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

day five

wow thanks for commenting and becoming "followers"everyone! you have no idea how much it means to me. 

and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! i honestly forgot..until my mom reminded me. i hope everyone eats a lot and gets to hang out with lots of family! good luck with erics gal melissa! (even though hes MINE!) 

i should have mentioned this earlier but my new name is Aduawa. thats what everyone calls me here...janet, miss vivian, the kids, mike, etc... Aduawa is the name for a girl born on a monday. everyone here has a name, and then a name for the day of the week they were born on. my moms is Ama because she was born on a saturday. Kofi is the name for a boy born on a friday. but for some reason, no one can say "helene" here..they say "helene" and i hate that name...so i just introduce myself as Aduawa now. 

so today started off with my mom and i going to some lunch place so she could meet an artist and interview him. it was sooooooo hot. and she said "only 30 minutes honey" which of course is over an hour in mom time... (my prediction was correct) but i just read my depressing book "The Shack" 

we went straight to the orphanage after that. we brought the school supplies...yay! though the kids we take care of dont have school time. they just run around for like 6 hours. no joke. we walked into our room (it was supposed to be nap time) and everyone was screaming and crying. EVERYONE. there were also a couple ladies there giving a few kids pills. i dont know what for though...some kids had purple marker on their fingernail and miss vivian said those get the medicine. i realized it was mostly the kids who have homes... :( i dont know what was going on today but everyone was so upset. the kids who are normally angels were crying and hitting. a couple of girls came up to me doing the signal for water (they pinch their fingers together and hold their hand to their mouth) so i gave them some water...and of course then everyone wanted water. big mistake! then about 15 kids came up to me needing to go potty. it was kiosk. kids were peeing everywhere... koby put one of the toilet buckets on his head... kids were running around naked. it was crazy!! after most of them were done, i saw emmanuela crying in the corner. she had peed everywhere, soaking her dress. i changed her into panties that were way too big (but thats all they had) and then a tiny t-shirt. she still smelled sooo bad. but she kept following me...so i finally sat down and held her until she fell asleep on my chest. oh, and then she peed again. on me. LOVELY. 

meanwhile, koby decided to be a nudist today. he had on his little button down shirt but no pants. i thought, surely he has on underwear under there..haha NOPE! he lifted up his shirt every 20 seconds to reveal his jewels. the only underwear left were these little bloomers do i chased him around (literally) trying to get him to put panties on. he was giggling and flashing kids...it was pretty funny. finally i got them on but of course two seconds later they were off again..and on his head. then he came up to me trying to get me to hold him! yah right! i told him he needed underwear for that. so he just held on to my leg. great!!! oh how i love little koby. he is so precious...and naked!!

miss vivian left us. she wasnt feeling well and left two white women in room of 30 children. they knew they could misbehave when miss vivian left... and they did. kids were climbing on everything, stealing food, hitting each other, hitting us! one boy decided to pick on my addo. big mistake!! addo, for those who dont know, is the severely autistic boy. all he did today was sit and try to tie his shoe. the ENTIRE time. he got up once to get a cookie. thats it. he was so determined...it was adorable... he never did it but who cares? but this boy started to hit him and kick his back. oooooohhhhh boy i got mad. its horrible to say i got mad at an orphan, but he was laughing and hitting the defenseless kid! my mom tried to get him to stop too. these kids DONT listen. they do whatever they want. (unless miss vivian tells them otherwise) ive never been so frustrated in my life. finally my mom told me it was time to go. i really needed to leave before i blew up at a little kid... its not even the orphans that are the rude ones! its the ones who have homes! absolutely ridiculous!!!

we left and went to lunch at "frankies" i ordered a turkey and cheese sandwich but the chef refused to make it because they only had a "ham and cheese" on the menu. (i got a turkey and cheese sandwich at the same place 2 days ago) so i ended up with a cheese sandwich. haha thats all i eat here! and olives! then we walked around downtown ghana. everyone kept stopping us asking us to look at their shop or buy something...it became overwhelming quite fast. again, i got frustrated. maybe i just have no patience today. but downtown there was a political parade going on. there were lots of people...a lot of guys were playing the trombone and rihanna was playing (the song umbrella!) it was pretty interesting. everyone was dancing and singing . some girl stopped and handed me a Hepatitis B flyer. 

