While I was travelling by the coast I realized there was something I sorta missed about Accra, though I heard it on the beach sometimes, I missed the sound of street hawkers. On most of the roads in Accra, even dangerous faster-moving roads you can nearly always find street hawkers yelling out "Yess, puuure" and "plantaaiin". Men and women carrying anything and everything you would ever want to buy right outside your window as you drive past. The list ranges from toothpaste to wallets, jewelery to bread and butter, razors to plungers, and soccer balls to religious stickers for your car.
Woman carrying her child while selling bread and butter.
Before my trip, when AFS had us all meet in New York I met a girl who went to Ghana for the summer and sat in a bus writing a list of all the things she could have bought. I laughed at it then, but now I can even think of some things I might want that it's missing. The trick is to know about how much each thing costs, that way you can pay the exact amount and quickly switch the money for the item and not worry about the car moving off before you get your change or they get their money. I've seen some people be pretty sly, grab the things they're buying and drive off without paying, but not very often. Most hawkers in a certain area will help each other out though, if one can't find change quickly enough, or the car's moved off they'll help run after it. In one area there will sometimes be ten women all selling plantain chips. In order to keep all of that stuff balanced on their head, they use years of practice along with little rolled up scarves in between their load and their head.
Woman selling oranges near Tamale.
I've seen some of my students selling bananas. Unfortunately, children selling is not uncommon. I've thought a lot about it. When it comes down to 'supporting' them or not, I would rather give ten pesewas to the little girl carrying a bucket of purewater half her weight then deny her because of her age. I feel being in Ghana for so long has desensitized me to it, but in the beginning it was a challenge to see the children selling that way. Along with the street hawkers, something I still have to shield my eyes to a little are the beggars. Some roll along on skateboards with polio and other disease stricken legs. Some are blind , led by young children with hands outstretched, knocking on the windows and pointing to their mouths. Some can't follow the cars but just sit on the side of the road and look up at you, muttering with open hands. I've seen Ghanains give change, just like in the US where you'll see someone give their grocery store change to a person's cup on the way home. Not everyone, bet there really are kind people. Still, for every beggar, or tired young child you see collecting money you'll see a baby holding on to their mothers back making a funny face or a woman selling bananas will give you a bag of groundnuts free. Just like at home, nice things happen everywhere, you just can't be blind to them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just seven weeks left! It's just coming right along!
During April most of the school's in Ghana have a lot of time off, so all the people in my chapter and I had time for a little travelling spring break. My time travelling was great, a mixture of fun and experience I couldn't have gotten otherwise.
Me and Jolien, enjoying the coast!
A group of volunteers and students met at Busua Beach and spent around one to two weeks there. It's a beautiful, beautiful spot with a wonderful beach, a mountain to climb, great street food (some western food if you're absolutely raving for it), a neat surf shop, other volunteers coming through, makeshift volleyball nets scattered around, and an abundance of cute little beach kids ready to play with you.
Fishing boat at Busua Beach.
Unfortunately, it being such a prime spot for tourists also means it's a prime spot for pick-pocketing. My camera was stolen a few days into the trip, miraculously my memory card was having problems so I took it out the day previous, but nonetheless camera's gone. While at the beach I learned how to surf from my great friend Jolien, it was awesome fun for a while even if I got beaten up a little bit.
My baby attempts at surfing!
Then out of the blue, Jolien had a pretty bad surfing accident. She's okay and healing now, but the fin injury had us anxious that she would be going home. The rest of our trip continued without a hitch, I went on to visit Jolien for her birthday in Mampong and then met up with my host family in Kumasi for the weekend. Now I'm back in Accra, starting work next week, and I'm ready to see my students again.
Being back with my host family has been nice. Little Abena says that I can't travel again, I have to stay forever because when I go she misses me. She's having an interview today to get into Ghana International School, the same school her brother and sisters attend. Wish her luck! This morning I quizzed her one last time on the questions she'll be asked and we sang her favorite nursery song, "Ba, Ba, Black Sheep". My host mom, Akosua and I have a nice time talking when we get the chance and she still laughs at the face I make when I try kenke (Kenke is millet wrapped inside of a corn husk eaten with stew, fish, and pepper). I try a small bite every other time she has it, and that's almost every day, to see if it's grown on me yet. It hasn't. So sour! My host dad, Frank and I still watch soccer together in the evenings. We've been following a few teams around, he's always determined to crush Barcelona FC. I just side with him unless the other team has given me a reason to like them better. Kelvin and I are good friends and we've had a scaring competition going on for a while now. 3-2, Kelvin's winning. We jump out from behind doors, curtains, and things and try and get a scream out of each other. Devita is a bit of a drama queen, but a really devoted little girl and I'm glad I could be a big sister to her for a while. Becky and Frimpoma and I still get along really well and watch Spanish soap operas together whenever we can, "El Nombre de Amor". It's intense. Just wanted to share a little host family news after I dove into something more serious. I was going to say 'more Ghana', but you know, this is all part of my experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment