It's been so long since I last posted that I hardly remember where I left off. It's been a busy week or so.
The morning of October 4 would prove to be our last morning in Ghana. We were up early and checked departing flights hoping that we could make a change and head home tonight. We found a flight leaving at 9 p.m. but didn't make any changes since we needed to wait and see what would happen at the embassy. We took a walk down to Shiashie Road to try and find some fried plantains. We were unsuccessful but visited a little bakery just to have a look around and generally checked out the neighborhood one last time.
Accra is such a place of contrast. On each side of the street were the equivalent of what we would call rain gutters. The difference was that these gutters were 18 inches deep and smelled REALLY bad. Merchants had shops constructed very near to the street and many had laid boards down over the gutters to make it easier for customers to cross. We kept stepping over the boards anyway for fear that one might break under our weight and we'd end up standing ankle deep in something gross. Stores sold basic provisions and it appeared that people lived just behind the shops in small houses made of a variety of materials. Then, in the middle of all that, you'd see a high rise office building with an interesting architectural design and lots of reflecting glass. It seemed completely out of place. It was like that all over the city. Earlier in the week I had seen a man in a business suit walking along a dirt path toward his home in a neighborhood of mud-walled houses.
We went to a grocery store this morning! We passed it in various taxis and knew what it was but we didn't expect it to be as modern as it was. It was like shopping at Giant Eagle. We stocked up on a few things to take home to the kids and some provisions for the plane.
Anyone reading this who is in the midst of adopting from Ghana may find it interesting that we took three versions of the i-600 to the embassy meeting. When we had visited the embassy the previous day, the DHS officer had said that there was an inaccuracy on the I-600 with regard to Hugo's current name. When we got back to the hotel, we realized that we didn't know whether she meant his name before or after we adopted him. So we printed two more copies with adjustments made to a few spots on the document and tried to cover every possible scenario. We had to find a computer at the hotel to do the printing, which was an adventure in itself.
Boat arrived at 11:30 and we looked over the paperwork. For the first time, we saw the adoption decree stating that we had adopted him in Cape Coast the previous week. It was a great moment and made everything seem very official. It was humbling to think of all the work Boat had done to get this one piece of important paperwork. We checked out of the hotel and arrived at the embassy at 1:15 for a 2:00 appointment. We went through all the security checkpoints from the day before and most of the people recognized us. We were pretty easy to spot. We met the same lady as the day before and this time had all the paperwork she needed (we let her pick which I-600 she wanted to keep). We begged her to have the process completed by Christmas but she made no promises.
With the embassy stuff completed, I made the phone call to the airlines and secured the tickets for a flight out that night. We'd be flying from Accra to Frankfort, Germany to Newrak, NJ to Pittsburgh. I explained our situation to the attendant and they waived the change fees.
There was one last thing we did before we left Ghana and it resulted in some serious regret. At the time, it seemed like we were making the right decisions but now we wish we had done things differently. You may remember that not only is Hugo in Ghana, but we have also sponsored a child through Compassion International who lives somewhere in southern Ghana. We contacted Compassion before out trip and they were trying to work out a way for us to meet him while we were in the country. The plan was to contact the field office when we arrived and they would fill us in on the plan. We spent the first several days meetin Hugo and dealing with the logistics of the adoption. Then, when we were at the orphanage, we had no internet and couldn't get their contact info. In Accra, we were unsure of our embassy date and then had to reschedule it. All told, our schedule was anything but predictable so we didn't get in touch with the field office and instead just decided to swing by and drop off a gift for him.
When we arrived at the office (which was really hard to find), we met a nice young man named Daniel who informed us that the family had been notified and they were hoping to meet us the next day. We had already made changes to our flight itinerary so we declined and left the present. We assured them that when we came back, we would try again. It was a missed opportunity and I really hope that we are blessed with a do over. That would be an amazing meeting.
We had dinner with Boat, picked up our luggage from the hotel (they held it for us while we went to the embassy) and headed for the airport. Boat managed to get past security by pretending to carry our luggage for us. It was hilarious. Someone tried to stop him but he just kept moving and made his way in. We checked in and said our goodbyes to Boat. He did a great job for us and we were thankful to have him. I'll be looking forward to seeing him again.
We settled into the seats at our gate and waited to board. What a trip this had been ! Even now, as I think about it, I feel like I'm seeing scenes from a movie rather than remembering something that we actually did. It was such a mix of difficulty and blessing (and sometimes the difficulty was the blessing) that we weren't sure how to feel. But now, several weeks removed, I'm looking forward to going back.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Day Ten and Eleven - Tuesday, October 2 and Wednesday, October 3
I was thinking about stopping the journal of our trip right here. Day Nine was our last day with Hugo and this blog is really about him. But then I remembered that some of the readers may be folks who are adopting from Ghana (or at least considering it) and may be interested in the other details of traveling in Africa. I won't include every single thing, and may even combine more than one day into a single post. Anyway...
Day Nine
Morning came early again as our bodies were still on "Hugo time." I woke to find Rebekah using the ipad and catching up with the outside world. Several days of no internet (and no electricity sometimes) left us hungry to communicate with family and friends.
Morning came early again as our bodies were still on "Hugo time." I woke to find Rebekah using the ipad and catching up with the outside world. Several days of no internet (and no electricity sometimes) left us hungry to communicate with family and friends.
The hotel has a restaurant and it was a welcome sight to see omelettes and pineapple juice. We had nothing on the schedule today as we were waiting to hear about an appointment at the US embassy. The way the process works is that we complete the adoption in court and then our agency requests a meeting at the embassy to file the I-600 form. We hadn't heard anything about the meeting yet so we were just chilling until we got the call. We decided to see some sights around Accra.
After negotiating with a taxi driver and paying way too much, we arrived in the most southern part of Accra at the memorial park for Kwame Nkmura, Ghana'a first president and the man who led it to independence. As best we could tell, this was one of the nicest places in Accra, similar in importance to the monuments around the Washington D.C. mall. There was hardly anyone there and we enjoyed the walk in the hot sun and learned quite a bit about Ghanaian history. Rebekah also encountered something that remains a mystery to her....female urinals.
Just next to the memorial is a place that defies description. On the tourist website I used, it is called the Arts Centre. I was thinking African music, dancing, visual arts, and artisan wares. You know, Ghana's answer to Lincoln Center. Nope. It was a several-acre area that was basically a flea market where you could buy African products from clothing to drums to jewelry to...you name it. The vendors are extremely aggressive and at first it was a little overwhelming, but once you got the hang of it, it was kind of fun. As everywhere in Ghana, prices were negotiable and they would always start way higher than they should have been. We bought matching Ghana Black Star soccer jerseys for Hugo and Henry and dresses for every girl in the house. I didn't get anything for myself but I knew I overpaid when the dress merchant threw in a bottle opener shaped like Africa for free. It was kind of cheesy but I really liked it and unfortunately lost it in transit. Oh well.
There was one man who I could only get rid of by promising that I would stop by his drum shop. When we did, it was very far out of the way and we were a little scared. He escorted me into the shop and then blocked the door with several of his friends so they could play a "Welcome Song" on the drums for me. Rebekah and I were cut off from each other and she had to wait outside because the shop was that small. I was concerned because everywhere we went, we carried all of our important documents and money because we didn't want to leave anything in the hotel. Here we were in a tiny little store apart from the main part of the Arts Centre and I had no idea what these guys would do when I told them I couldn't buy a drum. It turned out to be fine though and we escaped without incident.
Back at the hotel, there were several significant developments. First, I got sick. I won't go into details but suffice it to say that I ate something that did not agree with my intestines. Not. One. Bit. I was downing Pepto Bismol tablets like they were M&M's. Second, we learned from Boat that there was a mistake on the adoption decree and that he would have to return to Cape Coast to have it redone. We also learned that our embassy appointment was scheduled for the next day at 2:00. That was good news except we weren't sure that Boat could make it in time from Cape Coast. He also needed time to have something done called attestations at the high court in Accra. We were pretty sure we would need to reschedule the meeting but decided to wait and see what happened with Boat first. We passed much of the rest of the day watching soccer. It's not Steeler football but it was fine under the circumstances.
Day Ten
The next morning, we got a text from Boat saying that he was at the court, the decree had been corrected, and he was waiting for the judge's signature. We thought it was a good sign that all that was happening at 7:15 a.m. There was still hope for Boat to make the long trip from Cape Coast and get everything done by two. It would be close though.
I was still sick and after breakfast, I went back to bed for awhile. Rebekah finally convinced me to get up and we took care of some things that needed to be done before the embassy meeting. I hadn't shaved since we'd been here because the batteries in my shaver died on the way over. We took a walk down the street and found a little place that sold batteries. I was able to buy two AA batteries for the equivalent of about $0.50 and I felt a little guilty paying that little.
We messaged Boat a few time regarding his progress but hadn't heard anything so we decided to head toward the embassy just in case. In the taxi, we got a phone call from him saying that he was not able to get everything done in time. He apologized over and over but it wasn't his fault anyway. Since we were most of the way there, we decided to continue to the embassy and talk to them about rescheduling.
It took us awhile to figure out how to get into the building itself and we had to get past many armed guards. After several security checks, we ended up in a little room talking to a very kind agent with the Department of Homeland Security through what was undoubtedly bullet-proof glass. We explained that we didn't have the decree but were hoping to file anyway. As expected, she said we couldn't and that we should come back tomorrow at the same time. We had her check over our other documents just in case and then we were on our way. We would try again tomorrow.
That evening, we went on an adventure that was so worth it. Rebekah really loves pizza. I mean really. I had seen an advertisement for a place that sold American style pizza and we set out to find it. It was in a part of Accra call Osu, which was the trendy part of town, and there were hotels and places to eat everywhere. Our taxi driver got lost on the way so we got a nice tour of the neighborhood. When we finally found it - a place called Mamma Mia's - it turned out to be SO worth the trouble. If you are reading this and planning on traveling to Accra, I highly recommend looking this place up. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it but eating good food that reminded me of home went straight to my heart and made me eager to get back.
After negotiating with a taxi driver and paying way too much, we arrived in the most southern part of Accra at the memorial park for Kwame Nkmura, Ghana'a first president and the man who led it to independence. As best we could tell, this was one of the nicest places in Accra, similar in importance to the monuments around the Washington D.C. mall. There was hardly anyone there and we enjoyed the walk in the hot sun and learned quite a bit about Ghanaian history. Rebekah also encountered something that remains a mystery to her....female urinals.
Just next to the memorial is a place that defies description. On the tourist website I used, it is called the Arts Centre. I was thinking African music, dancing, visual arts, and artisan wares. You know, Ghana's answer to Lincoln Center. Nope. It was a several-acre area that was basically a flea market where you could buy African products from clothing to drums to jewelry to...you name it. The vendors are extremely aggressive and at first it was a little overwhelming, but once you got the hang of it, it was kind of fun. As everywhere in Ghana, prices were negotiable and they would always start way higher than they should have been. We bought matching Ghana Black Star soccer jerseys for Hugo and Henry and dresses for every girl in the house. I didn't get anything for myself but I knew I overpaid when the dress merchant threw in a bottle opener shaped like Africa for free. It was kind of cheesy but I really liked it and unfortunately lost it in transit. Oh well.
There was one man who I could only get rid of by promising that I would stop by his drum shop. When we did, it was very far out of the way and we were a little scared. He escorted me into the shop and then blocked the door with several of his friends so they could play a "Welcome Song" on the drums for me. Rebekah and I were cut off from each other and she had to wait outside because the shop was that small. I was concerned because everywhere we went, we carried all of our important documents and money because we didn't want to leave anything in the hotel. Here we were in a tiny little store apart from the main part of the Arts Centre and I had no idea what these guys would do when I told them I couldn't buy a drum. It turned out to be fine though and we escaped without incident.
Back at the hotel, there were several significant developments. First, I got sick. I won't go into details but suffice it to say that I ate something that did not agree with my intestines. Not. One. Bit. I was downing Pepto Bismol tablets like they were M&M's. Second, we learned from Boat that there was a mistake on the adoption decree and that he would have to return to Cape Coast to have it redone. We also learned that our embassy appointment was scheduled for the next day at 2:00. That was good news except we weren't sure that Boat could make it in time from Cape Coast. He also needed time to have something done called attestations at the high court in Accra. We were pretty sure we would need to reschedule the meeting but decided to wait and see what happened with Boat first. We passed much of the rest of the day watching soccer. It's not Steeler football but it was fine under the circumstances.
Day Ten
The next morning, we got a text from Boat saying that he was at the court, the decree had been corrected, and he was waiting for the judge's signature. We thought it was a good sign that all that was happening at 7:15 a.m. There was still hope for Boat to make the long trip from Cape Coast and get everything done by two. It would be close though.
I was still sick and after breakfast, I went back to bed for awhile. Rebekah finally convinced me to get up and we took care of some things that needed to be done before the embassy meeting. I hadn't shaved since we'd been here because the batteries in my shaver died on the way over. We took a walk down the street and found a little place that sold batteries. I was able to buy two AA batteries for the equivalent of about $0.50 and I felt a little guilty paying that little.
We messaged Boat a few time regarding his progress but hadn't heard anything so we decided to head toward the embassy just in case. In the taxi, we got a phone call from him saying that he was not able to get everything done in time. He apologized over and over but it wasn't his fault anyway. Since we were most of the way there, we decided to continue to the embassy and talk to them about rescheduling.
It took us awhile to figure out how to get into the building itself and we had to get past many armed guards. After several security checks, we ended up in a little room talking to a very kind agent with the Department of Homeland Security through what was undoubtedly bullet-proof glass. We explained that we didn't have the decree but were hoping to file anyway. As expected, she said we couldn't and that we should come back tomorrow at the same time. We had her check over our other documents just in case and then we were on our way. We would try again tomorrow.
That evening, we went on an adventure that was so worth it. Rebekah really loves pizza. I mean really. I had seen an advertisement for a place that sold American style pizza and we set out to find it. It was in a part of Accra call Osu, which was the trendy part of town, and there were hotels and places to eat everywhere. Our taxi driver got lost on the way so we got a nice tour of the neighborhood. When we finally found it - a place called Mamma Mia's - it turned out to be SO worth the trouble. If you are reading this and planning on traveling to Accra, I highly recommend looking this place up. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it but eating good food that reminded me of home went straight to my heart and made me eager to get back.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Day Nine - Monday, October 1
Today would be our last day with Hugo until we bring him home for good.
Rise and shine was at 5:20 again and we passed the time until breakfast playing the usual games: chase Hugo, chase the puppies, chase me, check the laundry. When breakfast came at 7:00, we hurried through it so that we wouldn't miss assembly. Breakfast was bread and tea again so it was easy to get going.
We made it in time for the band to play but they did not use any of their new tunes. They did make a point of greeting us and being generally pleased to see us which was good for our hearts. We stayed long enough to carry water to the classrooms but, since we didn't want to disrupt the flow of their day, we left.
Back at the house, we played Boardrocks, practiced carrying things on our heads, and carried Hugo on our shoulders. We played a fun game in which he would take my hat off and pitch it somewhere and then I would tickle him silly. We were trying to take advantage of every moment with him today.
Knowing we were leaving sometime to day but not sure exactly when, we decided we better pack. Hugo found his warm, one-piece pajamas (the kind with the feet in the them) and decided that he really needed to have them on despite the 90+ degrees outside. We let him and, almost immediately, he cuddled up on my shoulder and fell asleep.
