isn't that nuts? six months isn't that long once six months is nearly over.
welp.. that's all i got really. see you in two weeks.
love, drew
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
heyyyy. suuup? i always say that to people here.. and they never know what i'm talking about. sometimes i worry that i won't be able to speak real english when i come home. i've met other american volunteers here.. and they say they can't tell i'm from america. they say i have some kind of exotic accent.. i don't think it's actually true.. but maybe if it is, i'll get tooooooons of chicks when i come home. woooo
umm and so now only eight weeks left. exactly. but who's counting? ohohoh. when i said "but who's counting" i said it really big voiced(in my head..), like one of those guys who is nearly fifty or so and has a big booming voice and talks a lot cause he thinks he has a nice voice and that he is really clever when he says really cliche things.. and then he laughs like some kinda jerk santa clause... that's what i wanna be when i grow up. a that guy. mayyyybe.
anyways, africa is nice. how is your place? oh, that's really great.
lately there are these really shiny green flying bugs around, and when one lands on you, you have to yell, "ah! d.k. poison!!" and take your shirt off real quick. it's the best.
i always say i'll write a real update, but i don't think that's true. i only have two months.. and then i'll be home. and then you can just ask me things if you want to know. but uhh.. this morning there was a small frog that climbed all the way up my door and was sleeping on the stick i used to make my door stay shut. that was neat. and yesterday there was a nice cricket leg in my breakfast. turns out crickets are realllly good at getting into places they shouldn't possibly be able to get in to, and really bad at keeping their legs on.
that's how i start most days, if i am to do a real update and tell you how i spend most days- first, i wake up around 4 or 5 when the mosque calls out for the first prayer of the day.. then i go outside to take a leak and punch d.k. bugs in the face and get owned by mosquitos. then i sleep till about six. thennn a small boy named timothy who speaks no english and has no front teeth walks with me from the orphanage, where i sleep, to my house. but he doesn't walk he runs with a big tire that he pushes with a stick. which is really hard to do turns out. so when i get home, i sweep all the cricket legs out of my room and play ukulele for a while. thenn Gba, another small boy, who has teeth and really likes fighting allll the time comes in and tough talks me.. really. everyday. he's five. but this morning i threw him out of my window.. the kids here are really tough, it's great, you can throw them any place you'd like and they just laugh. and so i do.
thennn i play ukulele again.. and kids from my house come and go out of windows and things. and friends come around and i try to speak mampruli.. that's the language where i live. it's just a small tribal language that a lot of ghanians don't even know exists.. there are forty something different languages spoken in ghana. i can understand quite a bit of mampruli.. but speaking is trouble. but it's a lot of fun to try and talk to all the people in my village who only know mampruli, cause i mess up a lot of stuff and say a lot of things i don't mean to say.. and it's funny.
then around 8 or 9 we go to the orphanage in Guabuliga, we have to push the car to start it every morning and it usually breaks down along the way. it's a twenty minute drive or so down a really bad road that a lot of donkeys use. then at the orphanage, i throw kids down some more. and usually the older boys have caught a bird or something, and put it in their room so they can eat it later. so i tell them they should let it go, and they take it outside and come back, proud to show me that they have let it go.. and then the bird starts chirping from inside one of their pockets. that's happened a few times.
aand so we hang out til around 1 or so, then I go back to Wulugu, and we get a flat tire or something.. and socrates(the driver.. he pronounces it so-crates, not saw-cra-tease) and i sit and laugh about having a flat tire again, cause when it's really hot.. i dunno.. it's just kinda funny.
then i eat, either rice or pasta. that's pretty much all i eat. and then i go to the well and fetch water to bath and try to fetch the turtles that are there swimming around, as i've said before. then i play ukulele again, or go and visit friends, or sleep, or sit on a tree, or read, or keep roosters away from my house.. cause i hate them. they know me now though, and they run as soon as they see me. i chased one out of my room all the way to the market side one morning.. i keep bags of water that i use to squirt at them.. so i ran after this rooster, shooting water at him all through the village.. that rooster doesn't come around anymore. and everybody in the village seems to remember the crazy white boy, chasing a rooster with some kind of water gun pretty well..
theeenn in the evening, there's more throwing kids and friends and ukulele and eating and mosques and churches and funerals (funerals here are huuuge, loud dance parties that literally last until daybreak, three nights in a row.. it's funny when the funeral house is close to where you sleep.. and in a small village like mine, it's usually pretty close.. and people die a looot) aand other noisy things. then i go back to the Wulugu orphanage and hang out with the kids there til around 11 or 12, and then i sleep there at the orphanage. aaand that's mostly it. horay real update.
and so now i will go back to home, it's about an hour south of this place. now i'm in Bolgatanga, and i will walk to the very smelly, very noisy, goat filled station where i will buy a new pair of flip-flops for something like 50 cents.. fity you hot. uhh.. and then i will climb into a small van that looks as though it will surely fall apart at any moment.. but has a really nice paint job. and for maybe 1 dollar i will go back to my small wulugu. and that's all.
