Operation Ghana

Saturday January 26, 2008 3AM-5AM

Beyond The Obvious

At 2AM I woke up because Leah was really struggling to sleep with her braids. She has complained of itching for both days now. They must be pretty bad. I pulled her hair back, put a bandana around it and gave her an Advil… will that help? Seems to. I got up, used a wet wipe to wash my face, brushed my teeth, put Leah in her own bed and put on my pajamas. Then I figured I should write in my journal. That was around 3AM. It is now 5AM and Derek joined me in the living room with a book an hour ago. Aaron poked his head in and told us we should at least TRY to sleep or else we’ll never get on schedule. Derek said he had been lying in bed for over an hour, awake and couldn’t take it anymore.

Is it jetlag or is there some psychology behind it? At home Derek and I are the ones who resist waking up. I love sleeping and sleeping IN is even better! When I wake up I am ready to go back to bed. Yet here I am wide awake with nothing to do and unable to sneak in another hour or two. Maybe it’s because I am not staying up until midnight or eleven.

I am absolutely dumping water on my head and body with a cup in the morning… doesn’t seem right to call it showering. I know I said our water is from a well, but it is does not have a pump like the well at the school. We have a bucket on a not quite long enough rope. You throw the bucket in the well and have to flick it just right so it lands sideways and actually fills. All this while you lean over the edge of the well so the bucket actually reaches. (Aaron does not have this problem) Then you pull the bucket up to fill your shower or kitchen buckets. I am so afraid that we are going to be the ones to OOPS accidentally drop the bucket in the well

There are two spiders that come out each night and go back each day. They come to the exact same place. Not fist sized, but bigger than a half dollar for sure!

I am supposed to get braids at 8AM but with Leah’s complaints of itching and wanting them out after two days… I just don’t know. It cost about 20 cedi and today after Accra we stopped at the Church of Latter Day Saints Temple to deliver a message from someone in Salt Lake City who had friends working there. What a contrast going from the hustle and bustle of Accra to entering the gates to the temple grounds.

My first thought was, “Do they have flushing toilets?” I never found out. They had a water cooler! Yeah! So we all filled our bottles, walked around and took pictures. We met some people who where visiting from Springville UT and a woman from Long Beach CA. The woman from Long Beach was African American and she said she loved Leah’s hair and asked to take her picture. We told her about the salon experience and she could not believe that it cost less than 20 cedi and ONLY took 3 hours. She said that she has had it done at home and the work is $175-$250 plus the hair can be another $60-$80 and it takes 8 to 10 hours.

One of the girls at the salon asked if I have any brothers. I said, “Yes, I have three.” She said, “I want to marry one of your brothers. You bring me to America and I will do this hair at a salon there.” I thought about our American salons with their rows of comfortable chairs, here, Leah was on a wooden stool and they all sat on taller stools. In America you see rows of sinks with hot, cold and warm high-pressure water. This salon had one sink and no running water. They brought buckets of warm water from out back. At home there are comfy waiting areas. Here we had plastic lawn chairs out front. At home, brooms with handles! Here a bundle of twigs tied together with twine swept cut hair out to the gutter. A sliding glass window installed in a metal shipping container, a container that wouldn’t come close to being big enough to hold all of my possessions.

Many times I have thought about this guesthouse where we are staying. It’s nicer than I expected but it will be nice to be home. I wonder what any one of the students at the deaf school would think if they saw where we are staying. Each of us here with our ipods and portable speakers. Alex and Leah watching DVD’s on a personal player. Our piles of clothing that are pretending to be one to two outfits.

