- Catching a tro-tro going in the correct direction requires that you understand the hand motions and strange pronunciation of places such as ‘Madina,’ ‘Accra,’ and ‘Circle,’ none of which sound as they should when being yelled by the mates (the person who collects the money and directs people on and off the tro)
- Ghanaian men are very forward, so knowing how to deal with marriage proposals is a great skill
- When telling a creepy Ghanaian man that you are already married, you must have the story about your ‘husband’ already prepared…or else he will not believe you and will continue to pester you. However, even when you do tell someone you are married, be prepared to answer why you don’t want a Ghanaian boyfriend
- Ghanaians respond to both good and bad things with the saying “Oh, Ghana”
- Greet people with ‘hello, how are you’ before asking for anything – if you don’t greet, you will not receive the answer you need
- The thought of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are repulsive to virtually all Ghanaians
- Ghanaians express their dislike for something by making a clucking noise with their tongue
- “Ey! Ey!”—commonly used words to express excitement, anger, surprise…you name it
- Ghanaian theater is very interactive – don’t be surprised to see African dance incorporated into everything and people carring things on their head any time there is any sort of street scene. Even when the play is Beauty and the Beast.
- Americans talk extremely loud. Ghanaians talk quietly.
- Honking is a necessity and can be used in pretty much every situation….to alert others cars, people and animals on the road that a car is coming, to say hi to another taxi driver or someone they know on the side of the road, to replace a turn signal, to express anger at another car/tro-tro/truck that has cut them off...
- Learning even a few words in the local language, Twi (pronounced chwee) makes Ghanaians so happy. Even though they laugh every time you say something, they really do love it
- There is a special Ghanaian handshake where you shake hands and snap your middle fingers together as you are pulling your hand away
- Most Ghanaians ‘bath’ twice a day. Everyone will think you are gross unless you do the same (oh well…)
- Not wearing shoes to the bathroom is also considered very gross (whoops)
- Sleeping past 8am is considered late
- It is always necessary to check the cup of sugar that comes with your oatmeal to make sure there are no bugs crawling around
- “Almighty Stamps” or “God’s Time is Best Fried Eggs” are common store names
- Men call each other 'boss' (American equivalent of ‘hey man’)
- All Ghanaian clothing (unless handmade) are secondhand and imported from the United States or Europe
- Soccer (or “football” for us Westerners) is a serious national obsession
- Ghanaians think it is very strange that Americans decorate their rooms with pictures and other various things
- Many things, including sache water, ice cream, and juice, are packaged in plastic, and you drink them by biting off a corner of the package and sucking the liquid out
- It is extremely unladylike to walk & eat at the same time
- You can make ice cream sundaes here! Only trick: you must run from the supermarket to your room to make the sundae as fast as you can, because ice cream is never actually frozen here and it melts VERY quickly
- You can buy almost anything while sitting in a taxi or tro-tro from people who walk around and sell things. Things you can buy include:
- 20 x 24 picture frames
- Ghanaian flags
- Mentos/gum
- Cell phone minutes (called ‘credit’ here)
- Various food items: Fanice (ice cream), plaintain chips, dough balls, Tampico fruit drinks, meat pies, chocolate, peanuts
- Cuff links
- Push-up bars/ ab workout matsWater saches (bags of water, much cheaper than buying bottled water, usually are safe to drink, and what all Ghanaians drink)
- Handkerchiefs (used by all Ghanaians as sweatrags)
- Make-up products
- Steering wheel cover
- Sunglasse
- Q-tip
- Poster-size world maps (I had to restrain myself from buying one, it was difficult)
- Hair trimming kits
- Pirated movies
- TV remotes
- Toothpicks
Sunday, February 28, 2010
random things about ghana
Here's a list of a bunch of things that I've learned since being here...hope you enjoy it!
Friday, February 26, 2010
water & electricity
At least once a week, the power goes out. How long the power will be out for is always a mystery…sometimes it comes back on after 10 minutes, and you hear cheers coming from all throughout the hostel, while other times it is out for four days. Earlier this week, the power went out from Monday morning to Wednesday evening. The other international hostel has a working generator, and so they had power….everyone in my hostel was looking longingly across the parking lot to the all of the light in ISH 1 (International Students Hostel 1)! However, our living conditions are some of the best in Ghana, not to mention the best on campus. Many of the other dorms on campus haven’t had running water all semester. These students have to travel to other halls with buckets to bring water back to their rooms for washing their hands, showering, washing dishes...
I learned in my geography class that 43% of Ghanaians have electricity and that 18% of Ghanaians have access to sanitation. These two statistics are correlated. For example, in my hostel, if the electricity is out, the water will always go out in the next 20 minutes. Why? The water tanks are powered by electricity. Generators are hard to come by in Ghana and often do not work. So, for three days this week when we had no water or power, I never washed my hands. Because I come from a rich country and have enough money, I had anti-bacterial soap with me that I could use after going to the bathroom and before eating. I have never seen anti-bacterial sold on the streets here (which is saying something!) and I highly doubt even if it was available that many people would be able to afford it, especially for the amount they would need during the frequent power outages.