ohhh and something kind of neat, i've started playing bass guitar for church service. which is a lot of fun. i just have to listen and pick up on the songs and i get to play with a really crazy drummer who reminds me of animal and plays with actual sticks. like from a tree. and his drum heads have been traded out for animal skins. and there is a really sunglasses wearing keyboard player who doesn't speak english but plays really jams. church is a looot of fun. just a big dance party and we dance and sing and every one goes up and down the aisles jumping and dancing and singing.. it's really great. the local music is really good, just really feel good 3-chord kind of stuff. and their melodies are killer. and when i get home i'll probably steal a lot of them. woo!
anyways.. i just copied down the lyrics to "eye to eye" by powerline.. cause i love that song.. and mostly that's all i actually do here in ghana, try and learn that song.. soo now i have to go back and do that.
watch out for d.k. poison. looooooove, drew
umm and so now only eight weeks left. exactly. but who's counting? ohohoh. when i said "but who's counting" i said it really big voiced(in my head..), like one of those guys who is nearly fifty or so and has a big booming voice and talks a lot cause he thinks he has a nice voice and that he is really clever when he says really cliche things.. and then he laughs like some kinda jerk santa clause... that's what i wanna be when i grow up. a that guy. mayyyybe.
anyways, africa is nice. how is your place? oh, that's really great.
lately there are these really shiny green flying bugs around, and when one lands on you, you have to yell, "ah! d.k. poison!!" and take your shirt off real quick. it's the best.
i always say i'll write a real update, but i don't think that's true. i only have two months.. and then i'll be home. and then you can just ask me things if you want to know. but uhh.. this morning there was a small frog that climbed all the way up my door and was sleeping on the stick i used to make my door stay shut. that was neat. and yesterday there was a nice cricket leg in my breakfast. turns out crickets are realllly good at getting into places they shouldn't possibly be able to get in to, and really bad at keeping their legs on.
that's how i start most days, if i am to do a real update and tell you how i spend most days- first, i wake up around 4 or 5 when the mosque calls out for the first prayer of the day.. then i go outside to take a leak and punch d.k. bugs in the face and get owned by mosquitos. then i sleep till about six. thennn a small boy named timothy who speaks no english and has no front teeth walks with me from the orphanage, where i sleep, to my house. but he doesn't walk he runs with a big tire that he pushes with a stick. which is really hard to do turns out. so when i get home, i sweep all the cricket legs out of my room and play ukulele for a while. thenn Gba, another small boy, who has teeth and really likes fighting allll the time comes in and tough talks me.. really. everyday. he's five. but this morning i threw him out of my window.. the kids here are really tough, it's great, you can throw them any place you'd like and they just laugh. and so i do.
thennn i play ukulele again.. and kids from my house come and go out of windows and things. and friends come around and i try to speak mampruli.. that's the language where i live. it's just a small tribal language that a lot of ghanians don't even know exists.. there are forty something different languages spoken in ghana. i can understand quite a bit of mampruli.. but speaking is trouble. but it's a lot of fun to try and talk to all the people in my village who only know mampruli, cause i mess up a lot of stuff and say a lot of things i don't mean to say.. and it's funny.
then around 8 or 9 we go to the orphanage in Guabuliga, we have to push the car to start it every morning and it usually breaks down along the way. it's a twenty minute drive or so down a really bad road that a lot of donkeys use. then at the orphanage, i throw kids down some more. and usually the older boys have caught a bird or something, and put it in their room so they can eat it later. so i tell them they should let it go, and they take it outside and come back, proud to show me that they have let it go.. and then the bird starts chirping from inside one of their pockets. that's happened a few times.
aand so we hang out til around 1 or so, then I go back to Wulugu, and we get a flat tire or something.. and socrates(the driver.. he pronounces it so-crates, not saw-cra-tease) and i sit and laugh about having a flat tire again, cause when it's really hot.. i dunno.. it's just kinda funny.
then i eat, either rice or pasta. that's pretty much all i eat. and then i go to the well and fetch water to bath and try to fetch the turtles that are there swimming around, as i've said before. then i play ukulele again, or go and visit friends, or sleep, or sit on a tree, or read, or keep roosters away from my house.. cause i hate them. they know me now though, and they run as soon as they see me. i chased one out of my room all the way to the market side one morning.. i keep bags of water that i use to squirt at them.. so i ran after this rooster, shooting water at him all through the village.. that rooster doesn't come around anymore. and everybody in the village seems to remember the crazy white boy, chasing a rooster with some kind of water gun pretty well..