I asked to go to Dora and Sammy’s last night when the Ghana Black Stars were playing. I also wanted to see beyond the exterior of everything. I wanted to see where people really live. There home was basically 2 rooms, plus a shared front entry room where Dora sells snacks and sodas and where she cooks. To the left of the shared entry, there is a door to their living room, to the right, a door to someone else’s living room. Their living room had a small TV, a sofa, a cot and some chairs. One more curtained doorway lead to their bedroom. The pictures on their wall are of the first Signs of Hope International volunteer group, a framed 8X10. There is a carved wooden “ILY” hand, again from Signs of Hope. A large picture of Christ with a small clock in it leans against one wall. Two more photos pressed against a frame, more SOHI volunteers. No pictures of local friends or family. They probably do not own a camera and if they did, where would they have pictures printed? I am starting to see that there are some things that are obvious, like people pointing at us. Other things are surprising, like when we point at those like us. Obviously they cook on a small stove, but it’s surprising that a wheel makes a great kitchen stove. I am trying to look beyond the obvious, so I can really see it all.

I am going to try to sneak an hour of sleep. It’s 5:40AM, Saturday morning. January 26th.

Saturday January 26, 2008

A Tale of Two Taxis

I was able to sleep a few more hours then I got up and got my shower going. I boiled water to add to the cold well water in the buckets. I think today was the first time in my life that I couldn’t have cared less about eating. I showered, brushed my teeth, got dressed and drank water. I talked Leah into having a pop-tart, yes the breakfast of champions, since she seems to have given up on eating as well.

I chose not to go to my 8AM hair appointment for braids. Leah was thrashing around all night complaining of an itchy head. (Of course I checked for lice. NO lice! YEAH! Just the synthetic hair they use for the braids. Every time I itch my head I am thinking about lice. I have had Aaron check me twice and so far I am clean! LOL) She looked pretty miserable yesterday. Last night she was practically having a tantrum. That is not like Leah at all. I am sure she was mad, during the braiding she found out it would hurt and would take 3 hours and will itch for at least 3 days. Thanks for the heads up!! Poor thing.

Marco came over and I interviewed him. He is so great! We finished up, had the usual lunch of beef jerky, tuna salad on crackers and PB&H. Yes, a little of everything. I figured I had better eat something or I might regret it later.

We were planning on arriving at the high school for some traditional drum and dance performances. We arrived as planned at 2PM, but everyone was sitting down for lunch. It looked like a soup with pinto beans and then they poured some white mealy stuff on top. They finished eating by 2:30 then started setting up in another room. They carried benches, tables and chairs from one room to the next. Since it was Saturday the teachers were not at school, but since the students live there, they run the place. Around 3PM we were asked to come in and have a seat. Turns out that their drum and dance teacher quit on Monday, so there were no drums to be found. They went to Plan B, which was “Entertainment Dance World!” Where they had a dance off, with an emcee, jokes and improv. It lasted more than 2 hours. Leah got up and danced too. It was not what we were expecting. I did a little Signing Time performance and then we were on our way.

We caught a taxi (actually 2 taxis to carry us all) and went to Aburi (the wood carving district). Derek’s taxi had the words “SHAME” on the back window. Our taxi looked like it had been in a fire. The interior was gone. No liner overhead and the doors did not open from the inside. I am NOT kidding when I tell you that he actually took off the emergency brake, let the car start rolling and then popped it in gear once we were all in!!! Too reminiscent of “The God’s Must Be Crazy.” My first car was a 1976 VW Bus and I had to start it that way countless times. But when you are paying for a taxi… I don’t know about you, but I expect it to work. Maybe it all depends on your definition of “working”. We arrived at Aburi and ended up back at Alfred’s shack. I had changed my mind about giving the first elephant to Natalie. I asked him to custom carve a mother elephant and a baby elephant for Natalie. We agreed on a price. I told him that I would return Tuesday evening after our trip to Cape Coast to pick them up. At another shack, I bought a carved wooden bowl with a lid. Aaron and I wanted a wooden sculpture of a family with two adults and two children. There was every combination except that. We found only one and it was 50 cedi, then 45 cedi and finally 40 cedi, last price. We were looking more in the ballpark of 15 cedi. We asked at every shop, “Family of 4?” Some had a parent and 3 children, not what we wanted. One had a parent and 11 children. If it had been 9 children I would have bought it for my mom. It was getting dark as we started to walk back to a taxi station. Walking in the darkness I heard a familiar voice, “Madam! Madam!” I turned around and in the dark Alfred was running toward us. “Madam!” he said, “You want a family of four? My brother can carve that for you. Special order 15 cedi.” I was hesitant and I told him why, “Alfred, what if he carves it and I don’t like it? I would hate for him to do all of that work.” Alfred insisted, “If you like it, 15 cedi. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Please let us try!” Well, what can you say to that? I told him I would see how it looked when I returned Tuesday evening.

