Going dark ;-(

As G2G becomes more then an adventure and grows into a life time project, I am now upgrading G2G Blog to a G2G Book.
I will be posting news about it.
thank you all for reading and following.
Yours, Fafa (my Ewe nickname. Means "Peace")

THIS BLOG

just like the project itself, is vary much alive.
no, I haven't been blogging a while, and yes, I have been in New York a while, but Give to Grow is GROWING and it's getting serious. There's no stopping now.
I had a really nice "akpe" dinner on Saturday and there was no heart untouched by the footage I showed and the stories I've told. And of course, I dreamed about Kopeyia aaaaaaaalllllll night.

Please all, stay tuned, I'll post some footage, the G2G Brochure and more exciting news.
In the meantime, since you might be preparing for new season, cleaning your closets, getting rod of old things, please consider donating your used equipment to the childern of Kopeyia.
I need laptops, IPods, microphies, headphones, sound recorders and cellphones.

and relax to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkaJv0egKU0

It can teach you happiness.

And just like that...

... I am back.
It is really strange, how all of sudden, if feels like I only went for a blink.
The last few days were vary emotional. For me and for my Kopeyia friends.
A few of them had that gaze, the look of sadness, the look if knowing that they will most likely not leave Kopeyia, maybe for the rest of their lives.
The look of having had a month of something a little different, a taste of New York, a quick shake from the ordinary, only to go back to the usual, a life that promises little change, development, excitement...
I am not judging thier life style. Just recognizing the look because I have been seing on Serbian people for years when there was no possibility for them to travel.
Most of them don't have passports.
The headmaster asked me before I left - "what usually occurs on the airplanes?" And "Was this your first time on the plane?".
I said it wasn't, but consoled him that it was the longest flight I have been on.

....

The kids all gave me a warm good bye and I promised them to come back. They have never been on "stage" before and Kopeyia never had a performance before ever. For days after "that Friday" (as they refer to it) I have been running into people asking why they haven't been invited to such a great event.


When I go again - I will start a festival. Along with the music tech program, so I'd seriously appreciate any direct contact with someone in marketing in apple.

The night before I left, a young lady, named Gifted, came by the center, politely knocked on my door: "Madame"
I was happy to see her. She was this beautiful girl, with sparkling eyes. We once had a conversation, and she asked me if I had children. I explained to her that I didn't and that I wasn't married.
It is very unusual in Ghana, and at the beginning I felt really uncomfortable saying it. I felt like lying. And making it all something other then my choice.
But I realized - That's exactly why I was there. Not to try to become African (though I really hated being THIS white in some occasions), not to adopt their customs if I don't like them (but yes - to learn about them) - but to tell them about mine.
It was not my gaol to teach few classes at school, but to use the time to educate them about the rest of the world, or as much of it as I know. To give them INFORMATION.

So when Gifted and I had a conversation about my being single and childless, I told her that there are places where that it not such an unusual thing.
She explained to me that in Ghana, women are many times ridiculed and sometimes punished for not having children or husbands.
Then she walked away and I thought I lost her kinship.

So when she knocked on my door that evening, I was really happy to see her.
"I will miss you so much" - she said.
I told her I would miss her too (as I do, right now as I am typing this).
I asked her if she liked books and she said yes. I gave her a copy of Maya Angelou's "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes", which I had just finished reading a few days earlier.
I think she will like it.
She gave ma CUTE necklace with a huge pink sparkly hart pendant and asked if I had another blank thank you note so she can write one. (I asked a few pupils to write a thank you note to my sponsors).

____________

That evening, the entire village came out to say goodbye, including the kids. I bought as many beers, malts and fantas as I could (I had only had a few Cedis left, and had to save 20 for my trip to Accra the next day) and everyone shared.
I also brought out a bunch of small gifts and everyone picked what they liked.
Victoria came all them way form another town.
It was a great night.
_____________

I spent the next day in Accra and it was truly unforgettable.
I realized that I had missed and needed a bit or urbanity, in order to keep the balance. So I fully got it that day. I had gotten together with someone I met a few weeks earlier at the Internet Cafe, and we spent the day at the beach, with a group of his friends - playing, singing, dancing. We visited his family house and had a traditional meal his mom made.
He gave me a fabulous drum his friend made.
And in the evening we went to the greatest beach party I have ever seen, with a big reggae band, tons of people jamming and dancing, drinking and eating. It was a warm and cloudy night. It was perfect. Everyone was happy. I was ecstatic.
No pix from there - by the final days I felt so integrated that camera didn't fit anymore. And some of the most precious moments will remain undocumented. Digitally. But the prints of them are all over my smiling face and heart.

And now - for planning the return!!!!

final days and activities

full circle

day 3 and day 26


yesterday afternoon, I was walking back from the internet cafe to the center, lazily (the first free afternoon in weeks), feeling relaxed familiar with everything and everyone on the way.
Children and families were waving and saying hi, and my most basic ewe freed its way from the back of my mind through my throat and mouth and into the heat of koepya air.
I was happy.
I have been wearing the same shoes for a month and they now have the shape of my feet.
It will be fun to climb up into the highest of the high heels the moment I land to NYC.

