Finally it is the weekend! I am looking forward to going to Krobo-Odumasi, which is about an hour or so away from where I am staying, with the other four students and our two leaders on Saturday and Sunday. While we are there we are going to have a bead-making workshop, meet the chief and some elders, and hike up a mini mountain--basically a tiny vacation!
After some more serious posts, I thought it would be a good time to share a little more detail about Ghanaian living from the perspective of an obroni. However, I admit I don't know where to begin. Ghana is, well, different, but at the same time it is becoming my different. This connection with and appreciation for Ghana is what I wanted when I came here. But I think I also wanted more: the unattainable goal of really, fully living in Ghana. I now realize that it is a goal I don't want to entirely achieve, because to completely immerse myself in Ghana would be to deny that I am, under the thin veneer of Twi, transportation competency, and familiar faces in my neighborhood near Accra, an American. Essentially, to reach my goal of being in every way in Ghana would be just as unfortunate a use of the opportunity that brought me here as leaving my mind at home even as my body resided in Ghana. I want to be in Ghana, but I need to be me.
All that is to say that I don't know how to share my experience/my life at present with you because I fear that I will sensationalize it. How can I portray to you that everything I want to share has to be understood in a context that I can't transplant? How can I share honestly but still do justice to this contradictory but wonderful country?
Let me share some details because my time at the internet cafe is winding down, and promise to explain my fear of sensationalism in a little more depth at a future point.
Most mornings I awake around 6:00 or a little before to take a bucket bath, dress, and eat breakfast (sometimes cornflakes, other times a fried egg sandwich) before leaving for work. Often I get a ride with my host brother, Junior, but on days when he leaves early I take a tro-tro, which is a privately owned van-bus vehicle that operates informally but reliably, carrying about 23 passengers at a time to various junctions around the city. For this I pay 35 pesewas (about 25 cents) for a direct trip, or more commonly 50 pesewas if I have to go first to the market and then catch another tro-tro to the University of Ghana where I am working.
For lunch I generally wander around campus and buy from various vendors a lunch of a baby pineapple (20 pesewas), a small papaya (20 pesewas), and some sort of muffin or meat pie (bewteen 20 pesewas and 1 Cedi, which is equivalent to about 65 cents). I have also had a whole coconut, opened by machete, for 50 pesewas, and found it a wonderful lunch. I test out my Twi to greet and interact with the vendors, some of whom now greet me with the title "m'adamfo," my friend.
After a tro-tro ride or two home, I eat dinner and then spend the evening with my host family, talking, playing games, journaling, or just sitting around as families tend to do. I retire ("Merebeko da!"/"I am about to go to sleep!") around 9:00 after bathing and personal devotions and prepare to repeat the process in the morning.
That's all for now... Details, analysis, and expounded thoughts to come. Love from Ghana!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Working, MusicMusic, and Milo
Let me begin by saying a huge THANK YOU! / MEDAASE! to everyone who has been following the blog, and especially to those of you who left me comments; it was a wonderfully pleasant surprise to find them all when I logged onto the internet this week. I well know that I am loved and supported by many, and as many times as I state it, I will always be sure to say it again because I am so grateful. Thanks!
This week has been one of settling in. As of my last post, I admit that I felt a bit tossed to and fro, but now I feel much more comfortable and a part of the life that teems around me. I have a (slightly) better grasp of my host family and its make-up, I have wandered my neighborhood to do a little exploring, and I have reached an unspoken agreement with our house help: if she feeds me more reasonable portions, I will clean my plate! (So far I would say things are working out well, although I have come back from work a few days to find a new stock of sachet ice cream [FanIce] or glass bottles of Sprite and Fanta awaiting me.) Having my two younger host brothers, Akwesi and Kwaku, show me around, teach me Twi, and let me watch Tom & Jerry or the Bernie Mac show with them is not quite the same as having Chet and Hudson around, but it is still comforting.
