Kokrobite: Reloaded
27th June 2006
Kokrobite: Reloaded
Kokrobite is turning into the volunteer hangout. It is
where international volunteers and backpackers from Ghana tend to head
for the weekend. I had been there on
the 18th of June and was keen to return. So I did.
A Sad Story to Start With...
Life on camp is hard. There is not enough money, food or
water.
A previous American volunteer decided to make it easier for a couple
of the Door Kids by adopting
them. A very noble gesture for sure.
While she was getting the paper work sorted she had the kids stay at
Kokrobite. The two kids were understandably excited at
Kokrobite. Not only were they were getting three meals a day,
staying in a cool hotel room and being entertained by African drummers,
but - most importantly - they were going to America!
Everyone on Camp dreams of going to America and it was coming true
for two lucky young boys.
Or was it?
The family unit on Camp is unusual. The term "my
child" might mean a biological child, the child of a relative or
the child that I happened to pick up as I was fleeing from
Liberia.
I'm not sure of the exact details, but I think the practical father
of the kids was not the biological father of the
kids. The biological father found out about the impending adoption
of his sons and kicked up a stink. Adopting a refugee kid is hard
at the best of times. If a biological father objects then you have
no chance of adoption.
The volunteer had to return the boys to camp. She was so
overcome with emotion that she could only drop off the boys on the road
at the top of camp. She left in a taxi in an understandably
emotional state.
A noble gesture had gone horribly
wrong. The kids had been given a taste of America and then it was
snatched from them. The two boys in question are still quite sad
about it. They know that they had almost left the misery that is
Buduburum Refugee Camp.
Door kids at the Beach
Erin has been the GVN rep on camp for three
months. As a way of saying goodbye to some of the
Door Kids, she decided to take the two kids who never got adopted
and their older siblings to Kokrobite. She said it would give them
all a shared experience as well as giving them some closure on the
adoption saga.
All of the kids seemed to be having a lot of fun at
the beach. Some of the kids were experiencing the beach for
the first times in their lives despite the beach being a forty minute
drive from camp. I'm sure the kids felt like that guy in that John
Keats' sonnet who looks out upon the Atlantic for the first time.
If I was more cultural I could quote the poem.
The two kids who never got adopted seem to fluctuate
between having a good time and being quite sad - presumably with all
those memories floating around.
Runaway Kids
The kids here can get very jealous sometimes. A good example
of this can be found in my Not Giving a Thirsty Kid Water piece, which
can be found here.
Word inevitability got out about Erin's
generous gesture and some kids got jealous. I'm sure some of them
demanded that Erin take them as well. She stuck to her guns
though.
It got to be too much for one kid
however. The cheeky rascal managed to raise 10,000 cedi ($NZ 1.73)
and transport himself to Kokrobite. I don't want to know where he
got the money from. Before we knew it, one random Door Kid has
suddenly appeared at the beach.
We ended up having to have a volunteer take him
back in a taxi. The taxi fare there and back cost 80,000 cedi
($13.80). Very annoying. The same kid tried selling bracelets
to some of the volunteers the next day. He was met with, "You
already cost us 80,000 cedi. Why would we want to give you anymore
money?".
He just didn't get it.
I think he was jealous of the
other kids getting all the attention and wanted some of it
himself. We had to keep an eye on him at Kokrobite for about two
hours while we figured out what had happened and then transport him
back.
He was successful in his
mission to get more attention.
Ping Pong and Alpha Males
Some clever bar owners at Kokrobite had invested in a Ping
Pong table, which immediately attracted all the male volunteers.
I played many games against Nick
and Taylor. It was friendly and competitive
at the same time.
Nick and I are the only two males at Guest
House Number One. I decided it was time to sort out who the
Alpha Male was. A ping pong table was out battlefield. Here
is a clue about who became the Alpha Male...
I also played some other backpacker types in
a winner-stays-at-the-table format. I managed to beat a Ghanaian
and an Italian before being knocked up by a Frenchman. Kinda
reminded me of the 1999 Rugby World Cup...
Kokrobite: Revolutions
I returned to Kokrobite beach on the 2nd of July. It
was mostly to show some new volunteers a cool hangout that was pretty
close to camp.
I met up with Carrie and Erin
while I was there. Both Carrie and Erin are returning home soon so
it was good to spend some time with them.
Erin - who has been here for four months - has a good friend in
Kokrobite called Vegas. Vegas is a cool guy and has the whole
Rasta vibe going. He invited Carrie, Erin and I around to his
house for some traditional Ghanaian fare.
When we arrived there, his equally Rasta friend called Judah was
pounding some stuff (maize? corn?) in a clay bowl using a very long
wooden pole. I should of taken a photo, but I was too busy
enjoying myself. Erin made some iced tea which we all sipped on
while talking about everything and nothing.
Vegas eventually brought out the food which was fufu and
chicken in a peanut soup. Fufu is a soft lump of boiled
dough. It doesn't have a taste and is flavored by the peanut
soup. The traditional way to eat fufu is to grab a piece
with your fingers, pick up a piece of chicken with it and then dip the
whole lot into the peanut soup. I tried it a couple of times to
look cultural, but found it much easier to just use a spoon.
I'm sure they smoked some pot after we left. Marijuana is
freely available at Kokrobite. I place it in the same category as
alcohol. If it alters my mind, then I want no part of it. I'll
just have the occasional 'erbs from a bong.
I really enjoyed the experience. Eating traditional food with a
couple of Rasta guys in Ghana with Bob Marley songs playing in the
background was just cool.
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(c)
2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
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