Akwaaba,
It means greetings or welcome.
Still no water in the
tap. Just the "running water" of the kids going up and down the
hill to fetch it from the stream. Joan went down to see how they
did it - amazing!! We are lazy people!! They take these
huge 4 gallon buckets and fill them with the water from the stream(it
looked more like a small watering hole). They put a small rolled
cloth on top of their head and then lift the water straight up to their
head - if another person is there, then they help - if not, you are on
your own! I was with 4 women and Vera and I took pictures even though
it was almost dark - Amazing. They had to hike up the ravine that
we walk every day, and it is pretty steep - and they do it in
flip-flops. We feel a little guilty because they are not only
doing it for themselves but also for us. Usually the
younger people get it for the older people - some advantages to being
senior citizens.
GHANA WON AGAIN LAST
NIGHT! Ghana defeated Namibia by 1-0 in their second match.
They did not play as well as was expected as they expected to defeat
them easily and didn't. It was still fun to watch the people
watch the game - especially the women who covered their eyes when it
got too exciting. They would also dance and yell at every attempt
of a score. Fun! There is another game for Ghana on Sunday
or Monday - we have been told both days.
Our landlady,
Christine, went to Accra earlier in the week and purchased two Ghana
shirts so we wore them to school yesterday to show our support for the
"Black Stars" - Ghana's team. Even people on the street reacted
to our support for them. We are greeted by people every day -
most of the time they greet us in Twi and we give our one or two word
response - but they then add "welcome" in English. Several people
- especially the elderly try to give us Twi lessons. Most of you
know Harry's language ability (or lack thereof) so you can imagine how
well that is going.
Someone asked about
our food and what we can and can not eat. We trust Vera's cooking
as she has cooked for us before and has cooked for many
volunteers. We do buy fried donut holes as they are also well
cooked. The woman we usually buy from is a former teacher at
Akuffo Tom School and we bought from her four years ago also.
Most other things are packaged - including water which they sell in
small sealed plastic bags. We use that for all the drinking and
brushing of teeth. We use the bucket water for bathing and
filling the tank of the toilet - just imagine that!!! Naomi used
several buckets to do our laundry today - more guilt - the nun's did a
good job on Joan. We sweat so much and it is very dusty, but we
will have to be a little more frugal about our clothes. We do buy
delicious bananas and pineapples from vendors who sell from their
farms. Their roasted peanuts are exceptionally good.
The students are very
nice and respectful. We gave the Pen Pal letters from Koda to
Form 2 (8th grade) and they have almost completed answering them.
The kids are very excited! We could use a few more if anyone
would like one of our students to write your child. Send the
letter in care of us at: Akuffo Tom School Complex, PO Box 183,
Akropong-Akuapem, Eastern Region, Ghana, West Africa. They would
love to have a picture of the pen pal. For Doug and Claire - we
will be sending the letters in one envelope with a cover letter from us
and a list of who is matched with whom. We will also have our
list. We beg, beg, beg for replies and if they can send a
picture-great.
We started on the
"library" today. A problem is the competition with the termites
in the shelves - we are winning because we have the poisonous
chemicals. We organized all the texts that we sent 2 years ago by
grade level, subject and publisher. They have received numerous
library or reading books from us and others, but they are not
categorized yet - our next task, in spite of the termites and
chemicals. The kids have been using the books, but not in any
kind of order, so we are trying to make the library more user
friendly. The library is not the library of congress - it's about
6 big shelves. The administration wants us to help the other
teachers learn how to use resource materials that are there. Some
of you have asked about sending books for the library - send to the
address above and keep the level of reading at lower middle school
level and below. They could use pre-school books and primary
reading books.
We don't know our
plans for the weekend yet - some adventure awaits us but, it will not
happen in Accra while the football matches are happening.
Love and Prayers to all
Harry and Joan
Keep those e-mails coming.
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