Where is the time going?!!!

This week has been much better than the last two! Things have officially settled down and life in Hohoe is getting back to normal. Last weekend was really sad because I had to say goodbye to many of the friends I have made this last month. About half of our volunteers left that have been here for the last four weeks. But with goodbyes at CCS come hellos and later on Sunday we welcomed 8 new volunteers to the house. There were also about 30 ROTC and 6 Naval Academy volunteers in the second CCS house that just opened up across town. We do some of our programing with them so it has been nice to meet even more people this week. 

As far as the conflict in Hohoe goes, the tension between the groups has lessened. However, last Friday I was with 4 nurses from the Hohoe township and they were telling me how there were rumors that the Muslim community was poisoning the food that they were selling. As a result, they are not allowed to sell in the market. On the other side of things, I was at the micro finance business today, walking around the Zongo (Muslim) community collecting money. Firstly, their community was significantly less populated. The amount of clients we met and the busyness that should have been present on a week morning was drastically less than when I had been there before the conflict. Many people we talked to were also struggling because they were not allowed to sell in the Hohoe community anymore so they were making very little money. Some of them were also quite irritated with Hohoe because they told Zongo this week that they should come to the market to buy things but they could not sell. This frustrated the women I talked to because it showed that Hohoe was obviously struggling too, but they were still limiting their interactions.

The curfew was extended this week to midnight! We were so happy on Tuesday that we took all of the new volunteers out to Obama Gardens! It was so nice to be out at night again. The military check points are still here, but it seems that the group running them has changed from the Ghana Military to the police. Their presence has also been a lot less conspicuous this week and they no longer cruise through town with their tanks and caravans of men with very large weapons. 

I am having a really hard time believing that this is my second to last week here! I may not be doing much more blogging until I am heading home because I want to soak up every minute! 

Thank you everyone for you prayers and kind words these last two weeks. I think they have really shown!!

Elizabeth 

Updates on the situation

A lot has happened this week in Hohoe, the village I live in. There has been some violence between the Hohoe township and the Zongo (Muslim) community. It has been a very frustrating, heartbreaking, and even a bit scary of a week. Here is the  run down since the situation started:

Earlier last week the drama began with a Muslim young man being electrocuted to death. When he was brought to the Hohoe Hospital he was put into the morgue. When his family came to pick up his body they were outraged that he had been put in the morgue, which is completely against their religion. Some of his friends later vandalized part of the hospital and beat the man that was in charge of the morgue.

Then, on Sunday morning, the head Iman of the Volta Region (leader of the Muslim people) died. His people brought him to Hohoe to be buried and was told by the chief of Hohoe township that in order for him to be buried here, they must pay 10,000 CD. The Muslim people refused, saying this was a bribe that they would not take part in and buried their leader anyway. On Sunday night the body of the chief was exhumed and placed on the roadside next to the mosque. It is rumored that the chief gave the order for the body to be dug up, but nothing has been confirmed.

The Zongo community was outraged and set fire to part of the chief’s property and one of his vehicles. The Hohoe township then retaliated by setting fire to many of the Muslim shops in the community on Monday. This resulted in almost half of the small shops in town to be destroyed and looted. Four deaths and many injures also occurred at this time, one death to a 15 year-old boy who was gunned down by a stray bullet.

When all of this was occurring on Monday, myself with the rest of the volunteers were in lockdown at the home base. Our location is far enough out of the center of the city that we were not in any imminent danger, but we could not leave our house at all on Monday.  A 6pm to 6am curfew resulted from the events that occurred, but we were lucky enough to get out to our volunteer placement on Tuesday. Although, most of our schools were closed for the rest of the week, we went to a special needs boarding school so we could at least do something. The ride to the schools was devastating. The special needs school is on the exact opposite side of town from our house, so we had to drive through the thick of it, and see all of the destruction that happened the days before The village that I have come to love so much for the past 6 weeks looked like a war zone. Rumble lay everywhere and almost every other shop had been burned down. People lined the street watching each other and some had begun cleaning up. It was clear that people were still on edge.

Placement at the special needs schools was another hard part of the day. They receive basically no care and kids run around with wet pants and no personal hygiene measures were taken while I was there. The dorms were completely filthy with both pee and poop covering the floors. It really was a horrifying sight.