theeenn in the evening, there's more throwing kids and friends and ukulele and eating and mosques and churches and funerals (funerals here are huuuge, loud dance parties that literally last until daybreak, three nights in a row.. it's funny when the funeral house is close to where you sleep.. and in a small village like mine, it's usually pretty close.. and people die a looot) aand other noisy things. then i go back to the Wulugu orphanage and hang out with the kids there til around 11 or 12, and then i sleep there at the orphanage. aaand that's mostly it. horay real update.
and so now i will go back to home, it's about an hour south of this place. now i'm in Bolgatanga, and i will walk to the very smelly, very noisy, goat filled station where i will buy a new pair of flip-flops for something like 50 cents.. fity you hot. uhh.. and then i will climb into a small van that looks as though it will surely fall apart at any moment.. but has a really nice paint job. and for maybe 1 dollar i will go back to my small wulugu. and that's all.
ohhh and something kind of neat, i've started playing bass guitar for church service. which is a lot of fun. i just have to listen and pick up on the songs and i get to play with a really crazy drummer who reminds me of animal and plays with actual sticks. like from a tree. and his drum heads have been traded out for animal skins. and there is a really sunglasses wearing keyboard player who doesn't speak english but plays really jams. church is a looot of fun. just a big dance party and we dance and sing and every one goes up and down the aisles jumping and dancing and singing.. it's really great. the local music is really good, just really feel good 3-chord kind of stuff. and their melodies are killer. and when i get home i'll probably steal a lot of them. woo!
anyways.. i just copied down the lyrics to "eye to eye" by powerline.. cause i love that song.. and mostly that's all i actually do here in ghana, try and learn that song.. soo now i have to go back and do that.
watch out for d.k. poison. looooooove, drew
Monday, July 20, 2009
ummmm
heyyyyy everybody(mom)! i know i'm really bad about telling you real things that are going on.. but don't worry. everything is really great. just the other day, it rained a whole lot and the orphanage filled up with water and so we went swimming in the orphanage. actually only one of the girls tried to swim in it. and it didn't really work.. plus i have no idea where this ghanaian orphan who hardly has food to eat and speaks no english, besides "i will beat you," got a swimming suit. so that was weird. i don't mean to worry you when i say they hardly have food. they do have food. they are healthy and they eat three good meals a day. but i mean.. the volunteers buy them the food. but mostly all i was trying to say is.. it was funny.
aaaaaannnnnyways. someday i will come to the internet and right a good update. maybe. i mean mostly i'm too lazy. no, mostly i have really important bussiness to discuss concerning really important plans with really important organizations that want to do really important things. i mean that happened once. today. that happened today. kinda. uhhh what i mean is.. you should go and check out this website:
http://www.braveaurora.com/home1.html?&L=1
thaaat's myyyy orphanage!!! it's austrain now. wtf? but i mean, it's good. you can see pictures and learn things and meet slightly smaller versions of all my kids. well, i mean.. they are way smaller than the real versions.. because they aren't real. they are only pictures. and they are not life size pictures. but even if they were life size pictures, they would not be as big as the real kids are now. because they are old pictures. not that old though, maybe a year or so. it's neat though. the ladies who made the website too are doing really neat things that i will talk more about later. soooo check it out. if you want. hope all is well wherever it is that you are, everything is here.
drew
ahh p.s. i had never read the comments til right now. after i posted this i mean. sooo.. hey jackie... pfff. and i forgot what else. uhhhh... yeah, like i said, sometime i will write a real update and answer a question. maybe when i get home or something though probably. J/K lol rotfl. maybe.
address:
Drew Price
C/o Issifu Daniel Sandow
Box #1
Walewale-Wulugu
Ghana
aaaaaannnnnyways. someday i will come to the internet and right a good update. maybe. i mean mostly i'm too lazy. no, mostly i have really important bussiness to discuss concerning really important plans with really important organizations that want to do really important things. i mean that happened once. today. that happened today. kinda. uhhh what i mean is.. you should go and check out this website:
http://www.braveaurora.com/home1.html?&L=1
thaaat's myyyy orphanage!!! it's austrain now. wtf? but i mean, it's good. you can see pictures and learn things and meet slightly smaller versions of all my kids. well, i mean.. they are way smaller than the real versions.. because they aren't real. they are only pictures. and they are not life size pictures. but even if they were life size pictures, they would not be as big as the real kids are now. because they are old pictures. not that old though, maybe a year or so. it's neat though. the ladies who made the website too are doing really neat things that i will talk more about later. soooo check it out. if you want. hope all is well wherever it is that you are, everything is here.
drew
ahh p.s. i had never read the comments til right now. after i posted this i mean. sooo.. hey jackie... pfff. and i forgot what else. uhhhh... yeah, like i said, sometime i will write a real update and answer a question. maybe when i get home or something though probably. J/K lol rotfl. maybe.
