Snapshot of "Home"

Mom asked for a description of Hohoe so I'll try to describe it a little before I type up my last few journal entries for you.

On the map of Ghana, Hohoe is in the same font as the capital city Accra. But Hohoe is to Accra as New Castle is to Philadelphia. I'm not sure what to compare it to as far as size is because I see the same parts of Hohoe everyday and on the off occasion I venture down a different street I can't be sure if it is still considered part of Hohoe. I would estimate that the entire "city" would fit inside Great Valley school district. It's pretty tiny, I think. There are no big buildings really, except for a few government buildings, the electric company, a few randomly placed hotels, and this giant pink house adjacent to the "park" where the kids play football that I think is used by missionaries or something. CCS sometimes uses it for meetings when the other house comes down. The normal architecture here is all single story. Families tend to live in compounds with houses forming a square around a dirt courtyard where they cook, wash and dry clothes, and where we march through late at night trying to find a shortcut home from Boondocks. Normally you can't see this courtyards from the main street, which is lined with businesses, shops, hairdressers, seamstresses, witch doctors, photographers, and bars. The buildings themselves are basically shacks, reminiscent of what one might find on a boardwalk somewhere. The roads in Hohoe are not paved, which is odd because there are smaller towns surrounding that do have paved roads. We've asked about this and people have made vague references to it being political, but other than that there doesn't seem to be any real reason. As it is, there are potholes everywhere - the baby goats like to sleep in them, and huge puddles which can be treacherous late at night, especially if you've forgotten your flashlight. I usually do.
Everything in Hohoe is within walking distance though I've yet to walk all the way from House A to House B as it is a bit of a trek. Normally I'll walk up to Miss Ghana (a hideous golden statue in the center of town) and catch a cab. House A, where I stay, is right on the outskirts of town and we don't have to go far to get a bite to eat or do a bit of shopping. Occasionally I walk up to the Barkley's which I would estimate takes me anywhere from twenty to forty minutes depending on how many people stop me on the way to ask me my name, where I am from, will I give them anything. Barkley's is the only bank that exchanges American dollars and has an ATM that takes visa. Actually, I'm not sure about the ATM bit but it's still the only bank I've used.
House B is sort of out of the way, but it's beautiful out there and I've seen a pretty sunset or two out that way. You also get a great view of the mountains out there. A walk down a road that few cabbies are willing to drive down gets you to Boondocks where we eat pizza and chips and banku and fish and anything else we're willing to wait at least an hour for. I think my new favorite place to hang out is the Virgin Lips, though I've only been there once. It's closer to our house, quiet, peaceful. I don't know if they serve food though, since we went there after dinner.
Home Base A is actually two houses, the main one inside the gate where most people sleep, where we all eat and hang out on the couches. My room is in the other house, added like an afterthought, that has three or four rooms I think, all of which are about the size of a cubby and contain two bunkbeds each, a fan, and some shelves. Outside of showering, sleeping, and lesson-planning, I spend very little time inside this house. We (the volunteers, Elly, as well as a number of neighborhood kids) do spend a lot of time on the porch of this house. Plugging in an iPod to a cheap set of speakers we basically sit about and talk about nothing, occasionally pulling out some crayons and paper for the younger kids. It's funny to see people sitting on our porch when I leave for placement in the morning and to find them still there when I come home for lunch. I ask them if they get bored but I guess there isn't much else to do when you're young, out of school, and out of work. They're fun kids though and we enjoy their company.

That was a longer description than I had intended. It's probably poorly written too. I haven't been getting much sleep lately. No matter how late I go to bed I still end up waking up around seven. Even after a crazy night last night and the luxury of an airconditioned room I woke up early this morning. Ah well.

So to fill you in on the rest of Friday 4th:
Took the public Trotro to Atimpoku and from there to the Africiko hotel in Akosombo. The trotro was certainly and adventure. We waited for it to be filled before it left, then we took off at top speed accompanied by three gossipy woman, two cute babies, one chicken (which was periodically beaten on by one of said cute babies), and a man with a whacked out left eye. It felt a bit like being in a covered wagon, what with the archedish (it is so a word) upholstered with canvas, the rice, and the hen. A covered wagon that zoomed at top speed and dodged potholes ina fashion similar to the way my dad dodges squirrels - recklessly. We spoke of the Oregon Trail nostalgically. It was dirty too. When we got to our swanky hotel room we discovered that the inside of our noses and turned completely black from breathing in the soot. Gross.
It is a pretty swanky place though. Our room is half a chalet hut with a massive bed, AC, private and massive bathroom, deck, and television. Glorious. Can't figure out the hot water though...bummer.

Saturday 6th.
Went to the Cedi Bead Factory yesterday where we ran into some others from home and we arranged to share their Trotro home. Yesss! The bead factory itself was amazing. They make their beads by crushing up glass bottles and melting them down. The result is beautiful and I am so envious of their talent and skill. AFter the tour - which was free! - we went into their little store where, of course, we all went crazy and bought lots of bracelets and beads and necklaces. Let a bunch of yevohs into a jewelry store... The dude was super nice too; he gave each of us a free braclet! Yay!