When we drove back from Kumasi, my eyes were glued to the window (like they always are here!) I was horrified at the conditions in every village we passed. At one village, I saw children gathering water in dirty buckets (that had probably been used for food, laundry, carrying random items, etc). Not only were the buckets dirty, but the water they were scooping up was also dirty. It honestly looked more like sewage run-off than any sort of clean drinking water. And this water is used for drinking. It is no wonder that diarrhea is the leading cause of childhood deaths in the developing world and that infectious diseases are so common.
Some facts about water and electricity:
My professor for my Strategies of Development in Africa class received his Masters degree from a university in America. He told a story on the first day of class that exemplified the disparity in wealth between Ghana and the U.S. He said that as soon as he got to his room and saw that the tap water was running, he grabbed a bucket and filled it up, because he was certain from his previous life experience that he would need that water when the power went off. He said that his American roommate stared at him, asked him what he was doing, and then laughed and said that there would never be a water shortage in the United States. My professor didn’t believe him, and so kept the bucket of water in the bathroom just in case. After this story, he explained that many Ghanaians, especially in the rural areas, have never even seen running water....
I learned in my geography class that 43% of Ghanaians have electricity and that 18% of Ghanaians have access to sanitation. These two statistics are correlated. For example, in my hostel, if the electricity is out, the water will always go out in the next 20 minutes. Why? The water tanks are powered by electricity. Generators are hard to come by in Ghana and often do not work. So, for three days this week when we had no water or power, I never washed my hands. Because I come from a rich country and have enough money, I had anti-bacterial soap with me that I could use after going to the bathroom and before eating. I have never seen anti-bacterial sold on the streets here (which is saying something!) and I highly doubt even if it was available that many people would be able to afford it, especially for the amount they would need during the frequent power outages.
When we drove back from Kumasi, my eyes were glued to the window (like they always are here!) I was horrified at the conditions in every village we passed. At one village, I saw children gathering water in dirty buckets (that had probably been used for food, laundry, carrying random items, etc). Not only were the buckets dirty, but the water they were scooping up was also dirty. It honestly looked more like sewage run-off than any sort of clean drinking water. And this water is used for drinking. It is no wonder that diarrhea is the leading cause of childhood deaths in the developing world and that infectious diseases are so common.
Some facts about water and electricity:
- 1.1 billion people have inadequate access to water
- 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation
- At least 1.6 billion people live without electricity
- On average, women and girls in developing countries walk 6 kilometers a day, carrying 20 liters of water
- About 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities
- In 11 countries in Africa, more than 90% of the population goes without electricity
- The amount of electricity consumed in one day in all of sub-Saharan Africa, minus South Africa, is about equal to that consumed in New York City
My professor for my Strategies of Development in Africa class received his Masters degree from a university in America. He told a story on the first day of class that exemplified the disparity in wealth between Ghana and the U.S. He said that as soon as he got to his room and saw that the tap water was running, he grabbed a bucket and filled it up, because he was certain from his previous life experience that he would need that water when the power went off. He said that his American roommate stared at him, asked him what he was doing, and then laughed and said that there would never be a water shortage in the United States. My professor didn’t believe him, and so kept the bucket of water in the bathroom just in case. After this story, he explained that many Ghanaians, especially in the rural areas, have never even seen running water....
volta region
A few weekends ago, I travelled with the International Programmes Office at the University with about 40 other international students to the Volta Region of Ghana. The Volta Region is on the eastern side of Ghana, pretty close to Togo. Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world…just a little fact for you there!
The beginning of the trip was amazing, minus the having to be on the bus by 4:45am part (even though we left an hour after we were supposed to…typical). However, the bus was air-conditioned (amazing!) AND we were served breakfast and cold orange juice. We first went to a monkey sanctuary at a small village. The sanctuary was started by a Canadian as a development project, to both get tourists into the area to improve the living conditions of the village and to preserve nature and the monkeys. We got to feed the monkeys bananas…it was so fun! Next we traveled to Wli Waterfall, the largest waterfall in West Africa. It was beautiful. Many of the other students went swimming underneath the waterfall, but I stayed back and climbed up some rocks to get a better view of the falls. While I was sitting there, a rainbow appeared at the bottom of the falls…it was amazing.
Then the trip got a little more exciting. We packed back into the two buses to drive about five hours back to the place we were going to stay at night…huts on a beach! However, that didn’t exactly happen….First, the bus I was on ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Why the driver didn’t fill up earlier, no one knows. So, everyone on my bus piled out and found random things to do….people starting kicking around a soccer ball, some went exploring, others (including myself) climbed on top of the bus (there is a ladder because often suitcases are put up there or people sit up there on trips) and laid there. About 40 minutes later, the other bus of international students came back with gas to fill our bus up until we found the next gas station. So, we then continued on our journey to find a gas station and filled up so we wouldn’t get stuck in the middle of nowhere again.
