Hello!

As I write this it is a warm 35 or 95 degrees out. The sun has gone down, but the humidity remains, and I am feeling rather sticky! 

Let me see, what can I say about the last several days? It has been a rather low key week, with really no travel time, though on Monday morning at 5 a.m. our bus leaves for the northern region of Ghana. We will be traveling 12 hours the first day and then spending the next 10 days in the region. For this reason there won’t be another blog entry for a little while as I won’t have access to the internet up there!

Last friday night our entire group went out together-- group bonding I guess you could say. We ended up at this sports bar, which, it turns out, is where all the expats in Accra seem to congregate. It was called Champs Sports bar, and it pretty much smelled and looked like any sports bar you would find in the U.S. and Canada. It was fun to meet some new people, mostly men who are working for companies such as Nestle, Caterpillar (dad!) etc. I ended up meeting people from Australian, Lebanon, Germany, and Britain over the course of a couple hours. There was karaoke and the most inexpensive of beverages. It was really a great night-- except I lost my visa card, which if you know me at all- is not surprising in the least.

Saturday meant I was lazy. Seriously, as I write this I really have no idea what I did. I think it involved a lot of sleeping, some eating and movies-- all necessary once in a while. 

On Sunday several of us hopped on a tro-tro and headed to the Action Chapel in Accra. This is a prosperity gospel church-- and in both obvious and subtle ways the service revolves around money money money. The idea that more prayer and devotion to God will bring you more wealth (different kinds, but in particular material wealth) is the central theme of the church. The church is massive, and very decorated. There were around 2000 people in attendance, and about 100 ushers all wearing matching tuxedos. The church is lead by Arch Bishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, whose face I shall always remember because I now have a mug with his glamour shot plastered on it. Explanation: at the end of the service all new visitors were asked to stand, and once they had us standing we were summoned to the front of the church. Williams prayer for us and then told us he loved us and had gifts for us. We were then escorted to this room where in exchange for our contact information we were given lunch, a bag with a Williams glamour shot, and a mug with the same photo as found on the bag. 

When we got there we were escorted to our seats, and while we thought we were early it was realized that we were not. I guess the service had started at 9 a.m. and we arrived at 10. No worries, it didn’t end till 12:30 so we were still there for plenty of time. Aside from the numerous questions I have about the church, the way they interpret the Bible, and about Williams involvement in the church (I assume he does very well), there were things that I did like about the church. The music was great- a huge choir and a full band, and everyone was very hospitable. 

On Sunday night, one of our dance instructors was involved in a dance production called The Dream of Death. It involved many 400 level dance students performing traditional dances from the different regions of Ghana. It was a worthwhile experience and the performers were so great. Some of the dances we have been working on in our dance class were performed. We look nothing like the performers when they dance. Actually I would imagine we look pretty pathetic next to them.

  We also cooked on Sunday night..Italian! ( well sort of) Bruschetta bread made in a frying pan (actually not so bad) and pasta with some veggies! It was different, but tasted somewhat similar to what I would cook at home. That was good enough for me!

Monday was a typical class day- nothing exciting happened. A trip to the mall to do some birthday shopping, and some time drinking real coffee and a doughnut. 

Tuesday meant dance class (gah!) I have never sweat so much in my entire life as I do in that class. I usually hate going, but once I am there I thoroughly enjoy it. It was both Grace and Tom’s birthday’s today and so we celebrated them in several different ways. It involved pizza and ice cream- I enjoyed.

Today was again a class day, and we had our most interesting lecture thus far. Our guest lecturer gave a presentation on migration, livelihood and the informal sector in Ghana. This has been a topic which has intrigued me from the start of this trip, and so it was excellent to gain perspective from a Ghanaian economics professor. 

In Accra, migration is a huge problem. With a population of 3.5 million of which 500,00 people are part of a floating population- moving in and out on a daily basis, there are issues of poverty and space which need to be dealt with. In Accra alone there are 25 known slums, and enclaves, one of which hosts approximately 40,000 migrants from the north. Women from the north make up the majority of the migratory population. Most come with no skill set and quickly turn to work in the informal sector which of course has no structure and is frowned upon by city governance. While Ghana is one the faster developing of the developed world, 22% of the population still lives below the poverty line, and the average Ghanaian makes GH 70-95 a year (like 60 US dollars) Thinking through and seeing these statistics in person, has made these issues that much more real to me. I have been getting so overwhelmed as of late, with so many things to take in its hard to even know how to start processing. Looking solely at the issue of what poverty is within the Ghanaian context is of huge debate inside my head and with the people around me. It seems that everyone has a better solution than the next person or a different idea in solving the issues, or what they believe are the issues. -- if you want to know more ask to read my journal. I've realized lately how much interest I have in discussing and questioning the economic issues in any given country, how they relate to a person's well-being, and how development fits into that. If you want to talk more about it, I probably want to talk with you about it!

