Day 5 (July 30)

Finally – a chance to sleep for a while. Not quite long enough, but better than we have had in four days. We woke more or less refreshed and prepared to meet the Afrikids staff for an introductory meeting. We met with Nick, Linda, and Joe at the Afrikids office in Bolga. We were then presented to 15 additional staff members and learned of the many wonderful projects sponsored by Afrikids. We listened with admiration as they explained work ranging from rescuing children from working in mines to education and awareness about child trafficking to providing children with greater access to education. Each EWB team member was given the chance to explain our individual roles in EWB and our reasons for working in Ghana. The Afrikids staff was very welcoming and supportive of our project. They even treated us to lunch at a local restaurant – the International Travelers Café in Bolga. There we ate egg sandwiches and rice with goat meat and got to know our new friends from GAPNET and Afrikids.

After lunch, we caravanned in two trucks to visit local Afrikids projects in Sirigu – a village located about 30 km north of Bolga and only 5 km away from Yua. Our first stop after a bumpy and muddy drive was the Health Clinic for the Sirigu-Busongo district. We spoke with the clinic nurse, Norbert, who told us of the severe problem of malaria in the region and his work in the community. A shorter distance away, we were warmly greeted by a women’s group called the Afrikids Daughters of Sirigu-Busongo. We stood enthralled as they danced and sang to welcome us. With Joe and David as our translators, Dani thanked them for the warm welcome and explained our purpose for being in the region. Jaina followed up with questions regarding their water source. We were shocked to learn that in the dry season, it takes over four hours every day to fetch water for their homes! The women must walk a long distance and then wait their turn to pump the water from one borehole that serves over 600 people. We learned that women sometimes fight for access to the water. We were pretty somber after hearing this, but Dani loosened up the mood a bit with her own charades of fighting. The women laughed and performed a theater for us – they all played as if they were fighting for water at the borehole, pushing each other out of the way and sneaking behind one another to pump the water. With everyone feeling a little more comfortable, we expressed our gratitude for their welcome and took some pictures of the children and the women.

Our next stop was at a home a little farther away. There we met a young girl who had suffered from severe burns to her back after her dress caught on fire from a cook stove. Afrikids adopted her and raised money to send her to a hospital in Kumasi, a city in southern Ghana. Because of their help, she was able to receive skin graft treatment and had recently been reunited with her home. It was amazing to see the spirit of this young girl! Despite her burns, she smiled at us the whole time we were there. From her, we truly understood the meaning of the Afrikids slogan – “bringing big smiles to little faces.”

Our final stop in Sirigu was at the Afrikids field office. There, we met another child sponsored by Afrikids - a young, mute girl, no more than nine years old. Believed to be possessed by evil spirits, she had been abused and abandoned in the Sirigu market. Afrikids heard of her and adopted her. She is now living at the field office under the care of their staff – her scars visible, but healing and sharing shy smiles with us.

By this time, evening was closing in. We headed back to our hotel in Bolga for a little freshening up before dinner. Mr. John Apokerah from GAPNET– we call him Pok – picked us up in his truck and drove us to his home where we were treated to traditional Ghana cuisine. We feasted on tuo zafi (a maize-based porridge) with okra and goat stew and a spicy cabbage stew with rice. We learned a great deal about the agricultural problems in the area from Pok, who in addition to work with GAPNET is an extension officer for the Ghana Ministry of Agriculture.

With our bellies full and our heads overflowing with information, we were taken back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

--Jaina