I'm here!

After about 24 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Accra. As promised, just outside of baggage claim there was a man in the crowd holding a sign with my name on it. He introduced himself as Quarshie and we walked toward a cab with my luggage. We arrived at the hostel, or rather ‘the accommodation’, and I can admit that I was pretty terrified that first night (don’t worry, I’m not still terrified!) My welcome pack just made it seem like I’d be greeted by a swarm of fellow volunteers staying at the hostel but when I arrived with Quarshie, there wasn't anyone in the house. It turns out I am the only person staying in my ‘girl room’ and there are just two girls in the other ‘girl room’. They were both asleep when I arrived. Quarshie did help me from dwelling on the circumstances too much when he asked me to come downstairs for a surprise. He had me sit down at the dining room table and explained that this surprise is something he does for every volunteer when they arrive, and that I would always remember it. He went to the kitchen to prepare for a few minutes and came back with two sandwiches and several bananas. The comforting gesture did help a lot – I was hungry after all of the traveling and it was really nice to talk. It certainly kept my mind from racing like it was!

The next day I met with Mercy and Gabriel for my orientation in the morning. We went through my volunteer placement as well as details like getting a cell phone, exchanging money and where to wash clothes outside. After I met with them, Quarshie took me out to shop. He’s a great person. I realize it’s part of his job to help volunteers as they adjust, but I genuinely appreciate how friendly and willing to talk he’s been. We walked to a very wide-variety market to buy a Sim card, my phone, and then credit for the phone. The process was pretty painless and definitely inexpensive. We grabbed some lunch at a place within the market and I had my first taste of banku. It’s basically fermented maize lumped into balls. It is rather slimy in texture but can be dipped into a variety of spicy sauces which does help it go down. We then took a tro-tro to Osu, where the large supermarket is. We walked around the area a bit – Osu is the ‘touristy’ part of the city so Quarshie wanted to show me some popular spots. At the supermarket – Koala – I found I would only be purchasing the basics. Imported American foods are absurdly expensive; as in no Special K Red Berries for me because it’s the equivalent of $12.00. I made out just fine though and we then took a cab to ‘The Factory’ where all of the purified water is made. We picked up four satchels of water – each the size of an ice bag you buy at the grocery store or gas station – filled with lots of smaller packets of purified water. All four cost the equivalent of just $1.50. They should last me quite a while but there are also lots of young girls and women who sell the small packets of water in baskets on the street. We returned home after The Factory and I met Misa. She’s very friendly and inquisitive and is here from Japan. For dinner, Misa and Quarshie made gari and I made a tomato sauce to go with it. Gari is similar in principle to banku – it’s served as rounded balls but it is made from cassava and is much less slimy! I definitely enjoyed the gari. As we were eating, Leah came home from work and I met her for the first time. She’s been here for 2 months and is sadly headed out soon. I went to bed that night feeling much better about things. I think I just needed to see the sunlight and the friendly smiles of Ghana.

Thursday, the first day of work, was good - definitely different than I'd thought it would be though. There are only a handful of kids at the center on a given day and the woman who runs it really heads up everything so it's just a matter of finding my niche teaching. It is also going to be a lot of primary special education instruction rather than just drama therapy because most of the kids are not in mainstream schools at all. And there's hardly any funding so there materials are lacking. Special education is quite the social issue here. There are no special education programs in the mainstream schools. Mercy (from Ikando) explained to me that a lot of the time, special needs children are either kept at home without schooling at all or left in the mainstream schools to struggle. Mrs. Dove’s program is unique and pretty progressive for Ghana. It’s going to be difficult for her to overcome a lot of the social stigma placed on special needs children but she is absolutely determined to increase an awareness and acceptance for it. She is initiating a lot of outreach in the public schools that I’m really looking forward to helping with.

And every single child here is absolutely adorable; just so beautiful. Some of them point and yell out to me "Obroni, obroni!" which literally means "white person!" And it’s not at all offensive; everyone smiles as they say it. They're literally just fascinated by my skin. I went to the local market on Wednesday and one little girl just stopped in this absurdly busy street to rub my arm. I do think there are more “obroni” around but the city is pretty large.

In terms of safety – for family/anyone who is concerned – I feel completely safe at the accomodation. We have a guard outside 24 hours and I have a lock on the door to my room. The only times it gets overwhelming is when I’m in a really large crowd...which can happen frequently...but it's nothing to feel scared over. A lot of things here are obviously just an adjustment.

Public transportation for example

- there are taxis

- and there are buses....but not many

- and there are trotros…which everyone takes

They're very cheap, and interesting. They're basically big vans with four rows of seats and people just pile in and get off at different stops. The odor inside these tro-tros is simply delightful as I’m sure you can imagine. But you can’t beat the price. I take two different tro-tros to work for the equivalent of about 70 cents. Not too shabby at all.

And one HUGE comfort…

Do you all remember my friend Gertrude from Simsbury I told you about? Well she gave me her best friend's number - Mary - she lives here in Accra. So I gave Mary a call on Wednesday night and she was absolutely adorable - just like a mother. She was really concerned that I hadn’t called her yet. Anyways, she wants to take me home with her so I can meet all of her girlfriends. She's just so sweet. So she's my Sunday morning date tomorrow.

Love from Accra like you wouldn’t believe,

Christen