Rainy season here is evolving, it seems. Last year, the rains seemed to go on forever, at least much longer than usual. They came earlier and stayed longer. On one hand, it was kind of nice - - cooler temperatures, good sleeping and happy mushrooms. On the other hand, it often meant that Hope for Life branch meetings were cancelled because it was more difficult to get around. It also meant that, occasionally, a few areas flooded.

            When the rainy season begins, storms come in with a bang: heavy downpours, blasting winds, lightening (frequently leading to more power outages) and thunder. This is often the time for the flooding I mentioned above as well as the time that the dirt road in front of our house becomes a muddy torrent.

This year also started earlier than former years. There have been powerful storms, the road in front of the house became a washed out, muddy torrent and there were discoveries of roof leaks here and there. The rains have been more frequent than usual with little time to dry out in-between.

And then this past Monday, June 29, happened.

It had been raining most of the night. Ebenezer, the current mushroom guy was away to plan his mother’s funeral with the family, so I was on harvest and watering duty. I opened the door and saw exactly how much rain we had been, and still were, getting since the previous night --- the compound had flooded up to the tires of the car and delivery van and the dirt road in front of the house was a torrent, with water splashing in under the gate.

It wasn’t anything to worry about, so I went to the mushroom grow house (on the left in the picture above), harvested and decided to take a small break and go eat breakfast before returning to open new substrate we had purchased the week before and then water all.

I was upstairs a couple of minutes and about to get some eggs and veggies to cook up. I have two visitors who were with the bakery supervisor looking out the upstairs side window towards the school compound that is alongside and behind us. It borders the main road, as well. They called for me to come see…the school’s wall that borders the main road had just collapsed and the main road was a raging river. The waters began pouring through the school compound and in a minute or so we heard a bang but, from where we were, we couldn’t see what had caused it. I ran downstairs….water was already coming into the house. The supervisor joined me to watch from the door I had just gone through an hour earlier to harvest the mushrooms…

The wall behind the mushroom grow house that was between us and the school was the bang we heard when it collapsed. Water was now pouring through the gap and into our compound. After a minute or so, the supervisor commented that the car was moving…he was right…then the van was moving…then the entire mushroom grow house moved…

this was where the grow house had just stood

        We have 3 people currently in the house who are wheelchair users and 2 people with crutches, 2 bakery workers, my two visitors and me. We took everyone and their wheelchairs up the stairs as the water was already between our ankles and knees with no idea of how high it would continue to get. Some of us went back down to stand in the muddy water and watch from the door....

some of the grow house remains, stopped by the delivery van that had been stopped by the clothes line pole

            As the water gradually reversed course and started going out of the house, we stepped out of the door to get a better view of it all, and I happily saw the car had gotten caught up just outside our gate and was no longer on its way to the Atlantic.

As the flooding receded more, we slushed through the calming, but still flowing, water to see the extent of the damage, the trees down, how far the broken walls extended, how the road out front was still a raging mud river, etc. 

 

 

view from the hole in the school wall, looking over the floor of the grow house

fortunately the bordering wall fell short of crashing through the house's side wall

       Here's a view from the roadside a couple days before the flood and then a couple of views afterwards. The mushroom grow house is there, trees are there, the car is where it was parked prior to the flood.

            ....and after:

            Looking back towards the road/river...the former wall...the car outside....

            After some stunned moments, the interior clean-up began. It was already afternoon and we had a layer of muck throughout the house. That first afternoon was all about cleaning inside, making floors safe to navigate and giving the bedrooms a chance to still be slept in that night.

my visitors, two french women, cleaning out the mud from their bedroom 

 

After a few days of scrubbing floors and the lower parts of walls, Rose has moved onto cleaning and scrubbing cupboards and their contents.

            The rest of the week (and ongoing) is clearing out and cleaning up. Over the two days following the destruction, the grow house’s carcass, stopped by the bakery’s delivery van, was separated into piles of zinc roof, wood beams, reusable and no longer useful bamboo. In the next days, Ebenezer removed nails from the reusable bamboo, broken cement from the walls started being cleared and used to fill in gullies that had been formed, uprooted trees and other non-useful burnables were stacked up roadside for later burning. Removing mud, silt and all else that washed into the gutter in front of the house still needs to begin. At the end of last week, a mechanic began working on the car - - there is hope it will run again. 

         Friends from the Liberia camp - part of Joe's outreach team - came for a day of helping to clean up:

The bakery workers were not only cleaning out the flooded bakery, but have been pitching in outside, as well.

 

cleaning the ramp for wheelchairs

trying to dry

Ebenezer cleaning the muck from inside the car

Throughout this time, my mind is planning the steps forward….

The cement blocks and crumblings from the broken walls need to continue being removed. They can dumped in the gutted road to start filling in some of the gullies…

The carpenter came to discuss reconstruction of the mushroom grow house - - we need an estimate so that we can try to raise the money. A plan is in my head for how to adjust the interior a bit to expand future production….

