Day 18 - In Search of Glass Soda Bottles

Tuesday, March 29 – Day 18

All of us volunteers are enjoying air-conditioning in a private room at the Forest Hotel, Dodowa’s finest, as we take an evening away from the kids to watch the England v. Ghana football (soccer) match live. I felt like we were parents leaving our kids with the babysitter tonight; multiple volunteers raised concerns about leaving the kids for football, especially during WoF exam week. We know that we play a huge role in these kids’ daily lives.

Speaking of daily life, today was a good and productive day. I helped little ones get ready for school then carried Beauty (tied to my back by Ma) and Godwyn out the door. Zach came over and took Godwyn part of the way to the bus stop, a good thing since Beauty’s wrap was slipping. Many of us volunteers hung around until the bus came. I enjoyed, as I always do, watching 15-year-old Famous play with little Godwyn; those two absolutely adore each other.

After breakfast, I took my customary morning nap (an hour today) then headed out for errands. Sophie and I dropped Niki off at the salon to get her hair braided then walked out to the seamstress’ shop along the paved main road. The seamstress was asleep on a matress on the floor in the back of her one-room shop, but woke when we entered and assured us that there was no need to go and return later She was super-friendly, tailoring a pair of pants Sophie had bought at a market on the spot, taking our orders with ease, and efficiently measuring as needed. Her son, who was about our age, entered just after we did and spent the entirety of our visit sprawling on her work table and professing love to Sophie in Twi. His mother laughingly translated his amateur advances.

Sophie and I carried on to the post office to mail the cards we found at Big Milly’s. Postcards are nearly impossible to locate here; the cards at Kokrobite and some postcards five hours further west at Cape Coast are the only ones I reliably know exist. Our final stop was for a snack of bowl fruit (a deceptively-named fried ball of dough, roll-sized and densely tasty) and, for Sophie, a Coke before checking on Niki and returning home.

Bowl "fruit"

Have you ever wondered what happened to glass Coca-Cola bottles? They’re all in Africa. (I suppose some could be in Asia or South America too.) Shops here sell soda in glass bottles only, never plastic containers or cans. Patrons are expected to return the bottle after drinking, generally though by no means always to the same store. Shop owners offer to open newly-purchased bottles of Coke, Sprite, or Pepsi; they always have a bottle opener on hand.

Another thing that can still be found in Africa but no longer in America is lickable stamps. The postman stamped each envelope we were sending abroad then gave us the cards with two stamps for each to lick and affix. We stamped our envelopes then returned them to him to send. Even mail is different here. (The post-office man, by the way, is not stuck behind his desk every moment of the day. He was sitting in a chair outdoors as we approached and stood to greet us and move behind his teller-window desk to dole out our stamps. Life moves at a different pace here.)

Soccer game excitement! After England led 1-0 from the 43^rd minute, Ghana scored in minute 90 at the moment of the three-added-minutes announcement. Four or five Ghanaian players jumped the sideline barrier to celebrate closer to their fans. A 1-1 draw was soon final.

One iteration of the aforementioned (day 17) group picture