White man where are you going?: DJ Hannah Montana and the Chocolate Waterfall

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.