as i sit here at the CBW internet cafe on camp, i've come to realize that i genuinely smell today. its mildly embarassing. less so because it prooves that ive had a big couple of days. i'll try and describe the smell right now... then i'll explain why. id have to say its a combo of baby pee, garbage, sewage, sweat, chalk and general camp dirt. its probably lucky that i have no computers on either side of me, people might not appriciate me much right now. i'm going to go home andtake the bucket shower right after i finish this, i promise.
i'd have to say the stench started early saturday morning (6am!!) on the CBW bike trip (yes, i biked) out behind camp through hilly farm lands on bikes with no breaks and a seat that didnt stay on. this trip started with a two hour leg out to this little village where we got palm wine. its wine that is tapped like maple syrup from a palm tree and is distilled until its got all boozey and stuff. the CBW staff loaded us up with that at about 1030 am and then sent us on our way home. i kept having visions of a repeat of last summer where i went home with a third degree burn on my foot, buti think i handled the path quite beautifully and came home all in one piece.
on monday, after a jam-packed weekend in cape coast again, four of us came down with different renditions of food poisoning. it was glorious. i think i was lucky in what i caught, because i just slept all day and dealt with a stellar fever and an achy body. i was convinced most of the day i had malaria, but managed to recover by tuesday thankfully. the others had variations of 'the scurge' (explosions on both ends... sorry thats so graphic) and my fever which really sucks when you're working with a shared bucket toilet. we're surviving though, and should probably live to see another day. i have never appriciated tylenol and pepto bismol more though. i have also never hated the barack obama song more (its a song made by somebody in west africa and plays on repeat here).
i'm going to skip over tuesday so that i dont start rambling too long. it poured rain yesterday morning which is the universal sign not to work (unless youre a teacher because then you still have to at least show up, even if you only have 3 students). because i had no kids, we pretty much just let them read while bobby and i talked about a bunch of different things that are probably more interesting to me than you guys.
today is the day that really explains my stench... this morningwe got up at 6 (well, it was supposed to be 6 but we were clearly running on african time this morning) to shovel shit. the path out to the CBW football field is essentially over a garbage dump so this morning we made a new one through bush that was taller than me. the first wave of people went through with machetes and chopped downthe big stuff. the next group, which i was apart of, was the raking group and went through pulling away the fallen weeds and then attacking the mountains of garbage underneath. among the treasures i found out there were a purse, an old syringe, a few things that were once t-shirts, and a million poo bags. there is this awful habit of putting poo in black pastic bags that do not decompose ever. they just make mountains. its so frustrating because there could be such an easy solution to this problem. just use newspaper, brown bag or ANYTHING that breaks down. the third group went through after us with shovels pulling out the roots of plants nd what not, and shovelling away the most stubborn garbage. after about an hour of this, the teachers left to go to school, smelling like garbage and totally exhausted. bocolo (the head of recreation at CBW) brought donughts for us halfway through the day which made it all the more worthwhile.
teaching itself has been pretty uneventful this week. monday i obviously didn't go and tuesday we didn't teach. today i spent math class teaching kids how to tell time on a clock. it was apparently the most boring lesson ever, so we ended up just making a human clock which worked suprisingly well. it was hilarious too.
after school i got home and had one of my most intense afternoons yet. i met this guy on camp through a friend who is my age and who a friend of mine was sponsoring through computer school. he's always been really friendly with the volunteers and had been after me to go on a walk around camp with him for awhile now... i was just always busy with other things and never got around to it. today, i found myself iwht a spare hour and finally took him up on it. i find that i have a hard time reading people here, and figuring out who is genuinely wanting to be your friend and who just wants money. i try to give everybody a fair chance, but more often than not things don't pan out. this guy generally talks our ears off about his plans for moving back to liberia and his dreams of starting some kind of agricultural business or gold mine. he's got a really good head on his shoulders and really understands what is gonig on in liberia, but we've all been hesitant to give him money because we know he's already being generously sponsored.
anyway, our talk today started out with him telling me more about his dreams for liberia. his ideas of creating a society that is peaceful, autonomous and self-sustaining are really intresting, especially beacuse he was one of the few people that made me feel like what i was studying in school was moderately relevant to the real world. normally, i feel like i'm wasting a good chunk of my time in those desks. the talk got more mind blowing though when he started talking about his experience in liberia. i don't want to go to far into the details because it is his very personal story that is kept relatively secret on camp. boiled down though, he basically told me about his experiences as a child soldier under Taylor. his story, compared to others i've heard through people, was relatively lucky. him and his brother (15 and 17 at the time) managed to escape onto a boat travelling to takoradi, ghana months after being captured. what shook me was that he was born 2 months after me. while i was probably inside in january, 2003 complaining about not wanting to go skiing, he was watching his parents be chopped apart in frontof him because they didnt have enough minerals to pay off the rebels (mineral accumulation was a huge component to the taylor regime). while i was at school complaining mme. sandor's lessons on civics and careers, he was running for his life while his friends dropped dead on either side. hows that for a lesson in perspective? minutes after this talk, we entered the director of his school's house and sat down to watch a really weird indian movie on the guys DSTV while eating cookies and drinking pop. my friend hardly seemed phased by it all, while i sat there slightly bewildered.
i got further put in my place on a trip with a sierra leonean refuge out to his sister's orphanage. his sister lives in a small home, no bigger than my dining room andkitchen combined, with about 30 kids of all ages. she lives there full time, and works with the help of an 8-month pregnant woman, the guy fro sierra leone (who i constantly see wandering camp so i dont think he's here that much), one other guy, and sporadic volunteers. she said at one point this afternoon that "you probably wouldn't believe me if i told you i only ever sleep two hours a night". she was right. i didn't. somehow, she was still not only functioning but smiling at the kids. i couldn't help but think of my reaction to somebody asking me to do something remotely strenuous after only having had 2 hours of sleep. i'm going to try and spend free time out there.. its a 24 hour job for her and she said that any free time we had she'd totally appriciate. despite the pee and poo, they're really cute. one 3 year old boy named lucky boy (the second kid named lucky boy that i've met here) spent a third of his time beating the crap out of me, another third wailing with his head tipped way back (then opening his eyes to make sure we were still looking) and the final third, doing this hilarious but dance where he looked like he was an 80 year old man in a walker dancing to nigerian hip hop. he was priceless.
anyway. that brings me to now, and my current smell. its been a pretty incredible day (topped off with speedy internet) and i am now in desperate need of a shower.
"had it been another day, i might have looked the other way, and i´d have never been aware..."
