ghana :)

Assalamualaikum :)

Seperti janji saya pada mereka mereka yang bertanya "macam mana ghana?", saya tulis post ini khas untuk anda :)

hikayat nya bermula dengan, pada suatu hari.....

There was 15 volunteers in my group, 6 from LSE 4 from UCL and the rest from Arizona State University.

We were there to build water tanks (which I believe they could do it faster without us) and experience life as Ghanaian (which is not entirely true). We didn't really drink the water that they drink and we definitely did not eat things that they eat because they said if we do, diarrhea is definite.

We were divided into 2 groups as we were building water tank for 2 houses. To be honest with you, I felt like I was working on a construction site. It was tough, hard, tiring, exhausting and body ache was a promise. even though it was a menial construction job, it was not easy.

On our first day, the work I did the most was sifting the sand. When the mason showed us how to do it, it LOOKED EASY. trust me, it wasn't. when we arrived at the lodge after we were done for the day, my hands were aching so much!

oh, I forgot to add about the weather. It was hot but I don't think it was so much different than Malaysia. In fact, Malaysia was hotter when I check the temperature. That explains the big hat I wore in the pictures below. I didn't let the sun touch my face even a bit. However, my skin still got burned. Alhamdulillah my face was fine, my hands got sunburned. I guess because we were literally under the sun for the whole day.

On the second day onwards, things did not seem that difficult anymore. My body did not ache so much and we kind of enjoy what we were doing even though I knew that we were slowing things down. If you were to ask me how much work we did and how much did the mason do, I would say we did at most 10% and the mason did the rest. itupun rasa macam dah buat banyak sangat okay. trust me, we gave our best. kami tak bermalasan pun.

oh, other thing that I find difficult to do is mixing the cement and sand. It's Ghana, things are done manually. At first they let 5 of us to do it but nothing happen, hahaha. seriously, berat teramat sangat kot! If they were to do it, two of them would be enough. Sometimes only one person did it, lol.

Here is a little info about my host family (the house that we were building water tank for). The household consist of 11 members (if I'm not mistaken) and the mother is the breadwinner. She cook and she sells her cooking at a village nearby. Her husband died few years ago, she told me how he died but I can't exactly remember how. Her daughter just gave birth about a month before we arrived and trust me, Ghanaian women are strong! The daughter that I just mentioned can carry a very heavy brick that need 2 men from our group to carry it. Tolong jangan kata budak laki kumpulan saya tak kuat, batu tu memang berat oh.

Sebelum saya sambung menulis, jom tengok gambar dulu :)

our last day in Ghana, Cape Coast Castle

Sarah was showing us how the water tank system works

this is a view of a small town close to our lodge.

trying to mix the sifted sand and cement

they were tying iron construction into a shape of a water tank

the kids LOVE taking pictures. oh, did i mention the kids were barefoot? i seldom see any kids wear anything on their feet

Fransis finishing the last bit of the tank. It was too dangerous for us, only the mason can do it.

at the local school where we teach them on the importance of drinking clean water

this is a song that my group came up with. Ebura is the name of the source of water that they drink

almost every night we would gather and spend our time together as there was nothing much to do, no internet

our last day at Srafa Aboano (the name of the village)

with the student coordinator, Audrey. at Cape Coast

a picture of me with Miruka :)

On our first day, getting to know the local community. with Elena :)

the lady in the pink top claim she is the queen of the village.

spend our day at the beach and enjoy some delicacies at the hotel restaurant

with Marco :)

Just before we took our ride to the airport

me explaining something

again, group photo with the girls

oh, I just like this photo

I asked the project leader, the one who designed the water tank and manage water brigade;

why should we come? With the price of our flight ticket, you can build more water tanks (our flight ticket was more expensive than our donation for the water tanks). We were just slowing things down, they could do it faster without us. Plus, it will create more job for the local if we were not here.

So he said,

I was once like you, a volunteer. Yes, you could give your money and we manage it but this is not just about building water tanks. We want to create awareness. Now you know how Ghana is and you will start to tell their story. And we need more volunteers to continue our work. If you don't feel attach to this place, would you be willing to come and stay here?

it was not exactly how he put it but the message is there. We were there for 10 days, throughout our stay, we had to take the malaria pill. Just imagine if you were to stay for a year, are you willing to take the pill, everyday, for a year? Emily, the project coordinator, she has stayed in Ghana for a year and she didn't take the pill. You know what is the aftermath of taking drugs do to your body, especially to your kidney. I honestly feel like I want to be one of them, to work with Global Brigade.

I also had a conversation with an elder in the community. I asked her, if she could make a wish, what would it be?

surprisingly she said;

nothing

if you were there, I bet you would have endless wishes. or at least a piped water. and a toilet. and some rice. and the list goes on....

One of the local guy taught us a Ghanaian song, their traditional song. it's about how proud they are with their country and how happy they are being a Ghanaian.

We were thinking, maybe because they've never been out of Ghana that they don't know how people in other countries are living, london for instance. that's why they don't wish for anything else because they don't know what is anything else they could get.

You know, at first I thought they are very content with their life, grateful for what they have, which is good. but then, is that really the explanation for it? isn't it the same with you take your life for granted and too lazy to do something to move forward?

but then, Ghanaian work hard. they work really hard. it's just that, life for them is not easy. now is the time for me to look at myself, self reflection. How lucky I am to be malaysian, and even able to experience a life in london. There are so many people who have so much less than us but they can still be grateful. and that elder can even say there's nothing else she could wish for with her current condition.

I read someone wrote somewhere about travelling;

travelling is like a book. if you never go out of your comfort zone (not to travel), you are stuck in one chapter.

I'm not copying word by word but the main point is there. even Allah tells us to travel :)

Al Ankabut : 20, Al Hajj : 46, etc

banyak sangat ayat Allah suruh kita berjalan. sila baca blog ini untuk pencerahan :)

I think this post is too long already and I will write about the cape coast castle some other time :) serious, cerita disebalik cape coast castle tu sangat menarik! our ancestors were lucky tanah melayu had iron back then. If not, maybe the west would treat them as how they treated africans. tapi mama kata, melayu malas kerja, tak jadi penjajah nak jual diaorang jadi hamba, buat habis beras je, lol.