pictures (day eight)

ill post some pictures tomorrow or something because the internet is refusing to work well... of course. sorry :)

i didnt have any cute orphan ones today anyways!! just gross Togo pictures...but oh well. 

-helene

day eight!

 well, today was an experience. 

we got up extremely early and met frank down in the lobby. mike came to pick us up and we began our 3 hour voyage to Togo. we all talked a little at the beginning...i learned a lot about frank and his family and so on. he has such an interesting job and lifestyle. i cant imagine being his wife though. he travels all the time and sees his wife every few months! i asked him if he hated it but he said they both enjoy it because theyve been in a long distance relationship since before they got married. i mean, some people can do it and i respect that!! anyways, mike took this kind of back way to Togo. big mistake! the road had been made only 4 years ago but there were HUGE potholes in it already. and i dont mean 5 ot 6 potholes...there was one every few seconds or so. mike had to swerve left and right to avoid them. it was a pretty scary car ride to say the least. people kinda just drive on whatever side of the road they want here (unless there is a car coming). its almost like they play chicken. i swear we came close to hitting like 3 cars head on but mike swerved right at the last minute...and i thought i was a risky driver! gosh! 

the scenery really caught my eye, though. we passed tons of little villages in the countryside. it was so different than urban ghana. there were mud huts like you see in the movies...chunks of the homes were missing, though. roofs had caved in and you could see where random parts of the wall had just fallen off. but people still live in them...crazy! i also noticed that almost no homes were finished. frank and mom my explained how people build as they go. if they have 20 cedis (ghanian dollars) left over (which doesnt really happen) they buy 20 cedis worth of material and add a few cinderblocks to their unfinished home. it sometimes takes up to 20 years to finish a home here. so on this 3 hour drive i just saw tons and tons of homes that were in all different stages of development. some looked so close to being done and others had like 10 cinderblocks... also, in the villages, theres no running water. every village look pretty run down and a lot like Neema, the ghetto of Accra. each village seemed to have their own craft as well.. one village had straw art, another pottery, and another wood art, etc. people stared as we passed and many children waved. we slowed down at one village because mike was dodging a pothole and i caught a little girl staring at me. when we made eye contact she smiled and waved and i returned the favor. i dont know why that stands out in my mind, but its what i remember most about today.

after traveling 3 hours to Togo, we stopped at a gas station right before the border. my mom had to talk to the immigration services, because something was wrong with my visa. the lady was very rude and so my mom went to talk to her supervisor. i dont exactly know what went on but apparently we werent allowed in Togo because all 3 of our visas were limited. my mom argued and begged with the guy ubt he didnt seem like he wanted to budge. frank and i just kinda stepped back to let my mom deal with him.. we had no idea what was going on! all i was thinking was "we just drove 3 hours and now we have to go right back, awesome! (not)" my mom came out of the office looking somewhat victorious. she said we had permission to walk into Togo for like 10 minutes if an officer was with us. after dealing with another mean guard we finally got in! our officer was a nice Ghanian woman who seemed to agree that this whole situation was stupid! but we were in Togo, a different country! we walked along the beach, which sounds luxurious, but it was disgusting. trash was everywhere and kids were squatting and peeing all around us. the people in Togo speak french so it was handy having my mom along. frank and i just pretended like we understood the situation but of course we were lost. we kinda walked into the village, but it was honestly a complete dump. so our 10 minutes were up and we walked back across the border to ghana! i probably should mention we had to bribe 2 guards to get into Togo as well. there was a big sign saying "do not bribe the officers, it is an offense" but everyone knows that the guards will do almost anything for a bribe, so we got to walk into the beautiful (NOT!) country for a few minutes. 

when we walked back to the gas station, where our car was waiting, a girl and her grandmother walked up to me asking for money. all i had was tootsie pops so i handed her a handful. she was very grateful! i guess she started a trend because then i had like 10 other guys come up to me asking for lollipops. luckily, i had a whole bag so each guy got like 5 or 6 suckers. they were all really nice about it too, saying "God bless you, sista" and "thank you white girl" one guy who was asking for a sucker said to me "ey, sista. look at our skin. i am your brotha. (points to his very black skin) we are the same. right, sista? help your brotha." that still cracks me up when i think about it. well, eventually i ran out of lollipops so we got back in the car and headed home on the 3 hour journey. this time, we took a smooth road home. (thank God!) we got stopped like 4 times by the police though. the police here sit on the side of the road and make their own checkpoints. they tell you to stop and open your trunk and then ask for a bribe. its so stupid! there is absolutely no reason to give them money and i hope no one does. we just lied and said we had none...that shut them up for the most part. 

