heart broken

This email broke my heart.
I wanted so badly for this to happen, for him to showcase his work to over 200,000 + people.
For him to network, experience, learn, grow and then take all that he's learned and share with those back in Ghana.
I know I'm a believer that things happen for a reason, but this just sucks.
I'm glad he has a positive attitude about this... just gotta count this out and move on; continue to work with the children and keep trying.

kakra, kakra... things will come together.

xoxo.

 

when it rains, it pours.

It's a gold chain neon bangle type of day.
When it rains, it pours... nothing like some neon to brighten up my day.

xoxo.

hurricane lola

being an owner of a puppy isn't as easy as i thought it would be. potty training, puppy classes on a saturday at 8:30 AM, endless energy, doctors appointments, teething, etc. not to mention the little disaster my lola turned out to be. but she's my little baby. no matter how mad i am, she'll give me a sad & i'm sorry look and i'm like... how can i be mad at you? i swear though, i have an indestructible little pit. she has passed metal (perhaps glass), plastic, paper, and other foreign objects through her and she's still at it. i do hope that she quits soon because our once beautiful garden is now bare. and as she gets older i doubt she'll be able to handle anything besides dog food. funny side note: she always brings whatever she destroys (plants, bottles, cans, paper, plastic, etc) to our front door like she's putting it on display for us to see. so the first thing we see when we come home is her destruction.

oh and here is a little conversation i had with my dad:
me: so did you scold her?
dad: no, i don't want her to be scared of me.
my dad... such a softy. this was also a day after she tore up his coffee pot. /: hurricane lola strikes again!!

1. she's quite the professional plant puller.
2. tore up phone books.
3. garden hose that is now 4' shorter.
4. seriously, how do i stay mad at this pretty face?!

chunky rings.

not exactly sure what it is about rope, rings, and bright colors, but i am so addicted to it. not to mention it's chunky and such a great piece on it's own. i like when jewlery can make a statement about yourself without you uttering a word.

i'm back

I really want to get back into blogging about life and shit, so here I am; trying-o!

(even if all i do is post pictures)

I'm about to get some studs in the mail and i'm so excited to stud the hell out of everything and anything i can find in my possession. Here are my current inspirations. Studs are freaking genius.

1. Bess NYC
2. Converse
3. Christian Louboutin

I can't wait to start studding away.

You can find my finished products on here: prettybangin.tumblr.com or lehdoit.blogspot.com

almost time to say obruni bye bye.

Well, my time here is winding down, 9 weeks and 3 days to be exact, but who’s counting. Certainly not me.

So although I don’t know this for sure, I’m almost positive that the couple of days before I leave my town will be like hell. People wanting this, demanding I give them that, wait… you really want my old musty socks? Ones trash is truly another’s treasure; I of all people should understand this… I love goodwill after all.
I guess the whole thing that I’m put off by is the fact that these people will demand things from me rather than me decided that I would like to give it to them. After two years I shouldn’t be surprised. Why shouldn’t I give them these things, why shouldn’t they demand them of me. I am after all, one of them, family.

To some degree. Sure I still get cheated at the market, I still don’t quite understand why after a year you still love to stare at me as if I’m some foreign species, I can’t eat fufu like it’s a bacon wrapped wiener (oh man, I can’t wait for those!) but these people have cared for me, fed me, and treated me not like a stranger, but as a sister.

This reminds me of a time that I was out of money and on the football field with a whole bunch of kids. I really wanted a pocky (frozen ice pop). I saw some kid playing with 10 pesewa, flipping it up and catching it. For a long time I argued in my head about asking this kid for his money. Finally my craving for pocky made the part of me that wanted to ask him punch the lights out of the part that didn’t. I called the boy over and asked him for his 10 pesewa. The boy didn’t even hesitate with his money; he just gave it to me. Like the boy, I didn’t hesitate and I took it, and went straight to buy pocky. I gave the boy back his change of 5 pesewa to which he also bought a pocky. While I was enjoying this pocky all by myself, the boy who gave me his money was also sharing his pocky with 5 other small boys that came around. I wish I had the generosity to share my pocky, but I’m not as sharing and generous. (Not to mention all the germs that those small boys carry around; after a 7 months of being giardia free I’m not about to start again.) And to make sure you leave this entry not seeing me as a totally horrible person, I found the boy the next day thanked him for his generosity and paid him back with interest.

