My Last Day in Abomosu :(

Well.  Tonight is our last night in Abomosu.  It's a bitter sweet feeling.  I have met some absolutely amazing people here; people that are changing lives! But I'm excited to be a tourist and see fun things over the next few days.

So today was a pretty easy day.  Elizabeth and I went to a village called Amonom with the distric water official guy, whose name is Nelson.  We had a meeting with all the chiefs and elders in the town regarding the boreholes.  I don't think I've talked about the Ghanaian tradition for greeting guests to the town and stuff, and it's pretty interesting! First, we ask permission to visit the village and we say why we are there.  Well, our interpreter does it. Then, we go around the room and shake everyone's hand.  They are usually sitting in a line.  To accept our offer and to welcome us, the assembly men & chief & elders get up while we sit down and they shake our hands. Then we proceed with our meeting.  At the end, we have to ask permission to leave.  We have had to go through this process maybe, like, 4ish times.  So anyways, their answers were basically that they love the boreholes and that their community does a good job of maintaining them, and that they need more.  When we were done, they offered us a drink.  It was pretty funny because Nelson was trying to get us to accept the beer, but we kept telling him that I'm underage in America and we have to abide by University rules and he just kept insisting.  He is an older guy, but he just didn't understand! We took non-alcoholic Guiness malts, which were pretty weird tasting.  We took forever to drink them, and we sat there for forever and the assembly men just sat there, and then we realized that they were waiting for us to finish our drinks.  So we tried to drink them faster, and then we asked permission to leave.  Some of the customs here are pretty interesting and I definitely feel lucky that I get to experience them first hand.  It's also pretty cool getting to meet village royalty, too!

 Basically every village and every family we listen to asks us for something.  They tell us, next time you come, bring us clothes, a house, more boreholes, public bathrooms, etc.  It's sad because they want so much, and they expect that since we are white, we can just give it to them.  But it isn't that easy.  We asked the village elders today how much they had in their budget for maintenance of the boreholes, and they have 320 Ghana cedis, which is equivalent to $160 American dollars.  Its crazy to think that I have more money than that just sitting in my purse to spend on food and souvenirs and stuff, and they only have that much to maintain their only quality water source.  It's sad.  I feel helpless, and they expect so much, but we really can't promise anything.  We were just basically doing a research project, not buying them new boreholes.  I wish I could do more!

The rest of the day, I spent relaxing and cooking. Since it was our last night, Darcy, Sherry, and I cooked a steak dinner for the Abu's.  They cooked us a Ghanaian dinner last night, so we cooked them an American dinner tonight! We also had baked mac n cheese, salad, and fruit.  It was yummmyyyy.  Beef here in Ghana is pretty uncommon, and the beef they do have tastes pretty weird, so it isn't the same as in America, but hey. Steak is steak. Atleast it isn't rice and chicken!

Looking back at my time here, I'm shocked at how many amazing people I have met.  Stephen and Margaret Abu are amazing people.  They do so much for their community.  They really are changing lives! And Seth, mine and Leah's favorite interpreter, was just so nice and such a good guy.  He also came to dinner tonight, and he brought his youngest daughter, Benedicta.  She was so darn cute! Although he came late, Soup, an American, also ate our meal we cooked.  He is living with the Abu's and he is from Utah.  He is, like, 26, but he has students from Utah State coming to learn about business by actually giving out loans to people in Ghana.  He was a pretty cool guy.  Also Elder Dalton is a missionary who originally lived in Washington, then moved to Utah, and is now doing a mission with his wife in Ghana.  He was an awesome person to meet.  I also met, like, 5 other LDS missionaries from America and other African countries.  Honestly, every person I have mentioned so far in this little paragraph is LDS.  It's crazy how much they do out here.  It's weird because sometimes i feel like we too are on an LDS mission, just because I've met so many LDS people here.  The missionaries seem to have a big influence on the people they talk to.  It's crazy how much religion can affect culture.  Like I said before, some men here have multiple wives, but since Seth and many other Ghanaian men are Mormon, they only have one wife.  Subcultures within subcultures within subcultures blow my mind sometimes. And I know there are TONS in the US.

