Wednesday, July 30. It's been a rainy afternoon. 2 days from now I'll be on a plane across the Atlantic heading into the concrete jungle that the city of New York is. I daresay even the thought of it seems quite disconcerting indeed. Since I last updated my blog a week or so ago, I.... for the first time ever witnessed a live birth in the labor ward of a local hospital, danced in the rain along with fellow travelers to distinct African beats on the sidewalks of Accra, spent a night on a Rastafarian beach listening to live reggae, climbed up the tallest mountain in West Africa, played and fed bananas to monkeys in the rainforest, played 3 straight nights of poker, taught English, Math, Hop-Skotch and Jack & Jill to 2-4 yr olds, went for a morning run and almost reached the border of neighbouring Togo, and yes I think I did manage to read a few more pages of A Farewell To Arms :)
Things have been great thus far and everyday is just such a wonderful experience in itself.. I seriously do not know how to describe it in words - the lifestyle, people and atmosphere are just so soothing and comforting. Watching a live birth at the local district hospital has to rank as one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. It was just precious. A moment in time. Men - you will never be able to appreciate the sheer pain and intensity that a woman goes through during childbirth until you actually see one. It truly is a humbling experience.
Yesterday, a few of us hiked up to the top of Mt. Afadjato which is the highest point in Ghana. The views were gorgeous. Tomorrow we are planning on exploring some caves and hope to do some rock climbing there. Tonight I'm planning on going to a shop where they teach you how to make drums, how to play them and then maybe I'll be able to bring a small one back to New York. Most of us have really fallen in love with this place and don't want to leave. I can't believe my stay has almost come to an end.
My time at the orphanage this past 2 1/2 weeks has been wonderful. I feel like I've really begun to understand, appreciate and love the kids and it is so sad that I'll be leaving them so soon. I've learnt a lot though after my first few days here. Initially I was trying too hard to make sure that every child was learning the alphabet, math, etc. without stopping to get to know them, play with them and build a relationship with them. I gradually started to explain the story behind various nursery rhymes through pictures, drawing on the board, getting them to role-play, etc. and they love it! I feel like the repeated memorization patterns they have will slowly make way into concept-based learning.. On Monday I taught them different verbs like run, jump, play, fight, dance, etc. and had them act out various actions along with me and do drawings on the board. It was so much fun! Today being my penultimate day at Christ Orphanage, I took my guitar along and the kids were incredibly excited.. I taught them about what music means and how singing is complemented by musical instruments. They were so excited when I let them sit on my lap and strum the guitar while I held the chords :)) And then to mix things up I taught them how to play hop-skotch using chalk markings on the floor. All in all, it's been absolutely outstanding. It's going to be a very sad day tomorrow when I leave. Maybe a tear or two. I think I'm going to get them some candy.
I hope you are all enjoying the summer (or winter, if you're down south!)
Take care,
-Ronnie
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Eat, Pray, Love
On The Road. I think Jack Kerouac would be proud of me if he were alive today. Or may be not. I'm not really a free-spirited wanderlust moving in a vacuum while the ivy grows over the door, am I? :) But this past weekend, lying in a hammock at 6:30 in the morning reading Hemingway's 'A Farewell To Arms' while the waves from the warm waters of the Atlantic came crashing down on the rocks a couple hundred feet away from me, I sure did feel like one :)
Cape Coast is a pristine, palm-draped rustic beach town just a hundred miles west of Accra where the young go to have a fun time and the elder folks go looking for a little peace and quiet time to unwind. We were 11 people ranging in ages from 18 to 40 and stayed in small palm shacks literally 200 feet from the water!
The little town of Elmina is a few miles away, home to the famous St. George Castle, a 300 year old slave castle, one of the biggest in West Africa. The Portuguese, Dutch and finally the English ruled over much of the Gold Coast from within the castle, using it as dungeons for thousands of slaves from West Africa as part of the gold/ivory for arms trade. Unspeakable atrocities and tortures that strike at the very core of human existence were carried out during the centuries of imperialist dominance here, things that have often caused the locals here (oblivious of the true history of this place) to be moved to tears upon seeing the gruesome remnants of a past that we can only hope will never ever be repeated again in the world we all live and co-exist in.
Elmina being a fishing town had hundreds of canoes and fishing boats docked at the harbor when we passed by that afternoon. Never one to miss out on an adventure, I quickly hovered over to one of the local fishermen and suggested he take a few of us out to sea for a little trip. Imagine a bunch of foreigners on a tiny boat floating around on a Sunday afternoon while Ghanaian fathers and mothers watched us from aside the crowded fishmarkets scattered along the coastline :) I doubt we'd had too many predecessors!
