Since I last wrote, I've managed to accomplish the two things that I was avoiding most in Ghana-- a visit to the hospital and being robbed. Both occurances happened last time, under different circumstances, and obviously I did not return to the States disillusioned. I returned to Ghana wiser than before definitely, but apparently not wise enough! (Maybe by NEXT time I'll have learned all my lessons haha).
So we'll start with the hospital experience because that happened 2 weeks ago. On Sunday July 10, I woke with my stomach hurting and I couldn't eat. I felt if I eat I would throw up, so I decided to let the pain go away and eat later. Fortunately, Saturday night I slept at my (American) friend Therese's place. She is staying with her boyfriend's sister, Jade, and the sister is a nurse. So finally late Sunday, Jade forced me to take food because I hadn't eaten that day. I was hesitant at first, but it's hard to decline a Ghanaian's offer to feed you. That's just rude! So yes I ate some stew, and yes, 5 minutes later you found my face in the toilet. That lasted a while until Jade said she was taking me to her hospital. I was very weak. I could barely walk from the car to the door.
The way that Ghanaian hospitals work will forever baffle me. I had to bring my own sheets for the bed. I had to bring my own soap for the bathroom. My own towel. I even brought my own toilet paper, but it turns out that's the ONE thing they provide beside the medicine! haha So I get hooked up to the IV, get a couple shots, one in the butt. You know the drill. It was very reminiscent of last year, except this was better-- they found the right vein for the IV on the first try, versus the 4 times it took last year. So it was a great improvement!
I was in hospital for 24 hours. So compared to the 3 days I spent last year, this was much better. I was diagnosed with Gastritus. They believe the school lunches might have basically poisoned me over time. Or maybe it was the street food I've been eating since I arrived? Honestly, it could be any number of causes, but they are sure it was not food poisoning from ONE dish, but developed over a week or so. Well that's reassuring! But not really...
Although I left the hospital Monday evening, I was not able to be a full functioning person until the next Sunday. So 7 days I was bedridden. Compared to the 2 weeks last year spent recovering, 6 days is great! But I don't have that time to spare! Being here only 5 weeks, that cuts a whole week out of my trip! Since then I've been teaching at the school and eating lots of food. I wasn't able to hold food down until Thursday. So I'm trying to make up for it.
Now for my pickpocket story-- On my way to school on Wednesday, I was waiting at the tro tro stop. It was 9am and a shared taxi pulled up and asked where I was going. (Shared taxis in Ghana are very common. It's an alternative form of transportation to tro tros. It's just a little more money because they are faster and take fewer people). So I said my stop and they told me to get in. The car had two passengers-- a woman in the back seat with me and a man in the passenger seat. So we're driving and the driver asks again where I'm going. I repeat my destination, and he says "Oh sorry, we are not going there. I misheard you. I will drop you at this tro tro stop." He pulled over at the stop and I'm pissed cuz he wasted my time. I pull out my wallet to give him a quarter, but the passengers said in Twi something like "You're not taking her to her stop, she shouldn't pay." So after they grumbled that, the driver said quickly, "Oh, no no. You do not need to pay. My mistake." I'm surprised at this because usually taxi drivers will take any money you are willing to offer. But I accepted this, and put my wallet back in my bag. At this point the tro tros are honking at the taxi to get out of their way. So he moves forward a few hundred yards. I try to open the door but it is stuck. The driver is leaning over to "help" me open the door. He's giving me directions like "pull from the outside, push here, no not there" etc. My purse is in my lap, unzipped. I should have taken this stuck door as a RED FLAG, but I didn't. I was just pissed at their incompetence. So finally the man in the passenger seat gets out to open my door and it opens. I get out and as the car drives off, I hear giggling from the car. "Hmm, that's strange" I think to myself. First thing I do is check for my wallet. It is gone. A slur of curse words go through my head. I check again. Yep, they took my wallet. I was SO played!
It was all a setup. The driver, passenger, and woman in the backseat, they were all in on it together. As the driver "helped" me with the door, the woman leaned over to take my wallet. I was so preoccupied with trying to open the door I failed to notice. And the driver, once the woman had taken my wallet, finally asks the "passenger" to get out and open the door from the outside. All a scam. I see all the signs clearly now. But now I know, and I have learned. It was a lessen that cost $30, but it could have been more. A lot more. And for this, I am lucky.