Anyways... It was also amazing meeting some amazing nurses, like Joana from Asunafo.  She was definitely my favorite. & meeting the Australians at the Begoro Rehabilitation Center, the villagers in Abomosu and other clinics, and the chiefs and royalty we have met.  And not only that, I've made good friends with the girls on my trip! If it isn't obvious, that weird Chinese girl Leah and I have hit it off! We are so similar its insane.  & I feel like everyone on our trip has SUPER different personalities.  Everyone is completely different.  It's weird, but it's good! I've definitely made some friends while living  together in this house in Abomosu.

I've gotten so used to life here in Ghana, that sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm in Africa.  The scenery, the people, the weather, etc, i am all used to, until I stop and think to myself that I really am in Africa.

I'm going to miss Abomosu.  I won't miss the leaky sinks, the toilets that you have to pump the flusher like 50 times before anything happens, the ants that are everywhere, the flying bugs in the kitchen, the daily rice, the sketchy electricity, the heat, etc, but i WILL miss the people and the experience.  These will be memories that I will keep with me forever!

Margaret & Stephen Abu

View of our gated home

in Abomosu

The school in Abomosu that World Joy built.

A business in Abumosu - how people make a living

The Police Station in Abomosu

The Post Office

Carousels, Begoro, & Food

Our last few days in Abomosu are upon us! Yesterday, again, Leah and I went with Seth to another village called Wekpeti-Abresu or something like that.  This village seemed much smaller and deeper in the "jungle".  Here in Ghaan, it gets dark all year at around 6:30. It's interesting how many things play into the fact that most of Africa is so underdeveloped, and education is a BIG reason, but there are many reasons why people aren't getting educated, and one of those reasons is the fact that it gets dark so early.  Many people don't have electricity, and if they do, it's pretty sketchy.  In our super nice house we are living in, the power probably goes out about 5 times a day, which means the whole village doesn't have power, and probably neighboring villages as well. Since there isn't any, or much, light after 6:30, children don't have any light to study by, so they aren't getting as educated as they should be.  To try and help with this, companies have put in carousels to generate electricity to light lanterns so the students can take them home and use the light to study.  The carousels are actually like those toys you stand on and people spin you around really really fast.  It's a toy for the kids to play on. And while they play, then generate electricity.  These lanterns  are pretty small and they don't have enough for everyone, so the kids have formed study groups, which has helped with cooperation in the classroom.  We got nothing but positive feedback after interviewing families and educators about these lanterns.  They only wish they had more so kids didn't have to walk to and from homes when its so dark!

The Carousel

The Lantern

Just a cool picture around Wekpeti-Abresu that I thought I'd share. I love those trees!

Today, we drove about an hour and a half to a town called Begoro, to a rehabilitation clinic run by the Salvation Army.  It was on a hillside and it was a really neat town.  Basically the people that ran the place were all from Australia.  I was really looking forward to today, because they have Occupational Therapists from Australia who were working there and I wanted to meet them, and we were going to be painting the clinic.  When we got there, there was a church group from Australia that were painting the walls, and so we were given the cleaning job.  The smell of paint was so strong and some people suspected that there was also mold in the building and many people couldn't handle it; they felt sick.  I felt fine, luckily, but because of the strong smell, we didn't stay very long.  We cleaned the boys dormitories and started the girls dorms when it was time for lunch, and since people weren't feeling well, we just left after lunch.  We had lunch at a hotel called "Hillside Hotel" and it was pretty fancy and tasty.  I'm disappointed that we didn't get to stay longer at the clinic and I wish we could have interacted with patients and kids and the OT's (because I want to be an occupational therapist) more instead of cleaning rooms, but I know cleaning is important and I was happy to do it.  It was pretty cool meeting Occupational Therapists who were working abroad.  It just reminds me of what I could do when I am done with school.  I think it would be awesome to move to a rural country like Ghana for a year and just help them out, but I don't know if I would be able to do it! Living in these conditions for a year would be tough. But it's amazing how much they really help the people with disabilities.  Like i've said before, kids born with disabilities are often killed, and these Occupational Therapists really make a difference here.  They help people who can't walk at all, learn to be able to walk again.  We met a man who couldn't walk at all when he first started seeing the OT, and now he can walk just fine, and even showed us his squats! These therapists are just more educated and they know that with some therapy, people can live a normal life.  It's pretty awesome. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Rehabilitation Center, but I have pictures of the town of Begoro!

