Movin' 'n' Groovin' in Accra: Week 1

Hello friends and family! It's been a little over a week since my last post, and WOW! a ton has happened. Allow me to break it all down for you, day by day.

Monday the 3rd: My group dispersed into our individual homestays located all over Accra. My family is located in an area called Saint Johns. The house itself is quite big and sits just off of the freeway. Mama Vida, my host mother, has been hosting students from all over the world for years. It's hard to say which children are hers, but everyone is considered a brother/sister in Ghana. There's Calvin (18), Miriam (23), Daniel (23), Ivonne and Andrew(older, not sure of their exact age). They definitely biologically belong to Mama Vida. Then, there's Maxim (a man from Chad studying English, probably in his 20s or 30s), Kevin (a boy from the Ivory Coast studying English, age 5), Kwesi and Kweoku ("the help", both about 13). Having servants is extremely common in Ghana and these boys are treated very well. Typically, and in the case of these two, helping out a household is exchanged for schooling and a safe place to stay. Initial thoughts: Everyone is friendly, but not as interactive as I'd like.  They are all very busy.  On the bright side, I value my alone time a lot.

Tuesday the 4th: First day of school at the University of Ghana in Legon! I awake at 5:30AM each morning to get ready and eat breakfast before it's out the door to the tro-tro station. A note on breakfast, I had some popo (papaya) and immediately puked it up...the same fruit I had at the hotel that made me sick, go figure. No mo' popo fo' this Obroni (endearing term used by Ghanaians for white people, they love it when you counter with "Obibini!"-the endearing term for black people). Daniel went with me the first day to show me the ropes. It's about a three minute walk across a bridge over the freeway to the tro-tro station. Once I'm there, I get on the tro-tro heading for Legon. People consistantly extend their help in guiding me to the correct tro-tro, but I've come to pinpoint which tro-tros are mine. It's always the same drivers and mates (the money collector) in the same tro-tros everyday, morning and night. The drive is about 45 minutes and costs me 70 pesewas (bout 40 cents). When I get out at Legon, I walk about a mile to the University. The area is under construction, otherwise it wouldn't be so long. With the construction comes immense amounts of ruddy, orange dust swept around by the wind. Praise my allergy meds and sweat rags! By the time I reach the SIT office, it's about 7:30AM. Class starts at 8 and Yemi always takes the first hour or so to us, the students. We discuss what we are noticing, ask questions about how to handle various situations at home and on the streets, and tell funny stories. This time is vital and very therapeutic. Then, it's time for lecture. Each lecture is taught by a professor or local expert, the best of the best!

Our first lecture was on the geography of Ghana.

Fun facts:

-Ghana is located at the "center of the Earth", where 0 degrees longitude meets 0 degrees latitude...the people take great pride in this

-the temperature hasn't ever dropped below 50 degrees Farenheit...ever

-between 2000 and 2010, the population growth rate was 2.4%...WAY higher than the United States

-67% of Ghanaians are farmers (of food and crop stock)...about 3% of Americans are farmers

-you are six times poorer if you are born a woman, one reason for this is that land can only be owned by men

After the lecture, we break for lunch. Tuesdays are special because the pizza place across the street offers two pizzas for the price of one. American food! Six of us enjoyed a slice of home, a little za if you will, before fleeing to our respective homes.

When I return home, I'm greeted with a massive, starchy dinner. My dinners have included rice, banku, spaghetti, peanut soup, chicken, jolof rice, red sauce (blended tomatoes with onions, peppers, and pickles...so tasty!) All portions are 4 to 6 times bigger than you'd expect and Mama Vida likes to remind me that I "need to eat all"...it's often a struggle.

Wednesday the 5th: Many of the stories told at the beginning of the day are more frequently featuring interactions with men. Ghanaian men are relentless! Yemi says they all have an attitude of "quitters never win". Yaw, another SIT staffer, wants us to keep a tally of the number of marriage proposals we receive...thus far I've gotten one proposal and a couple "I love you's". We're told to just tell the men that we're already married, it always does the trick.