address:
Drew Price
C/o Issifu Daniel Sandow
Box #1
Walewale-Wulugu
Ghana
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
casper slide part 2
there's a turtle in our wellllllllll!!!!!!!!!! and sometimes when you fetch water, you accidentally fetch turtles. ok that hasn't actually happened yet, but i spend a lot of time trying to fetch them. there are four. teenagers. and one rat. they all wear bandanas too. and they can talk. and fight crime.
soo africa is swell. my friend annjulie left back to canada last week, and so it's been sad, but my mom said everytime i update this(once) i sound depressed, so i'll just leave it at that.
and so now i'm out of time. i like ghana, i like it a lot.
love, drew
p.s. mom, try skype, eh? annjulie says it's a cheap way to call me. and anybody else that wants to 054-144-4278
soo africa is swell. my friend annjulie left back to canada last week, and so it's been sad, but my mom said everytime i update this(once) i sound depressed, so i'll just leave it at that.
and so now i'm out of time. i like ghana, i like it a lot.
love, drew
p.s. mom, try skype, eh? annjulie says it's a cheap way to call me. and anybody else that wants to 054-144-4278
Saturday, May 30, 2009
in my tennesse mountain home...
that song has been playing on repeat for nearly thirty minutes now. it's a little bit frustrating. before that it was "know when to hold 'em" and before that some randy travis song. each has had a turn of at least 20 minutes or so. me and the peace corp worker from wisconsin sitting next to me sang along for a bit, but have since lost intrest.
i changed the name of the blog, cause i don't want to be somebody who took a year off after highschool to go to africa and work in an orphanage, and write a blog about it that i later turn into a book or something. if you find the "stuff white people like" blog, and read 'taking a year off'... that's what i'm talking about.
aaaand that's about all the news for now. there would probably be more but this song's got me frustrated. i had been thinking i really missed country music this whole week. but i didn't miss this song.
really. i got nothing. things are swell though when i'm not listening to this song.
ohhhh and i learned that if you want, you can call me and it will be free for me. so that's good news. for me. but i dunoo what it costs to make an international call? maybe it's something that's free on the weekends? probably not? i dunno. mostly i'm saying this for ma. something to check out.
and if anyone wants to come visit me in ghana, all you gotta do is buy a plane ticket. which is actually a loooot to do. but you know. the rest will be cheap. cept all the stuff that you don't think of until the week you leave and so you have to rely on your mom to save your trip. mostly i mean, if ever you want to come to ghana and work in an orphanage, i can set it up now so you can skip paying gazzillions to companies that don't do much. so that's exciting. and thrifty. and cheerful. and brave, clean, and reverent. aaand hungry!
anyyywayys.
respect, ras drew
i changed the name of the blog, cause i don't want to be somebody who took a year off after highschool to go to africa and work in an orphanage, and write a blog about it that i later turn into a book or something. if you find the "stuff white people like" blog, and read 'taking a year off'... that's what i'm talking about.
aaaand that's about all the news for now. there would probably be more but this song's got me frustrated. i had been thinking i really missed country music this whole week. but i didn't miss this song.
really. i got nothing. things are swell though when i'm not listening to this song.
ohhhh and i learned that if you want, you can call me and it will be free for me. so that's good news. for me. but i dunoo what it costs to make an international call? maybe it's something that's free on the weekends? probably not? i dunno. mostly i'm saying this for ma. something to check out.
and if anyone wants to come visit me in ghana, all you gotta do is buy a plane ticket. which is actually a loooot to do. but you know. the rest will be cheap. cept all the stuff that you don't think of until the week you leave and so you have to rely on your mom to save your trip. mostly i mean, if ever you want to come to ghana and work in an orphanage, i can set it up now so you can skip paying gazzillions to companies that don't do much. so that's exciting. and thrifty. and cheerful. and brave, clean, and reverent. aaand hungry!
anyyywayys.
respect, ras drew
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
New Email
May 20, 2009
hey mom.. and maybe brianne... and maybe other people that my mom forwards emails to without my knowing or people who read blogs that i'm writing without ever actually writing a blog? wtf? lol? rotfl? omg? irl?
haha.. uhh.. i feel a little bit weird about it, but it's a good idea. thanks for putting it together and helping me to keep people updated and all, mom and brianne. i told a lot of people i would let them know what's going on.. but mostly i only email mom.
ummm but everything is going well. cept the tv is showing some kind of show called "road bloodbath" right now. it's just playing really intense O fortuna sounding tunes and showing car accidents with a death count on the side. aaand lately there seems to be a certain species of very huge flying insect that has taken a vendetta against my face. monday on the motorbike, one hit me right in the mouth. it was closed, but i had to use my whole hand to pull it of my lips. then tuesday, i was walking back from the orphanage and another one flew straight into my left eye. today another one got me in the left eye. james, the motorbike driver, had to pull over, he was laughing too hard. but then a little bit later, the tire blew out for the second time in a week. that was a little bit scary.
