Eh Vivi

I arrived in Accra a week ago Friday. We slept in the airport Friday night and woke up with the sun that Saturday. Katie, Liam, John and I boarded a trotro (van) to Ho. As soon as we left the airport I felt a wave of heat envelop me. It is very hot and humid here in Ghana. The voyage to Ho took about 4 hours. I saw two baboons on the side of the highway! When we got to Ho, we napped and ate lunch. Later that day Liam and John showed us around Ho. There is a market place down the street that is always bustling with people and cars except on Sunday mornings when the people of Ho go to church. The roads here are alive with people, cars, buses, trotro's, taxis, goats, sheeps, and chickens.
My first day at the school in Saviefe (pronounced Saviepe) Deme (a village about 40 minutes away) was Monday. We took a taxi through the mountains that lasted about 30 minutes, then, we stopped in Dzolokpuita (the town next to Saviefe Deme). For the last leg of our journey we rode on the back of motos (motorcycles) to the school in Saviefe. Nothing like a little adrenaline to start off the day.
 Liam took me there to introduce me to the teachers and people I would be working with. The day was very short and I didn't get to meet any of the kids but the people I met were warm and welcoming. The people in Ghana are the friendliest people I have met, they love when you attempt to speak Ewe and treat you like an old friend.
When we got back to Ho later that afternoon a new volunteer had settled in, Caroline. Caroline and I teach at Saviefe. Our first day at the school was Tuesday.
The school is small and split up into 2 sections: the primary school and the middle school. As we walked by the classrooms kids waved at us and yelled "Yavu! Yavu!" ("White person! White person!"). When we walked into the class of younger children, no older that 6 years old, the were shy at first. But, when we sat down they swarmed us. They held our hands, climbed onto our laps, pet our hair, poked our skin and smiled at us. These children are the cutest kids I have ever met. They were very curious to meet these foreign creatures that walked into their school.
They were practicing reading numbers in English that day (0-10). They sat with us and we went over the numbers together. At 10:30 am a kid ran out and banged the bell signaling break time. Caroline and I were both carried out of the room by a sea of children onto the front of the classrooms, where kids had space to play outside. All the kids ran to us and greeted us in Ewe, the older kids in English. They kept asking for "fotos!" The kids love pictures!
For the rest of the week Caroline and I played with the kids and taught an older class math, prevention against Malaria, and about discrimination against women in Ghana.
In the afternoons we eat lunch at the Charles' (a friend of Ghana ACT) home. The food here is very delicious and very spicy. The diet here is mostly composed of carbohydrates. Along with our food we have had the juiciest mangos and tastiest bananas.
Fast forward to this weekend: EXCURSIONS!
Yesterday we fed monkeys bananas at the Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary and hiked almost 2 hours to bathe in the mist of the largest water fall in Western Africa, the Wli upper water falls. The beauty Ghana has to offer has been breathtaking....Eh Vivi (it is sweet)

From left to right: Molly F., Caroline, me, Annelise, Molly, and Katie.
 At the upper falls of Wli!

Molly with a monkey!!!

Lower falls of Wli

Monkeys and Waterfalls

Annelise: Monkey Whisperer.

Yesterday, we went on our first excursion of the session! We woke up at 5AM and immediately left for the Tafi Monkey Sanctuary, which was crazy fun. All we had to do was hold a banana and the mona monkeys would jump all over us and eat the bananas right out of our hands. They were aggressive little guys! Unreal. A lot of us had muddy little pawprints on our shoulders and arms from where the monkeys had jumped/climbed onto us. Before I knew it, we were done with the monkeys and on our way to the largest waterfall in Western Africa. We climbed all the way to the upper falls, which took about 4 hours. Most of the way up was a very narrow, rocky, trail with a very steep incline. It was honestly one of the most physically challenging yet rewarding things I have ever experienced. It was exhausting, of course, and

During our hike we encountered many exotic and ferocious creatures,
such as this beastly giant millipede.

