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.
Love the videos :) Also, I'd just like to say that you probably needed to cry just like anyone who travels halfway across the world needs to cry. Your basic needs are assaulted with different sleeping conditions, different cleanliness standards, different tastes, and varying levels of trust for the people around you. Everyone cries. I think your love for Hugo transcends all of these worldly needs and that your feelings had more to do with the transition into a new place. You are going to learn so much from that little boy and you are going to show him a whole new world. He will learn quickly once he is home with you. So now we need to invent a teleporter and make that happen ASAP.
ReplyDeleteLove you guys and LOVE these posts :)