After we were brought back from the school for the day, we were not allowed to leave the house for another afternoon. I was really beginning to get restless and it was quite a difficult afternoon to just sit around and do nothing.

The following day, the schools were still not open and I went with the rest of the group to Happy Kids’ Orphanage. There, I did a small lesson about environmental health and the importance of cleaning up trash. We had the kids go around with trash bags to pick up the trash that littered their campus. It was a nice afternoon and a good way to forget the mess that was going on in town. When we finished for the day, we headed back to our house and on the way we saw half a dozen military vehicles and tank-like machines that were patrolling the city. These men were pretty intimidating; all of them had large guns slung over their shoulder and scarves wrapped around their face.

When we arrived back at home base, one of the other groups of volunteers said they saw people in town swarming a car and trying to set it on fire. It was beginning to be clear that the conflict was not over. I heard later from one of the staff that many people are waiting for the chief to give a statement about the events that have occurred, but as to my knowledge he has said nothing yet.

This morning I heard that a journalist was beaten yesterday by police after they found him taking pictures of the destruction. Our director here seems to think that the violence is calming done and things will get back to normal next week. He said that many Muslims have moved out of town, but are being urged to come back. I am not sure what this will result in, but only time will tell.

On a personal level, this has been a very heartbreaking week. It has been very trying because I have felt like I am just sitting around for most of the day. It is so hard because this village felt so safe and I could go and do whatever I wanted, but as of this week we cannot even walk into town. I am torn because I cannot do what I came here to do, but I do not want to abandon Hohoe just because the going got rough.

I would ask for your prayers of peace and safety and also for people to have open minds and hearts in order to settle this issue without any one else being harmed. Also, for guidance in how I can help this village that I have fallen in love with.

I will keep updates coming

Liz 

Pictures galore!

Here are some pictures of my adventures last week!

Jenna on the Canopy Walk. It consisted of 7 bridges like this one that were 40 m high in the rainforest.

My view from the room at the Coconut Grove Hotel. This was probably the most beautiful and serene spot I have been too.

View from the Cape Coast Slave Castle. Fishing boats sprinkle the surrounding shore.

 Cape Coast Slave Castle

 One of my students washing her hands! May seem like a simple thing, but it was a big deal that they put out a washing bucket, soap and a towel! She was also using the technique that I had taught her (notice the hand placement :)

 One of the classes I teach. They range from 4- 7 years old and this is a similar class to kindergarten. I don't teach them about hygiene as thy really don't speak much English, but I helped them with spelling and the alphabet. Their classroom is outside because the school doesn’t have any more room inside. On this day in particular it was pouring! All of the children moved their desks to the center of the shelter and just kept working. I was amazed that they didn’t get distracted.

Week 5 already!

Last week was a great week! The new volunteers have been really fun and I have enjoyed being around 7 other college-aged girls along with the other volunteers.

I really saw some results of my hygiene program at Happy Kids’ Orphanage and school on Wednesday. Last week I taught them about the importance of washing your hands and when I came back this week to talk about teeth brushing, they had a bucket with soap and a towel next to the “bathroom” which was so rewarding to see because it was not there the week prior! I even saw one of the little girls that was in my class use the hand washing technique I had showed them last week. I attached a picture J

I felt like I was really making a difference this week at placement. I was able to go into 4 different schools and saw 3 classes in each school to talk about the importance of brushing ones’ teeth. It has been interesting to see the difference of the schools and the public verse private. I would say that in Hohoe the public school is run more organized and structured than many of the private schools, but I have learned that generally, across Ghana, it is the reverse. I think that it is different here because the government has money than the private schools do in the rural areas, but as you get closer to Accra, the funds of the private schools increase and the government run schools do not.

Besides a wonderful week of teaching children, I also was able to visit the waterfalls again. This time it was raining so I saw them from a different perspective, but enjoyed the hike nonetheless.

Thursday I had the opportunity to go with one of our other volunteers, Deb, to her placement at a Microfinance business. We spent the day walking around the Muslim community with Vida a woman that collects money from her clients everyday. The basic system that they have starts with the community members signing up with the business. Once they have done that Vida collects the amount they have agreed on every weekday. Then, at the end of the month or the very beginning of the next, they will be reimbursed with all of the money that was collected, except for one day, which is the fee for working with them. It was really interesting to see and I enjoyed being able to walk deep into the city and into compounds that I would not be able to see otherwise. I would say that the majority of her cliental were females and more times than not they would not have informed their husband of what they were doing in order to save some money for themselves. 