I've realized one thing though about volunteering in developing countries. If you really look at where a lot of the prominent NGOs set up their bases, you will find that most of them are pretty far away from major cities or tourist-infested towns. I initially didn't think much about this fact but after my sojourn through Accra and Cape Coast I realized that local people who often live in poor to lower-middle class environments can tend to unfairly look at foreigners in a very pre-set, typecast kind of way - we have more money than they do and that we are indifferent to their troubles and hardships. In towns further away from commercial centers or tourist hubs (like Hohoe where Cross-Cultural Solutions is based), the locals are often quite simple and open minded when it comes to understanding cultures different from their own and look at volunteers as people who genuinely care about helping communities empower themsleves.
Saturday night all over the world is party night, so we didn't want to break any rules :) We went out to a nice place for dinner right by the ocean. The seafood was amazing. Checked out a local nightclub right after. Sunday morning came around and we drove up to the Kakuma rainforest close by. There is a canopy high up above on the trees that stretches for about a few hundred feet. It was a surreal experience walking up so high on wooden planks suspended from ebony trees and looking down on the entire forest!! Acrophobiacs, beware! I doubt if there are too many places in the world where you can experience something like this. I think Costa Rica may be one of them.
I am back in Hohoe now and was at the orphanage this morning. I am slowly getting a better hang of how to interact and teach my little kids :) Since they're so young (2-4 yrs) I've been doing mostly nursery rhymes but trying to explain the concept and story behind it using pictures and actions instead of plain memorization, so I think things are getting better and the teachers here are appreciative of my work. You tend to get quite attached to some of the kids here and I know it will be hard to suddenly leave them behind 2 weeks from now :( I wish I could upload a few pictures but the computers here are quite antiquated, so I'll post them when I'm back in New York.
I will write another blog sometime this week talking specifically about my experiences at the orphanage and about my friends who've volunteered at hospitals and AIDS awareness programs, so if anyone of you is considering volunteering abroad, you'll get a better perspective.
Hang in there eveyone. Our lives are too short to constantly worry and complain about so many little things that seem trivial compared to the many real problems and hardships that the majority of our world has to deal with everyday.
Let's all try to be happy with who we are and what we have.
Eat, pray, love.
Fondly,
Ronnie
----------------------
Cape Coast is a pristine, palm-draped rustic beach town just a hundred miles west of Accra where the young go to have a fun time and the elder folks go looking for a little peace and quiet time to unwind. We were 11 people ranging in ages from 18 to 40 and stayed in small palm shacks literally 200 feet from the water!
The little town of Elmina is a few miles away, home to the famous St. George Castle, a 300 year old slave castle, one of the biggest in West Africa. The Portuguese, Dutch and finally the English ruled over much of the Gold Coast from within the castle, using it as dungeons for thousands of slaves from West Africa as part of the gold/ivory for arms trade. Unspeakable atrocities and tortures that strike at the very core of human existence were carried out during the centuries of imperialist dominance here, things that have often caused the locals here (oblivious of the true history of this place) to be moved to tears upon seeing the gruesome remnants of a past that we can only hope will never ever be repeated again in the world we all live and co-exist in.
Elmina being a fishing town had hundreds of canoes and fishing boats docked at the harbor when we passed by that afternoon. Never one to miss out on an adventure, I quickly hovered over to one of the local fishermen and suggested he take a few of us out to sea for a little trip. Imagine a bunch of foreigners on a tiny boat floating around on a Sunday afternoon while Ghanaian fathers and mothers watched us from aside the crowded fishmarkets scattered along the coastline :) I doubt we'd had too many predecessors!
I've realized one thing though about volunteering in developing countries. If you really look at where a lot of the prominent NGOs set up their bases, you will find that most of them are pretty far away from major cities or tourist-infested towns. I initially didn't think much about this fact but after my sojourn through Accra and Cape Coast I realized that local people who often live in poor to lower-middle class environments can tend to unfairly look at foreigners in a very pre-set, typecast kind of way - we have more money than they do and that we are indifferent to their troubles and hardships. In towns further away from commercial centers or tourist hubs (like Hohoe where Cross-Cultural Solutions is based), the locals are often quite simple and open minded when it comes to understanding cultures different from their own and look at volunteers as people who genuinely care about helping communities empower themsleves.