on the way home we saw the same kind of villages. i saw a couple of older ladies just walking on the side of the road with no shirts on...they were just hanging everywhere! i saw lots of baby goats which were so cute! they just kinda roam wherever. we passed by a river and lots of girls were washing clothes in it and little boys were swimming. i was glad to see some kind of fun going on. the closer we got to accra, the less villages there were. it was really cool to see a different side of ghana though. i wish i could have stopped and hung out with a few of those kids. a lot of them were just sitting on the side of the road looking bored and hot. 

somewhere during this day i messed up my camera, which already is severely scratched from the orphanage. it doesnt zoom right anymore...ah, im still getting over this.

my mom, frank, and i went to dinner and now were back at the hotel. we leave the hotel tomorrow at 7ish and our flight leaves at 10:20 a.m. its about 11 hours and then we get to NYC at 5:00. i should get home around midnight. basically, its going to be a very long day. i already miss ghana, though. i think about how different those documentaries you see on TV are from real-life africa. the people here are friendly and hardworking. the kids are suffering, but dont seem to notice. when i got here and saw the orphans and etc., i felt a sense of hopelessness in the air. everywhere you go here there is suffering and poverty. but the people here seem so hopeful and loving for having such...crappy... lives. i kept thinking about how much i want my friends to experience africa. like my best friend melissa or my amazing friend jaimie, both of them have such compassionate hearts and i know they would feel for the people here and become as attached as i have! hopefully one day they will get to come here and experience what i have. and hopefully, i will get to return many many many more times!

thanks to everyone who has read this blog, i hope you have gotten a feel for how Ghana is and how i have felt about it. i cant wait to see everyone and share my experiences firsthand!

also, please pray for the orphans at Osu Children's Home. they truly need the thought. ill be praying for my koby and addo every night! and everyone else too, of course. :)

-helene

pictures (day seven!)

Pic one

this is one of the babies that is under the net we have to put on them. he refused to lay down like everyone else...he kept playing with the net! 

Pic two

these are a few of the kids in the toilet room. the one to the left is ama and the middle is koby. i dont know the one on the right...but he cried a LOT. notice how dirty it is...they have to sit here for over an hour!

Pic three

this picture is really blurry because its so dark in there...SORRY! but this shows all the little babies laying on this mat just waiting to be bathed. they laid there for a couple hours...most of them covered in diarrhea or vomit. 

Pic four

this is precious della who walked with us around the entire orphanage grounds. shes very affectionate but never spoke...she was such a sweet girl

-helene

day seven

last night while talking to frank and peter (the photographer) we figured out why i got so sick. my mom was talking about how you cant even have ice cubes here because the water isnt treated...then i remembered i had had ice cubes in my coca light at frankie's restaurant! we were all relieved to figure out the reason...but the fact that i got so sick because of a few ice cubes is sad. 

the first thing we did today was go to that crazy market. we had to pick up some little spoons and a cooler for the orphanage. it wasnt as crowded as last time, but it was still overwhelming. people hiss at you to get your attention..its pretty creepy. ive noticed guys are much ruder and bothersome. the girls give up but the guys wont leave you alone!!! we ended up getting a single burner and a little metal bowl so i could make soup in the room (because thats the only thing my stomach can handle now) i was so excited!!! oh, and i was taking pictures from the car and i saw this really cool sign so i put my camera up and a lady thought i was taking a picture of her and started yelling at me. i have a feeling she was cussing in whatever language she was speaking...i felt really bad and i tried to explain i wasnt taking a picture of her, but i think that made matters worse. the market makes you so tired because its extremely hot and you have all the people around you, bothering you. i was happy to leave...

then we went to our orphanage! on weekends, the school is closed so the kids kinda roam around the grounds. the babies and toddlers mostly stay in the orphanage part (the terrible place). i saw "big head" and i met this wonderful girl named "della" who is severely autistic. she held my hand and walked me around the grounds. she never really spoke to me...in order to get my attention, she would stroke my arm or squeeze my hand and then point at something. my mom told me she met her last time. apparently, she was taken to the hospital one day to be treated for tuberculosis and didnt come back for a looooong time. we think that a lot of kids have TB at this place. you can tell by the way they cough. its crazy to think that america doesnt have problems with TB. in fact, i had forgotten it existed until i came here. but it is very real in ghana...a lot of kids get it, and dont make it through... 

we went into the orphanage but janet said it was feeding time so we werent allowed in. (strange!!) the ladies who work in the orphanage are all very cold and dont seem to care about the kids at ALL. the way they pick them up, feed them, bathe them is lacking so much compassion. if you just play with a baby's tummy for a few seconds they immediately giggle and look so happy. not one of these women do that...it seems their day has become a fixed ritual and all they want is to finish as soon as possible. 

so we left, promising to come back later. we went to the grocery store to get some soup (african ramen noodles!) and other stuff. i love the grocery store here, or Shoprite, because its so much more civilized than the market. 