As for work, things also are going well. At first I admit to having been disappointed with how I felt things were going; after all, when I imagined doing volunteer work with NGOs in Ghana, I anticipated that I would perhaps be working with street girls (as my fellow Bridge Year student, Aria, is), assisting in a school for autistic children (like another of my friends, Kathleen, who is working at the only school in Ghana that serves autistic kids), teaching and coaching young kids (like Nick, a third Bridge Year student), or working with a training program that gives job skills to individuals living in a slum (as the final of the five of us, Cole, is doing)--something more "hands-on" or development related. Instead, when I go to work from 8:00 to 3:30 three days a week and 12:00 to 3:30 the other two, I scan pages of handouts, edit them in Microsoft Word, and press "Emboss" so they will be Brailled by our Braille printer. Though I did hope that I could affect change through improving access to classrooms for the physically impaired and mathematics courses for the visually impaired, I am realizing that these problems require long-term investment and a lot of engagement with slow-moving bureaucracy... and that ample time is one of the things I lack.
However, things at work really are going well. Although when I came to Ghana I imagined that I had a lot of skills to offer an NGO, and I did not anticipate spending my days working in an office and doing tasks that almost anyone could do, I realize that this experience is an exercise in humility. Perhaps I could do something a little more creative or specialized than scanning and editing pages upon pages of political science handouts, but I know this work is necessary. Our office is understaffed, and so I play an important role in ensuring that students with special needs (particularly visual impairments) have equal access to education, even if it is not quite the role I imagined. In addition, when I reflect upon the work that my fellow Bridge Year students are doing, I sometimes catch myself thinking that the students I serve, though still deserving of assistance and support, simply don't have the same degree of neediness that, say, a young teen living with her infant on the street does. By nature of the fact that they are at the University of Ghana, the students I serve are already privileged beyond many of the individuals with whom Kathleen, Cole, Aria, and Nick are working. Yet, I have come to understand, that does not make these students unworthy of my service in any way. Simply, through my work so far in the Office for Students with Special Needs, I have been humbled because what I have learned is that my work is important and worthwhile regardless of how I envisioned that it would be. I have met wonderful people through my office, and am excited to continue exploring ways that I can assist the community of students with special needs during this semester--and perhaps even longer.
As for my life outside work, I am truly enjoying Ghana. To be sure, I am still "just here," but that is as I wish.
Last evening I went with Cole, Kathleen, and Clara, one of our two wonderful program co-ordinators in Ghana, to be part of the studio audience for a live taping of MusicMusic, a weekly music performance show featuring popular Ghanaian artists that airs live on the nationally televised channel TV3. It was great fun! Cole and Kathleen were chosen, along with two Ghanaians, to participate in the Crazy Dance-Off, during which they took the stage and danced their wildest and craziest for three minutes (on live national TV no less). In the end, Kathleen emerged victorious and won a CD and t-shirt, plus the admiration of those in the audience. According to Yaw, our other co-ordinator who watched from home, I also appeared in some shots of the studio audience. We are taking the Ghanaian media by storm!
My time at the internet cafe is nearing its conclusion, but let me conclude by assuring you that I am staying healthy by making sure to drink plenty of Milo (pronounced mee-loh), which is basically like Ovaltine. That way I make sure that I get all the essential vitamins, as well as my daily dose of ash, which is listed among the nutrition facts as accounting for 4.7g out of every 100g of Milo. So please don't worry--Thanks to Milo, I am doing very well!
Until later,
Akua
("Wednesday-born girl" in Twi)
This week has been one of settling in. As of my last post, I admit that I felt a bit tossed to and fro, but now I feel much more comfortable and a part of the life that teems around me. I have a (slightly) better grasp of my host family and its make-up, I have wandered my neighborhood to do a little exploring, and I have reached an unspoken agreement with our house help: if she feeds me more reasonable portions, I will clean my plate! (So far I would say things are working out well, although I have come back from work a few days to find a new stock of sachet ice cream [FanIce] or glass bottles of Sprite and Fanta awaiting me.) Having my two younger host brothers, Akwesi and Kwaku, show me around, teach me Twi, and let me watch Tom & Jerry or the Bernie Mac show with them is not quite the same as having Chet and Hudson around, but it is still comforting.
As for work, things also are going well. At first I admit to having been disappointed with how I felt things were going; after all, when I imagined doing volunteer work with NGOs in Ghana, I anticipated that I would perhaps be working with street girls (as my fellow Bridge Year student, Aria, is), assisting in a school for autistic children (like another of my friends, Kathleen, who is working at the only school in Ghana that serves autistic kids), teaching and coaching young kids (like Nick, a third Bridge Year student), or working with a training program that gives job skills to individuals living in a slum (as the final of the five of us, Cole, is doing)--something more "hands-on" or development related. Instead, when I go to work from 8:00 to 3:30 three days a week and 12:00 to 3:30 the other two, I scan pages of handouts, edit them in Microsoft Word, and press "Emboss" so they will be Brailled by our Braille printer. Though I did hope that I could affect change through improving access to classrooms for the physically impaired and mathematics courses for the visually impaired, I am realizing that these problems require long-term investment and a lot of engagement with slow-moving bureaucracy... and that ample time is one of the things I lack.