looking up the HUGE mountain was daunting. When we finally reached the waterfall, the water was coming down with such force that we were all drenched just from the mist that was surrounding the falls. It was a stunning sight though, and I'm so proud of myself for making it all the way up there to see it. Definitely worth the soreness in my legs and butt that I am feeling right now. When we finally reached the end of the trail and got back to all the souvenir shops, it started to downpour in typical Ghanaian fashion. And when I say downpour, I mean standing in it for 10 seconds would get you drenched to the bone. We waited several hours and browsed the shops until the rain let up and eventually stopped, where we finally got back in our trotro (bus/van thing) and began our long journey home. I think the exhaustion made us all a slightly

Our gorgeous reward for hiking the mountain.
Pictures just don't do it justice. 

crazy because we were all very giggly bunch on the ride home. In any case, all it took was some leftovers of Jollof and Mpoto Mpoto and we all passed out by 11. And now, on a completely random note, I'm going to post some photos of the food we've been eating, as per request of my dear friend Chelsea. I have yet to encounter a meal that I did not thoroughly enjoy, although I am avoiding meat at all costs because for those of you who know me, you know that I'm pretty much afraid to eat anything that was once an animal. From what I hear though, the meat is also delicious, haha. Anyway, enjoy! More posts to come soon.

Fried yams, Pepe-Salsa, and an Omelette

Palaver sauce, fried chicken, and lots and lots of rice

Our delicious daily breakfast of a Kosi sandwich!
Consists of fried beans and bread

First Day

After months and months of planning for this volunteer trip, I am finally here in Ho! And it is everything I expected and more! My cross country teammate, Molly Ortiz, and I arrived at the Accra airport two days ago, and John was right there to meet us. We made the three hour journey to Ho, and on the way we saw some baboons on the side of the road. We passed through many villages. Molly and I were tired from our long trip, so when we got to Ho, we went right to sleep. On our first full day in Ho, John helped us get oriented. We went to McColin's Primary School to introduce ourselves to the children. (Molly and I are both volunteering here, and the other Ghana ACT volunteers are working at other schools in the area.) We are planning to start an after school sports program, so we brought a lot of sports equipment with us. We brought one soccer ball on the first day, and they were so excited to play with us. During their recess time, they taught us some of their songs, and we taught them some songs too. They were fascinated with my running watch, sunglasses, and especially my white skin! They were very welcoming and followed us around everywhere we went. The teachers also welcomed us and taught us some basic phrases in the Ewe language. Mama Susie, the director of McColin's, took some time out of her busy day to eat lunch with Molly and I so we could get to know each other. Everywhere I go, the Ghanaians are friendly and happy to help us with whatever we need. John not only took us on a tour of the surrounding area, he has also introduced us to key members of the community and has begun to teach us Ewe. Tomorrow he is taking us on a weekend trip to see some of the surrounding area. I look forward to start teaching on Monday at McColin's. I hope the after school sports program gets off to a great start. I will try to update the blog regularly on our progress.
Even though I have only been here a couple of days, I am already so glad that I have decided to volunteer with Ghana ACT.

Another day at the office...

The kids LOVE having their photos taken!

Today was my fourth day in Ghana, but only my second day of teaching. Despite having only been here for a limited time, I already feel right at home. The food is absolutely delicious (a lot of rice, stew, fresh fruit and fried vegetables), the people are extremely friendly, and the landscapes are unlike any I've seen before. After a crash course of the language predominantly spoken in the region we are staying in, Ewe, I could start to interact with the locals and learn more about their culture. When I finally arrived at the school that I will be teaching at in a small village called Saviefe Deme, the children went nuts. They are fascinated by my hair and my freckles, as well as the language I speak (Ghanaians, even though the national language is English, don't usually learn to speak it until they are teenagers). When I started teaching the kids, they were very excited that I was

Vanessa, me, and some of our students.

giving them attention, even though they couldn't understand most of what I was saying.The much younger kids are learning how to write numbers and say the English alphabet while the 13-15 year olds are learning about fractions and decimals. One of my favorite parts of the day is the break that the kids get at 10:30. During this time, kids swarm around me and another volunteer, Vanessa, and ask to have their pictures taken. They take turns holding our hands and love to be picked up and twirled around. Teaching the kids, while difficult, is also proving to be a lot of fun. Today, I really looked forward to going to school again. However, on our way to Saviefe Deme to teach the kids for the second time, our taxi started to fill with smoke which was obviously very alarming. Vanessa, Liam, and I jumped out of the car thinking that it might explode, but

Our broken-down taxi on the dirt road to Saviefe Deme.

luckily it was just a problem with the battery and we were able to jump into the taxi that was driving right behind ours. It made for an eventful morning. One of the things I love most about Ghana is that there is always something new going on. So far, each day I've been here has been jam-packed with new things to see, foods to taste, and activities to do. I'm really looking forward to the rest of my time spent here in this very different but very exciting country.