when we left the hotel to go back to the orphanage, we ran into nduom! (the guy running for president) we got our picture with him! it was so exciting. he actually wasnt that friendly, but everyone tells us hes a good guy and has a good heart. weve heard he wont win this time but will have a chance 4 years from now. i hope so! but we got to the orphanage and della was there to greet us again! she walked with us to the place where the babies and toddlers were. they were all awake now, and the babies were all laying on the floor on a mat. some had spit up on themselves or were soaked with pee. they each get one diaper a day and are stuck with it no matter what. i immediately saw the kids i worked with! koby was running around with a shirt on, and of course no pants or underwear. i picked him up and gave him a big hug. haha i dont really get grossed out by much anymore, especially little boy parts. they were sitting down to eat, which took about 20 minutes because some of the kids would not cooperate. koby kept hitting little kids. when he didnt get what he wanted, he would start taking off the rest of his clothes and throw a tantrum. (he knows i hate it when he becomes a little nudist!) finally everyone sat down to eat. i tried to feed a little girl who would not eat. we tried the nasty rice stuff and ground up rice but she wouldnt take it. not even water. shes so skinny too!! i was about to take harsher measures until one of the ladies took control. they dont mess with them! (i wouldnt either...) my mom fed a little girl who wouldnt open her eyes. we thought she was blind but they said she was fine. honestly, these people know nothing. a kid could be turning purple and they would say "oh they are fine!" its really frustrating. after they ate it was potty time. they all were told to take their pants off and went into the dreaded potty room. that place is horrid. the potties are just lined up in a dark, filthy room. they sat in that room for over an hour...

during potty time, i was recruited to help with the babies. i picked up one little girl that actually looked kind of healthy. she was so precious...even when she spit up on my shoulder! again, it takes a lot to gross me out now. victoria was there and i was sooo glad. shes a volunteer who actually lives in ghana that i met the last time i was in the baby place. victoria watches over all these children, making sure they are fed enough (which they arent) but she works so hard to help them. she actually saved a baby last week that everyone said was "fine" but she insisted the baby should go to the hospital because it had a terrible cough and couldnt breathe well. thank God she did because the baby had bronchitis and something else that wouldnt resulted in death if someone hadnt said something. she told us that 3 babies have died in the past 2 weeks. 3 BABIES! well, while victoria bathed the kids, my mom and i dressed and put diapers on the clean ones. the diapers are dishcloths and we have to tie them or pin them (there are only like 5 pins though) i clothed them, which means i picked a t-shirt out of a pile of itchy, hard clothes. i felt bad putting these uncomfortable clothes on these tiny babies. i played with their cute tummies though, which they loved! it amazes me how easy it is to please these kids. but after they had a shirt on, i went into the crib room and put them in one of the wooden, crappy cribs. then i had to put a net over them so mosquitos wouldnt bother them all night. by the way, it was 5:00 when i put these kids to bed. even the 3 year olds were being put to bed...it was still daylight! i have a theory that this is because the ladies dont want to deal with the kids so they do whatever they can do decrease interaction with them. 

all the littlest babies were still laying on the ground, waiting to be bathed. one baby had pooped everywhere and it had gotten on another baby, who was rolling in it. another baby had spit up on two other babies. and people wonder why these kids get sick all the time! my goodness! a lot of them didnt have pants on (no big shocker there) but my mom and i still picked rocked the ones who seemed really upset. as soon as you hold these kids, they immediately stop crying. thats why i dont understand why they just leave these babies laying there, crying...its so easy to make them happy! 

we tried to sneak a few photos here and there...one of the ladies tried to yell at us but my mom basically told her to back off. the kids love photos and she wasnt paying any attention to them..so what does it matter? i still didnt take a lot because it was so dark in there... there was one little girl who we think has cerebal palsy was just sitting in the corner or her crib for the 2 or 3 hours we were there. she had white stuff all over here and was drooling uncontrollably. she never was acknowledged once! i went over to her and squeezed her little foot and she just smiled at me! i tried to take a picture but i didnt want to use flash because i didnt want to scare her! so the picture didnt work too well...but she was adorable and needed love and attention! but i have a feeling she never, ever gets it. 

sadly, we had to leave when everyone started to doze off. i went into the potty room, where the toddlers were still sitting, naked. i said my goodbyes to addo, who just grinned at me as usual. i tried to say bye to koby but he had fallen asleep on the toilet. i told them all how much i love them and ill miss them..of course, they dont understand but i really wish they did. these wonderful, beautiful kids consume my thoughts now. it really brings me to tears to think about how no one appreciates them and loves them, and probably never will. 

well... were now back at the hotel and our air conditioning broke so we have to move rooms after i finish this. there is a cocktail party going on outside the restaurant and they are playing really loud rap music. like usher, lil wayne, 50 cent, etc. why do they like our kind of music??? we listen to such bad music in america...

tomorrow we are traveling to Togo (a country outside of ghana). its about 3 hours away and i am being forced to go against my will (i much rather hang out with the orphans) but hopefully it will be fun. frank is coming with us! hooray! hes funny so i think it might be fun. frank is in his late 20s and looks sooo much like my cousin, nic. its pretty eerie. but ill let you know how our adventure goes tomorrow!

i am really really really going to miss these kids! ah, its heartbreaking.