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
happy war refugee day!
holidays are not nearly as big a deal here as they are at home. this is the second day now that i've showed up to school only to find out that it is a holiday and there are apparently no classes. both times, the registrar of the school finds this out only minutes before i do and makes the executive decision to send everybody home. not that i'm complaining- its always a good suprise.
to celebrate, i decided to come into accra to use the highspeed internet and get course stuff sorted out. sadly, ive had absolutely no luck accessing the courses for this fall, and have spent most of my time creeping around on facebook and sending emails. the airconditioning and flush toilets are nice though... on a day where it feels like its a billion degrees out, this isnt too bad of a spot to be.
i just finished a really good week at school (even if it was a short one). we did a couple different teaching strategies this week to see if the kids would get more into the projects. the biggest hit was our trip to the CBW library, where they each got to pick out a book for the next week that they'd do a project on. they really never do stuff like this because they don't have textbooks and like i said, the major teaching strategy is drills and repetition. they were all super excited to get a book to read, and after they'd found one, they sat down in litte groups and read with each other. i've never seen them so quiet and focused. kind of cute...
the rest of the week i would assign different projects for their books (write the title, author, main characters and describe them etc). up until today, by recess the kids are normally so antsy and insane that i just let them go. this time, they worked PAST the recess bell. two of my boys asked if they could stay in and work and read some more. after recess, they kept asking to keep reading instead of doing environmental studies (normally a big hit). it was the greatest- i'm hoping that they don't loose interest in this project before the week with the books are up and that i dont run out of activities to do wth the books. its kind of mindblowing that nobody has done this with them before.. when i wrote a list of things i wanted them to find for me on the board, they all asked what title and character meant. Like everything here, its hard to know what is normal for grade 3s and what isn’t... i don’t know if its even fair to say that an idea of normal for them can even exist because they all come from such different backgrounds and have such different coping mechanisms, strengths and weaknesses
this week we also did a bit more work with their free writing (another thing they never do which completely blows me away). I have them do biography type projects, mainly for my own interest because it’s a cool way to get to know them a little bit. I’ve found that most of these guys are between 10-12 years old, meaning that if they were born in Liberia, they left the country when they were really young and don’t remember much of it at all. A couple of them were born in cote d’ivoire, missing Liberia all together (it was a transition country for a lot of people here). They will none the less go back to Liberia soon as Liberian citizens. I’ve got one kid leaving in the next few days.. hard to know when though because the UNHCR keeps making the process go faster and faster. They all say they’re pretty excited, but it still gives me such an uneasy feeling. As far as trauma type events go for these kids, I think luckily, they’re too young to remember the most awful stuff. We were watching the Patriot the other night with some kids peering through the window, and that got all this on my mind. Some of my neighbours who I’ve become pretty close with (a couple 14 – 16 year old boys) I think have seen a lot more than they let on…
I think my kids have to deal mostly with the repercussions of war and the family divides it has created. Its really common to hear about families where one parent is here, and the other is in either Liberia - because they didn’t make it out initially, or have already repatriated – or somewhere in the West. I guess because seeking refuge status is so hard, people just take what they can get. One of my girls is being raised by her siblings while her parents work in the US, sending remittances through Western Union and what not. Another guy, who works with CBW, hasn’t seen his wife in years because she managed to get refugee status in Australia. All of this obviously isn’t nearly as traumatizing as war, but I think it, and the effects it has on kids, flies under the radar at times.
Anyway. I should try to accomplish at least something productive today, so I’m going to work on uploading pictures.
On another note – I’m looking at doing this school funding thing soon. I’ve been talking with CBW (the $10 program) and I don’t know that its worth giving them money right now. It’s a wicked cause, its just that theyre winding down right now and preparing to move to Liberia and wont have a school there yet for at least a year. I’m now pushing the Hope Foundation.. it’s the one that sends people to computer college and other advanced programs fo $50- really beneficial for the people who get into it… It sets them up with a lot of job opportunities that pay pretty well back in Liberia. If people are interested, let me know maybe within the next few days so that I can start giving numbers to William, the guy who leads Hope. I’m sorry to people who have emailed me and I haven’t emailed back… internet time just seems to go by really quickly and by the time my hour is up, I always have so much more to do.
to celebrate, i decided to come into accra to use the highspeed internet and get course stuff sorted out. sadly, ive had absolutely no luck accessing the courses for this fall, and have spent most of my time creeping around on facebook and sending emails. the airconditioning and flush toilets are nice though... on a day where it feels like its a billion degrees out, this isnt too bad of a spot to be.
i just finished a really good week at school (even if it was a short one). we did a couple different teaching strategies this week to see if the kids would get more into the projects. the biggest hit was our trip to the CBW library, where they each got to pick out a book for the next week that they'd do a project on. they really never do stuff like this because they don't have textbooks and like i said, the major teaching strategy is drills and repetition. they were all super excited to get a book to read, and after they'd found one, they sat down in litte groups and read with each other. i've never seen them so quiet and focused. kind of cute...
the rest of the week i would assign different projects for their books (write the title, author, main characters and describe them etc). up until today, by recess the kids are normally so antsy and insane that i just let them go. this time, they worked PAST the recess bell. two of my boys asked if they could stay in and work and read some more. after recess, they kept asking to keep reading instead of doing environmental studies (normally a big hit). it was the greatest- i'm hoping that they don't loose interest in this project before the week with the books are up and that i dont run out of activities to do wth the books. its kind of mindblowing that nobody has done this with them before.. when i wrote a list of things i wanted them to find for me on the board, they all asked what title and character meant. Like everything here, its hard to know what is normal for grade 3s and what isn’t... i don’t know if its even fair to say that an idea of normal for them can even exist because they all come from such different backgrounds and have such different coping mechanisms, strengths and weaknesses
this week we also did a bit more work with their free writing (another thing they never do which completely blows me away). I have them do biography type projects, mainly for my own interest because it’s a cool way to get to know them a little bit. I’ve found that most of these guys are between 10-12 years old, meaning that if they were born in Liberia, they left the country when they were really young and don’t remember much of it at all. A couple of them were born in cote d’ivoire, missing Liberia all together (it was a transition country for a lot of people here). They will none the less go back to Liberia soon as Liberian citizens. I’ve got one kid leaving in the next few days.. hard to know when though because the UNHCR keeps making the process go faster and faster. They all say they’re pretty excited, but it still gives me such an uneasy feeling. As far as trauma type events go for these kids, I think luckily, they’re too young to remember the most awful stuff. We were watching the Patriot the other night with some kids peering through the window, and that got all this on my mind. Some of my neighbours who I’ve become pretty close with (a couple 14 – 16 year old boys) I think have seen a lot more than they let on…
I think my kids have to deal mostly with the repercussions of war and the family divides it has created. Its really common to hear about families where one parent is here, and the other is in either Liberia - because they didn’t make it out initially, or have already repatriated – or somewhere in the West. I guess because seeking refuge status is so hard, people just take what they can get. One of my girls is being raised by her siblings while her parents work in the US, sending remittances through Western Union and what not. Another guy, who works with CBW, hasn’t seen his wife in years because she managed to get refugee status in Australia. All of this obviously isn’t nearly as traumatizing as war, but I think it, and the effects it has on kids, flies under the radar at times.
