My alarm went off a little after 0700. I showered and got ready and went up to the dining hall to grab some cereal for the bus. I got on and waited to see who else was on this trip, I hadn’t signed up with anyone so I wasn’t sure if any of my friends would be on it. Carson walked on. I was excited to see her. She sat with me. I recognized a bunch of people on the trip, but no real close friends were on it. Midhun and my LLC, Emily, were on it. There were a bunch of LLC’s and Life Long Learners and teachers on it. It was a three-hour drive to get to the place we’d be working at. I ate some Special K and fell asleep for most of the ride there. That was the nice thing about all of these long bus rides; I could sleep for awhile and rest up.
I fell asleep pretty soon after we got going. I woke up an hour or so later to look out my window to see children. We were passing through little settled areas where children were running to the streets. Whenever they see these buses they get really excited and wave frantically to us. We passed through areas of lush greenery and areas similar to little towns. The towns consist of shacks and small wooden structures. People are selling stuff right along the streets. I noticed this over the past few days; carpenters were constantly out on the street making and selling coffins. Some of them seemed to specialize in coffin making, while others had the occasional coffin. It was creepy. After learning about Ghana from class and Pre-Port I knew that the HIV/AIDs rate was high and killed tons of people daily, but I didn’t think I would see evidence of this from what I was doing. It’s right out there on the streets.
After three hours we arrived at our site. We pulled off of the road with our bus onto dirt and rocks. We were greeted by a few young men. This area seemed to be isolated from everything else, like most of the settlements I had seen in Ghana. There was a tent set up between two cement buildings. There were a bunch of seats on either side facing the center. We all got off and sat down to wait for our instructions. It was already oppressively hot out. I sprayed on epic amounts of deet and put on some sunblock. Everyone I had seen who had done Habitat was really sunburnt. I didn’t need to be.
One of the guys spoke to us about Habitat for Humanity and gave us the basic rundown of this area. He told us how the houses we were building were for needy people, not poor people. He made sure we understood that difference. There were 92 or so Habitat houses in this little area. He said about 5000 people lived around here. During our time there I only saw 5 or 6 of the buildings, which made me wonder how extensive this property was and where it all went. There were tons of trees and shrubbery all over it, densely hiding each building. The area itself was beautiful. I had not expected a tropical rainforest environment everywhere. I’m not complaining---I was ecstatic to be out of the port cities. Too much city time for a girl who doesn’t love cities.
They all thanked us a few times for coming. They told us that this was a huge help to have 3 days in a row of SAS, young people out here doing work. There were 45 of us there today. I’m pretty sure that was maximum each day. It was a popular trip, so I’m pretty sure they were all full.
We were divided up into 3 groups. I didn’t really know anyone in my group of 15. Oh well, chance to meet new people. We were taken to our site down the hill a little ways. We would be making bricks. First we had to mix up the brick material---cement, water, and lots of dirt from the area, and then we’d be putting the mix into a mold and producing bricks.
There were only 4 shovels and a few pick axes and a wheelbarrow. A few people took the shovels and started making a mound of the red-brown earth. Our leader took a few of us back up to one of the buildings to grab backs of cement. They weighed about 50 pounds, and I’m a little embarrassed to say that none of the girls could carry them. Only the boys were able to. The guys had said that originally, but we had been like oh, we can definitely carry the bags if the guys can. Not so much. All the guys were big and strong and much more capable. Even they were struggling. Plus it was a far walk back to the site of cement mixing.
When we walked back down, there was a pretty good-sized pile of dirt. They had the girls go over to a water pump to get buckets of water to add to the pile to mix up the cement. The water pump was connected to a water source somewhere nearby in town. We had to pump it hard to get anything to come out. And we needed a lot of water. While we were pumping a few of the women of the area gathered around to watch us and laugh at our struggles. They weren’t mean, but they were entertained by us. They offered to help, but we told them we could manage. We filled up a few large buckets. Some of the girls attempted carrying them back to the site on their heads. The women watching us gave them cloths to put under it to help balance the water and keep it from hurting them. They walked precariously back to the site. They all seemed to manage. I didn’t have a cloth so I didn’t try. Plus I had a taller bucket, compared to the more bowl-like ones.
It took us a bunch of trips back and forth to the pump to get enough water for the guys mixing up the cement. They actually didn’t even mix that much cement into the dirt. It was mostly dirt. They didn’t add that much water either. We continued to bring water for awhile and kept adding it to a big trashcan to use when they needed it.
The women started helping us out at this point and carried the buckets full of water down with ease. Most of them were carrying babies on their backs as well. They were still able to do a much better job than us. By this point, the water flow from the pump had greatly decreased from so much use. We had taken so much from it.