About 30 minutes later, we stopped at yet another gas station so the other bus could fill up…why he didn’t fill up when we filled up is still a mystery to me. By this time, it was 6pm, which was when we were supposed to have arrived at a town from which we would take a boat ride to an island where we would stay at beach huts…unfortunately we were about five hours behind schedule. We continued on our journey, got lost on our attempt to find dinner, continued on our journey again, our bus backed into the other bus by accident on one of our random stops which no one had any idea why we were stopping (whoops), and got lost again on our way to find our beach huts (and backed into a tree, whoops again).
We finally arrived in the town after 11pm, and unfortunately by this time it was lightning and very windy. They wanted us to take a canoe to the island, but Aasiya and Moses (the people who work at the International Progammes Office) decided it wasn’t a good idea to take a rickety canoe in the dark during a lightning storm. So, they left all us sitting on the ground next to the bus to try and find accommodation, and while we were waiting, the power in the entire town went out. Perfect. I found the whole situation absolutely hilarious. And actually, the power going out was the perfect opportunity to see the stars from the top of the bus!
The 40 of us were split up into two hotels, with most of us sleeping 3 or 4 in a double bed. My room even had air conditioning! The hilarity of the weekend continued as the water in our bathroom stopped working…the power in our hotel went on and off several times…all 40 of us crammed into a tiny room to eat breakfast the next morning, to have the waiter bring out a plate of 5 pieces of toast at one time….We eventually ended up getting to the beach on Sunday, and it was wonderful. The 40 of us had to go to the island in three separate shifts on the canoe because it was ‘safer,’ but on the way back all of us fit into the same canoe. No use in asking why… Oh, Ghana :)
The beginning of the trip was amazing, minus the having to be on the bus by 4:45am part (even though we left an hour after we were supposed to…typical). However, the bus was air-conditioned (amazing!) AND we were served breakfast and cold orange juice. We first went to a monkey sanctuary at a small village. The sanctuary was started by a Canadian as a development project, to both get tourists into the area to improve the living conditions of the village and to preserve nature and the monkeys. We got to feed the monkeys bananas…it was so fun! Next we traveled to Wli Waterfall, the largest waterfall in West Africa. It was beautiful. Many of the other students went swimming underneath the waterfall, but I stayed back and climbed up some rocks to get a better view of the falls. While I was sitting there, a rainbow appeared at the bottom of the falls…it was amazing.
Then the trip got a little more exciting. We packed back into the two buses to drive about five hours back to the place we were going to stay at night…huts on a beach! However, that didn’t exactly happen….First, the bus I was on ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Why the driver didn’t fill up earlier, no one knows. So, everyone on my bus piled out and found random things to do….people starting kicking around a soccer ball, some went exploring, others (including myself) climbed on top of the bus (there is a ladder because often suitcases are put up there or people sit up there on trips) and laid there. About 40 minutes later, the other bus of international students came back with gas to fill our bus up until we found the next gas station. So, we then continued on our journey to find a gas station and filled up so we wouldn’t get stuck in the middle of nowhere again.
About 30 minutes later, we stopped at yet another gas station so the other bus could fill up…why he didn’t fill up when we filled up is still a mystery to me. By this time, it was 6pm, which was when we were supposed to have arrived at a town from which we would take a boat ride to an island where we would stay at beach huts…unfortunately we were about five hours behind schedule. We continued on our journey, got lost on our attempt to find dinner, continued on our journey again, our bus backed into the other bus by accident on one of our random stops which no one had any idea why we were stopping (whoops), and got lost again on our way to find our beach huts (and backed into a tree, whoops again).
We finally arrived in the town after 11pm, and unfortunately by this time it was lightning and very windy. They wanted us to take a canoe to the island, but Aasiya and Moses (the people who work at the International Progammes Office) decided it wasn’t a good idea to take a rickety canoe in the dark during a lightning storm. So, they left all us sitting on the ground next to the bus to try and find accommodation, and while we were waiting, the power in the entire town went out. Perfect. I found the whole situation absolutely hilarious. And actually, the power going out was the perfect opportunity to see the stars from the top of the bus!
The 40 of us were split up into two hotels, with most of us sleeping 3 or 4 in a double bed. My room even had air conditioning! The hilarity of the weekend continued as the water in our bathroom stopped working…the power in our hotel went on and off several times…all 40 of us crammed into a tiny room to eat breakfast the next morning, to have the waiter bring out a plate of 5 pieces of toast at one time….We eventually ended up getting to the beach on Sunday, and it was wonderful. The 40 of us had to go to the island in three separate shifts on the canoe because it was ‘safer,’ but on the way back all of us fit into the same canoe. No use in asking why… Oh, Ghana :)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
cape coast
So this blog is definitely overdue, but I wanted to write about my trip to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is a town located along the coast (surprising, I know) and is also the home of some of the largest slave trading castles that still exist today. A few weekends ago, I travelled there with the 6 other girls from Elon (Rachel, Maggie, Joanna, Natalie, Kaya and Ayaan) in a very nice car paid for by Elon (thank you, Dr. Digre!). We went to Kakum National Forest, where we did the canopy walk. The canopy walk was constructed in 1995 and consists of bridges connected to trees many feet from the ground.