Anyway. I should try to accomplish at least something productive today, so I’m going to work on uploading pictures.
On another note – I’m looking at doing this school funding thing soon. I’ve been talking with CBW (the $10 program) and I don’t know that its worth giving them money right now. It’s a wicked cause, its just that theyre winding down right now and preparing to move to Liberia and wont have a school there yet for at least a year. I’m now pushing the Hope Foundation.. it’s the one that sends people to computer college and other advanced programs fo $50- really beneficial for the people who get into it… It sets them up with a lot of job opportunities that pay pretty well back in Liberia. If people are interested, let me know maybe within the next few days so that I can start giving numbers to William, the guy who leads Hope. I’m sorry to people who have emailed me and I haven’t emailed back… internet time just seems to go by really quickly and by the time my hour is up, I always have so much more to do.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
to go or not to go to togo (whitty. i know)
well, we decided to go to togo (tiny country east of ghana - deal with the brackets all you whiners)... it was an adventure, to say the least.
we ended up making a 4 day weekend out of the trip, just because it is kind of far and there was a lot of the country we wanted to explore. we left early friday morning (with a very hungover becky, who made the trip a lot funnier). we had to get visas sorted out in accra because, for whatever reason, i thought a single entry visa was smarter to buy than a multiple entry one. i was wrong. we spent the day getting our visas changed (pure luck that they were willing to do this for us, normally its a 2 week bureacracy-packed process). it took most of the day and ran very much on 'african time' where they'd say come back at 1230 to pick it up, but then make us wait and watch hilarious nigerian soap operas until 3pm. its times like that when you catch yourself thinking how nice it would be to be back in the west where things run on actual time. just as i was thinking that though, i remembered that if i was in canada, the immigration officers would have told me from the begining to go home and do it the regular 2-week way because they dont make exceptions for tourists who decided they wanted to go to another country for the weekend just cause. we got it though, and left for togo a bit behind schedule. i did get to ride in the front of the tro tro though which was thrilling.
we had to cross the border into togo at night which was kind of nerve racking.. everybody around was pretty sketchy and was trying to rob us by pretending to know where bathrooms were.. luckily, our tro tro driver had his friend walk with us so we were okay and crossed eventually. sadly, the good reputation i thought canadians had internationally came to an abrupt end. when paying for my visa to enter ghana, i was charged double what the australians were and also more than the american. apparently, we have really high rates for visas and so other countries retaliate by charging canadians just as much. touche.
the hotel that we stayed at in lomé (the capital) was pretty nice, but unfortunately was full of white men coming to togo for sex. charming hobby that togo is apparently known for.. prostitutes come from ghana and nigeria to work in togo, probably at this hotel. we spent a good chunk of our first night watching old ugly white men drink and then spend time with stunning togolese women and thene eventually, start looking really excited and proud then go upstairs with them as their new pervy buddies cheered. absolutely disgusting and something i just cant understand.
we spent 2 days in lomé going around and seeing the sites... it used to be the paris of west africa (former french colony) and so i got to practice my french and eat lots of baguettes mixed with lebanese food... we went to a market full of animal guts and giant fish, walked along a gorgeous beach and got absolutely pummeled by rain at one point. the real kicker of the lomé visit was when i was changing money and had the money changer make off with $20. he and his little buddies managed to distract me and pull this huge swipe on me and two of my friends, making off with almost $100 total. the twerp. its hard to describe how sneaky this guy was without doing a dramatic reenactment.. but he was good.. i was kind of impressed a couple hours after i was done being mad.
after our stint in lomé, we went to togoville.. a village just east of lomé and a major voodoo centre. after a few more glitches caused by the libyan president's visit to the country and taxi drivers who dont know where theyre going. in togoville we did this tour of the major voodoo parts of the city and also hit up a spot where in the 1940s, there was a report of the virgin appearing over the lake. it warranted a visit from the pope and everything... got to see the pope boat that he took out there and everything. pretty interesting, but a little bit hilarious. as much as i love seeing things like this across west africa, you cant help but leave feeling like you've been conned. i might have mentioned this in my last post about the stilt village and how it felt like it was one big show for the dumb white tourists. ahhh well. all part of the experiene or something like that.
on monday we came back to ghana to get back to work and everything. itwas a really long trip home with massive pot holes, police checks that made us get out of the car and a lot of swerving. we stopped at the mall in accra around dinner time to get some pizza and other supplies from the grocery store than finally went back to camp. just as i thought my adventure was over, i realised i'd pulled a where's waldo move by leaving my wallet in the taxi. whoooops. luckily, it had no money in it and all that was there is stuff i can replace. still felt like a massive idiot though. i think i managed to get all of the dumb tourist mistakes overwith in one weekend.. knock on wood.
as for this week.. i havent got a lot planned. i came back after 2 days off to a class that was actually happy to see me which was kind of fun. it was also really cold today, to the poin that camp looked somewhat hilarious all bundled up for +15 weather.. one kid came to class with a full blown winter jacket on. i think it also made them slightly more relaxed and willing to make division flashcards and write stories. it was a nice change from last thursday when all the local teachers had to go to a meeting with the UNHCR (who is guaranteeing teachers jobs when they return to liberia because there is such a shortage). it meant that school was run all by international volunteers who have absolutely no authority at school. i think i broke up 10 fights between kids.. at one point i turned around to see one of my boys on top of his desk ready to pounce on two other kids where were throwing fists at him. its a lucky thing that in grade 3 they're not very big and i can still pick them up and plop them in desks on the other side of the room. its only ever a short term fix though because in 5 minutes they've moved again. sadly, i think the only way i can get the kids to behave is if i have bobby (my liberian teacher) in the room with me. i've come to terms with it haah.
whaaat else has happened since last week..... oh. on tuesday night i went to ahve dinner at my afrian mother's house. this woman, christine, had apparently adopted me as her daughter while i'm here and insited on me and a friend coming to her house for dinner with 2 teachers (one of whom is her buduburam son.. she's got a lot of adopted kids). anyway. she made us one of the major traditional liberian foods.. fufu and soup. fufu is maize (corn) that is pounded into a powder and then mixed with water and cooked into a doughy ball type thing. the soup is made with fish and really hot peppers (dont know if i mentioned that.. its incredible though!). i'm hopingthat soon she'll have me over to learn how to make it, or at least try other food.
alright. theres more to type but i just noticed how long this was getting. i hope everything is going well at home... i miss it all a lot, but have decided that i'm never coming back - even with all the shit that happened this weekend, i wouldnt want to be anywhere else!