this week, one of the volunteers went to the primary school to make sure her kids from the orphanage had gone to class and she ended up teaching the class, and will be teaching for the next two weeks. the teacher just left without a replacement, and in africa i guess that's not really a big deal. so since the volunteer just happened to show up and see what was going on, one of the other teachers told her she should teach the class. haha. she's my same age, just a year out of highschool and now she's a primary teacher in africa. i've had to help her out a bit, she is french-canadian and her English is kinda rough. but the whole situation is just really funny. a good example of how things work here in africa.
ummmm i'm working on a new plan for the orphanage though.. my host father reminded me that it is "better to teach a man to fish, rather than give him a fish". so i'm still trying to figure out the details of it, but i want to see if we can get a tro-tro. a tro-tro is just a small bus that can be bought for maybe $5000, and then it will run a route from Tamale to Bolga( two major towns in Northern Ghana between which lies Wulugu) and charge riders about four dollars. they are really common here in Ghana and they are always full. This will generate a stable income for the orphanage of at least 350 GH Cedi's, or about $300 a month. This would be wayyyyy huge and, when I can get something more formal and informative, I think it would be something elementary schools and boy scouts and primary classes and things would want to help out with, yeah? I'm at one of the poorest, if not the poorest orphanage in Ghana. So helping here will set a big standard and example for surrounding orphanages and hopefully generate a lot of help.
anywho, i'm gonna go slap the kids around that are across the street yelling "soryminga!" at me. and then buy some beans. because we are running out of food in this joint. aand if anyone reads this and is really offended that i slap kids.. i don't really.
looove, drew
hey mom.. and maybe brianne... and maybe other people that my mom forwards emails to without my knowing or people who read blogs that i'm writing without ever actually writing a blog? wtf? lol? rotfl? omg? irl?
haha.. uhh.. i feel a little bit weird about it, but it's a good idea. thanks for putting it together and helping me to keep people updated and all, mom and brianne. i told a lot of people i would let them know what's going on.. but mostly i only email mom.
ummm but everything is going well. cept the tv is showing some kind of show called "road bloodbath" right now. it's just playing really intense O fortuna sounding tunes and showing car accidents with a death count on the side. aaand lately there seems to be a certain species of very huge flying insect that has taken a vendetta against my face. monday on the motorbike, one hit me right in the mouth. it was closed, but i had to use my whole hand to pull it of my lips. then tuesday, i was walking back from the orphanage and another one flew straight into my left eye. today another one got me in the left eye. james, the motorbike driver, had to pull over, he was laughing too hard. but then a little bit later, the tire blew out for the second time in a week. that was a little bit scary.
this week, one of the volunteers went to the primary school to make sure her kids from the orphanage had gone to class and she ended up teaching the class, and will be teaching for the next two weeks. the teacher just left without a replacement, and in africa i guess that's not really a big deal. so since the volunteer just happened to show up and see what was going on, one of the other teachers told her she should teach the class. haha. she's my same age, just a year out of highschool and now she's a primary teacher in africa. i've had to help her out a bit, she is french-canadian and her English is kinda rough. but the whole situation is just really funny. a good example of how things work here in africa.
ummmm i'm working on a new plan for the orphanage though.. my host father reminded me that it is "better to teach a man to fish, rather than give him a fish". so i'm still trying to figure out the details of it, but i want to see if we can get a tro-tro. a tro-tro is just a small bus that can be bought for maybe $5000, and then it will run a route from Tamale to Bolga( two major towns in Northern Ghana between which lies Wulugu) and charge riders about four dollars. they are really common here in Ghana and they are always full. This will generate a stable income for the orphanage of at least 350 GH Cedi's, or about $300 a month. This would be wayyyyy huge and, when I can get something more formal and informative, I think it would be something elementary schools and boy scouts and primary classes and things would want to help out with, yeah? I'm at one of the poorest, if not the poorest orphanage in Ghana. So helping here will set a big standard and example for surrounding orphanages and hopefully generate a lot of help.
anywho, i'm gonna go slap the kids around that are across the street yelling "soryminga!" at me. and then buy some beans. because we are running out of food in this joint. aand if anyone reads this and is really offended that i slap kids.. i don't really.
looove, drew
Monday, May 18, 2009
Email #2
MAY 16, 2009
Back in Bolga today. I won't usually be able to write so often.
My host family goes to a Protestant church in Wulugu. There are a few
others, but no, no mormon church and no missionaries. I went with them
last Sunday, they started building a church but couldn't afford to finish.
Right now it is a cement block frame with a sort of canvas roof. Not many
people go to this church though. It was a lot of fun, the first bit was
just the pastor yelling about usual Christian things (he says if you are
about to be in an accident, you can yell "JESUS! JESUS!" and you will be
alright, so.. keep that in mind haha) but most of that was in Mampuli.
