Tag Archives: Hohoe Christian Children’s Home

“Tears, Smiles and Tears”

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By Valerie King

Today we are scheduled to go to the Hohoe Christian
Children’s Home. Before we leave Kpando we have become aware of another acute
public health problem. We drive a very short distance behind the health center
and we are in a small village. We depart
from our Tro Tro (which appears to be held together by not much more than duct
tape and rust). We are visiting a
watering hole. We trek into the woods about ‘ mile along a rutted path and we
meet many people, mostly children, coming out of the woods with various water
containers on their heads. It is amazing that these people have to walk such
lengths to get their water.

Our true
shock comes when we come upon the watering hole. There are actually 3 holes. The first one can
only be described in one word. DISGUSTING.
It is a large hole in the ground filled with putrid green water. We do not see people collecting water from
this hole but we are told that people do use it if the other holes are low. We
come to the second hole. I have to tell
you that the next part is pretty gross.
If any of you have the seen the movie The Ring you will recall that
there was a deep well that a little girl was drowned in. Well this ‘hole’ is exactly like that movie
and the saddest part of all is that over the last year six children have fallen
in and drowned and only one body was recovered.
The other 5 bodies have sunken to the bottom of that well and supposedly
not retrieved. These families have to
continue to draw their water from this well.
Part of me doubts this story but if it is true I can only imagine the
anguish a mother must feel as she has to draw water for the rest of her
children from the very well that took the life of her other child. The third hole is quite active today and
surrounded by about 20 people who are drawing up the water using buckets and
ropes. You can see how a small child
could fall into these wells and if no one was around there is no way to climb
out. It is a pure vertical cylinder of
old stone. The village has been trying to get some funds to dig a bore hole but
the government is not listening to their request. They have asked for our help in this
project. We are unsure what we can do to
help them but we will be visiting them on Saturday for a demonstration about
boiling the water that they are pulling out of the holes before
consumption. We will see what the costs
are for a bore hole. This is a perfect
project for our engineering students at UML and I hope to bring this to their
attention.

After
our walk out of the woods we load back into the Tro Tro. We are like little sardines squeezed into a
small tin can. Hohoe is about a 30 minute drive down bumpy roads. We arrive at the orphanage to be greeted by
the loving arms and hugs of 30+ children. They are all so happy and
affectionate and give freely of their hugs.
One of the Community Projects is implemented today with the
orphans.

The UML students are presenting
a dental health program today. They have
donated samples of toothbrushes and paste and have developed a whole program
that is flawlessly implemented for the attentive audience of children ages
3-15. It is interesting to note that
even the older children are interested in the coloring pages that are given
out. They do not consider them to be juvenile and my impression is that they are
sweetly na’ve to all the usual American teenage angst. I am joined at the hip by my new ‘son’
Francis. He has stayed with me all day
today and at our previous visit. The
founder, Nicholas is married to an Australian woman who is back in her country for
a Christmas visit. She is a white woman
and I think the children are missing their white mother. I am missing my own children so it is a nice
way for me to give and receive affection.

There is a cute little three year old girl named Lee and she has a very obvious bald spot on one side of her head that appears to be a healed burn. We ask for her story and it is the most tragic story I have heard yet. She is from the region of Tamale and has only been in the orphanage for about a month. She used to live in a village that was very superstitious. Her parents died, of causes unknown to me, but her grandparents believed that this little girl is a witch and she is to blame for her parent’s death. They chained her and starved her and burned her head with some type of hot metal to get rid of the witch. She was found by a census worker who rescued the child and gave her to a Peace Corp volunteer who in turn brought her to the orphanage. You can see the fragile bones of this dear child who appears to be thriving in this caring environment but one wonders about post traumatic stress disorder and what type of psychological issues will arise for her in the future. She is affectionate and loves the clothes and underwear that we have brought with us. This horrific story has me near tears.

The young boys seem to gravitate to Maura and me probably because we are mothers. They want to tell us about themselves and share their colored pages with us. My buddy, Francis is staying close to me and insists on carrying one of my bags. We take multiple pictures and I cannot wait to load them onto the BLOG site. Our Tro Tro arrives and the children hover around us. Francis is holding tight to me and crying into my shirt. It breaks my heart to leave him but I am not in a position to take him with me. I would like to continue to communicate with the director and hopefully Francis will write to me as he has promised he would. There are so many children here who need a home.

My day ends on a bright note. I have been able to use my own laptop in the internet caf’ and the access seems a bit quicker. I have been feeling a bit lost without communication from friends and family and I hope it will improve a bit. It is now about 11:30 pm and tomorrow will start early so I will go to bed now.

‘Smoke and dust in your eyes’

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i>By Valerie King

We do not have any clinics planned today. We are going to make our first visit to the
Christian Children’s Home in Hohoe. This is a very well run orphanage we
visited last year and I am excited to return.
We have to rent a tro- tro to get us there. The cost is 10 cedis per student (under
$10). We will be using that
transportation to go to the Wli Water Falls also.

A tro-tro is a larger passenger van that
accommodates anywhere from 12-16 passengers legally but there are many
instances where there are many more people jammed into these vehicles. Occasionally you can see a goat tied to the
top of the vehicle along with multiple boxes and parcels that the passengers
are carrying. Some of the larger
transport vehicles will have 10-15 feet high of parcels and boxes. It seems top- heavy to me and that it would
not take much to topple the vehicle over.
The condition of the Tro Tros can vary from bad to very bad to very,
very bad. Usually they are very dirty
with ripped or taped seating and dirty and slightly rust interiors. We are all very glad that our tetanus is up
to date. Because of my motion sickness I
am usually sitting beside the driver on the raised seat in the middle. That is an advantage in that I can see out
the front window. It is a disadvantage
because my bottom is sitting directly above the engine and it is literally the
‘hot seat’. Seatbelts do not seem apparent
except for the driver. It is a manual
transmission so I must move my leg whenever he has to shift the tro-tro. It is very loud due to engine noise and all
the windows are open. There is no air
conditioning and the open windows let in all the dust from the roads. I am struck again by the air quality. It is now the beginning of ‘burning season’
and the farmers have begun to burn their fields in preparation for the next
growing season. The cars and other
vehicles would never pass any emission test in the US. They are frequently seen with a trail of
black exhaust. I do not know the
incidence of respiratory diseases here in Ghana but I am sure it must be an
emerging problem.