So for dinner tonight, we got a real authentic Ghanaian meal. I have mentioned before that Stephen Abu lives next to this house we are staying in and he basically runs it for World Joy, but his wife, Margaret Abu, cooked us all dinner.  She made fried plantains, Red Red, bean stew, Jollof rice, rice and beans, balls of rice, peanut butter soup, chicken, fish, salad, and probably something else I didn't mention.  There was so much food and it was all tasty!  But let me tell you, if I never had rice again in my life, I wouldn't complain! Haha we have almost had it every day since we have been here, sometimes multiple times a day! No more rice please!

Tomorrow is our last day here in Abomosu! Friday morning we are going to a University about 6 hours away (yikes).  This trip is quickly coming to an end! 3 weeks is a long time but it sure is going by fast!

Ekorso

Today, we had another day of interviews. Leah and I went to a village called Ekorso with our interpreter, Seth.  We went to Ekorso with Seth last week too, but today, instead of interviewing the villagers, we interviewed village leaders and people who were a part of the water and sanitation committee.  It was interesting because they gave us different views of the boreholes than the villagers.  We learned that the community leaders believe that since the government gave the village the boreholes for free, the community members shouldn't have to pay to maintain the borehole.  They don't understand that machines break down, and the community can't fix them unless they have money.  The community members don't listen to the water committee because they are always asking for money, and they believe that if white people tell them that they need water to live and they need money to maintain the boreholes, then the people will pay a monthly fee for the boreholes.  They said that the fee would be very small, like 50 peshwas, which is less than 50 cents, but many families can't even afford that.  It's tough for them because people are uneducated about the boreholes and they need to be educated so they see the value in paying a levy to keep maintaining the boreholes.  After interviewing one woman who doesn't use the boreholes because the one near her was broken, her daughter showed us the water they do use.  We walked down the road and through the jungle a little bit and came upon a tiny little stream that looked very dirty.  There were tilapia swimming around in it, and it was pretty gross.  There are many water-borne diseases in water like this, but this family didn't really have a choice because they need water to survive.

Where some families get water from

In between interviews, Leah and I had to use the restroom, and these small villages don't really have toilets.  They have public restrooms, but they are literally holes in the ground.  So yes, everyone, I peed in a hole in Africa.  We have learned that you need to bring toilet paper with you wherever you go as well, because many places, even places with toilets, don't have toilet paper.  So appreciate toilet paper! I know I do after this trip.

The "toilet" aka hole in the ground

 After we were done conducting interviews and we were waiting for our ride to come pick us up, we did some things the locals do.  A little girl was carrying things on her head and she let Leah & I try, so we did. And we failed miserably.  I knew it had to be harder than they make it look, but trust me. It seriously seems impossible.  I couldn't let go of it without it tipping over.  These little girls carry these things without hands for support - it just somehow stays! This will forever baffle me.

Another thing we got to do was tie a baby to our back! The baby was super tiny and her mother tied her to us. The mothers basically lean over, put the baby on their back, wrap the scarf thing around their body, and tie it in the front.  It looks so easy, but I was so scared the baby would fall! She didn't tie the scarf very tight around me and I didn't get to hold her for very long, but it was still super cool! The baby girl was absolutely gorgeous - her eyes were big and brown and pretty.  We got to hold her for a while afterwards, too.  African babies really are adorable. 

Seth and the momma wrapping me up

 Doing it like the locals do!

Pretty baby!

They always want to take "snaps" with us and see their picture on the camera

After we got back to Abomosu and walked to town, I cooked dinner for everyone.  I had a team, but one was sleeping because she had a headache and the other one went to town and didn't get back until later, so I basically did it all by myself.  Darcy taught me how to make meatballs, and so i cooked spaghetti & meatballs! The sauce was super sweet which was weird, but it was tasty and I was pretty proud.

I really enjoyed my time in Ekorso today! It was fun doing things that the locals do! I'm lucky I made friends with the crazy outgoing Asian girl named Leah because she is the one who asks the locals crazy questions, like if we can hold their baby! Haha. I am leaving back to America in a week from tomorrow night! It's crazy to me how long this trip seems, yet how fast it is going! I am having the time of my life and I appreciate that so many people are reading my blog! I hope I am giving everyone a good description of culture in Ghana and my personal experiences!

More Culture Stuff

In my first blog, I know I talked about a few culture things that I had learned, but since I've been here for about 10 days and I've been living in a rural community for about 6 days, I've learned a lot more that I'd like to share!  Some of these things I've already mentioned, but for some reason, pictures are uploading a lot faster so hopefully my pictures give you a better idea of the culture!

