Time flies

I can't believe I only have 5 days left with the kids. My last day is June 6 and then I'm traveling around starting on the 7th. It will be hard to say goodbye. I miss seeing the kids on my days off. And I would love to stay longer. I really like it here. I've become very attached to the kids.

People are really nice. I often get a ride from private cars. When you ask for directions, people will go out of their way to walk you to where you're going. We've made friends in our village: the vegetable stand woman, the peanut brittle maker,the donut lady, the seamstress, the grocry shop owner... They're all sweet but not respectful of your personal space. You're walking around or standing in the village and someone will grab you pretty hard to say hello, especially kids & teenagers.
Our puppy Komi is well known by everyone and everybody says his name when we walk around. He's very protective of us and barks and bites people who come too close to us.
He's a good guard dog. He likes to chase the chickens and roosters, sheep & goats in our yard.
The roosters are so loud, at all hours. all the goats are pregnant right now and look ready to give birth any minute.
At the orphanage, we have 2 dogs, chickens & chicks, ducks and ducklings, lizards, and a small monkey called Monkiki. When he's out of his cage,the kids are always chasing him and he often gets revenge by chasing the kids and jumping on them. It's hilarious to watch him jump on the girls' dresses. The girls scream and cry but they really asked for it.

I've settled into my routine at the orphanage. I get there before lunch and eat lunch with the kids at noon. Then I go to nursery school with them from 1-2pm.
From 2-4:30pm, we play, go for a walk, read stories, draw...
at 4:30pm, I bathe my kids and put baby powder on their face and neck to prevent rashes.
Dinner is at 5pm and I leave at 6pm.
We have a new baby boy named Richard. he's 4months old.

The mamas are very lazy. They don;t change the kids if they pee in their pants, they don;t supervise them at all and it's a miracle they don't get seriously hurt because they're really rough with each others. they watch me struggle with Kim sometimes when he;s hitting me and piching me but they don't say anything or help. Our volunteer corrdinator says that it;'s the culture... Still... it's frustrating to see that they have no interest in the kids' well being or development. If I don't take JoJo to nursery, he stays by the babies room, on his butt because he can't walk anywhere. And it's a shame because he really enjoys going to nursery and being with the other kids. The other day, Mama Georgina put Jojoto bed for a nap and I was on a walk with the other kids. When I got back, I found him in his bedx, wide awake and he had pooped in bed. I had to clean the bed and bathe Jojo. The mama didn't lift a finger.

On Wednesday, I was by the infirmary with my kids (that's where the nursery is) and I heard voices in the infirmary. I went in to get the kids out and found Abigail and Gloria playing with a syringe & needle. I freaked out. Abigail was chewing something so I made her spit it out and thank goodness, it was only a chewing gum. I told Daniel, the nurse, that he must lock the door when he steps out. He really didn;t seem alarmed when I told him what the girls did.
On Tuesday, we had some booboos (really, it's a miracle that they don't get hurt more often): Bene pushed Gloria on the playground and she banged her head pretty hard and she had a big gash. I took her to the nurse and he had to cut her hair in order to clean the wound and see if she needed stitches. She was very upset about the haircut! No stitches needed.
The day before, Bene had pushed Sequina and she got a big cut near her eye. Bene is rough and defiant, very difficult to bond with. She's Mama Georgina's daughter. Mama Georgina is the mama who cares for the babies. Bene was raped 3 times by her father and her mother continued to take her home with her during her time off until the orphanage took a stand and said they'd get a court order to keep her from taking Bene anywhere near her father.

Sequina is leaving June 4. Her adoptive parents are coming from Spain to pick her up. She went to Spain a few years ago to have eye surgery. She was blind and now she can see but she has to wear glasses with a strong prescription.

Kelvin got new shoes. They look like little Timberland boots almost and he's very macho and he walks in a very macho way. i have to catch it on video. He's a little man but when he falls asleep in my arms, he really looks like a baby.
JoJo is becoming more like the other kids. I take him to nursery and I take him everywhere with the others and he's saying a few more words now, including NO! And when they say no, the kids here use one or 2 arms and move them like a chicken wing. It's cute and I have to get it on film too. I can't film before my last day but I'm planning on filming when we go on walks next week.
We never made it to the pool last Saturday because the bus was in the shop for maintenance. We will try again tomorrow but as of yesterday the bus was still in the shop so it doesn't look good. We can only go on Saturdays so it's my last chance. We can't go on Sunday because they have music & dance in the afternoon. They didn't have it last week because it rained like I've never seen before. So the kids spent the afternoon in the library. I hope it doesn't rain this Sunday because it's great to watch them dance and play the drums. Their drum teacher is a rasta. he gets very mad at them if they mess up.
On Wednesday, Tanya & I took all the toddlers on a walk in the hills behind the orphanage. It was quite an adventure. The plants & grass are taller than the kids and taller than me in most parts. There's no path so we had to make our way through. The kids were brave because it wasn's an easy walk. Kim, one of the specials who doesn't have cerebral palsy, went with us and he got stuck in a thorny bush and freaked out. He was screaming and panicking and i had to carry him all the way down and he was struggling. it was really hot and I was drained by the time we got back. I had JoJo on my back too. It's fun to carry the babies like the African mamas on our back. You really have to trust that piece of fabric you use to hold the baby!

On the health front, the rash has cleared up but I have a million little scars on my arm which will clear up too hopefully. My sinus infection is gone but now I'm coughing. Must be TB! Or I'm just allergic to the termites in my room.
Last Thursday when I went to Accra to go online, I made a big mistake and ate a chocolate frozen yogurt thing sold in a plastic bag. It says "Product must be kept frozen" but since there's rarely electricity, and the vendor are in the hot sun, the yogurt must have thawed and been refrozen a few times... and I got sick that night when we got home. I was fine the next afternoon. Then that night, I took my anti-malaria pill on an empty stomach and threw up soon after. But besides that, everything is fine. I have some mosquito bites but they don't itch a lot. I have to admit that I'm not diligent in my repellent use. But I'm very good at using sunscreen and I haven't burned once! And I'm not tanning either for that matter.

It's been really hot for the past 2 days. Yesterday, Tanya and I were off and we went to a different market in Koforidua, about 1h30 from our house. From there, we went to Boti Falls. It's more spectacular during the rainy season in June and it was very small when we went. You reach the falls by going down 250 steps. Going back up in the sun was hell. We went in the water under the falls but it wasn't very deep.
Today we're in Madina to get online. We didn't feel like going into Accra. Madina is on the road to Accra and the last town before the capital so we avoided the Accra traffic.

Life is very cheap here. When we spend more than a dollar, it feels like a big expense.
Soda: 30-40 cents US
Dinner at the Chop bar by our house: 30-50 cents, including bags of pure water
Bag of pure water (1/2 litter): 5 cents
Trotro ride from house to orphanage: 20 cents
Trotro ride to Accra: $1.50
1 hour on the Internet: $1 (but you get what you pay for in this case!)

I will miss some of the food but not all of it. it's an acquired taste :-) My favorite so far is Fufu: a thick dumpling in a spicy sauce/soup. the chop bar near our house makes it. They cook only 1 dish per day so we'll see what they're making tonight.

Before I forget, Happy Birthday to Cousin Matt! Et Joyeux Anniversaire Claire!
And IABers, good luck with the Leadership Forum on Monday.

I'm not sure I'll have time to go to an internet cafe while I'm traveling so this may be the last post from Ghana. I tried uploaded pictures but the computers are old and even though the one I'm using now has a USB port, it's just not working out. I'll post them from the US.