Smaaaali Smaliiii!: A Day in the Life

It constantly sounds like someone's knocking on my door...or on my roof...or on my window.  The bats at night banging on my roof whilst squealing little bat noises are what gets me the most...I take that back as I just heard a goat kick my house and yell like a man.  NOBODY'S HOME, DAMMIT!  These strange new sounds are littered throughout my day.  I live in a rural farming town in the Upper East Region of Ghana so many of my neighbors are animals.  The goats dauntlessly sit on my house and "MEEEEEEEEHHHH" at me loudly as I pass.  Jerk goats.  Roosters cock-a-doodle-doo all day (not just in the morning as an affable wake-up call like all childhood cartoons led me to believe), and when a cow gets a moo in their system, watch out--it's loud and can go for quite long.

 

Ghana is close to the equator so there is about twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness all year round.  This is great for early risers, but seeing as I am accustomed to the young city dweller schedule of late nights and lateish (8am--yeah, I know that's later than most of you rise) wake-ups, I feel like I'm being chased by night once the afternoon strikes.  The sun rises at about 6:00 or 6:30 (so I've been told) and goes down at around the same in the PM version.  My morning routine has drastically been reduced as it now only contains teeth brushing and face washing.  My hair goes up off my neck in a school teacher chignon and my face is free of any makeup before sweat gives me a natural "dewy" (read: nasty, sweaty, dirty) look.  I walk or take my bike, Percy (in honor of the first toy train I bought for CB), down to the centre.  I hear the town's car/motowash blasting Black Eyed Peas Where is the Love or some other random old, but not old enough to be period categorized, song.  At least two children yell, "Smaaaaali Smalliiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" (foreigner) like I'm unaware, and I receive many bright "Salueh" (good morning) greetings as well.  Once at the centre, I spend a couple hours with Joe, the local coordinator, to do some work and to figure out what needs to be done for the day.  I go back home for lunch and to do a few hours of grant research and other internet involved matters for the centre/community.  I think this is a good time to show you around my house!

The outside of my lovely house

The view right outside my doors.  Apparently, during the dry season all of this turns brown :(

Room for living

Wall of love in my living room (thanks, Lisa Puckett for the lovely scrap book that I deconstructed and pasted up!)

The kitchen where I almost set my house on fire...I mean...what?  No, really.

My cozy bedroom.  The mosquito net, though it amps the degrees a bit, makes me feel like I have the princess canopy I always wanted as a little girl.  I tuck it in and feel like I'm safe from all the dragons under my bed (or the vampires on my roof).

After my time at home, I go back to the centre around 3:00 or 4:00 when the children are all out of school.  If all goes according to plan, we play, we eat, we do homework, say our prayers, and I go home at around 7:00 or 8:00.  But let's get real, how often do things go according to plan.  Lately, the power has been going out a lot, so things change depending on when there is "lights off" or a black out.  The other night, there was no power so we sat outside and waited it out.  You have to remember, when it's dark here, it's DARK.  Every star boasts and the moon gently oversees the orchestra of the night.  As I was sitting under the tree with the younger boys reading books and drawing in the dirt by the light of my headlamp, I was overwhelmed by how much love I already have for them, for this family.  Obviously, the calm and self-entertainment the boys spring into during black outs comes from experience and way of life, but I still can't get over how lovely these kids are.  Yes, they act up and have their moments, but overall, they show incredible kindness to one another, love to learn, and are remarkably self-sufficient.  It makes me wonder what the price of privilege really is.  If these kids were socialized in wealth and privilege, most of them would not exhibit this kind of maturity and life acumen.  Not saying their hearts are not genuine, but coming from a sociological mind, I can't help but think in this way.  I've spent years working with children of all ages and it's unicorn hunting to find youngsters that wash their clothes, help in the kitchen, play nicely with their siblings, and do their homework willingly and happily.  It makes me wonder what the balance should be between providing the best life possible for our children and letting them live life a little more balanced with the majority of the world.  I could clearly go on this tangent for pages on end, but I'll leave it at that...for now.

This is Yaw, his body is limited with muscular dystrophy, but his heart and smile work juuuust fine.

Michael and Richard, eating "water fruit" from the lily pads in the pond near by.  They offered me some, so I politely had a small bite.  I'm pretty sure I just ate a flower.

Joe and I bought the younger kids workbooks so they can do extra work after school.  What kid you know ever smiled so big for a workbook?

The older boys investigating the goods.  Both Jacob (red shirt) and Daniel (green shirt) spoke up after everyone settled down each expressing their gratitude towards, Joe, the centre, and me, for purchasing these books for their brothers.  Then, they told the boys to take advantage of these materials and explained how important learning is and how these will greatly help to advance them in their classes.

I will probably continue to gush and gush about these boys in posts to follow, but that seems enough for now :)  As I begin to take on more projects with the centre and community, my workday will most likely evolve with it.  I'm excited to see what's in store for me!  I have so many other shares about this past week, but I am trying hard not to make each post novel length.  I will just have to save my other thoughts and reports for next time!

Bonus: photos I was able to extract from my iphone!

BB getting her hair pulled in eight different ways. Her face is smiling but her body is surging with pain.

Me and BB at Labadi beach.

Jacob, Christopher, and I getting ready to board the bus for our 15-hour journey.  You can't tell in this photo, but we are actually all matching--blue tops, black bottoms.  We almost looked like those cheesy families that travel in matching clothes to be easily spot.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's way past midnight and the sun and my day will be here in no time.  Love to all of you and thanks for reading :)

love from Sandema,
tippy