Poor dog

Written on the 16th of July
Summary:
Wednesday night ended up being really good! Many people came over to the volunteering house, Fred had organised a dj and he ended up getting the goat from us. Men in Ghana dance VERY differently to ones in Europe and it was interesting to experience that to say the least. The kids that I’ve been teaching have got exams next week and if they pass, they go to proper primary schools as the one I teach them at just prepare them for primary school. I think I have a vague idea of who will pass and who won’t which is sad, but I guess we’ll find out soon! This morning I witnessed something horrific. Fred has 2 dogs and like many Ghanaians, they don’t really care about their pets. Today the boys that live at Fred’s house thought it would be really funny to get the dogs drunk. They forced so much rum down one of their throats that he ended up in such a bad state! He was disorientated, falling over everywhere, peeing everywhere and wouldn’t stop yelping. It was horrible to see. We tried to calm him down and got him to lie down where he just lay still for hours. We were convinced he was going to die, but he’s been walking around so I think he’ll be okay. I just get so angry thinking about how they just did it for a bit of fun and how much laughter took place while doing it! It was just very upsetting to see that.
Detailed:
Wednesday night we all had such a good time! Fred had bought a lot of drinks and organised a dj and about 50 people turned up. The way men dance here is very different to Holland or the UK or many European countries. They have very loose hips and definitely all are able to dance. They also don’t need any alcohol to dance which you can’t say for many men that I know. Men are also very comfortable with each other, which can be very awkward to watch. They dance with each other the way a man dances with a woman at a night club. In Europe everyone would quickly assume they’d be ‘gay’, however in Ghana it’s perfectly normal to dance like that, which I found surprising as being gay is pretty much forbidden here. I had a bit of a dance as well, but you’d quickly have a Ghanaian man coming towards you, which I’m never completely comfortable with, the whole dancing closely with people you don’t know...
One thing that surprised me is suddenly at about 10.30pmish everyone started leaving. I’m assuming this is normal in Ghana and that they don’t dance until midnight or later, but it all surprised us. We ended up being able to buy Fred a goat, which we all got to pet etc, and we’ll probably eat very soon (which definitely is an unpleasant thought). That’s another thing that always shocks me, the way many people treat animals here. It’s perfectly normal to cane your pets. We have 2 dogs at the house and the way the boys treat them is horrific! We always try to prevent it, but they just laugh at how shocked we get. Animals are like objects to many of them.
I did a lot of my laundry on Thursday, which we always do outside and as so many people come and go by our house, it’s the hardest thing to be able to do your own laundry. EVERYONE will offer to do your laundry for you. Young, old, male, female, anyone! I really don’t need any of them to do my laundry as it’s not their duty to, I made it dirty, and so I’ll clean it. They are so kind, but some things, us as westerners, just got to do ourselves. Also when we arrive at our schools the first thing the kids will do is, make sure they take our bags of us, that our desk and chair is straight and that they are clean etc. It’s incredibly endearing, although we can easily do that ourselves.
I really love teaching my class. The girls all have exams next week, which is a scary thought as some of them definitely aren’t ready yet. The exams determine whether they go to a state school, which means an actual primary school, which they pay to go to (or in their case, get sponsored to go to). I have felt that I’ve made a difference though, being able to take many girls one on one and go over their maths with them, which is a good feeling, but I wish I could have helped them for a bit longer. By the way, I heard that school doesn’t finish next week, but the week after, apparently the 28th and I asked Fred what I’ll be doing after that and he said there’ll be classes even in the summer holidays with girls at a higher level, so I’m glad to hear that, but I’m sad that I couldn’t have taught the girls I have been teaching for longer as we’d have formed a stronger bond. Another thing that shocks me is that teachers answer their phones in class!
As last night everyone had had brought some drinks with them as we just had a drink at the house(some went clubbing, but Anna and I, the old sods), some rum (or in Ghana’s case ‘rhum’), had been left over. The Ghanaian boys from Fred’s house thought it was a hilarious idea to get the dogs drunk. I tried everything to get them to stop, but I couldn’t. They’d literally given Snoopy, one of the dogs, so much to drink! As soon as I was able to I grabbed both the dogs and put them in my room. I had to literally lock the door, as the boys were still trying to get the dogs to get them drunker. It was horrible. Snoopy went absolutely crazy in my room, jumped on everything and had no clue what was going on. When I finally realised I couldn’t keep them locked up, I just let them out hoping that they wouldn’t continue. A while later, Mike, another volunteer, said he heard loads of yelping. We ended up finding Snoopy locked in a room and he was absolutely going mad. The noise that was coming out of his mouth sounded like a chicken, he couldn’t stand up straight, kept falling over, kept peeing everywhere and he was just so disorientated. It was so sad and hard to watch! That chicken noise came out of his mouth continually for about an hour. Then we were able to finally lie him down and we were convinced he was going to die. We’ve just gotten back from town, he’s still weak, but he’s up at least, we thought we’d find him dead. It was so horrible the way they’d literally opened up his mouth and poured the rum down it and how they found it so hilarious. We were all fuming, but there’s nothing much we can do. I don’t think the dogs will last long after the volunteers leave...
The group we’re left with now, Anna and Matt from the US, Mike and Frank from the UK, Marcus from Spain and I, are all at least staying until the end of the month now. It’s a really nice group and we’ve been planning a trip down to Cape Coast. All them, but Marcus and Me, fly out at the end of the month, so we really hope we can plan to leave on Wednesday the 27th and go down there for a few days. As I don’t think Marcus would want to come to Cape Coast, I’ll then probably head back to Tamale on the 31st. I just feel that now there are people that I could travel with for a few days, I should take the chance, it sounds amazing, we’ve heard good things about Cape Coast!
We also learned last night that Mike has malaria. He’s on the same medication as me, but still got it, so definitely fingers crossed for me! He’s doing okay, he had to stay in the hospital for 2 days and now has anti-malarial tablets. His parents want him home, but he’s going to see how he feels in the next few days. Definitely hope for him, that with the tablets, he’ll feel better very soon!