I have a lot of pictures today that require some explanation, so I’ll intersperse them as I go in two separate entries. Before we get started, I wanted to give you an example of the little brushfires I mentioned:
Free from Symi on Friday (11.20.09), I asked Lawrence to take me to an orphanage for a look around at how orphans and vulnerable children (hereafter referred to as OVC) live. First, we went for a quick visit at the school Lawrence sponsors. All the schools in Ghana are private, requiring uniforms and tuition. Enrollment is unrestricted by proximity; parents send their children to the best school that the family can afford (which, I would imagine, contributes in some way to the perpetuation of the poverty cycle). Anyway, here are the pictures from the school visit:
This is a typical landfill, located about 100 yards from the school. It reeks.
Bathrooms at the school. I also saw a few buckets scattered about that are used by the children for the same purpose. They were flies EVERYWHERE, being kicked up into swirling clouds as we walked.
These are several classrooms in the school, which has two levels. The younger children (ages 2-6) are on the lower level, with the older children (ages 7-10) upstairs.
Some teachers studying. Many of the teachers the school employs have only secondary (high school) education themselves; the school sponsors their tertiary (university) education which they complete by correspondence. The headmaster himself is only 25 and is still working on his university degree.
Me!
An example of Ghanaian women’s skills of balancing anything on their heads. Unfortunately I think this particular bucket was also one of the makeshift toilets…
A Michigan State banner in the headmaster’s office.
Notebooks typical of Ghanaian schools at all levels.
The basic schedule for the children, divided by age groups into grades.
Lunch menu with typical Ghanaian dishes.
The wee ones! These were so adorable; they crowded around me with wide eyes and huge smiles and reached for my hands, all the while saying “Obruni, obruni!” I had about ten children on each hand by the time Lawrence pulled me away.
A baby girl learning colors in English. SO CUTE.
After the school visit, Lawrence and I proceeded to the orphanage. These are pictures I took along the way:
A typical Ghanaian obituary. When someone dies, the body is embalmed and stowed away somewhere (I am not exactly cleared on the details). Weeks later, obituaries are released in the form of posters to be plastered randomly throughout the community, celebrating the person’s life in pictures and biographic essays. Funerals are generally held 1-2 months after death.
Bananas growing by the side of the road.
A good example of the open sewers that line most of the roads here.
I wasn’t able to take any pictures at the orphanage because the proprietor, a serene elderly woman named Nancy Arkorful, discovered long ago that many visitors just come to take pictures and never return or provide assistance. I will be able to take pictures once I have proven myself as a contributor to their cause. The orphanage, called Human Service Trust or HST, houses 11 OVC who are all girls in order to prevent any sexual abuse. The girls sleep in two rooms crammed with three sets of bunkbeds each, with no room for anything else but a couple of bookshelves lined with the hampers that contain their clothes. There is a small “kitchen” where the girls eat, but the cooking is done outside on crude grills under a donated tent. They share one toilet, one sink and one shower among them. Upstairs is a storage room for food, supplies and the occasional holiday party. The building, while clean and well-kempt, is severely pressed for both space and furnishings. In addition to the 11 residents, HST looks after another 39 OVC who reside in the community with relatives but need extra support due to their families’ absolute poverty. When not in school, these OVC spend most of their time at the orphanage where Nancy gives them whatever she can spare. She also orchestrates community outreach programs with the aid of peer educators (local volunteers) to teach youth and their families about pertinent topics such as teen pregnancy, various health issues, abuse, and more.
I spent the morning with Nancy and (I think) her daughter, also named Nancy. I asked them to show me everything from the children’s files to the 2008 budget to the plans they have for a new facility. Then we discussed their most pressing needs:
1. Food. HST used to receive donations of and support for food, particularly fruit, from the Catholic Relief Service. The aid was bound up in a contract that this agency had with the Ghanaian government, which has expired and is not expected to be renewed. Now, HST can hardly afford to feed its own residents, much less support the nonresidential OVC when it comes to food.
2. New Facility Costs. HST has purchased a large tract of land where they hope to build a second facility to house more residents as well as a school of their own and a playground. They have managed to pay off half of the debt owed, but need a further 6000 cedis (about $4000-$4200 USD, depending on the current exchange rate). They also need a tractor to clear the land, support to employ a building supervisor and crew, and materials and furnishings.
3. Printer/Copier/Scanner: Such administrative services are readily available but rather expensive here. They had a machine donated to them, but it is now broken beyond repair, severely hampering all their efforts at essential correspondence.
Lastly, they also desperately need help developing a website, in which I have no experience but will try to find someone who does. I promised I would investigate sources for donations, either in-kind or cash, and report back next week. HST can’t afford internet access to search for grants on its own, so I am going to try to spend a day each week researching and writing for them. Please let me know if any of you have leads on these issues for me!
So that was Friday. Saturday was another big day, so I’ll break off now into the next entry.
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