Apologies

I sincerely apologize for the recent lack of updates. I had an entire entry mapped out, showing video clips from daily life here. However, I severely underestimated how long it would take to upload eight different videos. (Stupid internet ruins everything..grumble grumble.) So stay tuned for that full entry at some point in the future.

Here is the only video I have managed to upload so far. Which was supposed to be last in the mini-series. Le sigh..0h wellll. If nothing else, living in a developing country teaches you how to be flexible.

But I hope everyone had a marvelous Thanksgiving!

Opulent Obsequy

Alright, I need to tell a story real quick. And I apologize in advance that there are no pictures to accompany this story, but this was one of those Africa-spur-of-the-moment situations, when I ended up kicking myself for not having my camera...much like the race track incident with my host father in Niger.

I was hanging out with one of my coworkers; we might have been watching the Miss World pageant, I don’t wanna talk about it. But his friend called to invite him to a “function,” and my coworker kindly invited me to go with him. So we hopped in a tro-tro and headed to Jamestown, one of the oldest districts in Accra, right on the coast, southwest from city center.

When we got there, ohhh let me tell you, it was absolute chaos. Everywhere. Live bands, huge speakers, tables and chairs in the middle of the road, portable canopies, street vendors, and more people than I thought could fit on a street corner. It was like a block party on steroids. Only it wasn’t a block party.

It was a funeral. A funeral for the brother of my coworker’s friend. My jaw definitely dropped when my he told me that. Apparently funerals are a huge social event, with tons of celebrating, dancing, food, and lots of drinking.

Note: the whole dancing in the streets thing is not exactly a Ghanaian tradition—it’s more of an Accra thing. Funerals in Ghana are very festive and lively, but in Accra it’s much, much more exaggerated.

And it’s not just one at a time, either. We walked through at least 4 different funerals going on that night. How do you tell them apart, you ask? They’re color coded. The family of the deceased decides on a color that people attending the funeral are supposed to wear to show which funeral they are at. The family of the deceased, on the other hand, wears black or white, depending on the natural of the death. The family wears white if the person who died lived a long happy life, or if they were suffering and death was relief for them. And like most other countries, if the person died too young or unexpectedly, the family wears black.

I happened to be at the “orange funeral”—I however, had no idea where I was going, and wasn’t dressed for a funeral in any country. (Ratty jeans and a tank top. Great. Thanks for the heads up, guys.) It really wasn’t a big deal though. The color-thing isn’t universally followed or anything. And it’s perfectly acceptable to bring friends; although I am convinced there were some funeral crashers there. Not in the style of Will Ferrell, but just enjoying the music and food. And booze.

The nice thing too, is that you don’t have to be wealthy to throw a funeral like this. My coworker told me that even if the family of the deceased doesn’t have money, everyone in the community pitches in to help throw the funeral celebration, which you can really see. People were all so friendly, just passing out drinks and plates of food, mostly in stick form. Like sausage on a stick, goat on a stick, fried gizzard on a stick, you know, the usual. It also led me to discover my new favorite Ghanaian dish, called Kelewele. It’s pretty simple, just plantains sautéed with ginger, but its soooooooooo yummy. And it too, can be eaten on a stick. Convenience.

After walking around for a while, so I could see everything going on, my friend and I sat down to enjoy the festivities. I ended up sitting at a table with a group of women, who ignored me at first, but ended up spending the rest of the night trying to get me drunk. And nearly succeeding. Fortunately I had five months of training in Europe to back me up. Well that, and Ghanaian beer is pretty weak.

But we drank, and talked, and danced for hours. Needless to say I think this is going down as my favorite night in Ghana thus far. Hmm. My favorite night in Ghana so far, was a funeral. Weird.

In other news I got bit on the shoulder by an 8 month old baby at the beach. Man those things are dangerous.

'Round to Volta and home again, that's the traveler's way!

I just got back from my first official business trip! I’m feeling strangely adult.

Two of my coworkers and I travelled to Ho, the capital of the Volta region of Ghana, about two hours Northeast of Accra. Well, two hours going there on a Sunday..five hours coming from there on a Thursday.

Damn traffic!

Because our program doesn’t have a car, we had to rely on public transportation to get us to and from Ho. And a little side note about travelling-- no one books tickets in advance, and the buses don't leave until they're full, which means its impossible to know when you're going to arrive (because you never know when the bus will leave), and travelling is alllllways crowded. But, hakuna matata...

But, the bus we took there was pretty nice—air-conditioned, and what not. But it also played a Ghanaian movie for everyone to watch on the way up. The movie was basically an extended soap opera episode, so delightfully dramatic that I think it deserves a short synopsis review:

The movie centered around three main characters: Shawn, Cheetah (yeah, her name was Cheetah!), and Naomi. In the beginning, Shawn and Naomi are happily dating, living together in Accra. Enter Cheetah--a long lost “friend” from Shawn’s past! Cheetah is hoping to move to Accra, but has no place to stay, so Naomi offers her the guest room in their house until Cheetah can find a place to live. BUT, low and behold, Shawn and Cheetah used to be lovers (gasp!) and Cheetah is still in love with Shawn! (Double gasp!).