The guys mixed up the cement-dirt-water combo for a while. Then our leader showed us how we’d be making the bricks. This whole time we were working, small children were gathering at the site. They were loving us there and the fact that we’d give them so much attention. One of the girls had brought stickers and was slowly rationing them off to all of the kids. Word was slowly getting out that someone had stickers. More and more children were appearing from houses. Some of them were so little! They were adorable. They would come up and hug us and hold our hands when we were just standing there. It was so cute. A little girl who couldn’t have been more than 3 years old appeared in a pristine pink dress. We tried to keep her away from the dirt, but she loved being around us. She would hide behind our legs whenever the leader said anything to her. They would speak to each other in some language that I did not understand. The kids knew some English, but not a whole lot.
While I was standing around for a few minutes waiting to figure out where I was needed, I sang songs with the kids. So we might not have been doing physical work at all times, but playing with the kids and seeing them smile was just as important. We sang all the songs we had been sung as young children. The kids played along and clapped with us and sang what they knew.
I took over for one of the guys in the brick making process. I went from feeling semi-useless to doing a lot of intense work. There were two people who would shovel the mixture into the brick mold, of which, we only had one. Then someone else would take the mold, drop it once to compact it. Next we’d add more onto it. Then one of us had to smack it down with the back side of the shovel and compact it. This was the hardest part. We all started developing blisters and bruising the palms of our hands. This job sucked. I let the guys do it for awhile, but eventually switched places. Once everything was compacted down, two people would have to carry the mold over flip it over and leave the picture-perfect brick. Well, not exactly, but we were so excited to see that we could make a brick
We worked for almost 2 hours just making bricks. I was covered in mud and cement and kept hitting my shins with the shovel. I got some new cuts. I was dripping sweat. I loved it. There’s something so great about manual labor. My laziness often makes me forget this, but I need to get back into doing stuff like this back home.
Luckily there was a breeze and it was slightly overcast. So the sun wasn’t beating down on us the whole day. Not that that made it cool. While shoveling I could just feel sweat dripping off my face. I learned today that you can sweat out of your eyelids. Or atleast that’s how it felt. We rotated shovelers so we could take water breaks. They brought us a huge box of the big waters. I had brought a ton with me, thinking they wouldn’t supply any.
So a big part of Habitat is that they say the people moving into the house will work alongside you. At first it was only one of the guys who helped run Habitat that was helping and directing us. As we started making the bricks, the children, probably ages 8-12, picked up shovels and helped us. This was the coolest thing. They loved shoveling up the dirt and putting it into the mold. They would try to hit it and compact it down. They would occasionally fight with one another over who would the shovel. One of the boys handed over his shovel to them. They had me continue to shovel and guide them. I loved working with all of them; it was an amazing feeling.
At one point they had us stop to meet the two people in charge of Habitat for Humanity here in Ghana. I wish I could remember both of their names. His name was Emmanuel, like many men I have met in Ghana. They were an older couple. They were well dressed and well-spoken. They thanked us for being there and helping them out.
We were able to make 66 bricks. Yes, we did count. We wanted to know how many we made after working so hard. These weren’t your standard bricks that we have back home. They were about a foot and a half long and almost a foot high. It took two people to carry the mold. It weighed about 30 pounds at least. This is why we were only able to make 66. We stopped making them when we had depleted our pile of cement and dirt. I wish we could have worked for longer. Had we not been leaving from port today, I think they would have let us continue working for at least an hour or two longer.
When we finished we picked up all of the tools and headed back to the tent. At the tent we sat down and waited to for the leaders to come over. They thanked us for everything we had done and told us how much of a help we were. I really hope we were a help and they weren’t just saying that. Then they brought out a bunch of food for all of us and told us to dig in. There were several women who had been working all day to make food for all of us. There was rice and pasta with chicken and a tomato sauce. It was so good. The flavor was delicious, plus a good day of manual labor made it taste even better. I scarfed down two plates. I brought my dirty plate over to the building and thanked the women who made the food. They took our plates and scraped them off into a bucket and washed them by hand in a water bucket.
The children were everywhere now. Many had come home from school and were playing with all of us. They were all now plastered in stickers. We took a giant group picture of all of us and all the kids. I have to get that picture from Grant. I didn’t take any pictures while I was there. I was too busy making bricks or playing with the kids. It didn’t even really occur to me to take out my camera. I’m really bad about taking pictures when I’m caught up in the moment. I’d rather be there doing stuff than photographing it.
We collected all of our left-over Ghanaian centis. Since we were heading right back to the ship after this and it would be 1700 when we got back, there was no need to have Ghanaian money. We donated what we had and raised over 300 centis. They told us that this was huge and unheard of. I feel like we could have done more, but they seemed thrilled by it.