Then we all stood up and danced and sang the same song for almost ten
minutes.. and that was a lot of fun for most of the minutes. Then they did
a sort of testimony section and most of the time people just went up and
said something quick, and then started singing a song that everyone would
join in on including the two drummers playing, not with drum sticks, but
just actually sticks they must have picked up along the way. Tommorow I
will go to the Roman Catholic church with the other volunteers that live
next door; it's bigger and they have a whole band and more people singing
and dancing, so it should be fun.
At the orphanage, I've just been kind of hanging out with the kids. It's
been pretty overwhelming with 45 kids. I know a few, but I'm sure there
are still some that I have't met. The primary school is also right next to
the orphanage, so when they are on break, I gain a loooot more kids and
there's no way of keeping track of which kids are from the orphanage and
which are not, aside from the orphans' uniforms usually being all sorts of
broken. But we play a lot of soccer and dance and they teach me Mampuli.
None of my orphans speak English very well with them being so isolated, so
that's been tough too.
When I get back from the orphanage, usually around one or so, I spend a
lot of time playing and teaching ukulele to some of the Wulugu kids and
practicing Mampuli. It's really pretty relaxed, I thought I'd learn to be
a good worker and all but really I might come back fat and lazy. Ama, my
host mother, gives me tons of food and I tell her I cannot eat so much but
she tells me I must eat and grow fat, so fat that my mother will not
recognize me. I eat rice with soup (tomato paste a loooot of oil and some
peppers, and usually these weird little fish, but not in mine), yams with
soup, pasta with soup, and rice with the soup already cooked into it. And
that's all, haha. The other volunteers say that's all it will be. So I've
been taking my Flinstone's vitamins.
And that's pretty much it. I usually spend my evenings at the Wulugu
orphanage, I don't get to go back to Guabuliga after lunch. The Wulugu
orphanage is really relaxed, only about 14 kids and they are old enough to
take care of themselves. Plus it's not like I would really have to take
care of them or anything, they have two volunteers living at the
orphanage, so I get to just go hang out. And then I'm usually in bed
sometime between eight and nine, and up by six or seven. Most of the
village wakes up around 4 or 5 though.
Aaaaaaaand I don't know what else. Pictures will be hard, I can't send
them from this cafe and I dunno how else I could. But maybe I'll figure
something out. Uhhhhh if you forward this to everyone... hey everyone..
sup? but maybe you shouldn't, it's a bit boring. and long. shoot. anyways.
everything is going good still. last night i learned it's a realllly bad
idea to sleep with your mosquito net as a blanket. i knew it probably
wasn't a very good idea, but i figured whatever. oh well, i'm fine now.
just a little bit itchy and poisoned this morning. annd i probably gave
myself cancer. dangit.
love you ma
Back in Bolga today. I won't usually be able to write so often.
My host family goes to a Protestant church in Wulugu. There are a few
others, but no, no mormon church and no missionaries. I went with them
last Sunday, they started building a church but couldn't afford to finish.
Right now it is a cement block frame with a sort of canvas roof. Not many
people go to this church though. It was a lot of fun, the first bit was
just the pastor yelling about usual Christian things (he says if you are
about to be in an accident, you can yell "JESUS! JESUS!" and you will be
alright, so.. keep that in mind haha) but most of that was in Mampuli.
Then we all stood up and danced and sang the same song for almost ten
minutes.. and that was a lot of fun for most of the minutes. Then they did
a sort of testimony section and most of the time people just went up and
said something quick, and then started singing a song that everyone would
join in on including the two drummers playing, not with drum sticks, but
just actually sticks they must have picked up along the way. Tommorow I
will go to the Roman Catholic church with the other volunteers that live
next door; it's bigger and they have a whole band and more people singing
and dancing, so it should be fun.
At the orphanage, I've just been kind of hanging out with the kids. It's
been pretty overwhelming with 45 kids. I know a few, but I'm sure there
are still some that I have't met. The primary school is also right next to
the orphanage, so when they are on break, I gain a loooot more kids and
there's no way of keeping track of which kids are from the orphanage and
which are not, aside from the orphans' uniforms usually being all sorts of
broken. But we play a lot of soccer and dance and they teach me Mampuli.
None of my orphans speak English very well with them being so isolated, so
that's been tough too.
When I get back from the orphanage, usually around one or so, I spend a
lot of time playing and teaching ukulele to some of the Wulugu kids and
practicing Mampuli. It's really pretty relaxed, I thought I'd learn to be
a good worker and all but really I might come back fat and lazy. Ama, my
host mother, gives me tons of food and I tell her I cannot eat so much but
she tells me I must eat and grow fat, so fat that my mother will not
recognize me. I eat rice with soup (tomato paste a loooot of oil and some
peppers, and usually these weird little fish, but not in mine), yams with
soup, pasta with soup, and rice with the soup already cooked into it. And
that's all, haha. The other volunteers say that's all it will be. So I've
been taking my Flinstone's vitamins.
