Fundraiser

Thursday july 23rd was special, we did not go to the clinic. It was Kates b-day so we paid our cook to bake her a cake and we surprised her in the morning. I do not remember if I mentioned meeting a chief before but well the previous thursday I met a chief and he was particularly fond of me (not in a weird way but in he found having a conversation with me interesting) so my job was to get him to come to the orphanage fund raiser. Chiefs (nana in twi) are a really big deal, kinda like celebrities so ppl will come to see them. He agreed to come and Kate and I were supposed to escort him in. So this Thursday he came to the fundraiser. It was unbelievable. The kids have been practicing for weeks on their dances and we all helped to clean the orphanage and put up tents and decorations. The orphanage did not look like the orphanage and the kids were in their uniforms that had been cleaned and some were in costumes for their dance. Mary is an excellent dancer and looked super cute in her outfit. Naomi(the coordinator) grabbed kate someother volunteers and I and threw us in a room. She dressed us in traditional African clothing and forbid us to leave without the chief. I spent about 2 hours in a hot room with no ventilation in a less then comfortable outfit. The kids also came in to change for their dances, they put on makeup and beads and were super excited. I was about ready to pass out when Nana arrived. He was really glad to see me and took the other chosen volunteers and me to sit and chat. Naomi keeps joking that I am his new wife which was kinda funny at first but now really starting to freak me out. He was really nice about it and gave me a new name. He calls me aba(which is fonti for Thursday, the day I was born on, a common practice in Ghana) and his last name which ill try to learn to spell and post it for you guys. He says I should use it around Ghana and ppl will treat me with respect because that shows them I am a princess. We probably talked for about an hour, he is a very interesting person and has done seen and met amazing things and ppl. His life story is really interesting and his has traveled all over the world and is very knowledgeable about other countries. Then we escorted him in for the festival fundraiser. We sat with nana in special seat, there were a large number of ppl from the town and everyone kept taking our picture. There was also other notable figures in the community and a journalist from the local paper a tv crew and a radio host. The kids preformed and a group from UC davis performed also. The kids were amazing but UC davis was terrible. There was a time set aside for donating and a few speeches and when it was all over we escorted nana out. He has invited me to his palace in kasoa next week so im excited to go plus I like hanging out with him. After nana left we went back inside to find all the kids dancing with the volunteers and UC davis kids. The davis group is a summer class where they perform and donate to orphanages. Although I think its great they never really see what its really like. All they do is come and party with the kids after at events where their true living conditions and spirit of the orphanages are masked. All they see is the show that the staff and kids put on. They were grabbing the kids and I don’t think anyone told them about the ringworm ha ha ha.Oh I forgot to mention last week everyone at the orphanage was tested for HIV and they found 3 more kids that are positive. I don’t think they know about that either.