Friday, the group traveled to the Cape Coast, which is the biggest tourist area in Ghana, outside of Mole National Park. It was a 7-hour van ride, but once we made it, we were greeted by a beautiful beach resort with a pool and all the amenities of any beautiful resort in the US. My room with literally feet from the ocean and I could hear the waves as I fell to sleep. Saturday we met up with a NGO called Global Mamas that helps women in Ghana establish a business of their trade. The woman we met, Elly, gave a cooking lesson of many of the traditional food eaten here. It is amazing to me that we have such a variety of food made from only a few ingredients. We made Red-Red, Palavo, Groundnut soup, rice, and chicken. I decided that I will be making this for my family when I arrive home! After we made it all, the best part happened, we got to eat it! It was so good!!!

Later, we traveled to the Cape Coast Castle, which was a complete 180 of emotions and was a very somber afternoon. I had studied the African Diaspora in one of my classes this semester so it was really humbling to see the actual place where most of the slave trade happened on the West Coast of Africa. I think the most profound moment for me was walking through The Door of No Return, which was the area that slaves would walk out of the castle and load the ships that would send them away from Africa forever. Two years ago, they added a sign on the other side of the door called The Door of Return, after two descendents of slaves had returned to the castle themselves.

After we finished the tour we headed back to our hotel where we met over 100 young people decked out in white and red. They were members of the People’s Progressive Party and were at some sort of rally in Elmina, the city we were staying in. We found out later that the owner of our hotel was one of 6 candidates for the upcoming presidential election in December. He was also the only other party in the restaurant that night. It was pretty awesome to think that I was sitting next to the potential future president of Ghana! We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the beach and the pool. The next morning, I felt the frustrations of being the tour guide for our group. Since I was the only volunteer that had been there longer than a week, I took the responsibility of planning and organizing the trip. Our drivers and myself had a few words as we were trying to leave our hotel and pick up the rest of our group who were at a different hotel. They simply refused to pick them up because they said they were too far out of our way, but after some strong words from myself and a few others we managed to make them see that there were no other options. Needless to say, the claws came out. Thankfully, everything ended up working out and we all made it to our next destination, the Canopy Walk. The Canopy Walk is 7 suspended bridges that are 40 meters in the air, above the canopy of the rainforest. This was a really beautiful experience and something I will fondly remember forever. It was such an amazing perspective to be above the tree line and be able to look out for miles.

We made it home safely last night, although it was a little unnerving as we past a huge car accident with bodies on the side of the road. Please pray for safety on the roads! The driving here is something without any organization or caution and it is common to see accidents.

Today. I was at the hospital and observed the rounds at the children’s ward. It was a little frustrating to see the disorganization they have when it comes to writing a patients medical history and procedures. They hand write everything and nothing seems very consistent because every doctor or nurse does it the way they want and many times don’t even sign what they have written. On the up side, I found out today that Prince, the little boy I posted about a few weeks ago, was able to pay his bill and was transferred to see a osteopathic physician! Hopefully now he will receive the care he needs!

I went for a run before dinner today and on the way back one of the little girls I play with often invited me to her house where I was able to meet her mother and little sister. It was such a kind gesture and although her mother did not speak English she was very friendly and welcoming.

I have had a wonderful day and tomorrow we will be hiking the Adajato Mountain again!

I will try to put of pictures soon but the internet is not cooperating… what’s new

Night!

Elizabeth 

Pictures

I was having some trouble loading pictures, but here are some more of my last week! 

This is the fishing boat we took a ride in

This is the Conference at Pro-link

These are the leaders of 20 different communities around Hohoe that came to the conference 

 This is the waterfall we hiked to this afternoon

 Mary at the Stations of the Cross in Kpando

 Some of the Staff with Anna and I at Lake Volta fishing market in Kpando

It's a Small World After All

I think this may have been the best week yet!