However, things at work really are going well. Although when I came to Ghana I imagined that I had a lot of skills to offer an NGO, and I did not anticipate spending my days working in an office and doing tasks that almost anyone could do, I realize that this experience is an exercise in humility. Perhaps I could do something a little more creative or specialized than scanning and editing pages upon pages of political science handouts, but I know this work is necessary. Our office is understaffed, and so I play an important role in ensuring that students with special needs (particularly visual impairments) have equal access to education, even if it is not quite the role I imagined. In addition, when I reflect upon the work that my fellow Bridge Year students are doing, I sometimes catch myself thinking that the students I serve, though still deserving of assistance and support, simply don't have the same degree of neediness that, say, a young teen living with her infant on the street does. By nature of the fact that they are at the University of Ghana, the students I serve are already privileged beyond many of the individuals with whom Kathleen, Cole, Aria, and Nick are working. Yet, I have come to understand, that does not make these students unworthy of my service in any way. Simply, through my work so far in the Office for Students with Special Needs, I have been humbled because what I have learned is that my work is important and worthwhile regardless of how I envisioned that it would be. I have met wonderful people through my office, and am excited to continue exploring ways that I can assist the community of students with special needs during this semester--and perhaps even longer.
As for my life outside work, I am truly enjoying Ghana. To be sure, I am still "just here," but that is as I wish.
Last evening I went with Cole, Kathleen, and Clara, one of our two wonderful program co-ordinators in Ghana, to be part of the studio audience for a live taping of MusicMusic, a weekly music performance show featuring popular Ghanaian artists that airs live on the nationally televised channel TV3. It was great fun! Cole and Kathleen were chosen, along with two Ghanaians, to participate in the Crazy Dance-Off, during which they took the stage and danced their wildest and craziest for three minutes (on live national TV no less). In the end, Kathleen emerged victorious and won a CD and t-shirt, plus the admiration of those in the audience. According to Yaw, our other co-ordinator who watched from home, I also appeared in some shots of the studio audience. We are taking the Ghanaian media by storm!
My time at the internet cafe is nearing its conclusion, but let me conclude by assuring you that I am staying healthy by making sure to drink plenty of Milo (pronounced mee-loh), which is basically like Ovaltine. That way I make sure that I get all the essential vitamins, as well as my daily dose of ash, which is listed among the nutrition facts as accounting for 4.7g out of every 100g of Milo. So please don't worry--Thanks to Milo, I am doing very well!
Until later,
Akua
("Wednesday-born girl" in Twi)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
I'm a footballer!
Pardon the lapse in communication; I have to admit that I thought (somewhat optimistically) that internet access here would be easier, but that is not the case. I actually consider myself fortunate to have an internet cafe about 15 minutes by foot from my house, although it is pretty slow. Internet access is internet access.
Allow me to update you on some changes since my last post...
I have moved in with my host family, the Adu-Gyamfi family of Adenta, which is a district in the Accra region. It is a large family with many guests, so I am still figuring out who is actually a member of my immediate host family, who is a relative, and who is simply passing through. My host mother works at a Pentecostal church, and is consequently very active both in church activities and hosting visiting clergy. I have two host brothers who are 12 and 13, and so far they have been my guides to the neighborhood, culture, and Twi! In my house are also a few women (my host sister and cousin) who are close to my age and work in Accra, an older host brother who is an accountant at a hotel, and a house helper who adheres strictly to her self-prescribed duty of "making me big" by feeding me more than I can ever eat at each meal. (On a side note, so far I have eaten goat tongue, smoked fish, snail, fufu, and many other new foods!) Living in such a varied and dynamic household has its challenges, but everyone has been very friendly, accommodating, and welcoming, and I am thankful to have the chance to stay with my host family.
As for my volunteer position, I have been assigned to work at the Office for Students with Special Needs at the University of Ghana in Legon, which is the main campus of the university and has, I have been told, about 40,000 students. I began on Thursday with a half day and spent the day on Friday working in the office. One of my primary responsibilities so far has been to scan, manually edit, and emboss in Braille course materials, handouts, and readings for visually impaired students, which is a tedious job. Because it is early in the semester there is a large volume of text to be translated into Braille, but I hope that soon I can begin to work on a larger project or assist students with special needs as a notetaker in lectures. I learned that many students with physical impairments have difficulty accessing their lectures because not all the buildings are suitable for wheelchair use, and some visually impaired students are unable to take math classes because the University does not have the capability to translate mathematical equations into Braille, and even if it did students would have to take a class (which is not offered there) to learn to read Braille math. These two issues are some I would like to study in hopes of affecting some sort of lasting change beyond the good but less permanent work of translating text into Braille. I know that, given only four months, I may not be able to do much, particularly as I do not have connections or very much cultural awareness, but nonetheless I sincerely hope for the chance to investigate these problems.
Since I don't work on the weekends, tonight I enjoyed playing football/soccer with some of the guys who live on my street, including Cole, another Bridge Year student who lives two houses down from me. Although my team lost (4-5), I scored a goal, which was impressive not only because I am a female but also because I am an obroni (foreigner)! Much of the rest of my free time I play games with my younger host brothers, including Ludo (which they taught me) and Traverse and Scrabble To Go! (which I brought from home).
Overall, Ghana is a good place and a hard place, a welcoming place and a harsh place: a contradiction. One of the most economically prosperous and politically stable countries in Africa, Ghana is often held as a standard to which other African nations should aspire. However, it is not without poverty. Some of the roads are paved, but many are not, and even the ones that are often run through such densely populated areas and markets that there is a constant danger of hitting a pedestrian or being hit by a car. It seems that everything here, from the trees to this keyboard, is always enshrouded by a fine layer of the red dust that is constantly swirling around--and yet almost every Ghanaian I have met puts my modest skirts and blouses to shame with their clean, pressed clothing.
People I meet here always ask me if I love Ghana, and usually all I can say is that I like it here. It is a wonderful country, full of people ready to offer an encouraging or happily surprised laugh when I test out my few phrases of Twi, but it's not home yet. Perhaps the coming weeks and months will change me and make me ache to even think of leaving, but right now I simply am here: not longing to return home, but not enamored of this confusing, beautiful place. It is just good to be here.
As usual, thanks for reading and supporting me! Be blessed. And, since it's evening for me here, let me wish you a good night and sweet dreams, or at least try to do so in spite of my (in)ability to properly spell Twi: Da yie!
Allow me to update you on some changes since my last post...
I have moved in with my host family, the Adu-Gyamfi family of Adenta, which is a district in the Accra region. It is a large family with many guests, so I am still figuring out who is actually a member of my immediate host family, who is a relative, and who is simply passing through. My host mother works at a Pentecostal church, and is consequently very active both in church activities and hosting visiting clergy. I have two host brothers who are 12 and 13, and so far they have been my guides to the neighborhood, culture, and Twi! In my house are also a few women (my host sister and cousin) who are close to my age and work in Accra, an older host brother who is an accountant at a hotel, and a house helper who adheres strictly to her self-prescribed duty of "making me big" by feeding me more than I can ever eat at each meal. (On a side note, so far I have eaten goat tongue, smoked fish, snail, fufu, and many other new foods!) Living in such a varied and dynamic household has its challenges, but everyone has been very friendly, accommodating, and welcoming, and I am thankful to have the chance to stay with my host family.
As for my volunteer position, I have been assigned to work at the Office for Students with Special Needs at the University of Ghana in Legon, which is the main campus of the university and has, I have been told, about 40,000 students. I began on Thursday with a half day and spent the day on Friday working in the office. One of my primary responsibilities so far has been to scan, manually edit, and emboss in Braille course materials, handouts, and readings for visually impaired students, which is a tedious job. Because it is early in the semester there is a large volume of text to be translated into Braille, but I hope that soon I can begin to work on a larger project or assist students with special needs as a notetaker in lectures. I learned that many students with physical impairments have difficulty accessing their lectures because not all the buildings are suitable for wheelchair use, and some visually impaired students are unable to take math classes because the University does not have the capability to translate mathematical equations into Braille, and even if it did students would have to take a class (which is not offered there) to learn to read Braille math. These two issues are some I would like to study in hopes of affecting some sort of lasting change beyond the good but less permanent work of translating text into Braille. I know that, given only four months, I may not be able to do much, particularly as I do not have connections or very much cultural awareness, but nonetheless I sincerely hope for the chance to investigate these problems.