Mud House

A House in Process

 In all of Africa, it is extremely common to see homes that are half built.  We have learned that people do this because they build their homes as they get money.  The homes build of stone are better quality and more expensive, and people basically build them brick by brick.  It's funny because it reminded me of my daddy's cabin.  He is just building it as the money comes hahaha.  Except these homes can take 10-15 years to build! That's a longgg time.

Turkeys

These chickens & roosters climbed all the way up into a tree and then jumped off, which was pretty hilarious.

Steven Abu made a noise and ALL the animals came runnning, even the chickens. It was the oddest thing i've ever seen.

Like I mentioned before, there are animals just roaming the streets, especially in the rural communities.  Here in Abomosu, there are TONS of chickens, roosters, goats, sheep, a few turkeys, and dogs.  It's funny because all the dogs look exactly the same. Since all the animals literally roam around free, we asked if people just take the animals they want, or if they are owned, and we learned that people own them all.  They mark them somehow, like putting something in their ear, kind of like in America.  Also, people have a certain "call" that they do, like a whistle or kissy noises, that their animals just know, and they come running to their owners, even the chickens!  It's pretty interesting how it all works. Steven Abu, who is our neighbor and works for World Joy, did his noise as we were walking to his house, and all the animals ran towards him, like in the picture above! It was so funny! I recorded it but it would take too long to upload.

 So I know that I mentioned before that everyone carries everything on their heads, and they really do! And they start out young! The girl in this picture looks really young and she is carryinng that HUGE bowl full of a bunch of Plantains! That HAS to be heavy.  It's so amazing.  A few people from our group have tried to walk with these on their heads, and it does not look easy.  Not only does i have to be perfectly balanced, but it is so heavy! Kids start carrying things on their heads by about age 6, and I guess they are just super good at it. People carry produce, water (which I can't even imagine carrying water steadily as its sloshing around), things they are selling, laundry, and even luggage!

A woman going through Palm seeds

The school in one of the nearby villages

Most of the buildings are located outside, with a roof, and the school is no exception.  It is summer vacation right now, so the school isn't in progress, but it was amazing seeing the school.  There are just a few rooms with these kinds of desks and a chalkboard.  It is extremely dirty, too.  Can you imagine going to school in these conditions? I know I can't. 

A borehole

This is where people pump their water.  In this village, they have one in the middle of the town that everyone relies on because it is the best one.  People will wake up as early as 4 in the morning to fetch water, and will wait in line for hours.  Fights are not uncommon while waiting for water, and it is usually the children that have to fetch the water before school.   We have tried pumping the water and it isn't super hard, for one bucket, but I can see how filling up multiple buckets at a time and being a child could get very hard.

,

 It is extremely common to see signs like this - advertising the next football (soccer) game.  Here in Abomosu, I think I saw 3, which was surprising because it is such a small village! Since not everyone has a television, they pay about what is equal to 25 cents to watch the football game, and football is SUPER important in Ghana.  Everyone plays, and everyone is GOOD.  I hope we get the chance to attend one of these football games on tv!

Just like people carry items on their heads, mothers ALWAYS carry their babies on their backs! They always have their hands free!  I haven't gotten any good pictures of babies on a momma's back, but in this picture, you can basically tell that the baby is on her back.  She looks super young, so maybe she is an older sister or something, but she could be very well be a mother.  It's really hard to tell the ages of many people here.  We met 20 and 30 year olds who literally looked 15.  But anyways. They use a scarf type thing to tie them up.  To get them there, they bend over, slide the baby from their arms to their back, and just wrap the scarf around the baby and tie it in the front.  It looks so easy yet so hard at the same time.  It's interesting because the babies are always with the mothers, unlike the US. And the babies are rarely crying. They seem so contempt just relaxing their with their mommas.

Another interesting thing about mothers and babies is breast feeding. You can just walk down the street and you see mom's with their shirts lifted, just breast feeding in front of the whole village.  Since we have been conducting so many interviews about the boreholes, we talk to many women, and probably about 5 of the women we interview would be breastfeeding DURING the interview.  It seems so odd to us, but it is so normal to them.  They aren't embarrassed and they don't try to hide it, its just natural.  It's the baby's bottle and it needs to be fed.  

