Kumasi, Ghana
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana
I’m very glad for the TV I bought three weeks ago, because every weekday I watch international news from DW-TV (Deutsche Welle) which is broadcasted on GTV and TV Africa. We have three channels which are free of charge; GTV, TV Africa and TV3. TV3 broadcasts programmes from MTV (Music Television) a few times every week, so it’s nice to get a small feeling about what’s happening on the music scene outside of Africa. They also broadcast soccer matches from La Liga once in awhile.
Two weeks ago I received two late arriving Christmas cards, one (with sound) from my mother and one from my grandfather’s brother and wife. I always appreciate receiving postcards; it’s something special about it.
On 12th of January we received a new volunteer, a female (25 years old) from Gothenburg, Sweden. It is her first time in Africa. The first evening she had arrived, she told me; “I don’t think this is the right project for me” and I gave her the answer; “you should at least give the project a chance for a week”. Two days later she left Kumasi and went to an orphanage 1½ hours outside of Accra. She had definitely made up her mind even before she came to Kumasi. I only feel sorry for her, because she is missing out on a great opportunity to get to know and experience a totally different community; the Muslim community (Zongo).
Sunday 14th of January – I went to see off an American friend who left Kumasi and Ghana the following day. We had a lunch and discussed the world. She’s now in Europe skiing with her dad in the French Alps. Then she’s off to Bucharest (Romania) where her parents live and from there to…?
Last week, Tuesday, Issah (Mr Abu’s youngest brother) came to the SYDD apartment in the morning and when he stepped inside the entrance door I could see that he was having tears in his eyes. He told us that when he got to school (Armed Forces School) this morning they were caning about 30 students severely. When Issah saw the caning from a short distance, then he decided to not enter the school premises and go back home instead. When I heard Issah’s story I got both sad and angry, because in what way will it help boys and girls between the ages of 15-25 by caning them? Issah told me that when ever someone isn’t obeying the rules at the school, then that person will be caned and afterwards he or she has to weed. He also told me that the school staff never lets any of the students explain before being caned, they will just cane the students no matter what. Issah has been caned before and it makes me really angry and sad to hear that, because he’s probably the kindest 20 year old boy I have ever met. He has about 1 hour and 30 minutes walk to school everyday (one way) and sometimes when he has been late, then he has been caned. He hasn’t had any chance to explain that he has a long way to school, they have just caned him. He told me that they cane the students where ever they like, and that they use wire.
Last week Monday, SYDD Non Formal Education (evening classes) started again, but this semester Mr Abu and I will not teach as much as last year, because we have so much other work to do. We are only going to go there once or twice in a week to supervise the lessons. During the last week we also held discussions about the future of the organisation and which things that needs to be structured. There is so much work to do within the Muslim community (Zongo), where we mostly work, and the problems and challenges are bigger there than in other communities.
I went to Aboabo Post Office three days ago (Friday 19th of Jan) to check the post box and I had received 7 packages from my mother containing all different kinds of items such as; sun block, medicine, gifts etc. The personnel at the post office told me; “we want our share!”. Hehe, no way I was going to follow the corruption that exists within the Ghana Post Company and dash the workers something. Someone has to break the corruption trend. I had also received a letter from my aunt, and it’s always nice to get private mail in the post box.
This past weekend we had several visitors in the apartment. On Saturday Sadat was visiting for a few hours and also Issah was around, and in the evening Mohammed came as well as Mumin, Ahmed (Mr Abu’s son) and Manaf (Mumin and Ahmed’s cousin). The three children slept over and in the evening I was taking care of them for 1 h 30 min when Mr Abu was out. The amount of energy the children had was crazy and they triggered each other all the time! They put on reggae music on the cassette deck, ran around, fought with each other, screamed, they did absolutely everything! They also put on their sandals and started gliding around on the floor, and after awhile when they started getting warm; “Mr Erik, Mr Erik, shirt!”, which meant that they wanted to take of their shirts and continue to glide around on the floor. It was ultimate chaos! Yesterday morning, the three kids (Mumin, Ahmed, Manaf) had too much sugar in the blood again, when they were playing with the Mumin house my mother sent. But I could see that Mumin really liked the Mumin house, because he went for it every time we had put it away. Late morning yesterday; Zaliya came to visit together with her friend Amdela, and they were around for a few hours. Yesterday afternoon Mohammed was around together with Haamis (Mr Abu’s brother). So, these past two days have been crowded in the apartment. It’s nice with visitors, but the peaceful quietness is priceless.