We have more Twi lessons in the morning, and then it's time for lunch. Ah, the bush canteen. Each day we go there for lunch. It's a great place to practice our Twi and enjoy more starch. The bush canteen is part market, part eatery. I've bought things like pens, notebooks, toilet paper (an essential item to have as not all bathrooms are stocked...even at home), tissues, jack and jills (imported vanilla wafers), and laundry soap. Food wise, besides the classic rice and red sauce, we can buy pineapple (better than Redlands pineapple, and that's saying something...it's white, not yellow here), bananas (they are SO small here), and oranges (actually green, and eaten in a most peculiar manner) among other things. The oranges are prepared by cutting off the outter layer while leaving the white part, and making a slit at the top. To eat it, you open the slit and essentially makeout with the fruit to get all the juice out...I've taken to tearing the white part with my teeth to obtain the solid part of the orange as well.

On this afternoon we had two lecturers come in. One, an anthropologist who talked about funerals in Ghana. My kinda guy! The other, an education professor delivering the history of education to us.

Funeral lecture fun facts:

-Ghanaians have funerals for everything: animals, plants, trees, people-everything has a spirit

-Dying is merely considered a changing of address, from the living world to the ancestoral world...that is, if you lived properly (not everyone makes it to the ancestoral world)

-living properly=responsible for your family and society, attained marriage, and cared for your children (so that when you die, they will care for you)

-it's a long journey to the ancestoral world! based on status, specific rituals need to be carried out

-the family of the deceased is responsible for forming funeral committees, these include: financial, food, protocol, information/advertising (death is spendy and well publicized in Ghana)

-those spirits who are denied access to the ancestoral world become samantwEtwEn (the "E" is actually a letter we don't have in the English alphabet, it's written like a backwards 3)

-in some traditions, when a chief dies his wife/wives are expected to follow him into death

Education lecture fun facts:

-First of all, the professor had all of us stand up and spell our names with our hips to get our blood flowin' after hearing about death for an hour and a half...she was fun

-education is free for young kids...however uniforms, books, and transportation are not free

-little value in educating women. why? they are often married at young age and/or expected to carry out domestic household chores (reforms are altering this for the better)

-Annual New Year School (65 years old!) this is a school that picks a topical, national/international issue and focusses on only that for the year (examples include: environment, government, gas/oil/energy industry)

-this made me jealous...only ONE standardized test given by the school, not the government after junior high school

Thursday the 6th: I was definitely 15 minutes late on this day...the tro-tro line was crazy long, had to stand there for an hour before taking my ride. In the morn we did more Twi. I learned how to explain my purpose in Ghana: Me be soonya Ghanafuo ahmahmere (I've come to learn Ghanaian culture)-our lessons are given orally as Twi is rarely written (all books written in Twi wouldn't fill up one small bookcase), so I can guarentee that is not how you spell ANY of those words...I'm also missing all the tonal markings. Twi is tough stuff yo!

In the afternoon we had a lecture on gender issues, fun facts:

-all women are mothers and sisters, all men are fathers and brothers...biology doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things ("We all belong to one family")

-the moment a woman's child starts having their own children, that woman stops having sex...called social menopause (men can continue having sex and often marry more women to do so)

-17% of women use contraceptives...that's low

-AIDS [American Idea to Discourage Sex]...some see it as completely mythical

-anti-HIV/contraceptive advocation is everywhere! [ABC: Abstain, Be Faithful, Condom]

-better living standards have led to a younger puberty age, which then leeds to younger and younger girls becoming prego

Back at my homestay, Kevin, the 5 year old, has really taken to me and my American goods...below is a photo of him. He asked me to go back to the Ivory Coast with him, "just for ten days pleeeeeeeeeeasssse". His parents were on their way to retrieve him from his six week stay in Ghana...he's a very brave little boy. I gave him one of my frisbees and he really lit up. In return, he gave me three packs of Jack and Jills...made my day.

 

I should also mention a bit about my room and evening routine. So, there's a bar that's a stones throw from my window (which MUST remain open for a breeze) and man almighty do they ever play loud music. After my bucket shower (which I've mastered, thank you very much) and homework, I snuggle into my mosquito net and sleep sheet for some shut eye...this occurs at about 9:30PM, give or take. But that damn music is blaring the same upbeat dance songs every night until well after midnight, so what do I do? Toss on the best Christmas gift ever received, my noise-cancelling headphones (THANK YOU DAD!) and play some soothing music from home...my ultimate comfort.