-helene

pictures (day six)

Pic one

these were some of the students i met when i went to Neema. they all loved having their picture taken! (especially the boys) they all have such great smiles :)

Pic Two 

i saw this lady and her baby down one of the paths. the baby is SO cute. they all carry their babies in a cloth like this..it looks really cool. 

Pic Three

these are the amazing 8 or so kids that danced for us. they were great! you can see the rest of the kids behind them... but these kids memorized like 5 dances. i was so impressed. 

currently, my mom and i are in the restaurant eating with our new friend, frank! hes really nice... and is in ghana to help people gain ownership of their land so they can get loans. its really interesting, actually. we are also talking to another man who is a photographer. hes got some great pictures... there are so many interesting people at this hotel! 

-helene

day six!

well, last night was a thanksgiving ill never forget...thats for sure! my mom and i watched legally blonde but during it, my stomach started to feel sick...i ignored it for a while but after the movie i felt terrible. i guess i ate something bad yesterday (i hope thats the issue) but i got sick all night long. its wasnt very fun...but apparently this is kinda normal for first time visitors..i want it to go away!

that fact i got sick pretty much messed up our plans for today. i was doing fine this morning, so we went to neema. wow, i dont even know where to begin. neema is right in the middle of the ghetto of accra.  just driving there, you could feel a change in the air. there was a putrid smell in the ghetto...probably because there isnt any plumbing. there was sewage everywhere. we were greeted by the school director, kofi, who was a little strange but nice. he led my mom, mike, and i down the winding dirt roads. we had to walk through a neighborhood, but everything was so close together. the paths were a couple feet in width and all i kept thinking was "i would NEVER be able to find my way around this place." i saw women emptying sewage on the walkway, children just laying in the road, goats that definitely had not been fed in a long time (how can they feed their animals when they can barely feed themselves?), girls working in musky, small huts...many of them were sewing, and houses that just had big holes in them. they hardly seemed big enough for one person, but i know that probably 5 or 6 live in them. 

we got to the school which consisted of about 5 little, run down buildings. all the kids had on little purple uniforms that did not look like they fit them. we entered a bigger room where kofi sat us down in front of about 100 kids. then the kids started to sing and dance for us, saying welcome and thank you. it was absolutely incredible! there were about 8 kids who did all the dancing and they were so good! they memorized many different dances and songs, which i could barely do. the 8 kids recited us a poem as well. i honestly can say i didnt understand them, but i thought it was great they had memorized that too. the kids at Neema are taught french and english and they sang to us in both. their french was quite good, also better than mine. i was impressed with this school, because despite the terrible facility and lack of supplies, these kids were learning and enjoying it. in the middle of a welcome song, i all of a sudden felt really sick again. i had to leave for a while and while i was getting sick, about 10 guys came up to me asking me questions! i was like "umm i cant answer you right now!! im in the middle of something!!" of course i didnt say that, i just made noises to show them i wanted to be alone. when i got back into the room, they were still dancing. then the teachers introduced themselves and we got the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the kids. then we gave them the school supplies! i walked over the kids and took out my camera and they went wild! everyone wanted their picture taken and wanted to see themselves on the screen afterwards. we took a group photo and then my mom said it was time to go so i could get back into bed... 

were in the hotel now and we didnt get to go to the orphanage. being around tons of kids with a sick stomach is probably not a good plan! but i miss koby desperately...ive just been laying in bed until now. were at the restaurant and i got onion soup broth because only soup sounds good right now! but im sure ill be better tomorrow and will get to go see my kids! i really do miss them. 

ill put picture up later :)

i hope everyones thanksgiving was great....and thank you courtney and scott for commenting! you guys are awesome and i miss you so much.

also, thank you again kathleen for raising all that money for us. and if anyone is reading that has donated money... i am so appreciative! these kids are so grateful for anything! it means a lot to me, and more importantly, them. 

-helene

pictures (day five!)

Pic one

this is my koby! i love this picture because he looks so nonchalant... but he smiled today! i was so happy!

Pic Two

this is when all the kids tried to escape. my mom had to lock the door! they are really good at working together to reach the lock..its incredible. by the way, check out nudist koby on the left

Pic Three

this is emmanuela asleep on my chest! i patted her back for literally 10 seconds and she was gone! she has some big lips :)

-helene