Since we've arrived, we've been able to do quite a few cultural activities, which has been things extremely interesting. The third night we were here, we went to a live TV show called "Ghana's Most Beautiful". Apparently, it is extremely popular here. They have 10 girls, each from a different region of Accra and each week one gets voted off American Idol style after phone voting. The show is designed to raise cultural awareness and to promote unity at the same time. Anywho, we were in the audience and were on air tons of times (we could see what was being broadcast on monitors). This week the theme was queen mothers, who are the wife of the chiefs (or in some cases rulers), and each contestant had to talk about a pressing issue, like the status of women, child labor, and the like. It was extremely interesting, although some of it was in local languages. The producer of the show even gave a shout out to the "oburoni" (white people) in the house haha.
We have also seen some pretty incredible traditional drumming and ghanaian dance. We were able to go to a rehearsal of a professional group of 15 or so, and it was one of the most intense things I've ever seen. We have even had a few drumming and dancing lessons ourselves. Obviously, I was the best dancer around haha, but the drumming was awesome.
We went to the market downtown in the middle of town the other day too. Massive, massive market. So many people around selling everything you could ever want (suitcases to giant snails to pots and pans to vegetables). It was a bit overwhelming--there was so much stuff going on and people are yelling at us trying to get us to come to their stand (but also in many many cases just to talk to us--unbelievably friendly). Everyone has their one stand filled with whatever goods they are selling. There is no room for cars and if you don't know where you are going, it's easy to get lost.
We also went to Jamestown the other day, which is one of the poorer areas of Accra. Personally, and i think this would apply to most people, as a tourist I would never venture out into a stanty town and walk around. But I have to say, I've never felt safer. People were friendly and asking us how we liked ghana. It totally blew my mind and really changed my perspective on things. Perceptions and generalizations can be so off the mark.
We also had about 25-30 of the local children (from about 5-6 houses) over to the house yesterday to play games, mainly so that the volunteers in going to orphanages or schools could get a feel of what it might be like. What a mad house haha. The kids were fantastic and incredibly enegtic. They were climbing all over me wanting piggy back rides haha, it was hilarious. After a few hours I felt like I had run a marathon. Mum also really enjoyed it and of course seemed to be totally in her element. I also played football (soccer) with a few of the older kids and they made me look like a I had never seen a soccer ball before. They could go in circles around me. It was a lot of fun, but we were exhausted by the end of the day.
Tomorrow we leave Accra and go to Kasoa where we'll be staying with our host family. Mum and I are excited but a little nervous. We've learned some Twi language, but miscommunication in english will be an ongoing issue. Also, there are some culture norms and taboos (NEVER eat with your left hand) that we are still getting used to. All in all though, we're still loving the whole experience. We've even started to plan weekend excursions to wildlife reserves.. can't wait!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Accra! Accra!
Wow. It's still hard to believe that we're here. We arrived in Accra on April 4. The first thing you notice is the heat and humidity. It was about 9 o'clock at night, but the temperature was over 30C and the humidity was outrageous. I personally am still finding it difficult to adjust to the heat. You would think that it would cool down at night when the sun goes down--but it doesn't. You just have to get used to being covered by a lather of sweat constantly.
Accra itself is quite a large city. I think that there is 2.5 million people here, and it is quite congested. We are living in the Volunteer Abroad house in a 'middle class' neighbourhood. Unfortunately, I won't be able to add pictures from this computer, but maybe when we get to our placement (in Kasoa) I'll be able to do it at one of the internet cafes. Regardless, the pictures could never do it justice. We have the internet here, which is excellent. But our power goes out about once a day (usually not for too long) and we've been lucky enough to have fairly consistent running water. The one thing that was a little different was that toliet paper does not go in the toliet--it goes in a bin beside the toliet. And we strictly follow the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" policy.
Getting around the city, and apparently the country as a whole is very interesting. They have 'tro-tros' and these are extremely old vans that seat (by seat i mean with seatbealts) about 10. Henry Ford would recognize these vans. Many of the doors are held on by rope (we saw a door fall off one in mid-ride the other day). Anywho, they are PACKED full of people, but they are very cheap (despite the fact that Canadian gas prices are the same) and full to travel in. They also do not leave until they are full. The pace of life in general here is much slower. Things get done when they get done. Schedules mean very little.