After seeing the great HIV clinic in Hohoe Tuesday, I was able to start teaching at the schools on Wednesday. I started my personal hygiene program at Happy Kids’ Orphanage and School. I was a little nervous for the first class, but Anna was there to help me. We were able to go to 4 classrooms with the kids varying in age from 5 to 15. We made posters about when and how to wash your hands. Then we played a fun game that I found which shows how germs are spread. You start by having about ¼ of the class put one of their hands in paint. Then tell the whole class to get up and shake each other’s hands. This seemed to be a really popular game and the children seemed to have a lot of fun playing it.  I think it was a good way to highlight how you can get germs from someone else and even pass germs that aren’t yours. After the game we had buckets of water and soap and we first demonstrate how to wash your hands properly (Anna even brought out the nurse’s standards to hand washing) and then had each of the kids come up to wash their own hands. I would say that as the day went on, I got much more confident and was able to explain myself a little better each time. I was pretty surprised with their teaching methods, as many of the kids didn’t write anything down while their teachers were teaching and some of the teachers seemed about my age!

After we finished at our placement for the day, Anna, myself and the staff traveled to the next town over, Kpando, for some fun cultural programming. We first went to this park that has a BIG (rivals Rio…maybe I’m exaggerating) statue of Virgin Mary and then has all of the Stations of the Cross made into statues that are on a path throughout. It was quite a nice little park and I left a prayer at the feet of Mary under a rock. Next, we travelled to a pottery shop. Pottery is a big part of the livelihood in Kpando and this shop was filled with bowls, teacups, animal figures and candle holders. We ran into a Peace Corp Volunteer when we were there. He was in charge of business development in Kpando and had been showing the Pottery Maker how to further her business. It was great to talk with him for a while and get his perspective on the Peace Corp experience. He only had one more month left and he said for him it was a great opportunity.

Later, we went to the fishing village of Kpando on the banks of Lake Volta. It was super interesting to see and John, our cook, convinced one of the fisherman to take us out on his rickety old wooden fishing boat.

We finished up our day with meeting two other Yavoo (white people) that we had met at the orphanage out at Obama’s Garden. It was quite nice to have some western conversations again J.

On Thursday I did the same lesson on hand washing at a different school, St. Francis. This school, unlike Happy Kids, is a government run school and I noticed a great difference between the two. St. Francis was much more structured and had actual lesson plans. They also had teachers and student teachers who were training at the St. Francis teachers’ College that is on the same campus. The classes also have a lot more children than Happy Kids. They had upwards of 30 children in each class while HK had only 5 in some. I thought the morning went quite well and I was much more comfortable in my lesson plan and felt that the children understood me more than at HK.

Friday was a very interesting day because we were able to help at a Pro-link conference held for the leaders of the community. Their topic was Women and Children’s health and the importance of getting proper care. Anna and I helped with the check- in and than were able to sit in for the conference but it was a little hard to follow because it was in Ewe. Thankfully one of the pro-link guys translated a bit for us. They were the nicest people. We had to leave a little early, so I went to tell our host and he had the two of us come up in front of the group and tell what we thought of their meeting and plans for the future. I felt a little put on the spot, but I said that I was really impressed by what they had already established and understand how important it was to educate the rest of their communities.

That afternoon Anna and I headed to Mountain Paradise, which is about an hour’s drive away. It is a little hostel with a beautiful view of the hills and some nice trails. When we pulled up Anna was so surprised because the scenic bar had burnt down since the last time she had been there! The owner said that one of the farmers down in the valley had started a brush fire and it got out of control. We still managed to have a great weekend! Once we had settled in we were talking to this young couple, the woman was from California and the man was raised in Ghana. BUT GUESS WHAT?!!! He had attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids for undergrad and had worked in Muskegon! What a small world! He continued to amaze me when he said that he also went to U of M for grad school. I was so stunned and could not believe that he had lived in both of my cities! We had a nice evening with this couple and about 50 games of UNO.

This morning Anna and I got up early and had a nice breakfast of hot chocolate and pancakes, but they sadly don’t have syrup in Ghana so we had to settle for jam. After breakfast we headed out for a nice hike. There was a BEAUTIFUL waterfall and swimming hole we came across too! We swam and enjoyed the view for a while then headed up the rest of the way. The trail was pretty steep and went up and down the hillside. The owner said it took 3 hours but we did it in 2.

