Emalee’s Loves Africa:)
I’m back and home!! I feel like the luckiest gal in the world to have been able to go visit Ghana and Togo Africa where my niece is living and serving in the Peace Corps. I had THE TIME OF MY LIFE. I don’t know what was more fun, being in Africa or being with our group of ladies--all of which I will gladly go anywhere with or do anything with---even if we have to cram into another sweaty trotro or tiny car to get there! I’m so glad I was able to see and live a taste of Erica’s beautiful life; she has truly immersed herself in the lives of her people there and she loves them. Her tribe loves her. She is such an example of strength and love and service. I am in awe of who she has become; what a gal.
Every day was such an experience, a blast, thriller, whirlwind, and adventure all in one trip:) I learned so much, I can honestly say I am a different person from the person I was before. My mind is exploding with all of the things I learned. Now my questions for myself are: Who have I become because of the things I’ve learned and What do I want to implement in my life because of my experiences??
I owe so much thanks to my husband who encouraged me to go, my mother-in-law who helped him keep our kiddos safe and happy at home without me, and to my sister Celeste for watching sweet Peter for a week of it.
Before reading the rest of this, I want to thank any of you who helped contribute money for these good people. The meal we prepared was such a success, the beehives are greatly appreciated, and it looks like the generators for the school might become a reality. A little of our means from here can really go a long way there. If you're still wishing to contribute you still can! My niece is super frugal and careful with any money; I can send her any money you contribute. She will be there until August and any money that goes through her will be very wisely spent. Also, here's a link to another project that a friend of hers (also in the peace corps in Togo) is working on; another very worthy cause:)
Ssousoukparouvi Village:
After a few long days of exciting travel, we made it to the Ssousoukparouvi Village, Erica's village. Late at night and no electricity didn't stop anyone from coming and staying---I didn't know any of the people yet but I felt so welcomed!! As soon as we arrived, there was no questioning how loved Erica is in her village. Everyone gathered eager to help us unload, curious about us, and ready to get to know and honor Erica's mother and aunts.
Most of the village speaks their own tribal language and many of them know French (if they have been to school long enough to learn French). You would think that the language barrier would create such a wall, and yes it was difficult to communicate, but there was an immediate love and understanding between everyone everywhere! You could feel it there late at night, where you couldn't see anyone except for the bright happy smiles shining in the dark night, way past bed time, almost no flashlights around. No TV, no internet, no electricity, just each other. What a welcoming sight.
Kids:
They LOVED getting their pictures taken (even though they don't even smile for them lol)! Most of them have never seen a picture of themselves so we would take the picture and show them and they loved that:) They loved to look at any pictures we could show them on our phones. Especially the pictures I had of little chubby, blue-eyed Colette. I think Maryann is showing them a picture of snow in the picture above.
Erica's Grandma; she loves candy!
Every baby spends most of their day on their mother's back (if their big sister or friend isn’t carrying them)
Cotton!! On our way to visit the school the men were loading cotton in the truck. They put a layer of cotton in the truck then all of the men step and step and step on it to condense it all. They even let us come up and help!!
Secondary school. The government pays for primary school and most kids are able to attend that. But after primary school the fees start to get expensive and lots of kids aren't able to attend secondary school (middle school-ish) or beyond.
Erica's dog goes everywhere with her. Roddy, he is a bit of a celebrity actually. He might be the only dog in the village that is fed and loved so much!
The kids loved the play-dough and paints Tina brought
Jump ropes were a hit!! They loved any of the things we brought. The kids would play with these jump ropes all day if they could--never mind if it's SO HOT outside!
They loved the Bop It game I brought and Erica made up her own Bop It Extreme where 5 kids each had to pull/twist/flick/bop/spin it when it was their turn. She started by tapping their heads to tell them of their turn because it took them a while to recognize what the game was asking them to do. The kids loved to play it! It’s so natural for the kids to be close together and work and play together. Aside from a few reprimands from an older child to a young child, I almost never saw any hard feelings with each other!!
Washing in the River:
I was so excited that we got to wash our clothes in the river and fetch water on our heads in the morning with the women!! We learned very quickly, though, how BAD we were at washing in the river!! Erica’s host-mom taught us how to do it and we got to work..but when we thought we were finished and had done a good job, she came over and washed them all over again:)
The feast and festival:
These are the goats about to be killed for the meal we prepared. They slit their necks, drained their blood a bit while they died, then they immediately put their bodies on a fire to burn the hair off before they started to cut it apart. The men were meticulous to utilize EVERY part of their bodies. Intestines and everything. That goat meat was truthfully the very best meat I've ever tasted in my life!! Then we scooped rice and a piece of goat into each black bag to serve the village. Those bins are SOOOOOOOOOOOO heavy!! The women cooked the very delicious spiced rice in HUGE pots over the fire then we scooped rice and a small piece of meat into every bag and tied it. It's pretty common to eat out of a bag there.
