CATCHING UP

It is Saturday June 28. It is odd how fast the time is passing all of a sudden. I can not believe George, Nancy, Kelli, Michelle and Kate will be arriving a week Monday. I will try to catch up with everything that went on the past 2 weeks.

The people (who soon became “my People”) who were to do the video arrived on Tuesday early afternoon. They had no sooner arrived at the hotel, when the skies opened up and it rained heavily for the rest of the day. They could not shoot the school so they did the interview with me with the rain in the background and got a bite to eat and rested up after the trip. Wednesday morning the sun was shining and the filming at the school went great. Kimberly, the gal who founded “good tube” is a real pro as well as Lori who volunteered to do the filming.(she works for KDKA in Pittsburgh so of course you know she was also lots of fun). It was great to see Minette again; we had met her 2 years ago while we were here. She was the person who started the ball rolling on the video project 2 years ago. The video should be finished by October. It will be posted on http://www.goodtube.org/ . You might want to check out the website, as it has many great videos.
The rest of “my people” included Marie and Corbie who had won a raffle to accompany Kimberly on the trip; Katie, the bookkeeper for Good Tube; Carl, the very good driver and Charles, whose school was scheduled for video latter in the trip. While they were here I finally went to Kakum rainforest with them. It was OK but you really do not get to see much of anything except the tops of the trees. The seven rope bridges were very scary for me but I made it through without the guide having to come rescue me.

On Sunday I took the bus to Accra and on Monday met “my people” to go visit Charles’ School, Tuskegee International School. We had a great day and met up with a teacher from Chicago “Greenie” who comes 2 times a year to help at Tuskegee. The filming went great at that school also and then we went to the craft market and on to dinner. They were a very fun group. I got a great travel hint from one of them. You put vodka in a spray bottle and use it to kill germs on things such as silverware, pop cans etc. I was also thinking it may come in handy if you needed a mid day pick-me-up.

Their trip came at a great time for me personally as it totally rejuvenated me.

While I was in Accra I visited the OSU Children’s Library and purchased some books from them for both schools. They are great books for the younger children, written with themes they know. I also met with the company who does the narrowband internet and have an appointment on Monday to see it in action at the OLA Training College here at Cape Coast.

Next week is Bakatue Festival, the beginning of the fishing season. We were here during it in 2004 but missed parts so I am looking forward to seeing more of it this year. The fishing has not been good. I saw what seemed to be very large fishing boats not very far out to sea and was told they were Chinese. The government has given them permission as they pay fees to fish but it is very hard on the people here who only know how to fish.

I hope I will not let as much time pass as I did this time.

I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 4 WEEKS

Well, it is Sunday again. It is hard to believe I have been here a month already. Time proceeds differently here. It is hard to explain so I won’t try but the days just melt away.

It has been a busy week so I am glad to have some down time. This is the week that a production company is coming to film our project. I am not sure what to expect. I had wanted to lose 50 lbs before they came, but that of course did not happen (if only I had gotten Malaria—oh maybe not) Anyway what will be, will be. I will let you know.



There are so many little things that make this such a different culture from ours. The adults have so much pride in how things look is a great example. Their clothes are always clean and pressed. How they manage to wear the same shirt for a week and still look neat (although not smell that neat) is something that escapes me. I become a grimy sweat ball soon after my morning shower and stay that way until my afternoon shower! (but I think I smell OK! At least! I hope!)

There are many more examples that would have you shaking your head, but really who is to say they are wrong! Really, it is just different. I am also starting to think that when you try to change even a small thing, it can be a cascade effect with some very unexpected results. I am thinking about the school yard. As you know it is the rainy season and water was collecting in the yard. It bothered me, so I asked if there could be grass planted. No, it needed to be filled with red slimy when wet letrite clay. Making the biggest mess I have ever seen taking 2 whole days to complete. So then I think maybe we should cover the clay with sand, so we do and when it rains we still have a huge puddle in the middle of the school yard, although it does drain a bit faster than it did. I still think we need grass as do some of the teachers, but I have asked that it will not happen while I am still here. I can only take so much!!