Pictures

I set this up to share some pictures with my family, figured I'd post it here too:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65916414@N03/sets/72157627218346309/

First and Last days

My first full day in Africa I went to Saviefe Deme, the village I worked in for the next three weeks. I had only seen Accra in the daylight since I arrived late the day before, so the taxi ride from Ho to Deme was a breathtaking introduction to another side of the country. First, we drove through Ho which had a constant sound and movement to it; music, honking taxis, shops, the market, and people everywhere carrying their goods in huge baskets balanced on their heads. The women had their children tied to their backs with cloth and there were goats and chickens everywhere. Soon, the landscape turned to a beautiful jungle as far as you could see on both sides; there was endless varied vegetation and mountains obscured by screens of fog. Every now and then the jungle was punctuated by an isolated village where people stared from the doorways of their small tin-roofed, concrete homes. We arrived in Saviefe Deme after navigating a weather-beaten dirt road, where we were instantly welcomed by several members of the community. That day I got to help carry dirt in a bucket on my head to fill in the foundation at the dig site for a new school, see a pig farm, play with the school kids on break, hop on a truck to Bogami (the next village), hold a baby, take palm wine, and try grasscutter. It was the first of many incredible days in Deme.

On my last day I found myself in Bogami again, the village I had visited once three weeks ago. A member of the community had died and the village was preparing for the funeral. Three days compose an African funeral; on the first the women prepare the food and the men dig the grave, on the second they have the burial and other services, and I think the third holds a memorial and continued services. It was the first day of this man’s funeral, and Charles left me among the women. They were preparing banku with okra and fish stew for the funeral, so the women were divided up with different tasks of breaking up the dough for kinkey into a finer consistency, scaling fish, frying fish, husking corn leaves, cooking the kinkey, and wraping balls of cooked kinkey in the leaves. They would finish preparing the meal the next morning. I did not know any of the women because it was not my village, but they showed me what to do, talked to me, lent me a cloth to wear, and gave me boiled groundnuts and akpeteshi. The whole time they were singing and dancing and laughing; they wore bright colors (red and black are funeral colors, but I saw this more strictly followed in city funerals) and the mood was one of merry working. It was pretty much the polar opposite of an American funeral in every way.

Saviefe Deme kids

The kids in Deme were by far the best part of my time in Africa. At first, they (understandably) just stared at me from their classrooms. On my third day, there was nothing to do at the work site so I went over to the kindergarten classroom and showed them some classic kids songs/dances we have in America. They absolutely loved everything I showed them and would say “madame” and then gesture to request a certain song or game. They loved the banana song, the hokey pokey, the macarena, London Bridge, and the clap game which was literally just me clapping and them copying me. The teacher would usually show up a little while later in the day and she would have the kids do some of the songs she had taught them. Some were in English and some were in ewe, but they all had hand motions to them and all of them were adorable. Then I got to know the older kids as well, and they showed me clap games, a hopscoth-like game they have, a high jump they set up, their version of duck-duck-goose, and more. I brought a thing of bubbles which they loved (at first they all tried to pop them, then they tried to keep the bubbles intact by blowing them up and away from the walls), and they always loved looking at the photo albums I brought and taking pictures with my camera. I would run and they would chase me, catch me, brush the dirt off my shirt, and bring me into their classroom and have me sit in the teacher chair. They asked me my name and my mother’s name and father’s name, repeating each one in unison as I told them. They liked when I read to them, were fascinated by my nails, and liked stroking my hair. They would come show me their times tables and pictures they drew that they were proud of. I don’t think I had a free hand the last two weeks I was in that village; they are the sweetest most beautiful kids in the world and the thing I miss most about Ghana is playing with and being hugged and led around by them all day.