Life in Ghana

I have  had the opportunity to experience many parts of Ghanaian life from the food to local traditions and norms. So I talked earlier about the idea of “this is Africa” and yes I had many of these moments. One I will never forget is having a live chicken between my feet for a 5 hour tro tro ride (and I am not a fan of birds). Another time I was on the phone with my mom in a tro tro and she said is that a kid in the background and my response was not there is a goat under the seats in the back. Another would be trying to get money out from an ATM. There are many ATM’s around, but the chances of them working is quite low. We all had the mantra if the ATM is working get money, who knows when it will be working again.

Yes that is a live chicken between my legs,
 that at one point was flapping around and pecking me.

You can buy almost anything from the side of the road from either a women or child selling it from the top of their head or from a small stand. I will miss the convenience of this. I think what I will miss most is the fresh fruit everywhere (especially pineapple), tiger nuts, plantain chip and fan ice. I loved pineapple so much I got it just about every day, I had my own pineapple lady in Swedru that was always so nice. I am going to miss the fresh pineapple of Asia and Africa so much. I already know I am not going to enjoy imported pineapple at home. I also loved plantain chips, and I will be teaching myself to make these when I get home.

Experiencing markets in Ghana gives you a feel for African culture.  The experience was never dull but I loved it.  At times the people selling were a little pushy and got mad when you did not buy from them. When this happened had to remember that selling impacts their ability to care for their family.  I bought anything from food to cloth in the market. You can find almost anything being sold.

Market in Kumasi. The market when on forever.
All of the metal roofs are part of the market.

Market in Swedru

One distinct experience I had every day was drinking out of a plastic bag. Every bit of water I drank while I was their came from a plastic bag. Sometimes it was a little plastic taste due to being heated when transported on an open truck in the sun, but for the most part is was fine. Bottled water is much less readily available and is more expensive. Pop also was put in rubbers (plastic bags) as the glass bottles are returned and reused. I cannot count the number of times I ripped a corner of a plastic bag to have a drink.  It takes some technique since I spilled my fair share of water when I first started and forbid you forget it is open and squeeze it.

Water by the bag!

Bottoms up!

My experience with food was both a positive and negative one. I loved eating the foods that were distinctly Ghanaian, but by the time I left if I ate one more bit of rice or spaghetti I was going to lose my mind. Protein and veggies were often hard to come by. Fufu is a Ghanaian dish that I saw made often. It is a mix of cooked plantain and cassava that is pounded together. It is amazing the technique they goes into this dish. It is so much work and seeing it made for 35 kids is an experience. The dough is then eaten in a soup and with some type of meat. My favorite was groundnut soup with chicken. However I did have lite soup with goat also. Each soup is very distinct and makes the experience of fufu very different. Some of the other traditional dishes I had on a regular basis were jolof, red red, and fried plantain. 

Adjingo was a Fufu pro

Fufu being pounded

Aiphia enjoying the making of fufu

I tired but I was not very good.
 was always worried  I would hit the person's hand.

Fufu with Lite Soup and Goat

Red Red with rice, but it can be eaten with fried plantain also.

So I have been on a quest to try local drinks while I am in each country. I will never forget the intense taste of both of the local liquors I tied while I was her. Both Alomo and Abateshi (brewed from palm wine) are on the list of things I have tied but I will never try again. Both were like drinking what I think fuel would taste like. I did really like both Star beer and Alvaro which is a non-alcoholic malt drink. Alvaro is something I will miss when I get home.

From my experience here I have decided that almost anything can be carried on your head. I carried a few things on my head with limited success. They kids always laughed at me when I tried, even if I felt I was doing a good job. Their necks much be so strong!!! It was also amazed by a women’s ability to carry a child on her back. I tried this also and found the child is much more secure than one may think from one piece of folded cloth.   

Woman at work

I love this photo!!!

Fast asleep on mom's back.

One thing I will not miss from Ghana is being called Obruni (this is foreigner in Tui).This is yelled at you anytime you are walking down the street in a town or city. If you don’t get this yell you may get looks. I especially got this when I was walking through Accra with my large backpack on my back and my small one on my front. I learned to ignore it but it was still so different than being at home where no one pays attention to anyone.  I also had many experiences of being grabbed constantly by random men. They don’t want to hurt you, they just want you to talk to them. I can’t count the number of times I was asked “will you be my friend” or “will you marry me”. I told many people I was married. Most times my husband’s name was Kevin.  I am really not going to miss being a spectacle and look forward to just walking down the street and know one paying attention to me.    I now know that I never want to be famous, I like being able to walk down and street without being hassled.

