Day 22 - "Maybe They Will Come"

Saturday, April 2 – Day 22

“Maybe they will come.” That was Emit’s response to our question of whether the other kids would be arriving soon for their “3 PM” soccer game with some other local boys. Welcome to Ghana time.

Here in Ghana, things happen when they happen. If you arrive three hours late for a meeting, that’s understandable. Maybe your trotro broke down. Perhaps it took an hour to fill up and leave then got stuck in traffic. These things happen. Worst case, you’ll reschedule for a day or weeks later. No worries.

Today, the fickle nature of Ghana time manifested itself in the form of variable football match start times. The older boys had told us yesterday that they had a game at 8 AM on the field near our house against some local boys; a bunch of us expressed interest and they said they’d contact us at game time. Emily said she’d once gone to an “8 AM” game that started at noon and another time attended a “10 AM” game that began at 3 PM so we figured waiting all morning for the game was a distinct possibility.

The outcome? I woke up naturally at 6 AM, the other girls planning to come slept in, and we found out from Marilyn and Claire at breakfast that the game had kicked off at 7 AM and we had missed it. Adjazam (the older Samuel) had stopped by the house partway through the game but only spoken to Zach. Ultimately, it all ended well. The boys had another game at 3 PM that they informed us of mid-morning. We were there for that one. In true Ghana fashion, it kicked off at 4 PM as the heat of the sun began to fade.

We did fill the morning time easily, taking a big group trip to the waterfall within walking distance of town. All the female volunteers (i.e., everyone except Zach) and the older boys plus Yvonne walked the two-ish miles (40 or so minutes – we use timepieces sporadically when out and about) along quiet dirt roads. The waterfall itself was beautiful; the walk was stunningly gorgeous true Africa. We reached the top of a mild rise in the road and Africa opened before us. Lush green foliage covered every visible surface up to the not-so-distant mountains except for the winding dirt road we traversed and a solitary hut with a conical thatched roof. That is the landscape of Africa to me. There are occasional cities and numerous villages, but everywhere else is so much nature. I love it.

Swimming at the waterfall violated the traveler-in-Africa rule against spending time in any sort of body of fresh water (schistomyosis is bad), but we all went in anyway. There we were with a 40-foot waterfall sliding and crashing down onto our backs and shoulders in rural Ghana. Amazing experience.

Sophie and I walked back from the waterfall with Joshua shortly before lunch. After the meal, Sophie, Sarah, and I spent the afternoon picnicking and watching football. The picnic was a bread-and-jam affair under a tree by the field because Sophie was hungry after barely picking at the lunch of rice balls with Thai-like ground-nut-butter soup. We bought bread at a nearby shop then enjoyed our shady snack. As 3 rolled into 4, we prepared to forgo waiting for the football game and walk up to the orphanage. A whole passle of children met us at the far side of the field and we happily settled in for the match (after Emily and I went with Eto to the police station, where I met an officer named Fred who offered to be my ‘friend’ then was super-friendly and sent warm regards to Beatrix when I politely declined). I spent the entire match with Kojo settled contentedly on my lap, missing much of the game action to focus my attention on him and the other kids and my fellow volunteers on the sidelines. I did catch some of Bismark’s fancy footwork and George’s diving kicks.

The game ended as dusk settled.