since this is the first time I been able to get to the internet cafe in the past week and a half... I wanted to let everyone know I am safe and sound and still alive!! haha But I am working an a new post....get excited because only about a million crazy things have happened since I last posted!! We are going to Mole National Park tomorrow and then we will be back in Wa in a couple of days...So check back soon for the newest updates....
I love you all so much!!
~Jamie
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
"Trust you me..." - Ben
Our host brother Ben says some of the funniest things I have ever heard and the title of this post is one of the many! The past 2 days have been a little less intense than the ones previous and it has been so relaxing. We have been running errands to prepare for our trip to Lawra, north of Wa for you geography buffs. Ben was talking to his Tro-Tro driver and he is unable to drive us to Lawra because he has a funeral, so we had to go buy bus tickets for the 10 hr drive to Lawra. [At least the bus has AC...i think] We have been stocking up on water and food so that when we get to Lawra we don't exhaust all of their supplies. We want to actually help this area not take away from it.
Errands take so much time around here. There isn't a phone book to call and ask if someone has something. So, you just show up and hope you don't have to go somewhere else...which could take you over an hour due to the taxi driver not really knowing where you are wanting to go!! [We know from multiple experiences of ending up in random towns an hour away from where we need to be]. Sorry this post is pretty sporadic, but I'm trying to remember anything that I haven't updated yall on.
Well I have to run...I love yall and I will try to write soon!!!
Love,
Jamie
Exodus 14:14
Errands take so much time around here. There isn't a phone book to call and ask if someone has something. So, you just show up and hope you don't have to go somewhere else...which could take you over an hour due to the taxi driver not really knowing where you are wanting to go!! [We know from multiple experiences of ending up in random towns an hour away from where we need to be]. Sorry this post is pretty sporadic, but I'm trying to remember anything that I haven't updated yall on.
Well I have to run...I love yall and I will try to write soon!!!
Love,
Jamie
Exodus 14:14
Friday, June 6, 2008
What do you do if you are in Ghana with a fever of 104? Maybe you could let us know.
I don't really know where to begin this post because so much has happened over the past couple of days. Let me just tell you that this has been the craziest most emotionally strenuous couple of days of my ENTIRE LIFE. I will begin by apologizing because I haven't been able to get to the internet cafe to keep up due to the fact that I have been living at the hospital and the children' home. Second, To everyone reading...the author would like to submit a formal apology to PAUL ELLIOTT MILLER because she has been misspelling his name throughout her entire blog. She now knows that it is ELLIOTT [with 2 T's] and not Elliot [with only 1 T]. Third Let me begin by explaining what happens to an Obruni who gets really sick in Africa... THEY WANT TO TEST YOU FOR MALARIA AND AIDS. That means that they don't take any of your vitals, but they want to stick you with multiple needles and possibly give you malaria or AIDS.
This week I have been to two places I would never ever want to go while in a foreign country, especially while in Africa. The Hospital and The Lumberyard!! Get ready because I'm going to tell you about both[or for any of my Ohio readers that sounds like "BOLTH"]
Maybe I should begin with the hospital since by now yall all think I'm sick in Africa...Don't worry!! I'm not the one with the fever of 104 and chills and a rash and headaches and a sore throat...It' Elliott[with 2 T's] and Lauren!!!
The day began well with the group splitting up to run errands and visit a children's hospital. Emma, Lauren, and Whitney went for the visit while the boys and I headed off to the orphanage. When EllioTT, Matt, and I got to the orphanage we met the Director and got a list of medical supplies they needed. We were able to buy a box full of the supplies they needed from a local pharmacy. It was really great to supply them with medicine that I know the children really need. Next we met with the carpenter to finalize the price of the play set we are going to build for the children. It went pretty smoothly and we decided Elliott would meet him the next morning to go buy lumber [Don't forget that ELLIOTT was going to buy lumber...this is important in a later story]. We had to be home at 2 that day because we were going to meet Jr. at his school and play a football game with his friends [Ghana vs. US]. We got lunch and Elliott mentioned he wasn't feeling that great so we headed back to the house. When we got home we found out that Lauren wasn't feeling well either. They decided to stay home and rest while we went to play soccer...opps...I mean football...with Jr. and his friends. Well we played football and won!! [only because we had 3 ghanaians on our team and we were playing 6 v 4...haha] On the way home we stopped at Hotel Rexmar to take showers [I forgot to tell you that it hasn't been raining here that much and we are totally out of water at our host home...oh happy day!!]