Kumasi, Ghana
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana
Eid Ul Adha, the Islamic holiday which took place between 30 Dec-1 Jan, was something special for me to experience. I watched Muslims here and there walking around with cows and sheep. During those three days I saw meet everywhere. Within the premises where Mr Abu lives, I watched Malam and his relatives slaughter the animals while I was discussing with them about the difference of slaughter here and back in Sweden. It’s like they said: “here we just do it by our own force” while the animal is fighting back.
New Years Eve in Adum was surprisingly quiet, and the fireworks were few and less spectacular. It’s just like I told Mr Abu; “where ever you go in the world, the importance of the twelve o’clock stroke is different”.
I received three Christmas cards last week, which arrived a bit late. Two of them were from my mother and one of her Christmas cards had a tune when you opened the card (I know my brother will laugh when he reads it, because it’s a typical thing for my mother to send). The third Christmas card was from my grandfather’s brother with wife, and it was really nice to receive a card from them.
I have moved to a new apartment! A couple of days ago I moved to a new apartment, which is located in Akwatia Line. It’s in the city, so it’s between 2-3 km to Adum (downtown Kumasi), which I like. The apartment is quite big; 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom/toilet, 1 lounge room, 1 kitchen and a great balcony with a view of the city. The apartment is on the top floor, so the view is very nice. Another thing I like about the apartment building is that we have a security guard watching all the time, so you can’t enter the building without being recognized. This apartment is for SYDD staff and volunteers, currently it’s only I and Mr Abu who use it, but we except another volunteer coming soon. There are lots of things which we still need in the apartment, but so far we have got a TV, a fridge, beds, fans, office desk, a dining table and kitchen utensils. It always takes time before you get settled when you move to a completely empty place. We also have our own cook, Munira (21), who cooks dinner for us in the evenings. I like her cooking a lot, and it’s much more hygienic where I live now as we have our own kitchen. I’m very happy about my move!
The Harmattan winds are around, and it has clogged my nose completely for about a week now. The Harmattan winds blow from the northeast, bringing dust from the Sahara and reducing the visibility to less than 1 km (as you can see on some of the photos). Everything gets dusty quickly.
Work since last post: we have held our monthly meeting with the orphans telling them about various important things in life and we also told them that we have budgeted to buy them e.g. mosquito nets. We have been working in the office several days, discussing the future of SYDD. There have been different visits to organizations. The big thing has been the move to the new SYDD apartment.
Kumasi, Ghana
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana
On Christmas Day the 25th of December SYDD celebrated together with the students at Edwenase Rehabilitation Centre. We had brought rice, chicken, oil, drinks and biscuits two days earlier and on the same day as the party took place we had made a provision for music (DJ), chairs and tents. We arrived around 11 am and some of the students were already dancing and enjoying the music. They were all served our drinks and biscuits after a couple of hours of dancing, when they started to sweat and became tired. Several of the students were very happy with our contributions and presence and they told me; “I’m very happy today! God bless you!”. After dancing together with the students, then we walked inside to have lunch together with everyone including the Regional Director of the Social Welfare Department. He was very happy that we had made this possible and we left the celebration party around 3 pm, when everybody was still enjoying.
On the same day, Christmas Day, Mumin turned 3 years old and because of that there was a birthday party held for him including music, dance and food. He only received a few couple of gifts, 2 or 3, so I’m very grateful and glad that my mother had sent him a book in English about Pippi Longstocking. I read it to him and he commented my reading and describing by agreeing “yes, yes, yes”. Mumin eats more than anyone I know, and I’m talking about all age groups. During his birthday party, wherever I saw him he was either having a drink or food in his mouth. Hehe. It was a nice birthday party with lots of chaos.
On Boxing Day, 26th of December, we received a call that GBC (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation) was going to talk about the NGO (Solidarity for Youth and Disabled Development) I’m working for in their 1 pm news (and at 8 pm). GBC covers the whole of Ghana (with a population of approximately 20 million people) and everyone throughout the nation can hear the same news. The news reporter talked about what we did at the Edwenase Rehabilitation Centre on Christmas Day and also the fields we are working in and the importance for other NGOs to focus on not just HIV, because there are other groups of people as well who are in great need of help and support. It was nice to hear my name on the radio too in the news; “Project Supervisor Mr Per Erik Torkelson”.
Today the Islamic holiday, Eid il Adel, has started and it will continue for 3-4 days. The Muslims celebrate it by sacrificing (killing) animals, e.g. cows and sheep, and then eating the meat.
Gott Nytt År!
Kumasi, Ghana
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana
Last week I received my first Christmas gifts, and the package was sent by my mother. I won’t open it until Christmas Eve. I also received a Christmas card from my aunt.
On Thursday (14 Dec), I went to the STC bus station in Adum to see off my German friends who left Kumasi that day. I have great memories when I think of them. From the first time I met them in the Pink Hostel in Accra two months ago, until they left Kumasi last week. I will remember Crash by being extremely happy and talking about everything after visiting Baze one night in Accra, I will remember Maria by telling me about her true love; Croatia (sorry Crash) and I will never forget Tamara in the waterslide in Cape Coast: “Ready? The heavy person!” (with an English accent just like Arnold Schwarznegger) and the stories goes on. I will see you in Stuttgart one day.
Last week’s work: we attended an HIV-meeting in Adum, I taught two days at the evening classes, updated documents and records, interviewed orphans. But the most special and emotional assignment last week, without any doubt, was our visit to the Edwenase Rehabiliation Centre, where we interviewed 12 disabled youths. We came to the rehabilitation centre and received a list with names of 13 youths (the worst cases), which we all interviewed during three hours. The first person we interviewed was a 14 year old boy, who told us that his biggest problem is that he wants to live with his uncle, but that he’s not allowed (because of legal reasons). The boy started crying at the end of the interview and it made me sad seeing him cry. The next person we interviewed was an 18 year old girl and she began to tell us about that her daily life in general is very tough; that she can’t afford daily life basic things, doesn’t have money to buy materials so that she can produce in school and that her footwear has been spoiled since a long time. When I heard all these things and she sat in her wheelchair and started to cry, then it was very difficult for me to hold back my tears. I had to look away and I tried to write what she was telling us, while Mr Abu embraced her to show concern and care. I saw that Mr Abu also started getting tears when she told us about her life situation. Another boy we interviewed was a 21 year old one, whose father died last year. His father had big debts and when he died then those debts were inherited by the rest of the family, and as they were in a tough financial situation, they couldn’t pay it all off and we found out that this boy’s family was evicted from their apartment recently. When I heard one sad story after another, it reminded me that some people just don’t know how lucky they are. But one of the worst cases that day was a 29 year old man who was completely blind and walked around with a cane and had problems walking too. He was laughing continuously (he was mentally challenged in some way). We found out that his mother was dead since a long time and that he sometimes stays with the stepmother when they vacate from the rehabilitation centre. The centre manager at the rehabilitation centre told us that the 29 year old man’s real father lives in Germany and he was visiting Kumasi two weeks ago, but the father refused to visit his blind son at the rehabilitation centre. We were also told that all the brothers of the 29 year old man have been put in schools by the father, but the father has refused to put his blind son in a school for blind people. I sighed when I heard this and it was an emotional rollercoaster inside of me. Mr Abu got very angry when he heard about the father and as for me, I was even more sad when I heard that this 29 year old man only had one visit in 6 months (and it was the stepsister). When everybody else has gone home for vacation, this 29 year old man has been left at the rehabilitation centre for three consecutive times, because no one wants to come and pick him. Another boy who we interviewed told us that his “only” problem is the loneliness that he feels; when he’s at home with the family then they never let him participate in any activities. He even told us whenever they go to church, he has to remind his family that he wants to come along, but the answer they give him is that “it’s too difficult to find transportation for you”. Oh, oh, oh! When I heard this, it almost became too much to handle for me emotionally. It was really emotionally pressuring listening and meeting these people, hearing about their lives and looking at which situations they are in; physically disabled, mentally challenged, poor, neglected (sometimes fully) by their own families, never receive visits etc. Once again I and Mr Abu told each other that; “there are so many people who don’t know anything about how lucky they are, being healthy and having someone who cares about them”. This day was definitely the biggest challenge since I arrived to Kumasi, Ghana.
This week at work: it has been mostly office work and at the evening classes we have had maths exam and yesterday we had English examination, and I was very happy when the men took the maths exam, because they felt very confident. Tonight we are going to give back their results and it is the last lesson for a couple of weeks, then we are giving the men and women vacation and we start again in January. It will be nice with a break for us too, because we have other things to focus on.
Today I haven’t been feeling well at all, so I have tried to rest and take it easy in Dote and Adukrom.
God Jul!
Kumasi, Ghana
Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana
Work last week; on Monday (4th Dec) we attended a meeting at Okomfo Anokye Hospital (biggest hospital in Kumasi) where they wanted to know about our NGO and what kind of work we do with HIV-infected people. Last week I also interviewed several male and female orphans about food, accommodation, education, future work plans, problems and needs. I got very emotional when one of the boys, 17 years old, told me: “I have one problem; I don’t have anyone who takes care of me. When all the other orphans go to their extended families and relatives, then I don’t have anyone to go to. Instead I always go and work in a village on weekends”. His story made me sad, because he spoke straight from his heart. There was also a girl who made me sad last week, when I was interviewing her at Nuriya Islamic School and asked her: “Where do you live? How many people do you live with?”, then her answer was: “I live in Zongo, it’s only me where I live”. I saw that it was hard for her to tell me, because the tears started coming when she answered my question. Zongo is what they call the area where the poor Islamic people live. Both these orphans reminded me once again that you can buy almost everything, but you can never buy the most important things in life. Last week’s work also included me buying 8 dozens (96) of bowls, cups, plates and spoons which were intended for the orphans. When we visited the Head at Nuriya Islamic School and told him about it, then he was very appreciative that we try to help some of his most needy students. The past Friday (8 Dec) Mr Abu and I wrote individual numbers and “SYDD” on 73 cups, plates, bowls and spoons which we distributed the following day. We worked for about 3 hours on Saturday, distributing the items I had bought plus food (rice, sugar, oil etc.).
The past Saturday I followed with some friends (five volunteers) out to the village where they live, Esase, which is between 30-60 minutes drive with tro-tro from Kumasi depending on the traffic. They had a very nice house for themselves and the environment was very relaxed and quiet compared to my life in Kumasi. It was nice to get away for a night, even if it was short, because otherwise I’m more or less caught up in my work everyday. My friends’ house of their own includes nice rooms with toilets and showers, something which is very different from my accommodation. The following day, two days ago, we had breakfast at 06:30, which was way too early for me. I’m not used to get up that early, because most of the days my work ends late. On Sunday they showed me their workplace, the school and dorm, before we headed off to the Miklin Hotel in Kumasi, where we relaxed, swam in the swimming pool and had lunch. It’s nice to do things like this, but I need a longer vacation, because it is work from Monday-Saturday and on Sundays you think and discuss about what’s going to happen the coming week.
The night between Sunday-Monday, I experienced the hottest night in my bedroom so far; it was 28 degrees Celsius in the room. It was difficult to fall asleep, and around 03 am there was a rooster who had gone almost mad, constantly making noise, so when I went to the toilet I also looked for a stone and threw it at the rooster. Their noise is making me crazy, especially when it continues for 20 minutes.
I treated myself with four audio CDs and one VCD last week; T.O.K. “Shake Ur Bam Bam”, Lucky Dube “Respect”, P-Square “Da Remix (Bizzy Body II)”, C-Zar “Araba Lawson” and P-Square “Tempted 2 Watch: Da Videos II”. I play the P-Square “Da Remix (Bizzy Body II)” CD a lot, they are from Nigeria and sing in English. I saw one of their videos on TV; “Temptation” ft. Alaye. It’s a great song! I play it over and over. All the CDs and the VCD cost 15 000 Cedis each (around 12 SEK), except for the C-Zar album. There is one song on the C-Zar album which is really good; it’s called “Araba Lawson”.
I received my first postcard in Ghana last week, and it was from my grandparents. It was really nice to get regular mail.
Yesterday I went to Nuriya Islamic School and started interviewing orphans, but I started feeling extremely weak during interviewing, so I had to rest from noon until bedtime. I had real pains in my stomach. Today I’m feeling better, but I’m still not 100%.