Boti Waterfalls, Dec 13 trip

Dec 13  Boti Falls (yesterday)

Now I have both the time and the story to continue. Monday, December 13 after we went to the Abori gardens we traveled for another hour to go to Boti Falls, further north and very much worth the trip. “Tourist attractions” here are not like our parks and sites in America; you drive on potholed roads to get to places hardly even marked by signs, and then we were the only ones visiting. Perhaps it is busier on weekends, but I doubt it; even Issac had not been here before. There's a photo below of Robert & Erin (upstairs housemate), me and Issac the driver at the falls.

The falls were “discovered” more than two hundred years ago by a foreigner. It’s nothing like Niagra, but it is so secluded and peaceful.  As legend goes the two falls (see last photo) are from two rivers that joined and then separated again, and thought to be female and male. When it is especially rainy the two falls join again and a rainbow appears, then when the rivers subside, there are two falls again. They empty into a relatively small area and quietly run off in a deep stream you would hardly notice because of the vegetation around it. The guide took us over some rocks to a place we could actually go behind part of the falls (another photo). Erin slipped on the rocks, and we went no further. My classes got all misty and I put my camera away because I was afraid of slipping and breaking it.

The guide we hired knew all the history, and even took us to an area above the falls (about a fifteen minute drive away).  It was to an area one would never know to travel too, and after we got out of the van it was a fifteen minute walk up and down hills and rocks to “Umbrella Rock”. I climbed the ladder quickly and enjoyed looking out over the valley, but I couldn’t see the falls. I’m feeling adventurous, and so far haven’t suffered the effects on my aging body.  On the way back down to the van we passed an empty village with a special tree. Ghanaians are still superstitious, especially the non-Christians. The tree had not just one trunk, but about six feet off the ground had three separate cores that went straight up and were of equal size (see photo below): this was an omen of something. Next to it was a flat stone about two feet square; supposedly it was not carved by human hands but had been divided  into four equal sections. Each section had a precise graphic symbol, about two inches deep. Nothing was said about the symbols meaning anything, but the rock was made in heaven and sent down. Sounds a little too much like John Smith’s Book of Mormon, but it attracks little more than local lure.

Although I thought we’d stop for lunch or something to eat, we drove home with several traffic delays. Erin and I had brought a few sandwiches and cookies, and some bottled water, so we shared that with Robert and Issac.  Issac stopped to get some roasted corn from a street vendor, and I enjoyed an ear too. It was not like American corn on the cob; it was much drier and had no butter or salt to moisten it, but a cross between that and something like the “old maids” of popcorn.  What the heck, I was hungry and gobbled it down. We got home around quarter after five, so it was still daylight and I was too tired to make dinner. More cookies and some leftover pineapple and I laid down to watch whatever DVD I could find.

Today is my day of rest, and early tomorrow I go to Cape Coast, the “must see” recommended by the other teachers. Happily the fifth grade teacher, Lynn Taiwah, called and plans to accompany me. I am so excited about having company to share it with, and Issac will drive us again. The biggest expense of yesterday’s excursion was the gas, roughly $25 American money, and entry fees and paying Issac was about that much again. What a great investment, and now with Lynn to share most of the expenses this next trip promises to be just as memorable.

God’s beauty surrounds us if we take the time to look.

Love to you all,

Diann

Abori Gardens, Dec.13

Yesterday’s adventure was a wonderful investment of time! We left around 9 am to go to Abori Botanical Gardens, about an hour or two north of Accra. The only one left in my house, Erin,  joined me , and her fiancée Robert came too, making the trip that much better. Issac, the Crosby’s driver, drove us in the school van. I remembered the first part of the way from a trip two months ago to “Children of the Light”, a ministry for the very poor in a rural area run by one of the teachers at my school.

It’s a beautiful county once you escape the city; lush mountains, open valleys and always the sun.  Although many of the people do not want you to photograph them, when you are driving by in a car you can take photographs quickly and sort through them later.  The homes in these villages, for they can not be considered a town by any means, are shacks, some made of bricks that are just sundried clay (not baked in a real kiln), many of scrap metal and bamboo.Heavy rains could easily destroy most of the homes.  Termites are prevalent in the country areas,  I saw several huge “anthills” five feet high, so not many structures are wooden. We drove through several towns, small cities actually, and saw the madness of market day. One of the photos in yesterday’s blog was taken in the market as we tried to drive through the street. Shoppers and vendors were everywhere, even in the street, and you just had to honk your horn and wait until they moved. I was so glad Issac was driving, he’s patient and willing to navigate around huge potholes without too many jolts; getting in a tro-tro or taxi is taking your life in your hands even in daylight. Only once did I cover my eyes as a car came directly at us as we passed an exceedingly slow vehicle.

