Hello,
It has been a busy few weeks so I haven’t spent much time
blogging.
So let me break this up into a few parts
Part 1
Two weeks ago was Ohum Festival, so they celebrated by
having a little get together at the Chiefs place. Right before my science
lecture I was informed that we were leaving… So I guess science is cancelled today? We went to the Chiefs
compound where they had set up canopies and chairs for the guests. I sat with
all the teachers from the primary and JHS. They had a DJ and an MC who lead the
event. The MC screamed into the microphone and really enjoyed singing along
during the frequent musical interludes. The DJ (who I named DJ Hannah Montana
due to the amount of Hannah Montana stickers covering his laptop and other
gear) had some pretty sweet tricks. He had some buttons that would play sounds
like lasers or the end buzzer of a basketball quarter through his extremely
loud and incredibly close speakers. The
“Event” I guess you could call it began and the MC rambled on for a long time and
lead the students standing behind the guests in song. Eventually the lasers
sounds were pressed over and over again (my signal that something new was going
to happen) and some of the elders entered followed by the Chief all dressed up.
Nana has a throne with a big picture of himself over it that looks out over the
compound. He is pretty old and moves slowly but gracefully. He is very solemn,
which I like to see considering most Ghanaians are very loud, it is refreshing
to get anyone or anything quiet around here. So the ceremony continued with the
prayers and throwing of schnapps on the ground. From what I know the
elders/traditional priest are praying while they toss the schnapps onto the
ground one of the elders yells something after every statement that is usually
a yooo. This time the yells were very high pitched and strange sounding
compared to the other times I have seen this ritual so I found myself jumping
every 30 seconds or so when the priest let out a crazy unexpected shriek.
ZOOM ZOOM PEEW PEW PEEEEW the lasers came again and now they
were covering some women with white powder. I don’t know who the women were or
what the powder was but DJ Hannah Montana was ready with his special effects.
He pulled out his “Give it to Me BABY!” button. While this lady was getting
powder poured over her in a ritual a high pitched electronic voice repeated
“Give it to me baby!” ….“Give it to me baby!”…. “Give it to me baby!”. I wonder
how much DJ Hannah Montana charges for his services? I should have gotten his
info in case I ever have any special events. Eventually The Chief gave a speach
and I tried to translate as much as I could but the microphone makes Twi really
hard to understand. Every Ohum festival the Chief is to make a donation to a
charitable cause. Boxes of books were carried out to the middle of the compound
labeled “Books for Africa” and he was giving them to the Islamic Primary and
JHS. The teachers and students thanked him and some students hauled them off to
the school. The ceremony continued and the sun continued to get hotter, after
the assembly man decides to talk for over an hour I lost interest in Practicing
my Twi… they were talking about money… at most events the main topic is money….
And whatever donations are given they are never private. All money issues are
talked about openly. Even in church when you give everyone knows how much
everyone else gives you have to do it in front of everybody and they will read
out loudly what you have given. They never seem to get bored with it either;
they will spend hours at funerals, festivals, church, weddings, talking about
money to no end over the microphone. After they finally finished talking about
money a heated argument broke out for a long time with teachers yelling, then
parents yelling, then students yelling, then the Chief would speak, Then the MC
would delegate who’s turn it was to yell into the microphone. I could only
understand bits of it and my decision to wait until after my science class to
eat anything turned out to be a bad idea because now it was the afternoon it
was hot and I hadn’t eaten anything all day. So I sat there half passed out
wishing the yelling would end soon…knowing that it probably wouldn’t because if
one person yells about something everybody else has to yell about it too and we
still had half the crowd waiting in line for the microphone.
After what seemed like years….. freedom!!! On our way back I
asked one of the teachers about the discussion and apparently what I had gotten
from my interpretation was completely off. They had been discussing something
completely different than I thought for hours, which I found slightly amusing…
I really need to keep practicing Twi. Actually I am getting much better and I
have been practicing but most people talk too fast for me. If I ask them to “Ka
no Boko Wei” say it slowly please I can usually get it the second time around.
