Operation Ghana

Monday January 28, 2008

I Love This Place?

When I woke up this morning my waking thought was, “I love this place!’ This made me sit straight up in bed and ask myself, “What?” As well as, “Who said that?”

I woke up wondering if Heidi had left the bathroom light on. I was afraid of the pile of dead bugs that show up after a light is on at night. Turns out it was daylight shining in. It is very overcast and humid because we are at the coast and because garbage is still burning. It has to be at least 6:00AM because that is when the sun rises here. Yeah for me! I slept all night and woke up at 6AM!!! Please don’t point out that I adjusted to the 7 hour time difference JUST in time to go home.

Last night I did venture out to find my toothbrush. I had completely freaked myself out as I walked 10 doors down to 14 in the dark. At one point I heard a little hiss and I admit, I gave a little shriek and jumped… and ran! You would have too. No one was in room 14. No one was in 12. Heidi and Curry had gone with the driver and DonKwa to deliver a package to a mission here in Cape Coast. Where was everyone else? I walked toward the lagoon and spotted them in the restaurant. The restaurant is built on stilts over the lagoon. Aaron and Robi and a fast asleep Leah sat at a table with three people from Holland. This botel must be a Caucasian hang out. Curry said he thinks it is because it is one of the only businesses in Cape Coast that you can find on the internet.

I took a sleepy Leah from the restaurant. We brushed our teeth and at her suggestion, we showered. The shower claims to have a heater. It also has signs on it that warn not to touch the shower or you may get an electric shock! The sign was not clear about which parts NOT to touch though.

I figured, don’t adjust the showerhead, where the heating unit it. So Leah and I took our very cold shower. I was banking on having a better nights sleep if we are cold and damp under the fan, rather than hot, humid and sticky under the same fan. When we finished showering I reached for the handle to turn off the water and I got shocked!! I looked around, grabbed our disposable wash cloths and touched the handle to turn off the water and… I got shocked AGAIN! So I grabbed the plastic packaging that the disposable wash cloths came in and used that to turn of the water and… it melted! Just kidding! LOL I didn’t get shocked that time. Now the question is, should I warn everyone? Or… is it “Just part of the experience!”

As far as this morning, you should hear the racket outside our window, thousands of birds chirping and singing. If this was a botel in America they would tout it as a bird sanctuary and they probably wouldn’t allow free-range crocodiles. I just realized that some of the birds are divers. At first I thought Aaron was throwing rocks in the water near me. Sitting near the water, but not too near you can see birds dive bomb into the water and come out with fish. There are over a hundred woven nests hanging from the trees over the lagoon. There are a number of lagoons around. You can actually rent a paddleboat and take your chances.

It is still morning and I just saw Alex and Derek just emerged from their room, heading toward the community bathroom.

Between our rooms and the lagoon are the gardens, food gardens that the restaurant uses. I recognize carrots, cabbage and papaya, but there is plenty I don’t recognize. There is a man picking papaya, must be time for breakfast. Breakfast is included with the room here. Your choice of eggs, toast, fruit, coffee and juice. Most of me doesn’t care about eating. I tried. I really did, but what’s the fun in TRYING to eat breakfast?

During breakfast the botel staff toss bread into the lagoon. Fish swarm and jump to eat the bread, it looks like the water is boiling with small fish. The water ripples and then SNAP goes the crocodile, usually getting a fish and bread sandwich.

We kept hearing from the staff the crocs are friendly, but finally someone said, “They are not all friendly! The males are friendly but the females are very aggressive.” Did I hear a chorus of “Figures!” from the men? I think I did. Someone brought some raw chicken from the kitchen and started whistling and calling “Mufasa! Mufasa!” A large crocodile came to the call. We all got to feed Mufasa chicken. We held it out on a long stick, not very long though. Ok, I’ll admit, my heart was pounding!

We packed up to head out for the day. First stop Kakum National Park.
It was awesome! We hiked into the rainforest. The trees were huge.

They said there are over 440 different species of butterflies in this rainforest! Really? I would get them all confused by number 200 or so. Three of the monkeys are no longer in existence because of years of hunting and poaching. Sad!

