Good Times in Ghana

Playing Red Rover with the students after we taught them how to play.

The Fufu we gave to the security guard, just looking at it makes me feel a little queasy...

Playing a game called Bom Ba Dina. The students stand in a circle a sing a song called Bom ba Dina while one person is walking in middle. At a certain point in the song the person in the middle points at someone and all the students sing "Shaky shake your body, shaky shaky shake your body, shaky shaky shake your body as your friend" while the person in the middle and the person that was pointed at dance and shake their body.

Little Stevie, he is adorable and very very very hyper!

Obroni (O-Brew-Knee)

Obroni means "white person" in Twi (twee) which is one of the most common dialects spoken where I am living in Ghana. When we walk through town the children yell "Obroni!" to get our attention so we will wave at them. The Ghanaians generally stare at us when they see us and when we smile and wave then they will finally smile and wave back at us. Most of the adults always have serious looks on their faces so they are really hard to read. We asked Brigham (the director of the school) why they all looked so serious. He said their hobby is sorrow and the only activity they have is going to funerals. So the next time you are bored and feel like there is nothing to do consider how much worse it could be...

We just ended our first week of training with the teachers. Overall, the information we are presenting to the teachers seems to be received very well. The best part of being is here is when we get to play with the students. Sometimes I walk around to the different classrooms and come across a classroom of students that doesn't have a teacher for one reason or another. As soon as I walk in the students say, "Madam Robyn, please teach us!". It's pretty fun being the teacher. My lessons so far include spelling english words, hangman, and the students teaching me how to speak Twi. The older students really like teaching me how to speak Twi (mostly because they think it is hilarious to hear me butcher the words I am trying to say). I'm actually starting to get pretty good though. My favorite word so far is Effe (F-A) which means "be nice" and I tend to use it a lot around the kids.

The food hasn't been too bad but it hasn't been too good either. Thank goodness for Mac & Cheese and Ramen Noodles. The grossest thing I have eaten so far is something called Fufu (foo-foo). It is made from a root called Casava that is first boiled and then pounded into something that resembles bread dough. I thought they would bake it since it looked like dough but they don't. They form it into a small ball about the size of a fist and eat it in soup. I think it was the texture that I couldn't get past. The mutton in the soup with veins poking out didn't really help either. Our cook Pat brought us the Fufu and waited for us to try it. I took a bite and tried to keep a straight face while I choked it down. As soon as Pat left I tried to figure out how I was going to get rid of the food without wasting it (the Ghanaians never waste any of their food because it is so limited). One of the night security guards happened to walk in at that moment to introduce himself. Jenn and I both gave him our bowls of Fufu but told him to bring the bowls back to us and not to the kitchen because we didn't want Pat's feelings to be hurt that we didn't like the meal she had prepared.

We were very proud of ourselves for not wasting the food but things didn't quite goes as smoothly as we had planned. I saw Pat coming to collect our dishes before the security guard had come back. Jenn ran into the house and I tore apart the kitchen looking for two bowls I could get dirty with the last remains of Amy's Fufu so it would look like we had eaten everything. I grabbed Amy's bowl and the two clean bowls I found and ran into the apartment while Amy tryed to stall Pat. Amy called me a couple minutes later and said Pat was looking for Jenn and I. We walked out with the three dirty bowls to give to Pat and noticed Amy had some bowls as well. Apparently the security guard walked in right after Pat to return the bowls! I don't know if Pat ever caught on but I'm sure she wondered why we gave her so many bowls back. I'm just grateful I did not have to eat the Fufu.

Forever Young International School

We are now staying at the Forever Young International School and we are officially getting the royal treatment. We have a small apartment we are staying in with a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and three bedrooms so we each get our own room. The kitchen has a fridge, gas stove, washing machine, and even a toaster (we didn't really expect any of this). Also, all the windows have screens so we don't even need to use mosquito nets, sweet!

