20 November – Part 2

November 19th, 2008 by Kelly Earp

PART 2:

So, that’s what I’ve been doing…working. And some playing, of course. And well…here’s some highlights:

- I have a rash on my left arm that’s spreading and won’t go away…the heat doesn’t help.

- Ciara and I broke down and got a hotel room in Ho one night. We went to the pool, ordered room service, turn the air conditioning on full blast and watched movies (Music and Lyrics, and V is for Ventetta to be exact!).

- I was given a chicken yesterday…pronounced, cocolo in Ewe. I named him Edward. He’s beautiful. But I fear that he will not live much longer…

- For Halloween, Ciara and I went to her village, where they had the impression that it was an extremely important American holiday. So they the whole village came to our house, elders and all. We made sangria (sort of…oh, and I’m sure they think it’s a traditional Halloween drink). Then they painted us in charcoal, which was quite awesome. We had to explain to them what the holiday was about, and so we told them: It’s to celebrate the nighttime and loved ones we have lost. SURE?!?!? There are men who play the drums, and SOME people dance and the rest just sit there…with miserable looks on their faces, but apparently that the look of contentment. It was a little awkward, but we had a great time. Pictures are classic.

- I uploaded all my pictures on snapfish and labeled them and everything, but I can’t seem to email it out to anyone. Frustrating.

- We climbed Mount Adaklu. I say climbed b/c it was more that than a hike. It’s the first time since I was really little that I was on top of a mountain. It was really awesome. I could see my house b/c it really sticks out and I thought of how many times I’ve looked out my back window and said goodmorning to this mountain and now I was on the very top of her. Pretty freaking cool.

- I ride my bike a lot…which is great. It’s really hot, but feels good. Makes me wish I could do it in NYC, and makes me wish more people did it everywhere. I know Tallahassee is hard with the hills, but so many places are decently flat, and would be easy to bike around.

- My hope of helping with electricity is not doing well. Basically, it’s under the government’s control, and the District Chief Executive is NEVER around. I’ve referred to the trouble of going to the District Assembly office, calling the DCE, calling the secretary, and all the mess…I refer to it as my ultimate test in patience here. I refuse to let it drive me crazy, but man, it could.

- I cried in our foundation meeting last night. FUHOF decided to use the money that me and my family and friends donated to fix the broken boreholes (wells) in our village. This was after they initially shot the idea down fearing that it would cause some disruption in the village b/c the people would think we were trying to step on other people’s toes…other people who aren’t doing crap. This got me upset when they shot it down b/c that’s the biggest problem in Have – letting issues and differences in the past affect the future. So many people in Africa think that if someone is trying to help better the village, there must be something greater in it for themselves. When really everyone would benefit. Anyway, they realized if FUHOF pays to fix it, then no one can complain…and they will take charge of collecting a small amount of money from everyone who uses it to save for when and if it breaks again. I’m so proud and so hopeful.

- Ghana’s elections are 7 Dec. Should be interesting. People are campaigning really hard and they are very loud.

- Ciara and I are leaving next Monday for a trip across countries. We’re going along the coast to Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in the west, then to Togo and Benin to the east. It will be so fun.

- This weekend we are celebrating Thanksgiving. I’ve invited 16 people! Of that, it’s really only 3 families. We will get a turkey from Ciara’s village. And then our menu for now is: gravy, green beans, mashed potato, green peppers stuffed w/rice and beans (a Turkish dish, our Turkish friend, Tolga is preparing), banana bread, and corn on the cob. We’ll see how it goes!

- My most expensive indulgence is paying 1 cedi for Coca-Cola Light that’s 500ml. This equals 90 cents for Diet Coke for about 12ounces. An absolute necessity.

- A 5 year old died in Ciara’s village. Really sad. The family did not have the money to take him to the hospital, but it probably wouldn’t have helped anyway. Unlike other deaths, the family buries the young very quickly and tries to move on quickly.