After 20 minutes of hiking we arrived at the suspended bridges. There are 7 bridges and only one person can be on one bridge at one time. Talk about tree houses. It was beautiful. We were a mile above the rainforest floor. Walking above the tree top canopy of the rainforest. The bridges are made of thin metal ladders with a board on top of the ladder. There were cargo nets all around. Some of the ladders creaked with each step. Some of the boards groaned and crackles. Some of the bridges swayed or leaned a little more to one side than the other. It was always a relief to arrive at the large platform built around a huge tree trunk, even if it was a mile above the ground.

We saw massive bamboo shoots and even a vine that we all took turns swinging on!

Our next stop was the Cape Coast Castle. That was sobering. I don’t imagine that anyone is proud to have had their country involved in slavery. Sometime when something is uncomfortable we don’t look at it. Our tour guide, a Ghanaian was awesome. He talked about how it does no good to blame or judge – “We must leave that up to God. We can only learn from our past and move forward. We cannot even imagine the circumstances of those times.”

We went into the male and female dungeons. Each was pitch black with tiny square windows for light. A shallow trough ran the length of each dungeon and out to sea, this is what the people in the dungeons would go to the bathroom. There used to be a box in one corner of the dungeon as a toilet, for the things that don’t run down hill. It was supposed to be emptied daily, but that was not always the case. Hundreds of people were crammed in this room with this waste.

Many were shackled, depending on how much they fought back. You might have your wrists shackled, or your wrists and elbows. If you fought a lot your ankles, wrists and elbows would be shackled. From each dungeon a tunnel lead to the “Door of No Return.” Two by two, a man and a woman would exit through that door to small boats that would row them out to a larger boat. From there the journey by boat could be 6 months to 3 years depending on where they were taken.

We passed through the “Door of No Return.” It led to the Atlantic Ocean where we saw many boats fishermen. Our guide spoke of the importance of knowing your heritage and if your ancestors experienced any trials like passing through theses doors or doors like them, you may want to consider honoring your ancestors by returning to that place. Like I said very cool, a very thoughtful experience, unimaginable and sobering.

Finally we entered the holding cell. The holding cell was a place for people they called “Freedom Fighters.” A Freedom Fighter was someone whose fight was not stopped by shackles, they continually fought for their freedom and so these people were put in a holding cell, a small black, windowless room. They stayed there without food or water until they died. I asked the guide why weren’t they shot? His response was, “They didn’t want to waste a bullet.” I have to assume it was also to set an example to others. Curry, Heidi, Aaron and I took turns interpreting for Leah. As we sat thoughtfully in the courtyard, looking at the cannons lining the walls Leah looked at me and quietly said, “Mom, I would have been a Freedom Fighter. I would rather die than be taken away from my family and my home forever.” I put my arm around her. I didn’t tell her that I was thinking the exact opposite, that I probably wouldn’t have fought and died in a cell. I would have hoped that it wouldn’t be so bad. I would hold onto the hope that maybe someday I would see my family again.

We went back to our tro-tro and got Fan Ice and Choco Fan ice cream. As we drove back to the botel through small streets of small towns, traffic got pretty bad.

We sat in a line of cars going nowhere fast and suddenly, !!SMASH!! Someone ran into out tro-tro! She ran right into the back left panel of our tro-tro. Perhaps she was blinded by the vast amount of pale skin? Or so amazed to see 8 oburunis that she forgot to hit the brakes. Both drivers got out and made a fuss. The other car had lost its entire front bumper. As long as we were stopped, I took the opportunity to run into a fabric shop across the street. Heidi came too. Remember the woman who had told me $45 for 6 yards of fabric? Well, I found the same fabric for $19 for 6 yards. Thank you very much! I still didn’t buy it but it was just nice knowing that.

