Pictures!!!!!

Hey everyone! This will be my last post on this blog. Thank you all for all of your support on this journey. Here is the link to the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sherikoller/Ghana201002?authkey=Gv1sRgCKW7-tWr68H-bw#

ENJOY!!!!!!

Last day in Ghana...definitely will not miss the poltergeist toilet! :(

I awoke early as Jennifer had to be up by 5:30am to leave for her flight. There was a knock at the door @ 5:30 and lo-and-behold, Ashley couldnt sleep so she came lounged around with me while Jen got ready. the hotel had promised that they would have breakfast ready but... they lied. :( Jennifer and Karen were on the same shuttle to the airport and it was sad to see both my roommates leaving! Ashley and I tried to go back to sleep after they left but at 8am there was another knock on the door... I had fallen asleep for maybe 30 minutes and had the weirdest dreams!!! I dreamt that there was a tsunami heading for Accra and we were all trying to outrun it. In the second dream, I was in the plane flying home and the plane turned upside down and was flying out of control... the pilots couldn't figure out how to get it back in control. Damn anti-malarial pills!!! :)

Since the final 6 of us were not leaving until 11pm tonight, everyone moved their things into my/Ashley's room. The biggest attraction though was the toilet! When not in use, it would whistle! I swear it! And then when you would flush it, it would start off with this low rumble and crescendo to this REALLY loud, REALLY aggressive sounding growl! I swear, the exorcist is living in our bathroom! Probably doesn't help that all of our tummies are feel a bit raw this morning and we are using Senor toilet more frequently... maybe he's pissed off about the overuse?


After breakfast we all loaded into two taxi's with Nii and drove through downtown Accra to a Craft market by the sea. The business people in the market were fairly assertive and would call out to you "my sister, come over here, my sister, I have exactly what you want." And if you didn't listen to them, they would try to grab your arm and pull you into the stalls! I didn't mind though... it's all good! :) I ended up buying a purse, a drum, and a doll. On the way back from the market, there was some confusion about the leftover team funds and finding a money exchange... it all worked out in the end and was good practice for when I am a team leader!

Back at the hotel we ate lunch and then lounged around the pool. I had left my bathing suit back in KTK... my teammates convinced me to wear some undies and a tank top... it actually DID look like a tankini bathing suit! The weather was gorgeous outside and we all laid by the pool talking about the trip and processing all the things that happened. It was a beautiful moment and I felt really connected to everyone there.
(Ashley, Andrea and Hailey while waiting for the shuttle to the airport)
We left for the airport @ 7:45pm and got there a little after 8pm. What a madhouse!!! First you had to stand in a line to get your luggage inspected, then you had to wait in line to get your passport put in the computer, then you had to wait in line to get your plane tickets, then you had to wait in line to get your passport checked again, then you had to wait in line at immigration, then you had to wait in line at the gate!!! While waiting in the first line, this woman came up and said "who is your leader?" We were really confused and she said "every group has a leader, who is it?" We said that our leader had gone home but that I could be the leader. She apparently was tired of dealing with us and said "I am only trying to help you" in this annoyed tone and moved onto the next group of white people. Turns out she works for customs and randomly picks people and she briefly screens their luggage and then they can skip the line! We were greatly regretting not understanding her :( Right before we got to the customs guy, this woman was yelling/arguing with the customs agent because a white man and an asian man had cut to the front of the line. She was indignant and enraged that these men were allowed to "cut." I guess this must happen often because there is a sign behind the officer that states "no verbal abuse or harrassment to customs agent or you will be denied boarding." NIIIIICEEE!!!! :)

