My Fat Lady

Soon after we turned off the lights last night, the room got stiflingly hot. In my sleep induced state, I realized that not only was the room boiling, it was also oddly quiet. “What’s going on?” I asked my sleepy self. Finally, I realized that the power was out. They warned us that this could happen, but I really didn’t think we’d encounter it 30 minutes after turning off the lights on the first night! Thankfully, the power kicked back on in about ten minutes, and didn’t go off again until about 7:30 this morning, when again, the silence woke me up, but this time, just in time to get ready to go to school.

Too busy running around trying not to forget anything, I forgot maybe the most important thing – breakfast. Who me? Yes! Me! I always eat breakfast. ALWAYS. But not today. (Well, I should say that I was planning on eating breakfast, but the loaf of bread I brought from Accra met its demise last night – mold). Anyway, I made it out the door with guidebook, cedis, money belt, laptop, purse, bookbag, notebooks, pens, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, tissues, Clif bars, and useless cell phone in hand by 8:30. I walked the short way to the highway leading to Cape Coast. As on of the Global Mamas staff (Mel) told me, I pointed toward the coast (behind me) as a taxi pulled up. This let him know I was heading toward Cape Coast. I asked him if he knew where the Aboom School was, bargained a little over the price, forgot to say I wanted a shared taxi, not a private one, and we were on our way.

We made it to the area with surprisingly few problems, and soon I spotted a sign saying, “Aboom School for Special Needs” with an arrow pointing right, up the hill. I jumped out scampered over to the red dirt path that twisted up a hill between two houses. Soon, I came to a school. The door was open. “Hello, is this the Aboom School for Special Needs?” I asked. “No, this is the Aboom Primary School. Go to the next one.” I came to a second school, “Hello, Mary? Is this the Aboom School for Special Needs?” “No, this is the Aboom Such-and-Such School. Follow the path up the hill to the right and you will find it.” So I set off again, trudging my now sweaty self and all my belongings past a woman and some goats, passing two or three more schools until finally I found it: The Aboom School for Special Needs.

The door was open, and I walked inside. School had already started, and on time, which surprised me. I had heard stories of school actually starting an hour or so after the appointed time because “no one wants to be the first one to school.” However, the school was already bustling with students and teachers at 9:01 am. I found myself walking into a classroom with two sewing machines. A young woman was sitting at one and pointed me in the direction of Mary’s (the headmistress’ office, just beyond that room. I knocked a little to get her attention. Immediately, she knew who I was, and jumped up to hug me and get me a seat. She must have said, “You are welcome” about 15 times. She gave me a quick tour of the school, and I met all the teachers (two plus Mary) and some of the aides (about five). With each introduction she would say, “This is Amy, the music therapist that I have been telling you about.” I had to keep reminding her that I am only a student, not officially an “MT-BC” yet, but I was relieved to hear that everyone else was as excited as I am to start working together.

The school technically has five rooms, but only three are used as classrooms now. One classroom was converted into a kitchen a few months ago, and the other serves as the cafeteria and entryway. There is no bathroom, but I didn’t even realize until after school was over – I sweat too much to even need it. The remaining three rooms housed groups of students today. In one classroom, an American volunteer from Tufts was teaching two classes that have been combined into one – the preschool and speech and language classrooms. In total, about 14 students were in the class, with ages ranging from 6-12. The general classification given to many of the students is intellectual disability, although some do have Down’s syndrome. In the classroom with the sewing machines, I found the two vocational classes, with ages ranging from 12-20. I did not know this before, but the Aboom school had teamed up with another NGO called ProWorld to produce handmade bags, much like the one Global Mamas gave me upon arrival in Elmina. They sell the bags for 15 cedis around Cape Coast. Mary told me that the money will go toward helping some students purchase new uniforms and/or lunch. Apart from learning skills such as washing dishes, sweeping, etc., these two classrooms spend much of their time working on the bags. Finally, the last classroom, which doubles as Mary’s office, is the cerebral palsy classroom. Although there are nearly 14 students with CP, only one was at school today. Although he does not speak or walk, he has the biggest smile, and does so every chance he gets.

