Day 3 - Soon, very soon

After an early breakfast we headed back to the children's home. Our Ghanaian work team was already working - digging the holes where we would be putting in the water filters and grease traps. We did some tearing down and breaking apart, the engineers doing most of the grunt work while the honors students looked on. A few of us girls gladly escaped into the nursery where we were surprised to find several babies lying around on the floor in the hallway. Since there are only a few women working in the home, the babies don't get much individual attention. They just wanted to be held, and we were happy to oblige. The little guy I picked up scratched at my face as if trying to figure out why my skin was such a strange color. There were three students from Belgium volunteering in the nursery as well as a guy who said he was from Papua New Guinea.

The older kids were at school in the morning, but in the afternoon they came to investigate. One little boy found a tape measure and was very entertained by the way the tape would snap back in when he pulled it out. The kids like our sunglasses. And they like having their picture taken.  One girl grabbed my sunglasses off my head and then posed, saying "snap me!" I took her picture and then she put my glasses back on my head and said, "Now I snap you!" I showed her which button to push on my camera, while making sure to keep ahold of it.

As more kids came out, they ran around the playground and played various games. Their version of soccer is mainly keep away, with no goals and seemingly no solid rules. They taught us a sort of version of duck duck goose, which involved yelling "Ra ra there's fire on the mountain!" and slapping the "goose" on the back with a flip flop. Some of the younger kids had left their pants inside, but seemed unphased by being naked in the dirt. There was a lot of hitting and roughhousing going on, but even those getting sat on and kicked were laughing.

We needed a few supplies, and all of the honors girls went along to the market to fetch them. We tramped through the market stalls, passing a roasting meat station where whole chickens and cow heads lended their potent smell to the market. As we walked, we gained a following of children, and a lot of attention. At our second stop at the pvc store, a group of us split off in search of some fabric. We crossed the busy street, avoiding motorcycles and taxis, and found a table with rolls of cloth piled high like jenga pieces. The lady told us it was 120 cedis for two yards of cloth. No thank you. A few tables down we found some for eight cedes for two yards. We had fun picking out our favorite bright patterns.

We picked up lunch on the way back. By that time, it was about 3:00, so we all scarfed down our chicken and rice. 

After lunch we left the engineers making molds for the concrete and went to a compound where a group of women make Shea butter. None of them spoke English, so our bus driver, Alex, interpreted for us. They showed us how they wash the Shea nuts and then grind them up and roast them over a fire until they get soft. The women have a contract with body works, and had actually just shipped out a lot of the butter the day before, but there was still a good bit of the stuff in a pot, looking like a ball of mashed potatoes. All of us filled our containers and then we got all the women to come take a picture with us. They were very friendly, laughing and trying to talk to us in Dagbani, then laughing again when we didn't understand them. 

We got back to the children's home just as the engineers were finishing up, so we helped put away some of the tools and then headed back to the hotel, worn out and ready to shower and have dinner.