This afternoon was pretty relaxed. I went out for a small dinner (twice actually). I spent some time in the night market with my friends Daniel and Patrick eating some Banku with okra/palm nut soup and fish. This is very good. Banku is a dough that is made from fermented corn and cassava flour and cooked in hot water. Fufuo another local dish is quite similar except that it is pounded into a dough. I prefer Banku. Anyways, Daniel is from Ghana and incredibly articulate and intelligent, so basically I bombarded him with questions for a good hour on how he believes the above issues should be dealt with in Ghana..

For my second dinner I had some groundnut soup (groundnuts are what we call peanuts) with garden egg and onion. It too was delicious.

I think thats all for now. 

I am still not used to rats. I just came face to face with one in the bathroom. I am trying really hard but I really can find nothing beautiful about rats. I really wish I could, so I continue to think about what possible redeeming characteristics a rat may have--let me know if you think of any.

love.

Hello! I realize that this blog is long, and reading over it there may be a whole lot of disconnect ( and many spelling errors?). There was so much that happened in the past week and I am just starting to make sense of it all. Either way I hope this gives you a glimpse into what life has looked like over the past few days!

Last Tuesday our crew drove out for the week to the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Akropong to observe and partake in the Odwira festival. This festival involves numerous events that carry great religious and traditional significance for the people in the Akropong region. This festival is celebrated each year in order that the people may cleanse themselves, the bringing in of the new year and the waking of the ancestors in order that they may be fed. The word Odwira actually means purification/ cleaning in Twi. Everything that happens during the weeklong celebrations is to commemorate the 1826 capture of Odusu (said to be made up of all the heads of the people the Asante conquered- The power of the Asante’s enemies captured in the Odosu) No one has ever seen the Odosu.

Wednesday was the day which was considered the day of mourning. Most people involved were wearing the colours which would be worn to a funeral here; black and red. On this day people plan funerals for anyone who has died in the past. At around 11 a.m. we went to the chiefs palace to watch the preparations conducted before the chief would moved around to ten different houses known as the stool houses to poor libation. Of course here in Ghana, the concept of time is quite different than what we are used to, and a ceremony that was supposed to start at 11 did not start until 2 p.m. Because we had left to get some food we ended up missing the ceremony itself but were still in time to follow the chief to the different homes. This is done in order to show support. The stools carry great significance in this community. The Akan people believe that the stools are powerful and so you must be strong in order to work with them.

Thursday brought in the traditional new year, and on this day the people were going to feed the ancestors. This was the most interesting part of the Odwira festival for me. For most of the afternoon we stood at the side of the road and watched the people parade past on their way to a shrine at the end of the town where the ancestors would be fed. Everything about the parade was interesting and caused me to come up with so many questions. To give you a bit of a picture of what  I was seeing; one woman at a time came down the street dressed in white and with their face and limbs covered in white chalk. They carried on their heads the food for the ancestors which was wrapped in a white material. The women were possessed by spirits and needed to be surrounded by men who made sure that the food would not fall off their heads as this would be very bad.  At certain points the women would have Schnapps poured onto their feet.  While the majority of the carriers were women there were about three boys as well. The streets were loud and packed and I nearly fell into a couple of gutters. Once all the carriers had passed we followed them to the mossoleum (shrine) where they went inside (where we were not allowed) and gave the food to the ancestors. The evening had us to bed very early as their was a 10 p.m curfew imposed for the whole city. 

Guns-People in Akropong are traditionally a warrior community. They are fighters and the guns symbolize their power and manhood. Women are not allowed to own guns but most boys receive a gun to signify their becoming a man. This is frustrating to me. Everywhere during the past week their were security men with large guns that were shot to ward off evil spirits and to keep control. It seemed to me that the men were just power hungry and wanted to tout their control. It was hard for me to see that they were a symbol of the communities past and not a significant part of their present day lifestyle. Still, they made me incredibly nervous and so loud!