when we got back to the hotel, we saw a guy wearing a nduom shirt. nduom is the man running for president that owns this hotel. my mom asked about t-shirts and he just gave us some! he came to our hotel last night for salsa night...he walked right by me! it was so cool. an african celebrity! he even made up a dance move that means "change" he said. (its the symbol for traveling in basketball) it was really funny! 

the african soap operas here are terrible. i thought the ones in the USA were bad... but the people have no emotion here! one girl was talking to he auntie and said in a completely monotonous way "auntie, i am HIV positive" and her aunt goes "thats not good" it shouldnt be funny but it was because they are such bad actors.... 

tomorrow im going to Neema, a school primarily for muslim african children. there isnt a sewage system there...and we have to walk down tons of dirt paths to get there. but we are bringing them school supplies because they get absolutely nothing. then well go to the orphanage of course! 

well, i smell like baby urine and something else (not sure what!) so taking a shower (which will probably be cold...) is something to be thankful for! for sure!!!

have a wonderful thanksgiving everyone! thank you so much for reading. it means so much to me!

-helene

Pictures (day four)

Pic One

this is what we saw when we walked in..everyone was asleep just sprawled out everywhere. it was really cute...but kinda depressing that they have to lay on the nasty floor 

Pic Two

this is judith (she has a home) and she loves to kiss!! shes kinda like a mom...she loves to touch your face and pat your back. please excuse my sweatiness! 

Pic Three

this is all of us (minus janet because she took the picture) these arent our kids but they are the 5 year olds i believe..everyone was so grateful! 

Pic Four

this is addo...the greatest kid on this planet! he was like this the entire time he colored. it seriously made my day. 

i just had a creepy guy come up to me and ask me to dance!! but besides that we talked about why i was here and when i told him he said "are you on one of those church things" and i said "no just me and my mom" and he said "good, all us africans hate those. they never really help" i was pretty shocked...it wouldve been pretty awkward if i was on a mission trip though. 

-helene

day four

there is currently a salsa party going on at my hotel...no joke! every wednesday, our hotel holds a salsa dance and tons of teenagers come to just dance! its really interesting to watch... i see a few white boys! and many african ones, obviously. who knows...maybe ill meet my husband here! (just kidding dad)

today was incredible. we first went to the artists alliance which is this huge building of independent african artists. its absolutely beautiful (and hot because they did not invest in air conditioning)...my mom interviewed an artists while i looked around and read my 2nd book of the trip! hooray! after she finished we picked out some presents and went to our orphanage! BEST PART!!!

we brought all the supplies we bought yesterday to them today. miss vivian started dancing and singing when she saw the mops and bowls we bought. she was sooo grateful. miss janet and miss vivian kept saying "God bless you" and "thank you soooo much!" it really made me feel like this is all paying off. their faces were priceless. we also got miss vivians lock fixed because before, there wasnt a handle on the outside of the door. thats how the kids escaped yesterday...haha...but all the kids jumped up and down when they saw everything. miss janet gathered everything and a few classrooms of kids to take a picture. it was so cute! everything waved at the camera and kept saying thank you. i feel like these  kids havent had anything new in a very long time...

our classroom was pretty quiet because it was naptime. so many kids were asleep (including my koby!) of course there were a few that stayed awake..so we were greeted! :) when kids started to wake up, i was in charge of potty duty. (the worst thing on this planet) little boys were pulling out their you-know-whats waiting for me to give them a bowl to pee in. (still want little boys melissa?) but they were still adorable. all the waste is emptied into a bucket which is poured out maybe once a day or so. its pretty gross. but then everyone just ran around and i of course held koby because he was crying (ive noticed he never smiles, he just shuts up). i took out my camera and everyone swarmed me. they point at themselves saying "me me me!" and then i take a picture of them..then they try and grab the camera and say "me me me" when i show them, they giggle and say "thats me!!!" i did that for about 15 kids. they love having their picture taken...i have so many wonderful individual pictures of kids. they just stare up at you when you snap a photo. its how they get attention..oh, and besides taking off their shoes for attention, a few of the little boys have started taking off their clothes. then they walk up to me or my mom asking us to button their shirts or zip their pants...of course we cant refuse because thatd be just wrong!

update on salsa dancing: they are all in a circle now, paired up and moving around the circle. i wish we did this in wilmington!!!!! it looks like so much fun!

