Overnight with Crystal

This week we stayed in Esiama for an overnight outreach to Nzema. Sadly, I did not have any wifi so I will do my best to cover the whole week in one post. To start, let me explain what happened last Saturday. A small group of us went swimming which was very fun, but the water did something really strange to my hair. My hair became hard, sticky, and tangled.  It feels like someone took a bottle of hair gel and dumped the whole thing on my head. I can't run my finders through it or brush it without becoming sticky all over. The worst part is that it did not wash out! I talked with the other girls who went to the pool and they had the same problem. During the week I asked my good friend Buffy who does my hair in Nebraska for advice. I tired Vinegar first, but the real cure was dish soap. I am still not back to my good hair, but I can now brush it successfully and am not grossed out all the time. Lots of people ask why my hair looks wet, and I honestly don't know how to respond haha.

Anyway, Sunday we drove to Esiama and I really enjoyed the drive. It was long, but there was so much to look at! I was really entering the jungle. Esiama is West of Accra with a lot less people so there are not crowds like there are in the city. Instead, I see hundreds of trees: palm, coconut, banana, cassava, and cocoa. I guess there are even rubber trees. Amazing! We passed the ocean as well. Riding with the staff from Crystal is very fun because we can ask them lots of questions and learn about their lives in Ghana. Ernest and Jerome always tease us and sing silly songs. We love them because they take care of us and help us not get ripped off when people try to sell us things on the street. Bismark was our driver for the week, and we love him too. I learned that Ernest recently got married and is a Christian. Ghana has interesting traditions for a marriage. The man is required to ask the father for the traditional "list" when he wants to marry the daughter. Each tribe has different required items that the groom must purchase and present to the family before the wedding day. Ernest taught me how taxes work in Ghana, and answered my questions about education. He even sang the national anthem for us, but he made me sing ours too :). Also, some tribes in Ghana mark their faces with specific scar designs. I did not see them much in Accra, but they are more common in the Villages.

Our new hotel is very different from the Telecentre. It is much cheaper and has bigger rooms, but it only has one bed and it is only memory foam.....no real mattress. My shower was better, but we were required to give our keys to the owners while we were gone. We discovered this was because they came in and turned off everything once we left. Overall, we actually loved it there! One night I walked from my friends room to mine and I saw the workers all sleeping on the floor in the lobby. I think they live there in the Lobby. Crazy!

Our first day of work was in Bonyere and there were lots of trees. I made friends with some really cute kids! The next day we were in Elubo were the people mostly spoke French. The language barrier was so difficult! We helped over 330 people in one afternoon! It was so busy and very hard work. These people have never had an eye exam before, and many of them traveled very far to get there. I even saw a bus come to our outreach from who knows where! This town is right on the boarder of Ghana and so lots of military men who work with immigration came to get tested as well. Everyone let them go first of course. It was so interesting to meet everyone. My group has been using their Fanti names to introduce ourselves, and the people love it! I think they see that we are trying to connect and understand their culture so they just go wild when we announce our African names. I brought a Frisbee to outreach that day which turned out to be very useful because a found a very big team of little friends who wanted to play with me! I made the mistake of giving a little girl who was very frightened of white people a sucker. Later, while I was working, a crowd of children came to the window of the church where I was working on Visual Acuity testing and they all wanted my attention. I put my arm out the window a few times and they all wanted to hold my hand. So cute. They waited HOURS until I was finished and I went outside to meet them. They had heard about the candy, of course. We did not speak the same language, but they laughed and laughed when I chased them. So I figured I could show them my Frisbee. I think they will enjoy that Frisbee!

The next day we were in Ayanase which was very very hot. I was sweating so much and I later became sick that day. I think it was from eating too much Wa-tchi (sorry for the bad spelling), which is a bean and rice mixture. I'd had it for breakfast most days that week because Ernest and Jerome get very very upset if I do not eat breakfast before work. They also showed us, what they call, "obruni food," which is a restaurant that serves one or two America-styled meals. It wasn't perfect, but it was close enough to make us all sooooo happy and very full. They gave us toast and oatmeal! I mean wow! Thursday, we were in Auxim which is a beautiful area. Aldan was very excited because we were in a church right next to the missionary apartments that he used to live in. Turns out there are still missionaries living there! We saw another white person so that was very exciting. A little boy was there that I talked to after work who was a Mormon and when Kara asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up he said, "a missionary!" It was so sweet.

Today was Saturday and Jon took the group to Cape Coast to visit the castle and see the canopy walk. It was pretty expensive because it was a tourist area, but it was well worth it. The canopy walk was a hike in the jungle where you get to walk on rope bridges over the trees. Very beautiful! I felt like I was in George of the Jungle.
The castle was also amazing, but for a very different reason. I learned about the slave trade in Ghana and was amazed by the things I saw. The dungeons were heart-wrenching. Our tour guide was awesome. He showed us how high the floor was due to the compressed human waste, blood, and vomit that was stood on for so many years.

Sorry to end on such a sad note, but I had a great week! Can't wait for more. Much Love!