A bucket shower to top off a great day :)

Yesterday was such a good day.

It was one of those days where you have moments where you are so happy and joyful that you could cry...strange feeling but an amazing feeling.

I went in to work early to make up for a week of lost time. Work wasn't anything special and I left around 2pm to go and meet Helena's husband to finish up his January newsletter and get that sent out...but it was after all this that made day got so great.

From my meeting with Kwame (Helena's husband) I went back home to drop off my laptop and head to the Children's Home.

I haven't been that happy to be at the Children's Home in a long time. I went there because I was meeting Edward. Edward is one of the boys that lives in my group home in Adenta. I haven't seen him yet since coming to Ghana because he has been at school in the Eastern Region. He has been calling me once a week to check up on me and yesterday he came from Adenta to the Children's Home to meet me there so we could talk. There are no amount of words I can give to explain the pure joy that came with seeing his smiling face. Edward is going places. He is one of the most intelligent boys I have ever met and is interested into going into law. We sat talking for a long time about how difficult it was to be boarding at Senior High and all their rules etc. etc.

As I was sitting talking with Edward there was a white lady that walked up to me and ask if I was Claire. I had no idea how she knew who I was but as soon as I said yes she embraced me in a hug. I found out seconds later that her name was Laurie and she was adopting one of the smaller boys named Osey. She has heard all about my project from a mutual friend of ours Kary (a flight attendant).

After talking with her and her giving me such words of encouragement Abdul walked through the gates of the orphanage. For those of you that don't remember, Abdul is the refugee from Sudan, that came to Ghana two years ago the week I came to Ghana because his father was killed in Darfur and he didn't know where his mother and sister were. When he came to Ghana he spoke no English and now he is fluent. He has now been adopted by a woman who lives just outside of Boston (how lucky for me!!) but they are still working on getting his Sudanese passport etc.

He has been staying a little ways outside of Accra during this whole process and he came to the home yesterday to see me. He then told me that Sandy (his new mom) landed in Ghana that morning (another flight attendant) and they wanted me to come to dinner at the Novotel Hotel so that I could finally meet her...we have been trying to meet since I found out about Abdul's adoption in October.

So before we went to dinner I sat talking with Francis, Kwesi, and Edward (3 of the boys from my group home). I was so encouraged after talking to them. They have all been staying there regularly which is a HUGE improvement from last May. The transition period was difficult but it seems that it is finally all coming together. I was so encouraged yesterday after seeing my boys and then Abdul on top of that. When the boys (from my group home) close for vacation this April we are going to have a plan for what they will do on their time off. We are planning on re-painting the walls inside the house and building a Vegetable garden in their backyard as well as focusing on learning how to cook a different meal each week.

But for dinner- it ended up being me, Moses, Abdul, Osey, Laurie, Sandy, Auntie Janette (one of the house mothers-really sweet), her son Barnabas, and another boy from the home named Prince. We all got Pizza and just sat talking for three hours. Abdul and Moses have grown so much I can't even believe it. At the end of this post I am going to show you pictures of them from two years ago and then a picture of them now so you can see. They have both grown about a foot and are turning into young men.

To top off my night I went home and had the most amazing bucket shower. It was such an encouraging day and so good to see all the people I love so much and connect with people that love the kids as much as I do.

Picture of Abdul from 2 years ago (far left):



Picture of Moses from 2 years ago:



Moses, me, and Abdul yesterday at dinner (LOOK HOW MUCH THEY'VE GROWN!!):



Me and Victoria (Victor's twin):



Me and Edward:



Edward and Francis:

Ali visits Ghana

It has been a really long time since I have blogged. I didn't have internet access for the week that Ali was here and to be honest, it was kind of nice not to do anything related to technology.

Ali's visit here reaffirmed my complete unconditional love for this country and its people. I have never been so convinced in my life of why I am here and how much this place has become a part of who I am and without it, I wouldn't be the same person. It has become like another organ that I can't function without.

Even with all the frustrations and difficulties that exist I wouldn't have it any other way.

I was reminded of how much I love:

1) That the temperature drops 10 degrees instantly right before it starts to downpour- its Ghana's little warning to find a place to hide.

2) That friendly faces are sitting everywhere you go, while the sad part of this is that it is caused by unemployment, I am thankful that there is always someone there to wish me "good morning" "good afternoon" "good evening" and "good night"

3) That one small country has desert, beach, rain forest, and mountains...maybe I don't get the four seasons but I still have variety when I need it.