we ended up making a 4 day weekend out of the trip, just because it is kind of far and there was a lot of the country we wanted to explore. we left early friday morning (with a very hungover becky, who made the trip a lot funnier). we had to get visas sorted out in accra because, for whatever reason, i thought a single entry visa was smarter to buy than a multiple entry one. i was wrong. we spent the day getting our visas changed (pure luck that they were willing to do this for us, normally its a 2 week bureacracy-packed process). it took most of the day and ran very much on 'african time' where they'd say come back at 1230 to pick it up, but then make us wait and watch hilarious nigerian soap operas until 3pm. its times like that when you catch yourself thinking how nice it would be to be back in the west where things run on actual time. just as i was thinking that though, i remembered that if i was in canada, the immigration officers would have told me from the begining to go home and do it the regular 2-week way because they dont make exceptions for tourists who decided they wanted to go to another country for the weekend just cause. we got it though, and left for togo a bit behind schedule. i did get to ride in the front of the tro tro though which was thrilling.
we had to cross the border into togo at night which was kind of nerve racking.. everybody around was pretty sketchy and was trying to rob us by pretending to know where bathrooms were.. luckily, our tro tro driver had his friend walk with us so we were okay and crossed eventually. sadly, the good reputation i thought canadians had internationally came to an abrupt end. when paying for my visa to enter ghana, i was charged double what the australians were and also more than the american. apparently, we have really high rates for visas and so other countries retaliate by charging canadians just as much. touche.
the hotel that we stayed at in lomé (the capital) was pretty nice, but unfortunately was full of white men coming to togo for sex. charming hobby that togo is apparently known for.. prostitutes come from ghana and nigeria to work in togo, probably at this hotel. we spent a good chunk of our first night watching old ugly white men drink and then spend time with stunning togolese women and thene eventually, start looking really excited and proud then go upstairs with them as their new pervy buddies cheered. absolutely disgusting and something i just cant understand.
we spent 2 days in lomé going around and seeing the sites... it used to be the paris of west africa (former french colony) and so i got to practice my french and eat lots of baguettes mixed with lebanese food... we went to a market full of animal guts and giant fish, walked along a gorgeous beach and got absolutely pummeled by rain at one point. the real kicker of the lomé visit was when i was changing money and had the money changer make off with $20. he and his little buddies managed to distract me and pull this huge swipe on me and two of my friends, making off with almost $100 total. the twerp. its hard to describe how sneaky this guy was without doing a dramatic reenactment.. but he was good.. i was kind of impressed a couple hours after i was done being mad.
after our stint in lomé, we went to togoville.. a village just east of lomé and a major voodoo centre. after a few more glitches caused by the libyan president's visit to the country and taxi drivers who dont know where theyre going. in togoville we did this tour of the major voodoo parts of the city and also hit up a spot where in the 1940s, there was a report of the virgin appearing over the lake. it warranted a visit from the pope and everything... got to see the pope boat that he took out there and everything. pretty interesting, but a little bit hilarious. as much as i love seeing things like this across west africa, you cant help but leave feeling like you've been conned. i might have mentioned this in my last post about the stilt village and how it felt like it was one big show for the dumb white tourists. ahhh well. all part of the experiene or something like that.
on monday we came back to ghana to get back to work and everything. itwas a really long trip home with massive pot holes, police checks that made us get out of the car and a lot of swerving. we stopped at the mall in accra around dinner time to get some pizza and other supplies from the grocery store than finally went back to camp. just as i thought my adventure was over, i realised i'd pulled a where's waldo move by leaving my wallet in the taxi. whoooops. luckily, it had no money in it and all that was there is stuff i can replace. still felt like a massive idiot though. i think i managed to get all of the dumb tourist mistakes overwith in one weekend.. knock on wood.
as for this week.. i havent got a lot planned. i came back after 2 days off to a class that was actually happy to see me which was kind of fun. it was also really cold today, to the poin that camp looked somewhat hilarious all bundled up for +15 weather.. one kid came to class with a full blown winter jacket on. i think it also made them slightly more relaxed and willing to make division flashcards and write stories. it was a nice change from last thursday when all the local teachers had to go to a meeting with the UNHCR (who is guaranteeing teachers jobs when they return to liberia because there is such a shortage). it meant that school was run all by international volunteers who have absolutely no authority at school. i think i broke up 10 fights between kids.. at one point i turned around to see one of my boys on top of his desk ready to pounce on two other kids where were throwing fists at him. its a lucky thing that in grade 3 they're not very big and i can still pick them up and plop them in desks on the other side of the room. its only ever a short term fix though because in 5 minutes they've moved again. sadly, i think the only way i can get the kids to behave is if i have bobby (my liberian teacher) in the room with me. i've come to terms with it haah.
whaaat else has happened since last week..... oh. on tuesday night i went to ahve dinner at my afrian mother's house. this woman, christine, had apparently adopted me as her daughter while i'm here and insited on me and a friend coming to her house for dinner with 2 teachers (one of whom is her buduburam son.. she's got a lot of adopted kids). anyway. she made us one of the major traditional liberian foods.. fufu and soup. fufu is maize (corn) that is pounded into a powder and then mixed with water and cooked into a doughy ball type thing. the soup is made with fish and really hot peppers (dont know if i mentioned that.. its incredible though!). i'm hopingthat soon she'll have me over to learn how to make it, or at least try other food.
alright. theres more to type but i just noticed how long this was getting. i hope everything is going well at home... i miss it all a lot, but have decided that i'm never coming back - even with all the shit that happened this weekend, i wouldnt want to be anywhere else!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
just about one month in little liberia
one month today i was about to leave for amsterdam! i just realized i've been away for almost a month now (i'll have been in ghana for four weeks this thursday) and i had to do a serious double take to make sure my math wasnt off. i cant get over how fast it is going by now. all of a sudden, i'm not convinced 3 months is long enough... suppose its a good thing i have school in september to drag me back.
this weekend we visisted what might be best described as a ghanaian paradise... its this little coastal village right on the border with cote d'ivoire called axim (az-im). we stayed at this resort where every group gets their own bungalo right on the beach. innnnnncredible. it made the tro-tro ride out here completely worth while. one thing that is endessly entertaining in ghana are tro rides. this particular weekend of rides is one for the record books. on our way out, we pulled over in a little village (you just flag down trotros and they pull over if they have room then you jump off when youre where you want to get off) and this woman jumped on, bringing her two goats along. obvoiusly, goats couldnt come up in the front of the tro (one of the few rules attached to riding trotros) and so they went in the "trunk". the trunk is just a small gap at the back of the bus that is maybe 6inches wide. the goats got slipped under the seat (my seat) and just made this hilarious baaahing noise for the first little bit. i nearly died laughing because this noise is just so ridiculous. they stuck around for maybe an hour, and got more comfortable (and ballsy) as the ride went along. part way through, i felt this warm licking on my feet and looked down to see one of the goats kissing me. i put my feet up on my chair, which only prompted the goat to come right out from the trunk and literally sit at my feet. JP (a guy i was traveling with) wasnt lucky enough to have room to pick up his feet, and got licked for the rest of the hour. in total, we ended up sitting on tro tros for 6 hours. it was long but... what can you do really.