When I got back top the center, I saw that the new group of students had arrived. From Vancouver.
12 white people. It was very bright in the center!
And I remembered the day I arrived.
A hot afternoon about a month ago, a group from Boston was just about to leave.
I was pale, confused, eager, clueless, just about to take my first lesson.
Now I was about to leave and the group had just arrived, and they were taking their first lesson.
I sat down with the drumming group and casually joined in.

In the shady part of the deck, my favorite family, my 10-year old friend Kofi, his cute sister Priscilla and their mom were lying on the cool concrete, listening to loud drumming, chilling.

The mom gestured to her foot - letting me know that her cut hasn't quite healed yet and that she needed another band-aid (about 10 days ago, I gave her one or two, she has gotten a nasty cut somehow).
I went into my room and brought out a bottle of antiseptic liquid, a piece of gauze and a 3 large band - aids.
I helped her clean the wound and put the band-aid on. She thanked me in (she new how to say good morning and thank you in English, but her smiles talks million languages).
A little girl who was lying together with the family showed me that she had had a cut too, so I helped her clean it and put another band-aid on her tiny foot.

I was happy.

Then Kofi said -
Now, your friends are here and I will not play with your computer again (he would come to the dining room every night at my dinner time and we'd work on my laptop together. he wanted to learn EVERYTHING and was really good at doing it too. sometimes Priscilla would come with him and the two of us would dance or clap or just goof around to the music Kofi was exploring or making).
Of course you can still play with my computer! And they are not my friends. I've never seen these people in my life - I told him.

I know, but they are... like you - he said.

They are white? I laughed. He smiled. So what? You about a 1000 times are more my friend then them. I don't even know them.
He smiled more.
And you can just come in with me and play on my computer - they have another hour of lesson before they'll even go into the dining room.

But he shook his head no.

Don't be afraid, you can come in with me. No one is going to be angry at you.

My brother will be angry with me - he said, and my heart stiffened. His older brother (I'm still not sure how is he related to the rest of the Agbeli family, which seem to range from quite well off to the extreme opposite) had told him to stay away from the white men territory.

I went in and brought my laptop out for him to play.
For the next hour hour Kofi, Priscilla, mom, the little girl and I watched videos and pictures of that day's performance.
Including the ones in which Kofi and I performed together.
They were extatic - Kofi on FILM!!!! In a movie!!!!

I was happy.

And yes

My new hair is FABULOUS!!!!!

perfomarnce never fails

So today was a BIG day. Both for me, and, what's more important, for Kopeyia.
We had a performance.
a wonderful show, in which the pupils and the staff of Kopeyia Bloomfiled School performed their songs, poems, dances, raps and sketches (skits).
It was a two-hour celebration of African culture. Exploration on styles and aesthetics. Old and new.
We had a great weather (meaning, it didn't rain, but it was a very hot day! can't tell. 110 maybe? amazing how one adjusts to the heat. I kept thinking about bikram yoga and the teachers' words - this is nothing. you do it for one hour. there are people who have this heat 24/7, everyday, and they work hard jobs in the heat. daily. leave the sweat alone. it will keep coming, so you may just as well leave it there...).

As soon as I get home I'll make a myspace page with some of the pieces we performed today.
Highlights: Deti Xoxo, Be good, do good, be one and Arfica, my home (which I lifted as the title of the whole perfomance), and Ghana (which I sang along with the KG class and Mensah Ali)

The headmasdter gave a touching speech of gratitude. Important people of Kopeyia came. They clapped and laughed, and grew goose bumps.

The children dressed up (or I should say- some did, the others chose to wear thier school uniforms. As perhaps, the best clothes they had. Some wore costumes - Kopeyia Bloomfiled Cultural Troup had the traditional costumes on.)

Somehwhere near the end, Madame Christy announced that Madame Rojoice and myself would go out on stage. A total shocker. By that time I had already performed my song - Lastavice (aka ISH! - which is now something like Kopeyai jingle!), accompanied by my main man here, Kofi Agtbeli, who played the drums, and I didn't have another number ready.

It was a surprise! The school had given me a formal thank you and gifted me a wonderful dress designed and made for me.

I felt like crying, but didn't - No holywood moments please. No one cries here.

the whole program ended in such JOYFUL dance on the Kopeyia Dance floor, everyone celebrated and and was happy as they can be. I will never forget this day.


I did end up renting the amplification, (Mr Emmanule Agbeli helped with the cost, which I appreciated, more as a gesture of support, then the mere financial value.

The guys with the amp came at 7 am to set it up and brought the speakers, the mixer and 2 mics.
(speakers all pied up in one spot, again. I tried to explain that wasn't the greatest way of doing it, and some got the point. but some just said - that's how we do it here. so typical! next time we do iot my way. that's the thing - all is good, all is manageable- I just needed to be clearer at occasions. but I am getting it now.)

It is weired how things are. Hope time is.
I did need all this time, this entire month, just to get the real feel. To adjust. Today - I feel I could stay for a year, no problem, whereas a week ago, I felt like jumping on the first plane to NY.

You can't always force things. Much less - control them. At least I can't.

But now, 4 days before I would leave, I feel my heart posisitvely stolen by the Ghanaians.
Even though I did get frustrated at times. So much so, I wanted to scream.
Instead - I drummed.

More in a minute - have about 300 email to filetr out.

Just wanted to have the last post here be a happy one .