Heaven on Earth

We Found It.

A Day in the Life of a Volunteer

6:15 am CeCe knocks on our door and we hear, "Breakfast is read."
We pull ourselves out of bed and go eat breakfast, which is always a piece of bread with either peanut butter or jam... that we brought ourselves.

7:00 am Walk to the School (unless the kids ditched us then we take a cab.... its a long walk ok?) We teach for 2 and a half hours and then begin our walk back. We usually find a cab to take us.

10:30 We have no schedule for this time, we always do the most random things. Some times we go to the special school, sometimes we go see the weaver in town, or the wood carver, sometimes we go to our drink spot, and other times (like today) we got to the internet cafe.

1:00 pm We have lunch. Its either fried yams with a tomato sauce or a salsa, or pasta with a spicy tomato sauce. We then usually try to take a nap, or write in our journals, or have a "friendly" game of nerts. Mara says "I hate you so bad" frequently during this game. Its fun, and Kailey was a quick learner. Through out this time we are also playing with the seamstress' children.

3:30 the kids come home and there is lots of hugging and talking. We help them with their chores and then we start playing baseball, soccer, or football. Playing sports here is deadly but its worth it because they have so much fun.

5:00 We take a couple of the older kids into the market with us to buy them a drink and get ourselves one for dinner.

6:30 Dinner time. This is either chicken with rice and a sauce or Cassava root with sauce (its disgusting... seriously) or othere slight variations of this. Good thing we have granola bars.

7:15 Homework time. This is one of the best times of day. All the kids with homework come up and we help them with their work. Once the littler ones have gone to bed we help the older kids with their homework and usually play a few card games with them.

8:45 "Shower" time.

9:30 We are usually in bed by this time, we read our scriptures and then Mara and Kendra go to sleep. Larissa reads until around midnight and then goes to sleep. A lot of books have been completed so far.....

2:00 am Kendra gets up and turns the light of because Larissa wont do it because a) she is on the top bunk of the bunk beds b) once in her mosquito net for the night she does not get out and c) she is a pansy.

You know your in Africa when...

.... four white girls call a cab and they try to jack the price up 1000%..... To bad for them that we know usual rates.... We aren't suckers

... we show the kids pictures of us in America (hair done and make up on) and they don't believe its really us

....at night we play the "name what animal just made that noise" at night while laying in bed.

....from 11 am till about 2:30 pm the streets are bare and EVERY one is inside laying down. Its just too hot.

....A lizard crawls on the wall of your "dinning room" and you respond with "oh hey look its Carlos"

....the kids are literally playing with a wheel and a stick

....out of desperation, you poke your head outside of your mosquito net for 30 beautiful seconds of "fresh" air.

....drinking water out of a bag seems perfectly normal.


You know just the usual stuff :)

Tomorrow we go to the monkey sanctuary! WOOT! Stay posted :)

Things You'd Never Hear in America

-Yevo (Yo-vo, which means European or White Girl)

-There is a frog in the tub.

-Did it spit at you? (Wisdom asked us this when we told him the frog in the tub was orange....)

-I'll hold your money for you.

- 1 Ghana Cedi (this is cooler if you know the accent....)

-Futbol

-You are welcome (EVERY ONE says this but they mean it literally like we are welcomed into their village not as in You're welcome after a thank you)

-Sister Larissa, Kendra, or Mara

-Please do you have a A, K, Q, or J? (Instead of asking for an ace, king, queen, or jack. We have adopted this.)

-Hand me another bag of water.


There are others we just can't think of them right now. So we will play a little game of would you rather with you guys.

Would you rather:
Shower out of a bucket with a spitting orange frog

OR

Sleep inside of a sweltering hot sauna all night long?

WE LOVE AFRICA!!!

Freguently Used Phrases (Thus Far)

"I'm sweating."

"I don't know if I have my passport." (Mara every 5 seconds)

"Kendra, don't, I will climb up there." (Mara every time she WATCHES Kendra climb onto the top bunk)

"What if there is a swarm of Lizards? I don't want an iguana on my bed. Will you check and see if there is a lizard under my bed?" (and other variations.... Larissa)

"Guys I'm taking these kids home with me."

"Oh he/she is so beautiful!"

"Ugh whats that smell."

"I'm sweating."

"Oh my gosh look white people."

"Its SO hot." x 10000

"Uh... what is this?"

"Is there a bug on me?"

"Bucket time." (opposed to shower)

"I'm sweating."

"Look at the layer of dirt.... ALL over me."

"Please don't judge me." or "Just don't look in a mirror." or "I'll take the picture!"

"Turn the fan on."

"The sun is now penetrating 30 (40) ( and finally 50) SPF."

"I swear the days are 48 hours long here"

"Maybe we should just watch them play... " (said while we wring out our shirts)

"Guys we are in Africa...!!"

"Wow look at that!" "Look how pretty that is"

"AIR CONDITIONING!" (said in the bank today)

More to come!!! WE LOVE AFRICA!

Top 13 Myths and Truths

Myth:

Africa is hot and humid.

Truth:

We thought we had prepared ourselves for heat. Nope. It is suffocatingly hot while you are leaving a significantly large trail of sweat everywhere you go. Larissa’s hair has yet to dry from last night’s shower. We are gross…constantly.

Myth:

All people in Africa speak English.