On Friday morning we met a family who is in charge of a large tree found in the centre of the town. We followed them in a processional to the tree where a sacrifice would be given to the tree. The ceremony began with the family surrounding the tree and libations performed with the pouring of Schnapps. At this point a female member of the family became possessed and was communicating a message to the other members of the family. Nobody could interpret what she was saying. After she had taken the Schnapps and poured it all around the tree, two men took a goat and slit its throat open in order to pour its blood all around the tree. They dragged the goat around releasing most of the blood from its body. It was incredibly hard for me to watch as it slowly died and was then cut apart  so that what could be salvaged was taken, and so the head could be placed at the base of the tree. ( I was really surprised I did not pass out).

In the afternoon we attended the presidential speech (which the president had someone else give) and the parade of all the chiefs around the town. I really wanted to be excited for this but I was just so exhausted and overwhelmed by everything else that happened during the week. We also could not see very well from our seats. The speech from the president had my attention but was incredibly dishearting. Ultimately it piggy backed off of Obama’s speech in Ghana given this past sumer. It was not so much the message that irritated me, I really like what Obama had to say at the time he was here. The presidential speech for the people though, consisted of Obama said we should do this and Obama said we should do that. There was nothing about the speech that made it for Ghana from Ghana. This is interesting as the message of Obama’s speech in July was for Africans to take control of their own future. Perhaps I overreacted, but I found the speech to be a testimony to how much power and control the United States or the west has over underdeveloped countries.

Saturday morning we left ACI and took the van up to the Cedi bead  where they take glass, recycle it and create these beautiful beads. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the place and I was completely taken with the whole process, the location.. everything! In fact the idea of coming back here for two months to learn the whole process is incredibly tempting. From smashed glass bottles there are several ways in which the beads are created and then painted and everything is done by hand. I have seen these beads all over the markets here, and so I was really happy to see exactly how they are made, and who is benefitting from the work of the company.

After our time here we moved to Kakum Conservation, where I had my first monkey siting! I was excited to find a large number of baboons on our way in to the park- living in their natural habitat and not in confinement! We drove quite a ways until we were completely surrounded by the Shai Hills. Our guide had us stop at the foot of one very large hill which we would climb up. It was so HOT and while I usually enjoy all the hiking, I was not looking forward to this. It ended up being so worth it, as the view from the top was incredible. Once you emerged from a small cave, you came up to a view that was absolutely breathtaking- you could see for miles and miles. I could have sat there forever it was just so peaceful. 

Once we descended the hill we made our way back to Legon. It was an amazing week and one so full of new experiences.

There were so many big and small details that I needed to absorb and question and consider over this past week. I would love to tell you all about it in more detail when I am home. I have plenty of pictures as well!

Sunday evening I went to a play put on by the theatre group on campus. I went with my friends Seguah, Benjamin and Nana Addo. It was a great comedy called “The Inspection.” The setting was a secondary boarding school for boys, and tells a story of one dorm preparing for their weekend inspection. At boarding schools in Ghana, every weekend their is an inspection which looks at the cleanliness of your room and your own personal hygiene. You can lose or gain points. The dorm that has the most points wins the honour. Seguah, Nana Addo and Benjamin all went to boarding school and so could relate very well to the play. It was incredibly funny and a great night out. It was also interesting to experience a theatre performance here. 

Monday meant no class as it was declared a national public holiday, as well as the last day of Ramadan. The holiday was declared in order to commemorate what would have been Nkrumah’s 100th birthday ( The first president of Ghana after gaining independence from the British). Four of us ended up spending the day at the pool. Despite my gracious and liberal sunscreen application..the sun was not kind to me and I now look ridiculous. 

I have realized that I have almost reached the half way point of my trip! I can’t believe time is flying by so fast. I suddenly realized today that I would like it to slow down (a lot!) There are so many things that I want to experience here yet and so I need to start being very pro-active. I am truly falling in love with this place and all of its people.

I woke up to an evangelist in my dorm this morning. ( it was 6:00 a.m.) He wanted to let all of ISH 2 know that what he was doing was not a hindrance, that we needed to hear the word of Jesus etc etc. Then there proceeded to be several slammed doors and a lot of yelling.

I didn't fall back asleep.

love!

food poisoning. things I miss. my djembe!

Well, it seems that all of us who were sick have recovered! It was an unpleasant few days and I am quite confident that I will never return to Frankie’s ice cream place in Osu ever again. Actually the thought of ice cream at this point is really quite repulsive- vanilla anyways. I am quite sure I will soon recover from that issue as well. 

There is nothing you want more when you are sick, than to be at home in your own bed, with your own toilet near by and your best friends or mom to pamper you. My absolutely wonderful friend Rachel took on that role for the four of us who were sick. I so appreciate her putting up with us and everything that was going on. I can’t imagine it was to pleasant for her but she made sure we had everything that we needed and sat with us while we were sick-thanks Rachel!

Sickness aside, there have been other happenings over the last week. While we haven’t gone on any large excursions, every day seems to be an experience within itself regardless of whether we are on some great adventure or not. Whether it be taking a taxi or riding a tro-tro (both can be hair-raising experiences), to bargaining in the market,   I am challenged daily with even just the small things! That being said, this is a shorter entry!

Last Thursday my Djembe was sitting ready for me to play! I had one custom made in a dark wood, with 2 different Adinkra symbols carved into it. It is absolutely beautiful, and the symbols that I chose are two that stood out to me right from the moment I saw and read about them. For more on the Adinkra symbols see http://www.touringghana.com/adinkra.asp.I will try to find better and more specific descriptions of the specific symbols I chose later. 

I’ve been spending time in the markets of Accra surrounded by rows and rows of beautiful fabrics trying to pick out just a few. I’ve managed to take a few home, but I love them all! My seamstress here, Jane, does a great job and we have kept her pretty busy. I’ve really enjoyed the process of buying my own fabrics, drawing my own designs and seeing the finished product. 

Aside from fabrics, the markets (Medina and Makola) are packed full of people and foods, smells (good and bad) and animals. It is so vibrant- wonderfully chaotic and gets at every one of the five senses always in an interesting and amazing way. I’m quite sure I could spend hours there just watching and never come close to being bored.

This has been the week ( I think perhaps because I was sick) that I was craving things of home. There is plenty to eat here, but the variety is much more limited. I LOVE fall, and so while I know no one will have any sympathy for me I am going to take a moment  to say that I miss pumpkin pie, apple cider, bike rides, the farmers market, squash anything, mostly any kind of fresh vegetable, apple pie, and fresh fall air. There is something so cozy comfy about fall. Fall makes me think of thanksgiving with my family, cooking with my housemates and sitting on commons lawn for lunch. I appreciate it even more so being so far away from it!

Tomorrow I will be heading to Akropong for five days to attend the Odwira festival, and stay at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute. We will also check out some wood carvers, go to a bead factory, a healing center, and hear several lectures. I’ll post all about this next Monday- which happens to be Kwame Nkrumah’s 100th birthday celebration- a national holiday! In case you are wondering Nkrumah was the 1st president at Ghana’s independence in the late 1950’s. There are already festivities occurring in and around campus..

Well friends, family.. this is all for now. I miss you oh so very much!

love.

a lot to take in in one weekend.

A little late this week, but the internet has been spotty and I have been sick. I can hardly believe I have already been here for four weeks!

This past weekend was perhaps the most exciting, intense, relaxing, and interesting thus far. Early Friday morning (6 a.m. early) we left for the south central part of Ghana. We were on our way to Cape Coast and Elmina located about four hours down the coast from Accra.
The first portion of Friday was spent touring the Cape Coast and Elmina slave castles. The Elmina slave castle is the oldest and largest slave castle to have ever been built the world over. Built in 1471 by the Portuguese, it was originally used for trade of goods, but during the 17th and 18th centuries, it became the final destination for many Africans who had been captured and forced into slavery. It was a very eery experience standing in the dungeons and passing through what once was the door of no return. I thought that I had known quite a bit about what occurred in these places, but standing there I realized that up until this point I really had no clue. Being there only gave me a slightly better understanding of the agony and tragedy that was once represented there. Such a picturesque location was a place of so much injustice and cruelty which can be recognized by the still lingering smells in the dungeons where innocent people were held for weeks under appalling sanitary conditions.
The whole experience caused me to reflect on the injustices that are still represented all over the world. Many are disgusted by how cruel humanity could have been to allow such atrocities to occur and yet all of us are guilty of knowingly allowing our brothers and sisters all over the world today to still suffer. I think personally of how I am angered by the things I hear or read about which in reality only let me glimpse at what is really going on. If I am so outraged why I am not doing more to fight against these things? Why do we wait until something has to become such a terrible memory from the past?