We were able to meet all the students on Friday. They are so adorable. The students were all the lining the driveway of the school when we arrived and singing a welcoming song. Then they officially welcomed us to the school and marched off to class singing another song. We got to visit each classroom that day and it was so cute to see all the little heads popping out of each classroom waiting for us to come into their classroom. Each time we walked out of a classroom all the students would start laughing. Afer about the fourth time, we finally asked Brigham, the head of the school who taking us around, if they were laughing at us because we sounded funny or acted weird. He said they were laughing because they were all so happy we had come and it was the best way they knew how to express themselves. I don’t know if I believe him…

We got to spend recess with the students and they played a game where they all gather in a circle and chant and clap while people take turns dancing in the middle. A little girl named Josephine (who I'm pretty sure is going to be my new shadow) asked me to dance with her in the middle. I started dancing and all the students went crazy, I'm glad someone appreciates my dance moves. I even have proof of it on video so you can watch it when I get back. Dancing with the students has been my favorite part of the trip thus far. I think at one point I had four students holding each of my hands. They are all so happy and so easily amused. Any time we take their picture and then show them the picture on our camera they all scream with delight, they loooooove having their picture taken. I know we have the opportunity to do a lot of good at this school, and I am excited to be a part of it. I really wanted to post pictures but they take FOREVER to upload. Maybe if I have couple hours to spare I can upload one.

Ghana!

One flight from Phoenix, a connection in NYC, and a 10 hour flight later and we are finally in Ghana! The flight from NYC to Accra was long but it was pretty empty so we each got a whole row to ourselves and slept for most of the flight. We checked nine bags (four of them big boxes full of first aid and school supplies) and had three carry-on's so we were quite the sight to see pushing our carts through the Kotoko International Airport in Ghana. We had to push the carts down long ramps and I kept running into the walls because I was pulling a carry-on that weighs about 45 lbs in one hand while trying to prevent gravity from pulling the overloaded cart I was pushing out of my other hand.

I had a Mormon moment when we were leaving the airport. We were looking for the guy who was supposed to pick us up and I saw someone holding a sign that said Utah. For some reason, I have no idea why, I assumed that he was waiting for us. Maybe because the people we are working with are members of the church and there are a lot of mormons in Utah... So we walked over to him and he welcomed us and asked where Brian was. After a couple seconds I realized that we were in fact not from Utah and they were not the people that were supposed to pick us up.

When we got out of the airport a bunch of Ghanaian guys walked up to us to help us with our luggage. They said they were with the guy that was picking us up. They pushed our carts over to the jeep the luggage needed to be loaded into and then started asking for money. One of the guys next to me kept asking for $20 and said he would share it with the rest of the guys. I was a little suspicious but we started giving them some money and then the guy who was picking us up, his name is Afasi, started yelling at them and told them all to leave. He told us not to give them any money and started yelling for the police. The police came and all the Ghanian guys left. Not five minutes in the country and we had already been fooled. I don't have a lot of experience in third world countries, or any for that matter, but I can see that I definitely need to be more careful.

When we left the airport there was a huge line of traffic that we were waiting in. All of the sudden a police car drove past us with the sirens on. All the traffic started pulling over and Afasi got in behind the police car and followed it. I thought he was just trying to beat all the traffic by getting in behind the police car like people do on the freeway but after a few minutes I realized the police were escorting us! I guess we must be V.I.P or something : ) There were times where we were even driving on the wrong side of the road, it was pretty crazy.

I have already fallen in love with the people here. They are all so nice and welcoming. We are definitely going to be well taken care of. More to come later and hopefully some pics!

I finally started a blog...

The time has to come for me to start a blog, it only took a trip to Africa to get it going. This will be the easiest way to update everyone on my adventures in Ghana and let's face it, I'm kind of lazy and would rather post on a blog then send out mass emails.

Quick update on my life: I got laid off about a month ago, cried for a day, found out I had a layoff buddy (Mike Shin) and felt better,

planned a trip to Europe and felt even better,

planned a trip to Africa and now I feel great.


















It's all about turning lemons into lemonade or something yummy that is lemon flavored.

Back to Ghana, I am leaving for Ghana on Wednesday, June 17th at 6 a.m. I am going with Jenn Maygren (one of my college roommates) and another girl who is a teacher. We will be developing a private school that was recently built in a very rural area. The organization that is sending us is The Forever Young Foundation.

I'll try to post as often as I can. Who knows, some of you might actually read my posts! See y'all in a month.