Saturday night all over the world is party night, so we didn't want to break any rules :) We went out to a nice place for dinner right by the ocean. The seafood was amazing. Checked out a local nightclub right after. Sunday morning came around and we drove up to the Kakuma rainforest close by. There is a canopy high up above on the trees that stretches for about a few hundred feet. It was a surreal experience walking up so high on wooden planks suspended from ebony trees and looking down on the entire forest!! Acrophobiacs, beware! I doubt if there are too many places in the world where you can experience something like this. I think Costa Rica may be one of them.
I am back in Hohoe now and was at the orphanage this morning. I am slowly getting a better hang of how to interact and teach my little kids :) Since they're so young (2-4 yrs) I've been doing mostly nursery rhymes but trying to explain the concept and story behind it using pictures and actions instead of plain memorization, so I think things are getting better and the teachers here are appreciative of my work. You tend to get quite attached to some of the kids here and I know it will be hard to suddenly leave them behind 2 weeks from now :( I wish I could upload a few pictures but the computers here are quite antiquated, so I'll post them when I'm back in New York.
I will write another blog sometime this week talking specifically about my experiences at the orphanage and about my friends who've volunteered at hospitals and AIDS awareness programs, so if anyone of you is considering volunteering abroad, you'll get a better perspective.
Hang in there eveyone. Our lives are too short to constantly worry and complain about so many little things that seem trivial compared to the many real problems and hardships that the majority of our world has to deal with everyday.
Let's all try to be happy with who we are and what we have.
Eat, pray, love.
Fondly,
Ronnie
----------------------
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Ghana Unplugged
Internet access here is slow and quite sporadic and I get to check it once every 2-3 days so I'll keep these short.
Ok so I got here the morning of the 12th. Met a bunch of fellow volunteers on the flight and at the airport at Accra. We drove down in 2 vans to a town called Hohoe (pronounced Hoe-hway) about 4 hrs north-east of the capital. People here drive like crazy and there aren't too many road rules! (but I'm used to it from how it is in India so not a big problem for me :) We're staying at Cross-Cultural Solutions' Home base (kinda like a dorm for volunteers) where they have bunk beds, toilets and a common dining room. Cool. The food here mostly revolves around starch. Cassava, yam, potatoes, rice. So I'd advise all Atkins diet lovers to skip Ghana during an African visit ;) They do have nice spices though so the food isn't all that bland. Of course, I haven't ventures out to try the street kebabs and grilled corn yet but I likely will after the first few days here! The landscape around here is pretty hot and arid although Hohoe being closer to the hills and Lake Volta gets a nice cool breeze in the evening which is refreshing.
A word on the volunteers - they're a fabulous bunch! A lot of them are kids who are still in college and are here on summer break but have a great interest in either the education or medical field. There are a few elementary and middle school teachers, a pharmacist from Australia, a couple of doctors-to-be from Canada and a group from UC San Diego. All in all, very interesting, intelligent, passionate and fun ppl. Even though it's been just 3 days since I got here I think a few of them will be friends way beyond this trip.
Went to Mass on Sunday morning. Quite an experience. Went from 9 a.m. to 11:30. Almost 3 times as long as regular Catholic Masses. Fun nevertheless. Lots of people all decked up in extremely colorful clothes. Loud singing, drumming and dancing (seriously). The women (esp the elderly) habe this habit of waving white handkerchiefs in the air whenever the priest made a joke during his hour-long sermon in Ewe (the local dialect). For the offertory procession, in addition to gifts of bread and some fruit there was a girl eho presented the priest with a live chicken! Unbelievable. Was a great experience though. I think I was the only non-Ghanaian there :)
Most of the evenings we spend around the house chatting, reading, playing board games, etc. We played soccer with the local kids, awesome fun. We met up with a group of young children whop taught us drumming and local dances. I think I may have picked up a few moves :) The local market is amazing with all its varieties of food and colorful dresses. Some of the kids kept hugging me and it was a joy carrying them around! The kids here always have a smile on their face and are amazingly happy and contented despite their extremely poor condition. It just goes to show how simple yet strong the human spirit can be. I have been very touched by what I've seen so far.
Today was my first day at the orphanage. 110 kids. 3 teachers and 4 of us volunteers. Pretty hard work. This is definitely going to be a challenge but I' m all up for it. I will write a lot more about my time at the orphanage and the learning experiences from there over the next few days.