It was a nice long nap and he woke up in time for lunch. We went outside just as Jacob was arriving with a tray of food and I heard the band playing at the orphanage. It was unusual for them to be playing at this time of day so I asked Jacob what was going on. He said that the president of Ghana, John Mahama, was in town and that everyone from the orphanage went to see him. The band was playing the Ghanaian National Anthem for all they were worth. I thought for sure Jacob was kidding me but several people confirmed it later on. It's an election year here also and as it turns out, the president was making his rounds and passed through.
While we ate, we noticed how much Hugo had improved over the last week. He came to us with mucus pouring out his ears and nose. His ears are still a little gross but his nose is clearing up. The whites of his eyes had a yellowish tinge but are now quite white. He is still protective of his food but he gets full faster and has even voluntarily shared some things with us from his plate. We thought that was a huge step in the right direction. Today, to Rebekah's lasting pleasure, he ate carrots! Until that moment, he'd pick every vegetable out of his food as if it was made of bubonic plague. He also still has a strange squeaking sound in his jaw when he chews.
We went for a short walk then back to the house to love on Hugo some more. We knew Boat would be there in the evening to take us to Accra but we weren't really sure how to see to it that Hugo got back to the right person. At 3:30, we went back to the orphanage to try and figure out what to do. For the first time all week, Hugo wanted to be put down so that he could play with the other kids. I paid the bill for staying at the guest house and we spent the next hour and a half playing with Hugo and the kids we had befriended. I pulled some of the older boys aside and asked them to keep an eye our son while we were away. I told them I had a big brother that kept an eye on me when I was growing up to make sure I stayed out of trouble and asked them to do the same. They agreed with bright smiles and strong handshakes.
The actual moment of leaving Hugo was awkward and very sad. We had a last meeting with the orphanage director in her office. She assured us that Hugo would be well taken care of and while I know that he will be fine, that didn't make it any easier. We hugged him and kissed him and told him things that he didn't understand but that we meant with all of our hearts.
"We love you."
"We will come back for you."
"Your home is with us."
We handed him over to the director and left. Hugo didn't cry but we did.
Boat arrived soon after but we had to wait on the taxi that would take us to Accra. He finally arrived and we said our final goodbyes to Jacob. He was very sad that we were leaving and I hope this wasn't the last time we get to see him. The taxi driver was better than Crazy Joe but maybe that's because it was night time and I just couldn't see everything that was happening.
We ended the day at the Miklin Hotel in the Shiashi section of Accra. It was a strange feeling to have air conditioning again and the hot shower was one of the greatest experiences of my life. We slept well that night.
We made it in time for the band to play but they did not use any of their new tunes. They did make a point of greeting us and being generally pleased to see us which was good for our hearts. We stayed long enough to carry water to the classrooms but, since we didn't want to disrupt the flow of their day, we left.
Back at the house, we played Boardrocks, practiced carrying things on our heads, and carried Hugo on our shoulders. We played a fun game in which he would take my hat off and pitch it somewhere and then I would tickle him silly. We were trying to take advantage of every moment with him today.
Knowing we were leaving sometime to day but not sure exactly when, we decided we better pack. Hugo found his warm, one-piece pajamas (the kind with the feet in the them) and decided that he really needed to have them on despite the 90+ degrees outside. We let him and, almost immediately, he cuddled up on my shoulder and fell asleep.
It was a nice long nap and he woke up in time for lunch. We went outside just as Jacob was arriving with a tray of food and I heard the band playing at the orphanage. It was unusual for them to be playing at this time of day so I asked Jacob what was going on. He said that the president of Ghana, John Mahama, was in town and that everyone from the orphanage went to see him. The band was playing the Ghanaian National Anthem for all they were worth. I thought for sure Jacob was kidding me but several people confirmed it later on. It's an election year here also and as it turns out, the president was making his rounds and passed through.
We went for a short walk then back to the house to love on Hugo some more. We knew Boat would be there in the evening to take us to Accra but we weren't really sure how to see to it that Hugo got back to the right person. At 3:30, we went back to the orphanage to try and figure out what to do. For the first time all week, Hugo wanted to be put down so that he could play with the other kids. I paid the bill for staying at the guest house and we spent the next hour and a half playing with Hugo and the kids we had befriended. I pulled some of the older boys aside and asked them to keep an eye our son while we were away. I told them I had a big brother that kept an eye on me when I was growing up to make sure I stayed out of trouble and asked them to do the same. They agreed with bright smiles and strong handshakes.The actual moment of leaving Hugo was awkward and very sad. We had a last meeting with the orphanage director in her office. She assured us that Hugo would be well taken care of and while I know that he will be fine, that didn't make it any easier. We hugged him and kissed him and told him things that he didn't understand but that we meant with all of our hearts.
"We love you."
"We will come back for you."
"Your home is with us."
We handed him over to the director and left. Hugo didn't cry but we did.
Boat arrived soon after but we had to wait on the taxi that would take us to Accra. He finally arrived and we said our final goodbyes to Jacob. He was very sad that we were leaving and I hope this wasn't the last time we get to see him. The taxi driver was better than Crazy Joe but maybe that's because it was night time and I just couldn't see everything that was happening.
We ended the day at the Miklin Hotel in the Shiashi section of Accra. It was a strange feeling to have air conditioning again and the hot shower was one of the greatest experiences of my life. We slept well that night.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Day Eight - Sunday, September 30
Hugo slept through the night and woke up at 5:20 when Jacob began his morning chores. Jacob has been an absolute delight for us. He is seventeen years old and we learned that he has lived at the orphanage for the past four years. He completed school and has stayed around to work. It is clear that he is highly regarded because he is given an enormous amount of responsibility. We learned that he is leaving soon to attend high school (kind of like a boarding/prep school for university) and is hoping to go on to study economics in college. I'm not sure how realistic his hopes are but I think he is capable of just about anything. How I wish we could bring him here to study.
Breakfast was later than usual so we played outside for awhile. The laundry was still damp from the day before because it is just so humid here. We decided to give it more time. Meanwhile, I heard someone drumming and went to investigate. Behind the rear wall of the compound is a canopy made of wooden poles and pieces of corrugated metal. Under the canopy were several empty chairs and benches and one man playing two drums. They were shaped like congas (I'm sure they have a different name here) and he was playing them with bent sticks. When he saw me watching, he started showing off a bit:
After breakfast the morning was slow and relaxing. The power went out early and would be out for most of the day. Hugo had an early nap and we had one too. When he woke up, he and I sneaked out and let Rebekah sleep for awhile. We played a game of Boardrocks (like basketball except that instead of throwing a ball into a basket, we threw rocks onto a board...hence Boardrocks). Half the fun of the game was in collecting the rocks. I showed him how to carry lots of them at once by folding the bottom edge of his shirt upward and using it as a bag. He had apparently never thought of this before and really loved it. He wanted to put everything in there. We'd gather 30 rocks or so and then pitch them at this old board that was sitting about fifteen feet away. He has a pretty good arm for a little guy and would cheer for himself every time he hit it. He is going to LOVE Henry. The sun was out and blazing but the Laundry was still wet.
The drummer who was practicing earlier was now playing in a full blown church service under the canopy. Many more people had arrived and were singing harmonized a cappella songs with occasional drums and shakers. It was exactly as I had imagined authentic African music to sound like so Hugo and I went to wake up Rebekah so she wouldn't miss it. The pastor arrived in long, white and red robes (amazing to me since the service was outside and it was at least 90 degrees) and the service got very loud. The laundry was still not dry so we went for a walk.
We only made it as far as the orphanage because as we passed by, the director was standing at the front gate and invited us in for church. We joined several dozen kids huddled under a tent while the director's husband taught about giving to others what the Lord has given to us. He gave several examples from the Scriptures and also from his own experiences. He often said, "Praise the Lord!" to which the kids would answer, "Hallelujah!" This would always be immediately followed by him saying, "Amen" and the kids answering the same.
Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen! Amen!
Our thoughts exactly.
We sang some songs together and when I raised my hands in worship, some of the kids around me laughed and picked at my armpit hair. Gross. Hugo was riding on Rebekah's back and a few of the kids sitting around us kept slipping him snacks.
One of the most humbling moments of the entire trip was when the teacher would encourage the kids to pray for certain people. He would mention someone specifically and why we should pray for them and then the kids would spend a minute or two praying aloud for that person. The prayers were always for blessing. Then he asked the kids to pray for us. We were floored and didn't really know what to say. Here were these kids asking the Lord to bless us - we who have more in one drawer of our dresser than these kids have had in their whole lives. We were blessed alright.
After church, I got into another music conversation with one of the trumpet players. This time, he showed me his music book and I finally found a way to convince them that I was a music teacher. As it turns out, they don't read traditionally notated music. Rather, they read solfege (pronounced SOL-fej - sorta). If you're not a music person, I apologize because this part might get a little boring. I, however, was completely excited.
To understand solfege, think "Doe a deer, a female deer" from Sound of Music. It is a system of substituting syllables for pitches in a scale. Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do is how you write a major scale and it can be applied to any key (start on La for minor scales). The kids knew how to play the fingerings and trombone slide positions for the keys of concert Eb and F. Using that knowledge, the "music" in their books was written out in solfege and they were really good at singing and understanding it.
I told them that I knew how to use solfege and they challenged me to sing a song (ironically it was The Lion Sleeps Tonight - their request) using the syllables. Do Re Mi Re Mi Fa Mi Re Do Re Mi Re Do Mi Re...they just stared at me for awhile then asked if I could write them more songs. I said I would.
We left the orphanage and finished our walk. Along the way, we saw a sign advertising the church we had seen behind the guest house this morning. Check out the picture and pay close attention to the service times:
Yes, that does say 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and they used every minute of it.
Hugo had an afternoon nap and I worked on the music for the musicians. I used a standard notebook that all elementary school students use and wrote two-part arrangements of eight different songs, all in solfege. Amazing Grace, Jesus Loves Me, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Cherokee (my school's fight song), some Christmas songs and a few others. I tried to use the same system that was used in the music books they already had - the dashes indicate longer notes. It was crude but it made sense.
We headed back to the orphanage and there was some sort of dancing class going on. It was fascinating to us but it must have been a regular occurrence because there were several kids sleeping right near where the dance was going on. Some very loud drummers were playing a complex rhythm while boys and girls both learned the dance. The dance instructor seemed to be a little harsh but I think it was all a ruse since the dancers were all smiles even when they were being scolded. We also noticed that the boys had finally gotten the stump out of the ground and had filled in the hole. It had taken them a day and a half to complete a job that a chainsaw could have done in a few minutes. We were proud of them though and complemented them on their hard work.
I caught one of the trumpet guys and showed them the music I had written. They instantly went for their instruments and dragged Rebekah and I into a classroom to help them learn it. Rebekah transferred the music to the chalkboard so everyone could see it and I got to run a band rehearsal! A band rehearsal in Ghana! I didn't see that coming. I wrote in fingerings and slide positions to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. They also made me sing and play for them over and over. It took them awhile but they eventually got it. We were so pleased and they finally started to accept us a friends. They learned Jesus Loves Me and Amazing Grace. It was awesome.
I think it really pleased the orphanage director as well. Part way through the rehearsal she showed up in the classroom to see what was going on. She was carrying a plate of treats she had made and before we could react she had popped one directly into each of our mouths. They were tan and looked like little nuggets of dried mud. Actually, they were a mixture of ground peanuts, ginger, and peppers. They were tasty and extremely spicy. Like melt your face spicy. We didn't want to hurt her feelings by refusing, and we were so pleased that we were making headway in the friendship department, so we ate several more. Yikes! On her way out the door, she pulled Charlotte aside and I heard her say, "Keep them here as long as you can." We stayed until it got dark and no one could see the chalkboard anymore.
We ate dinner back at the house - in the dark because the power was still out from this morning - then return to the orphanage. It was completely dark there so the band rehearsal was over but the boys were still around. Now that they liked us, they didn't want to leave our side. We sat on a set of steps and these teenage boys practically hung all over us. It was like they wanted to cuddle. Did you ever meet a really big dog that thought it could fit on your lap? It was like that. I had one kid snuggled up on either side of me, another hanging on my back, and at least two more sitting right at my feet. Rebekah was similarly adorned with children. We took turns singing songs to each other and it was a really sweet time.
As we were walking back to the house for bed, the power finally came back on and a cheer went up from the whole community. It had been a good day.
And the laundry was finally dry. Most of it anyway.
The drummer who was practicing earlier was now playing in a full blown church service under the canopy. Many more people had arrived and were singing harmonized a cappella songs with occasional drums and shakers. It was exactly as I had imagined authentic African music to sound like so Hugo and I went to wake up Rebekah so she wouldn't miss it. The pastor arrived in long, white and red robes (amazing to me since the service was outside and it was at least 90 degrees) and the service got very loud. The laundry was still not dry so we went for a walk.
We only made it as far as the orphanage because as we passed by, the director was standing at the front gate and invited us in for church. We joined several dozen kids huddled under a tent while the director's husband taught about giving to others what the Lord has given to us. He gave several examples from the Scriptures and also from his own experiences. He often said, "Praise the Lord!" to which the kids would answer, "Hallelujah!" This would always be immediately followed by him saying, "Amen" and the kids answering the same.
Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen! Amen!
Our thoughts exactly.
We sang some songs together and when I raised my hands in worship, some of the kids around me laughed and picked at my armpit hair. Gross. Hugo was riding on Rebekah's back and a few of the kids sitting around us kept slipping him snacks.
One of the most humbling moments of the entire trip was when the teacher would encourage the kids to pray for certain people. He would mention someone specifically and why we should pray for them and then the kids would spend a minute or two praying aloud for that person. The prayers were always for blessing. Then he asked the kids to pray for us. We were floored and didn't really know what to say. Here were these kids asking the Lord to bless us - we who have more in one drawer of our dresser than these kids have had in their whole lives. We were blessed alright.
After church, I got into another music conversation with one of the trumpet players. This time, he showed me his music book and I finally found a way to convince them that I was a music teacher. As it turns out, they don't read traditionally notated music. Rather, they read solfege (pronounced SOL-fej - sorta). If you're not a music person, I apologize because this part might get a little boring. I, however, was completely excited.
To understand solfege, think "Doe a deer, a female deer" from Sound of Music. It is a system of substituting syllables for pitches in a scale. Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do is how you write a major scale and it can be applied to any key (start on La for minor scales). The kids knew how to play the fingerings and trombone slide positions for the keys of concert Eb and F. Using that knowledge, the "music" in their books was written out in solfege and they were really good at singing and understanding it.
I told them that I knew how to use solfege and they challenged me to sing a song (ironically it was The Lion Sleeps Tonight - their request) using the syllables. Do Re Mi Re Mi Fa Mi Re Do Re Mi Re Do Mi Re...they just stared at me for awhile then asked if I could write them more songs. I said I would.
We left the orphanage and finished our walk. Along the way, we saw a sign advertising the church we had seen behind the guest house this morning. Check out the picture and pay close attention to the service times:
Yes, that does say 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays and they used every minute of it.
Hugo had an afternoon nap and I worked on the music for the musicians. I used a standard notebook that all elementary school students use and wrote two-part arrangements of eight different songs, all in solfege. Amazing Grace, Jesus Loves Me, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Cherokee (my school's fight song), some Christmas songs and a few others. I tried to use the same system that was used in the music books they already had - the dashes indicate longer notes. It was crude but it made sense.We headed back to the orphanage and there was some sort of dancing class going on. It was fascinating to us but it must have been a regular occurrence because there were several kids sleeping right near where the dance was going on. Some very loud drummers were playing a complex rhythm while boys and girls both learned the dance. The dance instructor seemed to be a little harsh but I think it was all a ruse since the dancers were all smiles even when they were being scolded. We also noticed that the boys had finally gotten the stump out of the ground and had filled in the hole. It had taken them a day and a half to complete a job that a chainsaw could have done in a few minutes. We were proud of them though and complemented them on their hard work.