I have dropped the idea of a library/study center for now. Instead Tomorrow’s Stars will hire a person so the library at the High School can stay open after school as the government will only pay for the librarian until 3pm. I am very happy about this as many of our day students need extra time to study. Tomorrow’s Stars is also going to buy extra text books for the library to enrich what they get in classes. We are also going to supply much needed African novels for the students to read. There are some books in the library, but not much is relevant to the students here. Once again, buying items here is so much better on so many levels. We also are paying a few of our new High School grads to tutor but our first year HS students and the soon to be “freshman”.


Here are a few of my little friends, who can make me smile no matter what is going on!

SUNDAY

For those of you who think that I am suffering, I hope I can send a few pictures of my day today. It is Sunday so all is quiet. Church happens for almost everyone. So I am here at the beach soon to have lunch. There is a lovely breeze and a very sunny day. I finished a book and am feeling very lazy. I may take a nap this afternoon. We shall see.

Just another day

The Internet connection is very spotty. Luckily I had saved in the middle of the last post or all would have been lost. I have not figured out how to work off line or even if it is possible so I have started doing everything in word and then copying and pasting into the mail or blog. I also have outlook on this computer but cannot figure out how to hook it into yahoo. I am using Tomorrows_stars@yahoo.com for my email as AOL is a pain. Also, I have not figured out how to respond to the comments as I loose connection so easily but enjoy reading them.

It is sunny again today and so HOT. I really have a hard time understanding how any one does anything in this heat but they do. As I said before the school yard becomes a lake when it rains. So we wondered if we could put some fill to even out the area and then plant some grass. The headmaster said he could use some litrite(SP?) He thinks we need 10 truck loads of the stuff. He finds a guy who will charge $40 a load to dig it (no backhoes), put it into the truck, bring it to the school and dump it out where the children proceed to spread it around. They did 6 loads today running out of class each time the truck came to move the stuff. (I was hot and exhausted just watching them!!) They were having FUN. Anyone know what the litrite is?? The stuff that turns into SLICK RED GOO when it rains. Hopefully there are photo’s below.

Rain and Hair problems

George has left for home and has arrived safely. He had to stop in Dakar as they did not have enough fuel here in Ghana to cross the ocean. I have decided not to take any chances and will stay here at the Coconut Grove for most of the time. Since the General Manager is on leave to finish his masters in Australia, they have given us his apartment. It has a bedroom, living room, toilet room and a 6’x7’ shower room. A very weird use of space. Our bedroom at home is only somewhat larger than this shower.

The weather has been very sunny and hot the last few days. I would like to complain about it but it was very rainy last week and I think that the sun is better. We have only seen it very dry and lacking water. Last year when Shawna was here in August, September, and October it was very rainy, but when we got here in November it was dry again. As it turns out it is a mess when it rains. The roads are red slimy goo dotted with wide pools of water. A lake happens in the school yard. I am sure the mosquito population grows. Life is just so hard here. I am glad I will be able to stay in a nice place until I leave in 7 weeks.

My hair was getting very dry even though I wear a hat all the time. I stopped at a hair stall and asked if they had something that would work. They sold me Aloe Vera “hair food”. Sounded good to me so I bought it and put it on my hair when I got home. It was kind of greasy but I thought it would be like a hot oil treatment. Well I was wrong. I put it on Saturday night, and as of now have washed it 6 times. It is still a major grease ball. When I told someone I had gotten “hair food” they said “good it will protect your hair for about 3 weeks.” Turns out it is a coating that has petroleum jelly in it along with many other greasy ingredients. Sure wish I had read the label before I put it in my hair. I am thinking of washing my hair with dish soap. I wonder if it will dry it out.