Happy Chanuka and Merry Christmas!

I started this entry on December 13th:

Tonight we are celebrating the first day of Chanuka with Simon. I am looking forward to our little get together!

Ok, there was a list of things at the end of the last post that I said I would write about...what were they?

Kakum National Park. Absolutely stunning. So beautiful. But, straight up wilderness in my face. We camped out on these platforms that had mesquito nets over them. 4 people to a platform which holds three mattresses. All of us veterans stayed on one platform and the newbies stayed on another. It was hilarious. I cannot exactly say why it is hilarious but there where many funny, funny things that were said. Random exclaimations when some sort of nasty insect appeared. We had to have two people at once in the toilet. One to use the facilities and one on spider patrol. Yuck. We woke up in the morning to Matt shining a flashlight in our faces and basically telling us to get our butts out of bed.

Once we got up we went with a guide to the Kakum Canopy walk, which is the highest canopy walk in Africa. I think that there are 4 other canopy walks in the world. Anyway, the view was incredible. We went early enough that the mist was still hanging out in the forest. At one point, my glasses started to fog up because of the humidity. I have some pictures, I'll have to show everyone when I get home. The best, best part of the whole thing was that we got to see monkeys in the wild! Most of them were pretty small, but I saw a bigger monkey jump from one tree to another and it was very, very cool to watch. At one point, one of the small monkeys sat on the tree opposite us and had a look right back at us. Someone made the comment that the tree we were looking at was probably some well known human watching spot for the monkeys. I won't forget this experience or the amazing people who I was camping with anytime soon!

Continuing the post on December 26th:
Next thing...
Swimming in the ocean. Thanks to Tori and Hannah, I am now able to swim in the ocean. For the first time in my life, I've been able to do more than stand in the water. I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world, so they've been teaching me a bit about how to watch the waves and judge the best thing to do. It has been really wonderful. I've always had really enjoyed spending time near the ocean and this has maximized the goodness of my ocean time.

MD had a house warming party a couple of weeks ago and it was great fun. It was the first time that we had ventured away from AB's Bar into a bar further into camp. It was so much fun and I'm really going to miss dancing in Africa.

Went to the old fort in Elmina that was used for the slave trade. Don't want to write about it, but would be happy to speak to people about it when I get home if they are interested.

Now on to more recent events.

Camp has been interesting leading up to the holidays. CBW has become extremely frustrating. I've been having a difficult time dealing with the fly by the seat of their pants nature of the organization we are working with. This lax attitude has been exacerbated by the holiday. We are supposed to have a football match, leaving ceremony and children's party on Thursday and Friday of this week, but I don't really see those things happening very successfully. We will just have to wait and see...as per usual.

Christmas is celebrated, on camp, by many of the women and girls getting their hair weaved and everyone putting on their new clothes and walking around camp. Younger kids earlier in the day, older folks later in the day.

All of the IVs got together and made breakfast and dinner. After breakfast we opened our Secret Santa gifts, which were lovely. Lisa got me a huge loaf of fresh banana bread and a T-Shirt that says Miss Attitude on it. Pretty funny stuff. I made Latkas for the dinner (since they were such a big hit the previous week when Stacy, Anna and I made them for Simon in celebration of Chanuka). I also helped Simon make the fritters for dessert.

It has occured to me that most of what I write about is how I am feeling about certain things that happen during my time here. Sometimes what I write can be pretty fluffy or uninformative with regards to what is actually going on at Buduburam. Simon also has a blog on which he is documenting his travels. There is a section that is dedicated to what is going on here and he has done some interesting things the last couple of months. His blog tends to be more fact and less feeling based. It may help to give everyone a more detailed idea about life on camp. Here is his blog address if you are interested in further reading: jebreel.blogspot.com

For now work has slowed down to no work at all, basically, and I'm trying to get my head in the right place for coming home. We are packing tomorrow I think. I'll be leaving camp on Friday, coming into Accra for the weekend and flying out on New Year's Day. Weird.

In other news, I'm very much looking forward to seeing Joshua and am going to freeze in Rochester, mild winter though it may be.

Also - Happy Birthday Garren on the 21st! 14 years old! Love you kiddo.

December

Well, I can't believe it is already a week into December. Tika's Birthday is tomorrow...a quick birthday shout out to my 18 year old sis!

So much has happened in my time here. I am given to understand that once I go home, the muttle of thoughts and experiences that I have gathered here will begin to unravel. It will be awhile before I can really get my head around my life at Buduburam.

Already, my thoughts are turning towards home and the fact that I will be leaving here.

The internet on camp was horrible for a week and a half and now I am finally getting around to posting again.

Finally, we are having some balance after the big turnover at the end of November. The new volunteers are great. The two women living in our house are lovely. Now, it is only four of us in Guest House #1, Simon, Anna (from New Zealand), Stacy (from Georgia) and I. Our house is feeling really comfortable again, which is very important for the mental well being of the IVs who live there. The other house got two new people as well, Matt and Amanda. Both are nice as well.

I've been pleased with the discovery that my life and heart can expand to include more people. I believe that I have made a couple of good friends here. A few that I plan to stay in regular contact with and several that I would love to see again, someday, should our paths cross in the future. I have been lucky to meet so many great people from around the world. The IVs have been a huge part of my experience and have defined the tone for each month. The cast and energy changes each month.

The organization I am working with continues to incure frustration. But that is the way it goes. Everything is starting to slow way down because of exams. The school will close on Friday and the CBW office will close on the 22nd. I think that the IVs are going to be on camp for christmas eve night and Christmas day. I think we might have a big sleepover at ABs and then wake up and breakfast together. Then we will split up to our different local folks who we would like to celebrate with. Then, I think, we will head out and party Christmas night. Sounds good to me.

I just set up a week of individual tutoring with my two girls. HIV/AIDS will only go through next week, craft day will continue...did I tell you about craft day?

I have been helping out Hattie with craft day two mornings a week and one afternoon a week. The kids come and get to make a craft. It is so much fun. The kids get to have some positive attention and a creative outlet.

The last week here will basically be a week of vacation because the whole organization will be shut down.

Ok a quick run down:

I am feeling much better than I was during my last post.

I am coming home soon. I'm excited to see Joshua and my friends. Having said that, I am extremely nervous about reverse culture shock and the weirdness of saying goodbye to the people I have met, worked and lived with at Buduburam.

I am not looking forward to the question, "How was Africa?". How on earth am I to answer that? The scope of what has happened here in the last 3 months will not fit convienently into a few sentances. As long as the person asking the question really wants to know and has some time on their hands, that is fine. Otherwise, I suppose I will just say (as suggested by a fellow volunteer), "Great, how was home?".

At lunch time when I got back to my house Anna was out front dancing with a group of little kids. I dropped my bag in the house, changed my shirt and headed out to join the fun. So great! Asa, the little boy from next door was outside along with Blessing, Jerry and a bunch of other kids. Matt was giving piggy back rides and having races. Those moments, where there is a simple joy in playing with the kids and a feeling of internal quiet, are treasured. Those moments sustain me and I think us as a group.

Oh! The debate society, that I am so proud of, is having it's first official debate on Friday. The subject? Whether or not the refugees should move back to Liberia.

Next post, look for stories about 8 of us IVs spending the night in a rainforest, doing the highest canopy walk in Africa (where we got to see monkeys!), swimming in the ocean and busting a move at MD's house warming party. I also visited an old slave trading fort in Elmina.