When we came back to our hostel we met an older American couple probably in their 60s or 70s and chatted with them for a bit. After we talked for a while, we found out that they work for USAID in Accra. We were talking a bit more and turns out that I was talking to the #2 in charge for USAID in Ghana! That is a hugeeee deal! I told him about my major and that I was considering the Peace Corp and he highly encouraged it. He told me that he had been a volunteer in Afghanistan and had actually been the last group to ever serve there. He said that since he left the US after college he has not lived there since and named off about 10 countries in Africa and some in Eastern Europe that he had lived in. I was so amazed by this couple’s life and it really encouraged me and my future. They both recommended that I look into one of their internships for next summer and I managed to get his business card. Who would have thought that you could do networking on a mountain in Ghana?

Now I am back at the home base and Anna just left L We had a great week together and I really enjoyed adventuring Ghana just the two of us this last week. The next group of volunteers should be arriving in the next 2 to 3 hours so for now it is just me and the staff. I am starting to plan my lesson for next week and I think it is going to be about brushing your teeth.

I am a little bummed I won’t be home tomorrow, it is my daddy’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Love you! Hopefully the brothers can pull through without my help.

Until later my friends!

Elizabeth

The adventure continues

Once again I feel like the last few days have been a week! Since Saturday it has just been Anna and me at the home base for the next week. We had a relaxing weekend and were able to go to church with our cab driver Prosper. It was such a wonderful church! It was a quaint little chapel made of cement and painted white. The only room of the building was the sanctuary. I really enjoyed the singing because it was all songs I recognized from church at home with a little bit of a gospely spin. It was so nice to be back in church and I was invited back for next Sunday when the bishop will be coming from Accra to preach! Later that afternoon we went to the waterfalls that we have visited earlier and were able to cool off in the water. We finished up our evening with a few cold ones (cokes) at Obama’s Garden, a local hotspot. Overall it was a really nice weekend that made me feel a bit more at home with Hohoe.

Anna and I in our Ghanaian dresses after church

Yesterday, Anna and I went back to Mary Marquart hospital and worked in the lab. This was the first time I had visited the lab. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about how they identify diseases through urine and blood samples. I was even able to assist in preparing the urine into a sample for the lab tech to view under a microscope. After placement Anna and I walked to the market and of course bought more fabric to make into dresses J We had a relaxing evening at the home base and watched How Harry Met Sally.

Today was a great day! Last week when the nurse from the HIV clinic at Hohoe hospital came to speak to us, she invited Anna and me to come see the clinic and that is what we did today. When we arrived at 8:30 the inside waiting room and outside area were already packed with people! Every Tuesday they host a clinical day for all of their HIV positive patients. We were greeted by Emma the nurse that had invited us to observe. She said that each Tuesday clinical begins with a fellow patient talking to the crowd about the importance of making your scheduled appointments and taking your medication properly and on time. I was really impressed with their approach and Emma told me that they treat every patient as a brother, sister, daughter or son. They have created a loving and understanding environment that I felt immediately when I observed the first counseling session. I was not only impressed with their approach to helping these people, but also their technology. They have a comprehensive approach, which includes having a pharmacy, laboratory, physician appointment, and counseling available in one location. This is much different than the other hospital I have been working at, where the HIV patients must travel to all of the other departments on their own to find the care they need. The only bump in the road today was when we were in the laboratory and the tech was teaching us how he takes a blood sample. I have seen much worse things since I have been here and it was actually great that he had the same vacuum system that we use in the states to collect samples. I think it had to do with the women’s face as he was taking the sample, but I began to feel pretty woozy and I passed out and as Anna said, “hit the deck” in front of all of the patients who were waiting for their blood to be drawn. Emma and Anna had to carry me to her office before I realized what had happened. I was fine, but a little embarrassed. As I was leaving all of the patients got a good laugh and so did I. I think it may have had such a large effect on me because the lab tech suggested that I help draw the blood, which is something I am definitely not into! Oh well, I survived and besides that small detail felt like I had a very successful day at the clinic!

Later on today I had Ruth and Ella, the girls that work for CCS braid my hair! I look a bit goofy but it’s so fun. They added hair so it is a lot longer and looks very similar to the African women that have their hair done. Enjoy the pictures! I am excited for next week when we will be having 18 more volunteers join us, but I will be sad to see Anna go!

More to come!

Elizabeth