back online, with Kofi ;-)

painfully slow but working.
kofi, at the other corner of the interent cafe, learning about the www. just set him up with a gmail account so we can stay in touch!
i'll make him as account with the owner - and he will, along with emmanuel zagbede be my point person - partner for G2G.

needles to say, as soon as i left him by himself to work and 4 older boys came in, they started giving him hard time.
Then i stood up.
"what's up?"
"ooooh, i'm sorry" one of they said...
I forgot about that. I need to make sure someone watches over him when he comes here by himself.

Yesterday was a bit depressing. Continuous rain helped.
When i came back to the center after the session in the cafe and just rested my head on the dinning room table, Kofi came over. He said: You are tired.
A little bit - I said.
Ten minutes later he came back with a "bingo" look on him face:
"Let's get a coconut for you!"
We got three!
I was not tired.
Or depressed.

___________
Today Pricsilla, her mom and I prepared Kasawa dough together.
And it's a bright sunny day!
___________

problems with internet

not sure if i'll be able to be blogging this time. this is my first attempt yo get online in about a week and it took about an hour to even get connected.
in short - everything is fine. but, although i may be just imagining this, things have gotten worse here.
this kids look even poorer, their clothes dirtier and more ripped, their bodies skinnier.
The young adults aged.
The ones that are better off look the same or better.
Emma lost weight to look better.
Kofi lost weight because he grew a lot, or because he's not eating enough.
Mesnah aged ages - he had an bike accident a few months ago and had lost a tooth.
Here - if you loose a tooth - you've lost it. You will not get it replaced. The few ones might, but you, the regular, everyday you, even if you are a teacher in both KBSchool and the Dagbe center - you won't.
Nevertheless - Mensah was lucky to have stayed alive - Rueben found him, Emma took him to Aflao hospital. Him, and the other guy - it was a clash!
Blood everywhere. At the hospital - the doctors didn't want to start anything (surgery was needed on both kids) until someone paid. So Emma did.
Today, they are both alive, although noone showed up to visit the other kid in the hospital, so his recovery took longer...
_______

The brightest, happiest ones around are the youngest ones. And this time - I am realizing very clearly, they are to be my focus.
Laptops are installed, and working properly. I did not have any problems getting them in - noone asked me anything.
Once I got to Kopeyia - the problems began.
Emma told me he needed to pay about $15 to the education office in Ketu to write a letter that will ensure I get through the customs without problems.
They considered writing such letter to be favor to Emma, then me, so they asked for money.
Once again - I am stunned as to who is doing a favor to whom in this chain. And that is only the beginning.
Did you bring anything else - the headmaster asked once i arrived to the school.
WTF?
NO sir, I did not.
Anything nice for me?
...
no comment...
The next day he suggested that we both go to the education office, where they have written that costly letter, to "express our gratitude to the director".
I said it was a great idea (thinking - great, I'll shake hands, take photos and "officialise" the whole thing. The we would invite the office the come to Kopeyia for the official opening of the new computer lab.
Even better. The Give to Grow computer lab launch. A little presentation.
Kofi is already on it. He's been on one of the laptops 24/7 so far. So much so that I had to tell him to stop and go spend time with his family!!!
Then the headmaster said the director wanted to know if I brought any "similar items" for his office!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Allright -
he works for the government.
the government supports the school.
He - through the help of the government supports my supporting the school.
Therefore - I should support him - the government back.
Is that the logic?
Are we partners here?
I'm lost...
What are you seeing in me exactly?
I cannot wait to meet the guy and hear him ask me that question.
But then again - if i answer rudely - who's going to write the letter next time?

_____

on a bright side -
the kids are AMAZING!
They are learning so quickly and are so excited about the gear.
As a side activity - I am working with the KG kids (preschool) on reciting English and EWE poems and nursery rhymes.
Their smiles light up the dim hazy air of the rainy-season colored Kopeyia.
With Mensah - I'm developing a G2G Line - this afternoon, we will work some T - shirts designs, which he'll batic and I'll take to NY to sell and fund raise as well as help him earn a little bit.
Next time - we do the kids line!!!
____

OK, so the three hour block of internet for the day is near expiring, and I still have some 200 emails go through. (the first hour and a half was just me and the owner trying to get me online...)
Will look for a better way - and to blog again soon...
but in the meantime, please bear with these not being edited.
Absolutely no time for that rt now.
There is work to be done.
I need to go hug a few more kids today!!!!

off today

and nervous. i have 2 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, 2 cameras, Ipods, sound recorders three phones and an iPad (I am keeping that one ;-)
the suitcases are heavy as hell and with all my ny friends, there;'s noone ton help me down the stairs with them.
ok, maybe i never asked... but why do i have to?
i just hope i don't get charged (much) for the overweight language - money is tight this time (when is it not?)
too bad ghana lost - it would be great to watch the next game in kopeyia.
reminder to self, for next year - needed to go to my bank and notify them of my travels. otherwise, they would call me at a time of my attempt to withdraw money in ghana and then cancel my card if i didn't answer.
arriving to accra tomorrow evening, staying over in a hotel, Bob Dawuni (Rocky Dawuni's brother) is picking me up.
The next day I'm taking the bus to Kopeyia.

