Ghana: TIA BABY

silly boys playing in front of Christ Orphanage

My favorite quality about African kids: their smiles : )

I hand out pencils in every country! www.pencilsofpromise.org

African baby love

“You are welcome” are the greetings that come from the smiling faces of Ghanaians whose white teeth glisten against their dark skin. I love waving at every person I pass on the street because I can’t get enough of those smiles. Ghana is considered a developing country and it is visible among the dirt roads filled with potholes, rows upon rows of shacks sheltered by tin roofs, and young children carrying jerry cans of water on their heads or toting babies on their backs. But the bleak image of poverty fades into the background against the bright patterns of the African garb, blaring beat of the music, and giggles of children that come from every direction.

As soon as I could leap from the ship into “real Africa” (that is, an Africa that has a history of colonialism, an Africa in poverty, an Africa full of little black babies)I felt a shutter of excitement roll down my spine. Eight other SAS students and I jumped on a bus headed for Hohoe (pronounced HO-Hoy) where we would be visiting an orphanage. African time was the norm as it took us ten hours to pass through Accra (the capital) to our destination by bus. I didn’t mind though because the scenery of the Cape Coast, the luscious green of the jungle, and all the Africans going about their day was worth a lifetime of entertainment. We finally arrived at our hotel where we were told we would have to sleep five to a bed (without a mosquito net despite all the warnings of malaria we received from the SAS health team). No worries though, in the morning we would have yummy omelets and in the meantime I would have my first sleepover with a gay guy (who was all too thrilled to climb in bed with 4 girls and quote Mean Girls all night).

Christ Orphanage was started by a young man named Raymond who turned down hope for a better life studying in America in favor of bettering his community by opening an orphanage. After just two years his orphanage is relocating and expanding so that it can better house and teach its 175 students. In an afternoon hike to the biggest waterfall in West Africa Raymond and I jogged ahead of the group and discussed the importance of a community member changing his own surroundings. He and I both agreed that it is passion, which brings success. He also had a firm belief in the empowerment of women and the importance of liberating his students so that they could be anything they wanted. And these children certainly deserve it, just as any child does.

Upon meeting the orphans, I did not experience the chaotic storming of kids that I expected but rather, the exact opposite .The children were in class. I was assigned to the 2nd graders and they all stood up politely as I entered the room. All in uniform and extremely well behaved I watched as their teacher played “sit, stand, sit, sit” with them to get their attention. Their excellent behavior all but vanished as the young teacher said, “Oh they are calling me now for the all-day workshop - here is the lesson book.” And there I was, alone with 35 children giggling at the clueless white girl. I did a pretty good job teaching them math (not my specialty) for about an hour before I lost their attention and began handing out pencils. The kids were thrilled to receive my little gift and I had just barely enough for each student. They ran to get their little pencil-holder bags and sharpeners as they cradled the newest addition to the few things they had in their school bag. It was a very serious matter, the sharpening of the pencils, and each one wanted to be sure his or her pencil had a perfect point.

As the other ‘teachers’ (aka my SAS peers) struggled to maintain their wild children, we decided to play outside on the playground for most of the day. Spinning around on a merry-go-round, flipping over swing sets, sliding down slides, and jumping on see-saws, the energy never left those kids and we were worn out after a few hours. However, there was one child whose energy was never there to begin with. Her name was Ruth and if there was one little black baby I wanted to take home, it was this one. She had on a beautiful African-patterned purple and green dress and was about 2 years old. She never smiled and just walked around not playing, not looking for attention, just lost and lonely. I of course took her in my arms, and as we played hand games with her little black hands in mine, she smiled and giggled and my heart melted.

One highlight was the night we went “out” in Hohoe. I was excited to see what it would be like to be partying and bar hoping in a developing country. It was every bit of the adventure I had hoped for. Not long after setting out from our hotel with our guide, John, (he had picked us up from Accra, and always came around to hang out with us but we never figured out who he was or what connection, if any, he even had to the orphanage) two Africa men stopped him on the street. John turned to our group, and asked, is “Aleice” here? Who me? Yes, me. It was the 2nd grade teacher from the school and his brother who had walked to our hotel to go out with us. I had absently invited him earlier in the day never imagining he would just show up asking for me in the middle of the road! From there we went to “Malaysia” to get some drinks where started raining. Instead of running for cover, we decided there’s no better time to dance in the rain than in the middle of the night in the middle of Africa. So there we were, 9 Americans and 4 Africans dancing in the rain like a bunch of crazies. It was quite the scene. Then the power went out.

Well, TIA, This is Africa. So, we finished our drinks and headed out. But we were following John who wanted us to all take a group photo (soaking wet?) so he lead us around town and through dark alleys looking for a photo shop. Except it was the middle of the night and the power was out...they were all closed. We finally convinced him that we would take it tomorrow. (He showed up the next morning with a professional photographer just so he could get that photo). On the way home we stopped at Obama Gardens (yes, the Ghanaians do love Obama), a bar that conveniently had a generator so that we could continue our African evening adventure.

On a final note, I grew apart of Ghana as I jogged through it every day. Whether it was through the town seeing the locals laugh at me, through the village stopping to play soccer with kids, or through the lush jungle, running really brought me closer to the country. My favorite part was playing soccer with the kids. Soccer is such a universal game that is played all over the world and brings all races, religions, and cultures together. A highlight for me on this voyage is seeing the game being played by children in every single country I go to. Now that is universal love.

Would you tell me please which way I have to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
-Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland