tro tro, Lark on the Move, Page 2

The weekend was a nice change of pace from our usual schedule. We left our house this morning at about 6:30AM to make the trek out to Cape Coast. Our group took a tro tro from the house to Accra (around two hours), and there we met up with the volunteers serving at the other sites in the program (our site is referred to as the Purple program, and we met up with Pink and Gold). From there, it was a 3 hour drive to Cape Coast. I slept on and off for the entire trip, but as you might imagine, it wasn’t the most restful sleep I’ve ever had. There’s really no denying that I need to get to bed earlier at night.

It’s a looooong way to Cape Coast. We live up between Kpong and Ho.

We made it to Cape Coast around 2PM, and a few of us walked around the town for a bit. That was my first experience walking through a more tourist-y area, and I definitely experienced a bit of culture shock. In our town, everyone is very friendly and happy to just let us be. Here, the shopkeepers are more aggressive, and there is far more begging. I wasn’t completely prepared for it.

I was also thrown off by seeing other foreigners. The hotel where we’re staying is almost entirely occupied by foreign tourists. Being in this context and seeing how different my perspective would be if I was just a tourist makes me really happy that I decided to volunteer. I feel like having the combination of experiences, seeing both the tourist side and the normal life side, will give me a more complete picture of the country, culture, and people, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and spending time with the other volunteers. We know most of them from orientation, and it was fun to catch up and hear about each other’s experiences. The people in Gold have to fetch water from the well for their showers, which they said is about a 30 minute ordeal. Compared to them, we have it easy! There are a couple of Ghanaians who bring water from the well each day and put it in these big tubs we have in the house. They balance the water on their heads in these massive metal bowls and then dump the water into the tubs with the bowls still on their heads. If I tried to do that, assuming I even managed to keep any water in my bowl on the way back from the well, I would dump it all over the floor for sure.

Needless to say, we are all thoroughly enjoying the flush toilets and showers with running water. Talk about a life of luxury! Don’t get carried away though… the water is still not heated, but it comes out of a showerhead instead of a bucket, so that’s enough for me.

Tomorrow we actually have things to do (besides relaxing on the beach), so I should get some rest. Good night!

The days here feel so incredibly long. When I think about working at the farm this morning, I’m blown away by the fact that that was today. I know it’s going to happen, but it’s hard to believe that 3 months are going to fly by when each day feels like a week. I think that it’s just because we do so much every day that it seems like it all shouldn’t be able to fit in 24 hours.

This morning at the farm, we helped to clear weeds in one of the fields by using hoes to slice the tops off. It was exhausting, but I was just happy that we weren’t using the machetes again so my hands have time to heal.

We also learned a little more about the locals who work at the farm. They also have farms of their own to take care of, so they spend hours working at the orphanage farm and then go home and rest by working at their farms too. I don’t know how they do it. An hour and a half each morning is more than enough for me.

School was rough. I’m still excited to work with the kids, but it’s so hard trying to reach a class with such diversity of skill levels. We did a writing exercise in English class, and some kids were great while others could barely put together a sentence. Where do we go from here? I find myself constantly trying to think of ways to engage them while also teaching them. I’m determined to figure this out.

We spent the afternoon at the market in Juapong, a town about 20 minutes south of Frankadua. It was great! We’re really not living in a tourist area, so practically everyone we encounter is Ghanaian. Going to the market made me feel like we’re really becoming part of the community, especially since, for the most part, no one gave us weird looks for being there. It’s nice to already feel that sense of belonging.

A couple of market shots. These aren’t great, so I’ll try to take better ones next time we go

I also experienced my first tro tro ride on the way to the market and back! A HUGE mode of transportation in Ghana is a bunch of privately owned minibuses that drive back and forth along set routes, called tro tros. They’ll pick you up from wherever along the route and will stop wherever you’re getting off. They can also get quite crowded… I’ve had multiple friends tell me about times when they had to hold random children on their laps due to the space. We got to the market for about 1.70 cedis each (the exchange rate to US is around 3.8:1). I still don’t totally understand how their routes work, but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

Okay, I need to go to sleep ASAP. Tomorrow is going to be such a mess. So. Tired. I need to start sleeping more! Good night!!!