Home and Mali

From Yesterday- (8-17-11)

I was finally able to talk to my parents today.  I was so excited when I found a way to call from Ghana to America that I disregarded the time differential and called at 5:30 AM America time.  Although I awoke my mom from the confines of la la land, she was nevertheless happy to hear my voice.  Obviously, my dad reprimanded me for being ripped off on the painting yesterday, but I love you too, dad.

After Per Odd and I tried to get our visas extended (Bianca is staying only until the end of the first week of September because of the start of the Belgium university and Per Odd is staying nine weeks), the three of us went window shopping in a world without windows.  Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery so I do not have pictures of this adventure.  Along the way, I noticed luxury vehicles in a street almost fit for wagons.  This reinforced the fact that Ghana, like most developing countries, has a large disparity of wealth between the few members of the upper class and the average Ghanaian.  To illustrate this phenomenon, the Gross Domestic Product per Capital for Ghana is $ 2500 (source: CIA- The World Factbook) but the medium Ghanaian income is $ 400 a year.  I heard in the orientation that the government is very corrupt and takes bribes from the very wealthy.

Anyway, I bought a mosquito net, and we were about to find a restaurant when Bianca received a call from the volunteer office asking us to be there at noon for a health session.  Then, we experienced "Africa time" first hand.  The doctor who was supposed to review all the dangers of various parasites and viruses was 45 minutes late.  Africans have a very flexible sense of time.  When they say meet them at noon, they actually mean meet them some time between 12:15 to 1:00.

After the health session, during which the doctor described the grisly afflictions that happen because of low sanitation, we went to an African dance and drumming session.  It is safe to say that Per Odd was about two or three decades too old for the African dance.  But the session was fun - Bianca and I even bought an African drum for 55 Cedis each.  We can customize the designs on the drums and have texts curved on to it (we will pick it up at the office right before we leave Ghana). 

Unfortunately, our German friends, Dennis and Enrica, left tonight.  Dennis was very helpful giving me tips on African survival.  He will come to America some time next year, so I am hoping that he will visit me. 

After the Germans left, I went to the Internet Cafe to keep up with the West.  There, I encountered five kids from Mali living in Ghana for the summer vacation.  Although we had an obvious language barrier (they didn't know English and I sure as heck didn't know French), the second oldest one (16 years old), who I said hi to and gave African handshakes (like an American handshake except that each person takes the middle finger of the other and both parties snap simultaneously) whenever I encountered him this week said in broken English "you're my friend."  So, I responded, "Yeah, I'm your friend."  As a result of this, he even ended up paying for my time at the Internet Cafe.  I objected, but he really wanted to pay for me.

My friends from Mali love pictures.  They are affluent Malians, and they have a camera and a facebook.  Soon, sometime in the next week, I expect that my Malian friends will bombard me with pictures on facebook.  Anyway, despite the language barrier, we conversed - they showed me Mali music on youtube and the town in Mali they lived on Google Maps and after extensive sign language communication, I told them what snow was.  This illustrates the point that as long as one is genuinely interested in another person, no matter what area of the world or what language one speaks, one can find meaningful companionship.

Malian friends

Bianca was not as eager for a picture

Lunch - Per Odd and Bianca

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