After the canopy walk, we went to Hans Cottage Botel (we assumed that a botel means the same thing as a motel or hotel?) and ate at their restaurant which is surrounded by a pond of alligators. I couldn’t wait to meet up with the Elon Winter Term class, because two of my suitemates from last semester, Gretchen and Lauren, were on the trip! It was so weird for all of us to be together in Ghana, but so awesome. Dr. Digre also arranged for Elon to pay for the 7 of us from the University of Ghana to sleep at the resort where the winter term people were staying…the same place where Barak Obama & family stayed when they visited Ghana! It was so nice…and so weird to be in such luxury! (Although our hostel on campus is certainly luxurious for Ghana).
The next day, the seven of us from the university went our own way to go to both the Elmina and Cape Coast castles (the winter term trip had already done both of these). We first went to Elmina Castle (really St. George’s Castle, but located in Elmina). Elmina was ruled by the Portuguese for two hundred years following their landing in 1471, and then ruled by the Dutch after they defeated the Portuguese. Both the Dutch and Portuguese used the castle as a slave trading post. It was sobering to walk through the slave dungeons, see the somewhat-hidden passageway where the residing governor of the castle brought female slaves up for sex, smell the still-present odors in the various dungeons, and look at the tiny windows used for ventilation, food and water for the hundreds of slaves packed in a small room, wondering how any could have survived the malnutrition and disease.
Before we headed to Cape Coast Castle, the 7 of us attempted to find a vegetarian restaurant called Baab’s Juices (the other 2 vegetarians and I were so excited at the thought of salads, tofu, healthy food!) that our guidebook raved about. Our taxi driver abruptly stopped the car and motioned us out, promising us that we had arrived at our spot. We got out, peered around, and saw a boarded-up shack across the road that looked like it may have been the restaurant. I was pretty convinced that the restaurant had closed, until a Ghanaian came running up to us, and after sort of convincing us that she was Baab herself, hurried us up a very vertical flight of stairs into what I think may have been part of her house. There was one table in the room, and her and various other unnamed people brought chairs out of what I think was their house for all of us to sit in. After awhile (I am trying to move past the thought of anything happening fast in this country), Baab served us warm fruit smoothies in red cups. We’re still unsure what exactly happened….
We then took the tour through Cape Coast castle, which was similar to Elmina in the size of rooms, the tiny windows for ventilation, and the pungent odor still lingering in the air. Particularly disturbing was the tiny jail dungeon. We were told that white guards who worked at the castle were put in this jail if they were found to be having sex with the female slaves, and that many slaves were placed in the jail for minor offenses (I am afraid to think what was considered a minor offense) or for larger ones, such as trying to escape. Our guide explained that the white prisoners were given food and water through the peephole in the door, but the blacks were not, and so they starved to death.
I am so glad that I had the chance to visit both of these castles, but my heart was heavy as we trudged through cellar after cellar. Seeing the churches established at both of these castles was especially horrifying. How could people worship God as thousands were fighting for their lives just a floor below them and not be moved to action? How could the church think it was okay to enslave and exploit other people made in the image of God? Yes, these people may have looked different than them, but let us all remember that Jesus was not white…he actually probably looked Middle Eastern.
At the end of the tour through Elmina, the guide said that he did not want people to leave in bitterness or anger towards those who enslaved Africans; that we had to move past the tragedies that occurred in Africa and all be united as human beings. While I do agree that we should not be constantly lamenting over past sins, what made my heart heavy is that slavery is still happening today. There are more than one million child prisoners. Thousands of children have been stolen to work for Joseph Kony in Darfur. Millions of women and children, both boys and girls, are enslaved in human trafficking -- for sex or labor. Slavery isn’t over. That doesn’t even begin to think about the billions of people virtually enslaved by poverty. I wonder if in two hundred years Christians will look back at the state of the world in 2010 and think just as I did while standing at the castles: how could the church stand by and do nothing in the face of such injustice?
A plaque at each castle reads:
In everlasting memory of the anguish of our ancestors
May those who died rest in peace
May those who return find their roots
May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity
We the living vow to uphold this
It is a beautiful saying. I am just wondering whether we have really vowed that at all.
After the canopy walk, we went to Hans Cottage Botel (we assumed that a botel means the same thing as a motel or hotel?) and ate at their restaurant which is surrounded by a pond of alligators. I couldn’t wait to meet up with the Elon Winter Term class, because two of my suitemates from last semester, Gretchen and Lauren, were on the trip! It was so weird for all of us to be together in Ghana, but so awesome. Dr. Digre also arranged for Elon to pay for the 7 of us from the University of Ghana to sleep at the resort where the winter term people were staying…the same place where Barak Obama & family stayed when they visited Ghana! It was so nice…and so weird to be in such luxury! (Although our hostel on campus is certainly luxurious for Ghana).
