The Good and The Bad

So, after my last post I realized that most of what I've written about Ghana has been sunny and shiny and pretty. While this country really is beautiful and sunny, there is definitely a huge amount of despair and poverty running throughout. And of course I have to comment....

Spending this past weekend in Akosombo(oops....spelled it wrong in my last post) was incredible. The River Volta is spectacular and having the opportunity to go out on multiple boats was excellent. On Sunday we DID take the ferry ride to Dodi Island complete with a live band on the ferry and catered food, but of course....the destination Island houses its own community of people who show up when the boat comes in and send in their army of children to make friends (and hopefully money) from the obruni(white people). In the 20 minutes we spent on the island we did a little walk and from my healthcare standpoint I saw two girls that definitely needed medical attention - one's eyes were so swollen she couldn't open them and the other had an unidentified rash covering most of her head....as is typical for here, there were no parental figures to be found and both girls were participating in some music making in hopes of garnering a few cedis from us tourists. Really sad in my opinion....and strange to spend some time with other tourists because I've been so removed from the culture while I've been here. I thank my family and my life experience for seasoning me to experience the culture from within rather than observing it from the outside.

Hmm.....oh wait....but there's more. On our way back from Akosombo we encountered a couple towns that had flooded due to heavy rains. Whole crops of corn buried under meters of water, vending stands overturned, people dislocated from their homes. And then what? They rebuild and wait for the next flood. According to the fellow bus-goers the government does little until there's already been a disaster (hmmm....sound familiar?)

Here on the coast the poverty seems much more apparent than it did up in the Volta region. Children are often half clothed (or not clothed)....no diapers, open sewers, animals everywhere, clothes washed in water from stagnant tanks, kids and adults sleeping on the streets....on and on it goes. This is the life here. Public bath-houses, shared shower areas....everything is so public - which has also been interesting for my only child American standpoint. You have to pay to take a crap....

I'm told that the schools are public, but I only see a small percentage of kids who actually attend. The obstacles of school uniforms, books, papers, pencils and the like are often more than a family can handle so the kids just don't attend. And when they DO attend, the educational techniques are often beyond the means of the students they're teaching. Queen's English and big words for the wee ones which leaves most people functionally illiterate in the end. While in Akosombo we took a canoe ride in the morning from this young boy named Kwame (Saturday born -- everyone has a "day" name here - mine is Esi since I was born on a Sunday (correct me if that's wrong Mom!). As we glided along the beautiful river Kwame quietly sang songs of praise from the back of the boat and midway through the ride he turned to us and said "I want education from you." Just the way he said it surprised myself and Kenya - most people have just come out and asked for money, but this boy asked for education. He's 15, attends high school and (just like every Ghanaian) wants to be a footballer. Not only does he want to continue his education, he wants to attend the football academy in Accra. He plays keeper. And something about him really struck both Kenya and I -- in the end I sponsored him a new pair of football boots and gloves and shin guards for his goal-keeping. May not have been the most logical form of sponsorship in a country full of disparity, but like I said, something about this boy struck us both and helping him out seemed to be the right thing to do. The boots are yellow :) I'll load a picture up eventually.

But on a grander scale, my friend Nana is creating a new political party here in Ghana (The New Jerusalem Party) to hopefully bring about some change to this country. Apparently there's money coming in, but the government has a problem with correct appropriation...no big surprise there. It's time for the people to lead the people and I look forward to creating benefit concerts in America to sponsor school kids in Ghana, sending containers worth of donated clothes and toys, helping create solar energy projects here, better farming equipment for the farmers, and on and on and on.....

Ok....so, I'll leave it at that. This is a beautiful and friendly country, but poverty and despair are parts of daily life that people here accept as their reality. Worldwide this is the case....let's change it!