Interviews and Accra

Last week was a big week. Having finished our classes and met with each person individually, the students all had to have a sit down with Douglas and Stephen. We obronis lose much in translation, and even though we have a good idea of whom we will fund, we just don’t know the culture well enough to pick up on other clues that might dictate otherwise.

Monday, we worked all day trying to put together our class’ write ups for the interviews. It spilled onto Tuesday morning: crunch time. We prioritized those we thought qualified and left those we would not fund because they wouldn’t have to have a write up anyway. We also found a giant spider in the house. Garrett caught it in a basket thing, and it ended up dying. But, really, none of us were too sad.

We set up interviews in one classroom and a waiting room in another. The interviews lasted 3 hours, but I had fun hanging out with our class. Beverly and Allan sat with Douglas and Stephen to have unfamiliar obronis in the interview, and Garrett and I directed traffic from the outside. Ok, Garrett directed traffic. I messed around with kids playing in the school, tried to play volleyball (I stood there to play, but it was a team practice or something), and chatted with the interviewees. I guess I did do a little work because I did have to ask everybody more questions, but I really didn’t do much. Zandra decided to come along, and she and Eva did real hanging out. They talked up a storm, and Eva took Zandra to her house. They are pretty buddy-buddy now. Everybody who we thought would not pass did not pass, and there were only a few surprises in those who we thought would pass. One girl who we picked had a very tender infant, and Stephen said that she would be funded because he knew she would have to put the baby first and could not work enough to make the loan payments. Protocol usually is, “You’ll hear from us if you get the loan,” but they told two people straight up that they weren’t getting one. One of the gals (Florence the baker, whom we were not going to fund) came and told us she didn’t understand the question in the interview and wanted another chance, but we had to stand by their decision. We hope everybody comes to class the next time the class is offered, but more importantly, we hope that everybody we pick pays back decently so the class will be offered again.

For Allan and Beverly’s class in Nkurakan, we sat in the interviews, and it was a long day. They do the interviews in Twi, so we did not understand much. They funded the majority of their class, and we funded half of our class. I hope the money we have budgeted for first-time loans stretches to fit everybody!

On Friday, we made another trip to Accra. The ride was pretty decent on the way down. We took a bus to Koforidua, took a tro tro to Medina, and another tro tro to the Christian Center, which is right by Stephen, Jr.’s office. The trip from Kof-town to Medina was really pretty. It reminded me of Washington; dense trees lined the road as we climbed one of the few mountains in Ghana. The trip took four hours, but it was pleasant (one of the tro tros used air conditioning!). The trip from Accra to Abomosu was AWFUL, though.

I straight up love Accra. We ate American food!!! I had a hamburger, and I haven’t had beef in two months! Not to mention we had the blessing of speedy wireless Internet. So speedy, I could actually watch videos and Facetime. I used the crap out of the net.

I also love the Accra temple. I woke up Saturday morning and did a session, and it was a very spiritual session. I did not pack my temple clothes for the trip, so I had to borrow clothes (they don’t rent clothes). It was very humbling to borrow clothes because it felt like I was asking for help from people who have so little compared to what I have (they did not rent).  And they were so happy to help! I guess it wasn’t a big deal for them because everybody borrows, but I felt really humbled for the help. The temple design is very compact, so right out of the dressing rom door you walk into the creation room. The creation room had scenes like the view from the top of the mountain on the tro tro ride. I was expecting the old video because I know translations have not been made on the new video. I was also excited to watch the old video in Twi because Stephen, Sr., Stephen, Jr., and other people in the Abomosu Branch are the voices in the film. But the new video played, even in a room full of people I’m not sure all spoke English. I still like it better, though. It was so great to worship with the people, too. Nothing was especially smooth or perfect, but you could see their faith in their worship. One of the woman officiators kept meeting my eye and smiling at me (not that way, Alma), and it made me feel very welcome. The celestial room was beautiful! I think the inspiration for the temple was the local fabric called kenti. Kenti is very geometric, and that theme spilled into the stain glass windows, the designs in the carpet, and the carpentry on the walls. There was this other theme as well, that looked kind of like --<>--<>--<>-- with the diamond part more square (I think it is supposed to be their symbol of eternity, because it was repeated may times, but I have no idea. In the Brigham City temple, they had a recurring symbol of some Morse code that means “victory,” so that could mean anything). Anyway, this temple is now one of my favorites, if not my favorite.