The next day, the seven of us from the university went our own way to go to both the Elmina and Cape Coast castles (the winter term trip had already done both of these). We first went to Elmina Castle (really St. George’s Castle, but located in Elmina). Elmina was ruled by the Portuguese for two hundred years following their landing in 1471, and then ruled by the Dutch after they defeated the Portuguese. Both the Dutch and Portuguese used the castle as a slave trading post. It was sobering to walk through the slave dungeons, see the somewhat-hidden passageway where the residing governor of the castle brought female slaves up for sex, smell the still-present odors in the various dungeons, and look at the tiny windows used for ventilation, food and water for the hundreds of slaves packed in a small room, wondering how any could have survived the malnutrition and disease.
Before we headed to Cape Coast Castle, the 7 of us attempted to find a vegetarian restaurant called Baab’s Juices (the other 2 vegetarians and I were so excited at the thought of salads, tofu, healthy food!) that our guidebook raved about. Our taxi driver abruptly stopped the car and motioned us out, promising us that we had arrived at our spot. We got out, peered around, and saw a boarded-up shack across the road that looked like it may have been the restaurant. I was pretty convinced that the restaurant had closed, until a Ghanaian came running up to us, and after sort of convincing us that she was Baab herself, hurried us up a very vertical flight of stairs into what I think may have been part of her house. There was one table in the room, and her and various other unnamed people brought chairs out of what I think was their house for all of us to sit in. After awhile (I am trying to move past the thought of anything happening fast in this country), Baab served us warm fruit smoothies in red cups. We’re still unsure what exactly happened….
We then took the tour through Cape Coast castle, which was similar to Elmina in the size of rooms, the tiny windows for ventilation, and the pungent odor still lingering in the air. Particularly disturbing was the tiny jail dungeon. We were told that white guards who worked at the castle were put in this jail if they were found to be having sex with the female slaves, and that many slaves were placed in the jail for minor offenses (I am afraid to think what was considered a minor offense) or for larger ones, such as trying to escape. Our guide explained that the white prisoners were given food and water through the peephole in the door, but the blacks were not, and so they starved to death.
I am so glad that I had the chance to visit both of these castles, but my heart was heavy as we trudged through cellar after cellar. Seeing the churches established at both of these castles was especially horrifying. How could people worship God as thousands were fighting for their lives just a floor below them and not be moved to action? How could the church think it was okay to enslave and exploit other people made in the image of God? Yes, these people may have looked different than them, but let us all remember that Jesus was not white…he actually probably looked Middle Eastern.
At the end of the tour through Elmina, the guide said that he did not want people to leave in bitterness or anger towards those who enslaved Africans; that we had to move past the tragedies that occurred in Africa and all be united as human beings. While I do agree that we should not be constantly lamenting over past sins, what made my heart heavy is that slavery is still happening today. There are more than one million child prisoners. Thousands of children have been stolen to work for Joseph Kony in Darfur. Millions of women and children, both boys and girls, are enslaved in human trafficking -- for sex or labor. Slavery isn’t over. That doesn’t even begin to think about the billions of people virtually enslaved by poverty. I wonder if in two hundred years Christians will look back at the state of the world in 2010 and think just as I did while standing at the castles: how could the church stand by and do nothing in the face of such injustice?
A plaque at each castle reads:
In everlasting memory of the anguish of our ancestors
May those who died rest in peace
May those who return find their roots
May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity
We the living vow to uphold this
It is a beautiful saying. I am just wondering whether we have really vowed that at all.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
kumasi
This past weekend, I travelled to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana (next to Accra), with three friends from Canada: Lonnie, Nina, and Arsalan. The journey started at 7am Friday morning…a stop to pick up egg sandwiches and fruit, a tro-tro ride to the main gate of the university, a hop on the Metro Mass transit bus to Circle in Accra, an hour-long wait on a bus to leave for Kumasi - buses here don’t leave on any schedule, just once they fill up - and a three-hour ride on the bus took us first to Abompe, a small village about halfway between Accra and Kumasi.
Well, the bus actually dropped us off near Abompe, so the four of us got off the bus only to be greeted by a number of Ghanaian women selling various items who didn’t speak English and two taxi drivers who were fighting to take us to Abompe. We hurriedly got into one of the taxis to avoid a fight between the taxi drivers (this happens often), and in a few minutes found ourselves dropped off in Abompe…again, with various Ghanaians staring at us and us having no idea what we were doing. But, we made friends rather quickly, and eventually a tour guide came to meet us. Abompe uses beadmaking as a community development project, and the beads sold to visitors go directly to the individual beadmaker and their family. During the tour, we met lots of friendly Ghanaians, saw how the beads were made and got to practice making them ourselves. We were explained that the beads are made from bauxite rock from the nearby mountain, and after the rock is taken to the village, it is chipped, whittled and smoothed by various beadmakers to be made into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. We met so many hospitable people along the way, and some adorable children. One of my favorite moments was when I turned to see about seven children standing about twenty feet from me, all of whom looked younger than four years old with their arms outstretched, fingers pointing, yelling, ‘obruni! obruni!’ We waved, said hello, and asked them various things in Twi (local language of the Ashanti people), none of which they answered because they were too busy staring and pointing. My favorite part was when this one little girl came running up to me, touched my leg, and then ran away. So adorable! But okay, I’ll stop ranting about how cute the kids here are. So, after we finished the tour, we were taken to the shop where each of the beadmaker’s pictures are hung and their jewelry is on sale. It was so neat being able to buy something and know exactly where the money was going, especially since it was clear that the village was extremely poor.
