the daily grind.

a typical day.

i wake up initially to intense sunshine, the sound of chickens on the roof, a rooster in the neighbors yard, and the hustle and bustle of break of dawn chores. i doze, until everyone leaves for school/work, and then fall back asleep under the silly comfort of my mosquito net. my roommate's alarm goes off an hour or so later, and i get up.

anti-maleria pill, vitamin, water from a plastic bag delightfully named "skywalker water". i bite off the corner, and squeeze the water into my mouth.

we boil water, and wait for nescafe mixed with milo, a wonderful concoction i named coffillo, that somewhat resembles a mocha. we smother our fresh bread with local groundnut (peanut butter) and jam. breakfast is good.

we have a couple of hours before work, so we do our wash. we gather 3 buckets, a bar of soap, and our clothes, and head outside. soak in one bucket, and scrub with soap. rinse in bucket number two, and then rinse and wring out, and put in bucket number 3, ready to dry. this chore usually takes an hour and a half.

then we get ready for work. we pack our cameras, sunscreen, money and water, and head down the street to sentasi roundabout. we get honked at and asked "where are you going?"from every direction, and called "obruni" from everyone on the street. from there we hail a line taxi, or a tro tro if we're lucky. taxi costs about 30 pesowes (equivalent to .30), tro tro cost's about .10. the difference is a comfy taxi, stuffed with only driver plus 4 passengers, versus a crowded stuffy van stuffed with driver plus 10-15 passengers. we arrive at apire junction 2 minutes later, pay, and exit. from the junction, we take a line taxi to ampetia, a small village about 20 minutes down a very bumpy, very dusty road. well known as the "best road in ghana", which sarcastically means the worst. this always costs .50 pesowes. we are instantly covered in red dust.

we arrive. the children are at school, so we greet atta, the orphanage mom, and ask how we can help. typically, we help make lunch, which consists of mashing tomatoes in a bowl, until they are paste. lots and lots of tomatoes. we usually mash a bucket full of tomatoes, which takes an hour or so, because we're not as good at this as africans. as simple as this sounds, it is not easy. sometimes we wash dishes, and if we're lucky, we are asked to scrub out the fish fridge.

around 1:00 we eat our lunch, and then wait for the children to get home from school. they start to arrive within the hour, usually the older girls first, then the older boys, and last are the little ones. they come to greet us, and say "good afternoon, good afternoon, how are you?" we help them change out of their uniforms, get ready for lunch. they eat, on our laps, and smile and laugh all the way through. after lunch, we help them do their wash, and other chores that atta has assigned. after a couple hours of chores, we are finally allowed to play.

sometimes we take the children to the park, a few minutes away, and play soccer, and skip rope, sometimes we just stay at the orphanage and draw. the children are so polite, and so well behaved, we don't really have to do much. the older ones take care of the little ones, even though the little ones pretty much take care of themselves.

around 5:00 we get ready to leave, and say goodbye to everyone. they smile and wave, and say "see you TOMORROW!", and walk us out to the road where we wait for a taxi. we wait, and wait, and finally one comes down the dusty road, and we head back to our homes.

once home, we shower, and attempt to get all the red dust off. its difficult. if it's a good day, there is running water, and the shower is nice. if we are unlucky, the water is not working, and we have "bucket baths". this is exactly what it sounds like. and really, it's knot that bad, but it can be tedious after a very long and very hot day. our host sister cooks for us, and brings us our dinner to our table in the back of the house, and we eat alone. our family never eats with us, unless we ask them to. after dinner, we usually watch tv with our family, they are particularly fond of american idol, or watch a movie with our host brothers, or walk to the internet cafe, or read books. we try to stay up, as long as possible, but we are always so exhausted from the day, and the heat, that we fall asleep around 9:30, every night.

the daily grind in ghana is easy to get used to. its slow paced, relaxed, friendly, and full of good music and interesting food. i'm constantly finding myself surprised, and baffled, but i'm learning to love everything about my home away from home.