on saturday, we took a day trip to a village built entirely on stilts. it can only be reached by a one hour canoe ride (it poured rain for the greater part of that hour) and has apparently existed since the 14th century. that information though is questionable... the 'chief's assistant' who we were supposed to ask questions to kept giving us one word answers but the translator would ramble on for like 10 minutes. the people that lived in the village also seemed less than impressed to see us.. i think they get a lot of westerners travelling through to see where they live and yeah, just are kind of fed up with us all. i would have felt pretty bad about going and gawking at this village, except that our tourism is pretty much the villages only source of income. despite being built on water, they are not a fishing community. they do some agriculture but even that is only minimal. they dont recieve any money from the ghanaian government because they're not recognized as a village, beacuse they're not settled on land at all. i also felt less bad about this trip because the kids at camp do the very same thing to us every day (and certainly dont pay us haha). after a month here, i feel a lot like i'm an animal in a zoo. feeding time at hte zoo is particularly exciting and normally attracts a crowd of like 5 or so kids. afternoons the crowds reach at least 10, with them all sticking their faces throug the screen saying "wa wo ma (white woman), please give me sheet (which sounds more like shit than sheet)" its really cute and fun most of the time, because there is an endless number of kids to play with but sometimes after a long day "wa wo ma" just makes me cringe inside. anyway. back to the weekend... the rest of it was mostly just relaxing on the beach and what not. these weekends away where there is actually quiet have become an incredible way to unwind and keep energy up for the week to come.
havent got much planned for camp this week. the kids just finished writing part of their midterms on friday so i spent most of yesterday marking and what not (thrilling. i know.) i also finally got a reading comprehension exercise ready (took forever.. i had no idea reading kids books and making up questions would be such a project) which we started today. it went suprisingly well (i wasnt very optomistic going into it). all 15 kids (biggest number of students yet!) managed to stay quiet and do their work for almost an enitre hour.. with these guys, thats a massive accomplishment. it seems too (not to jinks it) that they had fun doing it... most of them did pretty well with reading and writing (although a couple are really struggling still and i have to spend hte entire hour working with them), with some even finishing their questions.
one of my favourite things to do with the kids right now is to do 'free write' type period where they do stories or whatever and hand them in. its a really cool way of getting to know the kids a bit better, and to start to wrap my head around what they're living with. the other day, i got them to write a short story about anything they wanted... a few have kept writing memorized stories (some teachr really drilled in a story aobut a chicken and an egg...) but others went more on their own. i ended up getting stories about parents dying (not necessarily theirs, and not necessarily true but words none the less) or a lot about being hungry. none of them personally said 'i am hungry' or wahtever, but just that kids choose to write about characters are hungry, rather than bunny rabbits and kittens (which was stupidly was i was half expecting) is really interesting, and hard. i've also had them write down the names, ages and locations of people in their family.. one girl wrote down that her two younger siblings live in liberia, that her parents live in the US and that she's currently being raised by her older (she didn't know how old though) brother and sister... ive always known stories like this are very much realities for the kids i work with, but they all seem so normal (despite being hungry and tired.. which they realy keep in check despite it all) and yeah, its a huge wake up call when it comes crashing back that they've got lives i cant even comprehend.
on that happy note... i'm going to attempt to post this. i'm hoping that on thursday i can spend some time in accra at the super fast internet, and maybe post some pictures! if not, i'm off to TOGOOOOO this weekend so i'll post more after that!
this weekend we visisted what might be best described as a ghanaian paradise... its this little coastal village right on the border with cote d'ivoire called axim (az-im). we stayed at this resort where every group gets their own bungalo right on the beach. innnnnncredible. it made the tro-tro ride out here completely worth while. one thing that is endessly entertaining in ghana are tro rides. this particular weekend of rides is one for the record books. on our way out, we pulled over in a little village (you just flag down trotros and they pull over if they have room then you jump off when youre where you want to get off) and this woman jumped on, bringing her two goats along. obvoiusly, goats couldnt come up in the front of the tro (one of the few rules attached to riding trotros) and so they went in the "trunk". the trunk is just a small gap at the back of the bus that is maybe 6inches wide. the goats got slipped under the seat (my seat) and just made this hilarious baaahing noise for the first little bit. i nearly died laughing because this noise is just so ridiculous. they stuck around for maybe an hour, and got more comfortable (and ballsy) as the ride went along. part way through, i felt this warm licking on my feet and looked down to see one of the goats kissing me. i put my feet up on my chair, which only prompted the goat to come right out from the trunk and literally sit at my feet. JP (a guy i was traveling with) wasnt lucky enough to have room to pick up his feet, and got licked for the rest of the hour. in total, we ended up sitting on tro tros for 6 hours. it was long but... what can you do really.
on saturday, we took a day trip to a village built entirely on stilts. it can only be reached by a one hour canoe ride (it poured rain for the greater part of that hour) and has apparently existed since the 14th century. that information though is questionable... the 'chief's assistant' who we were supposed to ask questions to kept giving us one word answers but the translator would ramble on for like 10 minutes. the people that lived in the village also seemed less than impressed to see us.. i think they get a lot of westerners travelling through to see where they live and yeah, just are kind of fed up with us all. i would have felt pretty bad about going and gawking at this village, except that our tourism is pretty much the villages only source of income. despite being built on water, they are not a fishing community. they do some agriculture but even that is only minimal. they dont recieve any money from the ghanaian government because they're not recognized as a village, beacuse they're not settled on land at all. i also felt less bad about this trip because the kids at camp do the very same thing to us every day (and certainly dont pay us haha). after a month here, i feel a lot like i'm an animal in a zoo. feeding time at hte zoo is particularly exciting and normally attracts a crowd of like 5 or so kids. afternoons the crowds reach at least 10, with them all sticking their faces throug the screen saying "wa wo ma (white woman), please give me sheet (which sounds more like shit than sheet)" its really cute and fun most of the time, because there is an endless number of kids to play with but sometimes after a long day "wa wo ma" just makes me cringe inside. anyway. back to the weekend... the rest of it was mostly just relaxing on the beach and what not. these weekends away where there is actually quiet have become an incredible way to unwind and keep energy up for the week to come.