 There are a lot of other cultural things I have learned that I don't have pictures to go with them, but I thought were pretty interesting to share.

So a little bit about personal hygiene here.  Everyone lives in dirt, so everyone is obviously dirty.  It's really sad because some people just have flies buzzing around them, especially kids.  It's weird seeing that, because we are used to flies buzzing around cows and horses and poop, but not people.  And the people don't really seem to swat them away or anything, they are just used to it.  Yaw told us that the guys shave their armpits here to prevent B.O., but it must not work very well because the guys definitely still stink.  Especially when we went out dancing, they all smelled pretty darn bad. They use lemons or limes for deodorant, but from what i've heard, they put it on before they take a shower.

Another thing that is interesting is their use of the word "fat."  In America, calling someone fat is considered rude, but here fat isn't good or bad, it's just a fact of life. When someone here says "you've gotten fat," they don't mean anything rude by it. Here, being fat basically means you are well fed, and therefore healthy.  One of the nurses called another nurse fat, and we told them that that is considered mean in the US, which they seemed surprised about, and when talking to locals, they refer to people as "the fat one."  It's pretty weird to hear, but it is normal here.

Marriage is important here.  We have been told by some nurses that NOBODY gets a divorce, but then another man talked about his parents being divorced. It might vary from village to village, but I'm not sure.  Marriage costs a lot of money and the people don't usually get married until their late 20s or early 30s, which I was kind of surprised to hear.  Weddings cost a lot of money, so couples usually spend many years saving up to have a wedding, so they date for a long time before the wedding.  Few people have wedding rings or wedding bands because they are so expensive.  Yaw, our driver, told us that in Africa, it is okay for men to have multiple wives, but not okay for women to have multiple husbands.  I dont' know how common it is, but he said it happens.  As for gay or lesbian people, they are not accepted at all.  One of the nurses told us that nobody is homosexual, and if they are, then they hide it so nobody knows.  Some people could get killed for being homosexual.  It's interesting because we have noticed that people are very close with each other - guys will hold hands and be close with other guys, but they aren't gay. They are just close friends.

There are many other cultural things I have noticed that can't think of at the moment, so hopefully you will also get to hear more about those later!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Oh my gosh I turned 20 years old in Africa! Not many people can say that they spent a birthday in Africa! I am extremely blessed & it was quite an amazing birthday! So from the beginning...

We had a very eventful day today. We were up by around 4:30 this morning, and left the house a little after 5am to head to Accra. It was a bumpy 3-4 hour drive and most of us slept.  When we arrived, we went to a grocery store and did some shopping for meals here in Abomosu.  While people were finishing up grocery shopping, Leah, Kayla, and Lindsey went and did a little shopping on the street vendors and bought some really cool stuff! Yaw (our driver), Paige, and I went and found fresh coconuts on the street.  He cut open the coconuts and we drank the coconut water straight out of the coconut! It was pretty darn disgusting!

From there, Yaw drove us to the Accra Mall so that we could get more groceries for the week.  We also did some gift shopping there and everyone got some really fun things!  Including bowls, keychains, bookmarks, fabric, and I got a cool book cover! We had lunch in the food court, looked around a bit more, and then headed out to another African market.  They had a lot of really cool things, like carvings, paintings, bags, keychains, and jewelry! Everyone had a really good time seeing everything and bargaining with the workers!  And I have to say, most people were pretty successful! The people selling the items were definitely forceful which was kind of intimidating, though.   Paige & Lindsey both bought bow and arrows which was really cool. We will be back in Accra next Tuesday, so we mostly just looked around and will buy things when we come back later. 

After the market, we started our journey back to Abomosu. There was a lot of traffic so it took a lot longer to get home! Reika had an experience with sunflower seeds that was pretty hilarious.  Since she is from Japan, she has never heard of sunflower seeds.  Scott had brought some and everyone took some, and she was just completely baffled that we were eating seeds from a flower.  She even said she was going to have to tell her mom that she was eating seeds.  It was hilarious! An interesting sight we saw on the way back was the home of Bob Marley's wife so we pulled over and took a few pictures!

When we got back, Darcy got together all our leftovers from the past few nights (fried rice, chicken gravy, bread, etc) and we had dinner.  As dinner was ending, the lights went off and everyone started singing happy birthday and out comes Darcy with a cake with 20 candles on it! I was completely surprised.  Our oven doesn't really work very well and I really wanted a birthday cake and I was worrying that I didn't get one, but turned out they bought one at the grocery store and surprised me! It was awesome and I really appreciated it!