I don't want to people to form generalizations from Ghana based on what I say, so keep in mind that this is just my perspective. The people here are generally very friendly--always saying hello when you pass (or yelling 'oburoni' - the Twi word for white people). And it is very safe here, no matter where you are in the city.
To be honest, there is so much I could write here, I could go all day. Mum is doing very well. I'm so proud of her. I don't know very many women her age who could do this. She has a Ghanaian nickname too. She is called "Momma Acouse" (Acouse is probably spelled wrong). Depending on your sex and the day of the week you were born, you get a nickname. Heather seems to be difficult for many to pronounce so this is much easier.
The official language in Ghana is english--however, this is very misleading. The first language of most in this region is Twi. Most do speak english though. We have learned some basic Twi so that we can get by.
The country coordinator is a Canadian and we some Ghanaians that live in the house to show us the ropes. They are fantastic. Poppo shows us around the city and Daniel is the security/groundskeeper; they are hilarious and so friendly and have really helped us adjust. We have a local women named Sophia who cooks our meals and they are always so so good. The food is spicy and a lot of it is eaten with one's hands.
I have to go, and I am sorry for the random nature of this post. I haven't even begun to tell half of what we've done (the Accra market for one, or the marriage proposals that the women get here frequently, and apparently I will get them when we arrive at our placement). We are leaving for Kasoa on Saturday morning and we begin work on Monday. We're still getting used to it though--it is really hard to describe our experience but we're loving it so far.
Accra itself is quite a large city. I think that there is 2.5 million people here, and it is quite congested. We are living in the Volunteer Abroad house in a 'middle class' neighbourhood. Unfortunately, I won't be able to add pictures from this computer, but maybe when we get to our placement (in Kasoa) I'll be able to do it at one of the internet cafes. Regardless, the pictures could never do it justice. We have the internet here, which is excellent. But our power goes out about once a day (usually not for too long) and we've been lucky enough to have fairly consistent running water. The one thing that was a little different was that toliet paper does not go in the toliet--it goes in a bin beside the toliet. And we strictly follow the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" policy.
Getting around the city, and apparently the country as a whole is very interesting. They have 'tro-tros' and these are extremely old vans that seat (by seat i mean with seatbealts) about 10. Henry Ford would recognize these vans. Many of the doors are held on by rope (we saw a door fall off one in mid-ride the other day). Anywho, they are PACKED full of people, but they are very cheap (despite the fact that Canadian gas prices are the same) and full to travel in. They also do not leave until they are full. The pace of life in general here is much slower. Things get done when they get done. Schedules mean very little.
I don't want to people to form generalizations from Ghana based on what I say, so keep in mind that this is just my perspective. The people here are generally very friendly--always saying hello when you pass (or yelling 'oburoni' - the Twi word for white people). And it is very safe here, no matter where you are in the city.
To be honest, there is so much I could write here, I could go all day. Mum is doing very well. I'm so proud of her. I don't know very many women her age who could do this. She has a Ghanaian nickname too. She is called "Momma Acouse" (Acouse is probably spelled wrong). Depending on your sex and the day of the week you were born, you get a nickname. Heather seems to be difficult for many to pronounce so this is much easier.
The official language in Ghana is english--however, this is very misleading. The first language of most in this region is Twi. Most do speak english though. We have learned some basic Twi so that we can get by.
The country coordinator is a Canadian and we some Ghanaians that live in the house to show us the ropes. They are fantastic. Poppo shows us around the city and Daniel is the security/groundskeeper; they are hilarious and so friendly and have really helped us adjust. We have a local women named Sophia who cooks our meals and they are always so so good. The food is spicy and a lot of it is eaten with one's hands.
I have to go, and I am sorry for the random nature of this post. I haven't even begun to tell half of what we've done (the Accra market for one, or the marriage proposals that the women get here frequently, and apparently I will get them when we arrive at our placement). We are leaving for Kasoa on Saturday morning and we begin work on Monday. We're still getting used to it though--it is really hard to describe our experience but we're loving it so far.
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