My students get a kick out of it when I speak Twi to them too. They are only
supposed to speak English in school but some of them can barely
speak/understand English. Sometimes instead of trying harder to understand
English they space out and don’t listen so I like to switch to Twi and say
something funny to startle them and wake them up.
Anyways we get back to the little office at the JHS and the
teachers begin looking through the Spoils of the Ohum festival. The chief had
sent over the boxes of books, biscuits, some minerals, and a gas can full of
palm wine. I passed on the biscuits and minerals I wanted to eat something
other than junkfood for lunch. I watched as the teachers curiously dug through
the boxes of books while I worked on my lesson plan for math the next day, and
figured out when I would teach the missed science class. Next thing I know
there is a mug full of palm wine in front of me. Well I didn’t have any classes
left that day and according to Ghanaians palm wine is good for you if you have
been in the heat or the sun (which we were all afternoon). The palm wine tasted
amazing after such a long hot afternoon it tastes like coconut water but much sweeter
and a little milkier. I enjoyed my coffee mug of palm wine while I watched the
teachers discuss a book on wizardology. They had found a big colorful book entitled
“wizardology”. It is one of those books if your kid loves Harry Potter or
something you would get them for Christmas. It is big and has all the
information and pictures on things like the sorcerers stone, magic, and
mystical creatures. The teachers were absolutely fascinated especially my
headmaster. I was getting a major kick out of it, most Ghanaians believe in
witches, spells, curses, magic, and all that jazz. Even some of the most
educated Ghanaians I have met said they would never ever go to the parasailing
festival and no Ghanaian ever would because you never know when you have been
cursed. This is how they explained it to me: Apparently you never know if
someone like the electrician who came to your house was really a witch and has
cursed your family and if you were to go parasailing you would surely die, so
they would never risk it. I had to think that one through for a while, I
couldn’t really believe it. Some people have claimed to have seen magic first
hand and that is why they believe it. So the teacher’s fascination with the
Harry Potter encyclopedia just affirmed this strange cultural difference.
I hadn’t had a drink since the last time I left site so I
enjoyed drinking my alcoholic beverage that doesn’t taste like alcohol out of a
coffee mug in the school office at only 2pm in the afternoon. For some reason
there is something amusing drinking an alcoholic beverage out of a coffee mug
at work, I guess I never thought that would happen to me. I am not sure why I
felt so guilty about it…how alcoholic is palm wine anyway?.....when in
Ghana….Sometimes I get these weird moment when I realize, wow, I am not in
Nebraska anymore. I am out in a tiny village with a headache thanks to DJ
Hannah Montana and MC Kwaku, wondering which teacher will be the lucky one to
get the Wizardology book while I drink palm wine out of a coffee mug.
Part 2
Last week I went to Accra to pick up some awesome packages
and mail from friends and family. Thank you all!! I love getting letters, it
makes me so happy on the inside. I went with Melissa to do a bit of shopping
and spent way too much of my PC pay at lunch. Accra is expensive, so I won’t be
going back for awhile. It is hard because you say you won’t go to the irish pub
and eat American food and drink beer…but….you get there and realize you will be
eating the same foods and spending no money when at site for weeks…so you
should probably go have an awesome lunch at the irish pub with friends.
Anyways eating at site isn’t that bad either. Melissa
brought her plants over to transplant so after working in the garden we cooked
an awesome meal of squash curry, salad, and spring rolls (see pictures). I can
eat paleo easy here but it would be cheaper if I didn’t. I have spent
ridiculous amounts of time in my garden so soon I should be spending nothing on
food and eating all my fresh fruits and veggies. It takes forever to do dishes
here so I usually make a big salad or curry and then eat it for the next few
days so I don’t have to cook. I got balsamic vinegar in a care package so I
don’t mind eating cucumber, tomato, avocado, and onion salads everyday.
