hours. It hurts to wake up from a nap. Maybe it’s the Malaria pills or jetlag. I don’t know. But it hurts! It was 5PM and dinner had arrived. I thought Curry was joking when he said we were having hot dogs. But no, on the table sat 8 plates, each with about 4 cups of a rice and beans mixture and next to that were little hot dogs in a chunky red sauce.

The red sauce was spicy hot. I did not try a hot dog. Sorry, something about seeing countless goat butcher shops… I took one bite of the rice. Set my spoon down and said, “Nope. Not doing it.” Right then Leah set down her fork after trying the rice and said, “It’s thick. It’s cold and it’s just EWWW!” Leah summed it up perfectly! I took my plate to the kitchen and cut 3 slices of bread and covered them with peanut butter and honey. I brought one to Leah and one to Aaron then sat myself down. Leah said, “Mom, you make a mean peanut butter and honey sandwich.”

Aaron had just pulled a hair out of his rice. Everyone followed suit, taking their full plates to the kitchen and returning with peanut butter and honey on bread. Two days in Ghana and I am thankful for honey bears. Leah fell asleep after dinner. I woke her up after I had boiled some water for our shower buckets.

We cleaned up. Brushed teeth. Put on our pajamas and she went back to sleep.
(To brush our teeth we use water from a water bottle to wet the toothbrush and rinse our mouths and to wash off the toothbrush when done.)

After dinner Marco stopped by to share with me the history of ASL in Ghana and how GSL fits into it all. He also shared his incredible story as the first deaf person to graduate from college in Ghana. He lost his hearing at age 12 when he had meningitis. He could no longer go to school since he could not hear. He stayed home for three years and learned to weave. His family had been baptized some time before his sickness. When he was 15 his family moved to a new village, where they bumped into the man who had baptized them all years ago. When Marco’s father explained that Marco was now deaf, this man told him about a nearby deaf school. Marco at age 15 was excited to return to school again and learn sign language. When he began school he anxiously awaited learning signs from the teachers. He was disappointed to realize the teachers would not be the ones teaching him to sign. The other students taught him. Marco completed high school and tested into college. He had no interpreter in college for a long time. He studied his books and asked fellow students to take notes for him to study. When he continued to score well the head master was impressed and began to search for an interpreter for Marco. They found one, but Marco was disappointed with her minimal signing skill, but he was afraid to voice this to the head master and seem ungrateful and possibly lose the potential for a better interpreter in the future.

After three years of college came his final exams. Each student was assigned a number. Marco was #175. Each number was called and each student was told whether they had failed and could no longer continue college or if they would be allowed to retest or if they had passed. When the teacher called #175 it was noted “DEAF” next to his name. #175 was called a few times and then Marco raised his hand and stood up. Marco said he thought his heart might fail him. “Number 175. You passed!” Marco graduated with a special education degree so that he could return to the deaf schools as a teacher. He was offered a position, but was told there was no on-site housing available for him. Even thought he knew there were four empty rooms. The headmaster claimed that those rooms would be held for teachers who graduated from the University, not College.

Marco said that three years ago 100% of the deaf high school students failed their final exams. Two years ago 100% failed again. One year ago 61% passed. There are so many more chapters to Marco’s story. He says his beautiful (hearing) girlfriend cannot marry him. 1. They are different religions. 2. He is deaf. 3. He does not make enough money and has never traveled.

It is his dream to continue his education by coming to America and attending a University there. Although he is deaf, he wants to go through an ASL interpreter training, not to become an interpreter but to know how to train them. He wants to start the first interpreter training program near Mampong. One year of out of state tuition in the US is $20,000, (he would need 3 years) plus airfare and living expenses. Just to apply for a student visa is $190, which is too much when you make $100 a month. But his smile and the light in his eyes are bright. Marco taught me a thing or two about being unstoppable.

As I listened to and learned from Marco, I was so amazed. Talk about someone who has the right to be angry at how much is unfair. I told him that what I was inspired most by was that before him it was believed that a deaf person could not go to college or graduate from college. Because of him, because he did it – it IS now possible. There are now 4 deaf students attending college in Ghana.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS