October 1, 2010

Another month, WOW! God has certainly been good to me; despite my shortcomings. I have had a good week. My lesson plans from last Friday were actually what I really taught, and the students and I all survived. One little second grader was in tears because I got upset with her class's behavior; she brought me a special drawing she made today.  Also I realized I'm not as tolerant of the young teachers as I thought, especially when they speak critically about their mothers. They are in their mid twenties, and really don't know how much parents cherish correspondence from children yet parents want the kids need to be responsible for themselves. I get defensive and need to walk away keeping my mouth shut. That doesn't come naturally for me, as Jeremiah and Ivy can both attest.

Yesterday I found my leather checkbook had mildewed. It's that humid! Even a new box of Ritz crackers was soggy when I first opened it. Welcome to Ghana! When the power fluctuates at school we have a generator, but limited air conditioning. I have to remember to drink three or four times as much water as back in the states, we sweat so much. The filtering system at the house utilizes a bisqued pottery piece  (like a flower pot) over an enclosed plastic container, and I've gotten used to drinking room temperature water. Unlike most Americans I don't buy the bottled Cokes; I'd rather spend my money on cheese and get my calcium. Other homes have bigger refrigerators and freezers, so cold water abounds. We have a very small refrig and stove; even regular cookie sheets won't fit so baking is a challenge. Bigger refrigerators would mean more food might spoil when power goes out, so  it is a discipline. Spices and ingredients are not always available conveniently, and cooking just turns out different anyway; "it is Ghana" covers a multitude of realities here. I can't say I've eaten many native foods; I hesitate to try the local street vendors and there are no "safe restaurants" within walking distance. Several of the younger teachers are more flexible but then too they freely talk about stomach viruses they've gotten from the food purchased from street vendors. I brush my teeth only with filtered water (a glass of room temperature water in my left hand. toothbrush in my right so I remember to not turn the faucet), my housemates use the faucet water. I am losing weight, not because I want to, I just don't like my food options. It's a good thing I brought two belts, other wise my pants would drag in the mud when it rains (at least two sizes too big).

I tried teaching a lesson involving painting with a first grade class today. It is a challenge I may not try again until some of the obstacles are resolved. First I don't have twelve brushes quite the same size, then the nearest source of water that I can get a one quart bottle under the faucet is one floor below me and comes out in a trickle that takes five minutes to fill one bottle. The tempera paint (or closest thing available) is thicker than yogurt, but if you thin it down it becomes transparent, not at all opaque. Then there is the problem of paper: either use copier paper or the limited colors of construction paper (no yellow, green, medium blue or black). Understand I brought no picture files with me, and none were waiting for me in the art room. I scavenger anything I find (especially cardboard boxes) but can't get old magazines or newspapers even when extra credit or homemade cookies are offered. I am "materially challenged" and even the inexpensive projects I hoped to teach aren't possible until we get more stuff or access to water closer to my room. Everyone here learns to do without usual necessities, I feel selfish but I'm not as adaptable  in art.

This isn't a very encouraging entry: I have no photos to post. These are the day to day challenges, all of which can be endured. God teaches me more about myself than about Africa. The lessons might be learned as well in North Carolina, but God certainly has my attention here and I can't hide in a television program or an easy phone call to a friend. It's not just living with other younger people, it's living with myself.  When you can't do what you want, figure what else needs to be done and get busy with it. It's okay sometimes to just stop and rest, just don't be a slacker. God has put you where you are, you just have to figure out what to do from here.

And with that I'll sign off for today.

Sept 25 Tro-tros and "Children of the Light"

September 27, 2010 I went with one of my housemates to a small mission school named "Children of the Light" on Saturday. I'm attaching a photo of a little girl from the mission; The little ones are always so cute, but often they expect a treat if you take their photos. Although it's probably only thirty miles from here as the crow flies, it took almost two hours to get there by "public transportation". The tro-tros are the closest to buses available; they are a series of old vans with extra rows of seats added. One photo is attached of a passing tro-tro. As many people as can be packed into the condemned vehicles go from one location to another on roads that are not necessarily paved with pot holes easily two feet deep sometimes as close as every five feet. It makes those bucking bronco rides look tame, and the vans are sometimes at a 15 to 25 degree angle from being vertical in either direction.I banged my head good several times against the window. Now imagine that when the rains wash out the roads (it rained early Saturday morning before I took my walk) these pot holes are filled with water so you never know what is in store. Vehicles drive on the other side of the road to avoid the holes, but not necessarily avoiding the oncoming vehicles.And they take detours whenever they want, sometimes getting themselves in worse traffic jams on remote streets. Being at the mission school wasn't half the adventure of getting to it was! I got a good photo of the vendors on a very good part of the road on the way to the mission, going past the President's vacation house. Since it gets dark around 6 pm, when we actually left the mission, the ride home was all at night. We took one tro-tro to Medina, a smaller city outside Accra with a crazy, crazy marketplace jammed with blocks and blocks of shops, vendors and LOTS of shoppers. We weren't there to shop, just to change tro-tros to another place but boy was I glad I didn't have to figure where to go by myself. We left my neighborhood around 1:45 and got to the "Children of the Light" around 4 pm (one photo is the road we walked up to get to the school); we left here around 6:15 and had some difficulty getting the second tro-tro the lines were so long. We finally decided to get a taxi (and I use the word loosely) for the second leg of our trip home. Here you have to haggle for the fare before you get in the cab, and unless you know from experience what the fair price is you'd be as lost as me! Where the tro-tro cost 35 pessoahs (sort of cents to the Ghanian dollar or CD), the taxi for three of us was 5 CD's. It was worth every cent to get home by 8:30 in the dark. I took a hot shower and laid down to watch my third movie since I've been here (actually a crummy DVD on my little computer screen, but I could lay down and that's what mattered to me). I fell asleep anyway! Speaking of sleep, it's past my bed time now; 5:15 am comes mighty early to get up.
God bless you; He has provided all my needs each day, and allowed me to beter appreciate my blessings of friends like you.

Missing photos

September 12 - 17 NICS visitors

This week our school hosted a conference for  tne Network of International Schools (NICS) Directors in Asia, Indonesia and Africa and the home office people in Memphis, Tennessee. Lots of pressure on the Crosby's, and next week progress reports are pressure for me. I'm so glad the school isn't bigger or I'd be worn out! The Directors took the faculty out to a very fancy dinner Thursday (at least four forks per place setting). and I don't even know what all I ate. Then last night was a Korean festival/ fund raiser about an hour's ride away. There is a large part of our school that's Korean; the kids sang foreign songs (even an Elvis song) in Ghana . . .  what an international overload. The food was authentic, but expensive, so I didn't eat much. I have left over American stew I made two days ago, so I'm set.

Today I started out with good intentions. By 7 am I had a load of clothes in the washing machine (go while the power is on) and was walking in a light drizzle. About ten minutes into the walk the sky opened up and I got soaked to the bone! I went to the school to grade some papers and find a grade book I left behind, and again the rain poured down. Three hours later I was heading out wen it let up a bit and was fortunate enough to get a ride home.   Everyone had gone out somewhere and I had the solitude of the whole Palace. I got all my laundry washed and dried. and now the internet is back up so here I sit. I plan to get horizontal soon and watch a movie while all the younger teachers gather at someone else's house for dinner and dessert. I've discovered I am really an introvert, and communicate with children under ten better than all the younger teachers. One generation is really a world of experience difference, and I miss the conversations with gray haired people!

I'm attaching some photos of my neighborhood walk. Buildings like houses are built much differently here, it may take years to construct, because the land owners have only so much money.They build what they can afford over time. Some of the residences of the teachers are rented by the school giving a lot of money with the provision it will be rented to us for the first year or two (paid in advance actually). This is an upper middle class neighborhood, all houses have barbed wire around a tall wall and a guard 24 hours. About three blocks way are the street vendors, and the school is really an ongoing expansion of several large houses or hotels. It really is amazing anything here functions. Business sense is not what Americans expect, but the saying "It is Ghana"  means don't expect anything to be as planned, and you can't do anything about it. If the power isn't shut off, if the roads hold out and if there's water for even a simple shower then maybe you might have some control. It does teach me to appreciate that simple things get done, like laundry or a special trip somewhere like the Korean festival, or an e-mail gets through. God is in controll, not me!

So I hope your day is going well, and you find time to enjoy life. I'm fine, and looking forward to watching on of the CD's in the house. Oh to just watch televison for an episode of Grey's Anatomy or pick up a phone and call a friend back home.

Sunday, Sept.13

It's Sunday, September 12 and I just walked to the grocery store. Boy is it good to be sitting in the direct line of my fan now! There is a small "mall" about a 15 minute walk from my house, but you can't be sure what the grocery store will have, nor how much you'll pay. Adjustments come in unexpected places. I've been as busy at home as at school, and trying to see new things on weekends gets me backlogged everywhere. I really am glad I'm not in an apartment by myself, but I do wish at least one other person in "the Palace" was at least twenty years older or closer to my age. Joyce and Tim have been so kind, but this week is the Convention/ meeting of all the directors in Asia, Indonesia and Africa plus people from the home office of NICS meeting here at our school, so it's hectic for the Crosbys for a while.   

Cooking consists mostly of sharing the dinners at home five nights. I'm making dinner tomorrow, and substituting what is available for what I really want. The three other girls in the house with whom we rotate dinner making are all in their twenties and don't know how to really cook, so I eat a lot of burnt frozen vegetables and rice put in a pita. Last week I roasted some chicken and cooked carrots with onion in some butter; if I want a real homecooked meal I'd better plan to make it myself.We'll have some beef with gravy made from onion soup and cream of chicken soup mixed with milk (there is no canned mushroom soup, thus the chicken soup substitute). The girls appreciated my home cooked “Mom meal" and the feeble ginger snaps I made Friday (even with the right ingredients the results aren’t the same). Since the house had no cookie sheets, cooling rack or oven safe dishes it has been a challenge (I bought that stuff this weekend, necessary for my sanity). The stove has numbers from one to ten (no temperature gauge), since I was successful with the chicken at 6 or 7 for an hour and a half, I concluded that was about 350F. The first week my main investment was a high voltage protector, a power strip surge protector/ extension cord and power adapters. The second week was a cell phone/ trac phone and minutecards. Now I can address the cooking needs as I see them.

Friday was the last day of Muslim Rhamadan, so a national holiday. Although Accra is mostly Christian, the country is still predominantly Muslim. I enjoyed the day off from school, and went for a short excursion  with my housemates to a different part of Accra. The "Art Mart" is like a poor flea market full of stands with Ghanians hawking their wares; I'm still in the looking stage trying to get a feel for what souvenirs to buy. Then we took a bus (really a run down van with lots of people crammed in). We had to go to a big station with at least a hundred vans to find one going where we wanted, and none of the vehicles would pass a Car-max inspection. . .  I never would have ventured out by myself, and was glad to be with four other young teachers experienced in bartering for better prices. Actually almost everyone is young, about half my age, and truth be told,  I get weary of them at times. 

They went to a fabric shop where you can get clothes made or buy what she's already got. The fabric is neat, mostly batik and quite colorful. I will eventually get something made, but I want to draw a picture of what I want. Joyce had a pants and long dress outfit made that was nice: had pockets, flared for easier fit, and I think incorporated princess seams at the side (not common in African clothes). Ghanians are not especially noted for good craftsmanship, so I 'll go to someone Joyce recommends. Riding a cab or tro-tro (bus) is a real trip in itself: crazy drivers honk all the time to say "here I come, move over", and other than on the downtown streets there's shacks on the sides of most roads with miscellaneous stuff. Lots of food vendors, but then a hubcap hut, landscape plants, pineapples & bananas, then casket vaults. Makes no sense. 

About my school, although there are some native Ghanaians as students atAIS, most could not afford the school. It's mostly children of CEO's of big companies, diplomats or embassy type people, or kids of missionaries out in the more remote areas (nannies take care of them at home in Accra). They are respectful, and from a lot of different countries (I think I heard mentioned about 20 different) but all classes are taught in English. The school has a generator, but power fluctuates all day.  There's cold water and power at schhol, even when it’s locked up, so teachers go in as early as 6:15 am. Sometimes I'm told to turn off the air conditioning, sometimes I'm told to turn it on because if there's too much excess power. the internet crashes. This month I decided to get the main lunch every day: usually rice or noodles with some meat and a spicy sauce. They call it chicken stew or spaghetti, but believe me it's not what I know as stew or spaghetti! I think in October I'll do the opposite and get just the fruits or yogurt. Even coleslaw would be more helpful to my diet that this spicy pasta stuff. I don't mean to be complaining, but it is an adjustment, but I have learned the hard way to drink LOTS of filtered water.