benefit

Last night, i had a G2G benefit at the Harlem Library.
Performance, presentation, reception. Two hours total.
Short and sweet (15 min getting in mingle, 30 min performance, 15 min presentation, 45 minutes reception, 15 min strike - load out).
mistakes -
the event was not publicized enough - not enough audience
(i was counting on mt marketing person whom i hired to do it for me, which i shouldn't have)
no good photos taken (????)
the first 15 mins i didn't have a good concept for.
people were bored and waiting around
pluses
good performance, great performers and energy among the artists
(thank you thank you thank you allen, ana, brandon, carmen, chris, lauri, margaret - can i keep you all? wanna be a g2g band? and thank you all the G2G fans and supporters - claudia, eric, stephaine, andre, tawnya, ben)
solid presentation, people listened and reacted
good venue - libraries. hmm i haven't thought of those before
eventbrite is a good way to promote and administer events!
vistaprint is a good print service - i have my gifts (G2G mugs and flyers) printed by them


now - as soon as i get back from ghana, i'll start doing one of these a month.
hitting a different neighbourhood each time.
if i raise $500 each month, which should be attainable, since i'd be set for my next trip.

we continued with an afteraprty at billie's black until 2 am.
it was fantastic. I am so fortunate. I have very special, precious friends.
I was looking across the table at one point - an amazing group of people, all ages and backgrounds, celebrating life and one another in such a passionate, joyful way, and most of them didn't even one another before the benefit.
G2G brought them together.

and i was happy.

now let's go wath ghana beat germany and serbia beat australia.
woo-hoo!!!

some of you

might've not seen echoes and developments of G2G throughout last year:
wonderful arts-electric article:

http://www.arts-electric.org/stories/100101_paranosic.html
my article for juilliard journal

http://www.juilliard.edu/journal/2009-2010/1003/articles/forum.html
and our FB page.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Give-to-Grow/119680858072254?ref=ts
also - a film form of a final performance i produced and performed with the kids in Kopeyia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YPS7-fZdPs.

enjoy.
hmmm - links don't work, wonder why...

flight booked

not confirmed yet.not sure what's up with vayama.com
booked yesteday, still awaiting the confirmation.
excited.
looking for prescription for malarone or doxycyclone rt now.
no health insurance, trying to save up and not pay for the doctor's visit.
today bought a few small gifts for the children and my egnlish madams - rejoice and christy.
next is talking to the embassy and the airlines about the computers and allowed baggage. ghanaians tell me - just put them computers in the suitcases. noone will open or care.
two in my carry on, two in each checked bags.
pay for extra bag. that's it.
need to install all the software onto the computers too.
then the final benefit, june 22nd.
leave on july 4th. everyone will be coming into NY, i will be leaving it.
arrive to accra on the 5th, 6PM.
spend the night in accra, continue in the morning.
that's the plan.
later...

aaaand - awake!

if any of you are still around, interested and want to keep following this adventure of mine - I'm happy to be back.
after a year of trying to raise enough $$$ to go back to Kopeyia and continue with what made me, by far, feel the most alive and purposeful in the last decade or so, I have finally come close to taking another step. in about a month I will be on the plane to Accra again. and my body trembles with excitement.
Two days ago (minutes after The Sandbook Studio - THANK YOU SO MUCH< ERIC!!!!) told me they would sponsor my next trip, the phone rang.
"It's me. Kofi." i heard the the sweet, familiar voice say. Shyly.
My heart started beating like I had been on a treadmill for about a week. On an incline.
"i wanted to ask you... when are you coming back".
I started crying and I haven't stopped since.
Kofi doesn't own a phone. His mother or sister don't speak English. Kofi, a 10 year old is the head of the family.
Kofi found a phone (someone staying at the Dadbe Center, an american had one), found out what y phone number was, including the area code, and called me.
He called me because I promised him I'd be back by May of 2010, so called to find out why am I not keeping my promise.
I wanted to explain how difficult it was to come up with the $$$ to go, how my grants fell through, including the one form Juilliard that I was SO sure sure i would get,
but he didn't need all the words. He wanted an answer.
"I will be there in July!" I said fighting the tears in my thought form being heard.
Kofi never cries. I have to be stronger.
"which day?"
"5th", I said.
"July 5th" he repeated.
Kofi, dear, i can't wait to see you. Do you need anything form here?"
the line is breaking, there's silence.
"I miss you" he says.
I've had family, friends, lovers say that to me. It's a common thing to say.
But now, it felt like I was hearing and understanding the words fro the first time.
"I miss you too, Kofi. I miss you so much. And I will see you very very soon."

_________
TBC