After leaving Elmina castle we drove to an almost completely abandoned beach near Cape Coast. Here we found a very tiny resort where it appeared only three people were staying. We all found a hammock to lie in and spent the rest of the afternoon asleep or reading. The place was quiet and absolute paradise, I would have loved to stay longer. While there I was completely blown away by these 7 or 8 year old boys who shimmied up these giant palm trees to find us some coconuts/coconut milk. It was of course delicious and I continued to stand in awe of how high those trees really were and how fast they could manuever up and down them! We finished our day there ordering a small dinner and then leaving for our hotel for the night ( where the shower water was almost lukewarm!)
On Saturday we headed out to Kakum National Park where we were going to embark on canopy walk in the rainforest. This was incredible! The entire walk took place about 40 metres above the forest ground on a wood and rope walkway between seven different trees. The walk was built in 1995 by two Ghanaians and two Canadians with the support of USAID. Unfortunately we did not see any animals on the walk meaning we missed out on the several kinds of monkeys, birds, and reptiles that inhabit the forest. Our time of arrival did not allow us to see any of them. We were however warned that if we did not want to have a large snake fall on our heads, it was best that we not hang on the vines and creepers found in the rainforest.
In the afternoon we hurried back to Cape Coast for a festival (I can't remember the name right now). The city was packed and then the parade began. We somehow ended up in the parade while trying to find an place to sit and watch. Hundreds of people had taken to the streets to watch many of the local chiefs pass through. There were dancers and drummers, and costumes in every colour. I may been very overwhelmed by what I was seeing several weeks ago, but it was absolutely beautiful, and I loved sitting there for those few hours soaking it all in. 
Once the parade had finished we headed back on our way to Accra. I was exhausted when I returned but ended up going out to a movie with Seguah (my roommate), Benjamin ( her boyfriend) and a friend of Benjamin’s, Samuel. We went to see the hangover which just came out in theatres here! It was so strange to walk into the movie theatre, it was so familiar and so unfamiliar all at the same time. It looked and smelled the same as any movie theatre, and looked nothing like the landscape surrounding it outside. The movie was great, and so was the company. I am so excited to have met some really wonderful people here. As we begin to understand how to communicate better with one another, and understand our differing cultures, relationships have grown.
Sunday! We went with our group to the World Cup qualifying match between Sudan and Ghana. Somehow the game only cost us 4 cedis and we had great seats. The stadium was packed with over 40,000 crazy fans, not one of which went without wearing red, green and yellow. There were brass instruments, and dancing in every part of the stadium. It was so loud! The game was quite important, particularly for Sudan as losing for them meant they were out. Ghana won and the place was crazy, particularly because players such as Eissen (Chelsea) had returned to play the game. It was so much fun.
Finding a taxi after the game was not so much fun, and we ended up walking to Osu to find one. Myself and three friends stayed behind to find some food and ice cream before heading back.
This turned out to be a terrible idea, as all four of us have wound up quite sick over the last day, each to a varying degree. We believe it was most likely that the icecream milk product had gone bad, as this is the only thing we all ate in common. Thus far only one of us has ended up at the clinic.  This also why this update is a little late this week!

Prayers please!

Reflecting on the first 1/4 of my trip (crazy how fast time goes!), its quite interesting to read back in my journal and think back to the first days I was here. There are so many things that I needed to adjust to, whether it be constantly being concious of my drinking water source, getting used to the lack of a sanitation system like I am used to at home or eating incredibly different foods. All of these things have become less and less difficult. Doing laundry by hand-actually enjoyable, and finding good healthy foods to eat- possible, if you put the effort in. It has all made me realize that back home we are so blessed with what we have, though in a sense it makes us so much more out of touch with how most of the rest of the world lives. Not to mention, I have been finding out more and more what I truly value when I am required to go without all the things that I think I need but really don't, on a daily basis...

Just a few of my thoughts for now!

(there's a lizard on my wall and I need to go chase him/her away)

love.

Several people have asked me for my address so here it is!

Miranda DeVries (obvious perhaps)

Calvin College Program

Institute of African Studies

University of Ghana

PO Box L673, Legon

Ghana