Friday the 7th: No Twi lesson today! I needed a break. Instead we had a lecture in the morning about highlife music. It was given by Prof. John Collins, who is totally the man! Worthy of a google search, people. In the afternoon, the group split into two. My group went to experience batik making. Here's a photo:

Kwame is in the yellow.

When I got home, I was finally able to reach my REAL mom! Absolutely uplifting to hear her voice. Though, I can assure you, I am not homesick. I am so happy to be here in Ghana, it's still a dream come true. I also bear in mind that there is an end to this program, so I need to seize each moment while I can! Who knows if I'll ever be able to return?
Stay tuned for more on drumming and dancing, a Black Stars Football game, church, and a funeral!

Culture and Language 101

It's 9:40pm over here in Accra and I just wrapped a lovely bucket bath (be greatful for consistantly running water).  I'm sitting here on our hotel's balcony listening to the wind and digesting what has transpired since my last post.

Cultural Dos and Don'ts:
-Always, always use your right hand for EVERYTHING.  The left is rude.
-Always greet.  It's the beginning of friendship and shows you have a kind heart.
-Don't cross your legs.
-When talking to men and women older than me, refer to them as Uncle/Papa and Auntey/Mami and never forget any titles
-When talking to someone about my age, refer to them as Brother/Sister
-Don't maintain eye contact, Ghanaian's rarely hold your gaze for too long
-Smoking is not common, I've only seen one man smoking a cig so far
-There's lot of hand gestures, some good (used to tell a tro-tro or taxi where you want to go) some bad (thumbs up while moving your thumb up and down=extremely rude, like the middle finger)
-Priests/Priestesses may greet with their left hand, giving the recipient all of their heart
-Ask to take photos and promise to send copies
-Two fingers up in the air (or as we call it "the peace sign")="You're a good dancer!"

The market:  We took a tro-tro, which is a big bus taxi with about five or six rows of seating.  I'll be using them daily to get to and from the University.  The roads in Ghana are a mixture of paved and unpaved, but always littered with copious trash.  No street signs in sight.  As far as the driving, it's anything goes, every man for himself.  I'll be sure to ALWAYS walk against traffic and ALWAYS look both ways!  The market was empty of any other white foreigners and our group drew a lot of attention.  I didn't much like that we were all bunched together, not sure the locals did either.  I felt in the way.  I prefer cruisin around in groups of no more than four.  We all went into a store that sold cell phones, and Kwame rounded up a bagful of Nokia phones (all the same, we'll be diversifying them with stickers to avoid confusion). 

First Twi class:  Well, it ain't Spanish!  I found this video, and it encompasses just about everything we learned today. 

 

Wild, huh?!

That bag of purified water is what we drink.  Much cheaper than bottles by a long shot!

 



The mall:  Highly westernized!  Ya know those ceiling projectors that display images on the floor and when you walk over it, waves ripples or fish swim away or whatever it may be...they have them here!  It was like any other mall in the US, complete with a cinema.  Speaking of, I can't wait to watch some Ghanaian films!  In fact, our first assignment is to read the Independent Study Project of a past student and critique it.  I chose one entitled " ".  Should be interesting!  Back to the mall, we went there for SIM cards and phone minutes.  I was one of three who left without a SIM card, the first store ran out and the second place...well, the card just didn't cooperate.  I'll get one tomorrow most likely.  I bought five cedi worth of minutes, which is about three hours worth of chatting for three dollars.  I was told that if y'all call me (I'll post my number once I get a card) it costs me nothing, but probably quite a bit on your end.  Things to look into. 

Tomorrow we have another language class in the morning, then lunch, then onto the University to await the arrival of our homestay families. We've been told our first families are going to be more westernized, higher class, "not the REAL Ghana" to ease us into the culture.  I'm very excited!  I hope I have kids in my family!  I don't know if I will have internet, so I'll keep writing (journaling if you will) but may not be able to post for a bit.  Enjoying my life in Ghana, as they all tell us to constantly do.  Loving the positivity :)

Food for though from Yemi this morning:  "Women in this country will never ask for equality.  This culture emphasizes equity.  The philosophy here is give according to status, take according to ability."
Chew on that.