Lucky for the scammers, I brought extra money this day because I knew I was going to be paying my dress maker later. Win for them. But I also had my camera in my bag, and thankfully they did not take that. I think I would have noticed the loss in weight in my purse if they did! Inconveniently my ID and ATM cards were in there as well, but that is all.
The ultimate relief is that yesterday I took out $275 from the ATM as part of a donation to the school that I am teaching. I had the money in my wallet this morning, but for some reason I felt uncomfortable transporting it to school. So I took it out and left it in my room. THANK GOD! The students would have been left without the funds that could go SUCH a long way for them!
I left the taxi feeling so PLAYED. I was a little shaken up to say the least. I called Therese on the verge of tears just because I couldn't believe what had happened, how played I was, and ultimately naive! I was left with no money to get home, let alone to the school, so I walked home about 30 minutes. I didn't want to trust anyone, talk to anyone, nothing. I just wanted to blow off some steam by walking home. I was SO played! I kept on going over it in my head. Yes, there were warning signs. Yes I thought some things were odd, but I assumed the driver's stupidity, rather than my own naivete! Ah! So the joke is on me.
Oh well. The recurring motto from all this is you live and you learn. Last year when I got my wallet stolen, I had about $50 and all my cards in it, ID, everything. But this time round I only had my ID and ATM. And even these, I just put back in my wallet after I left the hospital. (I wasn't carrying my ID or ATM when I went to the hospital which was an issue, so I decided to put them back). I learned from my last experience, and I will learn from this experience. When a door is stuck in the taxi, this will be an immediate warning sign. You live and you learn.
On another note. I love the school and the children that I work with each day. I will update you all with my daily routine once I get over the shock of being robbed. So you'll be hearing from me within a week, which is when I return!
Talk to you soon!
Annabelle
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Ghana, How I've missed you!
Welcome back to Annabelle's African Adventure, Part II! Please enjoy, and send me comments/
questions. I would love to hear from you!
By Day 1 I already had the most randomly awkward mosquito bites-- 2 on my forehead (the only part of my body exposed while sleeping) and one on my pinkie finger knuckle. Hello Ghana! How I missed you so! I start my days with (unheated) bucket showers and haven't seen the sun in full force since I've been here. It's been overcast an an unusually wet rainy season. By Day 3, I got my hair braided, and no I don't think it makes me more "African," it just makes bucket showers much easier. You have one bucket of water you take with you into the shower. And it is this water only that you will have to wash your whole body and hair. Washing my hair takes about 2/3 of the bucket. It's really just unfortunate when you run out of water and you still have soap on your body/ hair and have to leave the shower room (literally a room with a hole in the corner for drainage) to fill your bucket and return. I lock my bedroom door with a padlock by day, and by night I'm securing a broomstick horizontally across my door, as they did in the Middle Ages. It makes me laugh. I am however a convenient 10 minute walk to the major strip of clubs and bars. So that's really nice.
I've started teaching at this NGO in a village that takes 2 hours to get to by tro tro in traffic, or just 30 when driving directly. The distance is not far, but the traffic makes the journey quite long. This school began in 2009 when a local to Kissemah Village, Kwame Agoe, realized that too many children were living on the streets, or working, and not getting an education. He started rounding up children and asking them to join him on his porch to learn. And they came. After a year, he teamed up with an American studying at the University of Legon, and they started working together to get financing for their school and meet the criteria for NGO. As of now I'd say there is about 30-35 kids at the school, ages 4-14. Classes are held in the courtyard of a housing compound, but they have started building a proper school for the children. Unfortunately, the progress of the new school keeps getting delayed due to lack of finances.
Day 1 at the school and I already see much room for improvement. For the past seven months,
three teachers have been teaching four classes without any help. With me, it will be 4 teachers/ 4 classes, making it easier, but unfortunately it's only temporary. I will be teaching basic maths and English everyday. Class is from 10-3.30 with a 1.5 hour lunch break.
If you remember from my blog last year, I mentioned how the university students are not taught to analyze or comprehend information, so much as memorize what they are told. That was my complaint. Well this process of memorizing starts in primary school and I experienced it within hours of my first day at the outreach program. For example, the children were reciting their multiples of 2- "2x1, 2. 2x2, 4. 2x3, 6," etc. But I do not think the children understand the concept of what multiplying is. They repeat these numbers from memory without actually knowing what they are saying. And this I see as a problem in the education system. Not just at this school, but in public schools in Ghana. Learning in Ghana is based on muscle memory. If you are slow to "learn" then you are lashed accordingly. Obviously in my class, I will not be lashing as a form of punishment for wrong answers. I would rather like to reward those for getting it correct and help those who do not understand. But that's just me. I don't know how much of a difference I can make in the 4 weeks I am teaching, but I will try!