Allan was supposed to go with me to the temple, but he slept in, so I took off without him. I felt ok about it, especially because the people here are so nice and I knew exactly where to go, and if I needed to, I could just get a taxi back to my place. That is, I felt good about it until I realized I didn’t have a phone because Allan had it. I felt a little insecure, but because I had already started the journey, I figured what the heck. Just remember to bring your phone with you when you go out into an unfamiliar or sketchy place. You’re welcome.

After the temple, we went to the Accra mall and found the old art market. Of course, it was across a busy freeway and on the other side of two onramps, but everybody runs across freeways, right? In Ghana, they do! The mall is way overpriced and nothing is worth buying, so we ditched there pretty soon and trekked to the market. It was cool, but not super cool. It has all of the touristy trinkets that you expect gift shops to have, but everything was typical Africa as viewed by an American who hasn’t been to Africa. Elephants, giraffes, masks, drums. Nothing I’ve seen since I’ve been here. There were a few treasures, like some cool paintings and hand-woven throws, but everything was sooo over priced I didn’t buy much. I did buy some kenti ties, but they ended up sucking. It’s hard to explain, but it just doesn’t wear well. We took a taxi back to the office, and it took probably two hours. There was so much traffic, and we think there may have been an accident the way we were trying to go, but we flipped around and took the long way around.

Master Fufu took us to his ward on Sunday. It was quite the drive, but the ward building was huge! It was probably bigger than some ward buildings at home, but you have to realize that there are big courtyards in the middle of the building, so even though it was big, half of it was the courtyard. I spent all Sunday night applying for internships. It was miserable.  This summer I hope to be working as an actuarial intern, somewhere. I submitted 15 or so applications, and I hope I hear back soon. The one I really want is at Pacific Life in Newport Beach, California, where my buddy from school works. He got an internship there the summer of ’12 is now working there as an actuary. He put in a recommendation for me, so I’m hoping I get an interview. It stresses me out, though, because I never hear back from online job applications. I really don’t expect this to be different, but I hope something stands out (GHANA). I spent four or five hours on stupid applications. Here’s hoping for some fruit of my labors.

We left Monday early for the bus station. I thought it would be easy to find, but the tro tro dropped us off at a weird place. Some nice Ghanaian lady who was visiting from the UK helped us get there. I thought she was also headed to the station, but she said she was going to just turn around and get back to some other market when she dropped us off. Lydia was her name, and she was so kind. Thank you so much, Lydia, if you ever read this!

Getting on the bus was more stressful than finding it. All of the ladies that sell product on market days (every Tuesday and Friday) make all of their purchases Monday morning then take the Abomosu bus back home. They have huge boxes and bulky items they guard at the stop, and then they have to fight for a ticket when the bus comes, and then they have to fight for a seat when the doors open. Luckily, one of Beverly and Allan’s students from Nkurakan helped us get a seat on the bus. Thank you, Rebekah! Then we waited for two freaking hours before the bus left. It was ridiculous. It took forever to get everybody’s junk on, and everybody kept leaving and doing something. It was driving me bonkers. Finally the bus left, but the trip still took four hours. We left the house at 7:30, arrived at the bus station at 10:00, boarded the bus about 11:30, left at 1:00, and got back to Abomosu at 5:00. It was a long freaking day, and I recommend anybody who comes for the internship to pay the extra money and take the tro tro home. It is not worth it to take the bus.

We have three more weeks left of work, then one week of vacation. I am getting excited to leave, but I am getting really excited for CHRISTMAS! They had wreaths and lights up at the mall, and I may or may not have listened to Christmas music while I had Internet radio. Home countdown: 25 days. Christmas countdown: 41 days. WOO!