Start at the Orphanage

It is most disconcerting that every time I try to sign on facebook it tells me I am in an unsecure location and must enter my birthday...I'll try not to think about that one too much.

Alright, so I will be able to get internet at least every week day at about this time, so I will be blogging fairly regularly if 1) I have things to say 2) people keep reading 3) I don't get sick of paying 50 cents an hour to dance about from one half-broken computer to the next.

Started work today. However, my original placement is apparently no longer relevant. Something about it being "vacated", which I think means that it has been closed down for the summer. The fact that they only figured this out at 7:30am today says a lot about Ghana. Anyway, I've been sent to work at Kumasi Children's Home, which is where Alice works as well. This is somewhat convenient, as we can take the taxi there together and stop at Africaweb for internet, but not as fun because I don't get a totally different experience that we can talk about. There is really not much to do but talk to each other, and we were immediately quite good at it. The first night she said something like "I find it difficult to not be myself" which if you know me is something I can appreciate and be comfortable around. She is very laid-back, confident, and sassy. Kind of the roommate you always wanted and she has been a godsend in showing me around and helping me stay alive.

Anyway! The orphanage! Well, wow. I will probably end up saying "surreal" quite often. This is one of the strangest experiencs of my life. The director toured me quickly through the grounds, then asked me to pick one of the places we had looked at in which to work. I randomly picked an area which seems to have everything from a 2 week old to a 13 year old. The 2 week old was plopped in my lap for the next 2 hours as I contemplated what on earth I would be doing here for a month. None of them spoke to me much, except to say "ObamaObamaObama!", and they mostly sat around the tv speaking Twi. Eventually somene took the baby and I began to look around nervously for a child that looked receptive. Then I remembered - I had a camera! I slyly whipped it out and soon had bout 15 friends who wanted pictures and my name and the sort of food I ate at home. Later they let me help with the washing and laughed wildly at my inability to properly scrub the clothes. I'll learn...It is very difficult to tell who is staff and who is an orphan. The children are either orphans, have HIV, are children of prisoners, or abused in their homes. Some are quite old and disabled in some way. The children do much more work than the staff, who stare at the tv until it's time for lunch.

Overall, a nerve wracking and shocking day. I feel very dirty and homesick and saddened. The children all seem to have ringworm and bad coughs and once they decide they like you they sit all over you and insist on holding your hand. I thought little of this when I did childcare at church...but here the dirtiness seems a bit more offputting. I hope the staff will give me more responsibility and respect as time goes on, or work will be very unpleasant. I want to emphasize that working in an orphanage is not quite rocking babies and coming home with pictures of smiling black children so that all your friends can be jealous. It is more like watching severely underdeveloped children covered in flies as they laze about on thin mats and are ocassionally beaten by callous, disinterested supervisors. I'm kind of glad I'll only be here a month, because while it is alright so far I think the work will be very taxing and difficult.

I'll probably write more tomorrow. Tonight I am going out for a meal with some other volunteers (a lot leave this week) which will hopefully recharge me.