Looking down at my happy-to-be-cold-even-for-just-minute hands holding my empty Fanyogo wrapper I know what I have to do. There are no garbage cans to be found at the Tuesday market in Dormaa-Ahenkro, and really, there are no garbage cans, dumpsters, trash buckets, or much less recycling bins in any place in Ghana. So standing at the market with Toni, Dominic, Jonas (AFSers), and Leticia (DVTC student and househelp) I just drop the wrapper on the ground next to a table full of mismatched shoes and keep walking.
Back home in the States I'm normally pretty anti-litterbug, sometimes I'll pick up trash on the ground just because I know I'm heading towards a trash can. Not for any reason other than, that's where trash goes. In Dormaa, every street has garbage lining it's curbs, empty waterbags mix with the dust from the roads and stick to the bottom of pedestrians flip-flops. Trash melts into the mud and makes up pathways leading from water pumps to gatherings of houses.
Yesterday morning something smelt funny, smokey, the straw-house girl in me started panicking about a chimmney fire. But nope, someone was just burning their trash (all of their trash; plastic, paper, food, tin, cans. Glass is sometimes 'returned', don't quite know what that means yet). At my house in Dormaa we have a trash can in the kitchen, which when it's 1/2 way full it's dumped behind our house in a wide, shallow hole with tons of other trash. All leftover food is given to the kitties, Milo and Fufu who eat it in true Ghanian style, fast and are still hungry for more afterwards. I've learned to always cover the food, ants here are speedy and plentifull, or just be quick like the cats.
And little cultural mistake I made: When bringing someone food, especially someone respected, you've got to not only put the food in containers but then put those containers in a bag, or basket. No explanation why really, you just should, or it's considered disrespectful or you'll get teased by your host-dad.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
10%
"Jesus Jesus Jesus" reads a sign for a phone credit, water, and snack shop that another AFS student and I pass on our long bus ride from Accra to Dormaa-Ahenkro. Big yellow letters spell out "God is God" on the back of a taxi that blares it's horn, warning people it's driving through the market. In church my host father smiles at me as he writes down how many cedi he'll give as a tithe this month to his Methodist congregation in a small blue book.
The Addo-Gyamfi family gives 10% of their monthly income to the church, after also giving about 10 cedi every Sunday service. Donating to the church is a public event, during the service the priest/pastor yells out "10 cedi! Who can give 10 cedi?", people walk up, shake his hand and drop their money into a wooden box with a big whole cut out of the top. He then moves down to 5 cedi, 1 cedi, 50 pesewas, and anything you can spare. People watch who walks up when, who's giving more money this week? It gave me the impression of an fast-selling antique auction.
I hope I don't offend, or give anyone the wrong impression. It's not as though the members of the church are just being sucked dry, maybe financially, but what they give in cedi comes back to them in faith. After the loud, singing and dancing that rebounds off of every wall, pew, and shaking ceiling fan, keeping the Ghanians cool they read from the bible. All in Twi. So while I was playing a game trying to list a country for every letter of the alphabet since I couldn't understand more than two words of the service, I almost didn't notice the silence that came over the church. The choir slowed down their singing and the priest/pastor stopped speaking and everyone in the church's lips were moving silently. Some people mumbled quietly, some people shook their fist in excited praise, and some people shook their heads in belief and silent sadness. In whatever way that they said their prayers, I was taken aback a little. I had been thinking about how much money the church must make every service (I'm guessing at minimum, 1,000 cedi), wondering where all that money went, and how strange it was the Ghanians detest the whites who colonized them not so many years ago but not a white-man brought religion. But watching these people, so devoted to their religion, so dependant on their God (even so sure in Him that they say any bad thing is a 'challenege', or a 'punishment') I didn't feel like they should be any different.
In a third-world country, growing though it is, there is little to hold on to. I think that everyone can love who they want to love and believe what they want to believe, and if the Ghanians of my host family's church believe that giving their income, their change, and their time to their Methodist congregation is doing good things for them then that's exactly what they should be doing.
I wish more of the Ghanian's money stayed in Ghana. I wish that I didn't see Shell gas stations that Jonas, an AFS-Belguim student, staying in Dormaa, points out to me in digust. I wish Coca-Cola wasn't so popular here. I wish more people from other countries could hear Ghanian music. These are just wishes though, and in the end I'm just observing. I'm not here to change a country, especially not one as incredible as Ghana.
Hey Dad and Rev, I miss having dinner with you guys. I'll have to bring back some Ghanian recipes but we've got to have pasta when I come back! I love you both.
Hey Mom, it was really nice hearing your voice yesterday, I miss you a lot. Reading The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, I know you say that book isn't your Louisiana but it still sometimes reminds me of you. I love you.
Hey Justin, I wish you could laugh with me about all the funny pop-culture things here. You'd be so much better at talking with Ghanians about Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and R. Kelly (pronounced Richeerd Keily here) than I am. I love you. A lot.
Hey Tia, I found a guy waaaaay taller than you. An AFS volunteer from Germany. They say gezuntiet (spelling?) and also call kitties 'Mitz, mitz' (like mietz, mietz). I miss Phoebe, your family and you so much. I love you.
Hey Rinnah, I thought of you today. I was writing in my journal, I wrote 'All Is Well' and I thought of a new tatto idea. I was thinking i'd get it maybe on the inside of my arm, but i'd want you to design it. I think your handwriting is so beautiful, I wouldn't want anyone else to do it. Just an idea. I miss you, I'm so sorry I didn't say a proper goodbye, I love you. And oh, how I smiled when I saw you're with Theron!
Hey Grace, I haven't talked to you in a while, but I want you to know how much I love you. You'll always be one of my best friends, I wish you could come visit me, you'd love the clothes here.
The Addo-Gyamfi family gives 10% of their monthly income to the church, after also giving about 10 cedi every Sunday service. Donating to the church is a public event, during the service the priest/pastor yells out "10 cedi! Who can give 10 cedi?", people walk up, shake his hand and drop their money into a wooden box with a big whole cut out of the top. He then moves down to 5 cedi, 1 cedi, 50 pesewas, and anything you can spare. People watch who walks up when, who's giving more money this week? It gave me the impression of an fast-selling antique auction.
I hope I don't offend, or give anyone the wrong impression. It's not as though the members of the church are just being sucked dry, maybe financially, but what they give in cedi comes back to them in faith. After the loud, singing and dancing that rebounds off of every wall, pew, and shaking ceiling fan, keeping the Ghanians cool they read from the bible. All in Twi. So while I was playing a game trying to list a country for every letter of the alphabet since I couldn't understand more than two words of the service, I almost didn't notice the silence that came over the church. The choir slowed down their singing and the priest/pastor stopped speaking and everyone in the church's lips were moving silently. Some people mumbled quietly, some people shook their fist in excited praise, and some people shook their heads in belief and silent sadness. In whatever way that they said their prayers, I was taken aback a little. I had been thinking about how much money the church must make every service (I'm guessing at minimum, 1,000 cedi), wondering where all that money went, and how strange it was the Ghanians detest the whites who colonized them not so many years ago but not a white-man brought religion. But watching these people, so devoted to their religion, so dependant on their God (even so sure in Him that they say any bad thing is a 'challenege', or a 'punishment') I didn't feel like they should be any different.
In a third-world country, growing though it is, there is little to hold on to. I think that everyone can love who they want to love and believe what they want to believe, and if the Ghanians of my host family's church believe that giving their income, their change, and their time to their Methodist congregation is doing good things for them then that's exactly what they should be doing.
I wish more of the Ghanian's money stayed in Ghana. I wish that I didn't see Shell gas stations that Jonas, an AFS-Belguim student, staying in Dormaa, points out to me in digust. I wish Coca-Cola wasn't so popular here. I wish more people from other countries could hear Ghanian music. These are just wishes though, and in the end I'm just observing. I'm not here to change a country, especially not one as incredible as Ghana.
Hey Dad and Rev, I miss having dinner with you guys. I'll have to bring back some Ghanian recipes but we've got to have pasta when I come back! I love you both.
Hey Mom, it was really nice hearing your voice yesterday, I miss you a lot. Reading The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, I know you say that book isn't your Louisiana but it still sometimes reminds me of you. I love you.
Hey Justin, I wish you could laugh with me about all the funny pop-culture things here. You'd be so much better at talking with Ghanians about Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and R. Kelly (pronounced Richeerd Keily here) than I am. I love you. A lot.
