Ghana Day 1 - City of Refuge

Finally! I can write out everything that happened in Ghana now that I'm done with midterms and papers! I'll try my best to remember everything that happened.

Day 1 - We had an early arrival into Tema, Ghana at about 6:30am. I went up to the deck and when you look at where we're headed, it's heavily industrialized, and there is kind of a haze over Tema. I didn't realize later that this was more of a smog than morning haze =/ We're the only cruise ship styled ship in and around the port, the rest of the ships we're huge cargo ships from Panama and elsewhere in South America. In anticipation for my trip to the City of Refuge that day, I got ready early and was ready to go at 8am. Come to find out, we're not getting off the ship till at least 10am >_< Everyone is getting anxious (especially me!) to get off with their backpacks and sun gear ready to go! My City of Refuge trip is an independent and not SAS-sponsored trip so times aren't as accurate, but it is a bit cheaper. After gathering everyone and figuring out whose not coming and coming in place of those missing people, we were finally getting off the ship as soon as they announced they're letting us off. About 60 people filed off the ship and walked all the way over to the parking lot where the City of Refuge founders, John and Stacy, would be meeting us. The buses we got on aren't the nice coach buses with lots of leg room and little TVs inside. Nope, these were the buses that were used in Dominica and Brazil that first fit about 20 people, but then there are aisle seats that fold down to use pretty much every single space that is available on the bus (picture). We stopped at an ATM on the way to pay the minimal fee of $48. When we got to the City of Refuge about a couple hours later (Tema is far away from everything and Ghana in general has really bad traffic so it takes three times as long to get anywhere). When we arrived it was in a dry area similar to Kawaihae. Along the dirt road in, there is a military training area where soldiers were being briefed which looked like it was about weapons. I thought this was pretty weird because the City of Refuge is a place for trafficked children and there is a school on this property too. When we arrive a couple minutes after that the kids we're playing soccer in their uniforms (picture) and it was about noon so it would've been about lunch recess for them. We took a tour of the place and the City of Refuge organization just started on this 2,000 acre property that was given to them a year ago. There were 2 houses (one that housed the founders, their children, and some volunteers and the other that housed the kids that actually lived there with the other volunteers), a soccer field, basketball court, and an in progress school building that was just concrete and had the holes for windows and doors, but no actual windows and doors. The children were in class when we walked through the school building and some were learning shapes, math, or even having nap time (picture)! The school is using an American system more than a Ghanaian system and they are starting to add on to the building so that they can offer junior and senior high school. Many Ghanaian students get up to junior high school but because of the limited financial support, many of them don't see senior high school. City of Refuge is trying to offer a K-12 education to encourage students to enter colleges and universities.

The City of Refuge is mainly based upon to rescue trafficked kids who have been usually sold by their family members to pay off old family debts. These kids are forced to work, usually as fishermen, in a area called Lake Volta. This practice is illegal, but many people deny any wrongdoing and/or justify this by saying they don't want to make their own children work so that they can go to school instead of these enslaved kids. I found out that one of the girls I was playing, Mary (picture), with had been rescued a couple years ago and she was a trafficked child that was sold to settle her uncle's debt to a fisherman. After several of us helped paint a shed, help in the classrooms, or make 600 meals, we all got together to go to a nearby community (about 5 minutes drive) and give out the 600 meals to local kids. When groups visit the City of Refuge, part of the fee is to sponsor meals for kids in a nearby village and part of the experience is to do a "feed." Originally, the fee with our amount of people is enough to sponsor 300 meals, but Rosemary, the trip coordinator, increased the trip fee to feed 600 instead. We all got on the buses and followed John and Stacy in their SUV that held the 600 meals. When we arrived, there were 100s of kids jumping up and down, yelling, and some even rushed the bus. They were really excited to see us. Seeing all these kids, I was thinking in my head, "I don't think we have enough." Enough as in food for every single kid that was there, so excited to see us come, because this means that they'll get a meal. The meals prepared were only one scoop of rice and one piece of chicken. It wasn't much, but they wanted to spread the food out as much as possible. When we got out of the buses, a couple adults were yelling at the kids to get in line and to wait their turn (picture). The leaders tried their best to order the kids from shortest to tallest, but there were so many kids you could do it accurately. When the kids settled down a little, John told us to get 10 plates each and to give them to 10 kids. I thought, okay, simple enough. As soon as the SUV opened, the kids abandoned their lines and rushed the SUV. We started handing out our 10 plates, but who to give it to? As soon as I got my plates out and turned around, kids surrounded me, trying to grab at the plates and begging me to give it to them. They were pushing each other, even the older kids were pushing the little ones out of the way. How are you supposed to choose what kid you give food to? How are you supposed to know which child needs the food more than the other. I handed it to whichever kid grabbed onto the plate first and I got through 6 plates before John and the other students had to close the SUV and have the kids settle down again. By this time, other SASers were crying and feeling overwhelmed at being rushed by kids who were starting to push and fight over the food. SASer's faces were all just a look of shock and trying to process what just happened in a matter of a few minutes. Half the meals were gone and some kids had gone home, few kids were actually eating their food, and most of the them who didn't get food, were being hurried back into line away from the SUV. This time, coordinators tried to have the little kids (from 3 to 5 yrs old) in a separate group right by me and the SUV. After about 5 or 10 minutes, we opened the SUV again and hurriedly starting giving the little kids food, but not a minute later, big kids ran out of line, surrounded the little kids and started pushing their way through, little kids were being pushed against the SUV and ones that just got their food couldn't get out of the crowd. I had tell the older ones to get back in line several times. Some listened to me, but most just stayed and tried to get food. I started passing more food out to the little ones and would tell the older kids to be patient and just wait till the little ones get it. This went on for about 5 minutes and we quickly ran out of food. I was holding a kid's hand, waiting for another plate, and another SASer was telling me it was all gone. I had to tell the kids that we didn't have anymore and I just kept on saying I'm sorry I'm sorry. There was so much dust in the air with kids anxiously trying to get food and fighting for it. More SASers were crying and we all just stood there not knowing what to do. After a while we all got back on the bus and rode home in almost complete silence. I think we were all just numb from the feed and at the same time sick to our stomach. A full dinner was waiting for us with fried chicken, salad, and fried rice. I don't think any of us were hungry, but we forced ourselves to eat because we didn't know what time we were getting back to the ship. After buying some City of Refuge shirts, we got on the bus and made it back to the ship.

When I think of Ghana, my mind goes back to this day automatically. The kids who were so excited to see us, the chaos that ensued just because we had meals that may have been the kid's only meal of the day. We had no idea if every single one of these kids had a home, had meals 3 times a day, if at all. I know there are starving kids in Africa, but I think I mentally blocked it because it is so sad. This feed was like a slap in the face to make me really realize these kids are not just in minimal numbers. It gives me a sickening feeling in my stomach every time I think of what happened and I don't think I've been able to process it fully. I still feel numb. All SAS students are so lucky to eat three times a day and students complain about pasta and potatoes on a daily basis. We're sometimes ignorant to the fact that kids age 12 and below would fight over this food that we can eat everyday and there is not limit to how much we can eat. I'm thankful that I had such a good childhood with as much food as I wanted and that I even have this opportunity to go on this trip of a lifetime. After Ghana, I am thankful for the simpler things in life such as food and I was thankful before, but not nearly as much as I am now.

I know this is a long one, but this experience had the biggest impact on me thus far this voyage. Google "City of Refuge Ghana" to learn more about them and what they do.

Miho