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Ghana 2012 Update 1 –Safely in Sunyani – Saturday afternoon, January 7th
Getting online is difficult here, but everything else is great. The weather is cool (except afternoons), the food is good, and Gerti (my hostess) is most accommodating.
I purchased a mobile online gizmo that connects to cell phone towers, but the reception here at the house is very poor. I am told that the reception is much better in town. I will take my computer with me when we go to town this afternoon (Friday). If the reception is still not sufficient, I will go to an Internet café and send this message along with three photos in black & white, low resolution. [It is now Saturday morning, I have had to abort using my own email service, and will try a free Gmail account.] Innid, a volunteer from Holland will take me to an Internet café this afternoon. Yesterday’s attempt at using my own email account there did not work.]
The trip here was 4 days long and full of challenges. I used my mileage plan to get from SeaTac to Reagan National in DC and took a ground shuttle to Dulles International. Even though Jamie Dailey had checked me in online, using his United Airlines furlough connection, I was turned away as there is currently an embargo on standby passengers to Ghana. Purchasing a ticket at that point would have been $2500 … totally beyond my capability.
I was on the brink of heading back home when it occurred to me that my mileage plan might save the day. It took the Alaska agent about an hour to arrange a plan, but it worked. The night spent Sunday in a hotel near the airport was reasonably priced thanks to a helpful United Airlines agent and the next afternoon I boarded a KLM flight to Amsterdam to Accra, Ghana.
When checking in for the KLM flight out of Dulles, the agents refused to let me bring my CPAP equipment. I showed my doctor’s letter, told how I had carried it on several other airlines to several other countries. They held fast! Finally one man suggested I wait and talk with the captain of the airplane. That worked. The captain looked up the manufacture of my equipment and it was on the approved list, therefore I was allowed to bring it aboard and to use it during the flight. The alternative would have been to leave some very expensive medical equipment in the Dulles airport. I must get prior approval at the Accra airport when I return to Accra or again risk leaving the equipment here. They still have the power to make me leave the equipment behind.
The flights to Amsterdam and to Accra were fine and Wednesday morning I was driven to Beacon House for a joyful reunion with staff and children.
Do you remember (those who received my updates last year) Dinah, the young woman who delivered her baby a few days after my return to the US? She and her baby Daniella [hopefully there is a photo of them attached] are both beautiful and have happy personalities. Dinah, Daniella, and I took the eight hour bus ride to Sunyani over very bumpy dirt roads. I told Dinah that you all have no way of even imagining the conditions of that ride unless you have gone in a beat-up old bus over the worst jeep roads possible. Actually part of the way was paved, the bus was air-conditioned, we laughed when we flew in the air on the biggest bumps, and we arrived safely, so all is well.
There are currently 16 children at The Kids Shelter here in Sunyani. The director, Gerti, is from Holland and has worked as a high ranking nurse in Ghana for 40+ years. In her retirement, she and her Ghanaian husband built and are directing the foster home for children. The children currently range from age 2 to 17. The home was originally designed for older children, but does not turn away the little ones.
‘A’ and ‘M’ are two of the older children. They moved from Beacon House to The Kids Shelter 2 ½ years ago and have fond memories of BH. They eagerly looked through my photo album to see who they would recognize. There are several staff members and one child (a staff member’s daughter) the girls knew. ‘M’ has already written me a letter and also one for me to take to Granddaughter Lydia. Hopefully you will see a photo of ‘A’ and ‘M’.
I was warned that the two youngest children, twin boys (A and F), were particularly unruly. This is very true. Twice I have put one or the other (perhaps the same child) in a ‘time in’. For those not familiar with this method, it is simply holding the child tight in your arms until the child stops kicking and screaming. Gerti has given me permission to do this, welcoming any attempt at bringing the boys into better behavior. Although this technique is not a miracle cure, I have already seen some improvement. Hopefully you will see a photo of the twins. [Woops! Friday evening made me aware that the two earlier sessions of time-in were with the same, more ‘mild tempered’ twin. Tonight the other twin about exhausted me. I certainly exhausted him. I finally asked one of the house mothers to tell him (the younger half of the children know no English) that I would put him down if he stopped screaming. He stopped for a split second and down he went. The house mother put him to bed and he was asleep before his head hit the pillow. I will try to make friends with him tomorrow. However, if he hits or kicks me again, he will be back in a time-in in an instant.]
Saturday morning finds both the twins my friend. They both want my attention, but this morning they are doing it in more acceptable ways. They really are cute, sweet little boys when not sprouting little devil horns
This morning (Saturday), Gerti tried the ‘time-in’ technique with one of the twins … it worked. She is very pleased.
Thursday and Friday afternoons, Dinah took me shopping for some of the little essentials that I purchase here rather than bringing (bowls for food, powdered milk, crackers, shopping bag, etc.). We also loaded into the return taxi a couple cases of bottled water. Gerti does not have a water filter here in the foster home, so perhaps this is where we can install the filter pledged by one donor.
Yesterday I started using the donated funds by purchasing a flat of eggs. The cost was 8 Ghana cedis plus two Ghc for the two flats to contain the eggs so they would not break on the way back. Next shopping trip I will take the flats with me and avoid the extra cost
This morning, early, Dinah had to return to Accra to go back to work. Her next ‘off’ is the third week of February, after I leave for the US. I am so glad she will be at BH when I get there in a few weeks. Dinah is good company and I so enjoy little Daniella.
Last night (Friday) Dinah placed a call for me to Julianna. I have great difficulty in understanding the speech of Ghanaians when on the phone and I did not want to have any misunderstanding during the conversation. Julianna was a house mother at BH last year, but had to leave her children at her home in the far north. She is no longer working at BH, is now in the north where she can be with her children. That part is good, but what is not good is the fact that she has no employment.
Julianna is a hardworking, intelligent woman and would like very much to start her own business selling telephone ‘credits’ People here do not have land lines or contracts on their cell phones. Instead they purchase credits in the form of a card with a scratch-off code to type into their cell phone. Julianna believes she can be successful in this business, but lacks the capital to start. Fortunately her case tickled the fancy of a kind hearted donor willing to match my $260 to make a total of $520 available for Julianna.
While in the north, I will spend a night (or two) in Julianna’s modest little home so we can have some quality time to work up a business plan, purchase the necessary umbrella and table, and buy the telephone credits for several popular phone services. More on this when the time comes.
Hope this finds you all well.
Grandma Judy Griffin
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