And that's pretty much it. I usually spend my evenings at the Wulugu
orphanage, I don't get to go back to Guabuliga after lunch. The Wulugu
orphanage is really relaxed, only about 14 kids and they are old enough to
take care of themselves. Plus it's not like I would really have to take
care of them or anything, they have two volunteers living at the
orphanage, so I get to just go hang out. And then I'm usually in bed
sometime between eight and nine, and up by six or seven. Most of the
village wakes up around 4 or 5 though.
Aaaaaaaand I don't know what else. Pictures will be hard, I can't send
them from this cafe and I dunno how else I could. But maybe I'll figure
something out. Uhhhhh if you forward this to everyone... hey everyone..
sup? but maybe you shouldn't, it's a bit boring. and long. shoot. anyways.
everything is going good still. last night i learned it's a realllly bad
idea to sleep with your mosquito net as a blanket. i knew it probably
wasn't a very good idea, but i figured whatever. oh well, i'm fine now.
just a little bit itchy and poisoned this morning. annd i probably gave
myself cancer. dangit.
love you ma
First Email From Drew
MAY 13 2009
mom mom momma mom mom. hiiiii. I am at an internet cafe in Bolgatanga,
about 30 minutes drive from Wulugu, where I live. I'm sitting right in
front of an air conditioner and it is maybe the best thing that's ever
happened to me. The air conditioner I mean. It's soooo hot all the time.
And there's nothing I can do to get away from it. My host family has a
fridge where they keep water cold, but something terrible has happened in
that fridge and the smell is awful. I don't understand how they don't
notice. Anyways, what I was getting at was that usually the cold water
isn't all too great of an escape from the heat, cause it tastes like what
ever the fridge smells like. So once a day I walk the thirty yards or so
to the center of town and treat myself to water that is cold and does not
taste like nasty fridge. It's wonderful.
haha anyywayyy. I've been to my orphanage in Guabuliga twice now, just the
last two days. It's about a 15-20 minute ride on the motorbike down a
pretty bad dirt road. Guabuliga is a very poor town. Wulugu is also a very
poor town, but there is a big difference even between the two. Guabuliga
is just so isolated. There are 45 orphans in a very small building, that
is actually an old abandoned Roman Catholic missionary of sorts. The
trouble is, right now they are at risk of being closed down at anytime
because it is not their building. This is not too big of a problem though,
two former volunteers are coming in september to help build an orphanage.
It is not run like anything you'd imagine: Issifu, my host father,
basically runs the place from Wulugu. There is an old man who volunteers
as a care taker, and an old woman who volunteers as a cook. That's all
there is. They seem to be dependable, but it is hard to tell. The
orphanage in Wulugu also has a cook and a caretaker, but the SYTO(the
company I am with) volunteers who are actually living at the orphanage say
they have never seen the caretaker, and the cook only a few times.
I had finished this email once before, about half an hour ago, and just as
I was about to send it the network went down. I had a draft for the first
part, so that was lucky. But now I don't remember what else I was saying.
haha, afriiicaaaaa.
Anywho, the main purpose of this email was to tell you more about how you
can help. It costs about $350 USD to feed the 45 orphans each month, if
they are to have three proper meals a day. With Issifu(my host father) as
their only provider, they can't really manage this. Issifu does a lot and
the SYTO volunteer support is a huge help, but it could certainly be
better. I thought maybe through your training you might be able to get
something going. Or not even through your training, but just because it is
a good thing to do. I can't organize people from here, as I said, the
internet is unreliable and 30 minutes away. I know people can't just give
money away right now, but every little bit can help. We have a biiig
helpful family with lots of kids in scouts and schools. If we were to get
a school to sponsor an orphanage here, or several schools to sponsor
several orphanages here, or scout groups or whatever, that would be sooo
huge. I know it sounds like a lot, but I think with some effort we could
really get something going. I realize there are a lot of bussiness issues
that go into it.. and I don't know anything about that. But anyway, it
doesn't have to be something huge like that. Even just a fundraiser to
feed the orphanage for a month would be huge. Or maybe you really stretch
and go to food companies and they sponser the orphans eh?? haha. I know
you'll be able to come up with something mom, and everything helps. I wish
I could do more than be the messanger, haha. I just get to sit here and
relax with a bunch of kids everyday, even if it is hot and the water is
smelly. Don't feel pressured or anything, the kids are not starving, but
they could be doing better and it would be nice to take some weight off
others' shoulders if we can. Like I said, the SYTO volunteers in Wulugu
are buying food and shoes and clothes for the orphans, they didn't know
they would need to do this, but you can't just say no after being here.
There are not many looking out for these kids. Tommorow I will be taking a
few into the hospital in Walewale to have these big infected sores they
have treated. Anyway, do what you can, don't worry. Issifu said to tell
you he loves you haha, it doesn't sound as weird when he says it. He is
excited about anything we can do to help. I love you mom, I am doing well
and I hope you are too. So long for now.
drew
mom mom momma mom mom. hiiiii. I am at an internet cafe in Bolgatanga,
about 30 minutes drive from Wulugu, where I live. I'm sitting right in
front of an air conditioner and it is maybe the best thing that's ever
happened to me. The air conditioner I mean. It's soooo hot all the time.