Myth:

Most people in Africa speak English.

Truth:

Very little English in spoken. There is a lot of nodding and smiling going on on both ends. It works!

Myth:

Girls don’t sweat; they glisten.

Truth:

We have sweat in places we did not know were physically possible...sick. We know.  We actually have not stopped since we got off the place. We are going to be a sight for sore eyes when we get back to the states! ;)

Myth:

Speed limit signs are carefully followed.

Truth:

Apparently the “death toll” sign, outside the airport, does not deter speeding. We are not sure what the African landscape actually looks like as we were speeding by to fast to see anything but a blur.

Myth:

Larissa is 1/8^th black.

Truth:

She is not, nor has this felt like coming home for her.

Myth:

Mara will never have cankles.

Truth:

We were all swollen from the heat yesterday...or so we thought. Looking at Mara’s ballooned up ankles/feet made us grateful for our minimal swelling. Seriously, big foot has nothing on her. :)

Myth:

Americans eat huge portions.

Truth:

Two things must be thought by all the African people when they see us. 1. “Look! Rich white people!” 2. “They are Americans, they must eat a lot.” CC, our wonderful cook, believes we should be able to eat our weight in food three times a day.

Myth:

Americans are stupid/careless/naïve…whatever you want to call it.

Truth:

In some cases…maybe. However, we are not dumb enough to let you “hold our money” for us while we are walking out of the airport. Nice try!

Myth:

We are in Kpando Village.

Truth:

Well we are, but it is actually pronounced Pan-Doe. Silent K… We’ve decided to just start calling me, Kendra, En-dra. Silent k.

Myth:

We are going to love the children.

Truth:

Pretty sure this is the only thing we got right. And love hardly describes it. I wish you could meet them all. I think the phrase “Love at First sight” is incredibly appropriate in this case.

Myth:

You can not get sunburned while wearing sunscreen.

Truth:

We are right next to the equator…the sun can (and will) do whatever is pleases.

Myth:

Coke is the only universal drink.

Truth:

After going to 7 different shacks, due to insistent whining from Mara, a Pepsi was found!! (Larissa’s side note, the Coke was better and cheaper!)

Myth:

Skin to skin contact is comforting and crucial to development.

Truth:

We’d be perfectly content to never be touched again. (While here)

And, in case you had forgotten…

Myth:

Africa is hot and humid.

Truth:

We thought we had prepared ourselves for heat. Nope. It is suffocatingly hot while you are leaving a significantly large trail of sweat everywhere you go. Larissa’s hair has yet to dry from last night’s shower. We are gross…constantly.

We love Africa and we love our kids. We want to post frequently...but with the kind of connection we have..don't hold your breath! :)

We love you all!!!  

RAPIDLY APPROACHING...

I just though I would let all our avid readers know (Pretty sure it is only Larissa and I...but whatever!) That we leave for Africa in exactly 3 weeks and 12 hours from right now!!!!!!

Larissa and I need to get past finals, and all our packing and last minute preparations, and then we are on our way!

HOLY SMOKES.
I am ridiculously excited. I sometimes feel like it has not quite hit me yet, because I still have so much stuff to do before I get to go. But my heart starts racing when I think about it for too long! So stoked.

Our first donation!

We recieved our first donation in the mail today and we are so grateful! Thanks so much Jeff and Mauri Bleazard!

Excuse our less than decent appearance :)

A little about us and Village Volunteers

Village Volunteers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that works in partnership with rural village and capacity-building programs to support the development of sustainable solutions for community survival, education, and growth. Through collaboration based on friendship and the commitment to human rights, volunteers have the opportunity to strengthen ties across the boundaries of international borders, race, gender, age, and culture. Village Volunteers is dedicated to preparing volunteers to be culturally sensitive and educated about the goals and objectives of each community, inspiring a sense of global citizenship. We, Kendra Haynie, Larissa Smith, and Mara Whittier (Team KLM) have been accepted into one of their vounteer programs! We will be serving in the Missahoe Children's Home, in Kapando Village, Ghana. We will be going for four weeks in May. Tentative dates are May 6, 2010 to June 3, 2010.

As a team and individuals we know this will be a life changing experience, and open us up to the world around us. We hope our perspective educations can be a positive contribution to the children and village: Kendra Haynie, an Elementary Education major, Mara Whittier, a Social Work major, and Larissa Smith, an English Teaching Major. This is something we have dreamt about doing this since learning of others similar experiences. We now have the opportunity to fulfill this dream. Although we have been accepted, as college students, we do not have the means to come up with the funds necessary for such a journey.

All donations made to funding our expedition are completely tax deductible, and allow you to be a part of the service we will be rendering. With your generosity, in contributing to this worthy cause, we will keep you informed the entire time. You will be able to experience this service through a third party, and directly witness how your contribution impacted the children in Kpando Village. We will send photos, and letters of all our experiences. We will keep you all updated through this blog: There are so many ways to serve, and we consider you all as a part of this team!

If you would like to donate there are a number of ways. The easiest is through the PayPal button on this blog. Checks and cash donations are also accepted (and appreciated) and can be sent to:

Team KLM

855 E 700 N #4

Provo, Ut, 84606

Make all checks out to "Village Volunteers".

Their Federal Tax Identification Number is 20-0342079.