4) That fresh air is more rewarding than air conditioning

5) That even though there are potholes, there are drivers who know how to perfectly maneuver around them...well almost perfectly

6) That you can buy giant bread muffins made out of sweet bread off the top of a womans head for 50 pesewas (approx. 36 cents)

7) that there is no such thing as a muffin in Ghana...rather they are called rock buns

8) that they have grammar lessons on the TV during commercial breaks. Some speak of the correct usage of the word brouhaha; explaining that the words fence and wall are not interchangeable; explaining that you can't pick someone's thoughts, only their brain; and the proper usage of the word deluge

9) that Ghanaian women have beads for their waist...why hadn't we thought of that?

10) that everyone shares their food. you are constantly "invited" to eat their meal with them

11) that everything you eat can be squeezed out of a plastic sachet (even a snickers bar--Saviola taught me this)

12) that when you yawn Ghanaians ask you not to accidentally swallow them

13) that Ghanaians can tell when I am thinking and warn me that I shouldn't do it so often

14) that Ghanaians never give directions straight but rather point you to a location with a person closer to the destination so that they can do the same thing until eventually you get close enough where a person will just walk you there themselves.

15) that they can sense my love for this place and call me African woman

16) that you make friends everywhere you go and even if it has been two years and they can't remember your name they will call out to you and admit that their mind isn't working

17) that everyone is praying for you--Christian or Muslim they are praying to their God that you are safe

18) that they control Ghanaians driving speed with speed bumps because they don't trust they will follow signs.

19) that anything can be bought at the window of your car...even a box of kleenex

20) that Ghanians want to know us- they want to sit and talk with us- for us to be completely submerged into their culture

21) that they have bamboo goal posts

22) that some of the terms of endearment include: sweet potato and sugar banana

23) that hotels don't need to be expensive and extravagant to be enjoyable and relaxing

24) that they do things even though they are counterproductive: bathe before going to football training and sweep the dirt away from the other dirt outside?

25) that they create recipe books that don't actually tell you how to make the food start to finish; it assumes you already know how to prepare the basics such as stew and corn dough

26) that if the holiday falls on a Sat. they will take of the following Monday

27) that cats serve a purpose---they eat cockroaches

I could go on forever: there are a million things I have listed in past blog such as bucket showers, and getting a dirt tan etc but I won't go all the way back.

It was such a good week for me to be able to show off why I love this place so much and remind myself that it is all worth it. The occasional frustrations, sadness, anger, homesickness...it is all worth it.

Me and Ali the day she arrived:



Ali relaxing at Big Millys in Kokrobite (a beach an hour outside Accra)



Me and Ali after a day at the beach in Kokrobite:



Me and Ali at the Wli falls in the Volta Region:



Ali hanging at the breakfast table before heading to the falls:



Hotel at Wli Falls:



Ali and Tracy (Okos' niece):

Confused but Understanding?

OK after a conversation with my dad two days ago, a conversation with a friend yesterday and thinking this morning I am really excited/anxious and so I just have to write about it.

I have really been struggling this past year on the fact that my project is so limited in the people that it is helping and constantly facing the reality that I love so many people in Ghana and my project is strictly helping those from Osu Children's Home and no one else.

This past month I have been faced with a lot of difficult decisions and most of them I haven't even made yet and are still hanging over my head but I think I may have gotten somewhere today.

See the reality of Ghana, and third world countries in general, is that it is not just the children in orphanages that need help. There are so many cases that slip through the cracks that people don't see.

A friend of mine has just turned 18. His parents are both dead but they died when he was older so rather than going into a home his best friend's family took him in to raise him. Unfortunately, they ran out of money to continue supporting him and he is being evicted of the place he currently stays due to the fact that he is now 18 and now an "adult". He is homeless and essentially still a child (he just got someone to pay his school fees so he is a freshmen in high school). Technically he is not in an orphanage but he still needs help.

Another friend of mine is 16 and his father just needed to have an operation to remove a tumor. His father spent all of his money on the operation and now has no money to give his son to buy food...he is not an orphan but he still goes to sleep many nights a week without food in his stomach.

Another friend of mine is 17. He lives on his own in a room. He gets paid a small amount a month to play football and then finds friends to help him pay the rest of his rent. Two weeks ago it rained and the pressure from the water under his cement floor burst through and flooded his room. He has a hole in the floor he sleeps on and most of his things are ruined. His mother is dead but his father is still alive and he was never put into an orphanage.

The list of these stories goes on and on.

And so as I face these hard decisions of whether my project will be long term or if I will move on to something else I have at least one thing figured out: My work in Ghana is not over, and through registering All Hands On Deck for Africa in the US I will have the opportunity to create new projects and programs that might eventually replace the one I have going now. I refuse to be prideful and continue a project if it doesn't seem that it is working as I had originally planned. (I am not saying Mawuli Apeme is not working, I am just saying that because it is such a financial commitment the benefits and costs need to be weighed.)