These beautiful strong women each carried a basin over to the sacred tree area where we fed all of the children (about 300) and women their meal. It was a big turn-out. Rice, a small piece of meat, and a life-saver. Again, thank you thank you to anybody that helped contribute!!
The village and surrounding people all came out to celebrate with us. What a celebration it was too!! Everyone was dancing and playing drums for hours under the sacred tree. I'm not a dancer but their dancing style was considerably easy and so fun. Never mind being hot and dripping sweat, being with these people was fun.
Yes, he’s asleep on the bench.
Look closely at Erica's glasses lol.
Elephants:
We got to spend a good part of a day with three beautiful big-eared-African Elephants. They love to eat fruit--especially bananas rubbed on their tongues. My favorite was to stand behind their shoulders and feel their ears like a huge fan. These are the pictures. NO PICTURES! My phone was STOLEN before they were uploaded into the cloud. Of all things to go wrong, getting my phone stolen out of my backpack while I wearing it, isn't so bad. I'm just very glad that was the worst thing to have happened. It happened in the same city that someone took a knife to the bottom of Erica's backpack and emptied the contents without her even noticing. Sneaky people. That must be why cell phones in Ghana are considerably affordable--there's a serious profit margin when the cost is $0! I'd still do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Some of my favorite things:
- Every time we’d step outside and immediately start to sweat, we would here “This is our spa ladies, people pay hundreds of dollars to sweat like this and here we get it free!” We would get so hot and sweaty. All day we were literally dripping in thick hot sweat. Then every time, when it was rightfully the time to complain we would hear a cheerful voice say “ah, and this is my spa!” Who could complain of the heat around Maryann? No we all just laughed and smiled in our sweat.
- The don’t-do list: On our way out to Africa, we read some Ghana and Togo tourist books. All of us read some of all of them. In each of them there is some kind of list that explains some of the things to avoid. Some of these are: don’t cross your legs, don’t drink the water--not even the bagged “filtered” water, don’t eat street food, don’t eat village food, don’t take a taxi, don’t ride in a trotro, don’t take a ride on a moto, … and so on. One by one we would do a “don’t do” item. Tina was the most stressed about it at first but by the end of the trip we laughed as we did almost every one of them; in fact, we each took a ride with a moto driver just so we could cross another one off the don’t-do list:)
- Erica. In the city or on the road, every time she is overpriced by anyone, whether it’s a driver or a dishonest-cute-little-old-lady, she will not have it. She has a sense of honesty and justice and will not stand for anything less. All the time, she is quickly surrounded by a group of upset and yelling men but her voice will be even louder as she explains respectfully that they are not charging a fair price. The men will ask her things like: “why are you talking to me like a man?” then she’ll answer “because I am just as good as a man!” As more and more people gather around, the scene usually ends up with a driver who finally agrees to charge a reasonable price and all of the men laughing; then one man will jokingly but also seriously ask: “how about you come be my wife?” Then she’ll answer: “why would I want to come and cook and clean for you and be your wife?” Then the croud disperses while he asks himself that question.
Cape coast Castle/Slave Fort:
What a sight. It was horrendous to see how the ancestors of our African American friends came. Within the years 1400 and 1800 about, native black African men and women were scraped from their homeland and taken to places like these; a slave fort (dungeon more like it) where-- if they survived-- they were then shipped off to Europe or America. America had a lot of potential and so many people justified using these beautiful people to do their laborious jobs. They needed strong men and women to work the land. So forts like these were designed to “weed out” anybody who wasn’t strong; treating them worse than animals. Most of the floors in these dungeons were black. We were walking on the bodies, blood, and vomit from the men and women who didn’t survive.
The only reason you can see the brick floor in this room is because it was excavated by a group of students recently. The groove in the floor was to drain any fluids out of the room.
This cell room was used for anybody who tried to escape. It was hot, dark, had no light or air, and a prisoner sent here would die within 24 hours of entry. Marks on the floor are from prisoners.
After months of living in this fort, survivors were let through this tunnel and out the door, never to return to their homeland again.
If you survived the fort, then you had to survive the voyage over where you were treated like cargo.
In the 1980s, the bodies of two women who had come from this fort were brought back to the fort through this door. This was the first time anybody who had left this fort as a slave would return back to their own country. And so a ceremony was held and the door that was considered a door of no return was named “The Door of Return”