We made it to the gardens, and hired a guide who showed us around some of the huge plant sanctuary. It’s 120 years old, and has plants from around the world (ones that can survive the heat, that is). They even had a Norfolk Island Pine, which they use as a Christmas tree sometimes. There is a Presidential Garden where world dignitaries have planted small trees that are now huge. Most of the original trees of the land have died, but there was one HUGE tree that is over two hundred years old, and it’s base has big folds that look like a stone wall (see photo with me standing in a "fold"). We went to the spice garden, which isn’t a garden at all (well, none of it is really, it’s all trees). There were cocoa trees of course (photo of a pod not yet ripe), and cinnamon trees (another photo of a row of trees), we crushed bay leaves and all sorts of aromatic spices growing there. Many plants that I can’t remember the names of have medicinal purposes and are used for folk cures. There were philodendrons that I call “Devil’s Ivy”  that had leaves as big as the trunk of my body.

One of the most interesting trees was originally a cedar. A parasitic vine grows up trees for support and looks beautiful for years, but it slowly covers all the branches and leaves and kills the tree. We went inside one “holey”  tree and it was beautiful. Most of the cedar had decayed, but you could still see some of the bark and wood grain. The vine was still alive, and there were several holes that let natural light in. The tree was easily 75 feet tall (see photo of the inside of the tree).

This opportunity to travel has been a real blessing. I want to post some pictures of the garden, so will write another entrie later to tell you about the Boti waterfalls.

My last week begins: Dec. 13

The last day of school for the students was Thursday, and the teachers had to come in Friday morning for a meeting. By Saturday afternoon almost all the teachers had been taken to the airport; even Tim Crosby had left . Like most schools, the last week before Christmas break  was in constant flux. I never knew from one hour to the next where I would be, or if my room would be in us to house exams.  It was unsettling for me, and my room was not really as organized as I’d hoped when I finally left  Friday.

My travel plans for the next week became unraveled since Thursday. My companions to Cape Coast overnight trip on Wednesday had a change of plans, and the family I hoped would accompany me to the Volta area had to cancel on another overnight  trip for Saturday.  This morning (Monday) one of the three people going to the Aburi Botanical gardens and Boti Waterfalls had to cancel because she was sick. At least Erin and her fiancée are still going. I’ll send some pictures tonight if I have the energy when we get back. The Crosby’s drivers  are taking me (and anyone I round up) on all these trips, so that’s a relief to me. I’m waiting now for Issac to pick us up, but the internet connection ends at 7 am, so I’ll send this tonight.

I have been doing some Christmas shopping, it’s always fun to spend money, and some of the inexpensive uniquely African gifts are quite nice. Things like hand carved nativity sets, African cloth dolls and glass beads are at the craft markets, and bartering is half the fun. Saturday night I went to a craft bazaar sponsored by a German-Swiss school, and there were some really beautiful things that were out of my price range: real Kenta cloths (colorful woven tribal cloths), silver jewelry very well crafted, clothes of batiked fabric, African drums.  Three other teachers were going, so having company made it that much more interesting,  and we got something to eat there too.

Well, I’ve got to put on my sunscreen and sneakers. This week is so different from the other weeks, and gives me some time to “transition” into my return. God has been good, and I’m ready to come home.

Talk with you soon,

Diann

December 5

In another five days most of the teachers will be on flights home even Tim Crosby. Although I wish some of them would be here until I leave, I can understand their rushing through the last few days of school in anticipation of seeing friends and family as soon as possible. It has been pretty hectic this past week at school, trying to help the music teacher with the Christmas program (which was last night). It was all her diligent working with mostly the elementary students, each grade preforming a  few songs with simple props. I would not have had the patience and sanity to pull it off, so the least I could do was help as much as possible. I was to exhibit some of the students work, but that was a bust. There was neither space for the portable room dividers brought from school at the last minute (my request of ten days ago was lost, which is not unusual for life in Ghana), nor time to put up much which few would have ever seen anyway. I am not built to function with these last minute changes and by God's grace I didn't voice much of my frustrations. If this is the worst thing I encounter this week, my life is easy. I intentionally took a lot of pictures at the dress rehearsal at school on Thursday, so didn't even take my camera along Saturday.