So as I write up a description of All Hands on Deck for Africa and what it is about I will include: Aims to provide sponsorship and financial support to families who would otherwise be forced into the possible abandonment of their children. Instead our support and sponsorship will allow children to develop in a family environment. It is still working towards my same goal of preventing orphanages from growing and breaking the cycle of poverty but through a new method.

I know that this is not a revolutionary idea and seems pretty basic but it opens up a lot of doors for me. A year from now I am going to have a completely new set of skills and by the time I finish University I expect that I am going to be able to come up with a sustainable business model that could support itself. But until then I am not going to sit around and wait. I will register All Hands On Deck for Africa in the United States and continue to help in the ways I know how until I am more educated on where to go from there. Who knows where I will be in 5 years- it could be anywhere. It could be getting into micro-finance, continuing with the non-profit path, or having a for-profit business on the side that flows into All Hands on Deck for Africa.

I refuse to limit myself and confine myself to a box. These next four months are going to determine a lot about my different ideas and I am prepared to take the best route even if that means that my original idea of a group home being long term is not financially feasible at this time due to the governments lack of funding.

Osu Children's Home is not the only place in Ghana that needs my help and the more time I spend in the community of Accra and submerging myself in the culture the clearer that becomes. I think I have been scared to admit that my focus is no longer completely on Osu Children's Home because everyone has been expecting that of me. But the truth is that my work here is so much larger than Osu Chidlren's Home. I will continue to spend a few hours there each week but emotionally, at this point in time, that is all I can handle and I need to be ok with that.

I am so thankful that I have such supportive parents that are behind me in any decision that I choose to make and I hope that you too, can be as supportive and back me with the difficult decisions I have to make ahead of me.

While I love sharing my story and journey with all of you, there is incredible pressure that comes with it knowing that everyone is having their own thoughts and opinions about the work I am doing. So I am also asking all of you to be ok with the fact that I am learning, growing, and having my own beliefs challenged daily and that I want to continue to be honest with you all.

So this is where I am on my journey. Confused but understanding?

I think I might be learning to like bananas...

So I started writing this blog on Monday but while I was typing it our Internet went out. Helena has to find people every month to pay for the Internet for the entire building of Department of Social Welfare. You would think that the government would pay since these are government jobs but instead Helena has to ask friends to sponsor her 300 cedi (aprox. $230) a month. She had all of 2009 paid for by an NGO and then found a friend to pay for January and February this year but she has run out of sponsors which means that we are without internet until we can find someone to pay the bill. Despite the fact that about 150 people benefit from the internet, no one else is helping Helena to find a way of paying for the internet. BUT!! The benefit of being in Ghana is that sometimes good things randomly happen too; so today the internet went back on by a fluke…I am sure it will be off again tomorrow.

My malaria meds are starting to get really bad again so I am so thankful that Ali will be here next week with my new stuff.

I find that I dream about important people in my life that have died. Every single night I dream about them. I dream about my Grandma, my Grammy, Victor, and even Preston Hirten (a volunteer I knew from Ghana that died this past August). But not only do these people come to me in my dreams but I dream about close friends and family dying too. The dreams are so realistic that I wake up and find it difficult to calm myself down and go back to sleep.

But Francis, one of the boys in the group home, told me that when you dream about someone dying you are actually blessing them and adding years to their life. I am not sure how that works but it is somehow comforting. But for those I dream about that are already dead it just brings back painful memories.

Dealing with emotions in Ghana is 100% different than dealing with emotions at home.

I think that it has to do with the weight of the emotion I am carrying around with me but I have no other option to express how I am feeling here. At home I am capable of hiding if I am angry or sad but if I attempt to keep it inside me here it will destroy me. The other difference about dealing with emotion in Ghana is that I am never alone.

But because I am forced to express how I am feeling in front of these people they are there to help me carry some of the weight. After an upsetting conversation Sat. night I was on the verge of tears going into the evening church service but coach Kofi sat next to me squeezing my shoulder every now and then and telling me to calm down. At the close of the church service Malik (an U12 player) and Charles (an U14 player) each took one of my hands and walked me to the road to get a taxi home. When I wasn't able to hold some of my tears in they wiped them out of my eyes. I am so lucky to have relationships like these in Ghana.

These past couple weeks there have been two sisters here from Utah who are getting Helena’s help with adoption. One of the sisters adopted from Ghana last year and the other sister is adopting a 15-year-old boy this year (hence the reason for their time in Ghana). This boy is extremely lucky since once you reach 16 years you can no longer be adopted in Ghana.