We got back to the botel. It was now evening, but night dark. I am not sure how this all came about or how it originally came up but, at some point this morning we were all laughing at the notion of the three paddleboats in the lagoon. Somehow, Curry and I ended up in an “I’ll go if you go!” conversation and now it was time to either eat our words or paddle with the crocs! Curry paid for the paddleboat as everyone else ordered dinner. Curry and I didn’t order because we weren’t entirely convinced we would be returning… EVER! The woman we paid opened the gate and then said, “Maybe this is not a good time!” We asked why and she simply pointed to a crocodile sunning itself right next to the path we would be using to walk down to the boat.

It would be getting dark soon and we were leaving early tomorrow, so even if this wasn’t a good time, it was the only time. Besides, you only live once right? We told her that we were willing to take our chances. We both bolted past the croc and hopped onto the yellow boat. We untied it in a hurried frenzy from the bamboo poles and shoved off into the lagoon.

While we were untying the crocodile turned to look at us and moved closer, it was now blocking the path back to the gate. To get to the boat we only had to run past its tail, now we would have to run past its teeth! It wasn’t long before we realized that our rudder did not work! We could only go right. We were both so nervous. We kept our outside arm and hand in close to our bodies.

After a while dinner must have arrived because everyone in our group disappeared. Great! Just leave us paddling in circles like a one-legged duck. We looked at the bank behind us, maybe we could land there but on closer inspection we noticed another crocodile was waiting patiently there. Curry and I figured we would make the most of it we alternated paddling forward and backward and pulling hard on the rudder to change the direction of the boat. We set out for the far side of the lagoon to see the flowers that grow by the lily pads. Curry said they are beautiful. We made it over to one, only to find that they close up at night. We started to paddle backwards away from the bank and back to the middle of the lagoon. That was when we noticed a large moving ripple coming from where the woven birds nests hang and it was heading right for us.

I jumped up on the front of the boat and tried leaning, pushing and bouncing the paddleboat in a new direction. It did little good.

As it closed in, it finally turned and swam closer to the restaurant. We FINALLY got the boat back to the shore. We tied it off and made a plan. The crocodile was still facing us.

There was a concrete table out there and we figured we could hop on top of it if the crocodile as much as blinked when we exited. The crocodile was less than 2 feet from our ankles and we RAN our fastest! Robi was holding the gate open for us and we happily slammed it closed. We ordered dinner and laughed and watched Ghana win the soccer game 2-0.

Then I got the key to the internet cafe and blogged! I finished the blog, hit publish and shortly after that the computer froze. I posted it though!! I saw it! I got on another computer (they are very slow) and double-checked. It was there. I sent an email to my family and posted on the Signing Time Forums. Then the computer froze. I finally gave up and went back to the restaurant. Aaron asked me if I checked ESPN.com for him LOL.

Aaron, Robi and Derek were at the table with our new friends from Holland- Chris, Angelie and Deanie. They have been staying about 4 hours north of Mampong in Tamale. They have been working with people who have mental and physical disabilities. The stories they told made the hair stand up on my neck. Last year they found a mother and her child on a Friday. The child had some mental disability and the mother had been ordered by the people in her village to kill her child by Monday. Everyone believed that he was not mentally disabled, but that he had a devil inside of him and if he was not killed, he could turn into a snake at night and kill the family and others in the village. Now I just want to be clear, this is not a figure of speech. When a child has a mental disability EVERYONE BELIEVES the child is possessed by the devil and that the child must be destroyed. This mother did not believe that her child had a devil in him, she loved him and she had been in hiding with nowhere to live. Over the past year, Angelie and friends had found a place for them to stay while they returned to Holland, raised money, did research and finally purchased land and began building them a home of their own, so they would no longer have to run and hide. This is their third trip here and the home is almost finished. All in all it cost around $250! $250 will save that child’s life! They are working on bringing wheelchairs in from Holland for these children and give the families an additional 30 cedi ($30) per month to help them afford better food for their children. They said it is often hard to find the families who need help because they are hiding their children. In a dark corner in a clay room they are hiding them so that they can live.

There is so much to do.
There are so many ways to help.
There are so many people in need.

Tonight, I am thankful for my children. I am thankful for Leah and her language and her sensitivity. I am thankful for Lucy and her strong will and incredible strength. I am thankful they are mine.

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