I caught one of the trumpet guys and showed them the music I had written. They instantly went for their instruments and dragged Rebekah and I into a classroom to help them learn it. Rebekah transferred the music to the chalkboard so everyone could see it and I got to run a band rehearsal! A band rehearsal in Ghana! I didn't see that coming. I wrote in fingerings and slide positions to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. They also made me sing and play for them over and over. It took them awhile but they eventually got it. We were so pleased and they finally started to accept us a friends. They learned Jesus Loves Me and Amazing Grace. It was awesome.
I think it really pleased the orphanage director as well. Part way through the rehearsal she showed up in the classroom to see what was going on. She was carrying a plate of treats she had made and before we could react she had popped one directly into each of our mouths. They were tan and looked like little nuggets of dried mud. Actually, they were a mixture of ground peanuts, ginger, and peppers. They were tasty and extremely spicy. Like melt your face spicy. We didn't want to hurt her feelings by refusing, and we were so pleased that we were making headway in the friendship department, so we ate several more. Yikes! On her way out the door, she pulled Charlotte aside and I heard her say, "Keep them here as long as you can." We stayed until it got dark and no one could see the chalkboard anymore.
We ate dinner back at the house - in the dark because the power was still out from this morning - then return to the orphanage. It was completely dark there so the band rehearsal was over but the boys were still around. Now that they liked us, they didn't want to leave our side. We sat on a set of steps and these teenage boys practically hung all over us. It was like they wanted to cuddle. Did you ever meet a really big dog that thought it could fit on your lap? It was like that. I had one kid snuggled up on either side of me, another hanging on my back, and at least two more sitting right at my feet. Rebekah was similarly adorned with children. We took turns singing songs to each other and it was a really sweet time.
As we were walking back to the house for bed, the power finally came back on and a cheer went up from the whole community. It had been a good day.
And the laundry was finally dry. Most of it anyway.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Day Seven - Saturday, September 29
About an hour after we all fell asleep last night, Hugo fell out of his bed. We both heard him hit the floor and there was a brief pause before he started crying. It wasn't a long fall but the floor was linoleum on concrete so it was probably a really awful way to wake up from a deep sleep. No injuries, though, and he was back to sleep in no time. He woke up two more times throughout the night and ended up in bed with us. Morning started at 6:10 and as usual, the first thing he did was flip all the switches on the outlets before trying hard to wake us up.
Breakfast was different this morning. There was the ever present tea, but rather than just plain bread, there was an egg tucked inside each slice. It was no Egg McMuffin but we were very pleased with the change. Hugo, however, was not terribly interested in the egg sandwich and chose to focus on the tea instead. He had several small cups of it and we had to hide the lumps of sugar. For several days, we had been trying to get an antibiotic in to him to deal with the sinus congestion he has. On the advise of our pediatrician at home, we've been trying to sneak it into his food. Even though he is completely obsessed with food, he can detect the slightest hint of the presence of medicine and won't eat it. He finally lost interest in the tea and ate the sandwich when we tried to slip some antibiotic into his drink.
Hugo didn't want to leave the table and we had a little struggle getting him outside but once he was there, things were fine. Rebekah decided that we needed to do some laundry while we had the opportunity and asked Jacob to lend us a couple buckets. I could explain the whole thing, but the video tells the story much better. Take a look:
After doing the laundry, we decided to go for a walk with the intention of exploring the very small town where the orphanage is located. Rebekah wore Hugo on her back and everywhere we went, we got curious and unfriendly looks from the locals. Remembering what Boat had told us about keeping a low profile, we decided to cut the walk short. While we were heading back, one little boy yelled to us, "Oboruni! Is that your baby?"
Ashley had told us that the orphanage was a different place on Saturday since there were no classes and the atmosphere was more relaxed. She was exactly right. There were kids everywhere and it was immediately clear that this was their down time. We met the orphanage director's daughter and she was able to answer a few questions we had about Hugo's habits. We learned who his primary caregiver was and that he sleeps in a crib but doesn't like it. She said that he much prefers to sleep in the beds with the bigger kids...no surprise there. Meanwhile, as Rebekah was finding out things about Hugo, I was surrounded by kids. We thumb wrestled and arm wrestled. I usually was busy with some sort of wrestling on both my left and right side simultaneously. I saw some of the musicians from the band at assembly the previous day and tried to strike up a music conversation but they seemed very distrustful that I knew what I was talking about. I told them I was a music teacher and they asked lots of questions to see if I was telling the truth, including asking me to sing several songs. I was glad to do it but it didn't do much good...they weren't convinced.
A very old and small pick up truck showed up and lots of the teenagers piled into the cab and the bed. I asked what was going on and one of the smaller ones told me that the big kids were going swimming somewhere. The teenage boys who were left behind were tasked with removing a stump from the center of the courtyard. I have removed stumps before using modern hand tools and some power tools and it has always been an arduous task. These kids took to the job with great excitement and rarely have I seen anyone work so hard. What made the process even more amazing was that the only tools they had were a few picks, one shovel, a couple machetes, and a long stick with a piece of sharp metal screwed to the end that served as a digging iron. They would end up working at this job, nearly non-stop, for most of the weekend. I thought how amazed these boys would have been if they had been present to see the backhoe remove nineteen stumps in a few minutes at my in-law's house a few summers ago.
We went back to the house to get the things we had brought for the kids. We returned with several bottles of bubbles, a soccer ball, nail polish, a bag of scarves we picked up at Goodwill, stickers, and fake mustaches. Rebekah was the center of a huge mob as she tried to distribute things. The scarves were a huge hit as was the soccer ball. The courtyard became an instant soccer field for the younger kids. We held on to the bubbles instead of just handing them out and we soon had little ones chasing bubbles as they floated away on the breeze.
While all this was going on, the boys never stopped working on the stump and I noticed that the sky was turning gray. Suddenly, the oldest boy working on the stump, a kind young man we nicknamed "Charlotte" since he was wearing a basketball jersey with that word on the front, shouted some instructions and everyone sprang into action. Benches were removed, tables were relocated, and the young children took shelter. When all was in order, the skies opened up and rain poured down. Charlotte was determined to get a large root out of the ground before he took a break and I helped him wrench it out. We both were soaked but he was very pleased and I think it was a start of getting him to like us more. Rebekah and I took shelter in one of the classrooms and waited out the storm with a few other kids who were happy to keep chasing bubbles and trying on mustaches. There was so much rain that little rivers formed in the courtyard. Hugo threw his sandal into one of these and I had to chase it downstream to get it back.
We went back to the guest house so Hugo could have a nap. He fell right to sleep but woke up after a little while, crawled out of his bed, and joined Rebekah in ours. It was really cute.
We went back to the orphanage later on but didn't stay long. The boys had removed all the the exposed roots from the ground and had dug a trench around the base of the stump's trunk so they could cut it off below ground level. They were now taking turns hacking at the trunk with the machetes. I took my guitar and played several songs for a small crowd of children. It was fine until the kids, who didn't understand exactly how the guitar worked, found the tuners on the headstock and kept turning them while I was playing. Rebekah had started painting fingernails but found out right away that the girls were not as interested as the boys. By the time we left, there were about a dozen boys running around with bright red nail polish.
We left the orphanage because the kids were starting to get a little nutty and we didn't want the adults to be mad at us if we were the cause. We spent the rest of the day removing a lizard from our room (it was hanging on the light and fell right onto Rebekah's face), fixing the laundry line that had fallen over in the storm, and having cold showers. The power was out after the sunset so we went outside and played with some glow sticks that Rebekah had brought along - she thought of everything. After Hugo was in bed for the night, I wrote the latest journal entry by candlelight.
Breakfast was different this morning. There was the ever present tea, but rather than just plain bread, there was an egg tucked inside each slice. It was no Egg McMuffin but we were very pleased with the change. Hugo, however, was not terribly interested in the egg sandwich and chose to focus on the tea instead. He had several small cups of it and we had to hide the lumps of sugar. For several days, we had been trying to get an antibiotic in to him to deal with the sinus congestion he has. On the advise of our pediatrician at home, we've been trying to sneak it into his food. Even though he is completely obsessed with food, he can detect the slightest hint of the presence of medicine and won't eat it. He finally lost interest in the tea and ate the sandwich when we tried to slip some antibiotic into his drink.
Hugo didn't want to leave the table and we had a little struggle getting him outside but once he was there, things were fine. Rebekah decided that we needed to do some laundry while we had the opportunity and asked Jacob to lend us a couple buckets. I could explain the whole thing, but the video tells the story much better. Take a look:
After doing the laundry, we decided to go for a walk with the intention of exploring the very small town where the orphanage is located. Rebekah wore Hugo on her back and everywhere we went, we got curious and unfriendly looks from the locals. Remembering what Boat had told us about keeping a low profile, we decided to cut the walk short. While we were heading back, one little boy yelled to us, "Oboruni! Is that your baby?"
Ashley had told us that the orphanage was a different place on Saturday since there were no classes and the atmosphere was more relaxed. She was exactly right. There were kids everywhere and it was immediately clear that this was their down time. We met the orphanage director's daughter and she was able to answer a few questions we had about Hugo's habits. We learned who his primary caregiver was and that he sleeps in a crib but doesn't like it. She said that he much prefers to sleep in the beds with the bigger kids...no surprise there. Meanwhile, as Rebekah was finding out things about Hugo, I was surrounded by kids. We thumb wrestled and arm wrestled. I usually was busy with some sort of wrestling on both my left and right side simultaneously. I saw some of the musicians from the band at assembly the previous day and tried to strike up a music conversation but they seemed very distrustful that I knew what I was talking about. I told them I was a music teacher and they asked lots of questions to see if I was telling the truth, including asking me to sing several songs. I was glad to do it but it didn't do much good...they weren't convinced.
A very old and small pick up truck showed up and lots of the teenagers piled into the cab and the bed. I asked what was going on and one of the smaller ones told me that the big kids were going swimming somewhere. The teenage boys who were left behind were tasked with removing a stump from the center of the courtyard. I have removed stumps before using modern hand tools and some power tools and it has always been an arduous task. These kids took to the job with great excitement and rarely have I seen anyone work so hard. What made the process even more amazing was that the only tools they had were a few picks, one shovel, a couple machetes, and a long stick with a piece of sharp metal screwed to the end that served as a digging iron. They would end up working at this job, nearly non-stop, for most of the weekend. I thought how amazed these boys would have been if they had been present to see the backhoe remove nineteen stumps in a few minutes at my in-law's house a few summers ago.
We went back to the house to get the things we had brought for the kids. We returned with several bottles of bubbles, a soccer ball, nail polish, a bag of scarves we picked up at Goodwill, stickers, and fake mustaches. Rebekah was the center of a huge mob as she tried to distribute things. The scarves were a huge hit as was the soccer ball. The courtyard became an instant soccer field for the younger kids. We held on to the bubbles instead of just handing them out and we soon had little ones chasing bubbles as they floated away on the breeze.
While all this was going on, the boys never stopped working on the stump and I noticed that the sky was turning gray. Suddenly, the oldest boy working on the stump, a kind young man we nicknamed "Charlotte" since he was wearing a basketball jersey with that word on the front, shouted some instructions and everyone sprang into action. Benches were removed, tables were relocated, and the young children took shelter. When all was in order, the skies opened up and rain poured down. Charlotte was determined to get a large root out of the ground before he took a break and I helped him wrench it out. We both were soaked but he was very pleased and I think it was a start of getting him to like us more. Rebekah and I took shelter in one of the classrooms and waited out the storm with a few other kids who were happy to keep chasing bubbles and trying on mustaches. There was so much rain that little rivers formed in the courtyard. Hugo threw his sandal into one of these and I had to chase it downstream to get it back.
We went back to the guest house so Hugo could have a nap. He fell right to sleep but woke up after a little while, crawled out of his bed, and joined Rebekah in ours. It was really cute.
We went back to the orphanage later on but didn't stay long. The boys had removed all the the exposed roots from the ground and had dug a trench around the base of the stump's trunk so they could cut it off below ground level. They were now taking turns hacking at the trunk with the machetes. I took my guitar and played several songs for a small crowd of children. It was fine until the kids, who didn't understand exactly how the guitar worked, found the tuners on the headstock and kept turning them while I was playing. Rebekah had started painting fingernails but found out right away that the girls were not as interested as the boys. By the time we left, there were about a dozen boys running around with bright red nail polish.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Day Six - Friday, September 28
Today was perhaps the most important day of the trip because we hit rock bottom and had to rely on the Lord to just get us through the day. It set the tone for the rest of the journey and we couldn't have gotten through it without the help of a dear friend who loves the Lord and is committed to serving Him.
Hugo was awake from 2:50-3:15 a.m. I was able to get him back to sleep but Boat, who stayed at the guest house also, left for home at 4 a.m. and Hugo woke up when the front door opened and closed. While I was not thrilled to be awake, Hugo did the funniest thing that made the interruption worth it. The power outlets in Ghana have switches on them that control each individual socket. When you flipped the switch, a small orange light was illuminated. Hugo was fascinated by these switches. I woke up before Hugo and watched him roll out of bed, cross the room to the outlet and flip both switches, then come over to our bed and flop in right near our feet and go right back to sleep.
At 5:30 I woke up to an actual rooster crowing. Hugo was up too and we were playing indoor soccer before 6 a.m. He likes to kick the ball to me, then run to the end of the room and make a goal by spreading his legs apart as far as he can. Since he's only about 3 feet tall, it make a pretty small goal. My job is to shoot for the goal while he blocks the shot. Like Henry usually does, Hugo has designed the game so that he has a significant advantage. I can't wait until they are playing each other. Check it out:
Breakfast this morning was the same as dinner last night. We had white bread and a thermos of tea. It was not terribly filling but I decided that if I shed a few pounds while I was here, it would likely do me some good. As usual, Hugo took forever to eat and chose to eat his bread by putting it in his water then eating the resulting mush with a spoon. When he started to just play with it, we decided to leave the table and the resulting tantrum was not pleasant. When we got him settled, we left the guest house to visit the orphanage.
The guest house is a one floor building but the second floor is being built. There is a set of steps that lead to the roof where there is a great view of the surrounding area. The whole "compound" is surrounded by a high block wall with large metal gates at the front and back that were padlocked anytime we left and at night. This morning, when we left the gate, there was a young man working just outside. To us, it seemed that he was just digging in the dirt but he would come to be a key player in a really fun part of the day.
At the orphanage, which doubles as a school, the kids and helpers were preparing for a day of classes. It became immediately clear that the majority of the older kids and the adults were not happy to see us. Perhaps it was our timing since our arrival certainly was a distraction, and as a teacher, I completely understand that. At the moment though, we were feeling overwhelmed again and could have used a friendly face. As it was, most of them either ignored us or spoke about us in Twi. From the expressions on their faces, we could tell that we were not welcome. The younger children were different, though, and very interested in us. A little boy (perhaps six years old) with lots of boogers, latched onto my arm right away and led me around to show his friends.
There was a morning ritual called Assembly that was fascinating. One older boy shouted, "Assembly!" and soon everyone was shouting it. The kids sprang into action, lining up in the center of the courtyard in rows according to their age group. The very smallest kids did not have to assemble and it was easy to imagine Hugo playing in the courtyard with the other toddlers. Today though, he was staying close to us.
During assembly, there were several kids who formed a marching band! No kidding! They had two trumpets, one trombone, a bass drum, a few snare drums, and pair of cymbals, one of which was broken in half. Their tone was terrible by our standards but I was amazed since a marching band was about the last thing I expected. The band stood opposite the lines of children and faced toward them at attention.
The students in line first sang a song called "Good morning, Jesus. Good morning, God." Next came a recitation of the Lord's Prayer, followed by the band's performance of what I'm pretty sure was the Ghanaian National Anthem. The students then placed their hands on their hearts and recited something in Twi that seemed to be roughly equivalent to our Pledge of Allegiance." The band then played "We Shall Overcome" and the kids marched off to their respective classrooms by age group. They were marching in step with their arms swinging in long strides at their sides.
We really wanted to help in some way but it was hard to convince anyone to let us. Finally, I talked two young girls into letting me help them carry drinking water to the classrooms. When that was finished, I helped two young men, Jacob and Felix, carry huge basins of water to the man digging in the dirt near the guest house. It took two of us to lift each basin and then each boy would carry one on his head. I felt really lame carrying a bucket while they were doing such heavy lifting.
We found out that the digging man was a block maker. He was digging dirt and mixing it with small amounts of concrete and water. Once he made a pile about four feet high, he would move it from place to place to mix the ingredients until he was satisfied with the consistency. He moved the pile about six to eight times. Then he would pound the mixture into a form, turn it over, and out would come one block which had to dry in the sun for three days before it could be moved. Each day we were there, he worked about thirteen hours and would produce about 150 blocks each day.
We hung out at the guest house for awhile and Hugo had a HUGE meltdown over something insignificant. He finally cried himself to sleep and, weary from several days of being on edge and out of our element, we cried for a long time. This was not going as easily as we had hoped. Hugo was hard to take care of and is so different from what we are used to. We cried to the Lord in prayer and then called a friend.
Our friend Ashley, whose guest post can be found here, was perfect when we called her. While she was certainly sympathetic, she didn't mess around when it came to speaking the truth. She said, "Listen. The Lord has put us together for a reason and this is it, so listen up." She told us that we were trying to accomplish too much, that we should let some things slide that we wouldn't let slide at home. She told us that the point of this time was not to turn him in to a child like all our others, but to just build trust with him and help him understand that we love him. She also said that we might not always feel like loving him but to just do it because we are in God's will to do so. It was fantastic advice and just what we needed. It changed our whole week. Ashley, if you are reading this, you are a gift from God to us and we love you very much.
Hugo woke up at 11:30, we had lunch (rice, cabbage, and mysterious spicy red sauce), then played outside chasing lizards and puppies. Oh yeah, we had puppies. There was a dog house in the compound that was home to five puppies. They were a source of plenty of fun but Hugo just wanted to chase them around with a stick. Not for fetch, mind you. To hit them. He is not a friend of puppies.
Later in the day we heard some commotion outside the guest house and went up on the roof to check out what was happening. There is a field on the opposite side that is neither rectangular nor flat. It has large patches of just dirt and rocks and is frequented by grazing goats and curious chickens. Nevertheless, this is the local soccer field and the older boys of the orphanage were having a game. I thought of Henry at home on his team of nine and ten year olds with matching jerseys, cleats, and shin guards. Many of these boys were wearing flip flops or no shoes at all. The goals were two poles with a large piece of bamboo as a crossbar but no net. The conditions were crude but their skills were not. They were very competitive and it was fun to watch.
From the roof, we saw that some younger children were helping the block maker move the blocks that were made a few days ago and were now dry. We decided to help but didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. The blocks were very heavy - Rebekah could not lift them. Even so, children who ranged in age from 8-11 were carrying them on their heads. They would roll up a dish towel and set a block on top of it, then move it to a pile about 30 yards away. I tried to carry them on my head but it hurt too much. I switched to the American style.
Before bed, we went for a walk and found the exact spot where the first pictures of Hugo we ever saw were taken. It was along a green wall outside the confines of the orphanage and from that spot, we could see just how close Hugo's orphanage was to the one our friend Liz was volunteering. The only thing that separated the two was a triangular wedge of tall grass not more than 100 yards wide. We took more pictures from the same spot.
Hugo was awake from 2:50-3:15 a.m. I was able to get him back to sleep but Boat, who stayed at the guest house also, left for home at 4 a.m. and Hugo woke up when the front door opened and closed. While I was not thrilled to be awake, Hugo did the funniest thing that made the interruption worth it. The power outlets in Ghana have switches on them that control each individual socket. When you flipped the switch, a small orange light was illuminated. Hugo was fascinated by these switches. I woke up before Hugo and watched him roll out of bed, cross the room to the outlet and flip both switches, then come over to our bed and flop in right near our feet and go right back to sleep.
At 5:30 I woke up to an actual rooster crowing. Hugo was up too and we were playing indoor soccer before 6 a.m. He likes to kick the ball to me, then run to the end of the room and make a goal by spreading his legs apart as far as he can. Since he's only about 3 feet tall, it make a pretty small goal. My job is to shoot for the goal while he blocks the shot. Like Henry usually does, Hugo has designed the game so that he has a significant advantage. I can't wait until they are playing each other. Check it out:
Breakfast this morning was the same as dinner last night. We had white bread and a thermos of tea. It was not terribly filling but I decided that if I shed a few pounds while I was here, it would likely do me some good. As usual, Hugo took forever to eat and chose to eat his bread by putting it in his water then eating the resulting mush with a spoon. When he started to just play with it, we decided to leave the table and the resulting tantrum was not pleasant. When we got him settled, we left the guest house to visit the orphanage.
The guest house is a one floor building but the second floor is being built. There is a set of steps that lead to the roof where there is a great view of the surrounding area. The whole "compound" is surrounded by a high block wall with large metal gates at the front and back that were padlocked anytime we left and at night. This morning, when we left the gate, there was a young man working just outside. To us, it seemed that he was just digging in the dirt but he would come to be a key player in a really fun part of the day.
At the orphanage, which doubles as a school, the kids and helpers were preparing for a day of classes. It became immediately clear that the majority of the older kids and the adults were not happy to see us. Perhaps it was our timing since our arrival certainly was a distraction, and as a teacher, I completely understand that. At the moment though, we were feeling overwhelmed again and could have used a friendly face. As it was, most of them either ignored us or spoke about us in Twi. From the expressions on their faces, we could tell that we were not welcome. The younger children were different, though, and very interested in us. A little boy (perhaps six years old) with lots of boogers, latched onto my arm right away and led me around to show his friends.
There was a morning ritual called Assembly that was fascinating. One older boy shouted, "Assembly!" and soon everyone was shouting it. The kids sprang into action, lining up in the center of the courtyard in rows according to their age group. The very smallest kids did not have to assemble and it was easy to imagine Hugo playing in the courtyard with the other toddlers. Today though, he was staying close to us.
During assembly, there were several kids who formed a marching band! No kidding! They had two trumpets, one trombone, a bass drum, a few snare drums, and pair of cymbals, one of which was broken in half. Their tone was terrible by our standards but I was amazed since a marching band was about the last thing I expected. The band stood opposite the lines of children and faced toward them at attention.
The students in line first sang a song called "Good morning, Jesus. Good morning, God." Next came a recitation of the Lord's Prayer, followed by the band's performance of what I'm pretty sure was the Ghanaian National Anthem. The students then placed their hands on their hearts and recited something in Twi that seemed to be roughly equivalent to our Pledge of Allegiance." The band then played "We Shall Overcome" and the kids marched off to their respective classrooms by age group. They were marching in step with their arms swinging in long strides at their sides.
We really wanted to help in some way but it was hard to convince anyone to let us. Finally, I talked two young girls into letting me help them carry drinking water to the classrooms. When that was finished, I helped two young men, Jacob and Felix, carry huge basins of water to the man digging in the dirt near the guest house. It took two of us to lift each basin and then each boy would carry one on his head. I felt really lame carrying a bucket while they were doing such heavy lifting.
We found out that the digging man was a block maker. He was digging dirt and mixing it with small amounts of concrete and water. Once he made a pile about four feet high, he would move it from place to place to mix the ingredients until he was satisfied with the consistency. He moved the pile about six to eight times. Then he would pound the mixture into a form, turn it over, and out would come one block which had to dry in the sun for three days before it could be moved. Each day we were there, he worked about thirteen hours and would produce about 150 blocks each day.
We hung out at the guest house for awhile and Hugo had a HUGE meltdown over something insignificant. He finally cried himself to sleep and, weary from several days of being on edge and out of our element, we cried for a long time. This was not going as easily as we had hoped. Hugo was hard to take care of and is so different from what we are used to. We cried to the Lord in prayer and then called a friend.
Our friend Ashley, whose guest post can be found here, was perfect when we called her. While she was certainly sympathetic, she didn't mess around when it came to speaking the truth. She said, "Listen. The Lord has put us together for a reason and this is it, so listen up." She told us that we were trying to accomplish too much, that we should let some things slide that we wouldn't let slide at home. She told us that the point of this time was not to turn him in to a child like all our others, but to just build trust with him and help him understand that we love him. She also said that we might not always feel like loving him but to just do it because we are in God's will to do so. It was fantastic advice and just what we needed. It changed our whole week. Ashley, if you are reading this, you are a gift from God to us and we love you very much.
Hugo woke up at 11:30, we had lunch (rice, cabbage, and mysterious spicy red sauce), then played outside chasing lizards and puppies. Oh yeah, we had puppies. There was a dog house in the compound that was home to five puppies. They were a source of plenty of fun but Hugo just wanted to chase them around with a stick. Not for fetch, mind you. To hit them. He is not a friend of puppies.
Later in the day we heard some commotion outside the guest house and went up on the roof to check out what was happening. There is a field on the opposite side that is neither rectangular nor flat. It has large patches of just dirt and rocks and is frequented by grazing goats and curious chickens. Nevertheless, this is the local soccer field and the older boys of the orphanage were having a game. I thought of Henry at home on his team of nine and ten year olds with matching jerseys, cleats, and shin guards. Many of these boys were wearing flip flops or no shoes at all. The goals were two poles with a large piece of bamboo as a crossbar but no net. The conditions were crude but their skills were not. They were very competitive and it was fun to watch.
From the roof, we saw that some younger children were helping the block maker move the blocks that were made a few days ago and were now dry. We decided to help but didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. The blocks were very heavy - Rebekah could not lift them. Even so, children who ranged in age from 8-11 were carrying them on their heads. They would roll up a dish towel and set a block on top of it, then move it to a pile about 30 yards away. I tried to carry them on my head but it hurt too much. I switched to the American style.
Before bed, we went for a walk and found the exact spot where the first pictures of Hugo we ever saw were taken. It was along a green wall outside the confines of the orphanage and from that spot, we could see just how close Hugo's orphanage was to the one our friend Liz was volunteering. The only thing that separated the two was a triangular wedge of tall grass not more than 100 yards wide. We took more pictures from the same spot.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Day Five - Thursday, September 27
Be prepared for a long post. This was a very long day and so much of what happened was important and interesting. We were only on day five and every day seemed to be crazier than the one before. When we finally got to the end of it, we were spent.
We set the alarm for 6 a.m. but Hugo's internal clock decided it didn't want to wait that long. We had borrowed a sweet little wooden crib from the resort and at about 5:45 he woke up and wanted out of it. I picked him up and brought him to bed, hoping he'd want to just go back to sleep. He was willing to snuggle for a bit but then found a light switch located conveniently above the headboard and we were all up for the day.
Today was the day we would go to court for the adoption and we had no idea what to expect. We had some vague notions but all we really knew for sure was to meet Boat for breakfast and follow his instructions. Breakfast was available at seven and we were the first ones there. We thought we had to eat fast but we were learning that things in Africa just run a bit slower (including Boat) so scheduled appointment times are estimates at best.
We left at 7:45, getting a ride from a resort employee. Boat is the kind of guy who can strike up a friendly conversation with anyone, so the two of them chatted for the duration of the 15 minute trip. The resort is actually in a town called Elmina and to get to Cape Coast, you drive through Elmina's very crowded and busy market. There were lots of ladies with large objects stacked on their heads, numerous boats on the water, and tons of young people waiting to sell whatever the boats brought in. There are plenty of technological developments in Ghana - TV's, cell phones, sporadic internet access, and outdated but functional infrastructure, but the fishing was a different story. We saw many hand made wooden boats, each about 20 feet long, from which men would cast nets to gather in fish. It was like watching Peter, James, and John before they were called by Jesus.
We had passed several market districts like this in the few days that we'd been there. For the first time, though, I looked beyond the front row of shops and merchandise sheds and really started to see how people live here. Naked children bathing outside, goats and chickens running about, men peeing in the closest ditch, and small homes that were mostly old boards for walls and anything that could be salvaged for a roof. In the midst of all this, we'd occasionally see a young man or woman neatly dressed and nicely groomed. It seemed to be completely out of place. And despite what we would call very unfavorable conditions, so many people were smiling and seemed to be very happy. Life is hard here but no one knows any different.
When we got to the court, we waited. And waited. The building was built in the 1970's (there was a plaque) and hasn't been updated since. You entered the courtroom from the rear and were looking down on several rows of wooden benches that were situated in stadium style tiers. The room was white with peeling paint and the ceiling was moldy. There was a set of stairs on the main floor that led into some kind of basement and we hoped we didn't need to go down there. There were a few small tables for lawyers and a large, raised judge's bench. Behind this was a door to the judge's chambers. On the left wall were large openings that let in the light and the outside air. The court was situated on a hill with a great view of the ocean and the breeze off the water blew in through the left side windows. There were a few ceiling fans that proved the place had electricity but there was not a computer in sight. All the proceedings were handwritten in a huge ledger.
While we waited for the judge and the social worker to arrive, other people started filing in. We were quite the spectacle - in addition to being the only fair skinned folks, the fact that we were toting Hugo around drew a lot of attention. A family came in with five children. Boat knew the father and started chatting. Two of the girls sat right down next to Rebekah and I and one laid her head down on Rebekah's lap. The other one sat between us and turned out to be quite naughty. The first thing she did was to shake up the bottle of Coke she was carrying, then open the lid. Coke spilled all over the court room floor and sprayed us. Meanwhile, Hugo was not having a great time with all the waiting. He was tired and hadn't eaten as much breakfast as he would have preferred. The little girl kept calling him "Small Boy" and couldn't keep her hands off of him. He was getting frustrated and I eventually had to take him out of the room.
The judge arrived and we got to see two other cases. The first was a man who was asking the court to help him reclaim some money that was owed to him. He told his story and left. I guess the system is such that the court will now call the man he was accusing and bring him in for questioning. The other case was a man that had been involved in what sounded like a serious traffic accident. It was hard to catch everything but I think that several people had been injured and perhaps even one was killed. The judge was extremely upset with him and let him know it. We were really hoping that we would not be next.
Our case was next. We were told to go to the judge's chambers along with Boat and the social worker that we had just met. Hugo was very squirmy but we tried our best to keep him still so that we could make a good impression with the judge. There were two people having a heated argument right outside the window of the chambers and the judge sent a police man to go arrest them and bring them into court. Everyone in the room addressed her as, "My Lord."
She finally gave us her attention and asked us why we wanted another child when we already had four at home. I was not expecting this question and gave her an answer that I don't quite remember but that included something about having enough love in our house for another child. She then asked if she could take Hugo home with her and Rebekah said that she couldn't and would just have to come visit us in the US. There was a lot of silence while she filled out the appropriate forms then announced that the adoption had her approval. Just like that, after a morning full of adventures, Hugo was ours.
We had to wait again because Boat wanted to talk to the social worker who was currently busy with the next case. Hugo was thirsty but we had nothing to drink so we distracted him with an invented game using sticks and seeds from a nearby tree. While we waited, we experienced another one of those humorous moments that could only happen in a culture that is completely foreign. I saw a very nice bus drive by filled with young, athletic-looking men dressed in similar attire. I assumed it was some sort of team - probably a soccer team. Then I saw the team name on the side of the bus. It was - and I am not kidding - The Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs. How does a name like that happen? What is their fan base like? Are they intimidating on the field? Go Mysterious Dwarfs!?!
When all was ready, we got a ride back to Coconut Grove in the single most dilapidated vehicle I have ever ridden in. The interior was almost completely stripped to the metal except for the seats and it had no shocks at all. Every bump felt like a crater. It was a fun ride. We had a family lunch at the resort and Hugo ate most of my food. I had to resort to stealing back my food from his plate when he wasn't looking. Stealing food from a two-year-old ex-orphan. Nice.
There was a family at the next table who asked us if Hugo was our son. It was great to answer yes and not have to explain that we were planning to adopt him...it was already done. What made the exchange even nicer was that the family was African and very much approved of us adopting him. Boat had warned us to keep a low profile since adoption was a fairly new idea to most Ghanaians and our experiences in court this morning had not been terribly comfortable. This family, though, was very supportive and we were thankful to have encountered them.
After packing, we met Boat and once again got back in the car with Crazy Joe the taxi driver. Before the day was over, he would solidify his title as the most adventurous driver in Ghana. We left the resort, made a stop at the Regional Director's office, and had almost made it to the main road when I realized I had forgotten something back at Coconut Grove. We turned around to retrieve the items and, while it was unfortunate to have lost all that time, we got to drive by "He That Keepeth Thee Dry Goods" and "Clap for Jesus Credit Union" one more time. We cracked up.
Joe outdid himself. He were thankful to be alive when we got to our destination. There were so many near misses that I eventually had to just not watch. Once, we passed a truck that was passing another truck at the same time. We were three vehicles wide on a two lane road at 80 mph on a curve. Even Boat was nervous. When we got close to Kasoa, there was a traffic jam. Joe asked a local about a shortcut then veered off the road to the north on a dirt road through a neighborhood. Things were going fine until the road got muddy ahead of us. Joe decided to try it anyway and got the Hyundai stuck in a mud pit that nearly covered the front bumper. He and Boat tried hard to get us out but we eventually had to be pulled out by a truck that approached from the rear and couldn't get around us. Boat took the wheel while Joe and the truck guys connected something to the back of the car. Hugo handled all of it amazingly well. We had been in the car for almost four hours and he was doing great.
Great but hungry. We asked Boat if he could help us buy a snack from one of the ladies selling stuff on her head. He must have misunderstood us because at the next busy intersection, he said something to Joe then got out of the car and disappeared. We lost him for several minutes but when he turned up, he had a whole meal for Hugo. Boat had walked the distance of about a quarter mile. That may not sound far, but in that space, there had been several thousand people.
We finally arrived at the orphanage again where we would stay for the next several days. Separate from the orphanage itself, there is a guest house for visitors that is like a small dormitory. For $50 a night, we would have a place to sleep with a real toilet, a cold water shower, and three meals a day. It would suit us just fine.
Hugo hadn't been feeling very well today. When we got out of the car, he stretched his legs a bit and wanted to play but it didn't last long. Soon, he was sleeping on the bottom level of the bunk bed in our room. Rebekah and I had a double bed with a foam mattress and pillow cases that had pictures of Elvis Presley on them.
One of the last things we did was call home. In addition to all the Ghanaian events we experienced today, it was also Stella's sixth birthday. We love celebrating birthdays in our family and not being home for Stella's really made us realize how much we missed our kids. It was hard to talk to them without crying.
We set the alarm for 6 a.m. but Hugo's internal clock decided it didn't want to wait that long. We had borrowed a sweet little wooden crib from the resort and at about 5:45 he woke up and wanted out of it. I picked him up and brought him to bed, hoping he'd want to just go back to sleep. He was willing to snuggle for a bit but then found a light switch located conveniently above the headboard and we were all up for the day.
Today was the day we would go to court for the adoption and we had no idea what to expect. We had some vague notions but all we really knew for sure was to meet Boat for breakfast and follow his instructions. Breakfast was available at seven and we were the first ones there. We thought we had to eat fast but we were learning that things in Africa just run a bit slower (including Boat) so scheduled appointment times are estimates at best.
We left at 7:45, getting a ride from a resort employee. Boat is the kind of guy who can strike up a friendly conversation with anyone, so the two of them chatted for the duration of the 15 minute trip. The resort is actually in a town called Elmina and to get to Cape Coast, you drive through Elmina's very crowded and busy market. There were lots of ladies with large objects stacked on their heads, numerous boats on the water, and tons of young people waiting to sell whatever the boats brought in. There are plenty of technological developments in Ghana - TV's, cell phones, sporadic internet access, and outdated but functional infrastructure, but the fishing was a different story. We saw many hand made wooden boats, each about 20 feet long, from which men would cast nets to gather in fish. It was like watching Peter, James, and John before they were called by Jesus.
We had passed several market districts like this in the few days that we'd been there. For the first time, though, I looked beyond the front row of shops and merchandise sheds and really started to see how people live here. Naked children bathing outside, goats and chickens running about, men peeing in the closest ditch, and small homes that were mostly old boards for walls and anything that could be salvaged for a roof. In the midst of all this, we'd occasionally see a young man or woman neatly dressed and nicely groomed. It seemed to be completely out of place. And despite what we would call very unfavorable conditions, so many people were smiling and seemed to be very happy. Life is hard here but no one knows any different.
When we got to the court, we waited. And waited. The building was built in the 1970's (there was a plaque) and hasn't been updated since. You entered the courtroom from the rear and were looking down on several rows of wooden benches that were situated in stadium style tiers. The room was white with peeling paint and the ceiling was moldy. There was a set of stairs on the main floor that led into some kind of basement and we hoped we didn't need to go down there. There were a few small tables for lawyers and a large, raised judge's bench. Behind this was a door to the judge's chambers. On the left wall were large openings that let in the light and the outside air. The court was situated on a hill with a great view of the ocean and the breeze off the water blew in through the left side windows. There were a few ceiling fans that proved the place had electricity but there was not a computer in sight. All the proceedings were handwritten in a huge ledger.While we waited for the judge and the social worker to arrive, other people started filing in. We were quite the spectacle - in addition to being the only fair skinned folks, the fact that we were toting Hugo around drew a lot of attention. A family came in with five children. Boat knew the father and started chatting. Two of the girls sat right down next to Rebekah and I and one laid her head down on Rebekah's lap. The other one sat between us and turned out to be quite naughty. The first thing she did was to shake up the bottle of Coke she was carrying, then open the lid. Coke spilled all over the court room floor and sprayed us. Meanwhile, Hugo was not having a great time with all the waiting. He was tired and hadn't eaten as much breakfast as he would have preferred. The little girl kept calling him "Small Boy" and couldn't keep her hands off of him. He was getting frustrated and I eventually had to take him out of the room.
The judge arrived and we got to see two other cases. The first was a man who was asking the court to help him reclaim some money that was owed to him. He told his story and left. I guess the system is such that the court will now call the man he was accusing and bring him in for questioning. The other case was a man that had been involved in what sounded like a serious traffic accident. It was hard to catch everything but I think that several people had been injured and perhaps even one was killed. The judge was extremely upset with him and let him know it. We were really hoping that we would not be next.
Our case was next. We were told to go to the judge's chambers along with Boat and the social worker that we had just met. Hugo was very squirmy but we tried our best to keep him still so that we could make a good impression with the judge. There were two people having a heated argument right outside the window of the chambers and the judge sent a police man to go arrest them and bring them into court. Everyone in the room addressed her as, "My Lord."
She finally gave us her attention and asked us why we wanted another child when we already had four at home. I was not expecting this question and gave her an answer that I don't quite remember but that included something about having enough love in our house for another child. She then asked if she could take Hugo home with her and Rebekah said that she couldn't and would just have to come visit us in the US. There was a lot of silence while she filled out the appropriate forms then announced that the adoption had her approval. Just like that, after a morning full of adventures, Hugo was ours.
We had to wait again because Boat wanted to talk to the social worker who was currently busy with the next case. Hugo was thirsty but we had nothing to drink so we distracted him with an invented game using sticks and seeds from a nearby tree. While we waited, we experienced another one of those humorous moments that could only happen in a culture that is completely foreign. I saw a very nice bus drive by filled with young, athletic-looking men dressed in similar attire. I assumed it was some sort of team - probably a soccer team. Then I saw the team name on the side of the bus. It was - and I am not kidding - The Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs. How does a name like that happen? What is their fan base like? Are they intimidating on the field? Go Mysterious Dwarfs!?!
When all was ready, we got a ride back to Coconut Grove in the single most dilapidated vehicle I have ever ridden in. The interior was almost completely stripped to the metal except for the seats and it had no shocks at all. Every bump felt like a crater. It was a fun ride. We had a family lunch at the resort and Hugo ate most of my food. I had to resort to stealing back my food from his plate when he wasn't looking. Stealing food from a two-year-old ex-orphan. Nice.
There was a family at the next table who asked us if Hugo was our son. It was great to answer yes and not have to explain that we were planning to adopt him...it was already done. What made the exchange even nicer was that the family was African and very much approved of us adopting him. Boat had warned us to keep a low profile since adoption was a fairly new idea to most Ghanaians and our experiences in court this morning had not been terribly comfortable. This family, though, was very supportive and we were thankful to have encountered them.After packing, we met Boat and once again got back in the car with Crazy Joe the taxi driver. Before the day was over, he would solidify his title as the most adventurous driver in Ghana. We left the resort, made a stop at the Regional Director's office, and had almost made it to the main road when I realized I had forgotten something back at Coconut Grove. We turned around to retrieve the items and, while it was unfortunate to have lost all that time, we got to drive by "He That Keepeth Thee Dry Goods" and "Clap for Jesus Credit Union" one more time. We cracked up.
Joe outdid himself. He were thankful to be alive when we got to our destination. There were so many near misses that I eventually had to just not watch. Once, we passed a truck that was passing another truck at the same time. We were three vehicles wide on a two lane road at 80 mph on a curve. Even Boat was nervous. When we got close to Kasoa, there was a traffic jam. Joe asked a local about a shortcut then veered off the road to the north on a dirt road through a neighborhood. Things were going fine until the road got muddy ahead of us. Joe decided to try it anyway and got the Hyundai stuck in a mud pit that nearly covered the front bumper. He and Boat tried hard to get us out but we eventually had to be pulled out by a truck that approached from the rear and couldn't get around us. Boat took the wheel while Joe and the truck guys connected something to the back of the car. Hugo handled all of it amazingly well. We had been in the car for almost four hours and he was doing great.
Great but hungry. We asked Boat if he could help us buy a snack from one of the ladies selling stuff on her head. He must have misunderstood us because at the next busy intersection, he said something to Joe then got out of the car and disappeared. We lost him for several minutes but when he turned up, he had a whole meal for Hugo. Boat had walked the distance of about a quarter mile. That may not sound far, but in that space, there had been several thousand people.
We finally arrived at the orphanage again where we would stay for the next several days. Separate from the orphanage itself, there is a guest house for visitors that is like a small dormitory. For $50 a night, we would have a place to sleep with a real toilet, a cold water shower, and three meals a day. It would suit us just fine.
Hugo hadn't been feeling very well today. When we got out of the car, he stretched his legs a bit and wanted to play but it didn't last long. Soon, he was sleeping on the bottom level of the bunk bed in our room. Rebekah and I had a double bed with a foam mattress and pillow cases that had pictures of Elvis Presley on them.
One of the last things we did was call home. In addition to all the Ghanaian events we experienced today, it was also Stella's sixth birthday. We love celebrating birthdays in our family and not being home for Stella's really made us realize how much we missed our kids. It was hard to talk to them without crying.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Day Four - Wednesday, September 26
We learned today that the sunrise/sunset schedule in Ghana is not what we expected. I wouldn't say that I've ever had a firm grasp on the implications of the earth's rotation but for some reason I thought there would be more hours of daylight when we were so near the equator. I was wrong...it was almost exactly 12 hours of sun up. The sun rose around 6 a.m., set at about 6 p.m., and when it went down, it got dark fast. It seemed like the middle of the night at about 6:30.
We woke up this morning to the sounds of loud shouting and whistling coming from outside just after sunrise. We never figured out what it was but we guessed it was some sort of exercise group or fitness event. Thankfully, Hugo slept right through it. In fact, he slept all night despite dirtying his diaper in the middle of the night. I'm guessing that he's not used to having his diaper changed immediately and so he's just gotten used to sleeping through it. There was only one bed in the room so he slept between us and the scent was just lovely to wake up to.
When he woke up, we decided he was in serious need of a shower. The bathroom has a shower with a detachable hose so I set him in the shower stall and started hosing him off. He HATED it...screamed like a crazy man. I'm sure our neighbors were less than pleased with us. They no doubt heard the exercise class - which had now mercifully ended - and now we sounded like we were filming a horror movie in the next room. It was a quick wash but we both ended up soaking wet.
Breakfast was a buffet served in an outdoor restaurant. The place we were staying is called Coconut Grove. It's a resort on the ocean and we felt a little guilty traveling to a country that has so little, then staying at a vacation destination. We had other options but ultimately decided to spend the extra dollars to be at a place where we could focus on getting to know Hugo and not have to be concerned about much else.
The setting was lovely: a beautiful white building with a clay roof surrounded by tall coconut trees and just a few steps from the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean was not really for swimming in since there were plenty of rocks over which the waves crashed, but was nonetheless magnificent to watch. We stayed in a room that was separated from the main building - like a little private house on the resort property. The restaurant, not far from our room, was about 30 yards from the beach and was open to the breezes.
We saw again at breakfast just how strong Hugo's attachment to food is. Like the hotel in Accra, breakfast was a buffet and he could easily see all the food spread out in the serving line. He ate more than we ever thought a boy of his size could fit in his belly. And since there was more on the buffet, he wanted more. It didn't matter that he eventually became full and was not eating, he still wanted food on his plate. We sat at the table for a long time and eventually asked if we could just take the plate with us back to the room. We managed to get him out of the restaurant that way but when he saw that we put the leftovers in the room's refrigerator, he frequently wanted to get it out to snack or just to make sure it was still there.
After Hugo had a late morning nap, we decided to go for a walk around the grounds and take a closer look at the resort. We found that the main part of the resort is lovely but if you look behind the scenes or at some of the peripheral stuff, there are some peculiarities. For example, there is a stable full of horses for guests to ride but on further investigation we found the horses to be very underfed. I didn't have the heart to ask one of them to carry me. There is a golf course that is really just a large, flat, rectangular field with greens dotted here and there. While it looked as if it hadn't been mowed in months, the golf course did boast a donkey grazing on hole 10, numerous eagles hunting for lizards, and large pit that was home to about ten crocodiles.
Hugo's morning nap was pretty short so when we got back to the room, he fell asleep again and Rebekah seized the opportunity to get some shut eye herself. They slept through what would have been lunch so we just decided to skip it and have an early dinner. Hugo ate like a horse again. I decided to try a local dish called Waakye (pronounced wa-a-CHEE). It was rice and red beans with chicken and vegetable and a spicy red sauce on the side. The rice and beans, when eaten alone, tasted EXACTLY like wet hay. I've never eaten wet hay but when I asked Rebekah to confirm my description, she wholeheartedly concurred and then laughed like crazy. However, when mixed together with the sides, the dish was quite delicious.
We spent most of the rest of the day playing with Hugo. We brought a soccer ball and he loves it. When we played outside, he learned that he could throw it over the short wall that separated the grass from the beach and I would chase after it like a dog playing fetch. When it got too dark to play outside, we went back to the room where we continued to kick the ball around and it became clear that he has done this before. We couldn't stop thinking how much Henry would love playing with him. Hugo seems to love physical play and Henry lives for it.
Boat visited us before bed time to make sure we were well and to prepare us for the next day. Thursday would be the day we went to court and made the adoption official. We agreed to meet at 7:30 at the main house and get a taxi to Cape Coast. Our plan was to get to the court early and have the adoption taken care of before the court started on the rest of the day's business.
Looking back, this was a really good day. For sure, we were still amazed that the Lord had brought us to Africa and that we were looking at the Atlantic from the other side. But we got to do today exactly what we had planned to do - spend hours getting to know the little boy who tomorrow would legally become our fifth child and second son.
We woke up this morning to the sounds of loud shouting and whistling coming from outside just after sunrise. We never figured out what it was but we guessed it was some sort of exercise group or fitness event. Thankfully, Hugo slept right through it. In fact, he slept all night despite dirtying his diaper in the middle of the night. I'm guessing that he's not used to having his diaper changed immediately and so he's just gotten used to sleeping through it. There was only one bed in the room so he slept between us and the scent was just lovely to wake up to.
When he woke up, we decided he was in serious need of a shower. The bathroom has a shower with a detachable hose so I set him in the shower stall and started hosing him off. He HATED it...screamed like a crazy man. I'm sure our neighbors were less than pleased with us. They no doubt heard the exercise class - which had now mercifully ended - and now we sounded like we were filming a horror movie in the next room. It was a quick wash but we both ended up soaking wet.
Breakfast was a buffet served in an outdoor restaurant. The place we were staying is called Coconut Grove. It's a resort on the ocean and we felt a little guilty traveling to a country that has so little, then staying at a vacation destination. We had other options but ultimately decided to spend the extra dollars to be at a place where we could focus on getting to know Hugo and not have to be concerned about much else.
The setting was lovely: a beautiful white building with a clay roof surrounded by tall coconut trees and just a few steps from the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean was not really for swimming in since there were plenty of rocks over which the waves crashed, but was nonetheless magnificent to watch. We stayed in a room that was separated from the main building - like a little private house on the resort property. The restaurant, not far from our room, was about 30 yards from the beach and was open to the breezes.
We saw again at breakfast just how strong Hugo's attachment to food is. Like the hotel in Accra, breakfast was a buffet and he could easily see all the food spread out in the serving line. He ate more than we ever thought a boy of his size could fit in his belly. And since there was more on the buffet, he wanted more. It didn't matter that he eventually became full and was not eating, he still wanted food on his plate. We sat at the table for a long time and eventually asked if we could just take the plate with us back to the room. We managed to get him out of the restaurant that way but when he saw that we put the leftovers in the room's refrigerator, he frequently wanted to get it out to snack or just to make sure it was still there.
After Hugo had a late morning nap, we decided to go for a walk around the grounds and take a closer look at the resort. We found that the main part of the resort is lovely but if you look behind the scenes or at some of the peripheral stuff, there are some peculiarities. For example, there is a stable full of horses for guests to ride but on further investigation we found the horses to be very underfed. I didn't have the heart to ask one of them to carry me. There is a golf course that is really just a large, flat, rectangular field with greens dotted here and there. While it looked as if it hadn't been mowed in months, the golf course did boast a donkey grazing on hole 10, numerous eagles hunting for lizards, and large pit that was home to about ten crocodiles.Hugo's morning nap was pretty short so when we got back to the room, he fell asleep again and Rebekah seized the opportunity to get some shut eye herself. They slept through what would have been lunch so we just decided to skip it and have an early dinner. Hugo ate like a horse again. I decided to try a local dish called Waakye (pronounced wa-a-CHEE). It was rice and red beans with chicken and vegetable and a spicy red sauce on the side. The rice and beans, when eaten alone, tasted EXACTLY like wet hay. I've never eaten wet hay but when I asked Rebekah to confirm my description, she wholeheartedly concurred and then laughed like crazy. However, when mixed together with the sides, the dish was quite delicious.
We spent most of the rest of the day playing with Hugo. We brought a soccer ball and he loves it. When we played outside, he learned that he could throw it over the short wall that separated the grass from the beach and I would chase after it like a dog playing fetch. When it got too dark to play outside, we went back to the room where we continued to kick the ball around and it became clear that he has done this before. We couldn't stop thinking how much Henry would love playing with him. Hugo seems to love physical play and Henry lives for it.
Boat visited us before bed time to make sure we were well and to prepare us for the next day. Thursday would be the day we went to court and made the adoption official. We agreed to meet at 7:30 at the main house and get a taxi to Cape Coast. Our plan was to get to the court early and have the adoption taken care of before the court started on the rest of the day's business.
Looking back, this was a really good day. For sure, we were still amazed that the Lord had brought us to Africa and that we were looking at the Atlantic from the other side. But we got to do today exactly what we had planned to do - spend hours getting to know the little boy who tomorrow would legally become our fifth child and second son.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Day Three - Tuesday, September 25
We set the alarm for 7:30 this morning and when we awoke, it felt much earlier. I could have easily slept a few more hours but we were eager to meet Hugo and we made Boat promise the night before that he would get to the hotel as soon as possible. Our room was a strange mix of luxury and economy. There was a balcony overlooking a beautiful pool and the room was reasonably attractive. On the other hand, the hotel was surrounded by dirt roads, shacks, broken down cars, and half-built houses. The bathroom had a switch on the wall that turned the hot water heater on. Kelsey had warned me of this before we left but since I forgot to share the news, Rebekah learned about it the hard way.
Boat had a meeting to attend this morning so despite our urging, he was not able to pick us up until about 10:45. In the meantime, we had breakfast at the hotel buffet which included eggs and toast, potatoes, oats, stir-fried vegetables, pineapple, juice, and coffee.
When Boat arrived, he had already arranged for a taxi to take us to Hugo and then on to our next destination in Cape Coast. The driver was Joe and his car was a small Hyundai with the words "God is Love" written across the back window. We thought this was a good sign, and it turned out fine, but we quickly learned that nearly every taxi had a Christian phrase of some sort on the back window. Probably it was more of an economic decision than a spiritual one. A smaller number of taxis had Muslim phrases on their windows.
The economic use of Christianity was everywhere. Nearly every business had a Christian name or some sort of Christian imagery on the sign. We passed King of Glory Bakery, God's One and Only Son Beauty Supply, God's Grace is Sufficient Technologies, and What a Friend We Have in Jesus Cold Storage. It was interesting at first but soon became absolutely hilarious to us. Not wanting to offend Boat or our taxi driver, we did a lot of inconspicuous pointing and laughing.
The streets and highways that we traveled on were completely amazing. Imagine taking the entire contents of Walmart, throw in an appliance store, a ton of furniture, and the complete inventory of several auto parts stores and line all that stuff up along the highway. Everywhere you go, Ghanaian people have goods for sale. Unlike America, there is no one-stop-shopping place. A man would be selling universal electrical adapters next to a woman selling T-shirts next to a man making and selling couches next to a guy selling windshield wiper blades. When the taxi would get stopped in traffic, people would approach the cars with large numbers of goods balanced on their heads and attempt to sell us things through the window. We saw one guys selling dead rats. I'm not sure what they were for but I decided not to ask.
The driving in Ghana is scary, and that is no exaggeration. Every time we got somewhere, we were glad to have arrived alive. If there are traffic laws, Joe and everyone else on the road just generally ignored them. He passed on the left, the right, on the berm....it didn't matter. I glanced at the speedometer once and saw that he was doing 90mph. Several times, he passed on blind curves. Once, in a busy market, we encountered a traffic jam. Joe just drove down the wrong side of the road until opposing traffic got in his way. He then continued farther to the left and was driving on the left berm with oncoming traffic passing on the right. When that no longer worked, he continued FARTHER to the left and actually drove through the walking paths of the market. It was like a scene from a movie where the bad guy drives down the sidewalk except that all these pedestrians behaved like they see this all the time. He wasn't the only one either. Generally people just go where ever their cars will fit and ride with as many people inside as they could. I saw a pick up truck with 10 people in the cab. I saw a man and woman riding a motorcycle with an infant stuck in between them.
We were very anxious to get to the orphanage but we first made a stop at another orphanage that our friend Liz visited when she was in Ghana a few months ago. We said hello to the kids there, delivered a letter, and gave a hug to one of Liz's favorites. For the complete story on that part of this adventure see this post titled, "Miracles."
We finally arrived at the orphanage/home/school where Hugo is living. Joe pulled the taxi right through the front gate and we all got out. All eyes were on us as we certainly stuck out in this all-African crowd. Boat had a brief exchange in Twi with a young lady who smiled at us and disappeared around a corner. Just a moment later, she came back leading Hugo by the hand. He was rubbing his eyes with his free hand and I'm pretty sure she had just woken him up from a nap. She led him over to us and he immediately lifted up his arms in the way that all kids do when they want to be held. I picked him up and cried. Rebekah did too. We passed him back and forth for a bit but then it was time to leave again. We got back in the car as many of the children waved and said goodbye to Hugo. He waved back.
In the car, the moment was surreal. Here was this little boy that we have seen everyday as a picture on our refrigerator. His pictures are on this blog, he had a concert in his honor, we talk about him regularly. But for the first time, he was flesh and blood and in our arms. He was shocked. Despite knowing that it was going to happen, we were just as shocked. It was different, but not completely unlike that moment when a biological child is born and you see him for the first time.
Hugo just stared out the windows for a long time. Rebekah and I examined him all over. We took his shoes off and looked at his feet. We marveled at his beautiful skin. We saw that he had cotton balls in his ears and a pretty snotty nose - sure signs of some kind of sinus infection. We finally got a smile out of him when Rebekah saw that he was ticklish and took full advantage. Then he did the last thing I expected from a child in his situation...he fell asleep. It was a long ride to Cape Coast and he slept the whole way.
We checked in to a pretty nice hotel in Cape Coast with plenty of room to go outside and take walks and play. We had dinner and talked to our family in the States. We weren't sure what to make of Hugo after those first few hours together. He wanted to be held all the time but it was hard to imagine that he had attached to us that fast. I think it was rather the normal reaction of a kid hungry for attention. He has a strong attachment to food and we had to hide the snacks that we brought because having them in plain sight was driving him crazy. He's pretty clever though and did a great job of finding our hiding spots. We saw right away that he is very smart because he only needed to be shown something once before he understood what to do.
Hugo fell asleep around 9 p.m. and after a long, emotional day, we were exhausted. It was tough directing so much energy toward building trust with this little one, knowing that after a few days with him, we'd have to leave him in Ghana and return to the States.
When Boat arrived, he had already arranged for a taxi to take us to Hugo and then on to our next destination in Cape Coast. The driver was Joe and his car was a small Hyundai with the words "God is Love" written across the back window. We thought this was a good sign, and it turned out fine, but we quickly learned that nearly every taxi had a Christian phrase of some sort on the back window. Probably it was more of an economic decision than a spiritual one. A smaller number of taxis had Muslim phrases on their windows.
The economic use of Christianity was everywhere. Nearly every business had a Christian name or some sort of Christian imagery on the sign. We passed King of Glory Bakery, God's One and Only Son Beauty Supply, God's Grace is Sufficient Technologies, and What a Friend We Have in Jesus Cold Storage. It was interesting at first but soon became absolutely hilarious to us. Not wanting to offend Boat or our taxi driver, we did a lot of inconspicuous pointing and laughing.
The driving in Ghana is scary, and that is no exaggeration. Every time we got somewhere, we were glad to have arrived alive. If there are traffic laws, Joe and everyone else on the road just generally ignored them. He passed on the left, the right, on the berm....it didn't matter. I glanced at the speedometer once and saw that he was doing 90mph. Several times, he passed on blind curves. Once, in a busy market, we encountered a traffic jam. Joe just drove down the wrong side of the road until opposing traffic got in his way. He then continued farther to the left and was driving on the left berm with oncoming traffic passing on the right. When that no longer worked, he continued FARTHER to the left and actually drove through the walking paths of the market. It was like a scene from a movie where the bad guy drives down the sidewalk except that all these pedestrians behaved like they see this all the time. He wasn't the only one either. Generally people just go where ever their cars will fit and ride with as many people inside as they could. I saw a pick up truck with 10 people in the cab. I saw a man and woman riding a motorcycle with an infant stuck in between them.
We were very anxious to get to the orphanage but we first made a stop at another orphanage that our friend Liz visited when she was in Ghana a few months ago. We said hello to the kids there, delivered a letter, and gave a hug to one of Liz's favorites. For the complete story on that part of this adventure see this post titled, "Miracles."
We finally arrived at the orphanage/home/school where Hugo is living. Joe pulled the taxi right through the front gate and we all got out. All eyes were on us as we certainly stuck out in this all-African crowd. Boat had a brief exchange in Twi with a young lady who smiled at us and disappeared around a corner. Just a moment later, she came back leading Hugo by the hand. He was rubbing his eyes with his free hand and I'm pretty sure she had just woken him up from a nap. She led him over to us and he immediately lifted up his arms in the way that all kids do when they want to be held. I picked him up and cried. Rebekah did too. We passed him back and forth for a bit but then it was time to leave again. We got back in the car as many of the children waved and said goodbye to Hugo. He waved back.
In the car, the moment was surreal. Here was this little boy that we have seen everyday as a picture on our refrigerator. His pictures are on this blog, he had a concert in his honor, we talk about him regularly. But for the first time, he was flesh and blood and in our arms. He was shocked. Despite knowing that it was going to happen, we were just as shocked. It was different, but not completely unlike that moment when a biological child is born and you see him for the first time.
We checked in to a pretty nice hotel in Cape Coast with plenty of room to go outside and take walks and play. We had dinner and talked to our family in the States. We weren't sure what to make of Hugo after those first few hours together. He wanted to be held all the time but it was hard to imagine that he had attached to us that fast. I think it was rather the normal reaction of a kid hungry for attention. He has a strong attachment to food and we had to hide the snacks that we brought because having them in plain sight was driving him crazy. He's pretty clever though and did a great job of finding our hiding spots. We saw right away that he is very smart because he only needed to be shown something once before he understood what to do.
Hugo fell asleep around 9 p.m. and after a long, emotional day, we were exhausted. It was tough directing so much energy toward building trust with this little one, knowing that after a few days with him, we'd have to leave him in Ghana and return to the States.
Day Two - Monday, September 24
Rebekah woke up as the sun was rising over the western coast of Portugal and we were just moments from landing. Flying into Lisbon was not what I expected. I imagined seeing a reasonably large and modern city with a complex system of shipping ports due to its proximity to the Atlantic. Instead, we flew farther inland than I would have guessed over farmland before approaching the airport set in the middle of the city itself. The buildings were modest and old and nearly every single one had a red clay roof. I'm sure I didn't get enough of a look at Lisbon, though, to think my description is exhaustive.
The tailwind across the ocean must have been pretty significant because we got into the airport an hour and a half earlier than we thought we would. I didn't get a wink of sleep the whole way and I was starting to feel it. I really wanted to find a safe place in the airport to get some rest. Today was the day we would be meeting Hugo and I didn't want to be completely exhausted when we finally arrived in Ghana at the end of this long travel day.
We landed just before 8 a.m. local time and didn't have the outgoing flight to Accra until 3:45 p.m. In contrast to the Newark airport, the Lisbon airport was one long, straight hallway with about 25 gates and one place to eat. We were hungry but decided to sleep first. We found an empty gate and were just nodding off when security came along and told us we weren't allowed to be at a gate unless we had a flight scheduled there. We found our own gate and quickly fell asleep. Rebekah woke up before me and decided to document the occasion.
We spent the day sleeping, walking, drinking coffee, and eating at the food joint where all the prices were in Euros and I had no idea what I was actually spending. We were hoping for wifi but couldn't get it so we spent a very boring day just waiting for time to pass.
The plane finally boarded. Rather than walking down the skywalk to the plane door, we were loaded onto a bus and driven out to the tarmac to board the plane the old fashioned way. Mercifully, the plane was not nearly filled to capacity so there was plenty of room to spread out once we took off.
Leaving Lisbon, we flew south over the Atlantic again and eventually got our first glimpse of Africa. When we passed over the Sahara Desert and could see an ocean of brown in every direction, the reality of what we were doing finally started to set in. The desert looked exactly like the ocean except brown. The sand laid in waves and crests in what would seem to be an uninhabitable land except that occasionally we would see a small city below. This was a sight I thought I would never see, even from 35,000 feet, and we started thinking about the little African boy who was waiting for us at the end of this crazy ride.
We landed in Accra and exited the plane right onto the tarmac. The first sign that we were in Africa was the heat. It was hot and muggy at about 9 p.m. We negotiated customs which included a check of our yellow fever vaccination cards, waiting in a very long line, and then the usual interview with the customs officer. We had no idea what Boat, our contact in Ghana, looked like but we were eagerly looking around every turn for a man with a little boy. When we finally found him, holding a Faith International Adoption sign, he did not have Hugo with him. He told us it was too late to bring him to the airport, and while we were sure he was right, it was a huge let down.
Boat helped us negotiate the airport exit which was no small matter since there were men everywhere trying to force their help on us. One man was so insistent that I was pretty sure that he was there with Boat as some sort of helper. I finally figured out that he was a stranger when he tried to tell me that I owed him a tip even though he hadn't done anything. We loaded in a van and drove at a high rate of speed to the Mensvic Hotel. We couldn't see much of Accra at night but it was obvious that we were in a very different kind of place. When we finally got to the room, Rebekah and I just sat and marveled, not for the last time, that we were in Ghana. Crazy.
The tailwind across the ocean must have been pretty significant because we got into the airport an hour and a half earlier than we thought we would. I didn't get a wink of sleep the whole way and I was starting to feel it. I really wanted to find a safe place in the airport to get some rest. Today was the day we would be meeting Hugo and I didn't want to be completely exhausted when we finally arrived in Ghana at the end of this long travel day.
We landed just before 8 a.m. local time and didn't have the outgoing flight to Accra until 3:45 p.m. In contrast to the Newark airport, the Lisbon airport was one long, straight hallway with about 25 gates and one place to eat. We were hungry but decided to sleep first. We found an empty gate and were just nodding off when security came along and told us we weren't allowed to be at a gate unless we had a flight scheduled there. We found our own gate and quickly fell asleep. Rebekah woke up before me and decided to document the occasion.
We spent the day sleeping, walking, drinking coffee, and eating at the food joint where all the prices were in Euros and I had no idea what I was actually spending. We were hoping for wifi but couldn't get it so we spent a very boring day just waiting for time to pass.
The plane finally boarded. Rather than walking down the skywalk to the plane door, we were loaded onto a bus and driven out to the tarmac to board the plane the old fashioned way. Mercifully, the plane was not nearly filled to capacity so there was plenty of room to spread out once we took off.
Leaving Lisbon, we flew south over the Atlantic again and eventually got our first glimpse of Africa. When we passed over the Sahara Desert and could see an ocean of brown in every direction, the reality of what we were doing finally started to set in. The desert looked exactly like the ocean except brown. The sand laid in waves and crests in what would seem to be an uninhabitable land except that occasionally we would see a small city below. This was a sight I thought I would never see, even from 35,000 feet, and we started thinking about the little African boy who was waiting for us at the end of this crazy ride.
We landed in Accra and exited the plane right onto the tarmac. The first sign that we were in Africa was the heat. It was hot and muggy at about 9 p.m. We negotiated customs which included a check of our yellow fever vaccination cards, waiting in a very long line, and then the usual interview with the customs officer. We had no idea what Boat, our contact in Ghana, looked like but we were eagerly looking around every turn for a man with a little boy. When we finally found him, holding a Faith International Adoption sign, he did not have Hugo with him. He told us it was too late to bring him to the airport, and while we were sure he was right, it was a huge let down.
Boat helped us negotiate the airport exit which was no small matter since there were men everywhere trying to force their help on us. One man was so insistent that I was pretty sure that he was there with Boat as some sort of helper. I finally figured out that he was a stranger when he tried to tell me that I owed him a tip even though he hadn't done anything. We loaded in a van and drove at a high rate of speed to the Mensvic Hotel. We couldn't see much of Accra at night but it was obvious that we were in a very different kind of place. When we finally got to the room, Rebekah and I just sat and marveled, not for the last time, that we were in Ghana. Crazy.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Day One - Sunday, September 23
Today started out like any other Sunday. We woke up at the usual time and despite having plenty of time to get ready, managed to be in a hurry to get out the door so we weren't late for Sunday School. Henry and Bea rode in with me but Stella, who was already missing her Mama even though we hadn't left yet, decided to walk to church with her. Rebekah walks to church every week, no matter the weather, with Mabel Jane strapped to her back. Stella joined the party this morning and I'm sure both she and Rebekah were pleased.
Any thought that this was a normal Sunday vanished as soon as we arrived at church. Nearly everyone stopped me to wish us well, give hugs, and generally share their excitement about travelling to Africa. It was already an exciting day at church anyway since our friend Harold was getting baptized. Unfortunately, we would have to miss it and while we were truly disappointed, we new we had a justifiable reason.
At the conclusion of Sunday School, the elders gathered around us at the back of the church and prayed for us before we had to leave. They prayed that we would be protected, that our time with Hugo would be valuable, and that our children here at home would be kept safe. It was hard to say goodbye to our kids but we managed it. Henry removed himself from the group as soon as he could and I had to call him over to say a proper goodbye. I think he was sad and just didn't want to show it. Through a lot of tears, we made our way out the door.
Our friends, Bob and Rebekah Rizzo, drove us to the airport in Pittsburgh and dropped us off at 12:30 p.m. We checked in and, since our flight was not until 3 p.m., hunted for a place to eat. We ended up eating in the exact same place we had lunch on November 23, 1997 - the day after our wedding. That day, we were headed to London. While we ate, we read letters that the kids had prepared for us in Sunday School. They were sweet and included the usual artistic elements for which kids are famous. Henry drew a face with lots of tears pouring down the cheeks and a message that said, "I miss you already." We missed you already too, Henry. And Stella, Bea, and Mabel Jane.
The first flight was short - just one hour - and was followed by a three-and-a-half hour layover as we waited for our next flight. We had heard several people complain about the Newark airport but we found it to be interesting, comfortable, and easy to navigate. We did a lot of walking to pass the time. There was a older guy driving one of those airport golf carts that would make funny horn honking noises every time we encountered a crowd, which was all the time. Rebekah bought some chocolate and it would turn out to be one of the best purchases we made for this trip. It was very sustaining when we started missing the tastes of home.
The flight to Lisbon boarded at around 7:30 and once we got into the air, I made my last journal entry for the day. September 23 would end somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. While we were finally on the trip we had anticipated for so long, it was hard to grasp the reality of what was happening. Tomorrow would be the day we met our new son but for now our brains were engaged in the logistics of travel. Rebekah was asleep and I was wishing that my mind would slow down enough to get some rest also. I finally gave up and watched the in-flight movie.
Any thought that this was a normal Sunday vanished as soon as we arrived at church. Nearly everyone stopped me to wish us well, give hugs, and generally share their excitement about travelling to Africa. It was already an exciting day at church anyway since our friend Harold was getting baptized. Unfortunately, we would have to miss it and while we were truly disappointed, we new we had a justifiable reason.
At the conclusion of Sunday School, the elders gathered around us at the back of the church and prayed for us before we had to leave. They prayed that we would be protected, that our time with Hugo would be valuable, and that our children here at home would be kept safe. It was hard to say goodbye to our kids but we managed it. Henry removed himself from the group as soon as he could and I had to call him over to say a proper goodbye. I think he was sad and just didn't want to show it. Through a lot of tears, we made our way out the door.
Our friends, Bob and Rebekah Rizzo, drove us to the airport in Pittsburgh and dropped us off at 12:30 p.m. We checked in and, since our flight was not until 3 p.m., hunted for a place to eat. We ended up eating in the exact same place we had lunch on November 23, 1997 - the day after our wedding. That day, we were headed to London. While we ate, we read letters that the kids had prepared for us in Sunday School. They were sweet and included the usual artistic elements for which kids are famous. Henry drew a face with lots of tears pouring down the cheeks and a message that said, "I miss you already." We missed you already too, Henry. And Stella, Bea, and Mabel Jane.
The first flight was short - just one hour - and was followed by a three-and-a-half hour layover as we waited for our next flight. We had heard several people complain about the Newark airport but we found it to be interesting, comfortable, and easy to navigate. We did a lot of walking to pass the time. There was a older guy driving one of those airport golf carts that would make funny horn honking noises every time we encountered a crowd, which was all the time. Rebekah bought some chocolate and it would turn out to be one of the best purchases we made for this trip. It was very sustaining when we started missing the tastes of home.
The flight to Lisbon boarded at around 7:30 and once we got into the air, I made my last journal entry for the day. September 23 would end somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. While we were finally on the trip we had anticipated for so long, it was hard to grasp the reality of what was happening. Tomorrow would be the day we met our new son but for now our brains were engaged in the logistics of travel. Rebekah was asleep and I was wishing that my mind would slow down enough to get some rest also. I finally gave up and watched the in-flight movie.
Monday, October 8, 2012
T minus 5 days
I realized that my journal starts on Sunday, September 23 but the story of this trip really begins five days earlier. Those five days were a whirlwind of activity. There was so much to get done in a short amount of time so that we could leave our kids and our home for two weeks. I'll start the story there, during this crazy time of preparation.
On Tuesday, the 18th of September, I came home from school and Rebekah and I were lamenting for the millionth time that we hadn't heard anything about a travel date yet. We were waiting for confirmation of a court date in Cape Coast which would be set by the regional director of the Central Region Social Welfare Office. We had been told several days before that a court date was likely to come soon since the regional director was returning from vacation.
I decided to call Kelsey, our case worker at Faith International Adoptions, and ask if there was any news or if there was anyway we could hurry the process. She said she would talk to the director of FIA and see if he had heard anything. In a few minutes she called back:
Kelsey - "You're not going to believe this."
Me - "What happened?"
Kelsey - "As I was texting Boat (he's the coordinator for us on the Ghanaian side) to see if he had heard anything, he called me to say that you have a confirmed date!"
And just like that, the trip we had anticipated for so long was suddenly a reality. We were excited and nervous, overwhelmed and not sure what to do first. Kelsey told us that we should plan on travelling on Sunday the 23rd and return on Sunday, October 7. At bed time, we gathered the kids in our room and told them what was going on. We'd be gone over Stella's birthday and we were sad about that but she didn't seem to mind too much.
We started informing the people closest to us and decided not to advertise the trip to everyone since we didn't want the whole world to know that our house would be empty for two weeks. The kids would be staying with Rebekah's parents. Rebekah home schools our kids and teaches two classes at the Learning Tree Home School Co-op so she had two weeks of lesson plans to write and materials to prepare. That was a BIG job.
At school, I had two weeks of lesson planning to do also. Thankfully, my friend Lindsay would be subbing for me while I was away and I have a very good student teacher so I wasn't worried at all. My friend Nevin, who used to have my job before he moved on to the high school, volunteered to work with the after school band. Generally speaking, lots of people helped get things at school organized and I was pretty sure no one would notice I was missing.
There was also the issue of reserving flights. I had been watching airline fares for months and was planning to pay about $1300-$1400 per ticket before all the extra fees they tag on. I decided to call United Airlines before anyone else. We have carried a United Mileage Plus credit card since we got married and had almost accumulated enough miles for two tickets to Africa. Only problem....United doesn't fly to Africa. But I called anyway and explained the situation to the very nice lady on the other end for whom English was most certainly a second language. I listened to the sound of her keyboard tapping away for a long time and she finally told me that there was a way it could be done through some of their partner airlines. We had to pay for the difference in miles that we hadn't yet accumulated as well as all of the many fees. Altogether, though, we got both tickets for a grand total under $800!
On Friday evening, we had plenty of fun watching Henry play soccer. All the grandparents came, partly to see Henry and partly to send us off. I could tell that my mom was worried and I assured her that we would keep in touch as best we could.
There were other things scattered through the week that are associated with any trip. We had to pick up a few last minute things at Walmart, have our mail and newspaper held, figure out what suitcases we could take, and try to get things crossed off the list. Rebekah and I are both list makers and we had long lists for these few days. On thing I didn't expect is that in Ghana, reservations at hotels are secured on just your word that you'll be there. I tried to make some reservations but got none of the usual email replies or confirmation numbers. When we finally left for Ghana, I was only sure of having a place for us to sleep for the first night.
Saturday was the best day of the week, though. We spent the whole day doing just family stuff and enjoying each other. We made a huge stack of waffles for breakfast, played a dozen hands of rummy, went for a walk, and read together. At bedtime, we gathered the kids together one last time and talked about the next two weeks. We said all the things parents say to their kids when they are going to stay at someone else's house. We were concerned that the kids would be worried, scared, or unhappy about being away from home. On the contrary, they were excited to be going to Oma and Pop Pop's house and we were left wishing they had at least acted a little sad. We were really going to miss them.
After the kids went to bed, with about twelve hours to go before walking out our door to leave for another continent, we started packing.
On Tuesday, the 18th of September, I came home from school and Rebekah and I were lamenting for the millionth time that we hadn't heard anything about a travel date yet. We were waiting for confirmation of a court date in Cape Coast which would be set by the regional director of the Central Region Social Welfare Office. We had been told several days before that a court date was likely to come soon since the regional director was returning from vacation.
I decided to call Kelsey, our case worker at Faith International Adoptions, and ask if there was any news or if there was anyway we could hurry the process. She said she would talk to the director of FIA and see if he had heard anything. In a few minutes she called back:
Kelsey - "You're not going to believe this."
Me - "What happened?"
Kelsey - "As I was texting Boat (he's the coordinator for us on the Ghanaian side) to see if he had heard anything, he called me to say that you have a confirmed date!"
And just like that, the trip we had anticipated for so long was suddenly a reality. We were excited and nervous, overwhelmed and not sure what to do first. Kelsey told us that we should plan on travelling on Sunday the 23rd and return on Sunday, October 7. At bed time, we gathered the kids in our room and told them what was going on. We'd be gone over Stella's birthday and we were sad about that but she didn't seem to mind too much.
We started informing the people closest to us and decided not to advertise the trip to everyone since we didn't want the whole world to know that our house would be empty for two weeks. The kids would be staying with Rebekah's parents. Rebekah home schools our kids and teaches two classes at the Learning Tree Home School Co-op so she had two weeks of lesson plans to write and materials to prepare. That was a BIG job.
At school, I had two weeks of lesson planning to do also. Thankfully, my friend Lindsay would be subbing for me while I was away and I have a very good student teacher so I wasn't worried at all. My friend Nevin, who used to have my job before he moved on to the high school, volunteered to work with the after school band. Generally speaking, lots of people helped get things at school organized and I was pretty sure no one would notice I was missing.
There was also the issue of reserving flights. I had been watching airline fares for months and was planning to pay about $1300-$1400 per ticket before all the extra fees they tag on. I decided to call United Airlines before anyone else. We have carried a United Mileage Plus credit card since we got married and had almost accumulated enough miles for two tickets to Africa. Only problem....United doesn't fly to Africa. But I called anyway and explained the situation to the very nice lady on the other end for whom English was most certainly a second language. I listened to the sound of her keyboard tapping away for a long time and she finally told me that there was a way it could be done through some of their partner airlines. We had to pay for the difference in miles that we hadn't yet accumulated as well as all of the many fees. Altogether, though, we got both tickets for a grand total under $800!
On Friday evening, we had plenty of fun watching Henry play soccer. All the grandparents came, partly to see Henry and partly to send us off. I could tell that my mom was worried and I assured her that we would keep in touch as best we could.
There were other things scattered through the week that are associated with any trip. We had to pick up a few last minute things at Walmart, have our mail and newspaper held, figure out what suitcases we could take, and try to get things crossed off the list. Rebekah and I are both list makers and we had long lists for these few days. On thing I didn't expect is that in Ghana, reservations at hotels are secured on just your word that you'll be there. I tried to make some reservations but got none of the usual email replies or confirmation numbers. When we finally left for Ghana, I was only sure of having a place for us to sleep for the first night.
Saturday was the best day of the week, though. We spent the whole day doing just family stuff and enjoying each other. We made a huge stack of waffles for breakfast, played a dozen hands of rummy, went for a walk, and read together. At bedtime, we gathered the kids together one last time and talked about the next two weeks. We said all the things parents say to their kids when they are going to stay at someone else's house. We were concerned that the kids would be worried, scared, or unhappy about being away from home. On the contrary, they were excited to be going to Oma and Pop Pop's house and we were left wishing they had at least acted a little sad. We were really going to miss them.
After the kids went to bed, with about twelve hours to go before walking out our door to leave for another continent, we started packing.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Gigantically Huge Update
Hello again Hugo Followers!!
My last post was August 28....38 days ago. That is way too long to wait before writing new material and I apologize, but I think this update will make up for it.
WE JUST GOT HOME FROM A TWO WEEK TRIP TO AFRICA WHERE WE MET HUGO FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!
It was amazing. He is amazing. Ghana is amazing. The God we serve is amazing. There is so much to report!
Here's the skinny....
On September 17, we got word that a court date had been established and we could make our plans to travel to Ghana. From August 28 (the date of the last post) until September 17, there was truly nothing new to post. I probably should have made the effort to write something valuable about the adoption experience, but the truth is I spent most of that time biting my nails and waiting for the phone to ring. I just couldn't muster the mental energy to post. Then, when we got the word that we would be leaving soon, we decided that it was probably wise to wait until we got back to post to the blog. I'm pretty sure all of our readers are friends and family but just in case there are any creepers out there, we didn't think it was wise to announce to the world that our house would be empty for two weeks. So that's my excuse for not blogging, and I'm sticking to it.
Anyway, we went and now we're home. I could write volumes (and I will) about what happened over the last two weeks but I won't write it in this post. Believe me, there's a lot to tell and you'd get tired of reading if I put it all in one spot. Here's what I thought I'd do:
While we were traveling, I kept a journal. I bought a little, brown leather journal at Walmart and wrote in it everyday. I really enjoy journaling when we travel and I thought this particular trip would be an important time to do this. Over the next several weeks, I will write a new post every couple of days detailing each day of our trip. I'll be careful to leave out any sensitive or classified material and there are some things I just don't want you to know. No offense, but some of the stuff is just for Rebekah and I and Hugo. Still, you'll get a pretty good idea of what we experienced and what is coming next in the process.
So if you've been wondering what's been going on....we're back! Stay tuned and we'll tell you all about it.
God Bless You
My last post was August 28....38 days ago. That is way too long to wait before writing new material and I apologize, but I think this update will make up for it.
WE JUST GOT HOME FROM A TWO WEEK TRIP TO AFRICA WHERE WE MET HUGO FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!
It was amazing. He is amazing. Ghana is amazing. The God we serve is amazing. There is so much to report!
Here's the skinny....
On September 17, we got word that a court date had been established and we could make our plans to travel to Ghana. From August 28 (the date of the last post) until September 17, there was truly nothing new to post. I probably should have made the effort to write something valuable about the adoption experience, but the truth is I spent most of that time biting my nails and waiting for the phone to ring. I just couldn't muster the mental energy to post. Then, when we got the word that we would be leaving soon, we decided that it was probably wise to wait until we got back to post to the blog. I'm pretty sure all of our readers are friends and family but just in case there are any creepers out there, we didn't think it was wise to announce to the world that our house would be empty for two weeks. So that's my excuse for not blogging, and I'm sticking to it.
Anyway, we went and now we're home. I could write volumes (and I will) about what happened over the last two weeks but I won't write it in this post. Believe me, there's a lot to tell and you'd get tired of reading if I put it all in one spot. Here's what I thought I'd do:
While we were traveling, I kept a journal. I bought a little, brown leather journal at Walmart and wrote in it everyday. I really enjoy journaling when we travel and I thought this particular trip would be an important time to do this. Over the next several weeks, I will write a new post every couple of days detailing each day of our trip. I'll be careful to leave out any sensitive or classified material and there are some things I just don't want you to know. No offense, but some of the stuff is just for Rebekah and I and Hugo. Still, you'll get a pretty good idea of what we experienced and what is coming next in the process.
So if you've been wondering what's been going on....we're back! Stay tuned and we'll tell you all about it.
God Bless You
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Something to consider as we wait
Hi all,
I suppose that after 23 days of not posting you are wondering what is going on. Well...nothing, really. We are still awaiting the infamous phone call that will confirm a court date. We learned that the process has progressed to the last step and there is only the scheduling of our court appearance remaining.
I hold my phone in my hand everyday at 11:30 a.m. I'm thinking that since our case worker is three hours behind and gets to work at 8:30 a.m. her time, she may check her email, see that a court date has been assigned, and call us right away. My phone has a crazy habit of unexpectedly turning off so not only do not set it down for at least 30 minutes, I check it incessantly to make sure that it is still turned on.
In the meantime, Rebekah read a recent post on Ann Voskamp's blog about bucket lists. I loved every word of it and thought I'd post the link here. I hope you will enjoy it. It is challenging to our safe and comfortable lives so be prepared to be motivated to action.
Think of this as you read it....as we pour out the buckets that He has filled, He also does not allow them to remain empty. He keeps refilling. Over and over. He never runs out and has called us to be like Him.
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/08/best-bucket-list/
Until next time....
I suppose that after 23 days of not posting you are wondering what is going on. Well...nothing, really. We are still awaiting the infamous phone call that will confirm a court date. We learned that the process has progressed to the last step and there is only the scheduling of our court appearance remaining.
I hold my phone in my hand everyday at 11:30 a.m. I'm thinking that since our case worker is three hours behind and gets to work at 8:30 a.m. her time, she may check her email, see that a court date has been assigned, and call us right away. My phone has a crazy habit of unexpectedly turning off so not only do not set it down for at least 30 minutes, I check it incessantly to make sure that it is still turned on.
In the meantime, Rebekah read a recent post on Ann Voskamp's blog about bucket lists. I loved every word of it and thought I'd post the link here. I hope you will enjoy it. It is challenging to our safe and comfortable lives so be prepared to be motivated to action.
Think of this as you read it....as we pour out the buckets that He has filled, He also does not allow them to remain empty. He keeps refilling. Over and over. He never runs out and has called us to be like Him.
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/08/best-bucket-list/
Until next time....
Sunday, August 5, 2012
I haven't found out why yet, but someone sent our caseworker new pictures of Hugo. Here's the best one.
There are twelve in all but they basically all look like this. We think the blue shirt and cool sandals make him look like he is on a tropical vacation. Can't wait to see him in real life. So amazingly cute!
There are twelve in all but they basically all look like this. We think the blue shirt and cool sandals make him look like he is on a tropical vacation. Can't wait to see him in real life. So amazingly cute!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Being Compassionate
Welcome back. As I was considering topics to blog about during this waiting time I realized I never told you a really fun part of the story. It pertains to a wonderful organization that I'm going to take this opportunity to plug: Compassion International.
If you've never heard of Compassion, it is an organization dedicated to child advocacy. It was started in 1952 to provide for the needs of 35 impoverished orphans in Korea after the Korean War. It has grown significantly and now reaches 1.2 million children in 26 countries. You may be familiar with other child advocacy groups, such as World Vision, Manna Worldwide, or Save the Children. I'm not familiar with how all of these organizations work but we got involved with Compassion because they provide for the needs of the children and also share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through programs at local churches and community centers.
There are three ways you can become involved in Compassion. One is by sponsoring a child through a financial commitment only. In this way, you can help meet the needs of a specific child. Your donation would not go into a large fund that would eventually make its way to your sponsored child's area. Rather, the money you donate goes directly to help your child.
If you want, you can go a step further. In addition to a financial commitment, you can write letters to your sponsored child and receive letters from him as well. This is what we chose to do and the letter writing is among the most rewarding things we've done.
If you do not have the funds available for a financial commitment, you can be matched with a child for letter writing without the financial part.
We got involved about three years ago when Rebekah discovered Compassion and started investigating whether or not we should be involved. She found that it was an excellent program which creates opportunities for impoverished children, in some cases literally saving their lives. We were matched with a little boy named Wincey who was about the same age as our oldest son. We exchanged letters with Wincey and learned that he lived with his grandma, attended a local school funded by Compassion, and loved playing soccer. His parents had gone away to look for work and when they found it, they sent for Wincey to join them. While we were pleased for his family that they were able to find work, he unfortunately moved to a place that was outside the reach of Compassion and so we lost contact with him.
We were then matched with another child named William with whom we still contact regularly. William is about the same age as Wincey and from the same area. We've learned about his interests and have been able to send him birthday and Christmas cards. We wants to be a police officer and so we are sending him a picture of my brother in his uniform. It is a fabulous feeling to know that we are contributing in a small way to help this little boy.
And now the fun part. Remember when I said that Wincey and William were from about the same area. You guessed it, Ghana. We have been in contact with Compassion and when we travel to adopt Hugo, we will be able to visit William as well. This was not planned, I promise. Our involvement with William started long before our call to adopt.
I hope you will consider looking into Compassion International. If you are not a Christian and have issues with Compassion's mission statement, don't let that be an excuse to not get involved in child advocacy. Needy people have needs and it's good to help no matter your religious affiliation. Feel free to investigate other organizations. If you do want to learn more about Compassion, check it out here:
http://www.compassion.com/default.htm
I promise it will be a rewarding experience for everyone involved. If you have questions about how it works, how you can get your whole family involved, or how to sponsor a Compassion Sunday at your church, ask us. We love talking about this stuff.
If you need more convincing about Compassion's impact on the lives of individual children, follow the next link to a blog post written by Ann Voskamp. It tells the story of Jonathan, a boy she met while visiting an area along the Amazon River that Compassion reaches. It was life-changing for me.
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/07/when-compassion-becomes-a-gold-rush-2/
Finally, check out this video of a young African man who was a sponsored child himself and is appearing at a convention during an advocacy event for Compassion. Unknown to him, his sponsor, with whom he has exchanged letters for years but has never met, is going to join him on stage. Amazing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rIElUTPBi0&feature=related
Thank you again.
If you've never heard of Compassion, it is an organization dedicated to child advocacy. It was started in 1952 to provide for the needs of 35 impoverished orphans in Korea after the Korean War. It has grown significantly and now reaches 1.2 million children in 26 countries. You may be familiar with other child advocacy groups, such as World Vision, Manna Worldwide, or Save the Children. I'm not familiar with how all of these organizations work but we got involved with Compassion because they provide for the needs of the children and also share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through programs at local churches and community centers.
There are three ways you can become involved in Compassion. One is by sponsoring a child through a financial commitment only. In this way, you can help meet the needs of a specific child. Your donation would not go into a large fund that would eventually make its way to your sponsored child's area. Rather, the money you donate goes directly to help your child.
If you want, you can go a step further. In addition to a financial commitment, you can write letters to your sponsored child and receive letters from him as well. This is what we chose to do and the letter writing is among the most rewarding things we've done.
If you do not have the funds available for a financial commitment, you can be matched with a child for letter writing without the financial part.
We got involved about three years ago when Rebekah discovered Compassion and started investigating whether or not we should be involved. She found that it was an excellent program which creates opportunities for impoverished children, in some cases literally saving their lives. We were matched with a little boy named Wincey who was about the same age as our oldest son. We exchanged letters with Wincey and learned that he lived with his grandma, attended a local school funded by Compassion, and loved playing soccer. His parents had gone away to look for work and when they found it, they sent for Wincey to join them. While we were pleased for his family that they were able to find work, he unfortunately moved to a place that was outside the reach of Compassion and so we lost contact with him.
We were then matched with another child named William with whom we still contact regularly. William is about the same age as Wincey and from the same area. We've learned about his interests and have been able to send him birthday and Christmas cards. We wants to be a police officer and so we are sending him a picture of my brother in his uniform. It is a fabulous feeling to know that we are contributing in a small way to help this little boy.
And now the fun part. Remember when I said that Wincey and William were from about the same area. You guessed it, Ghana. We have been in contact with Compassion and when we travel to adopt Hugo, we will be able to visit William as well. This was not planned, I promise. Our involvement with William started long before our call to adopt.
I hope you will consider looking into Compassion International. If you are not a Christian and have issues with Compassion's mission statement, don't let that be an excuse to not get involved in child advocacy. Needy people have needs and it's good to help no matter your religious affiliation. Feel free to investigate other organizations. If you do want to learn more about Compassion, check it out here:
http://www.compassion.com/default.htm
I promise it will be a rewarding experience for everyone involved. If you have questions about how it works, how you can get your whole family involved, or how to sponsor a Compassion Sunday at your church, ask us. We love talking about this stuff.
If you need more convincing about Compassion's impact on the lives of individual children, follow the next link to a blog post written by Ann Voskamp. It tells the story of Jonathan, a boy she met while visiting an area along the Amazon River that Compassion reaches. It was life-changing for me.
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/07/when-compassion-becomes-a-gold-rush-2/
Finally, check out this video of a young African man who was a sponsored child himself and is appearing at a convention during an advocacy event for Compassion. Unknown to him, his sponsor, with whom he has exchanged letters for years but has never met, is going to join him on stage. Amazing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rIElUTPBi0&feature=related
Thank you again.
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