Our flight left on time and although we tried to switch seats, it didn't work out. I took a Tyelenol PM though and slept for about 7 of the 11 hours!!! Upon landing in D.C. we were supposed to go through immigration, get our luggage, go through customs and then make it to our next flight in 1 1/2 hours. My luggage wasn't there! I swear, this is why I HATE checking luggage... I must have terrible luggage Karma because I never check luggage but when I do, it gets lost almost half the time!!! The guy at the desk was SERIOUSLY unhelpful and couldn't even tell me if it made it to D.C.. Good lord... if my luggage is still back in that crazy airport in Accra, I am NEVER going to get it! I barely made it out will all my limbs intact!!! BEcause it took so long waiting in line with Customer Service, I was nervous about missing my next flight... and I still had to go through customs AND security!!! Luckily I made it through and began the trek through the airport. It was nice though... the other 5 teammates had to get to their flights which were all boarding as well but Andrea, Betty AND Hailey all waited for me! First I saw Andrea and she ran up and said "My flight is boarding but I wanted to say good-bye to you" and she gave me a big hug! 3 gates down I hear someone call my name... Betty had waited to board so she could say good-bye. Hailey was waiting to say good-bye and give me a hug as well. I felt like a celebrity in the D.C. airport! :)

Ashley and I were on the same flight to Los Angeles and when we arrived I was elated to see my mom waiting there for me!! If nothing else, this trip really reminded me how grateful I am everyday that my loved ones are safe! Speaking of safe... my luggage decided to take a scenic route and was not @ LAX either. They had located it though and it was coming to LAX 5 hours later. United agreed to have it delivered within 6 hours... but that ended up being about 10 hours! I was NOT impressed!

First stop at home... shower!!! My mom went and got some In-n-Out for lunch and we sat around looking at my pictures and watching the videos. It was really nice to be home and I was feeling good!!! I was exhausted though and fell asleep @ 8:30pm.. luckily my mom stayed to wait up for my luggage. Love you mom!!! :) I slept 13 hours and awoke the next morning refreshed!

I have uploaded my pictures to picasa but am waiting on one teammember to upload hers because I know that she has some great pics as well (I will post the link here hopefully within the week). I hope you all have enjoyed my trip to Ghana and please come join me on my next adventure to India... if you are interested in donating to my India build... please check out my India blog at sheriinindia.blogspot.com I will also be posting there about all of my adventures so stay tuned!!! :)

4am is WAY to early to wake up!

We awoke at 4am to finish packing up and loading the bus. I had gone through my belongings yesterday while packing and had left almost an entire trashbag of clothes, medicines, bug sprays, shoes, etc. Most of the team left bags of things as well. These items will be distributed amongst the village and other Habitat affiliates in Ghana. When I was packing, I just couldn't bring myself to throw my stuff back into my suitcase after seeing what little the villagers had. My favorite shirt seemed like it would have a better home with one of the children we see who only own one pair of underwear and a t-shirt. There are going to be a lot of stylish KTK villagers! :)

We had breakfast and NaNa stopped by @ about 5:00am to say good-bye to us. He is such an amazing man! We were in the bus by 6am...I was feeling a bit nervous because my stomach had been upset since waking up and I had run to the outhouse 5 or 6 times... nothing like getting on a 10 hour busride with an upset tummy... lucky for me, it calmed down pretty quickly! Most of us were exhausted and tried to sleep on the way to Kumasi... there were so many things to look at though!!!It tooks us about 3 hours to get to Kumasi and we stopped at a market there. It was bustling and Jennifer and I stuck with the cooks Regina and Jacqueline to help show us around. At one point someone slapped me hard in the middle of my back... I though maybe it was Jennifer playing around but when I turned around, this African woman with a basket on her head was walking away chuckling... uh, ok? :) A bit random if I do say so! In the market I bought some bracelets and I got 2 CD's with Ghanaian music (it's called Hiplife or Highlife). After the market, we drove to the hotel that we stayed at the second night. We ate lunch there but it couldn't even compare to Regina and Jacqueline's cooking! Out in KTK, all the food was pure, nothing was processed...straight from the source... whereas here, it just wasn't the same :( But it was a good way to ease back into mass produced food :)

On the way back to Accra... I learned that the word for the day was romance... turns out that a few romances had developed during our time in KTK... some of the teammates were sitting next to their new "significant others."

We stopped again at the "rockin rest stop" that we had stopped at on the first day... how different everything felt in just 10 days! Jennifer, Karen and I went to the bar at the rest stop and got a shot of Almond bitters... I don't know what the alcohol proof is but holy crap! That stuff is strong!! We stopped at a few other places on the way but the worst was this one gas station... it was a concrete wall on three sides and had an inside of about 6 by 6 feet. Along the outside wall there was a little ditch where people had gone to the restroom... I guess when it rains, it just clears out the ditch out a drain in the back... nice! Here is a picture of me pretending to us the restroom... yuck!



When we had originally left KTK at 6am this morning, we had all taken bets at what time we would get to the hotel in Accra... I had guessed 6:20pm, Angela guessed closer to 7pm, Jennifer guessed 6:39pm. Wouldn't you know it... we pulled into our hotel at exactly 6:39pm!!!! We are staying at a different hotel tonight... it's called the Miklin and is MUCH nicer than the first hotel. They have free internet and there are no trees poking through the ceiling of the shower! I must say though...I was REALLY looking forward to the shower here.... what a letdown! the water would come on with a good pressure and about 10 seconds later would decrease to about a drizzle, then it would surge back on. Sometimes it would surge on warm and sometimes it would surge on cool. I have to say though... it was the best worst shower of my life :)

After dinner, Crispin did his reflection. He had us all write down one thing were were grateful for during our time in KTK and then one thing we were grateful for overall. Here are the lists:
1. While in KTK: The ability to stay in the village and connect on a very personal level with the villagers-Quiet moments- Dancing!!!- KTK friendly villagers that treated us with so much respect and appreciation- One lovely people- Helped define my future life goals- Nana- The children- Overcoming or conquering the intense situations along the way- NANA!- Salamin (Smiley's) smile- Adassa (cooks daughter)- unbelievable gifts from the village
2. Overall:- Family- Freedom- Supportive friends and family- The freedom to be who I am,authentically : )- My parents- Supportive/amazing friends- Education- Tickets
- Still happy- Education / Life opportunities- Freedom to travel
You'll notice that nowhere on there does it mention a Gucci purse or the brand new bigscreen T.V.. That was really poignant to see... the things we are most grateful for are the things that we, as an American culture, take for granted. The moments that we appreciated the most were the times when we were interacting with the villagers... free from our blackberry or IPOD... it was the moments when we were free from the confinement of technology and were simply present and enjoying people and places around us. And those experiences reminded us of what is truly important back home. For the last part of Crispin's relfection, he had us each pick out a small stone that he had chosen on the jobsite. He had NaNa bless them all and he wanted us to have them as a reminder to be grateful for the things we have and the experiences of this trip... I love my stone and have already made it into a necklace that I can wear to remind me to be more grateful for all I have! Here is NaNa's blessing:
"MAY THE GOOD BLESSINGS OF OUR SPIRITUAL ANCESTORS, THE ALMIGHTY GOD, THE GOD OF OUR SEVEN RIVERS, MOTHER EARTH AND THE ENTIRE SPIRITUAL WORLD OF KATAKYIEKROM COME UPON THE LITTLE STONES PICKED FROM OUR MOTHER LAND. AND MAY THE SOULS OF OUR GREAT GRANDFATHERS RICHLY BLESS YOU IN ALL YOUR ENDEAVOURS. AND MAY THE BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND FRATERNITY GROW NOW AND FOREVER. AMEN."

I love it!!! Soon after the reflection, we went outside because it was time for the first round of people to leave for the airport. Tim, Beatrice and Angela were on a 1am flight so they left the hotel at 9:30pm. It was sad to see them leave but I didn't feel NEARLY as overcome with emotion as I did in Thailand when we had to say good-bye. I was exhausted and I think I went to bed at 10pm. One more day left... I will try to write tomorrow and then that will be the end of this blog :(

Murder, Kidnapping threats and fancy flip flops? Mom- you might want to skip this entry! :)

It's hard to believe that Tuesday is already here!!! We awoke this morning to the continued sound of rain and the storm brewing outside. We got up but Nii said that we would not be going to work our final 1/2 day because of the storm. Angela came into our room and shared a bit of gossip... turns out that one of the workers came by this morning to share with us that they were not heading into work as well. Eventhough the storm had slowed a bit... the villagers were taking the day off because there had been a murder in the village last night. A MURDER?!?!?! Did I hear that correctly?! They must be mistaken... the chief told us that there has never been a murder in the village before! Was he telling the truth or is their concept of the word 'murder' different or was he just trying to make us feel safe? And how would the villagers cope with this? If it's true and that they never have had a murder, will they think that we, the white man, have brought this? (Thie is Regina... my absolute FAVORITE little girl from the village... if she didn't have parents... that girl would be moving into my house TOMORROW!) :)

Breakfast was less subdued than last night but still quieter than usual as we are all still trying to respect Crispin's process. The only seat left for me to take was a dark green chair in the "cursed corner" where all the chairs break on us! I made a joke like "well, looks like I get to live on the edge this morning." Boom... not even 5 minutes into it I am on the floor with my broken chair while laughing! Do you think it could be all the extra rice I've eaten these past 2 weeks? After breakfast, I decided to start packing up as our bus would be arriving this evening and we are planning on packing up tonight as we will be leaving EARLY tomorrow morning.

We walked into town @ 3pm for our closing ceremonies but the chief was not yet ready for us. We hung out at a "bar" instead. Some of us needed to use the restroom before the ceremonies and Kolfi took us to us the Chief's outhouse. Imagine that... a "royal throne". I crack myself up! And what a throne it was... you had to step up onto a step and then the toilet seat was cemented into another step!

The closing ceremonies were CRAZY! The chief had hired a brass band to come and play. All the villagers had turned out. We entered and made our rounds, shaking hands with everyone and then they came by and shook ours. It was so different from our opening ceremonies just a week ago, this time it was infused with familiar faces, smiles from people we have worked with and spent time with. The chief wanted to give us each gifts and I was the first one they called up! He had gotten us all Kente cloth sashes with our names embroidered into them. He also had special "chief" flip flops made that are seriously bling'd out... AND seriously uncomfortable (since they are handmade, there are nails that poke out... I think they are more like acupuncture flip flops!) During the ceremonies people/villagers, most we'd never seen before, came up and would stand only a few feet away from us and take pictures of us individually. It felt really uncomfortable and just reinforced how I don't feel it is appropriate to take someone's picture with asking their permission... it is precisely the reason why I was so frustrated this week with a couple of people that would get in these children's faces to take their pictures. Just another insight to store away and discuss with teammembers when I lead a team... to be mindful that people might not want their pictures taken. WEll, after all the speeches were made and the keys were handed over to the homeowners, all hell broke loose! We got up to dance and the villagers swarmed in to dance with us. They were dancing much closer than they had and it all started to feel a bit claustrophobic. Some of the team had already left and I kept looking for another teammember to leave with but everyone was preoccupied... I was really uncomfortable with how forward and pushy the villagers became and was REALLY glad when we left for home. The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur and we went to bed exhausted... it would be a short night's sleep as we were set to load up the bus tomorrow... only 2 more days left in Ghana :(

I digress...

It's late and I am too tired to write about Tuesday (our last full day in KTK) so I will save it for tomorrow. I will tell you a short story though... this morning, I must have looked a bit sleepy in the elevator and one of my colleagues asked about the jetlag. I said that it hadn't been bad except for one thing... I LOVE that snooze button but I've been using it a lot more than usual the past week... and she said "yeah, you can't really shut the rooster off." I started cracking up! Goodness knows we tried to get rid of that stupid rooster! Ah... the mental image of hitting a snooze button on the rooster... good times! :) More to come tomorrow...