Monday 7th
It was good to see my kids this morning. They were no better behaved or smarter than before, but they seem to be getting used to me; and I to them. I'm still frustrated by some of the kids who can't even recognize a letter; it's even worse when they stare at me without looking at the letter I am pointing to. Do they even try?
Teacher hit Joshua today, I had to look away.
Went to Christ after lunch. Had to push the Trotro out of the mud: got filthy. Christ was crazy, fun, and a little depressing. You see the need a lot more starkly at Christ when they're clinging to you like a lifeline than you do at school or on the street.
Political speaker tonight. Mildly interesting, but I found it too general (and I was too tired) to get much out of it.

Thursday 10th
I want to recap the past few days but I seriously do not recall Tuesday at all. I guess that means nothing worthy of note happened. For some reason, I am doubtful of that. There is rarely a day here not worth noting. I'm also very sleeping.
Yesterday, class was pretty hellish. No teachers except for this scary young-ish woman who would disappear for long periods of time and then return to beat the shit out of my kids for acting up. They were acting up and it was hard to impossible for me to keep control over them - let alone teach them anything. It was pretty miserable but after today at the School for the Mentally Challenged, I shouldn't complain.

Friday 11th
Went to the Virgin Lips last night instead of finishing my journal entry yesterday. Nice place. The sky was marvellous.
I left off yesterday taking about the School for the Mentally Challenged. But I should go back to Wednesday and talk about the caves.
We went to Lipke and were introduced to our guide, Original Boss. Great nickname. I think it took us about an hour to climb up the mountain, maybe a little longer. It was hard work and I'm glad I opted to wear my sneakers instead of my chucks; but it wasn't so difficult that I needed to use my inhaler. The scenery was beautiful and Sydney whined the whole way up.
We paused near the top at this sort of field where the grass was very long and soft looking; feathery like the brush strokes in a painting. (Yes, I have been storing that cliched expression in my head all this time.) There was this really great tree up there with a swing hanging from one of its branches. Most of us had a go on it. I went first. It felt like flying.
Then we went onto the caves. There were six of them adn they were all pretty similar. Most were smallish. They were really cool though. The rock was beautiful and the climbing really challenging. It would never fly in the STates. There would have to be ropes and harnesses and helmets and waivers to sign. But there we were, scaling a rock wall with nothing but our hands and feet. Amazing. And I felt really great once we had finished.
Yesterday: left the house at 7:30 with Jackie and Carly to walk to Jackie's placement, The School for the Mentally Challenged, which is located out near Christ. It took us an hour so I'm putting it under the category of good exercise.
The place itself was pretty overwhelming and I felt uncomfortable and eager to leave at once. The building they use for the school is similar to the one at Musama and of all of the schools around here. But they had electricity - lights and fans - which makes it a million times nicer than Musama. It didn't seem too filthy either but that's probably because Home Base B cleaned it on Monday. I'm disappointed and relieved that I didn't get to see the dorms.
The ids were...well mentally challenged. They were loud or too quiet; wild or practically asleep. Some drooled and hung all over us (one boy bit Carly) and others watched us from across the room. There was really no structure to the day so we "played" with them. Mostly just sat with them, hugged them, and read them stories. ONe girl, Deedee, pretty much clung to me and I'm ashamed to say that her rolling, unfocused eyes, fat lips, horse teeth, and dopey voice rather repelled me. She had a fever too. I was glad that Carly was there and that she seemed to feel just as uncomfortable. I felt overwhelmingly sorry for them and it was a sickly pity that churned in my stomach and made me feel guilty. I wanted to turn away. As soon as the Tro came, I did. I won't be going back there. Jackie, however, has my upmost respect. She is great with them and never complains.
Yesterday was also Elly's birthday. Aurdey, Navi, and I bought him a football (soccer ball, Americans). It was overpriced at 30 CD but was the nicest we could find here. He seemed to really like it.
Last night was the farewell shindig where everyone who is leaving was presented with their Kente cloth. I was sad to see most of them go - the Fam, Brittney, Audrey especially.
This morning I went with Patrick to listen to a man speak about living with HIV/AIDS. It was interesting to hear and more so to watch the reactions of the students.
We leave after lunch for Lake Volta.

Today
I took a warm shower in the dark this morning. This place. It cannot allow the luxury of hot water to coexist with the commonly expected working electric lights. To not continually draw a stark line between luxury and commodity would be to permit one to lapse into forgetfulness of where one is. And Ghana must always remind you that you are here and nowhere else.
Made it safely to the Continental hotel last night despite almost smashing into a suddenly stopped car.

Have to go now. I was supposed to meet the others for lunch like fifteen minutes ago and I'm starving. Hope all is well at home and that Rach and Katherine had a safe flight back.

With love and well-wishing,
Lesedi