Monday, November 19, 2012

Day Twelve - Thursday, October 4

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.

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. 

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. 

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.