but then miss vivian let the kids go in the courtyard (which is just a open space of brick...) i thought she was crazy until i figured out what was happening. all the kids were there and a few minutes later, a bus arrived full of boys (and a couple girls) around my age. they had crayons and paper and started giving each kid one of each. they went crazy!!!! i later found out these teens go to an international school in ghana..there are kids from about 56 different countries that go there (how cool is that???) they were all very nice and had nice accents! i talked to a couple boys my age and introduced them to a few of my kids (like addo! i love addo!! oh and hes the one whos autistic) addo didnt really understand what was going on so i picked him up and pushed through the crowd to get a crayon and piece of paper. when he sat down he was SO happy. he just smiled and drew me a nice picture of blue scribbles which im keeping forever. he is by the far the sweetest boy at the school (really!) but there is almost no chance he will be adopted...most people wont adopt someone who needs extra attention (how depressing...) oh and while this was all going on my mom was out with miss janet paying the electricity bill! they didnt pay for the past two months so we caught them up with some of the money we raised. i cant believe these kids were living with no electricity... geez!

kids with families slowly began to get picked up... and so miss vivian called me over. she said to pick up koby and ama (not our ama, our ama got adopted...its too sad to talk about) and take them to the "house" i had no idea what she was talking about so a 5 year old little boy showed me. i was SHOCKED when i walked into this place. all the babies were in there..and they were the size of like half my arm. they were the tinest babies i have ever seen. also, i saw many mentally challenged kids in cribs just sitting and staring ahead. when i came up to them and held their hands they immediately smiled and started laughing. i brought koby to a lady named "messy" who wasnt very nice... she wouldnt let me take pictures either...(im going to sneak later) but honestly, i doubt anyone would want to see them. they are so terrible..the facility that is. messy pointed me to a room and i let go of koby, who seemed to know what he was doing. all of my kids that are orphans were in this room, naked. they were all sitting on little toilets and were left to sit there for who knows long .. in order to get all the pee and stuff out so they wouldnt wet their cribs. i was there for about 45 minutes and they were inthat room the whole time. i saw addo and when i stroked his arm he lit up and smiled and drooled everywhere..hes so precious... 

i met a white volunteer who has been helping Osu for about 4 years. she told me the kids dont get fed a lot of the time..i think the only food the orphans get is lunch. one baby she was holding had been at the hospital all day. they hadent fed him once. in fact, he hadent eaten since 9am and it was 2pm. A BABY! plus he was already sick. when the lady insisted on getting 2 bottles for the hungry baby, the lady refused and said only one. i held a little girl that was so small...but her head was huge. it was weighing her down, literally. when i put her down she started to cry but it was like she couldnt...she started to cough and then stopped crying because it looked like it was hurting her. i brought my mom to this place and she was disgusted. i thought the school was bad but walking into the true orphanage hit me so hard. these kids are so strong and so many of them have no hope, like addo and ama who has bumps all over her skin. what happens to them? they just have to rot at this horrible place... it was truly sickening. 

we left after this but im going back there everyday to hold some babies. i dont think they ever get held...but anyways we came back to the hotel and ate lunch there. there was some employee meeting going on in the room which was interesting. they were all complaining about guests (one said something about an omelette...thats probably about me...haha) but for the first time this trip...i got a grilled cheese made that was perfect!! im still so happy about that. 

they are doing the cha cha slide at the dance party...awesome.

but then my mom and i watched a depressing movie and im now here blogging and observing what african teenagers do on wednesday nights. i honestly think i may not be able to leave here. (but i do miss you melis!!! and daddy of course!) 

oh and my mom and i went out because we were bored. we walked around the block at night (bad idea) and i think about 4 guys said creepy things. ew.... but i got chocolate ice cream, so i was content. 

tomorrow we are doing the same stuff...my mom has an interview and then were going to the orphanage. 

one more thing- our huge taxi driver mike (who looks like big on "rob and big") had his cell phone go off today..whats his ringtone??? celine dion. no joke.

-helene

pictures (day three)

Pic one

this is a little boy we like to call "mr. cry" because he seriously cries 24/7. he stopped for a few minutes today to sleep but of course as soon as a kid stepped on him, he was back at it. but he is very cute!!