Christine, the music teacher, is oriental, andhas a family of several young children; she's a quiet person who wouldn't upset a sole. Before Joyce Crosby knew she (Joyce) would be leaving Ghana before Thanksgiving, she asked me to be on the Christmas program committee. I mentioned before in an earlier blog how I drew about seven large drawings of the nativity figures, and had students work on Christmas projects to display at the program. Well, the room at the hotel where the program was held was much smaller than anticipated, and less than 250 chairs could fit in the room once the stage was brought in. I was asked to see the next act was always lined up ready to go as the class before actually preformed. If there had been a "wings" to the stage or even an extra room to line up the next class perhaps it might have been easy. Parents were standing in the aisles the students were to enter through, and some parents even took the students seats when they got up to preform, so the students had no where to return to. I was glad to see the whole thing finished, and I'm sure Christine got her first good nights sleep in weeks last night. And the thing that I've come to realize is this is typical here, no one is solely at fault, and the same frustrations will accompany any activity in Africa. This is one thing I not miss.

Over the past three Sundays I've been visiting different churches, and today I went to a very large church much further away than any others that I've gone to by myself. It was about a half hour's taxi ride to get there, it wasn't really in Accra. I learned from the past I would be better to pay extra to have the taxi driver return at a set time and pay extra for my peace of mind. It worked great, and I wasn't as afraid of not having any idea were I was going. The driver, Toni, spoke fairly good English and I enjoyed the conversation on the ride to the church. On Saturday when I took a taxi to help set up for the Christmas program the taxi driver said he could take me to the Mensvic Hotel but twice took me to the wrong place. It really didn't matter much, cause after I got there all we could do was wait for two hours for the things that didn't get delivered as promised. Anyway, back to the church: the sermon was good, and I recognized most parts of the service. As with all the churches I've gone to here, there were one or two songs that lasted forever and all the people rocked and danced in place for about five minutes each time. I was the only white person in a congregation of about two hundred, but Ghana really is a friendly country, at least in the daylight!

Early Saturday I went with some friends to the art market I visited when I first got here, only this time I actually bought stuff! I'd gone to a smaller market last weekend, but this one was amazing, and I was comfortable bargaining prices down on somethings. There were beautiful baskets and primitive wood carvings, but I have to consider my limited suitcase space. So far mostly I've bought jewelry (or beads to make jewelry), fabric, or painted cards; I've enjoyed the shopping so much. There are two art bazaars next Saturday after most everyone else leaves, I may go just to look by myself. One is sponsored by a hospital, the other by a foreign school. My adventures are shaping up nicely too. On Monday, December 13 I'm going to the Abori Gardens and Boti waterfalls with two other people for a one day trip. Wednesday and Thursday I'm to join two other people at Cape Coast, the one "must see" trip to a slave castle and canope walk a couple hundred feet off the ground in a coastal forest (that's a two day trip). Saturday and maybe Sunday I'm going to a monkey sanctuary; a family from school may join me but maybe not. The Crosby's driver will drive for all of these, so my comfort level is greatly increased! I really haven't gotten out to see much, so this is a fitting end to my time here. The school gave me a nice bonus, so the travel is possible. . . a gift from God to see the country I've lived in for three months.

Well, it's Sunday night, my best time to make phone calls back to the states. This week will be so in flux I don't even have to do lesson plans. I'm hoping to see the second and fifth graders at least twice Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Thursday is only half a day, and that's party time anyway. Friday was supposed to be a teacher workday, but about half the teachers are flying home. So there's my schedule in a nutshell.
I'll write later.
Enjoy the ADvent time of preparation,
Diann

Happy Advent: November 28

Today I went to a mega church by myself. I decided two weeks ago I needed to expand my African worship experience, so I've gone to different churches. Last week I went to a Presbyterian service, which had a similar general order of worship to my home church, just different music and although it was in English, it was heavily accented. Today the service was in a very modern huge church with an Arch Bishop (no affiliation with a denomination) and the President of Ghana was there. Kind of neat to see the equivalent to the secret service, and you know you're not in America when the prayers include asking God that the president not be asassinated before he finishes his term of office.  This was the first service in an actual sanctuary; not under construction or not in a rented hotel space. Huge choir and instruments other than African drums, guitars or keyboards. Unfortunately one of the many brass instruments was badly out of tune. I can get to the churches with the help of directions from friends, but getting a taxi home was not so easy today. It costs almost twice as much to get home as it does to get there. Of course, it doesn't help that I was one of about six obroni's in the whole congregation, so I stand out as an outsider.