After dinner, Darcy, Scott, Leah, Reika, and I did a 5 25 workout again. It's tough but it was good.  Afterwards, Darcy, Scott, Leah & I walked into town just to go for a walk. It was around 10pm, so it was dark.  There was loud music so we checked it out and there were quite a few people around and some people were dancing!  We just kinda checked it out and everyone was excited to see us and were dancing with us and pulling us away, so we got out of there. We walked back to the house and told some of the other students, and everyone wanted to go check it out! So we got most of the group together and went back so we could join the locals!  We danced and had so much fun! Everyone wanted to dance with us because they rarely get to dance with, let alone see, white people. The place where everyone was dancing was basically a bar, but there were children in there as well, which was kinda weird.  It was just a super small room and not very many people were there at first, but when they heard all the white girls were there, they flocked! It was definitely an interesting experience. Scott is the only guy on our trip and since he is an administrator he basically played daddy while we were there and made sure no African boys were dancing all up on us.  They were at first, but whenever Scott came around, they would stop.  There were quite a few creepy drunk people, probably about our age, but there were also some pretty darn attractive men as well. Darcy says I found my "prince" because he kept wanting to dance with me.  His name was Yaw, just like our driver, and he was super tall and attractive. He wasn't really creepy and didn't dance creepy and he taught me a few dance moves that the locals do and it was fun! He kept talking to me in English, but with his accent and the loud music, I could barely understand anything he said.  At first glance, he seemed like he could be a creeper, but he ended up being a lot more respectful than the other guys, and he was a lot more fun.  A lot of guys would touch our butts, and I figured it was because they were looking to take something, and Yaw told me that the people that do that are thieves, so my suspicion was confirmed. I put everything in my front pockets and luckily, nothing was stolen! It was pretty odd and there were some interesting characters, but it was definitely an interesting experience because their culture is so different.  Scott was absolutely hilarious.  He taught some locals the "Usain Bolt" and they loved it! Everyone dances with everyone there, so some guys were backing it up on Scott and he was just going along with it! It was hilarious watching my PhD professor in a situation like that! It was definitely a fun night. & no one needs to worry! I won't be coming home with a husband or anything! But I wooouuuuld like to snatch up one of the adorable babies... *wink*

Darcy, Lindsey, Reika, Leah, Kayla, and I while walking to the village

Today was a super busy day and it is currently  2 in the morning (only because I have been catching up on my blogging and birthday posts on Facebook), so I have been up for a while! Luckily, we get to sleep in tomorrow and have a lazy day! But it was an awesome day, and an awesome birthday for me! I appreciate everyone who made it so amazing!

Don't Take a Washer & Dryer for Granted.

Today was basically spent doing the same thing.  We went to a village called Akwasobo or something like that and conducted more surveys about the boreholes.  Today, we learned that that village doesn't like the boreholes because the quality of the water is bad.  They have a hand dug well that everyone in the town uses because the water is better quality, so they want more of those.  A lot of the locals were saying "Moo-HOO-Ya-Fay" to us, which means "you are beautiful".  Everyone admires us, but I honestly think that the African people are beautiful, especially the kids and their eyes.  Their eyes are just so darn amazing! 

After we got back, me and Leah got in touch with the culture and did our laundry by hand.  The house we have, which is extremely nice for the area, has a washer & dryer but they don't work.  So, we had to get buckets with soapy water and wash our own clothes in the bathroom.  And now, the clothes are hanging on a rope outside.  It was definitely an experience.  The locals don't have washers & dryers, so they have to wash EVERYTHING by hand.  & trust me, they live in the dirt, so their clothes get dirty.  This DEFINITELY made me appreciate having a washer & dryer & a mommy to do my laundry (sometimes).

Leah & I doing laundry

Our pot of laundry

Before dinner, me, Leah, & Lindsey went on a walk in the opposite direction from town, and we came across the illegal mining again.  It was as the sun was setting (the sun sets around 6 to 6:30) so we got some pretty awesome pictures.  Seeing the jungle and trees and sky and pretty sights really reminded me of the Lion King.  It was a quick walk and we explored a little, but the sight was so pretty im pretty sure it's one of those things i'll remember forever. But I guess thats how this whole trip is. For some reason, the pictures uploaded fast today, so here are some pretty pictures I took!