Manic Monday? I've got words for you Mr. Monday... go away!

Today was the day to end all days! We arrived on site at 8am and the sun was already shining. We've been REALLY blessed all week that the sun has been hiding behind the clouds... thus keeping the temperature tolerable... but "here comes the sun do do do do"... UG! This morning we mixed a lot of concrete and mortar and did a lot of shoveling. All of us were really sore (I don't know if it was the cumulation of many days of shoveling, the one day of rest or sleeping on thin moldy mats) and that made the work feel a lot harder. Even the bricks feel heavier (is that possible? They already weight 40,000 tons! Even my super Sheri muscular arms were seriously dragging!). For lunch we ate Foo Foo... how do I describe Foo Foo? Foo foo roo! Foo Foo moo! Foo Foo goo! Ah, I like that last one... it's a goopy, globular paste that we ate with a peanut sauce. Not exactly my favorite lunch.

After lunch... the heat melted us... there is no other way to say it. I was up on the scaffolding for a little while but between the sun beating down, the lack of a breeze and the humidity... I ended up sitting in the shade for a LONG time trying to recuperate for the short amount of time up on the scaffolding.
I went over to grab some water, and a small group of preteen girls had come out to check us out. They had beautiful pink flowers in their hair and they began to tuck them into my headscarf. One of the girls took a flower and began to rub it on my lips. Her gentle touch brought me to tears. We quit @ 3pm because... let's be honest, we just couldn't go on.

At home I took my first shower since Saturday! I hadn't washed my hair since Friday and it had been in the same braids since Saturday evening (once I put them up, I didn't even want to touch them!!!) That was the BEST bucket shower EVER!!! Pure bliss if I do say so myself (I am currently scratching my head while writing this just remembering how itchy my scalp was!).

A little while later, Karen, Jennifer and I were sitting in the room looking at each other's photos and writing in journals when Nii came in asking for Crispin. Nii went in to town to find Crispin at the bar. When they returned, Nii was crying,Crispin was in his room and Ashley came in and told us what happened. Crispin's best friend since childhood had been killed in a motorcycle car crash this morning. He left behind a wife and two small children. The entire mood shifted. Jennifer went to go check on Crispin and Karen and I just laid on our beds... completely silent for a really long time. I was imagining what I would be thinking and feeling if it had been me that got that call. I was sending out loving vibes of safety and protection to all my loved ones back home and praying that they were all safe. I was feeling scared, sad and very, very far from home. I have always been afraid that something would happen to someone I love when I travel, but for the first time ever, I felt unreachable. I felt completely out of touch with people back home. And God forbid something had happened to one of them... it was a TEN HOUR DRIVE back to Accra, and even then, it's not like there are any number of flights I could hop on immediately to get myself back home. I felt further away than ever before... and at that moment I realized... hmmmmm... too far. We all know that I am quite the adventurer... and I always manage to go to places off the beaten path... but never before did I feel that it was too far. Until now. It was a moment of realization when I realized "I don't like being this far away from the people I love." I will continue to travel but I don't know if I will ever choose a location like this again.

At dinner everyone was VERY quiet and most people came and went. We were all thinking, feeling, grieving. At one point, Jennifer was trying to get Marc's attention and he totally snapped at her and was seriously disrespectful. Even calm, cool Karen raised her eyebrows and let out a sigh! At this point, the team went off in different directions. Crispin went for a walk with Ashley, Beatrice and Nii went out back to talk, Angela and Andrea and BEtty went out front, Marc went into his room and the final 4 of us stayed in the main room. A storm was coming and thunder and lightning had started up off in the distance.