We
arrive at the Children’s Home and are again greeted by a throng of happy
children. They sign some songs for us
and I have captured some of video and will try to post on this BLOG. They are all extremely affectionate and run
over to hug me and the girls and grab our hands. One little boy, Francis offers to carry my
bag. I am a bit leery but then I am
reassured when he carries my bag but also does not let go of my hand. We are buddies for the morning. He gleefully shows me his schoolroom and
dormitory. The conditions are very
spartan but there is an attempt at cleanliness and orderliness that I did not
witness at other orphanages. I hug the twins that I met last year and I am told
that they are being adopted and will move to a family in Texas. There are about 40 children and 15 of them
are awaiting adoption. My heart wants to
take them all home with me but I know that is not realistic. I do want to contribute to their welfare and
will use some of the money that has been donated to me by my church for this
very worthy orphanage. Today is a
preliminary meeting for the children and the UML students. We will return next week with some of our supplies
(toys, clothes, medicine) and also will conduct a dental health teaching
clinic. We have received many donations
of toothbrushes and toothpaste and one of my Community Project groups will be
doing 2 dental health clinics at this and the orphanage in Peki. It is time to leave these children but we
have left them some coloring books and crayons and we will return.

We have negotiated for a lunch at a nearby restaurant. Everything here is about negotiation. I have agreed to a certain price for our plates of food and we are served the food which is jolloff rice (spicy red rice) and chicken and vegetables. It is a clean restaurant and all is going well until the proprietor comes with the bill. She has increased the price per plate, AFTER WE HAVE EATEN ALL THE FOOD, and now expects us to pay the increased fee. I am livid and I tell her that is unacceptable and that we had negotiated the price prior with her? husband or father. She states he did that without consulting her and he did not know the prices. Part of me wants to just lay down the agreed amount and walk away but I am hesitant to offend this establishment as they are somehow connected to one of our escorts and he has been very kind to us. It makes me angry and resentful of some of the Ghanaian people who assume that Americans are all wealthy and we can afford this price gouging. I again express my displeasure and state for all to hear that I am very unhappy with this treatment and it makes me want to take my volunteers (and our donation of time and supplies) to a place that we will not be gouged. Our escorts are somewhat embarrassed that we are treated like this but let me take the lead. My vow is to be much more aggressive with any expenditures of money. This is not the first instance of the ‘price changing’ that has happened. I realize that these people are only trying to survive but the whole premise of gouging has me angry and hurt.

We return to our tro-tro for a 30 minute drive to the Wli waterfalls. We are told that it is a very busy day here due to the holiday (January 2). I am not sure what holiday that is but the prediction is correct. We trek 45 minutes into the deeply wooded terrain and come upon the Wli waterfalls. They are magnificent and only pictures can describe. I will try to post some pictures. What amazes me on this trip is that there must be at least 300-400 people there. Mostly young men and women are in various stages of inebriation and celebration. There is much drumming, singing and dancing. We are the only white people there. We attract some attention but not as much as I would have thought. The air is charged with all this energy and I am slightly uncomfortable and feel the need to watch the UML students and our belongings very carefully. Most of the girls decide to go in for a quick dip under the cold waterfalls. They do attract some attention as they walk to the water in their bathing suits and I feel tense as I watch for any signs of inappropriate contact. They are accompanied by Kwadwo and Mawuli and I think that helps. After they return to our little pile of clothes and bags they are now approached by some of the Ghanaian men for their contact information. I ramp up to ‘mother ‘mode’ and gather them close and tell the med that they cannot share the information. He is not buying that. I then tell him that I am their teacher and if they give out any information they will flunk out of school. That carries a bit more weight and the men eventually leave. We decide to leave and I am a bit relieved. It has been a fun trip to the waterfalls but last year was more relaxing for me.

It is starting to get dark as we leave and we have a long journey back home. The road conditions alternate between smooth pavement and deeply rutted dirt roads. We are jostled in the tro tro and try to rest a bit but it is difficult. On the way we drive through many villages with young people gathering for today’s holiday. It is busy and loud and the tro tro must move slowly through the crowd but then our driver speeds up on the smooth roads so it is a very chaotic drive home.

We arrive back at our guest house find out that there is some type of event happening in our courtyard. There are chairs and later on it becomes a very loud ceremony/gathering of some sort. The PA system they use is scratchy and I cannot understand what they are saying although I believe it is in English. There is loud music. Now I hear a competing sound, on another scratchy PA system. It is hard to tell where it is coming from and I don’t really want to leave my room to explore. Unbeknownst to me it is beginning of a very long and loud gathering that will go on ALL NIGHT LONG. There is drumming and a repetitive chanting and ? singing that is not melodic to my ears. At midnight I hope it will end, it does not. At 3 am I hope it will end, it does not. At 6 am I hope it will end, it does not. Finally the roosters start crowing around 6:30 and the music seems to end but then the village awakens, the son is in my eyes and there is not much sleep to be had. We had hoped for a good rest last night but we did not get it. It is now January 3. We have been here for less than a week and so much has happened. We have 2+ weeks left and many more activities.