Pic two

this is koby being dragged by this evil little girl. she walked around hitting everyone and then would act innocent when miss vivian would yell at her. ironically, her name is "blessing" (her parents obviously misinterpreted her personality...) 

Pic three

all the kids sleep on mats...the boy in this photo is autistic/developmentally disabled. hes the one i described earlier in the blog (the one who has a specific way of eating) and the girl is one of the twins! they all just lay wherever...sometimes on top of one another! 

-helene

Day Three

you might want to read day two first...considering day two and three were both posted on the same day. (i hate the internet here! it brings out the worst in me) 

today we woke up at about 8 to get the orphanage around 9. when we got there, we immediately went to miss vivians room. i thought the kids would be learning or doing some sort of class time but instead everyone was just running around. the only learning that happened today was when miss vivian would yell out the numbers 1-10 or the ABCs (A-E) and the kids would yell that number or letter back. it didnt seem very productive...but a few kids got the hang of it. when we walked into the room, i didnt recognize any of the kids at first. everyone had switched shoes, undershirts, etc. i didnt see koby at first  (i was looking for his pink tank top) but then found him a few seconds later wearing a navy shirt and shorts that were falling off his body. he ran to me and i held him for a while. again, when i put him down he would throw a fit and hit the other kids i was paying attention to. everyone just did what they wanted for a while until it was "snack" time, which consists of each child getting 2 crackers. then they get a ration of water and have to pee again. this is the WORST part. we have to get the little potty buckets out and hold them for everyone. it smells terrible... and the boys miss sometimes (ew!) i definitely saw more little boy parts today than ive seen in my entire life. 

the most dramatic thing that happened today was that the kids escaped- and im not exaggerating. they unlocked the door and about 10 kids just ran out into the courtyard. i had to block the door and keep the rest in while my mom ran around the school locating the escapists. (miss vivian wasnt there at the time. this would have never happened if she was because keeps them in order, unlike us!!) it was crazy though...kids were running everywhere, everyone was crying and im sure i stepped on a few kids while i was trying to push them inside. basically, we learned to watch the door at all times.

then it was lunch! everyone becomes patient when food is involved. they all sit on the floor staring at miss vivian, waiting for her to notice them. i was ordered to feed a little girl that had brought her own lunch. the kids who have homes bring fruit and chicken...food that actually looks edible. the orphans are stuck with the mystery mush. but they are all very grateful... one boy who is definitely autistic (and is by far the nicest, cutest, sweetest kid there) smiles SO much when he gets food. he can barely eat on his own but wont let anyone help him. he puts rice in his mouth, sucks on it for a while, and then lifts his head back to let it slide down. its like he cant chew or something...but its pretty depressing to watch... and he smiles the whole time while hes doing it! i learned my little koby is a troublemaker. he walked around shoving his hands in the girls' bowls and drinking everyones water. they all had water after this which meant more peeing (ugh...) but i was the water giver today which was not a good idea. the kids would come back for seconds and i couldnt refuse. miss vivian eventually yelled at me so i had to be stricter. 

koby actually ended up missing his face completely when he got his water. he soaked his clothes and kept hugging me (so i got soaking wet as well...) i had to go into the leftover clothes bin and pick out some new underwear (that was wayyyy to big) a new shirt and some shorts. the shorts ended up coming off because he took one step and they fell to his ankles. 

after water time came nap...more kids slept today actually. but two boys, james and joel, would not stop throwing shoes and hitting other kids. they were terrible!!! and they both have homes...i dont get it! i held emmanuela again but she didnt sleep this time. she just stared ahead and hit koby whenever he tried to come sit with me. she left at some point and koby of course came back. i held him until he fell asleep (which was a miracle!) and then put him on the floor with the rest. while i hold him, his underwear was partially off and my mom kept laughing because his man parts were on my leg. (gross....) i keep trying to block that out of my mind. my mom held "big head" (her favorite for some reason) until he dozed off. i truly love all the kids there but some are just so devious. 

we went to shoprite again, (a mini walmart but without the weird rednecks) and bought more things for the orphanage. we found south african olives as well, which i have decided to live off of. i was starving so i broke off a piece of bread we were going to buy...and some guard lady saw me and then followed us around the entire store thinking we might steal the loaf of bread. so dumb! but we bought lots of mops, brooms, etc. when we were walking out of the store, i was holding 10 mops and brooms, which drew MORE attention to me besides that fact im a small white girl in africa. it was interesting... 