havent got much planned for camp this week. the kids just finished writing part of their midterms on friday so i spent most of yesterday marking and what not (thrilling. i know.) i also finally got a reading comprehension exercise ready (took forever.. i had no idea reading kids books and making up questions would be such a project) which we started today. it went suprisingly well (i wasnt very optomistic going into it). all 15 kids (biggest number of students yet!) managed to stay quiet and do their work for almost an enitre hour.. with these guys, thats a massive accomplishment. it seems too (not to jinks it) that they had fun doing it... most of them did pretty well with reading and writing (although a couple are really struggling still and i have to spend hte entire hour working with them), with some even finishing their questions.
one of my favourite things to do with the kids right now is to do 'free write' type period where they do stories or whatever and hand them in. its a really cool way of getting to know the kids a bit better, and to start to wrap my head around what they're living with. the other day, i got them to write a short story about anything they wanted... a few have kept writing memorized stories (some teachr really drilled in a story aobut a chicken and an egg...) but others went more on their own. i ended up getting stories about parents dying (not necessarily theirs, and not necessarily true but words none the less) or a lot about being hungry. none of them personally said 'i am hungry' or wahtever, but just that kids choose to write about characters are hungry, rather than bunny rabbits and kittens (which was stupidly was i was half expecting) is really interesting, and hard. i've also had them write down the names, ages and locations of people in their family.. one girl wrote down that her two younger siblings live in liberia, that her parents live in the US and that she's currently being raised by her older (she didn't know how old though) brother and sister... ive always known stories like this are very much realities for the kids i work with, but they all seem so normal (despite being hungry and tired.. which they realy keep in check despite it all) and yeah, its a huge wake up call when it comes crashing back that they've got lives i cant even comprehend.
on that happy note... i'm going to attempt to post this. i'm hoping that on thursday i can spend some time in accra at the super fast internet, and maybe post some pictures! if not, i'm off to TOGOOOOO this weekend so i'll post more after that!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
i'm finally on top of blogging. it might be short lived though...
i'm writing this post from accra on the fastest internet ever (seirously. it beats out the internet i have in kingston... that might not be saying much though).
we came into town today to get a few things done and to say goodbye to the last of the may volunteers. it always blows my mind how close you get with people here even after only two weeks. its very similar to what goes on at camp i guess.
the past few days have actually been really exciting. a couple days ago i was getting taken to this girls house (a lot of kids show up at our window asking to take us to their homes to meet their families (one had me hold her baby)... i imagine this is what angelina, paris and the queen feel like.. sort of.. in a weird way..) anyway. off topic. i got taken to this girl's house and met her family and there were all these women around who she said were 'workers'. confused, i asked what kidn of work they did and they said social and activist work. automatically i was kind of excited about this, so i started asking more questions, focusing on whether or not they were involved in the strikes that happened about a month and a half ago. turns out, they're the masterminds behind them. how insane is that?!
i'm not sure if ive mentioned these strikes at all before, so i'll give a quick overview just incase. basically, the UNHCR has really been screwing up the repatriation process to liberia. a few months ago, they were really pushing local integration into ghana, but only for a very select few liberians who held very specific skills. they wanted to see the educated and professionally trained people integrate into ghanaian society which is obviously not a majority in camp. the alternative for most was to take a $5 repatiration package to start a new life in liberia. its important to remember here that $5 goes next to no where. most people are going back to a country that they left in the middle of a war roughly 10 years ago. its hardly the same place, and only the select few are returning home to a property and family. $5 for a family is completely unreasonable. it wouldn't buy a bag of rice or much food at all (a meal costs maybe 50 cents, but still. they're rebuilding lives, not going away for weekend trips). water here (a 500ml bag) costs about 5 cents. again, not expensive.. but really, $5? most people i've talked to have predicted repatriation would cost about $300 (between buying land, food, training, etc.). anyway. fed up with what i'd call abuses by an organization they feel used their cause to get money but failed to send any of the money back to the people that need it, a group of women organized. it started with maybe 30 women, and grew across camp to involve about 2000 at its peak.
the strikes started when frustration had really built up, in response to the package and the lack of alternatives and general information. these women organized themselves and led a peaceful protest at the front of camp, with more money being their main cause. while these strikes did launch them into some dialogue with the UNHCR (end result being a $100 package.. still not enough), the ghanaian government did a pretty quick job of shutting it down. they sent thier police in to arrest and deport a lot of women, sending a large group to isolated camps somewhere in ghana. they managed to create a huge climate of fear in the camp, and spark a massive resistance towards the ghanian government (and a subsequent push to repatriate to liberia). as it stands, the organization is in the process of rebuilding. the strikes frightened a lot of people and the meeting i went to had only 30 (firey) women at it (like i said, their numbers used to be in the thousands).
i walked back home with the two leaders of the organization, talking about where they want to go next. they're insanely cool women and really are what i had in mind when i came over here... ive been having a lot of fun with CBW but i do think there is a lot to be done in camp that i'm not getting the chance to do with CBW. i'm going to continue to meet with these women as they rebuild, and hopefully am going to be able to contribue to them buying a temporary office on camp. they need a mailing address and a spot for people to go if they want to have a bigger influence with the UNHCR and other organizations. right now they're in the process of proposing a new package to the UNHCR in geneva (they've had to go over the ghanaian office because they've been so unresponsive/unwilling to compromise). they've outlined the costs for a family of 3 to repatriate and estimate that it woudl cost aboout $1000. they dont expect to get this much, but hopefully it will be a basis for negotiation. anyway. the building would cost $200. i plan to get it some how, but if anybody is interested in their cause.. again, let me know. i almost see this as being more worthwhile than education right now, only because people are moving around so much that its hard to make sure that the money you donate will make ti back to liberia/that the people will be located anywhere near a credible school (not that its not a good cause if youre interested in that). same drill as the first one though.. send me an email.. obviously i/we would appriciate anything. i'll do my best to respond as quickly as possible.. i'm meeting them again monday (after i get back from visiting a stilt village!)
anyway. thats all for now. i'm going to try and get a bit of research done while ive got this speedy internet thrill. hope everybody survives what sounds like will be a really hot weekend in canada... i don't feel bad for you at all. we lost current (electricity) today and i think we pushed 40 degrees around lunch time. it was toasty.
we came into town today to get a few things done and to say goodbye to the last of the may volunteers. it always blows my mind how close you get with people here even after only two weeks. its very similar to what goes on at camp i guess.
the past few days have actually been really exciting. a couple days ago i was getting taken to this girls house (a lot of kids show up at our window asking to take us to their homes to meet their families (one had me hold her baby)... i imagine this is what angelina, paris and the queen feel like.. sort of.. in a weird way..) anyway. off topic. i got taken to this girl's house and met her family and there were all these women around who she said were 'workers'. confused, i asked what kidn of work they did and they said social and activist work. automatically i was kind of excited about this, so i started asking more questions, focusing on whether or not they were involved in the strikes that happened about a month and a half ago. turns out, they're the masterminds behind them. how insane is that?!