Last night I went with some other teachers to an Ethiopian restaurant for their New Year's celebration. I had been invited to go but didn't realize the only other person from “the Palace" had left without me, and I had to walk by myself in the dark about four or five blocks to "the Pink House" where they were meeting. Then I  learned that I don't especially like Ethiopian food since it's spicy and you eat everything with your fingers (no utensils at all). It was about twice the cost I expected, so I learned to maybe inquire more in advance before going out. It was an experience, but I doubt I'd go again. Live and learn.

 How I miss our Sunday church services back in Charlotte;. I’ve been going to Elim International Church with my friends the Crosbys, and while it is uplifting, it lacks the traditional aspects I love. The American International School has better fed my faith, and the whole staff is so caring and devoted to God, it lifts me through the many adjustments. Every Monday and Wednesday mornings we have devotionals and prayer before school, and the faculty meetings on Tuesday afternoons are begun and ended with prayer too. It is an incredible experience, and I really am well cared for.

It is a different world here, and there is so much I am grateful for. Although there is air conditioning, this is the “winter” and so we use ceiling fans when the electricity is working. You can see the gaps in the windows and doors (all of which have bars over them) and the small refrigerator and stove are enough to get by for  a few days. The other five women in my house are all about Jeremiah’s age, not really accustomed to cooking balanced meals or washing dishes in hot water; I admittedly miss older company to talk with, but I’m glad I don’t live alone.

Admittedly the younger teachers are more willing to go places on their own that I wouldn't: like last night I was included in a group going to a restaurant to celebrate the Ethiopian New Year. I didn’t realize the group was meeting at a house about five blocks away at 7 pm. It gets dark here at 6 pm, and I was extremely uncomfortable walking by myself at night. It is not something I expect to repeat, although nothing happened; and I learned I do not enjoy the spicy food you eat entirely with your fingers (no utensils of any kind). Some things you just chalk up to experience.

Speaking of chalk, I also learned I need to put “ant chalk” on the legs of my bed. Apparently some ants feasted on my hands one or two nights ago and left little pus filled bites. Here I thought I’d done so well with my mosquito repellant at night and sunscreen on weekend outings. I feel so much better at night if I can take my shower before bed; each bathroom has a small barrel size water tank (that if you think about half an hour ahead) that can heat and hold hot water for a trickle shower. This morning the water pressure was low (why I do not know) so the shower was a real sparse trickle if at all; of course this is not the same as a power outage or  running out of gas, As long as I’m at school the generator kicks in when the electricity shuts off, so it’s not so bad, and they have water coolers to get very cold water at school. At home we put the tap water through a pottery filter to purify drinking water, but obviously that isn’t cold.

So far I’ve been able to use lesson plans from my past teaching jobs. Materials are extremely limited. Paper is expensive, many supplies like blue carbon paper are difficult if not impossible to find locally. I don’t even have large construction paper, poster board or stubby paint brushes. Anything sipped from America is likely to be held up for a bribe. “Officials” open packages and put “taxes” that can shurpass the price you paid in America. Most supplies that the Crosby’s order in the summer are sent over in crates through JARS (I believe they are home based in Waxhaw, NC; they get missionarys supplies to remote areas and are involved with the Wycliff Bible translations).

Please understand I am not meaning to complain. I just wanted to explain the circumstances the school (and the country) is operating under. American International School in Accra is doing a remarkable job representing Christ to some students who are not even Christian.  The parents feel that the caring, nurturing environment at AIS is important to their children, even if the family is not Christian, and they agree to the Bible study requirements and realize it will be part of the curriculum at all levels.

Neighborhood children at the "Palace"

Neighborhood children at the "Palace" with Christy

The photo mentioned in September 8 entry: neighborhood poor children at Christy's "Sunday School Lesson" every other Tuesday outside our house.