After another tro-tro ride, we were in Kumasi! It was slightly unfortunate that we arrived there at night, since we had no idea where we were going, and quickly learned that not many people in Kumasi speak English…We made a friend at a nearby hotel, who helped us find a place to stay when all the places we called in the guidebook were either full or did not have working telephones. It took us quite some time to find a guesthouse, but we finally settled at the Nimoh Guesthouse. Arsalan even bargained for us for our hotel rooms - only 15 cedi per person for two nights – and we even got our own bathrooms (although the water in one of our rooms didn’t have running water, so the bathroom wasn’t much help). Who knew you could bargain for a hotel room?
On Saturday, we went to the Ashanti Palace Museum, where we learned about the history of the Ashanti people and saw many artifacts of the Ashanti kings and queen mothers. We then went to the cultural center, where we browsed through craft shops, ate some good Ghanaian food (after lamenting about how you are never given more than one menu and a good part of the items on the menu aren’t actually offered), and watched part of some performance by all different high schools that included skits and dramas. To us, it seemed like they were doing drama education – one skit was about the dangers of cults, another was about the repercussions that come if you accuse someone of doing something they didn’t do, etc. We then went to Kejetia market, the largest market in West Africa. It was absolutely insane!! The guidebook told us that it looked like ‘an alien mothership from afar’ and it kind of did. Row and row of cardboard or tin roofs made it almost look like a slum, but really those were all the shops of the vendors. Vendors sold everything from clothing to Bollywood movies to food products, and we didn’t stay for too long because of how overwhelming it was. We also got to see a Ghanaian band perform, and watch Ghanaians dance, which I LOVE doing. I’m hoping I’ll catch some rhythm here…but let's be serious, that probably won’t happen :) I really enjoyed Kumasi, but it was definitely different than Accra. There was so much pollution everywhere (it probably didn’t help that our hotel was in the junkyard part of town) and it seemed a lot more spread out than Accra.
The ride back also proved to be an adventure. The STC busses are one of the main ways of getting around Ghana, and are pretty much the only bus company with a set time schedule. I was very excited about the thought of actually leaving at 12:30, but of course, that didn’t happen. We watched our bus driver sit inside the bus, reading a newspaper as the minutes ticked away…around 1pm he came off and helped some other workers start replacing the battery or something… we eventually left at 1:30. Oh, Ghana.
The only bad part of the trip is that the three of us girls all got sick on the way back from Kumasi with a fever and flu-like symptoms. I went to the clinic (I arrived there and got my temperature taken only to be told I could only pay in cash and therefore had to go back to campus to get cash and then go back to the clinic, only to find out that when I later paid with the cash, they didn’t have change…it is such a mystery to me why no place has change) and was tested for many things, but they told me that I most likely have a bacterial infection. There is still a possibility that I have typhoid, but I am pretty sure that it’s just a bacterial infection…I’m already feeling much, much better so that is good!
Also...I will be trying to put pictures up soon! I'll either put them on this blog or on facebook...the internet is just too slow most of the time. So hopefully they'll be coming soon! :)
Well, the bus actually dropped us off near Abompe, so the four of us got off the bus only to be greeted by a number of Ghanaian women selling various items who didn’t speak English and two taxi drivers who were fighting to take us to Abompe. We hurriedly got into one of the taxis to avoid a fight between the taxi drivers (this happens often), and in a few minutes found ourselves dropped off in Abompe…again, with various Ghanaians staring at us and us having no idea what we were doing. But, we made friends rather quickly, and eventually a tour guide came to meet us. Abompe uses beadmaking as a community development project, and the beads sold to visitors go directly to the individual beadmaker and their family. During the tour, we met lots of friendly Ghanaians, saw how the beads were made and got to practice making them ourselves. We were explained that the beads are made from bauxite rock from the nearby mountain, and after the rock is taken to the village, it is chipped, whittled and smoothed by various beadmakers to be made into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. We met so many hospitable people along the way, and some adorable children. One of my favorite moments was when I turned to see about seven children standing about twenty feet from me, all of whom looked younger than four years old with their arms outstretched, fingers pointing, yelling, ‘obruni! obruni!’ We waved, said hello, and asked them various things in Twi (local language of the Ashanti people), none of which they answered because they were too busy staring and pointing. My favorite part was when this one little girl came running up to me, touched my leg, and then ran away. So adorable! But okay, I’ll stop ranting about how cute the kids here are. So, after we finished the tour, we were taken to the shop where each of the beadmaker’s pictures are hung and their jewelry is on sale. It was so neat being able to buy something and know exactly where the money was going, especially since it was clear that the village was extremely poor.