Our burnt taxi was waiting, but we got in the “other taxi” letting the rest of our group have that special experience too. Sure enough, we saw Alex, Derek, Robi and Heidi’s taxi start rolling down the hill. A few other drivers gave it a good push. We were laughing, until the engine on our car didn’t start. Aaron asked the driver if he wanted Aaron to get out and push. “No, this always happens!” was his calm response. After a few more tries the taxi started and we all cheered. We headed back home. Dinner was waiting and we were all anxious to see what surprise it held… GOOD NEWS!! Chicken and white rice!!!! YEAH! Derek brought in a round of Fanta’s to celebrate our good luck. We devoured our food before remembering to take a picture of it. That’s a good sign! At dinner we all took our Malaria pills. Everyone was laughing and eating – I even had seconds.

While buying Fanta, we met one of the Chiefs of Mampong. There are three chiefs. He said since Robi did not remove his hat out of respect when meeting a Chief, Robi needed to buy him a bottle of Guinness Beer. I also met Robert, who works at the orthopedic hospital up the road. I told him that I was curious about the place because my youngest daughter has spina bifida and cerebral palsy. He invited me up for a look!!! I can’t wait to report! So far I only have pictures of the outside.

After dinner Leah and I sat down and began unraveling her braids. She was torn. She wanted to show her friends back home and she wanted to stick a fork in her scalp. So we started unraveling. Everyone else went up to the deaf school. Marco stopped by and said his girl friend Hannah might be willing to help us, since she knows how to do those braids. I knew we had hours of work ahead of us and I knew it was a lot to ask. He returned shortly with Hannah. Alex and Derek had returned as well. With Leah seated in the middle, the five of us went to work. Hannah was by far the quickest. Leah was soon free and frizzy. Her hair is so frizzy it sticks straight out, flat from the top of her head. She was laughing and brushing her hair. When she looked in the mirror she quoted a line from “Hairspray”, saying “That’s afro-tastic!!”

When Aaron returned from the school, he was surprised that Leah’s hair was completely unbraided. She soon fell fast asleep. We didn’t want her memories of Ghana tainted by unbearably itchy braids. So it official, I am sold on NOT braiding my hair.

While Aaron was at the school, he was invited in to see the boys dorms.

This morning Marco said that his hearing aid had stopped working. He has a dry-aid dehumidifier to handle the moisture. He was pretty sure his dry-aid was no longer working either. I gave him the dry-aid we had brought for Leah. It’s brand new. We have never used it since we live in a desert. I was happy to give it to him and thankful that I brought it. I hope it works and that his hearing aid will work for him tomorrow. If not, he will send it back to the US with Curry to be repaired. Then he will have to wait until April for his hearing aid to return with the next group of SOHI volunteers.

Tomorrow Derek, Alex, Marco and I are going to an LDS church. The rest of the group will attend church with the deaf students. I will be interpreting for Marco. I hope I can understand the accent. After church, Marco will take a taxi home. The tro-tro will pick up everyone in Mampong, but they will meet us at the church for the trip to Cape Coast, a four-hour drive.

Oh, we saw a bigger spider tonight. Is it rude to say that I am glad that it was in Heidi’s room and not mine? Well I am very, very glad. For some reason when Curry first told me about the spiders that come back again and again to the same spot, I assumed he meant that they showed up outside!! Silly me!

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