I spent most of the day observing the different classrooms, looking for behaviors that would indicate how I might expect the different classes to respond and participate when I do start doing music next week. I showed a few teachers the Ghanaian folk songs that I brought along, and they were able to tell me which ones would be familiar, etc. The school even has some copies of other music (mostly hymns and gospel songs) that the students have learned. One of the very personable students kept singing “London Bridges,” but he only knew the words to the last line. You can imagine my delight when I realized that every time he sang, “My fair lady,” turned to me, and put his hand on my shoulder, he was actually singing, “My fat lady.” Whether this was a genuine mistake, or some sort of 10-year-old humor, I do not know, but either way, I thought it was hilarious every time.

I got on the Internet and sent Uncle Cliff an email, telling him to stop by anytime after 1:30 if he wanted to see the school. After lunch, Mary, one of the older boys and I took old toys and some extra books out of a big wooden chest in the kitchen and moved it into her office. The instruments will be kept in there. I will slowly start bringing them to the school starting tomorrow, just a few at a time, so that by Monday, they will all be there and ready to go. Mary summoned me to join her in the kitchen and we chatted about our hopes for the next few weeks over lunch – rice and beans with some sort of red sauce and fish ladled over the top. Thankfully, I was able to pick around the pieces of fish, and eat mostly only rice and beans. Since I had a Clif bar mid-morning (once I realized I forgot breakfast), I wasn’t too terribly hungry in the first place. The rice and beans were good, though, and right when I was about to log back onto Gmail to see if Uncle Cliff had responded, one of the teachers came in to say that I had a visitor.

To my delight, I found that a very sweaty Uncle Cliff had made it to the Aboom School. From the sounds (and looks) of it, he didn’t have as easy a time as I did making it there. Mary gave him a short tour, and we headed off in the direction of Kotokuruba Market, where she said we could find an MTN store. MTN is one of the mobile networks here, and if you remember from yesterday in Accra, the MTN office was unable to get my phone on the network. Anyway, we set off, making our way into the market area, which was hectic at first, but ended up being a really good time. I bought some bread to replace my moldy loaf, and was thrilled to find some whole wheat bread. When I asked, “Is this whole wheat?” the seller replied, “No, it’s brown.” We finally made our way to the MTN office, only to be sent down the road to Mobile X phone store. The owner Alfred promised to “decode” the phone, allowing it to work on the MTN network for only 24 cedis. He asked us to come back in 30 minutes, so we took off exploring more of the market. Cape Coast was built by the British, and the streets are very narrow, hardly wide enough for two cars, let alone people and market stands. We soon adapted to the hustle and bustle, and had no problem walking nearly toe-to-toe along the gutter and street, dodging toddlers, goats, chickens, and other shoppers. We purchased a pineapple for one cedi, and the seller cut it fresh for us right there. It ended up in little wedges in a plastic bag, and we snacked on it as we explored Cape Coast. Some other items of interest include yams the size of a small dog and avocados as big as a quart jar – for only one cedi (about $.66).

Back at Mobile X, Alfred told us it would be just a few minutes more (something you hear a lot), so we waited there. Soon, we heard a loud brass band coming down the street. We ran out to see people flocking out into the road, dancing to the music. A band with two trombones, one trumpet, and some snare drums came marching toward us, and Alfred said this was the prelude to a funeral. Apparently, the family and friends of a well-known person go around with instruments and collect money for the funeral. This weekend, the funeral will take place on Friday or Saturday afternoon, and when it is finished, the guests will begin a party that will last all night, consisting of music, dancing, food and drinks. I read a New York Times article about Ghanaian funerals, and it seems that what they said is true. While they known how to mourn death, it seems Ghanaians also know how to celebrate life.

Alfred finally returned with my phone, which actually works now! We made a few calls just to be sure, and then said goodbye. Cliff and I tried to make our way to the Global Mamas office, and after getting a little turned around, made it there, only to find that none of the volunteers had come into the office today. Often on Tuesdays, the volunteers work from the Elmina house. So, we headed back up to the taxi station and shared a taxi back to Elmina. We had another great dinner at Eli’s – black-eyed pea burgers, salad, guacamole, and plantain chips. I think I could get used to her cooking every night! We said goodbye to Cliff, who is heading back to Accra in the morning, and returned to the house. I took a much needed bucket shower (which I am actually starting to enjoy) and got things ready for tomorrow. After all that walking around town today, I have a feeling that my fourth night in Ghana might be the best night of sleep yet.