We make it to New York and JFK on time and surprise, surprise, Delta once again fails me by putting me in Economy Plus, not Business. One more strike against Delta, but I would have be quite a sight to the elites in that area of the plane with my rumpled two day old clothes, hair a fright and carrying an AFS shopping bag over-brimming with Kleenex (dratted cold and cough...wonder why), travel files and water bottles. I complain bitterly to a very kindly stewardess who promises to see what she can do about my return.
Departed 11 pm Monday and arrived in Accra 1:30 pm Tuesday (flight + time change too tired to calculate). As soon as I enter the airport, tears well in my eyes as I realize the finality of saying goodbye to my 24 member Ghanaian family. Security is not super tight though they do scan each of my fingertips and take my picture. As we wait for our mountain of luggage, picture taking ensues by me and each bear hug brought more tears.
Parents and AFS Staff Pearl, Sheric, and Stephaine greet us with relief. A few parents formally introduce themselves, but most hang back shyly. Big group picture and after awhile we enter the crowded streets of Accra with terrible traffic jams to deliver blind twins Isaac and James to a primitive bus stop in a slummy area. They will wait alone for a bus to drive them 12 hours to their hometown of Wa. It takes a while to get them settled in red plastic chairs with a meat goat or two wandering by and vendors with their wares piled on their heads. I really want to take a picture of the man with a big mix of sandals on his head, but now it is my time to be shy.
Another arduous drive to another bus stop to drop off Tijani, our deaf student, for his long and solo trip home. I found out today from Tijani that he has been preliminarily accepted to R.I.T. in New York. I think it is Rochester Institute of Technology. He allowed me to read the glowing letter of recommendation from his principal at his American school for the deaf. I am now not so worried about Tijani's future.
As dusk falls, I finally ask Pearl where I will stay. She is surprised I don't know that I will be hosted by Auntie Mary, headmistress of large school, in her home. I talk politics with brilliant Sheric (an AFS alum guy hosted in the US a few years ago) and we finally make it to Auntie Mary's large house on the edge of her school campus.
A darling 7 year old, Giftie, runs out to meet us and a young man comes to carry in my bags. We wind through the house and find Auntie Mary in the room assigned to me, watching a favorite TV show on the set in my room. The snowy picture screen makes the viewing difficult, but she explains TV reception in the other rooms is temporarily on the fritz. Auntie Mary is my age, and she sits placidly in the chair waiting to greet me with her large, soft hands holding mine in a kindly grip.
Pearl, Sheric, Johnson, the driver, and I sit down for dinner so they can hurriedly eat before running to pick up 33 American and Canadian students arriving tonight for their 30 day community service project. I mention that I need to wash my hands and Pearl instructs me not to get from the table. In a minute, Rhoda appears carrying 2 bowls of water and soap, so I can wash in one bowl and rinse in the other. She insists we sit down to be served food by Rhoda, the house worker. The spicy dishes, a bit Asian in flavor, taste delicious after all my airport and hotel meals.
After dinner I want to clean myself up, so Rhoda brings a bucket of hot water into the bathroom shower area. There is no light but I can make out the buckets of cold and hot water and see a scoop fashioned from a small plastic bucket floating in one. I soon realize that the shower is self-administered by letting water flow out of slits in the scooper held over my head. I scoop out cold then hot water, give it a swirl and let it run over my head. It feels like the best shower ever.
Now I am sitting on the large bed in my small back bedroom (with its creaky Half-screened door and noises from kids filtering in from the school or neighborhood. The room is tidy, but items are stacked here and there and the tile floor is gritty, so I am glad I threw in plastic flip-flops. I contemplate how I will get wifi access to upload this report from the iPad. I am told wifi is not widely available. That can be tomorrow's worry. Tonight I am glad to be folded into Auntie Marie's hospitable household and happy no mosquitoes are after me, at least not yet.
Finally, Ghana Jackie
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