and now were home...weve had 2 brownouts today and im sure there will be more. im eating dinner with my mom right now and i tried to order a toasted cheese sandwich, which apparently means an omelette here. and then they came back and gave me a cheese sandwich with tomato and mayo! i feel like the pickiest eater here!!

and currently our guard is listening to the new pink song "so what" and singing. hahaha it still amazes me that they actually like our music!!

many of the taxis here have stickers on the back window that say things like "jesus is life" or "my God" or "jesus never fails" im not sure why, but its kinda cool.

also, the way they vote here is they go to their local police station, get a sheet of paper which has all the runners names on it...and they put a thumb print on the one they want. isnt that weird? i thought it was so interesting.... 

and if your reading this kathleen, thank you SO much for raising all that money. they are so grateful! i wish you had seen janets face when we told her to make a list of the things she needs! i really really appreciate it!

until tomorrow!

-helene

Pictures (Day two)

Pic One

i held this girl for a loooong time. she love the camera and i believe she has a twin sister.. still havent learned her name!

Pic Two

this is my best friend koby. hes become my little favorite (thats terrible to say) hes just so small and whiny and i love him!!!

Pic Three

this just shows how they swarm you. i loved meeting all of them...but they got sort of violent!

Pic Four

this little girl smiled all the time! she has earrings..so she has a home. also, shes missing her front teeth which means they've rotted :( but shes so beautiful, very photogenic! 

-helene

Day Two (finally)

wow, i dont even know where to begin! we arrived at the orphanage aroung 10:30 a.m. after going through lots of traffic. its strange how much there is. there are very few traffic lights..people just go where they want and hopefully dont run into another car. but it seems that every driver here has an amazing reaction time (kinda like me, right melissa?) our driver, mike, stops RIGHT before he hits another car. they take left turns on red and some drivers even go on the wrong side of the road...weird! whenever we would stop, tons of children, men, and women would stick their hands in the window or pund on the car trying to sell us things. we gave candy to the little ones but the adults were just kinda scary. actually, we did give a few lollipops to a woman in a wheelchair. that broke my heart a little... but i kept track of all the strange items they tried to sell on the road. they were: jumper cables, computer cords, bras!!!!, drinks, sponges, soccer balls, belts, flags, maps, shoes, bracelets, banana chips,bread, toilet paper (ew), tweezers, etc. why anyone would buy a bra on the ride of the road is a mystery to me. 

anyways, we arrived at the orphanage and it was super quiet, meaning everyone was in class. i met the director of the younger kids named janet. she was extremely friendly and led me to a class of 1st graders (i think) to help out and observe. most of them were well behaved. they were practicing how to write "he is going" some kids were perfect writers, even better than myself (and my grandma for sure!!!), but others..such as a little boy i helped...couldnt even writer the letter "a" i held his hand trying to get him to just watch how i did it. but as soon as i let go he'd try (and fail) and then hit another kid. eventually, my mom came to get me to go to the younger kids and i was grateful.

the younger kids (3 and younger i believe) were having lunch and toilet time when we arrived. we walked in and sat with them (they looked adorable in their uniforms). by the way, they wear uniforms during the weekdays and random clothes on the weekends. i dont know where they get the uniforms but they are so cute. miss vivian, who watches them during this time, was passing out some kid of mush for them to eat. it looked like rice and some gross-smelling sauce. but they devoured it...one kid even walked around the room sticking his hand in other peoples bowls (until miss vivian yelled at him). one little girl sat in my lap while she ate. she had bumps all over her face and the whites of her eyes were yellowish. she kind of just stared in front of her. she would open her mouth when i tried to feed her but it took her forever to chew. then, my mom and i were called to pass out water. they line up to get half a cup of water. i shouldnt even say they line up because it was more of a "who can grab on helenes leg the most" when they finished each child politely handed the cup back. the same child who stole food from other people went around sipping peoples water. maybe he was just extra extra hungry AND thirsty!