One more distinct experience was learning abou the use of Fante names. Fante is a group of people that live in the southern coast of Ghana where the orphanage is located. Most children who are part of the Fante group have both an English and (sometimes called a school name) Fante name. Fante names are given by the day of the week you were born on.  At first I was inquisitive about the fact that so many people would have the same name. As result of these questions I learned that many times there is variation on the names. For example Ama which is     may be called Rama. It was also interesting to learn that children are named for birth order also. In the orphanage there were twins who were 6 one male and one female. The first born male’s name is Panyin and the second born female is Kaakra . There English names we Francis and Franscisca. When I got there I was super confused but gained understanding as I asked more questions. Some of the kids are the orphanage went by their Fante names while other went by their English name. By the time I left I could use both names interchangeably for most children. My name was Yaa as I was Thursday born.

Day	Boy	Girl
Sunday	Kwesi	Esi
Monday	Kojo	Adjoa
Tuesday	Abena	Kwadina
Wednesday	Akua	Kweku
Thursday	Yaa	Yaaw
Friday	Efua	Kofi
Saturday	Ama	Kwami

What an amazing family!!!!

I had the great privilege to meet my friend Abena’s family in Accra Ghana. I will be forever grateful to Abena’s for helping me organize this. I loved the fact that I was able to experience another type of living in Ghana. Rural living is very different than urban living in Ghana. The busy atmosphere and hustle and bustle was a stark difference from the small rural village I was living in. The only hustle and bustle in that village was caused by the craziness of the kids. They made me feel so welcome and were so caring. I am actually surprised they invited me to visit another time after I vomited everywhere the first time I was there. I was able to spend New Year’s day with them and had a great time out with Constance’s friends. (I may have had a little too much fun …oops). They also convinced me to get Rastafarian African braids, thanks for the encouragement, I loved having them. It was amazing how convenient they were. I also had a one on one lesson about how to make Banku from Grace and Abena (another one that is). I am not sure I can recreate this dish but I will try. I feel so honored to have spent time with this family and hope I can see them either in Ghana or on a visit they make to the USA. I have been so lucky to experience so many different living experiences while on this trip. Having the opportunity to experience so many different living arrangements during my trip is really adding to both my learning and my increased insight into differences around the world. However the caring atmosphere is something I will never forget.

Great night out with Constance and her friends (sorry not more pictures that are PG)



  

The Family and I

Constance and Jessica

Break it down Grace

Banku step by step:

Cleaning the fish (I asked the name of the fish many times in
 hopes that I would remember but I forgot.) 

Cleaned fish

Cleaned fish

Hand mixing the banku which is a dough of fermented corn and cassava

Abena the banku pro and my teacher

The dough starts out very thin and it is easy to stir.
The dough is cooked until it turns a darker color and is very thick.

Frying the fish

It is so thick..much harder than it looks



I had so much fun cooking with them in their outdoor kitchen.
They  had an indoor kitchen but Banku requires the increased heat from a fire.



Rolling the banku

Final product... so much food I could not eat it all. You eat it with your hands,
but only your right hand as eating with your left is considered disrespectful.

I tried to be a good student, but I am unsure I will ever be able to recreate this at home. I may have to see if Abena in Cincinnati can help me out with all of her skills.

My little glance at health care in Ghana

Jan. 5 2012

 As a result of generous donation from my parents and their friends I was able to help each of the children at the orphanage get tested for HIV. I am shocked that this had not already happened. It was somewhat of a process explaining the value of this to the orphanage owners as they kept saying they did not think any of the children were sexually active (however we are not sure this is true). Explaining the transition of HIV through birth was a difficulty process. The anticipation of this process caused anxiety for all of the volunteers. We told the kids they were just getting a health check to prevent anxiety on their part and were then prepared to deal with the next steps if a child was found HIV positive. All of the volunteers went into the process with great worry that one or more of the children may be HIV positive. The test was 3 cedi each and was a quick response test which meant we had results within minutes. We were all very thankful that each and every child was HIV negative. Words can’t express the relief and the excitement we had when had when this happened. Thank you so much for this donation the information gained is invaluable.

Obosi Clinic



Quick response HIV test

Such a simple process to get such vital information

A needle prick and a little bit of blood

They were all negative HOORAY!!!