i'm not sure if ive mentioned these strikes at all before, so i'll give a quick overview just incase. basically, the UNHCR has really been screwing up the repatriation process to liberia. a few months ago, they were really pushing local integration into ghana, but only for a very select few liberians who held very specific skills. they wanted to see the educated and professionally trained people integrate into ghanaian society which is obviously not a majority in camp. the alternative for most was to take a $5 repatiration package to start a new life in liberia. its important to remember here that $5 goes next to no where. most people are going back to a country that they left in the middle of a war roughly 10 years ago. its hardly the same place, and only the select few are returning home to a property and family. $5 for a family is completely unreasonable. it wouldn't buy a bag of rice or much food at all (a meal costs maybe 50 cents, but still. they're rebuilding lives, not going away for weekend trips). water here (a 500ml bag) costs about 5 cents. again, not expensive.. but really, $5? most people i've talked to have predicted repatriation would cost about $300 (between buying land, food, training, etc.). anyway. fed up with what i'd call abuses by an organization they feel used their cause to get money but failed to send any of the money back to the people that need it, a group of women organized. it started with maybe 30 women, and grew across camp to involve about 2000 at its peak.
the strikes started when frustration had really built up, in response to the package and the lack of alternatives and general information. these women organized themselves and led a peaceful protest at the front of camp, with more money being their main cause. while these strikes did launch them into some dialogue with the UNHCR (end result being a $100 package.. still not enough), the ghanaian government did a pretty quick job of shutting it down. they sent thier police in to arrest and deport a lot of women, sending a large group to isolated camps somewhere in ghana. they managed to create a huge climate of fear in the camp, and spark a massive resistance towards the ghanian government (and a subsequent push to repatriate to liberia). as it stands, the organization is in the process of rebuilding. the strikes frightened a lot of people and the meeting i went to had only 30 (firey) women at it (like i said, their numbers used to be in the thousands).
i walked back home with the two leaders of the organization, talking about where they want to go next. they're insanely cool women and really are what i had in mind when i came over here... ive been having a lot of fun with CBW but i do think there is a lot to be done in camp that i'm not getting the chance to do with CBW. i'm going to continue to meet with these women as they rebuild, and hopefully am going to be able to contribue to them buying a temporary office on camp. they need a mailing address and a spot for people to go if they want to have a bigger influence with the UNHCR and other organizations. right now they're in the process of proposing a new package to the UNHCR in geneva (they've had to go over the ghanaian office because they've been so unresponsive/unwilling to compromise). they've outlined the costs for a family of 3 to repatriate and estimate that it woudl cost aboout $1000. they dont expect to get this much, but hopefully it will be a basis for negotiation. anyway. the building would cost $200. i plan to get it some how, but if anybody is interested in their cause.. again, let me know. i almost see this as being more worthwhile than education right now, only because people are moving around so much that its hard to make sure that the money you donate will make ti back to liberia/that the people will be located anywhere near a credible school (not that its not a good cause if youre interested in that). same drill as the first one though.. send me an email.. obviously i/we would appriciate anything. i'll do my best to respond as quickly as possible.. i'm meeting them again monday (after i get back from visiting a stilt village!)
anyway. thats all for now. i'm going to try and get a bit of research done while ive got this speedy internet thrill. hope everybody survives what sounds like will be a really hot weekend in canada... i don't feel bad for you at all. we lost current (electricity) today and i think we pushed 40 degrees around lunch time. it was toasty.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
you have the same hair as jesus.
i know its been awhile since i last wrote... the internet actually isn't too bad here, i just never seem to feel like sitting down in the room for an hour or two (especially when its so hot in here). anyway, i'm here now!
last week was almost a full week of teaching. i got to school on monday morning though to be told that it was actually African Union day and that there was no school. It doesnt seem like its a very big holiday, because the teachers said they had no idea. funny start to the week at least - it was one of those 'yep, im definitely in africa' moments. i didnt end up doing a lot on monday... played with some kids and what not. pretty typical day
the rest of the school week was a lot better than the week before. i'm really starting to get along with the kids and know them personally, which makes teaching a lot easier. ive started to be able figure out what kids struggle where, and how to (sort of - this bracket is dedicated to eric by the way, he seems to really like my bracket-based style of writing). bobby (the teacher i'm working with) and i have started coming up with lesson plans that go a bit further than what they normally do. math continues to be pretty straight forward to teach, but figuring out how to teach reading without books is a bit of an issue. writing has also been kind of funny, because it seems that the kids have all memorized roughly the same 5 sentances that they all put down when i ask them to write something of their own (normally goes along the lines of 'i have a good family' or 'my mother like to cook'). its kind of a tough habit to break, but i'm hoping that eventually they'll run out of memorized stuff and will start to actually write. it would be cool to read on my part too... i have trouble believing that each kid has a 'good family' with a 'mother who like to cook' etc.
after school one day i also went into a refugee house for the first time. a teacher i work with who has been living here for 8 years was all over me to come see his house, and i finally got around to doing it. he lives just behind 'the mansion' - the house where the ghanian government representative to camp lives, which really is a mansion. his house, by contrast, was 2 rooms in a big block of similar rooms. everybody in this 'complex' i guess yo ucould call it had a door that led from the outside to a small front room (maybe 5 by 3 feet) where they had a kitchen and bathroom. behind that room was a door that led to the bedroom (maybe 10 by 6 feet). modest for sure, and it really puts even the house that i live in on camp (which feels cramped sometimes) into perspective.
on wednesday of this week i went into accra in hopes of finding a post office, because there are none on camp. a couple of us went to the mall (figured i couldnt go wrong there, especially beacuse its airconditioned). turns out, no luck there but the mall was an experience in and of itself. i hadn't seen that many white heads in awhile... even if i've only been here for just over 2 weeks now, you get used to no whites really quickly and we almost start to look kind of funny. the mall also had this place called 'chicken inn' and 'creamy inn' - this restaurant chain was the first place i ever ate in uganda so itwas kind of hilarious to stumble upon it here to. better yet, it was terrific tuesday (2 for 1)! my stomach is really confused with the constant changes from liberian to western food every few days. we did a quick spin around the mall on our way to the western grocery store (the only place that sells peanut butter - a staple for me). in it there was a huge nike store, a puma store and a really huge restaurant that actually looked really nice.