Hey Tia, I found a guy waaaaay taller than you. An AFS volunteer from Germany. They say gezuntiet (spelling?) and also call kitties 'Mitz, mitz' (like mietz, mietz). I miss Phoebe, your family and you so much. I love you.
Hey Rinnah, I thought of you today. I was writing in my journal, I wrote 'All Is Well' and I thought of a new tatto idea. I was thinking i'd get it maybe on the inside of my arm, but i'd want you to design it. I think your handwriting is so beautiful, I wouldn't want anyone else to do it. Just an idea. I miss you, I'm so sorry I didn't say a proper goodbye, I love you. And oh, how I smiled when I saw you're with Theron!
Hey Grace, I haven't talked to you in a while, but I want you to know how much I love you. You'll always be one of my best friends, I wish you could come visit me, you'd love the clothes here.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Obruni!
"Obruni, obruni, obruni!" (oh-brun-ee), I hear it everywhere, when I walk down the street, drive past in a car, walk out of my host family's door, ect. In Twi (chwi) this means white person. Most of the times children yell it, sing it, scream it at you, but I've been called by adults as "tsssss, Obruni!". Feeling like a celebrity is far from what makes me love Ghana though. In my short week and a half spent here I'm already learning bits of Twi, went swimming in the ocean, played volleyball with Ghanians, become addicted to Alvaro (a pear-tasting soda), have my own rusty bicyle to ride around town and to school (The Dormaa Senior High, starts next week), have had two dresses made for church (huge bright prints!), and have started swallowing fufu instead of chewing. These things would seem simple to me, if I looked at them before my departure, but acclimating to west Africa was harder and more incredible than I ever could have imagined.
Things I know so far:
Ghanian movies are the most dramatic, loud, low-budget movies I have ever seen. They have the craziest titles too, for example "Three Ladies, One Monkey".
People really like it when you speak Twi. (Also, only speaking one language feels terrible the minute you go abroad.)
When you eat with your hand, always the right hand, you eat with ALL of your hand. All five fingers.
American candy goes over really well here.
Soccer (football) is even bigger here then they say it is.
"Winter" in Ghana is the hottest summer in Montana.
Most houses have running water only on the outside, if at all.
Ceiling fans are very much appreciated.
Ghanians can fix anything five times faster than anyone I've ever seen. In America it takes five days to send a broken DVD player in and get it back, fixed. Here, give the guy fifteen minutes.
Cheap, cheap, cheap. But everythings so beautiful, or handy here that money, as an exchange student, still goes quickly.
Washing your clothes by hand requires a good technique if you want to do it right.
Fruit is delicious here. Everythings fresh, including the bread, it's so yummy.
You can buy almost anything sitting in a tro-tro (taxi-bus), car, or bus at a stop. From toothpaste to soccer balls.
From cell phone credit to egg rolls. From Fanice (ice cream) to water bags.
Fanice (chocolate maybe, not sure). Fanyogo (strawberry, my favorite). Fanmilk (vanilla). Ghanian ice cream that I'll miss so much ten months from now.
Saying you want to be a dancer, most likely the response you'll get will be something like 'huhhhh?"
My host family is incredible. My host dad is very nice, open-minded, and is a hard worker (and that means a lot when you're talking about African-style work). My host mother speaks mostly Twi, small amounts of English and I love, love to make her laugh. My host sister, a volunteer from Germany, leaving in October has been really, really helpful.
African-style work: My friend Jonas from AFS- Belgium, also living in Dormaa, his host dad works on a poulty farm. From what i hear of their 'schedule' you can find maybe, some sitting down, some eating, walking around, poke at the chickens, sit back down.
Dormaa-Ahenkro: Kalispell sized, or Laplace sized. Big in area, but about two or three main roads. It's main business is poultry farming. It's covered in shops, like almost every town or village. Smattered with MTN, Vodaphone, or Tigo phone credit signs. Alomst every house is painted bright red for Vodaphone, brights yellow for MTN or blue for Tigo.
Cell phones are huge in Ghana. Everyone has one, normally a large complicated one.
The idea that because there's no running water I'd be showering less in not true at all. Showers are taken, twice, three times a day.
Kabba and slit, a traditional dress, very hard to put on.
Scorpions live in my backyard.
Hearing voices from home, like my dad's "Hey kiddo!" makes me cry. Everytime. And i'm not even sad. It's strange what being across the ocean can do to you.