As a result of another volunteer who was volunteering at the local clinic, I had the opportunity to observe and participate in services to children age 0-5.  Children are brought in for both immunizations and to check growth once per month. I was able to participate in both immunizations and weighing the children. I don’t have kids but I am pretty sure the process is a little different than the check ups kids get in North America. I have never been in a room with so many babies. I am so thankful for this opportunity to experience the health care system in Ghana.

So to make the day just a little more eventful as I was preparing to leave for the clinic one of the kids came running to get me telling me Mama Sara needed me. When I got over to the orphanage I saw lots of blood. One was the kids from the village had been hit by a bike one of the kids at the orphanage was riding. The little boy was only 5 years old. It took some time to find his family since children play independently from a young age, but eventually we took the little boy to the clinic. What I found interesting was that every time I went back to check on them Mama Sara was holding the child rather than his mother. This is something I will never understand I guess. The alarming part of the experience was the cost of 28 cedi for the child to get 5 stitches, a tetnus shot and antibiotics. The cost of this does not seem that high but when you compare how much people make per month it is alarming.  For example a teacher at the Bethel Academy private school makes between 50-80 cedi per month. Teachers at the government schools make around 180 cedi but they must have a degree to work there.  The cost also made me think about the families that are farmers and the women sell things at the market or on the street from the top of theirhead.   Thinking about that fact that a parent may have to use half of their month wage or more to pay for medical care is a scary fact. The children in Ghana have medical insurance, but not all needs are covered with this insurance. As a result of this incident Mama Sara was responsible to pay the bill since hern child casued the injury.  I ended up paying for the medical care because at this point Mama Sara was in tears and I could do not nothing but  say yes. I struggled again with the idea of enabling and not allowing the orphanage owner to gain valuable problem solving skills, but I know in this situation me paying was the right thing to do.  I know there will not alway be someone there to help but today I was so I did. 

 

Could he be any cuter?

The cutie getting weighed. They hang the
babies in  sacks  made from old flour bags.

 


Moms and babies everywhere



Me filling a syringe of DPT vaccine



Giving a 6 week old baby a DPT vaccination.
 He then received the oral Polio vaccine.



Mother and daughter here for monthly check up





Loving Ghanaian Music, Dancing and Culture!

The music and dancing in Africa is something that I will miss. I loved watching the kids dance. I will never have as much rhythm as as any of them. I think they are dancing from so young it in innate. It is also amazing how sexual they are even from as young at 3 or 4. I saw some amazing dancing but some how I have very little video of it but check out what I have.

I love this song. Not the best video quality but I love the kids just the same.

The is the famous Kwesi move. This was his only move no matter the music.

I was randomly at a cooking competition that our cook was participating in and saw some great dancing and drumming. Side note we never got the benefit of her great cooking skills. The competition was also video taped by a camera crew and was hosted by what we were told was a Ghanaian celebrity. All of this happened in a little town about the size of Florence. Here are some video and pictures from this experience. At one point I was up dancing which was a disaster but I don't have any pictures of that...thank God!

I had the opportunity to attend the children's  "play" as they called in at the end of the term. It was so fun to see the kids do anything from read a poem they wrote to dancing. We marched down the road to the nearest town to do this which was a crazy experience trying to make sure no one got run over.

Organizing over 100 students is not at easy task.

Marching to Achiase

Steven so proud to be carrying the drum



Traditional Dress



The kids practiced this dance for weeks.

During my entire time in Africa I was on a quest to find instruments for my good friend and her students.I am not very musical so that was a difficult task for me, but a very enjoyable one none the less.

I saw these being played many times but I don't remember what it is called.



Handmade Tambourine. I love that it uses bottle caps.

Shakers made with Calabash seeds with shells and pebbles inside

I bought the drum at the Accra cultural market. I don't think I have seen so many things made of wood in one place ever.  I bought multiple wooden carvings while I was their and loved hearing the stories about how each of them were made and their significance. All of the carvings on the drums were very distinct and have meaning. All of the carvings on the drums and the other articles are West African Adinkra Symbols. These symbols are on many articles you see in Ghana, anything from a lawn chair to bumper stickers.





NYAME BIRIBI WO SORO: Hope "God is in the Heavens" 

AKOMA NTOSO: Understanding and Agreement "Linked Hearts"



I had a great time hanging out with the
 drum makers.  I am not very good but I tried.
I experienced Rastafarian hospitality at it's best.



I looked at and tired what felt like a million drums.
We all know that I know nothing about buying a drum.
The leather is goat. I learned that each type of animal

 leather produces a different sound.