After another tro-tro ride, we were in Kumasi! It was slightly unfortunate that we arrived there at night, since we had no idea where we were going, and quickly learned that not many people in Kumasi speak English…We made a friend at a nearby hotel, who helped us find a place to stay when all the places we called in the guidebook were either full or did not have working telephones. It took us quite some time to find a guesthouse, but we finally settled at the Nimoh Guesthouse. Arsalan even bargained for us for our hotel rooms - only 15 cedi per person for two nights – and we even got our own bathrooms (although the water in one of our rooms didn’t have running water, so the bathroom wasn’t much help). Who knew you could bargain for a hotel room?
On Saturday, we went to the Ashanti Palace Museum, where we learned about the history of the Ashanti people and saw many artifacts of the Ashanti kings and queen mothers. We then went to the cultural center, where we browsed through craft shops, ate some good Ghanaian food (after lamenting about how you are never given more than one menu and a good part of the items on the menu aren’t actually offered), and watched part of some performance by all different high schools that included skits and dramas. To us, it seemed like they were doing drama education – one skit was about the dangers of cults, another was about the repercussions that come if you accuse someone of doing something they didn’t do, etc. We then went to Kejetia market, the largest market in West Africa. It was absolutely insane!! The guidebook told us that it looked like ‘an alien mothership from afar’ and it kind of did. Row and row of cardboard or tin roofs made it almost look like a slum, but really those were all the shops of the vendors. Vendors sold everything from clothing to Bollywood movies to food products, and we didn’t stay for too long because of how overwhelming it was. We also got to see a Ghanaian band perform, and watch Ghanaians dance, which I LOVE doing. I’m hoping I’ll catch some rhythm here…but let's be serious, that probably won’t happen :) I really enjoyed Kumasi, but it was definitely different than Accra. There was so much pollution everywhere (it probably didn’t help that our hotel was in the junkyard part of town) and it seemed a lot more spread out than Accra.
The ride back also proved to be an adventure. The STC busses are one of the main ways of getting around Ghana, and are pretty much the only bus company with a set time schedule. I was very excited about the thought of actually leaving at 12:30, but of course, that didn’t happen. We watched our bus driver sit inside the bus, reading a newspaper as the minutes ticked away…around 1pm he came off and helped some other workers start replacing the battery or something… we eventually left at 1:30. Oh, Ghana.
The only bad part of the trip is that the three of us girls all got sick on the way back from Kumasi with a fever and flu-like symptoms. I went to the clinic (I arrived there and got my temperature taken only to be told I could only pay in cash and therefore had to go back to campus to get cash and then go back to the clinic, only to find out that when I later paid with the cash, they didn’t have change…it is such a mystery to me why no place has change) and was tested for many things, but they told me that I most likely have a bacterial infection. There is still a possibility that I have typhoid, but I am pretty sure that it’s just a bacterial infection…I’m already feeling much, much better so that is good!
Also...I will be trying to put pictures up soon! I'll either put them on this blog or on facebook...the internet is just too slow most of the time. So hopefully they'll be coming soon! :)
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
love, joy, peace, patience…
Those of you who know me well – or probably just those of you who know me – know that patience is not something that I am naturally gifted with. I like to do everything fast. My suitemates in Barney will attest to this…I made Becca time my showers so many times last semester just to see how fast I could do it (current record: 3 minutes), and I always beat Gretchen when we washed our dishes next to each other even though I usually had quadruple the amount of dishes as her. Some people would say that I am not thorough…but I prefer to say that I get a lot of things done quickly. I like to walk fast, talk fast, read fast, etc…That’s just the way I am. So, when I opened my email a few days ago and saw an email from Jana Lynn Patterson (one of the deans at Elon) sent at 6:35am, I laughed. The email stated that that morning at Elon, the power went out in some buildings for about 20-45 minutes at 5:40am. I sat slightly in shock at two things: one, that the power had been fixed in less than 45 minutes, and two, that all students in the school received an email about the power outage less than an hour after it had occurred. This kind of communication seems so foreign to me right now…I can’t even imagine getting an email from one of the deans here that would explain why everyone was woken up at 4am one night to sit outside for an hour because of an earthquake rumor. Or an email to explain why our power and water went out for four days and when it would actually come on again. But, then again, do we really need an email? If people had been emailed that the earthquake warning was a hoax, I wouldn’t have been able to hang out with friends for an hour in the early morning, laughing and talking. And the power going out can be fun… why else would I have learned how to take a bucket shower or have had to find things to do that didn’t involve any electricity?
