Categories: uncategorized
Date: 28 August 2007 15:06:16
The last week has gone quite quickly. The Saturday after I got back from Mole, a bus-load of people from a Kumasi church came to the orphanage and made a very large donation of food and cash. I know it was a very large donation because there was a national TV crew there and a national newspaper photographer (and I was in a picture that was on the front page!). The next day (being Sunday), I went to that church with a few of the older kids from the orphanage. It was certainly an experience. It's a pentecostal church and there was a gospel choir from Accra there that day. The faith and generosity that these people have (and most Ghanians for that matter) is very inspiring.
One of the children had been given wool by one of the other volunteers and I was showing off a bit and started to crochet it. My punishment? Crocheting every little scrap of wool that the kids brought to me over the next few days. I made some very decent bags (if I do say so myself) and I saw one of them being taken to school today.
Yesterday I really got stuck into the cooking in the kids kitchen. I wanted to make the peppe (chilli) sauce by myself. I ground the 10 chillies until all the seeds were ground. When the children asked me if I was tired (so that they could take over), I emphatically told them "No!" and they would laugh and leave me to it. I then ground all of an onion into the chillies which made me cry but I persisted until it was soft. I left to cooking in the oil to the mother. The mothers were so proud of me and gushed over me thanking me for a great job. It's something that they do twice a day (for lunch and dinner) and I am sure it took me twice as long as the kids but everybody was happy. I felt good that I could help in such a small way. I must admit though that I seemed to have more of the sauce on me then in the bowl so the kids kindly washed my clothes after I changed.
I am getting used to the cold showers (with a bucket if there is no running water), no electricity , the weather and I even had my hair braided the other day so all in all, feeling very african!