on thursday and friday night, we had the official and unofficial goodbye ceremonies for two of the volunteers (colin and stu) who left this weekend. CBW played a football (soccer) game for them (i cant stress how important soccer is here - the man who ran against thecurrent liberian president is a huge international football star (george weah?)). we also had a little ceremony to say nice things about the both of them on another night. our unofficial ceremonies consisted of going into accra to this very western bar called champs where they do 'quiz night' on thursdays and kareoke on friday. just outside champs there is a woman (the egg lady) who sells possibly the best drunk food ever. she sells egg sandwhiches that are made up of an egg cooked with peppers, tomatoes, onions and spicy stuff (everything here is soo spicy) and then is put in fresh bread. half of the reason we go to champs so much is to see this lady at the end of the night.
finally, on saturday a couple of us went back up too kakum national park to do one of the coolest trips ever. this trip takes you on a hike through the rainforest to this natural 3-story high rock shrine (domoa or gomoa.. not sure). anyway, its just these massive boulders in the middle of nowhere, covered in all kinds of vines and stuff. after hearing about the significance of the shrine to the local people (its since been turned into an ecotourism project by USAID so it isnt worshipped as much) we got to climb it. the first story involved climbing up a vertical rock face with one vine. my upper body strength wasnt near ready for this so the guide had to help me up with a very... interesting... technique. he scampered (literally scampered all over the rock) down below me, stuck his head up my butt, then told me to walk. i nearly died laughing i think. he was completely serious though, and that is how i got up. the next two climbs were easier for me, because there were more vines to use with your legs. once you got up to the top there was a sweet view of the rainforest, and then we turned around and came down. the first one we climbed downbut then the second one we swung by a vine from! it was so cool, and very tarzan/george of the jungle like (although i wasn't nearly as graceful and got tangled in vines on the other side).
alright. to wrap things up i thought i'd post some of the best comments i've gotten so far since i've been here...
1. you have the same hair as jesus(got that at school this morning)
2. your short are kind of short (this was coming from the local prostitute... ouch. i had just woken up from a nap in my defense and wasnt planning on going outside in the)
3. you talk to you much and have annoying voices (old man on the tro tro - public transport system here)
thats it for now!
last week was almost a full week of teaching. i got to school on monday morning though to be told that it was actually African Union day and that there was no school. It doesnt seem like its a very big holiday, because the teachers said they had no idea. funny start to the week at least - it was one of those 'yep, im definitely in africa' moments. i didnt end up doing a lot on monday... played with some kids and what not. pretty typical day
the rest of the school week was a lot better than the week before. i'm really starting to get along with the kids and know them personally, which makes teaching a lot easier. ive started to be able figure out what kids struggle where, and how to (sort of - this bracket is dedicated to eric by the way, he seems to really like my bracket-based style of writing). bobby (the teacher i'm working with) and i have started coming up with lesson plans that go a bit further than what they normally do. math continues to be pretty straight forward to teach, but figuring out how to teach reading without books is a bit of an issue. writing has also been kind of funny, because it seems that the kids have all memorized roughly the same 5 sentances that they all put down when i ask them to write something of their own (normally goes along the lines of 'i have a good family' or 'my mother like to cook'). its kind of a tough habit to break, but i'm hoping that eventually they'll run out of memorized stuff and will start to actually write. it would be cool to read on my part too... i have trouble believing that each kid has a 'good family' with a 'mother who like to cook' etc.
after school one day i also went into a refugee house for the first time. a teacher i work with who has been living here for 8 years was all over me to come see his house, and i finally got around to doing it. he lives just behind 'the mansion' - the house where the ghanian government representative to camp lives, which really is a mansion. his house, by contrast, was 2 rooms in a big block of similar rooms. everybody in this 'complex' i guess yo ucould call it had a door that led from the outside to a small front room (maybe 5 by 3 feet) where they had a kitchen and bathroom. behind that room was a door that led to the bedroom (maybe 10 by 6 feet). modest for sure, and it really puts even the house that i live in on camp (which feels cramped sometimes) into perspective.
on wednesday of this week i went into accra in hopes of finding a post office, because there are none on camp. a couple of us went to the mall (figured i couldnt go wrong there, especially beacuse its airconditioned). turns out, no luck there but the mall was an experience in and of itself. i hadn't seen that many white heads in awhile... even if i've only been here for just over 2 weeks now, you get used to no whites really quickly and we almost start to look kind of funny. the mall also had this place called 'chicken inn' and 'creamy inn' - this restaurant chain was the first place i ever ate in uganda so itwas kind of hilarious to stumble upon it here to. better yet, it was terrific tuesday (2 for 1)! my stomach is really confused with the constant changes from liberian to western food every few days. we did a quick spin around the mall on our way to the western grocery store (the only place that sells peanut butter - a staple for me). in it there was a huge nike store, a puma store and a really huge restaurant that actually looked really nice.
on thursday and friday night, we had the official and unofficial goodbye ceremonies for two of the volunteers (colin and stu) who left this weekend. CBW played a football (soccer) game for them (i cant stress how important soccer is here - the man who ran against thecurrent liberian president is a huge international football star (george weah?)). we also had a little ceremony to say nice things about the both of them on another night. our unofficial ceremonies consisted of going into accra to this very western bar called champs where they do 'quiz night' on thursdays and kareoke on friday. just outside champs there is a woman (the egg lady) who sells possibly the best drunk food ever. she sells egg sandwhiches that are made up of an egg cooked with peppers, tomatoes, onions and spicy stuff (everything here is soo spicy) and then is put in fresh bread. half of the reason we go to champs so much is to see this lady at the end of the night.
finally, on saturday a couple of us went back up too kakum national park to do one of the coolest trips ever. this trip takes you on a hike through the rainforest to this natural 3-story high rock shrine (domoa or gomoa.. not sure). anyway, its just these massive boulders in the middle of nowhere, covered in all kinds of vines and stuff. after hearing about the significance of the shrine to the local people (its since been turned into an ecotourism project by USAID so it isnt worshipped as much) we got to climb it. the first story involved climbing up a vertical rock face with one vine. my upper body strength wasnt near ready for this so the guide had to help me up with a very... interesting... technique. he scampered (literally scampered all over the rock) down below me, stuck his head up my butt, then told me to walk. i nearly died laughing i think. he was completely serious though, and that is how i got up. the next two climbs were easier for me, because there were more vines to use with your legs. once you got up to the top there was a sweet view of the rainforest, and then we turned around and came down. the first one we climbed downbut then the second one we swung by a vine from! it was so cool, and very tarzan/george of the jungle like (although i wasn't nearly as graceful and got tangled in vines on the other side).
alright. to wrap things up i thought i'd post some of the best comments i've gotten so far since i've been here...
1. you have the same hair as jesus(got that at school this morning)
2. your short are kind of short (this was coming from the local prostitute... ouch. i had just woken up from a nap in my defense and wasnt planning on going outside in the)
3. you talk to you much and have annoying voices (old man on the tro tro - public transport system here)
thats it for now!
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