40 New family Members Pt. 2

Panyin (Stephen) Owusu.  One of the brightest lights from my time here. He and his twin sister Kakra (see below) are two of the happiest kids I know.  Panyin is six years old and in KG1 (kindergarten).  He and his sister arrived at the home four weeks before I did, making me the volunteer they’ve spent the most time with.  Although they are twins, Panyin and Kakra are quite different people.  Panyin is a master at puzzles, he loves writing out the alphabet and has pick up English quickly for only speaking it during the past six months.  My favorite part of the day is reading stories to them each night.  Panyin has most of them memorized as well, or better than, I do and he recites them along with me while I read.  He also seems to be advanced in reading comprehension, asking questions about the pictures and characters in each book.  We’re of course not supposed to have favorites, but discretion aside, he is mine and I can’t wait to see how this amazing young man progresses and changes the lives around him for the better!

Little Kakra (Joyce) Owusu, Panyin’s twin sister, has the most captivating smile and curious eyes I’ve seen on a child.  She is inquisitive like Panyin, but is still struggling with English and often has her brother o the other kids interpret for her.  Kakra loves to be picked up, held, and most of all carried on my shoulders.  She is meticulous in the way she keeps all of her treasures: hidden in the bottom of her clothes bag, never leaving it with the zipper open in case critters get inside. She takes the longest to do her writing homework because she re-writes the letters until they are perfect.  My hope for Kakra is that she and Panyin can continue compliment each other as they grow into bright, creative young individuals.

I am pleased to introduce Wofa (school name Emmanuel).  I dare you to say no to that face.  Wofa is the youngest of a brother-trio who were among the first kids at the orphanage.  Wofa 10 years old and in Class two in school and is a wonderful attentive student who takes the best notes in class.  He is eager to learn and asks for extra math practice to improve in the areas he struggles with.  Wofa is soft-spoken and kind, he loves to draw, work on puzzles, and read stories and is one of the most helpful kids at the orphanage.  When Wofa grows up he wants to be a pastor and in my opinion he would thrive in that position- helping others with his positive spirit and welcoming heart.

Thanks for reading guys!  I am running out of time here (leaving in a week) and won't be able to post all of the kids, but will continue to  put them up when I get home!

40 New Family Members Part 1

Hey Everyone! I realized I’ve been talking about the kids a bunch, even referring to them by name, but I have yet to “introduce” any of them individually.  Over the next few days, I’ll be posting groups of pictures with a brief description of each of them in a series called “40 New Family Members!“  Stay tuned!

This is Maafia (known at school as Gifty).  She is 7 years old and in Class 1.  She lives here at the Children’s home with three older siblings: Martha, Emma, and Francis (who is away at senior high school right now).  Maafia is an awesome dancer, loves braiding hair, and enjoys just about any hand-clapping game you can think of! She is also the only African child I’ve seen here so far with freckles! She’s one of my favorite kids to just sit around and hang out with, and never ceases to put a smile on 

my face!

This selfie-queen is Martha, Maafia’s older sister.  She turned 11 in January but acts much older (most of the time).  She is in Class 3 and always works hard at school.  Martha takes the role of Big Sister quite seriously and always puts Maafia before herself, helping her with laundry, giving her extra food etc. Martha is also exceedingly interested in church and makes sure never to fall asleep before doing her evening prayers.  If I ended up coming back to Ghana couple of years from now, I don’t doubt that Martha would have grown into an even more beautiful, strong-willed force to be reckoned with!

 This young gentleman is one of the most recent additions to the Achiase Family.  Is name is Emma, but that won’t be of much use to you, as he is deaf. I find watching he and the other kids interact remarkable- with no language or official communication he is easily able to join in all of the games the kids invent, and is always laughing the loudest out of anyone.  He attends a School to the Deaf in Swedru and is starting to learn to write his letters.  He and I have also been intermittently working on the sign language alphabet (the extent of my ASL knowledge).  Emma enjoys coloring and playing with the animals around the compound (especially the dogs!).

Time Well Spent

Coming here I expected the kids to be suitably jaded when it came to connecting with us volunteers.  Here at the Green Program, volunteers have been coming (and subsequently leaving) for five years and it makes sense that the kids are now reluctant to open up to, be vulnerable around, and connect with every group of volunteers (leaving out the fact that half of them are angst-filled teenagers). Coming in with this mind state I didn’t think I would find many kids who would need me for more than my access to soap, stickers and band-aids. Today, once again, I learned differently.

