Fie (good evening)

Day 4, Tuesday was our first day of placement. I’m volunteering with the Volta School for the Mentally Challenged, which was born out of a school for deaf children. I observed the first day, watching a class of vocational students first do academic work and then a trade. They spent much of the time sorting scraps of fabric and cutting it to be the proper size to use to weave a floor mat. Mike, the vocational teacher, ensures that each student has a trade to rely on in society. Most of the students in this class range from 16-22 and have varying levels of academic ability. I was picked up by tro tro (van) after placement, returned to the home base for lunch, and then Susan, Elyssa, Nancy, and I got a taxi to a nearby town (45 mins) called Kpando (K is silent). There is a pottery place there run solely by women, and its tucked away off the beaten path. It was amazing, and I bought several pieces, happy of course to buy from local women. We also drove into town, visited their market (it was their market day), and saw the only point on the east side of Volta Lake for ferrys to pick people up. I asked our taxi to take us to the local prison to see what it was like, but we were barred from taking photos  After our trip to Kpando we had dinner, and walked in the dark (it gets dark here at 7) into town (yep, it’s completely safe) to use the internet café (Emmeson). On the way, a man took quite the fancy to me, declared he loved me and held my hand into town. On the way home, the 3 of us were joined by 3 teenage boys eager to learn our names, and ensure our safety of out Hohoe. We managed to find out way home, with my headlamp, after one small detour and a friendly neighbor man steering us the proper way.
Day 5 was my second day of placement, and I’m very happy I stayed with my assigned placement. The children gather around the tro tro each morning to greet me, want to hold my hand, and play with my hair. Some of the younger children today started signing the “itsy bitsy spider”, which lead (to their unfortunate ears) to me singing it. They also knew “Hokey Pokey” and “Happy and you know it”. What I’ve learned from the “older” volunteers is that many of the children memorize things, but do not understand in the proper context. So, they can sing the alphabet, but if you point to an “A” they are not able to name it. That being said, they often don’t realize what they are singing (many, many church songs). I have decided to stay with the vocational students, but I’m afraid I’m learning more from them than they are me. I helped (using rocks) the children with varying stages of math (from number recognition to division) and then they taught me how to weave a floor mat. The teachers are very laid back, so we chatted a bit, and by that time, my tro tro was there to pick me. (we all get dropped and picked up each day at our placements, because they are quite far to walk, and each of us has a different placement). After lunch, we drove to Wli Falls, hiked and swam under the falls, and stopped at the shops at the base of the rain forest to buy masks, jewelry, and Batik (which is a cloth that they print with various colors and designs). After Wli, we grabbed dinner and relaxed at the home base for the evening, a few of us trying to master internationally calling on our barely functioning phone.
Day six of placement started like the past two, we hopped in the tro tro for placement. At school today, the girls were learning sewing skills, and the boys were carrying bags of rice and cassava; therefore I was unable to interact much with them. Instead, I spent a great deal of time showing the teachers my Ipod and camera. Embarrassingly enough, the first picture that came up upon when I turned on my camera was a “gag” picture that I took yesteday at the shops at Wli. There were several wooden carvings of erect penises….I was soooo embarassed. They thought it was hilarious. What they also find hilarious is my poor attempts to pronouce their language. Michael and I spent the day discussing views on nuclear vs. extended family, plural marriage, and cheating. After placement today we walked into the town of Hohoe and bought some art and kenti, and met several local children and shop owners. Two CCS volunteers have stayed in Hohoe after their time has ended to either continue their placement of their own volition and/or travel. We then had an Ewe lesson, learning a local song…that I’ve already forgotton, and had a guest speaker talk about history of Ghana. I also had the pleasure of doing my laundry by hand today and hung my laundry on the line to dry. It them promptly rained. Tomorrow after placement, we will make the 9 hour journey through Accra to Cape Coast.