At 8am we were summoned by Nana (the chief) and walked up to the opening ceremonies. We again made the rounds as ALL the villagers had come out and shook all of their hands. They then made the rounds and shook our hands. There was this little girl, probably not more than 3 or 4 years old and she was dancing in the middle of the large circle. Our entire team got up to dance and soon some of the villagers jumped up as well.
Next, we gave the chief our gift of Schnapps and the Shaman poured libations on the ground while chanting to the ancestors. He then poured some schnapps into the glass and our team each took a sip and then passed it down the line. The stuff was like straight up gasoline!! Jennifer was at the end of the line and finished up the schnapps with one big gulp. The villagers all cheered!!!
JEnnifer then gave another speech about our "mission" in the village and then Nana spoke to us, thanking us for coming to the village. They then asked us to introduce ourselves and share one interesting or fun fact about us. I wasn't sure what to share... do I tell them my job? How do I explain therapy to a community that is barely living at a subsistence level? How do I tell them about helping parents understand their children better when the parenting here in this village seems to work (although... I did find it rough a few times to see adults hitting children with sticks to get them to back away from us). I ended up saying "my name is sheri and I love to dance and do silly things, so if you see me dancing, feel free to join me." IT was the PERFECT thing to say and for the next week, everytime I would pass some kids or women, they would yell out my name and then start to dance. Even just that afternoon, while walking to the house for lunch, we passed two women in mourning (I'll tell you more about that in a minute) and I smiled at them and they started to dance. It was a MAGICAL moment... dancing in the middle of the street with two women in mourning. It didn't matter that we don't speak the same language, all that mattered was that exact moment. But I digress... now back to the opening ceremonies :)
After the ceremony concluded, we began the walk to our site. We were completely surrounded by children from the village. They were excited and would link their arms around us and reach to hold our hands. It was really cool!!
On site, we got to meet the two homeowners. We didn't spend much time with them the rest of the build as they were off working their fields. We divided into two teams as there were two homes to be built. I picked the 2nd team and we walked a bit down to our site. My team consisted of Betty, Ashley, Crispin, Hailey, Marc and I. We met the workers Benjamin and Seth that would be helping us build. Crispin and I began to help this guy make bricks. We would shovel in a dry mix of concrete and sand and then he would grab the top lever of the box and slam it down 5 or 6 times to make it all bind together. The bricks in Ghana were MUCH heavier than the ones in Thailand... I'd say that they are about 40 pounds (even more when wet!) and oftentimes when we would carry them, they would break in half (I have the bruises on my thighs to prove it!) or crumble in our hands. DEFINITELY not earthquake proof!!!! There was only one row of blocks set and we began to mix mortar. Can I just say... UG!!! I was REALLY yearning for our concrete mixer in Thailand! We had to mix together the dirt/sand and rocks along with water and concrete mix. It was EXHAUSTING!!!
We walked back to the house where Regina and Jacqueline had made lunch for us. It was white rice with the most delicious red sauce you have ever eaten! It's like tomato sauce but with hints of curry and other delicious flavors! After lunch we began to dig/shovel dirt into wheelbarrows to be carried into the (now) 2 rows of bricks that would be our foundation.
We needed to fill the entire house (the house consists of two bedrooms, an outhouse, a shower room and a kitchen... all in all, it is probably 600 square feet total). The children had taught us to say "Habitat Oye" (it is good) and then you throw your arms up in the air. The chief stopped by the site and he had changed from his robes into jeans, a tshirt and black mud boots. What a hoot! He walked up to me and said something I couldn't understand (it was in Bono). Nii had taught us a few phrases in Bono (for every expression... you are supposed to respond with a specific phrase... for example, if I say MaChe (good morning), the other person responds (yamoo). To complicate matters further... if you are currently working at a job, you don't say MaChe, you say something different... and we all know how good I am at languages!). After the chief said whatever he said, I looked at Marc and said "I don't know how to respond to that" so I threw both arms up in the air and said "Habitat Oye!" The chief laughed and said "Habitat Oye.'
While digging in the dirt, we found two snakes... one black one and one white one. The workers killed them but it smelled pretty funk for quite awhile! :( We also found snake eggs and ants the size of small cochroaches! Luckily there were chickens roaming around that would eat the black ants. BEtty was hilarious and named one of the chickens "goo-gala." She said "I'd always wanted a chicken that I could name Goo-gala." LOL!
Well, this has become quite the post and there is still so much more to share for that day... looks like I will have to come back to it at a later time! After these messages.... we'll be right back... oh yea! :)
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