after water time everyone went CRAZY. kids were running everywhere, children were hanging all over me. when i sat down, about 7 kids would fight to sit on my lap or touch my hair/face.  one little boy became my shadow for the day. wherever i went, he went. his name is koby (koh-bay) and he was wearing an enormous shirt that was hanging off his shoulder. his shorts almost touched the ground and his underwear was in a bunch around his ankle. he looked so young and seemed kind of out-of-it.  (like many of them). whenever i put him down or diverted my attention to another child...he screamed and cried until i touched him again. my mom had the same problem with a little boy we call "big head" because we cant remember his name. but he does have a very large head...and there was definitely sometime wrong with him. we learned from vivian that the children who have hair or earrings have families. they just come to the home for school. that made me happy because a few beautiful girls we wearing earrings. you could honestly tell though. the ones who had homes got better food from home and were quieter (well, some of them). they were also MUCH cleaner. one girl, judith, was absolutely wonderful. she kept touching my hair and playing with my bobby pins. she would touch her face and then mine..she seemed amazed to find out we feel the same and have the same features. they also all played with my necklace. (actually, they kept choking me) all of my shiny silver was fascinating to them. it was pretty cute :) 

next came potty time. they have little buckets and each kid squats in one and pees. it smelled really bad afterwards, and each kid would come up to my mom and i asking us to pull up their panties. some of the boys were wearing panties with butterflies on them or had shoes that were pink. everyone just kind of switched shoes. as long as they fit, then who cares! another strange thing was that in order to get attention, they would take off their shoes and ask you to put them back on. koby must have asked me 100000 times. each child smelled really bad and had stuff come out of their nose. then they would rub on you and so i can tell you right now that i did not smell nice leaving the home. on kid even peed a little on me. lovely!!!

next was nap time. but actually, about 5 kids napped and the rest ran around hitting each other, throwing shoes, or hanging on my mom and i. i sat down and had my new BFF koby come sit on me...then about 10 other kids came but koby would slap them away or cry. sometimes he took his shoe off and threw it at the other kids. haha thats what im talking about! a protective man! (just kidding) but eventually i ended up with a darling little girl named emmanuela in my arms. she fell right asleep and i just cradled her making sure other kids didnt bother her (koby!!!0 kids were jumping on her, hitting and screaming, but she stayed dead asleep. she didnt even flinch. i guess they are all used to the noise...i saw one boy sit on a sleeping girl and the girl just rolled over...still sleeping!

we eventually had to leave...(so sad!) but were going back tomorrow for the whole day. 9am-3pm (so 4am-10am wilmington time, crazy!) i cant wait to get to know them individually. though im sure itll be so hard to leave them...

afterwards, we went to the open market which was SO claustrophobic. it took over an hour to get parking and then mike led us through winding pathways of people and shops. people were selling random things again...and everyone stared at us. all the guys said "ey white lady" or "ey zuzu" (i dont know what that means, which is kinda scary) we had to pick up some things for the orphanage like mats, spoons, bowls, ... so we got all that then left (YAY!). i didnt like the open market that much because no one was nice, they just wanted you to buy something. i also got extremely dizzy from not eating and being dehydrated. we got lunch after this which was delicious....then we went to a silver store. we met a lebanese lady (random) who owned the store. she had told us that one day in 2002 bill clinton had just waltzed into her store. she said he was so nice and she could "feel his heart" whatever that means. nonetheless, she was still a cute little old lady :) 

a few observations: 

everyone here listens to rap music. like nelly, beyonce... the guy who guards our hotel listens to spice girls. (haha!) i walked into a store and they had "lollipop" blasting. who wouldve known?

the ghanian honk at EVERYTHING. mike honks for no reason sometimes. maybe thats their way of keeping the streets safe considering there are few stop lights. 

diet coke is called "coca light" here. it tastes funny...and has calories! lame!

and that whole "you lose weight when you go to africa" is not true! iver eaten more here than i do in the states. they have some good bread here...youd love it marigny!

people hand wash their laundry and then lay it on the lawn to dry. i dont really understand that because wouldnt it just get dirty again? oh well. we have to wash our stuff too, which is definitely need considering i was smothered by 3-year old urine and snot today. 

well, i just had to retype this because everything here doesnt work. i actually wrote this yesterday, so hopefully i can write about what actually happened TODAY. the pics are from yesterday too! hopefully there wont be a brown out tonight :)

-helene

Problem!

the internet here is HORRIBLE. i spent 4 hours trying to fix everything last night..i typed a whole thing and then we had a brown out (no electricity) then all the water turned off. it was lovely. hopefully well get to work soon so i can update everything. 

ill try!!