AKWAABA to GHANA

"Akwaaba" means "welcome" in Twi (pronounced Tchwee) and that is precisely how I felt touching down in Accra.  I know my last post wasn't the most pleasant, but it should be noted that I did get sick again on the second flight.  However, it was while people were still boarding.  After that I was golden.  Slept the whole way (about a six hour flight)!  I arrived at 8pm local time, stood in line for an hour to go through customs (they even took our fingerprints, which I don't recall happening in Argentina), and then another half hour to get my bag and find my SIT people.  Kokroko, Papa Attah, Ama, and Kwame greeted me and my fellow program mates, of which there are 18 total (only two boys!).  We ALL piled into ONE large van and took off on the streets of Accra for our hotel.  Now that's what I call mobbin' deep.  Upon arrival, we set our things down, two to a room, and rejoined for a late dinner.  Chips (french fries), rice, chicken, fish (tilapia I think?), and a darn tasty tomato salsa with vegetables.  I didn't want to throw any wrenches into my system right out of the gates, so I avoided the fish and chicken.  We were all jet lagged, lost in time and space, so we hit the hay soon after. 

This morning started at 7:15am, b-fast at 8 (plantains, eggs with tomato and onion, roll with buddah and imported jam, and tea), then a bit of orienting.  We met our academic director, Yemi, for the first time and he explained all this semester would hold for us.  He introduced the rest of the program staff and said our semester is lucky to have them all around.  I guess in the past, they all haven't been able to be here.  Anyway, their words were reassuring.  "Enjoy your life in Ghana."

In about ten minutes we have a lecture on the cultural do's and don'ts and then it's off to the market!  Papa Attah says this will be our baptism into the community.  I CANNOT WAIT!  I'll be buying a phone and some school items.  So, if a strange number is trying to reach you...answer, it's me!
More to come!

In Transit

Shooowheee! Just hopped off the nine hour flight into Amsterdam! (At the time I wrote this post...I'm in Ghana now)
And who doesn't love a great airplane story?!
For those of you who know me or have traveled with me...you know. I get sick. This flight was no different. Shortly after the captain turned on the seat belt sign for our final descent, I nudged the large German man who occupied the seat next to mine and also occupied quite the smell. He kindly got up to let me out.  It's always a treat to see how the flight attendant closest to the restroom reacts. "Miss, the seatbelt sign is on. I'm gonna need you to return to your seat." "I'm gonna be sick," I said calmly as I threw open the lavatory door with zero intention of returning to my seat. It's embarrassing! I've vom'd on the school bus before...having a crowd is not ideal. Having that tiny white bag leak on ya isn't ideal either...remember that time, mom? Ugh. So, I do my thang and by the time I was done, we were on the ground. I cleaned up and returned to my seat feeling how I'd imagine a local celebrity feels. All eyes on me. A flight attendant I hadn't seen all flight long approached me, "Can I do anything for you?" She seemed quite genuine in her concern. "Oh, I'm fiiiiine. It happens all the time." "What happens all the time?" "Uh, getting sick on planes, especially during landings." Her next string of sentences were in a more condescending tone, "Right, so next time that happens we need you to stay in your seat and we can bring you a big trash bag. Now I have to go tell the captain, so just remember that for next time." Why the captain needed to know, beats me. I nodded my head and just said "Sure." In my head, though, I was thinking, "The chances of me flying on a plane you serve ever again are slim to none. And even if I did, I'd still lock myself in the lavatory during the descent. It's a risk I will always be willing to take, for the benefit of the whole plane. I'm all about the greater good, don'tcha know. Landing is the most exciting part of a flight! It shouldn't be tainted with the smells, sounds, and sights of yours truly barfing her brains out." Once she walked away, my plane mates checked in on me. One woman even recommended a great prescription she got from her doctor. Not that I didn't take the anti-nausea prescription provided by my doctor, I totally did, but these things still happen. Such is life! I'm this much closer to Accra! Only another five hours until THAT flight takes off. It'd be cool to get out and see Amsterdam, but it's aweful cloudy and cold here....and I'm dressed for Ghana. I'm quite tired, so I'm gonna snack on some pretzels, peanuts, and banana (complimets of Delta) and NAP!