. When we finally got home we found Lauren and Elliott both way sicker than any obruni should be while in Ghana. When we took Lauren's temperature we realized we had to get them to the hospital because she had a temperature of 103.5 and Elliott was getting close. I remember reading 103.5 on the thermometer, looking at Emma not knowing what to do, and then having to tell Lauren. This meant we had to wake up Ben, our host brother, to take us to the nearest hospital 30 min away. This is the same Ben who hasn't been talking to us for over a day because of a conversation misunderstanding between him and Emma that ended in him yelling at her in a mix of English and Twi, I'm calling it Twinglish. {The conflict with Ben has been resolved and all that was lost in translation has been explained...the good news is we don't have to move out of his house and into a hotel...the bad news is we still don't have water!} Back to the story...I finally got Ben out of his room and we got Elliot and Lauren to the hospital. Where like I said earlier all they did was want to stick them with needles and test for Malaria and AIDS. While Lauren and Elliott were being checked out Emma and I were freaking out waiting for them. I just kept praying for them over and over again. They came out from seeing the doctor who didn't take one medical stat or ask them about one symptom and we were all pretty upset. Each of us got on our cell phones and called everyone with medical knowledge that we could think of. I called my mom and she was able to get Dr. Mark Miller to call us. [Thank mom!!] Dr. Miller was amazing. He was able to talk to Elliott and tell us what to do. [Dr. Miller Thank You SOOOO Much. You were truly a God send!!] We went back home not knowing what either Lauren or Elliott had...only that neither has AIDs or Malaria, but they were both not getting any better. The next couple of days have ended up with Lauren feeling better, but having a slight rash and Elliott being taken to the hospital again because his fever hit a record 104!!! I knew that the Lord was watching over us and that he was in control, but I have honestly never been more afraid in my life. The only thing I could do was pray and wait and throw water bags in the freezer so that we could cool Elliott down if needed. He came back from the 2nd hospital visit without answers but his fever had broken. I never want to go to the hospitals here again. ever. [Today, Lauren is feeling much better and Elliott is still a bit under the weather, but he is going to make it.]
Now that you know everyone is going to make it, let me tell you about the Lumberyard experience Emma and I had. The lumberyard in Ghana is not the place for 2 obruni women. I say this not because obruni women can't handle it, but because I have never felt more unsafe and exploited because I was a woman and I was white. Emma and I went to meet Justice, our carpenter, at the orphanage because Elliott was sick to go to buy lumber for our playground fort that we were going to build. We had to wait from 8 am to 2 pm until Justice showed up [Gotta love being on that laid back African Time...] Let me set the scene of the Lumberyard by saying that it was Lowe's on crack!! Picture 2 obruni girls following around a Ghanaian carpenter who speaks very little English walking into row after row after row of cut lumber of every size with men EVERYWHERE starring at our every move. We went from stall to stall of lumber getting ridiculously ripped off at each place because we were obruni [white]. I remember looking at Emma and I knew neither of us had any idea of what was going on. We were the only women in the lumber yard and I knew we were out of place arguing with the men there. I have never felt so uneasy in my life. We finally broke it all down with Justice and managed to get the wood we needed for $236.00...this is the same wood a Ghanaian man could get for way under $200.00!! Anyway feeling exhausted we still had to argue with the truck driver to carry the wood back to the job site. I was so emotionally stressed that I told the man that God was watching and knew he was exploiting us...he immediately said he would take us for the normal amount. We got the truck loaded and thought we were finished, but as we started to get into the truck the guys who loaded it told us we owed them 45 cedis [that is 45 US Dollars!!!!] Yall...let me just say this obruni female snapped!! It took everything I had to not yell at them at the top of my lungs...so I kept it at a low roar!! We told them we would give them 10 and they could take it or leave it... after arguing and crying a little bit they finally let us leave only paying them 13...which was way too much by the way!! Emma and I finally made it back to the orphanage with the lumber, nails, and cement for the playground!!! Yall needless to say it was all totally worth it when we told the children that we were building them a play set. Their faces lit up like I have never seen before.
Well the time has come... Thank for reading!! I'll write again before I got to Lawra because I don't know when I will have the internet again!! Thank you for all your prayers they are really appreciated. I love you all and miss you more than ever!!! I still have great stories to tell so stay tuned!!!
-Akwea
Exodus 14:14
This week I have been to two places I would never ever want to go while in a foreign country, especially while in Africa. The Hospital and The Lumberyard!! Get ready because I'm going to tell you about both[or for any of my Ohio readers that sounds like "BOLTH"]
Maybe I should begin with the hospital since by now yall all think I'm sick in Africa...Don't worry!! I'm not the one with the fever of 104 and chills and a rash and headaches and a sore throat...It' Elliott[with 2 T's] and Lauren!!!
