June 1-5

June 1, 2009
Today was a pretty slow day. I just worked in the warehouse all day long. My job is kind of frustrating because the cost of the products going out and the amount of money and product coming back at the end of the day never quite add up—either too much or not enough. It’s stressful.
This evening I went on a walk with the other woman who is working on the project. It was really nice. It was actually the first time I went on a walk just to walk since I’ve been here. The evening was really nice. There weren’t a lot of stars because it was a little cloudy.
We also watched Top Gun this evening. What a stupid movie. Sorry if it’s your favorite. I thought it was gross that the love interest was so much older than Tom Cruise, and she was really ugly.

2 June.
This morning, we had crazy power surges that fried three computer charge cords, including ours. It’s kind of a big problem to not have your computer when all of the work you need to do involves the computer, but we made do with the 2 computers we had that still worked. So we actually didn’t have power to our computer for the last several days, and I made notes for what to write about for each day. With the power surges (and then, of course, the power outages), something happened to our water pump so we had no water to the house. I washed my hands with water from a pink bucket, which was an interesting experience. Nothing like Africa to make you appreciate everything you have.
We went out to lunch today, and a little girl at the restaurant came over and sat at one of the chairs at our table. She was too little to talk for real, so she just babbled in baby talk. Beth, the other woman who is here, taught her how to play peek-a-boo and she thought it was a lot of fun. She would walk back and forth from her table to our table during the time we were there, and she cried when we left. So adorable. : -)

3 June
Today we went to a sales campaign in a village called Napaili. It is the poorest village that we work in—they don’t have electricity, but most others do for at least some of the houses at some times of the day. It was actually the village that was the most fun to visit. Before we started the campaign, some of the women started singing to entertain themselves. It was a call-and-response style song, with the caller walking around the group. Some of the women shrieked loudly during parts of the song. I couldn’t really figure out why. It was so fun to listen to. I also heard a Muslim prayer for the first time in this village. One man led the prayer, and after he would say a few words everybody would say a one syllable word, and then after several of those everybody said a sentence together. Also really interesting and really cool.
This village also had some very sad things. There were many children who had belly button hernias. I’m not sure why. Peter said he has seen it in other villages also, but I never noticed it before. I’m not sure if it is a health problem or just a result of odd bellybutton-tying practices. I also saw two children who I am pretty sure were starving to death. Literally. Their skin was all stretched across their faces, and their heads looked too big for their bodies. Their bellies were not round like most of the other children’s (this is also from malnourishment), but they were thin. Maybe that means they were further along the starvation path? One of them (a boy) was losing patches of hair from his head. When I first saw them, all I could do was feel sad and kind of horrified that I was seeing a person who was really and truly starving. As I thought about it later that evening, I realized that I could probably do something to help, and maybe I should have tried while I was there. I also felt kind of discouraged as I realized that even if I gave them food, there was no sustainable, long-term way for me to help them and make sure that they never would die from starvation. I talked to Peter about it and we decided that the best way for us to help these children and others like them is to do our work here as best as we can, to give people in these communities opportunities to work and access to products that will improve their lives. I still don’t really feel resolution on the issue, but it’s nice to know that I am doing something that is helping people right now, and hopefully will help them in the future.

4 June
This evening I watched a little boy about 10 years old leave the other children he was praying with and go, all alone, to his prayer mat to do his prayers. He actually did them before the call to prayer. I was touched by his faith, even though he was so young and even though his (probably) siblings were not participating.
5 June
This morning, we went fabric shopping with a woman who is the wife of our store manager. Her name is Fairuza. Afterwards we went to two different tailors. One tailor already made Peter a couple of shirts and now he will make my dress, and the other tailor is making matching dresses for me and for Beth, compliments of Fairuza. I will take pictures of myself in my new clothes when I get them back.
We met some of Fairuza’s sisters. One of them has a strange rash on her skin that she has been unable to get rid of, despite going to the doctor in Accra (probably the best doctor around). The doctors prescribed her medicine for everything from allergies to itching to acne, and it’s helping a little bit but not a lot. Peter is giving her some Miracell this evening so we’ll see if that helps it at all.
Speaking of acne, three different people here have commented on the acne I have on my forehead (probably from the sunscreen) and diagnosed it as a mosquito bite. I didn’t bother to correct them, but I think it’s kind of funny.
In the afternoon, we went to the bank. I was talking to a man who helped us at the bank yesterday, and when Peter came into the bank I mentioned that he was my husband. The man told me to tell Peter that he was going to steal me away. I thought it was funny. Here, divorce is common and it actually would not be bad or uncommon for a man to steal another man’s wife away. For example, Peter the security guard lost one of his wives to a taxi driver. (Interesting side note—Peter is a Christian man with four wives. Well, only two now because one died and one ran off with the taxi driver.) According to an anthropology book I read before I came out here, in the Dagbani culture your relationship with your siblings is stronger than your relationship with your spouse. Interesting stuff.