The bakery delivery van runs, but shouldn’t be run until it goes for servicing and repairs. Then it can get back on its regular schedule. However, the Nissan garage was heavily hit by the flood and they are trying to salvage what they can. Maybe next week they will be ready for customers…

The shipping container that had once been a shop for a Hope for Life member and lately has been storage in front of the house was washed across the street and turned on its side. But it needs to be dealt with – put back in place, sold… something…

 

this is a couple days before, with the container on the right of the picture

Deeper cleaning needs to continue in the house to make sure we can keep mosquitos, rats and other pests at bay…

As is said here, "we are on it." 

Genevieve and Rose updates

 

When I was half-way through my contract and on leave last year, I started a post intending to give updates on people I had written about since I returned to Ghana two years previously. But I was on leave and gradually my schedule was getting more filled. Then, when I got back to Ghana in December, there were other things going on in the world (there increasingly are…) which were on my mind, so I wrote about that. Then I received the video about Hope for Life, which I think is excellently done and gives a good image of what is going on, and posted that. And now, I am gradually getting around to updates on people I have written about.

Genvieve (first post & the previous update - 3rd paragraph)

Genvieve was one of the first people I talked about when I returned. It has been thirty years since I first met her. Though she lives in her family home, she doesn’t get a lot of support from the family – even for something as simple as help getting a bucket of water so she can take her bath. It was the same thing thirty years ago. At that time, I had a wonderful local social worker as my colleague and we had conversations with the family. The talks were fine and helpful for a small time while her father was still alive, but, thirty years later, things have reverted. Her father, who had looked out for her, has passed on and the rest of the family treat her as a small child and give little respect or assistance.

Thirty years ago, selling lotto tickets was her primary means of earning a living. These days, however, Ghanaians have gravitated more to online betting and, as I wrote a couple of years ago, Genvieve has been trying to build up a kerosene selling business. After that update, friends sent a donation to give her the needed boost for her kerosene business, which took off for a while. Unfortunately, that was thanks primarily to one specific customer and when that customer was transferred away, Genvieve once again found herself trying to build her business up. 

Setting up the table with some of her kerosene to sell

She had started to repay the money given to her. Without her knowing, the plan was that when repaid, the amount would be returned to her with an additional boost. But when the business ran into difficulties, the repayments (which were basically savings) also stopped. The plan of her getting an extra boost was not successful.

With Christy (her HFL branch coordinator) and Mr. Kyei (HFL president) 

It’s still a struggle for her - - - and I am still struggling to figure out how best to provide support at this time – support at a variety of levels that could actually make her business more helpful for her and encourage her family to be more supportive. She has been struggling in life ever since I’ve known her – I am not giving up hope, but I wonder what else is going on and how can we break this cycle, even if late in life.

Rose

One of the more recent people I wrote about, who I’ve also known for 30 years, is Rose. She’s a sweetheart and she often connects in a very special, warm, natural way with people, surpassing language barriers (especially in my case). Rose and Mariatu, another Hope for Life member from Tamale in the north, came to Bethany House for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New Year’s. They have been good friends for at least 30 years. Several others passed through during the holiday period – to spend a day or, as with Dawood, to spend some nights. 

 

Rose (bottom right), Mariatu (above Rose), Geoffrey, Nasara (Mariatu's daughter), Betty (long-time member/friend

We also visited other long-time friends and members 

Some gifts I'd brought back with me from my leave were wrapped in "recycled" plastic bags that were broken...with the recycling only ending up in the trash anyway...

 

It was a special time - - playing Jenga, eating together, laughing, etc. Michael, who had been taking care of mushrooms at that time, had his wife and kids come for a few days and Mariatu had also come with her daughter, Nasara. 

One of many Jenga evenings, with Prosper and Dawood

With N/A bubbly on New Year's Eve

 

With a friend I brought back from Halloween season in the US (a magnet)

Rose is going through chemotherapy which has been extremely harsh on her. While going through the 6-week treatment periods, she experiences a variety of the expected side-effects, including blisters on her hands, feet and in her mouth. Eating is difficult. We have opened our doors for her to stay with us whenever she wants. She is comfortable here - - thanks to new screens on the rooms, mosquitos are not a problem for her, we have running water, electricity, there are people around, so she can have company, there is help with meals, even though she doesn’t eat much while going through the chemo, etc. Her usual means of getting around, moving forward in a squat position, becomes difficult due to the blisters. 

 

During last year's HFL elections

Fortunately, we have a small wheelchair in the house which she makes good use of during her stays. Following the course of chemo, she chooses to return to her family for a couple of weeks until the next round begins…then she comes back to be with us. 

At her home last year during her treatments, prior to coming to our house for the duration of the treatment cycle

Getting Rene Mei therapy from Sarah, part of the outreach team once per week

I just took her home earlier this week and the doctor will be next week. Rose plans to return to our house the same day she goes to the doctor. She is a special presence in the house and I usually begin and end my days with a stop in her room for a small talk.

I don’t know what her prognosis is. I have accompanied her a couple of times to the doctor when she goes for her review. But it’s never the same doctor. One time when I was there the doctor took time and answered some questions. The next time the doctor didn’t even talk to Rose to ask how she was doing – he only pulled up her files to see what was being done and wrote prescriptions based upon what was done last time. No greetings…no how are you doing with this medicine…no questions about side-effects and how they can be addressed… As he wordlessly gave her the prescription, I asked a few questions about the side-effects and was offered the response: “those are side-effects.” Basically, we were dismissed. I’m hoping for a better doctor this Friday.