Ok so I got here the morning of the 12th. Met a bunch of fellow volunteers on the flight and at the airport at Accra. We drove down in 2 vans to a town called Hohoe (pronounced Hoe-hway) about 4 hrs north-east of the capital. People here drive like crazy and there aren't too many road rules! (but I'm used to it from how it is in India so not a big problem for me :) We're staying at Cross-Cultural Solutions' Home base (kinda like a dorm for volunteers) where they have bunk beds, toilets and a common dining room. Cool. The food here mostly revolves around starch. Cassava, yam, potatoes, rice. So I'd advise all Atkins diet lovers to skip Ghana during an African visit ;) They do have nice spices though so the food isn't all that bland. Of course, I haven't ventures out to try the street kebabs and grilled corn yet but I likely will after the first few days here! The landscape around here is pretty hot and arid although Hohoe being closer to the hills and Lake Volta gets a nice cool breeze in the evening which is refreshing.
A word on the volunteers - they're a fabulous bunch! A lot of them are kids who are still in college and are here on summer break but have a great interest in either the education or medical field. There are a few elementary and middle school teachers, a pharmacist from Australia, a couple of doctors-to-be from Canada and a group from UC San Diego. All in all, very interesting, intelligent, passionate and fun ppl. Even though it's been just 3 days since I got here I think a few of them will be friends way beyond this trip.
Went to Mass on Sunday morning. Quite an experience. Went from 9 a.m. to 11:30. Almost 3 times as long as regular Catholic Masses. Fun nevertheless. Lots of people all decked up in extremely colorful clothes. Loud singing, drumming and dancing (seriously). The women (esp the elderly) habe this habit of waving white handkerchiefs in the air whenever the priest made a joke during his hour-long sermon in Ewe (the local dialect). For the offertory procession, in addition to gifts of bread and some fruit there was a girl eho presented the priest with a live chicken! Unbelievable. Was a great experience though. I think I was the only non-Ghanaian there :)
Most of the evenings we spend around the house chatting, reading, playing board games, etc. We played soccer with the local kids, awesome fun. We met up with a group of young children whop taught us drumming and local dances. I think I may have picked up a few moves :) The local market is amazing with all its varieties of food and colorful dresses. Some of the kids kept hugging me and it was a joy carrying them around! The kids here always have a smile on their face and are amazingly happy and contented despite their extremely poor condition. It just goes to show how simple yet strong the human spirit can be. I have been very touched by what I've seen so far.
Today was my first day at the orphanage. 110 kids. 3 teachers and 4 of us volunteers. Pretty hard work. This is definitely going to be a challenge but I' m all up for it. I will write a lot more about my time at the orphanage and the learning experiences from there over the next few days.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
The eve of my trip to Ghana!
Hey everyone,
So I'm kinda new to this whole concept of blogging. You can call me old-fashioned, retro or just plain lazy :) I'm the kinda person who would just rather pen down a few notes on a jotting pad or a journal when I'm on the road or visiting places.
But this time around, I'm gonna be away for 3 weeks volunteering at an orphanage in a village called Hoehoe, about 4 hrs north of Accra, the capital of Ghana. I'm doing this on behalf of a non-profit organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/)
Needless to say, I'm very excited and a bit nervous at the same time. A few friends of mine suggested that I write a blog about my experiences while I'm there, and so I decided I would! I'm not sure how regular or irregular my access to the internet will be, but I'll try and post something once every 4-5 days.. Please do feel free to add your own posts, comments or anything you like!
Well, I'm gonna go and start packing now. Insect repellant, raincoats, malaria pills, childrens' story books, flash cards, a frisbee.. gosh when did I last pack all these into a suitcase? :))
-Ronnie
So I'm kinda new to this whole concept of blogging. You can call me old-fashioned, retro or just plain lazy :) I'm the kinda person who would just rather pen down a few notes on a jotting pad or a journal when I'm on the road or visiting places.
But this time around, I'm gonna be away for 3 weeks volunteering at an orphanage in a village called Hoehoe, about 4 hrs north of Accra, the capital of Ghana. I'm doing this on behalf of a non-profit organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/)
Needless to say, I'm very excited and a bit nervous at the same time. A few friends of mine suggested that I write a blog about my experiences while I'm there, and so I decided I would! I'm not sure how regular or irregular my access to the internet will be, but I'll try and post something once every 4-5 days.. Please do feel free to add your own posts, comments or anything you like!
Well, I'm gonna go and start packing now. Insect repellant, raincoats, malaria pills, childrens' story books, flash cards, a frisbee.. gosh when did I last pack all these into a suitcase? :))
-Ronnie
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