-helene

A few Pictures (day one)

Pic One

a funny boy i met! loved having his pic taken

Pic Two

the beautiful naked baby girl..she was so shy!

Pic Three

a little girl (i think!) who was fascinated by my camera. she just stood and stared trying to figure out what i was doing. when i showed her the picture, she was shocked to see herself. she was 

these pictures take FOREVER to download.. so ill put a few up each day! 

-helene :)

Day One

hey everyone, we made it safely to Accra at about 8:30 this morning (3:30 Wilmington time).... our 10 hour flight was interesting to say the least. there was a screaming baby that sat next to us along with a guy who kept showing the girl sitting next to him a porn magazine. (creepy!) there was a lot more turbulence than i expected-i was actually pretty scared at some points. but we made it here and arrived at our hotel, which is nicer than i thought it would be. 

a boy named richard is our doorman..he is extremely friendly and came to our door like 3 times to check on us (i have no idea why..) but anyways, we have a taxi driver named mike who is HUGE because my mom believes no one will mess with a huge ghanian man (so true!) he is really sweet and took us to a few places today. we went to an african "mall" where we bought $250 worth of school supplies. we bought 192 booklets...more than 20 crayons...tons of scissors, etc. the checkout lady was obviously aggravated, especially when she had to count 192 booklets out.

but honestly, at this point, ghana was not what i had expected. it seemed less poverty stricken than i thought. also, everyone seemed to be fully clothed and healthy. we had to gone to a pizza place and met a beautiful woman named diana (everyone here has american names!) but they also have a name for the day of the week they were born on. like a mans name was "koffi" because he was born on a friday. koffi was extremely nice by the way. i met him at a market, where he yelled "what up gal!" and proceeded to hug and hit knuckles with me. 

it wasnt until the market that i actually saw ghanas true colors. naturally, my mom and i wanted to do some shopping. we went into this maze-like market that smelt like BO and sweat. everyone there was jumping out at me bringing out jewelry and paintings, begging me to buy something. everything there was beautiful but i was so overwhelmed that i had to walk to some open space..which led me to a wall with a mountain of trash behind it. kids were playing in the trash and a grown woman was just standing there urinating like it was no big deal. i saw kids who were SO skinny and many of them were missing limbs...or were almost naked. mike told me to keep my distance because they will steal anything they see. all of them wanted a few minutes of attention though, many stopped to try and get me to take a photo of them. i had lots of boys swarm me saying "Ey gal!! what up gal!" apparently a white girl their age isnt a very common site. 

we met a man along the way that became our market tour guide almost. he was slightly annoying but my mom, mike, and i just followed him while he tried to get us to buy certain things. (my mom gave in and bought 2  statues!) i mostly wandered away which freaked my mom out but there was so much to see! there were men making drums out of goat fur. men carving bone and sanding masks...everyone looked so tired and surprised to see me. lots of children came up to me saying hey and smiling. most of them were carrying baskets on their head (i could never do that...!) but our market tour guide led us to a little area full of huts and people just laying wherever they could..while my mom bartered with him, i talked to a man that looked about 18 but was over 30! he was wearing a fulani hat from north of ghana into nigeria. he said he had been wearing it for years and it brought him good luck. when i told him i was from north carolina he told me his girlfriend lived there...when i asked where he said he didnt know. obviously he was lying to get me into his shop (they all do, its really funny actually) but i played along. he told me to try fufu, this nasty paste-sauce that hardly seems edible. a lady was actually right next to us making some on a open fire. her naked one year old girl clung to her side (she was SO beautiful!) but when i reached out to say hello the baby ran away screaming (usually the kids are more than happy to get attention) it was strange! 

but after the market adventure my mom and i ended up back here at the hotel. were both exhausted and disgusting (its over 90 degrees here...and humid...and smelly...) 

the hotel were staying in is owned my a man running for president here. the election is December 7th and out of the three people we talked to about it, they each said someone different was going to win. itll be interesting to see who wins. 

tomorrow we go to the orphanage! ill write back then. sorry this was so long, there just was a lot to say! :) i hope you can see the pictures i post as well! (miss you melissa!!)

-helene