I have a feeling I'm going to come to love these kids before I leave, making it hard to leave yet again! But I must do what I can while here, and go from there. I brought with me donations from a couple friends which amounted to 3 soccer balls (this brought the most excitement to the school!), $300, and a set of children's books authored by my club soccer coach, Lasan Darboe. The school was pleasantly surprised and the most grateful.
Can I also mention that the students all call me "Madame." SO weird! Not "Miss Annabelle,"
but "Madame!" I'll see if I can get used to that. It's so formal!
Cheers for now,
Annabelle
P.S. Did I mention that I'm loving Ghana all over again?! Because I am. Haha
questions. I would love to hear from you!
By Day 1 I already had the most randomly awkward mosquito bites-- 2 on my forehead (the only part of my body exposed while sleeping) and one on my pinkie finger knuckle. Hello Ghana! How I missed you so! I start my days with (unheated) bucket showers and haven't seen the sun in full force since I've been here. It's been overcast an an unusually wet rainy season. By Day 3, I got my hair braided, and no I don't think it makes me more "African," it just makes bucket showers much easier. You have one bucket of water you take with you into the shower. And it is this water only that you will have to wash your whole body and hair. Washing my hair takes about 2/3 of the bucket. It's really just unfortunate when you run out of water and you still have soap on your body/ hair and have to leave the shower room (literally a room with a hole in the corner for drainage) to fill your bucket and return. I lock my bedroom door with a padlock by day, and by night I'm securing a broomstick horizontally across my door, as they did in the Middle Ages. It makes me laugh. I am however a convenient 10 minute walk to the major strip of clubs and bars. So that's really nice.
I've started teaching at this NGO in a village that takes 2 hours to get to by tro tro in traffic, or just 30 when driving directly. The distance is not far, but the traffic makes the journey quite long. This school began in 2009 when a local to Kissemah Village, Kwame Agoe, realized that too many children were living on the streets, or working, and not getting an education. He started rounding up children and asking them to join him on his porch to learn. And they came. After a year, he teamed up with an American studying at the University of Legon, and they started working together to get financing for their school and meet the criteria for NGO. As of now I'd say there is about 30-35 kids at the school, ages 4-14. Classes are held in the courtyard of a housing compound, but they have started building a proper school for the children. Unfortunately, the progress of the new school keeps getting delayed due to lack of finances.
Day 1 at the school and I already see much room for improvement. For the past seven months,
three teachers have been teaching four classes without any help. With me, it will be 4 teachers/ 4 classes, making it easier, but unfortunately it's only temporary. I will be teaching basic maths and English everyday. Class is from 10-3.30 with a 1.5 hour lunch break.
If you remember from my blog last year, I mentioned how the university students are not taught to analyze or comprehend information, so much as memorize what they are told. That was my complaint. Well this process of memorizing starts in primary school and I experienced it within hours of my first day at the outreach program. For example, the children were reciting their multiples of 2- "2x1, 2. 2x2, 4. 2x3, 6," etc. But I do not think the children understand the concept of what multiplying is. They repeat these numbers from memory without actually knowing what they are saying. And this I see as a problem in the education system. Not just at this school, but in public schools in Ghana. Learning in Ghana is based on muscle memory. If you are slow to "learn" then you are lashed accordingly. Obviously in my class, I will not be lashing as a form of punishment for wrong answers. I would rather like to reward those for getting it correct and help those who do not understand. But that's just me. I don't know how much of a difference I can make in the 4 weeks I am teaching, but I will try!
I have a feeling I'm going to come to love these kids before I leave, making it hard to leave yet again! But I must do what I can while here, and go from there. I brought with me donations from a couple friends which amounted to 3 soccer balls (this brought the most excitement to the school!), $300, and a set of children's books authored by my club soccer coach, Lasan Darboe. The school was pleasantly surprised and the most grateful.
Can I also mention that the students all call me "Madame." SO weird! Not "Miss Annabelle,"
but "Madame!" I'll see if I can get used to that. It's so formal!
Cheers for now,
Annabelle
P.S. Did I mention that I'm loving Ghana all over again?! Because I am. Haha
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