The day began well with the group splitting up to run errands and visit a children's hospital. Emma, Lauren, and Whitney went for the visit while the boys and I headed off to the orphanage. When EllioTT, Matt, and I got to the orphanage we met the Director and got a list of medical supplies they needed. We were able to buy a box full of the supplies they needed from a local pharmacy. It was really great to supply them with medicine that I know the children really need. Next we met with the carpenter to finalize the price of the play set we are going to build for the children. It went pretty smoothly and we decided Elliott would meet him the next morning to go buy lumber [Don't forget that ELLIOTT was going to buy lumber...this is important in a later story]. We had to be home at 2 that day because we were going to meet Jr. at his school and play a football game with his friends [Ghana vs. US]. We got lunch and Elliott mentioned he wasn't feeling that great so we headed back to the house. When we got home we found out that Lauren wasn't feeling well either. They decided to stay home and rest while we went to play soccer...opps...I mean football...with Jr. and his friends. Well we played football and won!! [only because we had 3 ghanaians on our team and we were playing 6 v 4...haha] On the way home we stopped at Hotel Rexmar to take showers [I forgot to tell you that it hasn't been raining here that much and we are totally out of water at our host home...oh happy day!!]. When we finally got home we found Lauren and Elliott both way sicker than any obruni should be while in Ghana. When we took Lauren's temperature we realized we had to get them to the hospital because she had a temperature of 103.5 and Elliott was getting close. I remember reading 103.5 on the thermometer, looking at Emma not knowing what to do, and then having to tell Lauren. This meant we had to wake up Ben, our host brother, to take us to the nearest hospital 30 min away. This is the same Ben who hasn't been talking to us for over a day because of a conversation misunderstanding between him and Emma that ended in him yelling at her in a mix of English and Twi, I'm calling it Twinglish. {The conflict with Ben has been resolved and all that was lost in translation has been explained...the good news is we don't have to move out of his house and into a hotel...the bad news is we still don't have water!} Back to the story...I finally got Ben out of his room and we got Elliot and Lauren to the hospital. Where like I said earlier all they did was want to stick them with needles and test for Malaria and AIDS. While Lauren and Elliott were being checked out Emma and I were freaking out waiting for them. I just kept praying for them over and over again. They came out from seeing the doctor who didn't take one medical stat or ask them about one symptom and we were all pretty upset. Each of us got on our cell phones and called everyone with medical knowledge that we could think of. I called my mom and she was able to get Dr. Mark Miller to call us. [Thank mom!!] Dr. Miller was amazing. He was able to talk to Elliott and tell us what to do. [Dr. Miller Thank You SOOOO Much. You were truly a God send!!] We went back home not knowing what either Lauren or Elliott had...only that neither has AIDs or Malaria, but they were both not getting any better. The next couple of days have ended up with Lauren feeling better, but having a slight rash and Elliott being taken to the hospital again because his fever hit a record 104!!! I knew that the Lord was watching over us and that he was in control, but I have honestly never been more afraid in my life. The only thing I could do was pray and wait and throw water bags in the freezer so that we could cool Elliott down if needed. He came back from the 2nd hospital visit without answers but his fever had broken. I never want to go to the hospitals here again. ever. [Today, Lauren is feeling much better and Elliott is still a bit under the weather, but he is going to make it.]
Now that you know everyone is going to make it, let me tell you about the Lumberyard experience Emma and I had. The lumberyard in Ghana is not the place for 2 obruni women. I say this not because obruni women can't handle it, but because I have never felt more unsafe and exploited because I was a woman and I was white. Emma and I went to meet Justice, our carpenter, at the orphanage because Elliott was sick to go to buy lumber for our playground fort that we were going to build. We had to wait from 8 am to 2 pm until Justice showed up [Gotta love being on that laid back African Time...] Let me set the scene of the Lumberyard by saying that it was Lowe's on crack!! Picture 2 obruni girls following around a Ghanaian carpenter who speaks very little English walking into row after row after row of cut lumber of every size with men EVERYWHERE starring at our every move. We went from stall to stall of lumber getting ridiculously ripped off at each place because we were obruni [white]. I remember looking at Emma and I knew neither of us had any idea of what was going on. We were the only women in the lumber yard and I knew we were out of place arguing with the men there. I have never felt so uneasy in my life. We finally broke it all down with Justice and managed to get the wood we needed for $236.00...this is the same wood a Ghanaian man could get for way under $200.00!! Anyway feeling exhausted we still had to argue with the truck driver to carry the wood back to the job site. I was so emotionally stressed that I told the man that God was watching and knew he was exploiting us...he immediately said he would take us for the normal amount. We got the truck loaded and thought we were finished, but as we started to get into the truck the guys who loaded it told us we owed them 45 cedis [that is 45 US Dollars!!!!] Yall...let me just say this obruni female snapped!! It took everything I had to not yell at them at the top of my lungs...so I kept it at a low roar!! We told them we would give them 10 and they could take it or leave it... after arguing and crying a little bit they finally let us leave only paying them 13...which was way too much by the way!! Emma and I finally made it back to the orphanage with the lumber, nails, and cement for the playground!!! Yall needless to say it was all totally worth it when we told the children that we were building them a play set. Their faces lit up like I have never seen before.