Anyways, that concept of extended family and sharing everything that you have has been somewhat difficult for me. ( after all, I’m the only girl and the youngest of three) And I’m not just talking about grandparents, and uncles and aunts; I’m talking my second cousin, cousin’s wife, brother’s daughter needs to go to school. So since I’m in a better position to help, I help. To the extent where I could be seen as this girls father. But no, I’m just somewhere related. Yet, family. Thus, I must help take care of the family.

So while I may not have been able to accomplish what I had thought I would, I did gain one big family here in Ghana… and for that I am forever grateful, and will try my best to do all that I can, no matter how far away I may be, to forever help my new family.

And with that said, I can’t wait to see my family. The one that lives on a little rock in the middle of the pacific.

support fair trade! these women in the upper east, weave these beautiful baskets! they are now sold at whole foods!

not going to lie... i think donkeys are my new favorite animals.

sirigu, upper east.

known for traditional pottery, architecture, and wall designs. super awesome.

these kids tried to sell me their bird for 10 cedis. and that bird cage was so awesome that i almost bought it. always hustlin.

pito. the beverage of choice in the northern regions of ghana.

pretty nasty if you asked me.

Sometimes things need to fall apart to be put properly back together.

… or so I keep telling myself.

So things kind of fell apart. I partially blame myself. After things were working well, I left for about two weeks. We had a conference at an uber nice hotel (air condition, hot water, meat with every meal, swimming pool, hot water) to reconnect with other volunteers and learn more about HIV activities and things that we can do in our towns to educate people about it. It was nice to be with volunteers, hearing their stories and talking about future events to collaborate on.

And well, when I came back I found the visitor centre closed. I heard that it was maybe open for three days and then after that they just put a sign on the door. Its hard to be mad, I mean the people that are working on this project are volunteering their time. So they have other jobs, jobs that earn them an income, to attend to and can’t make this their first priority, but there are at least five of them where they could have worked something out. They could have talked to one of their nieces or nephews who are probably out roaming the streets because they have nothing better to do. Maybe even talked to the men and women who just sit at their house all day long. But instead, it was just closed. With a sign saying to call a guide. No good. At all.

On top of that, the Ministry of Tourism is just causing more problems than solving or helping. We have been fighting with them since November for the right to manage the facility. Sending them letters, seeing them in person, calling them on the phone, fighting, fighting, and fighting. But no deuce. They say they’ll call us back in a week after their meeting. No call. I visit them in Accra to see whats up and voice what I think needs to be done to make this project work successfully for Ntonso and you. They say they’ll talk it over and call me. I wait. No call. I call them. They are still discussing it. They say they’ll call me. Still no call. UGH. You build this beautiful building for what?!

Then out of nowhere this company, Ghana Tourism Development Company Ltd comes to Ntonso. They say that the MOT has requested that they manage the facility in Ntonso so they’ve come to introduce themselves and talk with the main stakeholders. Although I’m not happy about the idea that another company will come to manage the facility, I am hopeful. I think the members of the TMT can take the experience that they have had with FM24 and use it as guidance for their interactions with GTDC.

So I am hopeful. I feel that GTDC has the money to help finance things that would be beneficial for Ntonso to improve as a tourist destination. I am hopeful that they will work out a better deal for the people who will work for the project. I feel that if this doesn’t work out, then the tourism project will never work.

I guess now we will just wait and see. Either it blows up and everyone loses. Or they work out a good deal and Ntonso won’t know what to do with all the damn tourist and all that damn money.


Oh yea, on a side and happy note.
I finally, after 22 months, have gotten… wait for it… electricity. And its so so so amazing. As I am walking towards my house I find myself smiling like a little girl in a candy shop. I will miss my candle lit dinners and bucket baths in the dark, but I think it won’t be hard for me to adjust.


I love my life so much that another year here wouldn’t be so bad.

twi word of the day: awradE (oh god!)