Anyway-the name of this boy is Francis (not my Francis, a different Francis) and he has been coming into the Dept. of Social Welfare office while Helena helps his new mom with the paperwork to take him home. As you can probably guess, I instantly got along with Francis and so one day we were talking about Ghanaian music and how much we both love it and how he is going to miss it a lot. So I decided to burn all my Ghanaian music onto CDs for him to take back to Utah.

I have put some links below so that you can hear some Ghanaian music that can bring a smile to my face even when I am in the crappiest of moods. (Actually the links won't let you click on them so just copy and paste them)

Simple by: Bradez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg-vXA2KhW8

Swagger by: Ruff-N-Smooth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frjtg2PGMTI

Baby by: Sarkodie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ExSTauot4

Work is going well and I have been working on organizing the administration side of Mawuli Apeme since while I was at school I wasn’t able to record exact grant transfers etc. Sometimes the organization aspect seems tedious and meaningless but I know that it is key in running an efficient and effective program over here. I have been learning a lot about Excel spreadsheets and coming up with your own templates for budgets and donations is more difficult than you would imagine.

Ali gets here on Sunday morning and I can’t wait to show her my life in Ghana.

I am doing really good out here. I know that some of you were worried that I was having a difficult first two weeks but I am doing so great. Here are a couple pictures from this past weekend.

Malik (left) and Van der Vaart (right) before their U12 match:



Me and Joe (U17) at a youth match:



Sam (another volunteer) and I took Saviola and some friends to dinner for Saviola's Birthday:



Another Picture from Saviola's Birthday Dinner:

Great Mood

For those of you who want to see something slightly humorous-> take a look at this link. It is a video that Northeastern did of me right before I left for international co-op. You would never know, but I actually filmed for 5 hours...and this is what came of it hahaha:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yN7qSZeSCY

I am in such a great mood this morning, and to be honest I have been in this great mood for about the past week.

Things out here are so good. Now that the initial adjustments are sorted out and I have gotten used to working everyday and not seeing my friends during the day things are wonderful.

It seems ridiculous to remember how homesick I felt my first couple weeks. Of course I still miss my friends and family but I am so happy.

I hoped you all enjoyed my photos I posted on Monday!

I love my life out here. I have spent enough time out here in the past two years that I have a life here and every time I think about that I smile.

It is certain things that make me happy:

1) When I hear the sound of the fan ice horn--> although I try to only buy from one fan ice guy...he is my favorite! His name is K2 and he spends all of his time at the pitch

2) Bucket showers

3) Hearing call my name: Claire Renne Adjowa(born on Monday) Akoko(chicken) Kaajaano(where I stay) Fischer

4) When Charles Ofori (U14 footballer) calls me small girl

5) Speaking twi and holding a coherent conversation without hesitation

6) Hearing certain Ghanaian songs

7) eating rice with this special sauce and mystery meat

8) Getting things accomplished at work

9) someone telling me I am Ghanaian

10) knowing that I have a lot more time here

I could go on forever on the things that make me happy here but I think I will stop for now.

I am doing soo good. I am tired a lot because I don't sleep early (as they say in Ghana) and I wake up early too.

I can't believe that it has been two years that I first came to Ghana.

I have learned so much.

I would not be the same person today if I had stayed in Glen Ellyn. How different my life would be.

I am so thankful for this joy I am feeling and hope that I can hold on to it when I come across obstacles.

Me and Ishmael- they threw him in the mud for his Birthday--don't ask me why that is a good Birthday present but I guess it was




Me and Abonny



Me and Sarfo

Some of the Reasons I love Ghana

Cantonments F/C Cuts

When I arrived in Ghana a few weeks ago I learned that the Senior team of Cantonments F/C was having some problems and that there was a rift between some of the players. It hasn't been the same unified team but instead it has been divided recently. But this morning, no, this morning was different.

This morning all the Cantonments Senior Football players circled out in the middle of the pitch. It was unusually dark and cloudy this morning with spitting rain. They lifted their voices, clapped their hands and stomped their feet. The unity of their voices echoed throughout the park as they gave thanks to the only one constant in their lives.

They knew that today the cuts for the team were going to be announced and some of those who they had been with for a long time would no longer be a part of the club. This is the first year that Cantonments is cutting such a large number in order to create a more successful team.

So for one last time, they stood united. I watched with the other volunteers; all of us in awe goosebumps covering our bodies. Cantonments is more than a football club; it is a family. They have given each other food to eat, a place to live, clothes to wear, and love when they couldn't find it other places.

It may sound ridiculous to those of you reading this, and a little over dramatic too. But when you have virtually nothing, and you risk losing one of the last things you have...it is more than just making it onto a sports team.

I love this country, I love being here, I bought my first Ghanaian sweat hanky today!