Celine Dion and Chuck Norris are heroes here.
We have two kittens, they had no names, so I named them Milo (hot chocolate mix they have here), and Fufu (her belly's white, I learned good fufu is whiter).
Fast internet is impossible unless you're in Accra.
The American dollar exchanges to about 1.4 Ghanian cedi. The money here is really pretty.
Postal stamps are really pretty too. Thank you Justin, we'll be old-fashioned and beatiful with our letters.
Ghanian names are sometimes impossible to pronounce, unless they're really American, i.e. Jessica, Brittney.
Most people are against homosexuality, but men holding hands is very normal.
I've learned that Ghana is a growing country, moving out of a third-world status very slowly, but I believe it's possible. I wish everyone the best at all of my homes and I have more to say, but I'd never be able to type it all.
I miss a lot of things. I miss my family, my boyfriend, my friends, showers, nonstop sugar, but all of these things as nice or important as they are this experience is incredible. I wouldn't change it for the world, I only wish i could share it more easily and more frequently.
Medase (thank you, i'm not sure on the spelling though) to everyone who helped me get here, is helping me experience and who's encouraging me.
Things I know so far:
Ghanian movies are the most dramatic, loud, low-budget movies I have ever seen. They have the craziest titles too, for example "Three Ladies, One Monkey".
People really like it when you speak Twi. (Also, only speaking one language feels terrible the minute you go abroad.)
When you eat with your hand, always the right hand, you eat with ALL of your hand. All five fingers.
American candy goes over really well here.
Soccer (football) is even bigger here then they say it is.
"Winter" in Ghana is the hottest summer in Montana.
Most houses have running water only on the outside, if at all.
Ceiling fans are very much appreciated.
Ghanians can fix anything five times faster than anyone I've ever seen. In America it takes five days to send a broken DVD player in and get it back, fixed. Here, give the guy fifteen minutes.
Cheap, cheap, cheap. But everythings so beautiful, or handy here that money, as an exchange student, still goes quickly.
Washing your clothes by hand requires a good technique if you want to do it right.
Fruit is delicious here. Everythings fresh, including the bread, it's so yummy.
You can buy almost anything sitting in a tro-tro (taxi-bus), car, or bus at a stop. From toothpaste to soccer balls.
From cell phone credit to egg rolls. From Fanice (ice cream) to water bags.
Fanice (chocolate maybe, not sure). Fanyogo (strawberry, my favorite). Fanmilk (vanilla). Ghanian ice cream that I'll miss so much ten months from now.
Saying you want to be a dancer, most likely the response you'll get will be something like 'huhhhh?"
My host family is incredible. My host dad is very nice, open-minded, and is a hard worker (and that means a lot when you're talking about African-style work). My host mother speaks mostly Twi, small amounts of English and I love, love to make her laugh. My host sister, a volunteer from Germany, leaving in October has been really, really helpful.
African-style work: My friend Jonas from AFS- Belgium, also living in Dormaa, his host dad works on a poulty farm. From what i hear of their 'schedule' you can find maybe, some sitting down, some eating, walking around, poke at the chickens, sit back down.
Dormaa-Ahenkro: Kalispell sized, or Laplace sized. Big in area, but about two or three main roads. It's main business is poultry farming. It's covered in shops, like almost every town or village. Smattered with MTN, Vodaphone, or Tigo phone credit signs. Alomst every house is painted bright red for Vodaphone, brights yellow for MTN or blue for Tigo.
Cell phones are huge in Ghana. Everyone has one, normally a large complicated one.
The idea that because there's no running water I'd be showering less in not true at all. Showers are taken, twice, three times a day.
Kabba and slit, a traditional dress, very hard to put on.
Scorpions live in my backyard.
Hearing voices from home, like my dad's "Hey kiddo!" makes me cry. Everytime. And i'm not even sad. It's strange what being across the ocean can do to you.
Celine Dion and Chuck Norris are heroes here.
We have two kittens, they had no names, so I named them Milo (hot chocolate mix they have here), and Fufu (her belly's white, I learned good fufu is whiter).
Fast internet is impossible unless you're in Accra.
The American dollar exchanges to about 1.4 Ghanian cedi. The money here is really pretty.
Postal stamps are really pretty too. Thank you Justin, we'll be old-fashioned and beatiful with our letters.