Yesterday I was getting cabin fever after staying home most of Thursday and Friday; other than the Thanksgiving dinner and a perm on Thursday and a few hours at school painting large pictures of the nativity characters (for next week's Christmas program). I asked one of the few housemates at the "Palace" to let me know if there was anywhere she'd like to go. She didn't seem interested so I took myself out for a walk and found a street vendor near the school selling jewelry. I got a few souvenirs as gifts and was happy with myself. When I got home Faith, one of the downstairs housemates, asked if I wanted to go to a small art market and I jumped at the chance. I found some nice earrings that remind me of Christmas ornaments, a hand made cloth doll, a very pretty piece of fabric in browns and blues, and some hand painted Christmas cards with abstract African scenes. That really made my day, and after I'd spent all the money I had, I was glad to go home and get out of the heat.

This week at school will be shorter and different. Friday is an African holiday called "Farmers' Day" and Saturday is the American International School's Christmas program at a reception room at a large hotel. Actually it will mostly be the music teacher's work with the elementary classes, each grade doing different Christmas songs. I was put on the committee, and later learned I was to display some art work. I had the second graders each make a flying angel (a project I used every year I've taught elementary art), and the seventh graders make origami Christmas trees on cards.The fifth graders lost too many classes to complete their Jerusalem skylines in time for Saturday's program, and the first, third and fourth graders were working on an art contest for the West African Rescue Association (entries due this Tuesday). I did help the music teacher by having the first graders decorate shakers for their song, and the third graders made shields in the colors of the Ghanaian flag with an Adinkra symbol meaning "God is king". I was asked about three weeks ago to make big pictures of Mary & Joseph, the three wisemen, a shepherd, the inkeeper, two angels, the manger with baby Jesus, and the star of Bethlehem. That's been keeping me more than busy, and I used two days off and a Saturday to finish them two days ago. After the program Saturday at least I'll have something to put on my bulletin boards when I return all the students' work the last few days of school December 8 & 9th.

 Almost everyone is flying out of here on the ninth or tenth of December. Tim Crosby said I may use his drivers when he's gone if I want to see any sights around here (I'll pay them and for the gas). I've got at least two or three trips planned with different people who will still be around. One teacher, Erin, is engaged to a fellow from a nearby town is interested in going with a friend  from church to a botanical garden and waterfall on Monday the 13th. Christy, the nicest of my housemates, has a friend coming to visit her and offered to let me join them at a slave castle and canopy bridge near Cape Coast (a few hours from Accra) on Wednesday – Thursday (Dec 15 – 16),  I hear there is some sort of a money sanctuary some place not too far from Accra, so if I can find company I may visit there too.

Well I've almost lost this post twice since I started it, so I'd better sign off.
Happy Advent my friends!

Thanksgiving Day

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I have so much to be grateful for. This awesome adventure has less than a month left, and although I am very anxious to see my friends (or at least talk with you more easily) I realise how much I have learned about myself and how God provides our real needs.
I started the day baking cookies for the Thanksgiving dinner the Wrights' hosted for all us displaced American  teachers. At 10 am I had an appointment to get a body perm with a beautican Joyce had previously  taken me to for a haircut. This is one of the few times I ventured out on my own in a taxi, and admittedly I had no idea where I was going. I had a map drawn by another teacher that located the beautician at an major intersection in another part of Accra, but not directions how to get there. Here when you get a taxi you must "negotiate"  the price before you get in the vehicle; the first taxi driver said 10 Ghanaian cd's (dollars), which was more than twice my expected amount. Since he didn't budge, I sent him away. The next driver started at ten, then 8, and I said it shouldn't be more than 4, and I started walking away. We settled on five, and I was off. That was more landmark than the perm! I also dickered for the taxi home. The perm, as always left me with a bunch of curls I don't like the looks of, but that's nothing new. Hopefully it will calm down some before school on Monday, and if not there's not much to do now. I sweat so much my head is wet my the middle of the afternoon, and the long, strangley look is worse than the curls, so it was a calculated risk.

