Well, I believe I've recovered (at least physically) from our trip. The jet lag wasn't too bad since Ghana is only four hours ahead of EST here in NC....
Here is a little recap of our trip and Embassy experience:
We arrived at Kotoka International Airport at 0800 Sunday am. After deboarding the plane we went through Passport Control (while standing in line, we noticed a funny sign..it proclaimed that Ghana was against pedophilia and sexual deviance and if you had come to Ghana looking for these things than you should go home!..it was kind of funny!)
The man in the booth was very serious while examining my passport and visa..I was a little nervous! Then he makes a big production of stamping my passport very loudly, looks up and with a GREAT BIG SMILE hands me my passport and says "Happy Birthday to you in Ghana!"
Next we went to baggage claim, (I swear our bags were the last ones off the plane! We were sure they didn't make it to Ghana!!) then through customs....and the travel packet is right...there are no lines in Ghana, everyone just pushes through..its crazy!
Percy and Edward (our facilitators in Ghana)were waiting for us right outside the exit with a sign that had our names written on it...I can't even describe how thrilled I was to see them!!!
Walking to Percy's car was another adventure. We were swarmed by several Ghanaian men, talking to us and asking questions, who kept trying to take our bags and carry them for us. When we got to the car, a few of them surrounded me and started saying "a few dollars for your friend" and pointing to what LOOKED like a policeman standing close by. I had no clue what was going on...I had heard another family's story of the policemen "giving tickets" to get money, but there was something odd about this situation. I just kept saying, "I don't have any money"....Finally, Scott grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the group and into Percy's car. Turns out the policeman was fake, they were just trying to scam us for a "few dollars".
That being said, that one experience at the airport was the only time I felt unsafe. Otherwise, everyone was very friendly and I never felt in any danger whatsoever. Even in the above situation I didn't necessarily feel like I was in danger, just confused...
Percy and Edward dropped us off at the hotel and we showered and napped. We stayed at the Crystal Rose. It was fine. Definitely very clean and the staff was amazingly nice and helpful. We had a regular bathroom with toilet, bathtub, etc..the bathtub had a handheld shower extension, however it did not work. We didn't bother asking them to fix it...if we had been in the US we would have demanded it! But being in Ghana for some reason we just accepted it. The water would come and go...it seemed to mostly be available in the mornings, and very rarely available at night. The electricity went out once but the generators came on very quickly.
The kitchen was great We ate Jollof Rice(yummy!!) twice (once with chicken and once with beef) and Veg Curryw/ chicken once. Jollof rice has a creole flavor to it.
We only ate lunch one day (a ham sandwich and french fries). Each time we split a plate between us and it was plenty....oh and we had a vegetable salad with each meal..the vinaigrette dressing is very good.
Its funny, because you just don't think about food very much during the day. It isn't like here where you drive by restaurants and are always being hit with images of food.....so it really isn't on your mind.
That afternoon we made our way to meet Zoey. The Royal Miracle orphanage/church was a sight. The church stands in the middle of the grounds. It is a large rectangular shaped wooden structure. It has window shaped openings all along it, but no actual windows. Behind the church is an L-shaped structure, resembling a motor inn, which is where the foster mother's live with the children. Each foster mother has a "house" and keeps a few of the children. They try to keep the ratios very low.
The women and children were gathered under the only shade tree when we arrived. I immediately spotted Zoey in the arms of Ruby, one of the women. They all cheered when we arrived...it was a good feeling. Ruby handed Zoey to me and I was immediately in love.
I've read a few articles and stories that say sometimes you don't feel a connection when you first meet your child...but I completely did. She has these great big eyes that are so full of life! Zoey's foster mother is Mother Charity. She loves Zoey like her own and I can tell that Zoey has flourished under her care. According to Percy "Zoey eats ALOT" and we are glad to hear this.
We stayed for several hours. We played with Zoey, I fed her and eventually she fell asleep in my arms. We sat outside under the tree with everyone, and met all the children. Eventually, I reluctantly handed her back to Mother Charity and we left.
The next day we drove around with Percy and bought supplies and donations for the orphanage. Originally, we had planned to only visit Zoey at the orphanage, however, Percy suggested we keep her with us for a little while. So we ran around Accra to find diapers, wipes, a bottle and formula. We had to go to four different "markets" for all these things!! The markets were little wooden shacks with goods lined up on their shelves that you pointed to if you wanted. After getting what we needed we made our way back to the orphanage to pick up Zoey. We picked her up and I held her all the way back to the hotel. She watched out the windows of the car with great interest.
She took right away to us. It probably helped that we visited with her the day before. She snuggled up in my arms and sucked her thumb and stared at Scott and drove through Accra.
Back at the hotel we settled right in to our routine of feeding, poopy diapers and sleeping! The evening came and I just couldn't bring myself to take her back to the orphanage! So we kept her with us in the hotel all night. We played and laughed..the only time she fussed was if she was hungry, needed a diaper changing or was tired...she is such a good baby!!!
She slept in between us. I did not sleep well at all, but that was because everytime she sighed or moved I was right there. Plus, I knew I wouldn't have much time with her so I just wanted to drink her in. I memorized every little beautiful eyelash.
Our Embassy appointment was the following Tuesday May 5 (my b'day!). It was nerve wracking. We got there, went through security (btw, you can't bring ANYTHING in with you, not even a baby bottle which we could have used!!) and were led into the interview room. It was a very small (about the size of my closet...and I have a very small closet!), hot, non-ventilated room with two chais. It was separated from a larger office by a glass (prob bulletproof) window and counter. We felt like we were visiting in a jail or something, only we were the prisoners and not the visitors!!!
The lady came in and curtly gave us instructions. We filled out our I600 form (btw, its better if you fill this out at home and bring it with you to Ghana...for some reason we thought we were to fill it out there at the embassy with Percy's help, but that wasn't right, luckily the lady let us fill it out in the interview room and let Percy come back in and help us). She then shuffled through our documents, compared them to the originals and told us it should be "thirty days max" until we get our approval if everything is in place....
That night we celebrated my b'day in our hotel room with a Star beer (the local Ghanian brew) and a few slices of cake from Frankie's bakery (downtown Accra). We played with Zoey all night and finally figured out how to access the internet from our room (sorry Mom!!)
The next morning was quick. We left the hotel at 0600 and returned Zoey to the arms of anxiously waiting Mother Charity. When we pulled up Mother Charity came flying out of the church and ran to our car. She grabbed Zoey from me and hugged her and ran away...at first I was like "Wait! That's MY baby!!!" But then I was okay...I had said my goodbyes to my Zoey and I know that right now she is still Mother Charity's baby. I did get to hug and kiss Zoey again before we left, and I hugged Mother Charity and said, "Thank you, thank you" over and over again. She hugged me back and told me she would take very good care of her for us.
So that was our trip...we left Ghana on Wed. morning...it was hard to say goodbye to Zoey, but I know Mother Charity is taking good care of her. Percy told me I couldn't cry at the orphanage..LOL....and amazingly I didn't....however, on the plane watching Ghana fall behind us was a different story!!
Hopefully, we will be returning in a couple of weeks...I'm hoping it is sooner than later...not being with Zoey is the worst feeling ever....
Love to all....
Kasie
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