20 Dec 2008

December 29th, 2008 by Kelly Earp

So we took off for our big adventure…with big plans. We hopped on a bus to Cote D’Ivoire, and 14 hours later arrived in Abidjan. It’s a big city with a skyline and all. It was sort of surreal to be there — from afar it looks like a thriving city, but up close, it is very run down and poor. We learned that in the 90s the president was spending money like crazy to make Abidjan appear like the “Paris of West Africa.” But this was money poorly spent and created more anger in the citizens. We didn’t stay there long…mostly long enough to get our visas to get back into Ghana. To get back, we went to a place where people pick up passengers to go to the border…and ended up in the backseat of a man’s car with more leg and elbow room that we’d had since we came to Ghana. This was our luxury that offset my frustration that the man stopped every 20 minutes to either by something on the side of the road, say hi to friends on the side of the road, or simply show off that he had a car…who knows! (No worries, Mom, there was another woman in the front seat…this is a standard practice to pick people and take them to the border for money). He was a friendly enough man.

So next stop was Green Turtle Lodge. I read about this place in our guide book, and it proved to be exactly what the guide said – a place you don’t want to leave. This place is fully run by solar energy…very environmentally conscious…helps saves the local turtles…employs local citizens….has beautiful beach that you could swim it (and that we did)…and good food for every meal…oh, and a nice bar. The first night we arrived after dark, and I immediately ordered wine…I mean, it had been a long time. I knew I’d like this place. After a few days, and meeting a ton of people, we were settled in to our new lives as beach bums…and we were the only Americans for a couple days, which was pretty cool. Nationalities there: Swiss, German, Brazilian, British, South African, Australian, Dutch…that’s all I can think of. It was awesome. Our big plan was to go to Togo and Benin next.

Well, that didn’t happen. Ciara and I don’t like to make decisions and didn’t like the idea of having 3 days to see 2 countries, and spending most of that time in a bus or tro-tro. So we stayed at the beach…right where we wanted to be. After 6 nights and 7 days on a beach resort…we were ready to go. Now let me clarify resort…this is a place for back-packers. Just a tent…a shower…some hammocks…and a beach — a glorious beach with huge waves. Perfection. The morning we were to leave, we had our biggest blow. Ciara’s money was gone. See while in Cote D’Ivoire, we got confused on the conversion rate (because their currency is different from Ghana) and she withdrew WAY too much. And it was taken…mostly all of it. Major bummer, but what I came to love about Ciara is that she’s like me in these situations. We were very sad, but just had to suck it up and figure it out. Luckily, we had befriended two great guys who were leaving the same day — John and Dean. They helped pay for our bill and we would pay them back when we got to an ATM in a city. So, we said goodbye to this place and vowed to never take out money from an ATM until we know 100% how much it really is!

I got back to my village, and felt so warm and excited. It really was good to be home. I spent the weekend by myself in Have. Courage really wanted me to go to his home village, but I didn’t want to be away from mine any longer than I had already. We seemed to have had some serious disconnects and I don’t think he believed me when I said I wanted to stay in Have. Anyway, I’m stubborn…and an adult…so I did what I wanted and was so glad. Mawufemor had planned to go to her dad’s, so I was free to cook for myself and hang out with my new village friends. It was great. I only had two weeks left, so I was really just trying to get my hands around what exactly I wanted to accomplish and COULD accomplish in such a short time.

The weekend was great. I finished the last Harry Potter book, I hung out with the youth of the village, and I started a great friendship with a boy named Precious. That Friday, I was so excited to see the borehole mechanic working to find the problems with them. We fixed one, and found out what was needed on two others. It was a great first step and I was SO happy to be there. As villages are, though, some of the men who ‘worked’ with the mechanic, in fact, thought that they were going to get paid, when really they were supposed to be volunteering their help for the village. This misunderstanding saddened me as it put a damper on things towards the close of the day — they were upset. But, I’m proud to say that Simon, the FUHOF Chairman, stuck to his own and said they shouldn’t have done it for money…and money they won’t get. Hopefully next time around, FUHOF can have money so we CAN pay them. Anyway, all in all, it was a good step in the right direction.

On Monday, my friend John (from Green Turtle) came to visit. He’s from London and 29. It was great to have someone to talk to on the same level, and he even attended one of my FUHOF meetings with me. He had great ideas and understood. It was so nice. We went to Wli Waterfalls on Tuesday, which was just awesome. I had never been so close to a waterfall and really felt it’s power. On Wednesday, we went to the top of Mount Adaklu. It really was one of the best couple of days that I’d had…Great company and lots of good hiking and views. Oh, and John was my hero b/c when we got to the top of the mountain and had to go thru the forest part…there were 1000s of spider webs with really big spiders. It was ridiculous. We were two city people fighting the scariest looking things ever. He had a big stick and handled the webs with care so as not to piss off any jumping spiders…which was clearly our fear. EW! So, John is now a good friend, who lives in London with his girl (who I’m excited to meet), and since we’ve not been to each other cities, it’s on our calendars with a place to stay. LOVELY!

The next days I simply tried to do as much as possible. Get a bank account…set up an accounting system for the collection of money from the boreholes…set up a PUBLIC water-account notice, so all citizens of Have would know exactly how much the Water committee had…make FUHOF membership cards…put survey results in a spreadsheet…buy gifts for everyone who’d taken care of me. My last day there, we got a great boost in our electricity project. See, things were put on serious hold because the electrification project is expensive AND you need support from the government. The expensive part is manageable, but the government is not…especially in an election season. The good news was that Simon used his connections to get someone from the electricity company to come and survey the village…FOR FREE. This was just awesome, and I was so proud that I had nothing to do with it. He’s really making progress on his own and not letting anyone get in his way.

We also decided that the bicycle I bought would be rented out to the villagers, and all proceeds will go to FUHOF (or bike repairs, as the road is very poor). Again, I explained to them the importance of transparency in this collection of money as well. I left the responsibility with the Financial Secretary, Sampson. He’s a farmer, and a Have-ian…both parents were born there. We are really hopeful that he’ll step up to the plate on a lot of things and that he’ll have a great influence on people because he’s so young.

Oh, quickly, Sampson and Simon are co-signers on the account we opened. I explained the importance of them both being required to be there to withdraw money, in that it’s a way of a check and balance. They were so adorable in this bank. Neither of them have accounts, as most farmers don’t. This bank is one of the newest ones in Ho, so it was SO clean and cold with great air conditioning. They signed where they were supposed to sign, and the man who helped us couldn’t have been nicer. See, they can’t answer questions like, “What is your address? What is your monthly income? Do you have a utility or other type of bill?” But that didn’t mean they could get the account open. Walking out of the bank, I could see they were a little lighter in their steps. I think they were proud and they really should be.

Everything wrapped up just beautifully. I was so sad to go, and couldn’t hold back my tears at the ceremony they had for me. Yes…a ceremony. I’m now a Queen Mother of Adaklu Have. The program was 4 hours long filled with a speech by me (when I cried) and children singing and dancing. It was incredible. Mawufemor and Courage got a dress made for me with material that matched their own, though on that day I wore traditional kente clothe and many beads. It was beautiful and I’ll never forget that day.

I promised that I’d be back within 2 years, and that I’d try to bring my brother. There’s much work to be done, and much that I’ll try to do from the U.S. I believe in the people of Have, and cherish them for their acceptance of me and how well they took care of me. Hopefully, part 2 of my Africa novel will start soon.

Thank you all for your love and support. I carried each of you in my heart. I know that what I had the opportunity to do is very rare and special, and I don’t take it for granted. I did this for all of us.