More Village Life

Taking a walk in the village

 Paw

 The one on the right is Kingsley

Village life is very interesting.  Whenever a foreigner walks anywhere, he or she is greeted by the cries of "obruni!" which means foreigner.  It is not meant to be offensive, they just like to say it.  Couple of times, I said "babini" back, which means black person, but then they just laughed and kept saying "obruni" just to hear me say "babini."  Also, among the Ghanaians in the village who can distinguish between a White person and an Asian person (for a lot of the villagers, I am the first Asian person that they have seen), I am greeted by the calls of "China!" at which, I alternatively answer back "Korea!" or "America!" 

The fact that the official language of Ghana is English is misleading.  Almost all Ghanaians speak a tribal dialect at home, and learn English at school.  Additionally, since a lot of Ghanaians did not attend school, it is sometimes impossible to communicate effectively without resorting to ludicrous hand motions.  I will try to utilize my amazing language skills *sarcasm* to learn Twi (the local language).

Antonia left for Germany today.  She has been in Akwatia for a whole year teaching at the primary school.  The Ghanaian church threw a party for her on Sunday and unveiled a plaque at the school with her name on it.  She was very sad about leaving, and she plans to visit in the next year or two. 

Since Antonia left, there are three "obrunis" left in the village.  Today, I was supposed to start at the hospital, but the person from SYTO who was supposed to give me the orientation did not come but instead said he'll come tomorrow.  Welcome to Africa! 

Anyway, after the tearful goodbyes to Antonia, the two Germans and I went shopping.  It only costs 10 Cedis ($6.66) for a hand made dress, so the girls visited various seamstresses ordering clothing while I was able to buy a charger for my cellphone

Since I have been in Ghana, I have not felt clean.  The host family does not have running water, so in order to wash yourself, you have to fetch water from the well.  Also, the fact that the children in the orphanage pee in the shower does not make the experience any cleaner.  I have literally one minute left on the Internet Cafe time so I will conclude this post later.