Well the time has come... Thank for reading!! I'll write again before I got to Lawra because I don't know when I will have the internet again!! Thank you for all your prayers they are really appreciated. I love you all and miss you more than ever!!! I still have great stories to tell so stay tuned!!!
-Akwea
Exodus 14:14
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
"All I really want is nothing...I mean I do want something...I'm trying to say I'm good."-Matt
Let me just say that Matt has continual dialogue and I love it. This was just one of the many continual thoughts that we get from Matty and It just makes me laugh! So I know everyone is sitting on the edge of their seats to find out if I got my camera back...well I DID...I GOT MY CAMERA BACK!!!!!! A couple of days ago Elliot and I went back to look again for the camera and explain how important it was to me. The women there seemed very concerned because they said having something like that stolen brought shame to them. We reassured them we weren't upset but if they found anything to call. As Elliot and I were leaving the children's home I was honestly almost in tears pretty much realizing my camera was probably being sold on some street in Ghana. We were about to grab a taxi when I looked up and saw this huge truck and on the front it had the letters "God's Time". It reminded me that I needed to relax and let God handle this situation in his time. I Think God is a comedian because as soon as Elliot and I got a taxi to meet everyone else and I finally began to give this whole problem over to Him Elliot got a call from Emma saying that they had found my camera at the children's home. So we went back and got my camera!!! Yall, God is good. The woman at the orphanage said they had found it in a child's backpack. When I checked my camera all of my pictures had been erased and the culprit had managed to take pictures of a ball, a light, a window, and 2 pictures of themselves. (This kid was smooth yall...haha) Again let me say, God is good and I am confident that he will handle any situation I run into here in Ghana.
The next big event that happened here was the Ghana vs. Lybia World Cup 2010 Qualifying match that we attended on Sunday. Let me just say that was the craziest most brilliant sporting event I have ever seen in my life. Sorry, but Carolina Basketball doesn't even hold a light to the blazing splendor that was that football game!! We all pilled into the Tro-Tro (van like taxi) that Ben, our host brother, owns. Emma was the mate and we managed to even pick up a random guy to go to the stadium (hahaha it was great).The stadium here in Ghana can hold over 40,000 screaming fans decked out in all the green, gold, red, and black you have ever seen. There was even a King present for the match!! We were going to make signs that said "Obrunis Love the Black Stars" (Black Stars = Ghanaian National Team) but we didn't get around to it the day of the game. But we were all wearing Ghanaian football jerseys (I was wearing Essien #8...yall this guy can play soccer). Ghana won 3 to 0 and the crowd was going crazy!! When the game was over and we were walking back to the tro-tro people kept calling us "White Ghana". It was hysterical until people kept trying to touch us and I got grabbed at a couple of times. I'm really glad the guys were there so that people didn't mess with us too much.
Well that is all the time I have for today...but the next Obruni Adventure is just around the corner so stay tuned... haha I love you all and Miss you more than ever. Keep praying for everyone...God is really working in miraculous ways here!!! (P.S. Lauren's Mom, thanks for reading!!!)
The next big event that happened here was the Ghana vs. Lybia World Cup 2010 Qualifying match that we attended on Sunday. Let me just say that was the craziest most brilliant sporting event I have ever seen in my life. Sorry, but Carolina Basketball doesn't even hold a light to the blazing splendor that was that football game!! We all pilled into the Tro-Tro (van like taxi) that Ben, our host brother, owns. Emma was the mate and we managed to even pick up a random guy to go to the stadium (hahaha it was great).The stadium here in Ghana can hold over 40,000 screaming fans decked out in all the green, gold, red, and black you have ever seen. There was even a King present for the match!! We were going to make signs that said "Obrunis Love the Black Stars" (Black Stars = Ghanaian National Team) but we didn't get around to it the day of the game. But we were all wearing Ghanaian football jerseys (I was wearing Essien #8...yall this guy can play soccer). Ghana won 3 to 0 and the crowd was going crazy!! When the game was over and we were walking back to the tro-tro people kept calling us "White Ghana". It was hysterical until people kept trying to touch us and I got grabbed at a couple of times. I'm really glad the guys were there so that people didn't mess with us too much.
Well that is all the time I have for today...but the next Obruni Adventure is just around the corner so stay tuned... haha I love you all and Miss you more than ever. Keep praying for everyone...God is really working in miraculous ways here!!! (P.S. Lauren's Mom, thanks for reading!!!)
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