Well. Tomorow is my BIRTHDAY! NO LONGER A TEENAGER! WAHOO! I am so blessed to be spending my 20th birthday in Africa! (:

Boreholes & Cocoa

So the past two days in Abomosu have been pretty great.  We haven’t done anything extremely exciting to report on, but just being immersed in the African/Ghanaian culture is just awesome.  So I’ll give you a summary of what I’ve done the past two days.  

Yesterday, we had a meeting with a man who is in charge of the water wells here, which are called boreholes.  In Ghana, basically nothing scheduled is set in stone, and we learned that quickly.  An 8:00 meeting that includes local Ghanaians usually happens around 10ish.  That’s what we experienced yesterday.  We were up and ready by 8, waited for the water guy to come meet with us, and then didn’t get out in the community until afternoon.  In the health clinics, the “big days” are on Tuesdays and Fridays, and on the other days, it is busier in the mornings.  Since it was a Wednesday and we didn’t arrive until the afternoon, there was literally nothing to do.  Me and Paige did a little bit of data entry.  The clinic is trying to move from using mainly paper to using computers, and apparently they have been trying to do this for years.  We basically just typed people’s names and the city they were from.  We walked home from the clinic a little bit later and went through the village.  After we got back, we relaxed until dinner time, and Sherri and Darcy made some delicious fried chicken and mashed potatoes.  After dinner, me, Leah, Darcy, Scott, and Reika did some interval running outside our gated house.  We did lunges and squats, then we did intervals of walking for 2 minutes, jogging for 2 minutes, and sprinting for one minute and we did it 5 times.  It was a gooood work out.  I guess you could say my face was red for a while.

 

Today, we were out of the house by 8:30 to go conduct more water interviews.  Leah and I went with a Ghanaian named Seth who works for World Joy (the company who owns the house we are staying in) and he translated for us.  We went to a village called Ekorsu and we interviewed 9 households.  It was definitely interesting to do the interviews and learn how much having these boreholes affects their day to day life.  Before the boreholes, everyone fetched water from a stream which was a long walk multiple times a day.  Now that they have the boreholes, they have so much more time to do other things.  Children usually fetch water in the mornings, and when they went to the stream, they were often late to school and were exhausted from multiple trips.  Now that they have boreholes, the kids are at school on time, the adults are at work on time, and they overall have more time to do more things.  And when the kids are in school, they educate themselves to be successful in the future, so having clean water now can affect the community in generations to come! Also, families have noticed that they are a lot healthier after the boreholes, which is the most important thing.  We only did 9 households because the village was a farming community and all the adults were at work, so we got to everyone that was home, and had another quick day.  After we were done, me, Leah, and Scott (a professor) walked from our house to the village.  We walked around and said “How are you” in Twi to the locals and just spent a little time in the community.  How are you is pronounced "Et-Te-Sane" and the response is usually "Ay-Ya" which basically means good or fine. Scott, one of the administrators, ended up giving a little girl some candy  and she ended up following us all the way home.   She was super cute, but she didn’t speak English.  We told her many times to go home, said “bye bye”, and tried to walk fast and ahead of her, but she wouldn’t leave.  When we got to our gate, we were just going to shut her out, but she got her body in the way and would not move.  We got Yaw (pronounced Yow), who is our driver for our trip, to tell her to leave in Twi, and she finally did.  Apparently, that’s how a lot of kids are here.  Even if you don’t give them anything, they will follow you and bother you and won’t leave you alone.  After Yaw saved us, he showed me where cocoa comes from.  Steven Abu, a man who works for World Joy who helps run the house we are staying in, has 7 farms, and he has cocoa trees.  They look like a big, yellow fruit hanging on a tree.  Yaw cracked the fruit open for me, and in it were white, big, mushy looking seeds.  He told me to take one and suck on it, so I did, and it tasted like a slimy apple! It was so weird!  He opened the seed and inside it was purple, and after these seeds are dried out, you get cocoa.  It was super interesting to see that chocolate, one of the loves of my life, originates from a big yellow melon looking thing on a tree.   The rest of our afternoon/evening was spent making and eating dinner of rice with carrots, chicken, and green onions, and doing the interval running.  It has overall been a good two days.

Me, Darcy, Scott, Leah, and the little girl who wouldn't leave us alone

cute kid

step by step of the cocoa beans