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
Saturday, May 30, 2009
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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