I have arrived home in the good old USA! I thought it would take me longer to readjust to the daily conveniences of life in the US like a car I can drive, running water, toilets that flush, refrigerators that work and any kind of food you desire but I have jumped right into American life again without hesitation which has surprised me but also scared me a little how easy it was. When I was in Ghana I was very aware of the amount of time I was away from my family and friends, I could feel it but after seeing my family and friends over the last few days I have felt like I just saw all of them 2 weeks ago. It is a very weird feeling!
I would like to share with everyone that the tuition for 4 of my Class 6 students for one semester at the Wisdom Academy in Kitase, Ghana will be paid for through a generous gift from Jack Reed and Nicole Vulgaris, a true Christmas miracle!!! 1 semester at Wisdom costs $25.00. 1 year is $75. This will allow those students to come to school everyday. Many times if a child is late on a payment they are not allowed to go to school until payment is made, this sometimes takes days which puts the student behind in his/her studies. I had a few students this past semester that missed 3 days in a row every month when school fees were due. If anyone would like to sponsor a student at Wisdom for 1 semester or possibly a full school year please visit....www.ghanawisdom.org
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas from Wisdom Academy!!!
Merry Christmas to all our Wisdom Friends
in Ghana and the United States!
Gideon, Fati, and Madam Jennifer
Rosemary got glasses!!!
Rosemary has glasses!
A very special thanks to Carolein and
The Optical Foundation in the Netherlands.
Please search for the Optical Foundation on the web
and you can view pictures from her 9 months
working with students at the University of Cape Coast
and doing free exams on kids in the Cape.
Carolein has left Ghana, however, her work will continue
in CC with a new volunteer.
Monday, December 17, 2007
I am everyone's daughter in Ghana and I like it!
How things work in Ghana... Thought I was going on the 1pm bus to Tamale to go to Mole National Park but after finding out that I wouldn't arrive until 4am I said no thank you, got my money back and went to another bus station to hop a bus to Takoradi. There is a beach there that everyone talks about b/c an American guy opened a surf shop there and I wanted to check it out. I met a very nice Ghanaian lady named Gifty and her son Kofi in the last 30 mins of my bus ride from Accra to Takoradi. We got to talking...everyone is curious about what I am doing in Ghana...they all guess that I am Peace Corp first and then I have to explain to them that I am volunteer teaching through Ghana Wisdom. Anyway...I was talking about pictures that I wanted to develop and give to my students but that is was very expensive (about 70 cents US) she said, "Oh, I own a shop in Takoradi and we develop pics and design tee shirts, etc. Come with me to the shop and we'll get those done for you!" I swear everytime I need something done, a person appears to help me! Off to Gifty's Shop we went. She has owned it for 5 years now, her husband is a ship engineer and is currently off the coast of Scotland. He comes home every 6 months or so and has been doing this for years. You have to understand that this is normal for Ghana, many husbands and wives do not live together all the time. You do whatever you have to for your family and to survive. So after the pics it was 7:30 and Gifty said it was much too late to go to Busua Beach and said that I was welcome to stay at her home. I took her up on her offer and had a lovely time. We all had dinner together and she made me breakfast the next morning! Hard to find this in the US!!!
Saturday, December 8, 2007
All around Ghana
Where have I been in GHANA???
- Central Region - Cape Coast and Elmina
- Ashanti Region - Kumasi - 5 hours from Accra
- Takoradi - About 45 mins from Takoradi Green Turtle Lodge- ECO Lodge- no flushing toilets here!
- Busua Beach - About 45 mins from Takoradi- An American guy named Peter from California and a Ghanaian named Frankie started Ghana's first Surf Shop here 1 year ago, he just opened a restaurant a week ago. I would say it was the cleanest, most beautiful beach i saw in all of Ghana! Waves are great for beginners!
- ADA - Serene beach and beautiful!!! You can rent a paddle boat.
- Kokrobite Beach - Big Milly's
- Coco Beach
- Labadi Beach - Crazy Beach, never seen so many people in the water in one area in my life!
- Volta Region - Akosombo (Rode the Dodi Princess), Ho, Hohoe(WLI Falls)
- Accra
Specs for My Student Rosemary
Beyond the classroom...One of my students, Rosemary, has been telling me since the first week of school that her eyes "pain" her. Sometimes I enter the classroom in the morning to find Rosemary with her head down on the desk in tears. I asked her if her vision is blurry when she looks at reading close or far away. She said when she looks at something far away it is blurry. I thought there must be something I can do about her problem while I am here. This is where my now dear friend from the Netherlands, Carolein, comes to save the day! As I mentioned in a previous blog, Carolein is working for The Optical Foundation in Cape Coast giving free eye exams and fitting children with glasses for a very low cost, between $1-4 US. She has brought hundreds of frames with her from the Netherlands and she found a place in OSU to make lenses at a discounted price. She told me that if I could take Rosemary to a doctor and get a prescription then she would submit the prescription to the shop she is dealing with and get Rosemary the glasses she needs. Perfect! On my way into Accra I always pass by The Emmanuel Eye Center in East Legon so I thought we would try there. Ken, the principal of Wisdom, was very supportive about this idea and asked Rosemary's mother if I could take her daughter to Accra for the day and she said yes! This woman is trusting me, the Obruni to put her 13 daughter onto a TRO and take her to Accra for the day, wow! Let me tell you about this mission...
