"Conservation is the key to preservation" - Aussie Sarah

As the days fly by, so does the extra food that Sarah and I purchased at the western market, Koala's. Our day often begins with me scrounging for an extra biscuit and her yelling from the top bunk, "Remember, Conservation is the key to Preservation!!!" We have to ration our tea bags, Digestive biscuits, and Ghanian candies, as we won't be returning to Accra for quite some time.

Sarah and I had planned to jump on a tro-tro and come to Denu (the town with internet) yesterday but our plan was foiled by a terrential storm! Just as I was getting off the tro-tro after work, the wind picked up. It resembled a true hurricane this time (not like the one that I previously thought was a hurricane that really wasn't) and as I attempted to run back to the compound, I was repeatedly blown into bushes and branches. About half way there, someone turned on a faucet above us and rain just started to pour. I maybe had about 100-200meters to run but by the time I arrived at my door, I was drenched! My clothes were dripping wet - completly saturated! Welcome to African rains! We still thought we'd go after the rain stopped, but alas, my naive non-African knowledge failed me and we sat around for the entire afternoon thinking that the rain would stop. The rainstorm was quite refreshing, though, as it cooled everything down! The highlight of the afternoon and evening was requesting a sheet (yes, a SHEET!) to sleep under and turning down the fan from a 5 to a 3 in our room. It was the first time since I'd left Canada that I was able to comfortably settle into bed completly dry without one bead of sweat.

This morning we awoke to a bright and hot day so there were no excuses not to come to Denu after work. We hopped in a trotro and began to pick up other travellers along the way with all their stuff. It's amazing how efficient the tro-tro system is. For instance, we stopped to pick up a lady on the side of the road who had three large baskets of fish (stinky, I might add), a basket of ducks (alive and quacking), and a box of small dogs. As soon as the car decelerated to a speed of about 2okm/hr, the second worker in the tro tro jumped out and started pciking up her baskets. She jumped into the tro-tro while he popped open the drunk, shoved it all on top of the preexisting baskets of stinky fish and random animals and slapped the side of the trotro (which tells the driver to start driving). The man runs for about 10-15 meters to catch up to the van and then jumps in! No time wasted!!!

Some of you actually emailed and asked questions about life here so I'll take a bit of time to get to those. The first question was asking who cooks all the food at the house? Well, her name is Giffah and if it had an English translation it would most definitely be, "Ghanian mother and the most supreme chef in all of Ghana." The Aussie describes her as, "basically,....God." Each day, she makes enough food for the entire clan on one fire. Yes, we have no stove, no oven, no microwave and often, no power. Giffah has a small square spot by the house that is no larger than 8 inches x 8 inches that has coals and a small make-shift area to cook on. From there, she cooks pots and pots of rice, soups of an indistinguishable nature, baked beans, bread, spring rolls and other yummy dishes. Imagine, cooking for 10-15 people on a small fire pit every day, having to pay almost more attention to the heat of the fire than the dish. She's also takes requests which puts her higher and higher on the cool-meter every day. Ester is another helper around the compound but she is younger and shyer. She also is responsible for doing tasks other than cooking such as collecting bed sheets, washing towels, and making sure things run smoothly. If you leave your door open on Fridays, Ester comes along and takes the bed sheets for washing. I've buddied up to Ester in the past week hoping that this weekend she will let me choose first which sheets I want for the next week. As silly as it sounds, a luxury is being able to have bed sheets that (a) fit the bed and (b) resemble something from home. Last week I caught her finishing folding laundry and got to pick first! My choice? Pokemon and Mickey Mouse. All the other suckers got solid grey or faded striped sheets!!!

The other question that I found interesting was, "Can you speak the local language?" Let me tell you that Ewe has no sensical logic to it so it's a bit tough to pick up. Once a week we have an Ewe lesson and with working at the hospital, I have come to pick up common daily phrases. I can say: "Hello, how are you this morning?
I am fine, thank you
What is your name
My name is ______ (depending if I give my Ewe name or English name)
Yes
No
Stop
Welcome
See you later
Where are you going?
I am going to ______
Can I come in?"
That's about it! It gets me pretty far because the majority of people that I talk to during the day are kids, as I work in the Children's ward and also play with the kids at the compound. It's amazing how we barely speak to one another but can play for hours and hours on end with small symbols, actions and the words, "yes", "no," "stop," and "see you soon."

Over the course of the week, some new children have been coming to the compound. One girl, named Fortune, 11, is particularly entertaining. We've been hanging out every day and just yesterday, we got to chatting about school. Her English is pretty good and she told me how she is not doing well in math. I told her that if she brought her math book to the compound that I would help her out. All of a sudden, she just ran away into the bushes/tall grass! About 10 minutes later she came back with all her school books. We spent about an hour doing math homework and she's agreed to come back tomorrow for some more help! She's totally bright but the problem is sometimes there are no teachers for the classes so the students do not learn certain subjects (although they still have exams on them). Hopefully she comes back tomorrow at 1:30pm.... just as we'd planned.

As I stop and reflect on the past week, it's been quite an up and down one. I will have breakthroughs with Fortune while teaching her math and have downs while working in the children's ward at the hospital. One child came yesterday at about 12:30pm and by the time I arrived today at 8am, he had passed away. It was especially tough, as in my mind, it was completly preventable. His family simply did not have enough food for all the children and what really made an impact is the mother is expecting another child in about 1 month. I pray that she will have better fortune for her family in upcoming years.

The rain last week facilitated the breeding of more mosquitos so when I started to spike a fever and feel ill on Monday, the group was concerned about malaria. The fever never continued to rise so it must just be a bout of the flu - aches and pains, fever and headache. Another volunteer contracted malaria right before the start of her volunteer time (she had been travelling around Ghana by herself) but since it's such a common illness, she was easily treated and sent on her way.

Sarah and I have been documenting our transition from Yevu to Ghanian. We think it may make a good National Geographic story one day if we ever stayed long enough! Haha! The other day we were on the tro-tro and we saw two other Yevus riding bicycles. Almost instinctually, we started yelling out the window, "Yevu Yevu!!!!" The two guys looked back, looked forward and then did a triple take! They were being called Yevu by some Yevus! As it turns out, they're from Holland and are here to do a building project of some sort - I can't really remember but the point is, everywhere we go, we single out the other Yevus just like we are singled out by all the Ghanians. EXCITING NEWS! I got my first Ghanian dress made! Ghanian fabrics are soooo colorful and cheap that if you go to market, you can buy 3 yards of fabric (enough to make a dress and a skirt) for about $3.00/yard and then Justine, the lady living near the compound, will make you a dress (any style!) for about $2.50. It's a steal of a deal if you ask me! The fabrics are quite well made and intricately designed!

One more piece of exciting news before I go - I am starting drumming lessons on Monday! Kofi, another one of the workers at the compound, said that he'd get one of the local elders to come to the compound on Monday nights at 7pm to teach me some drumming. Hopefully it works out that I can (a) learn to drum and (b) bring one home. Sorry for everyone back at home in Canada - you may have to deal with some drumming now and then! ;)

Sarah and I need to head back as the tro-tros to Woe stop running between 5pm and 6pm. Thanks for the email questions and for the blog reponses! I really enjoy reading the little notes!!! Keep on sendin!

Cheers!