Ghanian names are sometimes impossible to pronounce, unless they're really American, i.e. Jessica, Brittney.
Most people are against homosexuality, but men holding hands is very normal.
I've learned that Ghana is a growing country, moving out of a third-world status very slowly, but I believe it's possible. I wish everyone the best at all of my homes and I have more to say, but I'd never be able to type it all.
I miss a lot of things. I miss my family, my boyfriend, my friends, showers, nonstop sugar, but all of these things as nice or important as they are this experience is incredible. I wouldn't change it for the world, I only wish i could share it more easily and more frequently.
Medase (thank you, i'm not sure on the spelling though) to everyone who helped me get here, is helping me experience and who's encouraging me.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
New York, New York!
So finally, after waiting and waiting and waiting and getting up at three in the morning. I'm in New York, sitting in a hotel room with two other girls who are going to Ghana. There is just the three of us. The orientation has 84 students, 5 are going to Portugal, and 3 to Ghana, the rest are all going to Italy. Below is: Dabney, Me, Margaret.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Before I go
I haven't got too long before I'm off. Before there's no more 'you must be so excited' talk and there's no more packing. But I wanted to mention a few things before I go:
Foreign exchange will be a brilliant addition to my life. People have said that I'll come back a different person, and that bothers me a little. I still appreciate the enthusiasm for my trip, but I don't think what they've said is true. I'll come back, still the same girl, but with a million different new, moving, funny, beautiful, scary, interesting images in my eyes. And a thousand different new feelings that have passed through my heart. This trip will be unforgettable.
I've said, about a year and a half ago, that foreign exchange is the best way to go. I take that back. I think foreign exchange is a great decision for me, but it does not have to be the best and only way to experience travel, or to continue an education for everyone.
I think I'll do what makes me deeply happy until it's doesn't make me feel that way any more, and then I'll do something else. My boyfriend said that once, in a slightly different way, but I've adopted it because I think it's so wonderful. It applies to this trip so well, this adventure will make the explorer in me so happy!
Tonight I talked to some incredible people. My parents had a get together at our house tonight and had a couple of their friends over, so many of their friends here in Eureka have traveled all of the world and the US. I got to talk with nearly all of them about my trip and get great advice, tips, and encouragement. I want to thank them all. One day maybe I'll have as many great stories to share as them.
Thanks, Acadia.
And by the way, I've packed the essentials.
-peanut butter
-chocolate chips
-candy to hand out
-coins to hand out
-postcards to hand out
-gifts for my host family
-envelopes for letters (mostly to Justin and friends)
-a lot of clothes
-shoes
-sunscreen
-insect repellent
-recipes
-pictures of home
-toiletries
-dancing clothes
-jacket
Any suggestions? Did I forget something?
Foreign exchange will be a brilliant addition to my life. People have said that I'll come back a different person, and that bothers me a little. I still appreciate the enthusiasm for my trip, but I don't think what they've said is true. I'll come back, still the same girl, but with a million different new, moving, funny, beautiful, scary, interesting images in my eyes. And a thousand different new feelings that have passed through my heart. This trip will be unforgettable.
I've said, about a year and a half ago, that foreign exchange is the best way to go. I take that back. I think foreign exchange is a great decision for me, but it does not have to be the best and only way to experience travel, or to continue an education for everyone.
I think I'll do what makes me deeply happy until it's doesn't make me feel that way any more, and then I'll do something else. My boyfriend said that once, in a slightly different way, but I've adopted it because I think it's so wonderful. It applies to this trip so well, this adventure will make the explorer in me so happy!
Tonight I talked to some incredible people. My parents had a get together at our house tonight and had a couple of their friends over, so many of their friends here in Eureka have traveled all of the world and the US. I got to talk with nearly all of them about my trip and get great advice, tips, and encouragement. I want to thank them all. One day maybe I'll have as many great stories to share as them.
Thanks, Acadia.
And by the way, I've packed the essentials.
-peanut butter
-chocolate chips
-candy to hand out
-coins to hand out
-postcards to hand out
-gifts for my host family
-envelopes for letters (mostly to Justin and friends)
-a lot of clothes
-shoes
-sunscreen
-insect repellent
-recipes
-pictures of home
-toiletries
-dancing clothes
-jacket
Any suggestions? Did I forget something?
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