The next half hour of the movie details Cheetah slowly seducing Shawn, while Naomi has no idea. Shawn resists her advances at first, but eventually breaks down and sleeps with Cheetah—the scoundrel! Afterwards, Shawn asks Cheetah to leave, but she swears she’ll tell Naomi not only about their affair, but also…wait for it…that Shawn was once imprisoned for murder (!), a secret from his past that he neglected to share with Naomi. (Ok, this is tuning out less entertaining than I had previously intended, so I’ll fast forward to the end. There is a point to this, I promise!)

Naomi finds out about the affair, slaps Cheetah around a little (giiiiiiiiirl fight!), and kicks Cheetah out of the house! There’s a great line during this fight, where Cheetah tells Naomi that “the dog will find its way back to its master no matter how far away he moves!” Fast-forward some more- Cheetah gets stabbed by an unidentified man who had broken into her hotel room while she is taking a bath. Dun dun dunnnn! Shawn suspects Naomi had something to do with it. But, Cheetah survives, and comes back to the house to confront everyone.

In one final gripping scene, Shawn, Naomi and Cheetah are all standing in the house. The girls are telling Shawn her has to choose once and for all who he wants to be with. Feel the tension! Just before Shawn is about to make his choice, the man who stabbed Cheetah comes bursting through the door…AND is revealed to be Shawn’s other ex-lover. (Whaaaaaaaaaat?! Who saw that coming?!) Shawn chooses his male lover, and the movie ends. Rolls credits…which literally only had the four previously mentioned characters in it…

Anyway, this movie was not only mildly entertaining and ridiculous, but also very interesting because homosexuality is technically illegal in Ghana. But here they are making a movie when the male lead ends up with his male lover without consequence. Interestingly applicable, because my company’s project targets homosexuals and promotes partner fidelity as part of their message…

Ok, movie tangent over.

The trip to Volta was very successful, and gave me the chance to get to know two of my coworkers better. The trip also introduced me to two new traditional dishes. The first was Wacce (pictured)—which is essentially rice and beans, but is served with spaghetti, spicy stew, and egg.

The second is called FuFu—which is Banku and meat (usually goat, or tilapia) served in a light, spicy soup. Banku, if you remember, is pounded corn and cassava made into a doughy ball.

It also led to a funny discussion of Little Bunny FooFoo, which I ended up teaching to my coworkers, hand motions and all J

Hmm…I’m not sure if Little Bunny FooFoo is universal… just in case it’s not—Little Bunny FooFoo is a children’s song involving Bunny FooFo, some field mice, and a fairy who, at the end of the song, turns bunny FooFoo into a GOON! If still confused, please contact my mother. I'm sure she'd be more than willing to sing it for you.

Anyway, as a city, Ho is much much much smaller than Accra. It’s situated in a little valley not too far from the Volta River. It’s very green and very hilly, and it rained a lot.

The Volta region also has the reputation for being more traditional and grounded in their culture. Whereas Accra is a big mixture of different people (different being several ethnic groups from within Ghana as well as people from other parts of Africa), Ho is inhabited predominantly by the Ewe people. Pronounced Eh-way, not like a female sheep.

And while most people do speak English, they prefer to speak Ewe, which was particularly great for me, because neither of my coworkers speak Ewe. Hmm I should probably give background to this comment—everyone in my office speaks Ga (another local language), and they speak it allllllllllllllllllll the time! I have to remind them to speak English. While I am learning Ga slowly, I still have no idea what they’re saying 99.9% of the time…so my coworkers not being able to speak the local language in Ho, and feeling frustrated because of it, was justice for me! (No, I’m not spiteful.)

As further background--My coworker and I have developed a very joking relationship, so they were not at all offended by me taking delight in their inability to understand people in Ho. They thought it was funny too, so no worries!

Although I was there for four days, I was trapped in the conference room of our hotel for most of the trip, so I didn’t really get to do much in Ho, which is a bummer. I’ll have to go back to do touristy stuff later. (DAVID, THEY HAVE A MONKEY SANCTUARY!)

One cool thing we did go see was a community center, called Village Exchange Ghana (VEG), started for teenage mothers, but now encompasses all types of youth. (My company just started a community center in Accra, so we were going to see how other centers operate.)

In their own words, “VEG operates at the intersection of health care, education, and economic opportunity to address multiple facets of poverty and provide meaningful support for the empowerment of women in rural Ghana.” That’s a mouthful.

But they have a really great center set up, with an afterschool program, a microfinance project, and they even have their own craft business, called Lady Volta, that makes bags, jewelry, pottery, and clothing, available online! Woooo go look! And for my IR friends, yes, they do take volunteers, but you have to get here yourself.

The trip back was pretty uneventful—but I can give a synopsis of THAT movie too for anyone interested! (j/k). It was equally as ridiculous as the first movie, but not as applicable.

I tried to take a video of crossing over the Volta River..it's a little wobbly, sorry. I'm still perfecting the, "don't mind me I'm just talking on my iphone, but I'm actually taking a video/picture" move. I'll master it soon.

Wow, this post is long. Sorry if it’s tedious. Is this stuff even interesting? If someone wants to ask a question or tell me what to write about, that would be much appreciated, otherwise I’m just going to ramble...I still don’t really know what I’m doing with this blog.

But it’s a three day weekend here. Yayyyyy Tabaski! Barka da Sallah! And this time, I won’t have to watch my host father slaughter sheep!