Accra Art Day

(First, go to the blog entry below if you want to see the Ghana student welcome messages. I didn't realize I had to paste the direct URL for each video.)

Andy started the day with a lesson on using transitions (not too many!) in Premiere. I, of course, got in an IOM SUV and searched ATMs that might spit out a paltry few Ghana Cedis on our way to Western Union. Finally, some success. I got 100 Cedis (about $100) and also got the Western Union money Mark had sent. Hooray. We were able to pay the food lady and the transportation dude, and Andy and I have $50 each to whoop it up on Friday. We leave here Saturday at 9pm and arrive in Addis at 7am the next day.

We had another lunch of maize balls (taste good, like raw, sour, bread dough). We had fish and okra stew along with it. I was able to eat it all up the other day, but any of you who know about my "issue" with phlegmy, glutinous food know that it took all of my fortitude to get it down. Yesterday, as I watched the gooey mass go from bowl to mouth as our very hungry students slurped and gurgled, I hit a food wall. Imagine a broth made of the okra juice, and you know what I mean. Nothing against the food at all! It is all about my issue. I tried, but just couldn't do it!

In the afternoon, we had a conversation about using artwork for the beginnings of their films when they describe the deplorable conditions at the fishing village. They all came up with some great ideas for pictures they were going to draw. The boys all decided to draw the canoes, nets, kids getting caught in them, the masters beating them, and the Ghana flag (to put in their films when they introduce themselves). The girls decided to draw the mats for drying and smoking fish, the kitchens, the mistresses beating them, etc. I walked out of the compound and down the dirt road lined with hundreds of tiny tin huts that sell everything from 1970s televisions to laptop computers to fish heads to motor oil. I found a little hut that had paper and crayons. I also bought 35 lollipops ($1.05 for all). The kids were THRILLED to start drawing and they came up with some great stuff. Andy and I played some pumping house dance music as loud as we could, and we all danced, drew, and laughed all afternoon. At one point, I had to stop and take it all in. Here were kids drawing pictures of the scariest moments of their lives, and now they were all fed, thriving, and making movies that they hoped would help serve to free some of their friends still in the village.

We went to the IOM office to upload the welcome messages on YouTube and take pictures of their drawings to add to their films. Then, we headed over to Eric Peasah's house for a great meal of succulent spicy chicken, coconut cabbage (yummy), basmati rice, diced fried plantain, carrots and peas, and the most incredible and spicy corned beef in tomato sauce. We stuffed ourselves as this was the best meal we've had in six weeks. We played with his adorable sons Wasi and Fifi (nicknames), rolling around on the floor, doing gymnastics, and looking at wedding photos of mama and papa. Eric's wife had obviously worked all day to make this incredible meal, so we thanked her profusely and then headed to the hotel to sleep off our extreme fatigue.

Today, we go to the IOM office with the kids so that they can meet their new friends in America on Skype. We told Lori in Chicago and Peggy in Lake Charles not to have the American students pull any punches when they ask about what it was like to be trafficked. These Ghana students are very willing to talk. Their hope is that by talking to kids in the States, more people will help IOM save their friends who live the most frightening lives you can imagine.

More tomorrow. Shutterfly photos to the right.

E