- I attended my first funeral…well, sort of. The funerals here are 3 days long. The first day, Friday, the corpse is brought to the town, then they party all night (no sleep), then the next day is the burial, then some food, then on Sunday, they have a long church service. I attended Friday night. First, around 4:30pm, people proceeded with drums and singing to the edge of the town…they all wore black and/or red. Then the tro-tro came with the corpse inside. I never saw it, but I didn’t really like the idea of it…it made me sad. Later in the evening, we went to town and joined the dancing and fun. That part I really did like.

- I gathered all the youth in the village, and talked to them about development. Here, youth refers to men the ages of 17-35…the ones who are the future of the village and do much of the work. I tried to explain to them that they must unite together and forget anything in the past. That working together will create greater results. And if they do receive help from the government or outside organizations, that the only way they will really benefit and progress is to MAINTAIN that which is given. They must not reside to thinking that if something is broken, it will be too expensive to fix. Or that if they just ignore a problem, it will go away. I just tried to say that nothing is free, and they must take responsibility.

- I’m a very big Have football fan. (soccer)

- A drunk man got into the tro-tro when it was PACKED with about 20 women and he was loud and belligerent…and making everyone uncomfortable. So, I started singing…a christian song…that I had forgotten that I knew, and that everyone in the tro did know. The man calmed down and tension somewhat left the air.

- I still feel like a celebrity when I ride my bike through the other villages on the way to Ho. Children come RUNNING from every corner yelling, “YEVU, YEVU…dah dah…YEVU, YEVU…dah dah”…some song they learn like the day they’re born. To be nice, I wave to them…they love it. I wave to everyone…that’s where I feel like a celebrity…waving all over the place. But what I’m thinking is that I’m just a person.

- Courage is working hard to get his sister into a nursing school in the UK. This could be a HUGE thing for him and his family. He’s a great guy.

- Honesty is the cutest little girl that I’ve adopted as my own. Her mom is only 19, and she’s 2 years old. Sadly, her mom tried to NOT have the baby after learning she was pregnant. She did quite some barbaric things to her body. Luckily for her, she befriended Courage, who realized some thing was wrong, and upon learning she was pregnant offered to help her and got her to a doctor. Honestly and I like to sing songs together. She’s precious.

- I smell.

- Some things I miss: College football, air conditioning (except now it’s cold back home…weird), fall in the City, going out with friends, clean-smelling towels, cussing (sorry mom), FOOD…good food and a lot of variety!!, WINE!, concerts…or just talking about music…, fast computers, the subway, NOT sticking out

- Some things I don’t miss: working at JP, not getting enough sleep, grinding my teeth, wondering if I’ll ever do something like go to Africa to volunteer, watching the massive waste that Americans create

- I am on to the interviewing round of NYC Teaching Fellows. I interview in January. But you know me, I could change my mind…I mean, I don’t know if teaching is what I want, but it could be a cool, temporary thing…and with this program, I’d get a masters, which will help in future jobs. We will see…

- My mom recently saved my life by sending me speakers that run on batteries and attach to my ipod. This is an exaggeration, but seriously I was going crazy.

- I’ve learned that people here are so simple in their consumption. They use the same goods, so the market is just the same stuff being sold by SO many different people. They have the same uses for everything…this one type of spoon is used for this one type of food. They have endless options of brands of soap, however.

- Ciara is signing up for her college classes. She’s only 20 years old. Ahh…to be that young again…

- We have created what we call, YEVU parties…it’s where Ciara, Tolga and I make normal foods and drink. The first time, we made sandwiches with MUSTARD! GLORIOUS MUSTARD! Veggie sandwiches, of course, but the other feature was avocado…the next meal was spaghetti with garlic bread. Yum. Mawufemor, my caretaker, really liked the spaghetti, which was great to hear. She also likes the parties b/c the white people go CRAZY and we dance with her. SO FUN!

Ok, I’ll stop. I could really go on and on…OBVIOUSLY.