Wednesday at school was Field Day, a whole day devoted to phys ed games for all the students with teachers supervising each activity. I was the official time keeper. so my loud voice (plus a microphone) told when to start a new game, give a five minute warning, and when to end and rotate to the next activity. That gave me plenty of time to go take pictures of the different activities, but of course, I'm not in any of the pictures. In the morning there were about twelve different teams with everyone from seniors to kindergarteners on each team, in  the afternoon there were dance contests, socceer games (teachers. housekeeping and other staff  verses the high school socceer team) and other activites. One of the games involved all the students taking off their shoes and putting them in a big pile then the teams sent one member at a time to go recover their shoes.

Well, if I'm going to post this today, I have only ten minutes until the internet connection dies (7 pm to 7 am connection) so that's all for today. I hope you all are having as wonderful a Thanksgiving weekend as I am.

God bless your day,

Diann

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I can't believe I haven't written at all so far this month. Days go quickly now I'm in a routine, and I enjoy all my art classes. As with any school, once you get to November 1 you've got to start thinking of what you want to accomplish before Christmas break. It's the same thing here; only art lessons seem to be falling out of the sky.

The West African Rescue Association (ambulance, fire, any emergency basically) is having an art contest for ages 5 through 12; a mother of three students works for the Accra branch and asked if I would encourage participation in a contest with prizes. My first grade class (10 students), my fourth graders (17) and hopefully my third graders (13) are all creating artwork for it before Thanksgiving. I've taught the first graders how to step by step draw a helicopter and an ambulance, then they create the emergency scene and color it.

My second graders are making large angels to be used as decorations for the December 4 Christmas music program, for which the third graders are making props of warrior shields for their African type song "Lion of Judah". These shields are made on scavengered pizza boxes painted on one side with yellow, red and green tempera paint (colors of the Ghanaian flag), and then I draw an African symbol meaning "God is supreme king" which they paint in black. Fifth graders are in their final week of yarn weaving on cardboard looms also made out of pizza boxes; they actually like it so much they want to take them home to finish because I can't justify more class time on one project and quite honestly I've never had a class WANT to do more weaving lessons. Sixth grade is making African graphics called Adinkra symbols, which were on one part of the "Amazing Race" show filmed in Ghana last summer. The symbols are quite interesting, and remind me of the Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, only in black and white, each one having a separate meaning. Each sixth grader is making four selected from about two dozen "censored" symbols which are not contrary to Christian values. My seventh graders are getting tired of making two small origami Christmas trees for cards which I will also use as decorations for the Christmas program. Of course keep in mind my largest class is 17 students, and so far they all seem anxious to come to art. That is really good for my ego, but not enough to want to stay another semester!

Well, this is a long trxt entry. No new photos to add, and it's time for bed. My computer and I both need to recharge.

Then in the midst of this the school is holding a festival for the families of the workers who completed major building projects on the school this past summer. It is almost unheard of for native Ghanaians to work so continuously to complete a project like adding a whole floor to a building and constructing a major exterior stairway for three floors and completing it all in three months. Teachers are manning carnival type booths for children and adults of the workers' families and food is being supplied. I decided this morning to make big thank you posters with all the students signing it  when they come to art. I have first through seventh graders at least twice a week, and lots of study halls with high schoolers. So anyway, this is keeping me busy, but also providing lessons for me. I like the team spirit of the teachers here, so finally feel like a participant.

Okay, now for some "I'm not in Kansas anymore" moments. Last Saturday I found hundreds of ants in my underwear drawer. Talk about ants in my pants . . .  I freaked out, ants have been in my computer too. Really really tiny creatures that bite big time. I had to go to get pills to take I got bitten on my hands so many times they swelled up. Then today we learned that the day the school is closed next Tuesday for a Moslem holiday, well that holiday has been changed to Wednesday instead. The school is required to be closed for that holiday, and the government just told the school around lunch time today that the moon readings require the holiday be Wednesday instead of Tuesday. Welcome to Ghana!

The new transformer near the school was finally installed last month, but it has caused as many problems as it eliminated. Our generator is turned on only when the electricity goes out; and can't handle the air conditioning. Now our generator shuts off for hours at a time, and some rooms are veritable hothouses not able to even use fans or lights. Happily my room is not as bad as most on my side of the building. Usually when the power at home goes out I knew I could at least get air conditioning and cold water at school; that can't be taken for granted now, and I hear it gets much worse after Christmas. Another thing to be grateful for my not returning.