Veg Curry and Salad....what I eat at my site most days
our attempt at fried spring rolls
A well desreved feast
It is so nice to be able to cook for oursleves
Our fried spring rolls tasted a lot better than they looked :)
Moving on.
Waterfalls.
Best Sunday Ever.
Well not really but it was great. I worked in my garden all
morning it was beautiful out so I went to Nto’s and I went with all his little
munchkins to the waterfalls. I was told
it was a 10 min walk from Kwaku Sae. Now Kwaku Sae is a small village that I
was told was only a 10 minute walk from Nto’s house…. That is if you can
walk almost 2 miles in 10 minutes. I
enjoy the walk to Kwaku Sae I take it often to go to the mountains/farm/farmers
meetings so a few miles seems like nothing now. So then we headed to the
waterfalls from Kwaku Sae (which of course are far more than a 10 minute walk)
on a more beaten path through the banana fields and the chocolate mountains. If
you ever ask how far away something is in Ghana always multiply the answer by
atleast 2….or 5…..The cocoa trees are my favorite and as we walked through the
beautiful cocoa farms going up the mountain I wondered if I was in Willy Wonka
and the waterfall was going to be a chocolate waterfall and the people in the
village there would be Oompa Loompas. Well the 10 minute walk was more of a 30
minute hike with some pretty treacherous rocks. I actually got really sweaty
and tired, and I felt like a total wimp because Ntos little kids were doing it
barefoot. It was a beautiful and a fun hike with lots of changes of scenery and
terrain! Well they were not Oompa loompas but they people of A______ (I cant
remember the name of the tiny village) were very nice and it was a cool
desolate place with a beautiful view. The Waterfalls were not made of
chocolate, but I was not disappointed. A few fallen trees were blocking the
more “private” swimming hole so only me and a few of the kids were able to
climb over to check it out. We then went back to an area full of little streams
and pools to swim and play in the water for awhile. It was really fun watching
the kids play and swimming with them. It seems like a really great place to
hike to with friends and chill on the rocks, read, picnic, sunbath, and get
away for the day. The rock climb down in really fun but I probably would not do
it alone just incase I slipped it would be a rough fall down. Hopefully I can
get nearby volunteers to come a join me every few weeks.
Eventually we decided we should probably get back it was
late afternoon and the hike back was very pleasant and full of beautiful views.
When we got back Sister Patience had made fufu for everyone including me so I
chopped with them. (see pictures of fufu below). I actually like fufu better
than most Ghanaian foods, I really don’t like banku or empece, so they invite
me to chop when they make fufu which is often. I prefer to eat fufu at most
once a week, I try to stay away from the starchy cassava but every now and then
I enjoy it. It is just nice to eat with a family instead of by myself. I always
learn a lot during evenings at Nto’s house. Gideon then took me on a walk
weaving through compounds in the back of town to see the most adorable little
baby puppies. Their eyes were barely open so they still need a few more weeks
with their mother. I played with all of them and one took a particular liking
to me and I didn’t want to leave him. I am so excited to be able to bring him
home in a few weeks. I have been doing some research and I should be able to
make my own dog food/balance his diet with local foods just fine. The more I
think about him the more I want him so at the beginning of October I am going
to take him to MOFA to get vaccinated and start training my new puppy which
should be interesting. I will try and get pictures of him ASAP.
Waterfalls near my house!
one of the swimming holes
The kids
leaving A...something...something...(still can't remember the name of the village)
view on the hike down
Little Ebenezer
banana and plantain farm
cocoa forest
home just in time for dinner
soap made from palm nuts
Nto's house
Nto
Sister Patience
Deborah
My Fufu!
For more picture see my latest facebook photo album, there are a lot more of swimming and the waterfalls!
For more picture see my latest facebook photo album, there are a lot more of swimming and the waterfalls!
