July 16, 2012- Day 11

Today on the farm we were weeding the organic plant garden.  The garden is a small field and is a complete mess.  The people who are in charge of the farm, and the help that the Reverend Sam, my project director, has paid for, do not really do their job.  He said that often he will pay them a lot of money and weeks later the work will still not be done.  They planted the seeds for a variety of vegetables on untilled ground.  There are roots, sticks, glass bottles and garbage everywhere and now little plants are growing.  So Drew and I went through, dug up the ground around the plants, and tried to get as many sticks and garbage out as possible.  But, it is a very large garden and will take many days to finish.  

Reverend Sam has many dreams and aspirations for this farm to come into.  He wants to breed grass cutters and rabbits in order to sell for meat.  He wants to dig an area to make a pond, fill it with ducks, and then sell them as meat. He wants to buy another processor to process palm nuts into palm oil (used to make margarine).  He is constantly talking of new things to come in the future, but I’m worried that at the pace of life here these things will come in the very distant future.  Ghanaian time is very different from American time.  Drew and I actually try to work more than they will let us.  We feel guilty taking 20 minute breaks every 1.5 hours.  They make us sit, they take us home early.  This is very good for us, but in terms of getting things done, it is a very slow moving process.  The pace of life is like that here.  People walk slowly, no one is in a rush.  The only thing that moves fast are the taxis.  If someone says they will be there by 8 am they mean we will leave at 9.30.  Its really different than in America.  Everything is by the hour at home.  We always work as hard as possible, as fast as possible.  Everything we do is rushed and planned out and organized and speedy.  The people here seem happier.  They have more time to enjoy each other.  They take breaks and talk and laugh and eat.  They work hard but they socialize and take time to live.  Its not that people don’t work here; they work all day and night sometimes.  They just do it at a snails pace in comparison with the pace that we do it at.  I don’t want to make judgments about either side, just observations and facts.  I don’t feel biased toward either one because both frustrate me for different reasons, based on different levels of my personality.  I love relaxing and taking breaks, but when Reverend Sam talks about the project and gets so passionate about making sure that things get done and looks so disappointed that these other workers he has hired are not doing their job, it makes me feel like I could be doing so much more to help along the entire process.  It would be amazing to get more people on this project that volunteer because if we had more than just the two of us, so much would get done and we would see actual change.  

One thing that is really exciting is this:  Upon arriving at the farm and doing the work, I really felt like I was just helping a family get their chores done and I thought that this, for me, was just going to be an experience in Africa in which I help out and learn from their culture.  However, Reverend Sam was telling me that after we leave he will stay in communication with us, sending us pictures and updates on the progress here.  Also, due to our work here we will be able to contact other projects with similar goals in many different areas of the world in order to encourage them to give donations to this project which would be a great help.  I’m really making connections in the world.  I was thinking of how cool it would be to come back here later in my life and see the farm and how different things are and somehow get involved with this work here again.  I'm not sure what I want from my life, but just the thought of knowing that there is an organization out there in the world that I have been a key component in and am now a part of the family of that project, really excites me.  Even if I do nothing with it, it’s just cool to know.  This is why I love opportunities like this and why I love the idea of traveling and getting involved in communities.  You are constantly making connections everywhere you go.  You are spreading yourself across the world and becoming a part of more and more every time.  This inspires me.  It even makes me want to do more community service at school this next year.  I worked in the soup kitchen one day last year.  Imagine what it would be like to work at hospice every weekend, to work in a soup kitchen, etc. People are incredible. The more people you meet, the more you are touched, changed, molded and the more you grow and learn about living and thriving.  I want to help people, but not just because I think that I can change the world.  I want them to change me so that I can go out and help even more.  I think the best thing we can realize about life is that we are not high and mighty and able to help everyone.  Learning is the best thing we can do. If we open ourselves up to learning from the people we encounter, then in our most unaware moments that part of them that is wonderful and good will come out and help someone else and spread that goodness to others.  As we all interact, we all pass each other on to one another.  I hope that when I come home I will be able to pass on some of the people I met in Africa to all of you; wonderful, happy, appreciative Africa.  And maybe this will help you to help yourself and others be more happy and appreciative because if there’s one thing I’ve learned in Africa it is to never take the small things or people in your life for granted because everything is precious whether it is someone you’re used to seeing every day or just a roll of toilet paper.  
Everything is something to be happy about.  Honestly, if you’re not worried about dying of malaria, then I don’t know what you really need to stress or be depressed about.  Have any of your relatives died in the past month or year suddenly due to inexplicable illness that they just came down with 2 days before they died? Are you concerned about where your next meal will come from? Do you only own one pair of clothes, and have sores oozing on your leg because you cant afford even the smallest bandage? The fact that all of my friends and family are okay and have been for a while and that everyone is warm and healthy and well fed, makes me beyond happy.   

Later:

I miss home a lot and I miss everyone that I know and love.  I miss being surrounded by family and love and noise and happiness and people who understand me.  

However, it has been really nice to get away.  I haven’t been without anyone in such a long time.  To finally have my own perspective and my brain back to myself feels refreshing.  I have endless amounts of time to read, do French Rosetta Stone, take walks and just be me by myself.  I haven’t really had this since going to school in 8th grade.  I used to love reading and being alone, and then I met so many people and spent all of my time with them. At university, there are always at least 2 or 3 people in my room at all times. I am always in communication with someone. On my walks back from class I call people from back home because that’s my only free time.  Here, I work and then have nothing to do all evening.  I have time to reflect and enjoy myself at a slow easy pace.  It’s a really nice time. I have met people here but I’m not really in a rush.  I’m enjoying going to bed early, and then waking up at 6 am to do yoga before work.  I hope I can bring some of this back with me because it is very relaxing and enjoyable to do things I enjoy doing instead of stressing about school and running around always busy.