We said goodbye and got back onto the bus. We all smelled lovely in the confined space of the bus. I felt pretty disgusting as I sat there in the air conditioning and my sweat dried to me. I had a solid layer of dirt and cement on my skin.
What else SAS has taught me is how to sleep every time I step onto a bus, plane, train, or any type of automobile. I am programmed to go to sleep as soon as I’m settled in. I fell asleep pretty quickly and was asleep for most of the ride back. Two of the women who had been cooking out food had been out in this area for the past 3 days to make food for all of the SAS groups. They were from Accra, so they hopped on the bus and got a ride back with us. So we stopped in Accra on our way back to Tema. This was when I woke up. Then we still had 45 minutes back to Tema.
We got back a little before 1700. This was our last day in Ghana, so on-ship time was 1800. Without much around, there was no way I was going anywhere else and I got back on the ship. While waiting in line to get back on, our group got stuck behind another large group. I had a giant bottle of water and needed to dump it out. It was the one I had filled up on the ship in the morning and forgotten about. I walked over to the side of the pier and dumped it in. I heard some ignoramus in line make a comment to her friend, “Does she even know the repercussions of dumping that water into the harbor? People are so ignorant. They’re making the salinity levels decrease by doing that.” Then she proceeded to quietly go “Ohhh nooo.” Moaning as if she saw a struggling baby animal. I wanted to smack her in the face. The only thing better was to continue to dump out my water bottle. I only somewhat know this girl and she thinks she’s really smart and always right. I had to bite my tongue.
Yes, I know the repercussions of dumping this water back into the harbor. Genius, if you knew about the water on the ship you’d know it’s from the ocean. There’s a very extensive desalination process on the ship so we can drink it. That’s why it tastes funny. And, oh, hey, genius, what do you think happens when freshwater falls from the sky? It’s the hydrologic cycle. Yes, bringing water from one area of the ocean to another can be bad and bring different organisms, but that is with regards to ballast water. This water is purified so we can drink it.
Obviously this really pissed me off. It was bad timing and the wrong person to say this about. I study this stuff! If she had at least made an informed comment about invasive species or bacteria I could respect that. It would have still been out of place, but it would have made more sense. In her opinion, I was watering down the ocean. Oh no! Anyways, that’s all I have to say about that.
I got back on the ship and went and took a shower. It felt good to be clean. I went and found Becca after and we went to check out food on the 5th deck. It didn’t look that appealing. It was almost 1800 at this point and I had a phone interview at 1800. So we went back to my room to wait for the phone call. Obviously I was freaking out and nervous. It took the woman few times to finally get through to me. Apparently I don’t get the best cell phone service in Ghana. Eventually it did work though, thank God. Of course, since it was at the same time as on-ship time, there were announcements over the loud speaker. And there is nowhere on the ship to go to get away from it. It made me cringe every time Denise came over it. I was getting so frustrated. It’s so loud. And of course, this would be the one time that like 6 people didn’t make it back to the ship and were completely missing. They kept announcing their names and cabin numbers and asking if anyone knew where they were. Oh well. It took about a half hour. I’m so glad to have that behind me.
When I finished I went and found Becca and we went up to get food on the 7th deck. Bea and Victor joined us. It was nice to sit up there and see everyone cycle through and hear their stories of what they did in Ghana. I got myself a roast beef sandwich. After eating, Becca, Victor, and I went to Becca’s room and watched Anaconda to prepare for the Amazon and Brazil. Obviously this is the best way to prepare for such a place. It’s such a realistic movie and Jennifer Lopez is a prime example of someone who can survive in the Amazon. Jenny came and joined us halfway through.
I started falling asleep, but managed to watch the whole thing. We left port while we were watching the movie around 2000. About 20 minutes after leaving port they made the millionth announcement of the night to tell us that we’d be chilling out in the harbor for a few hours while we refueled. It sounded almost as though we had forgotten to refuel while in port and this just occurred to us. I’m sure this isn’t the case, but it was strange. A huge ship pulled up next to us, just like when we ere by Sri Lanka. That had also been out at sea. But the bad thing about this time was that the seas were really rough. Everything in the cabins started falling over and flying around everywhere. I was feeling a little sea sick, too.
I went to bed immediately after the movie. If I looked out my window I could the refueling ship right next to us. It was so close. It was actually rubbing up against our ship and hitting us. We could hear the ships hitting one another. This continued through most of the night. I woke up around 0300 to the noise and looked out to see the ship still there refueling us. I was so exhausted and could not have been happier to be in my bed and have survived one more country. Not that there was any doubt…
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