We went to bed around 10pm and were completely exhausted. I awoke at 3am and Jennifer was also awake. We whispered about Crispin and how he must be feeling. We also talked about the division of the team that evening. It had started to rain and when the rain got so loud we couldn't talk, Jennifer handed me one of her earbuds and put the Toto-Africa song on (I blessed the rains down in Africa... gonna take some time to do the things we never had). The music was cranked up, the storm was wailing around us, the events of the past 24 hours and the words of the song moved me so much that I began to cry. Not really tears of sadness but tears of pure, raw and simple emotion. I don't even have the words to express what I was feeling (maybe I should quit my job as a social worker now... I can't even figure out how to label emotions?!?!?!) other than to say that it was a mixture of fear, worry, exhaustion, empathy for Crispin, pure unadulterated joy, bliss, safety, the power of being in Africa, and simply being present in the moment. Jennifer grabbed my hand and just held it... I didn't have to talk, just be present. At the conclusion of the song, Jennifer played it again. Same effect... tear city! She then said "ok, one more time?" I was calming down mid-song when suddenly something CRAWLED ACROSS MY LEGS! I don't know what it was, but it was big enough that I felt it through my mosquito netting AND my sleep sac!!! I said "something just crawled across my legs... fan-freaking-tastic!" And at the same time, the rooster crowed!!! We immediately began to laugh... one of those belly laughs with a good friend where when one of you stops, the other can't contain their laughter and you end up joining back in. Those are precious moments in life... when you can go from crying one moment to laughing uncontrollably the next. It was the perfect!! Unfortunately our perfect moment woke Karen up and we couldn't even talk to tell her what we were laughing about... what would we have said anyway?

Moments like that remind me not only of why I travel, but also of why I come home. There is nothing like the presence of good music and a good friend. There is something awe inspiring about a storm raging outside and being dry and safe inside. In moments like that, it doesn't matter when your last shower was, or how much money you have in your travel sack... what matters most is being present, being open to new experiences, loving even at the risk of losing and continuing to look for the joy in life.

And on the 7th day... we rested!

Man, oh man, how great would it have been to sleep in on a day that we didn't have to go to the worksite? Unfortunately someone forgot to share the memo with Senor Rooster! He woke us up a little before 5am (getting later each day... maybe he's getting a bit lazy!) but we went back to sleep. A few people awoke early enough to go to church but seeing as church STARTED @ 7:30am, I was ALL set. NaNa showed up at about 10 to take us on an adventure. When he saw me he said "man, you must be sore!" I chuckled and said "nope, it was amazing, thank you for organizing such a great experience." WE loaded up into Nana's van and we were off. We had learned earlier in the week that The Ivory Coast (Cote-d'Ivoire) border was only about 7km from our village. We all wanted to go!!! Nana agreed to take us there just in case there were any problems, he could use his chiefly powers to rescue us :) It's a good thing we had him... one of the border guards was one of his former students and Nana was able to sneak us across the border! :)
There is about 3 miles of "no man's land" between the two countries but there is a line (well, let's be honest here... it is a crack in the earth that they told us was the border!) that we were able to cross. While walking up to the "line" Nana and Jennifer and I were walking together. Nana said "you see these goats, we do not know if they are Ghanaian goats or Ivory Coast goats because they roam freely between the countries." Jennifer said "Maybe we should ask them for their passports!" And the chief (in all his regal chief-ly-ness) said (well, he commanded really) "Hey you... goats... show me your passports" while wagging his finger at them. Jennifer and I just about died laughing! Nana cracks me up! HE has such a GREAT sense of humor!! So now I can say that I've also been to the Ivory Coast! :) (these pics are of us straddling the border!)


On the way back to the house, 7kn felt like 40km! The road was really rutted and washed out in some areas.

Once back at the house, a wood carving vendor came and we were able to do some shopping... I love how the shops come to us! :) After that, Jennifer, Hailey, Karen and I played Uno in our room. It was nice to just relax and enjoy each others company! Once everyone was home we ate dinner and then Nana came back over. He partook in some of the box wine I was drinking and a handful of us sat around just talking with him about his experiences as Chief and different places he has traveled to. I think we went to bed around 9:30pm.