Since I don't work on the weekends, tonight I enjoyed playing football/soccer with some of the guys who live on my street, including Cole, another Bridge Year student who lives two houses down from me. Although my team lost (4-5), I scored a goal, which was impressive not only because I am a female but also because I am an obroni (foreigner)! Much of the rest of my free time I play games with my younger host brothers, including Ludo (which they taught me) and Traverse and Scrabble To Go! (which I brought from home).
Overall, Ghana is a good place and a hard place, a welcoming place and a harsh place: a contradiction. One of the most economically prosperous and politically stable countries in Africa, Ghana is often held as a standard to which other African nations should aspire. However, it is not without poverty. Some of the roads are paved, but many are not, and even the ones that are often run through such densely populated areas and markets that there is a constant danger of hitting a pedestrian or being hit by a car. It seems that everything here, from the trees to this keyboard, is always enshrouded by a fine layer of the red dust that is constantly swirling around--and yet almost every Ghanaian I have met puts my modest skirts and blouses to shame with their clean, pressed clothing.
People I meet here always ask me if I love Ghana, and usually all I can say is that I like it here. It is a wonderful country, full of people ready to offer an encouraging or happily surprised laugh when I test out my few phrases of Twi, but it's not home yet. Perhaps the coming weeks and months will change me and make me ache to even think of leaving, but right now I simply am here: not longing to return home, but not enamored of this confusing, beautiful place. It is just good to be here.
As usual, thanks for reading and supporting me! Be blessed. And, since it's evening for me here, let me wish you a good night and sweet dreams, or at least try to do so in spite of my (in)ability to properly spell Twi: Da yie!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wo ho te sen?
Me hoye. This is about the extent of my knowledge of Twi (pronounced chree) at this point! I am not sure of the spelling, but it means, "How are you? I am fine." Actually, we have been learning greetings, market bargaining, and numbers, and it is difficult but not impossible.
To back up, four other radically cool Princeton students who also deferred their freshman year (Kathleen, Aria, Cole, and Nick) and I have been in Ghana since Monday evening and are adjusting well. I am presently at an internet cafe with dial-up internet and so will not post too much, but wanted to ensure you that we are doing well and enjoying the culture, even as we are learning to struggle with the hard facts of daily Ghanaian life that rest in the background of each day. We are staying at a hostel for university students, but on Sunday or Monday we will move in with our host families. Over the last few days we have visited four of the five NGOs (non-profits) that we will be working with, one of us at each: an autism training school, the office for disabled students at the University of Ghana, a development project and skill training center in a slum of Accra, and a community-building athletic facility. The one we will visit tomorrow serves street girls and their children.
There will be more news later... For now, you can go to this link for an article about our Bridge Year orientation for a week at Princeton. I'm quoted if you read far enough, and I'm barely visible at the far right of the picture at the bottom with, clockwise from me, Aria, Nick, Kathleen, Cole, and Yaw, our program coordinator.
Ye da Onyame ase! / We give God thanks!
To back up, four other radically cool Princeton students who also deferred their freshman year (Kathleen, Aria, Cole, and Nick) and I have been in Ghana since Monday evening and are adjusting well. I am presently at an internet cafe with dial-up internet and so will not post too much, but wanted to ensure you that we are doing well and enjoying the culture, even as we are learning to struggle with the hard facts of daily Ghanaian life that rest in the background of each day. We are staying at a hostel for university students, but on Sunday or Monday we will move in with our host families. Over the last few days we have visited four of the five NGOs (non-profits) that we will be working with, one of us at each: an autism training school, the office for disabled students at the University of Ghana, a development project and skill training center in a slum of Accra, and a community-building athletic facility. The one we will visit tomorrow serves street girls and their children.
There will be more news later... For now, you can go to this link for an article about our Bridge Year orientation for a week at Princeton. I'm quoted if you read far enough, and I'm barely visible at the far right of the picture at the bottom with, clockwise from me, Aria, Nick, Kathleen, Cole, and Yaw, our program coordinator.
Ye da Onyame ase! / We give God thanks!
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