8:30am - Stand on road in Kitase in the blazin sun waiting for a tro to stop
9:30am - All tros driving by are full (this is common) A tro finally stops.
11:00 - Arrive at the Emmanuel Eye Center. Hit lots of traffic on the way in.
We check in and pay $5. I tell the woman several times that we are here for a prescription for Rosemary to get glasses and she guarantees me that I will leave today with the prescription in hand.
11-1:30 - Wait 2.5 hours to be seen by the eye doctor. Everyone sits in plastic chairs in rows in order and when a person gets up to have their exam, everyone stands up and moves down the line.
1:30 - Rosemary is finally seen and doctor says from what he can see her eyes are fine, this took about 5 minutes.
1:40 - Leave the exam room and I ask about the prescription. A woman informs me that Rosemary needs to be seen again by a different doctor which will cost more money and the eyes need to be dilated. Please keep in mind that I do not wear glasses and know nothing about the process! Oh, she says, and we do not dialate the eyes in the afternoon so you will have to come back tomorrow! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Are you serious???? I explained to the woman that it was very difficult for us to make the journey there today and I told her that I was told a few hours ago that I would indeed leave with a prescription. I told her that I was very upset about this. The doctor got involved and said come back in the AM and he would not charge us. Well that helps a little but this means that I would miss another teaching day!
2:00 - I take Rosemary to the OSU food court for chicken and rice. She really liked having lunch in Accra.
2:30 - Rosemary is in the Computer Club and I wanted her to see a nice Internet Cafe that is actually fast. She loved this!
5:00 - Get to 37 to catch TRO, there are a million people there to do the same thing, people will push and shove to get on the TRO and I will not do this
6:00 - Finally catch TRO from 37 and hit traffic on the way back to Kitase
7:45 - Arrive in Kitase, Ken makes dinner for both of us. Rosemary spends the night at my house because it is too late for her to go home and we are leaving in the AM for the eye center. I have 2 twin beds in my room so this worked out great!
Next day, back to Eye Center, everything went fine and Rosemary now has her glasses! Red frames, she loves them and is the only student at Wisdom to have glasses, she wears them proudly!!! Thank you Carolein!!!
8:30am - Stand on road in Kitase in the blazin sun waiting for a tro to stop
9:30am - All tros driving by are full (this is common) A tro finally stops.
11:00 - Arrive at the Emmanuel Eye Center. Hit lots of traffic on the way in.
We check in and pay $5. I tell the woman several times that we are here for a prescription for Rosemary to get glasses and she guarantees me that I will leave today with the prescription in hand.
11-1:30 - Wait 2.5 hours to be seen by the eye doctor. Everyone sits in plastic chairs in rows in order and when a person gets up to have their exam, everyone stands up and moves down the line.
1:30 - Rosemary is finally seen and doctor says from what he can see her eyes are fine, this took about 5 minutes.
1:40 - Leave the exam room and I ask about the prescription. A woman informs me that Rosemary needs to be seen again by a different doctor which will cost more money and the eyes need to be dilated. Please keep in mind that I do not wear glasses and know nothing about the process! Oh, she says, and we do not dialate the eyes in the afternoon so you will have to come back tomorrow! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Are you serious???? I explained to the woman that it was very difficult for us to make the journey there today and I told her that I was told a few hours ago that I would indeed leave with a prescription. I told her that I was very upset about this. The doctor got involved and said come back in the AM and he would not charge us. Well that helps a little but this means that I would miss another teaching day!
2:00 - I take Rosemary to the OSU food court for chicken and rice. She really liked having lunch in Accra.
2:30 - Rosemary is in the Computer Club and I wanted her to see a nice Internet Cafe that is actually fast. She loved this!
5:00 - Get to 37 to catch TRO, there are a million people there to do the same thing, people will push and shove to get on the TRO and I will not do this
6:00 - Finally catch TRO from 37 and hit traffic on the way back to Kitase
7:45 - Arrive in Kitase, Ken makes dinner for both of us. Rosemary spends the night at my house because it is too late for her to go home and we are leaving in the AM for the eye center. I have 2 twin beds in my room so this worked out great!
Next day, back to Eye Center, everything went fine and Rosemary now has her glasses! Red frames, she loves them and is the only student at Wisdom to have glasses, she wears them proudly!!! Thank you Carolein!!!
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