Wild all around

It seems that I've been consumed in my little Ghanaian bubble and didn't realize that the crazy fluctuation in food prices is a worldwide issue. Since arriving in Ghana, the price of one cup of rice has increased by 100%, a crate of eggs by 50%, bread by at least 50%, 50ml of water has increased 66%. I thought this was due to the change in currency and inflation (I know those play a part). On top of it, the price of one gallon of diesel fuel has gone up to 5.5 Ghana Cedis per gallon (the Cedi is actually "stronger" than the dollar these days). Dorothy works as a market seller and often acquires her goods on loan. Recently, she will return to the house with a van full of goods, sell those goods and by the time she's returned to the market to replace them, she has lost money. Though many farmers in Bormase grow maize, the price increase has not helped them. Rather than earning a great deal more money, they sell the goods to middle men who drive those goods to Accra and make a GREAT deal more money.

As far as local projects go, things are picking up. Over the past two weeks, more than 1,500 Moringa seeds have been put in the ground. I typically get to farm at around 7:30am and am forced to leave by 9:15am. It feels as though I've worded for ages and I swagger my way home like a drunkard due to my exhaustion. I return to farm at around 4pm and try to work until sundown but seldom make it that long despite the diminished strength of the sun. One day last week, I spent my morning and afternoon farming sessions clearing land with a cutlass. If you've ever thought of complaining while using a push lawn mower, think again. Bent at the waist, I walked along my land with cutlass (machete) in hand and cleared grass and roots for hours on end. In one day, I managed to clear no more than 300 square feet while developing countless blisters on each hand. Being as stubborn as I am, I refused to stop when the blisters developed. Rather than calling it quits, I would adjust my grip on the cutlass or use my left hand. Rather than having a few bad blisters, I have a few bad blisters and several decent sized blisters on each hand.

I took the next day off and dedicated it to laundry. Unfortunately, washing clothes by hand with weeping blisters all over your hands hardly equals a day off. I washed nearly all of my clothes and helped with the repair of the glass grinding machine (more to come later) and felt that I had a fairly productive day. When returning from the glass grinding site, Emmanuel asked if I was coming from farm with Stephen. Since Stephen was helping boil oil for soap making and collecting eggs, I didn't think that he had gone to farm. When I met Stephen at farm, I saw that in addition to completing his typical daily chores, he had cleared no less than ten times the space I cleared the prior day. He was tired but had no marks on his hand and met me with a huge smile on his face. Talk about humbling!!

On the issue of the glass grinding machine; it's finally up and running. Last Thursday, Patrick and I came to Koforidua to buy all of the necessary materials for the long overdue (2 1/2 years) repairs. We bought two large metal oil drums, three belts, gear oil and engine oil. A few days after returning to Bormase, the drums had been welded together and we were ready to get things going. Patrick bribed the half dozen children around the house to fetch water. In exchange for the 100 or so gallons of water that were collected by the group, Patrick gave each child a small back of peanuts. Each side of the exchange walked away looking as though they'd gotten the better end of the deal.

While the small boys and small girls made their many trips to the bore hole, Patrick, Samuel and I worked to repair the machine. In the process, one of the belts broke and we realized that the welding job left at least 10 small holes where the two barrels were supposed to join.

Though slightly disappointed, we were able to get the machine running and I finally saw how it works. One part works like a wood chipper but rather than dropping branches in one end, you drop wine bottles, plates or any other pretty piece of glass you can find. The lawn mower blades within simply destroy the glass and send the remains shooting out the other end. Sound dangerous? It is. There are no guards on either end and with each item, hundreds of tiny shards of glass are shot around the room.

The second phase of grinding glass consists of dropping the remnants of said wine bottle or plate into a small funnel through which it falls onto a flat surface. Along that flat surface, two large round stones are quickly rolled around the surfaces as though yoked cattle were pulling them. In the end, you get glass finer than sand that can be picked up with your bare hand without risk.

My favorite part of this process was that I got to share it with Joshua. Joshua is maybe 6 years old and was hanging around the hole time. Whenever something was fixed or added, I would lift him so that he'd be able to get a better idea of how the machine works. He and I could not communicate (aside from my telling him to wear shoes) but we played games and enjoyed the process throughout.

Again, it feels as though I've written a somewhat incoherent post so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Love to all!!