The following events have required me to have patience:
…so I’ve been trying to learn patience :)
The following events have required me to have patience:
- when I get all ready to take a shower, only to find out the water is out
- when the internet connection goes out every ten minutes randomly
- when I try to skype with Leah for more than two hours, and it still won’t work even though I have full connection
- when it takes five minutes to open an internet page
- when trying to register for classes…see previous blog
- when the electricity is out for five days and your phone and computer die
- when I carry three giant water bottles to the counter of the nearby supermarket only to find that I can’t buy anything because they don’t have change for a ten and have to put them all back
- when I walk to the bathroom and have to go back to my room because I forgot to bring toilet paper
- when you get three different answers from three different people in the international programmes office in response to the same question
- when trying to find the books/articles I have to read for class
- when realizing that the class I was trying to attend had been randomly moved to another classroom
…so I’ve been trying to learn patience :)
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
booker t. washingon vs. w.e.b. dubois
The classes I am taking are:
Yesterday in my African-American Lit class, we discussed the life of W.E.B. DuBois through the lens of one of his pieces, Dusk of Dawn. In several of the chapters, the ideological differences of DuBois and Booker T. Washington in terms of the how to achieve black equality were discussed. Washington was primarily concerned with economic development for blacks, and therefore placed high importance on training blacks to be tradesmen. DuBois, on the other hand, saw Washington’s strategy as compromising the dignity of blacks, as it did not take into account the lack of rights held by blacks in social and political arenas. Whites welcomed the ideas of Washington, because it allowed blacks and whites to be socially and politically separate, which kept blacks in their place as lower than whites. Essentially, what many believe is that Washington advocated a way of ‘reform’ where blacks would still be inferior and caught in the status quo, while DuBois believed that blacks could achieve something greater and that the lack of dignity given to blacks despite gains in economic areas could not be rightfully rationalized.
I think that both DuBois and Washington have legitimate points. Washington wanted to better the lives of blacks through economic advancements, which is a noble goal and certainly helped increase the quality of their lives. However, his view only seemed to provide a short-term solution, as blacks were still caught in the system where whites could act as if they were inferior. The ideas of DuBois were much more radical, and certainly much harder to accomplish in a short period of time. In my mind, DuBois dreamt for something so much better, so much bigger, something that followers of Washington probably thought could never happen. How often do I act like Washington in terms of the rights of those lower in economic or social status than myself? After giving a homeless person food, do I feel good that they won’t be hungry today? – which, don’t get me wrong, is a great thing – but what about tomorrow? And the next day? And the day after that? I want to be someone who dreams big. I’m sure that in the time of DuBois, blacks gaining full equality seemed close to impossible, almost hopeless. That’s how I often feel when I think about the 30,000 children who die each day from starvation, the millions of women and children who are trafficked each year, and the one billion people who live in slums. The problems of the world seem insurmountable, and no one person on this earth can ever combat all of the evils present here. However, I don’t want to be a person who rationalizes the lack of dignity or rights of people by saying, oh well, at least they have x, y, or z. I don’t want to settle. I want to dream big.
- Africa in the Global System (in the political science department)
- Strategies of Development in Africa (also in poli sci)
- Landmarks of African-American Literature (an english class, taught by an African-American)
- Geography of West Africa with special reference to Ghana (geography)
Yesterday in my African-American Lit class, we discussed the life of W.E.B. DuBois through the lens of one of his pieces, Dusk of Dawn. In several of the chapters, the ideological differences of DuBois and Booker T. Washington in terms of the how to achieve black equality were discussed. Washington was primarily concerned with economic development for blacks, and therefore placed high importance on training blacks to be tradesmen. DuBois, on the other hand, saw Washington’s strategy as compromising the dignity of blacks, as it did not take into account the lack of rights held by blacks in social and political arenas. Whites welcomed the ideas of Washington, because it allowed blacks and whites to be socially and politically separate, which kept blacks in their place as lower than whites. Essentially, what many believe is that Washington advocated a way of ‘reform’ where blacks would still be inferior and caught in the status quo, while DuBois believed that blacks could achieve something greater and that the lack of dignity given to blacks despite gains in economic areas could not be rightfully rationalized.
I think that both DuBois and Washington have legitimate points. Washington wanted to better the lives of blacks through economic advancements, which is a noble goal and certainly helped increase the quality of their lives. However, his view only seemed to provide a short-term solution, as blacks were still caught in the system where whites could act as if they were inferior. The ideas of DuBois were much more radical, and certainly much harder to accomplish in a short period of time. In my mind, DuBois dreamt for something so much better, so much bigger, something that followers of Washington probably thought could never happen. How often do I act like Washington in terms of the rights of those lower in economic or social status than myself? After giving a homeless person food, do I feel good that they won’t be hungry today? – which, don’t get me wrong, is a great thing – but what about tomorrow? And the next day? And the day after that? I want to be someone who dreams big. I’m sure that in the time of DuBois, blacks gaining full equality seemed close to impossible, almost hopeless. That’s how I often feel when I think about the 30,000 children who die each day from starvation, the millions of women and children who are trafficked each year, and the one billion people who live in slums. The problems of the world seem insurmountable, and no one person on this earth can ever combat all of the evils present here. However, I don’t want to be a person who rationalizes the lack of dignity or rights of people by saying, oh well, at least they have x, y, or z. I don’t want to settle. I want to dream big.
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