            Maybe I have been on a roll lately, or maybe I am finally reaping the benefits of being here for so long, but I stumbled upon a deeply profound connection with a young girl this evening.  She has always seemed to need a little bit of extra attention, as she doesn’t connect with the other kids well. However, this evening was the first time, even though I was exhausted and there was a party in full swing back at the house, that I felt an emotional draw to her. She was quietly upset and not giving me her usual wonky-eyed smiles and shrieks of laughter because a group of the other kids didn’t want her to be included in their story-reading time (even in Africa, kids can be terrible to each other). And I knew all she really needed was for someone to read stories a special time to just her, then sit with her quietly, rubbing her back, until she fell asleep.  Getting wrapped up and frustrated in the daily life here (not feeling much gratitude, constantly being asked for things, kids screaming, playing, and tugging on your clothes) I tend to forget that these are kids without families, kids without the love, attention, and overbearingness from parents that my peers and I grew up with.  I would play all day like these kids, but when I was hurt I could run crying to my mother and she would comfort me while many of the kids here have a new strange white person answer every time they knock on our door for a Band-Aid.  Mama Sarah is a kind woman, but nobody can give 40 kids the individual attention needed to feel stable and supported growing up. 

            Once again I was there with a child who was sad and needed her mother but had only me, and once again I had no idea what to do.  At first this upset me, but like any self-proclaimed critical thinker upset morphed into angry quickly.  The whole situation bothers me. I feel like the kids should have some sort of support, someone to go when they’re feeling more than an 11-year-old can handle, but then I remember that is a Parents job, which these kids sorely lack. So then I go on to being frustrated with the parents who keep having kids they're clearly unable to take care of, but don’t stay there for long because many women in the United States could be in the same boat without the birth control access we have as a first-world nation. Finally, the minimal accessibility of healthcare, education, and contraceptives is not the fault of anyone, so much as the nature of a developing country (which is what I signed up for). 

It’s a lot to take in, and unfortunately I can’t get rid of the problem, only treat the symptoms.  But this is the stuff I came to Ghana for: not to buy kids candy or force them to go to bed on time, but to try and pick up a small bit of the slack these parents left behind when they dropped their kids off here- a task no amount of money could accomplish. And although it has taken a while, I feel as if I am finally getting there.

Once again, hope everyone is staying safe and warm back home, and go thank your parents for all that they do, no matter how old you are!

Photo Credit to Lauren Friednash

All In a Days Work

Happy Korean New Years Everyone!

I believe I wrote a brief synopsis of our daily schedule when I first arrived here, but the work load has increased tenfold since I became the go-to volunteer for the kids.  

My morning starts around 6:30 am, when I roll out of bed and head to the orphanage with toothbrushes, toothpaste, super glue, and ringworm cream. Usually about two of us volunteers are enough to handle the morning time. We have all of the kids brush their teeth, help the little ones to find their shoes and uniforms and put them on, and make sure everyone gets to school on time.

 We eat breakfast at eight (taking turn doing dishes with laundry detergent in stagnant water), then head over to the orphanage to see what needs to be done.  Usually we wash laundry (by hand) for the younger boys and girls in the morning and hang it up to dry in the hot African sun throughout the day.  Lately we’ve been painting the orphanage, changing it from a green color to a light peach, which Mama Sarah picked out, but painting in Ghana is a significantly different experience from painting in the First World.  When we tried to clean the walls before painting it came off like chalk on our hands, so we abandoned that tactic and thought we would just use primer until we couldn’t find it anywhere in town.  We ended up painting a light pink over this pastel green from five years ago and so far, it looks surprisingly good! I promise to upload a picture of the final product.

 After our morning of work we head home for lunch at 1:00 pm, and I like to take some time for myself afterwards. In that time I usually will take a nap, go into town, read, journal, or listen to Harry Potter on audiobook.  The kids are usually out of school by 3:00pm and we hit the ground running once again.  Providing coloring materials, getting the younger ones to do their homework, doing puzzles, or going to watch our boys practice soccer on the field nearby.  If I go running, this is the time of day to do it: while the sun is setting and it’s not too hot out.  We eat around 6:00pm, then head back over to the house bearing stories, soap, toothbrushes, our left overs, and as much energy as we can muster.

 We help with homework, find uniforms for the next morning, and go with the little ones to brush their teeth and go to the toilet. Around 8:00 pm we start trying to get the kids to head to bed and I begin “The Story Rotation”.  Each night I bring over 5-7 books to read to the kids.  The little ones get stories first, and then the girls and boys rooms in turn depending on which had their teeth brushed first. By the end of the night I have read between 15 and 25 stories and am ready to crash.  If I’ve gotten nothing else out of my time here, I can recite The Giving Tree and Dora the Explorer: The Birthday Dance Party by memory (and have needed to, multiple times, when I forget to bring books over).  At the end of the day (usually 9:30pm) we traipse back to the volunteer house and I have enough consciousness to listen to about 10 minutes of Harry Potter on audiobook before passing out so I can wake up at 5:45 am the next morning and do it all again.

 While this rant may hold an exasperated note, I am glad to be here and I would rather end each day with fatigue and fulfillment than energy and boredom. 

Everyone stay warm and safe back home! Feel free to leave comments and questions!