And there's nothing I can do to get away from it. My host family has a
fridge where they keep water cold, but something terrible has happened in
that fridge and the smell is awful. I don't understand how they don't
notice. Anyways, what I was getting at was that usually the cold water
isn't all too great of an escape from the heat, cause it tastes like what
ever the fridge smells like. So once a day I walk the thirty yards or so
to the center of town and treat myself to water that is cold and does not
taste like nasty fridge. It's wonderful.
haha anyywayyy. I've been to my orphanage in Guabuliga twice now, just the
last two days. It's about a 15-20 minute ride on the motorbike down a
pretty bad dirt road. Guabuliga is a very poor town. Wulugu is also a very
poor town, but there is a big difference even between the two. Guabuliga
is just so isolated. There are 45 orphans in a very small building, that
is actually an old abandoned Roman Catholic missionary of sorts. The
trouble is, right now they are at risk of being closed down at anytime
because it is not their building. This is not too big of a problem though,
two former volunteers are coming in september to help build an orphanage.
It is not run like anything you'd imagine: Issifu, my host father,
basically runs the place from Wulugu. There is an old man who volunteers
as a care taker, and an old woman who volunteers as a cook. That's all
there is. They seem to be dependable, but it is hard to tell. The
orphanage in Wulugu also has a cook and a caretaker, but the SYTO(the
company I am with) volunteers who are actually living at the orphanage say
they have never seen the caretaker, and the cook only a few times.
I had finished this email once before, about half an hour ago, and just as
I was about to send it the network went down. I had a draft for the first
part, so that was lucky. But now I don't remember what else I was saying.
haha, afriiicaaaaa.
Anywho, the main purpose of this email was to tell you more about how you
can help. It costs about $350 USD to feed the 45 orphans each month, if
they are to have three proper meals a day. With Issifu(my host father) as
their only provider, they can't really manage this. Issifu does a lot and
the SYTO volunteer support is a huge help, but it could certainly be
better. I thought maybe through your training you might be able to get
something going. Or not even through your training, but just because it is
a good thing to do. I can't organize people from here, as I said, the
internet is unreliable and 30 minutes away. I know people can't just give
money away right now, but every little bit can help. We have a biiig
helpful family with lots of kids in scouts and schools. If we were to get
a school to sponsor an orphanage here, or several schools to sponsor
several orphanages here, or scout groups or whatever, that would be sooo
huge. I know it sounds like a lot, but I think with some effort we could
really get something going. I realize there are a lot of bussiness issues
that go into it.. and I don't know anything about that. But anyway, it
doesn't have to be something huge like that. Even just a fundraiser to
feed the orphanage for a month would be huge. Or maybe you really stretch
and go to food companies and they sponser the orphans eh?? haha. I know
you'll be able to come up with something mom, and everything helps. I wish
I could do more than be the messanger, haha. I just get to sit here and
relax with a bunch of kids everyday, even if it is hot and the water is
smelly. Don't feel pressured or anything, the kids are not starving, but
they could be doing better and it would be nice to take some weight off
others' shoulders if we can. Like I said, the SYTO volunteers in Wulugu
are buying food and shoes and clothes for the orphans, they didn't know
they would need to do this, but you can't just say no after being here.
There are not many looking out for these kids. Tommorow I will be taking a
few into the hospital in Walewale to have these big infected sores they
have treated. Anyway, do what you can, don't worry. Issifu said to tell
you he loves you haha, it doesn't sound as weird when he says it. He is
excited about anything we can do to help. I love you mom, I am doing well
and I hope you are too. So long for now.
drew
Introduction/ Drews Journey
Intro
Hey everyone! This is BRianne.
I am starting this blog for all of you who are interested in whats going on with drew. I will be posting his emails and things like that as we hear from him.
So far....
Drew has been in Africa for about 2 weeks now. He spent a week in Accra a larger city in Ghana. He got to go to the beach and sight see a bit, but mostly he learned about the language, and the dos and donts of the culture/village he would be joining. He has been Wulugu his village for about a week. He got sick once, but is doing better and starting to adjust!
Good luck Drew we all love & miss you!
Hey everyone! This is BRianne.
I am starting this blog for all of you who are interested in whats going on with drew. I will be posting his emails and things like that as we hear from him.
So far....
Drew has been in Africa for about 2 weeks now. He spent a week in Accra a larger city in Ghana. He got to go to the beach and sight see a bit, but mostly he learned about the language, and the dos and donts of the culture/village he would be joining. He has been Wulugu his village for about a week. He got sick once, but is doing better and starting to adjust!
Good luck Drew we all love & miss you!
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