8-18-11
Today was the last day of orientation. Tomorrow, Bianca and I will be transported across Ghana to our projects, while Per Odd will stay in Accra teaching in the secondary school. Bianca will go to Tamale, twelve and a half hour bus ride from Accra, and I will go to Akwatia, a village where the nearest internet source is a twelve minute drive away. I will try to make it a daily routine to run the fifteen miles or whatever it is to the Internet Cafe as long as my flat feet hold up.
We had a Ghanaian cooking lesson on how to make a dish called Red Red. It consists of plantains fried in vegetable oil with a blend of black eyed peas, palm oil, tomatoes, onions, tomato sauce, and tuna. It was outstanding. I will be sure to add that to my already impressive culinary repertoire...
This morning, we met another German volunteer, Martina, finishing her two months in Ghana. She taught primary school kids in a town called Wale Wale. Most female volunteers receive anywhere between five to fifteen marriage proposals during their stay, and Martina was no exception. Actually, a lot of volunteers pretend to be married and carry pictures of their "husband" in order to avoid these awkward proposals.
After finishing the Red Red, we went on the last part of our orientation-the city tour. Serendipitously, my Malian friends and Martina, whose flight does not leave until Saturday, accompanied us on the tour as well.
The market was the first stop on the itinerary. It was a huge tent divided in to many sections with a shop in each. I did not buy anything, but it was not because of the lack of effort from the sellers. Like the vendors on the beach, the market vendors have to be very proactive to make a living because of the intense competition. So every time we passed a shop, they would say "Come back! I give you good price!" or compliments like "You're strong man! You must have had a black father!!!" Some of the shops were very interesting. One vendor selling goat skin African drums was cleaning the carcass of a goat from which he fashioned the drums. The market presented a little bit of a dilemma- I wanted to bring business to the vendors who struggle for a living, but I am on a tight budget.
Afterward, we went to Old Accra and saw some hideous things. Whole families living in a house that Americans would think was a dumpster (maybe it is), children bathing in a bucket inches away from the sewers, and other unimaginable poverty. Seeing this made a deep impression on the Westerners. Bianca said "I wouldn't even put my dog there"- being in Old Accra was like being on a different planet.
Upon returning to the hostel, we ate dinner and said goodbyes (Bianca will be staying in a place eleven hours away from me and we'll see about Per Odd) and I was about to write in my journal when a Swiss guy named Benny came in the dormitory. Benny, initiating his gap year with Ghana, is the replacement for Martina in the Wale Wale village. We took a walk and I told him things to watch out for in Ghana. Tangentially, I still can't get over the way that the German Swiss say "yaaaa" as an affirmative. I think that's really cool. Anyway, we conversed very easily - he is an avid traveler. Two weeks ago, he went on a ten day kayaking trip in the Finnish wilderness and last year, he volunteered in Mozambique. We made vague plans to travel together (he will be 13 hours away from Akwatia) so we'll see if those come to fruition.
I don't know if I will be able to write tomorrow, but I will have a post up by Saturday.
Today was the last day of orientation. Tomorrow, Bianca and I will be transported across Ghana to our projects, while Per Odd will stay in Accra teaching in the secondary school. Bianca will go to Tamale, twelve and a half hour bus ride from Accra, and I will go to Akwatia, a village where the nearest internet source is a twelve minute drive away. I will try to make it a daily routine to run the fifteen miles or whatever it is to the Internet Cafe as long as my flat feet hold up.
We had a Ghanaian cooking lesson on how to make a dish called Red Red. It consists of plantains fried in vegetable oil with a blend of black eyed peas, palm oil, tomatoes, onions, tomato sauce, and tuna. It was outstanding. I will be sure to add that to my already impressive culinary repertoire...
This morning, we met another German volunteer, Martina, finishing her two months in Ghana. She taught primary school kids in a town called Wale Wale. Most female volunteers receive anywhere between five to fifteen marriage proposals during their stay, and Martina was no exception. Actually, a lot of volunteers pretend to be married and carry pictures of their "husband" in order to avoid these awkward proposals.
After finishing the Red Red, we went on the last part of our orientation-the city tour. Serendipitously, my Malian friends and Martina, whose flight does not leave until Saturday, accompanied us on the tour as well.
The market was the first stop on the itinerary. It was a huge tent divided in to many sections with a shop in each. I did not buy anything, but it was not because of the lack of effort from the sellers. Like the vendors on the beach, the market vendors have to be very proactive to make a living because of the intense competition. So every time we passed a shop, they would say "Come back! I give you good price!" or compliments like "You're strong man! You must have had a black father!!!" Some of the shops were very interesting. One vendor selling goat skin African drums was cleaning the carcass of a goat from which he fashioned the drums. The market presented a little bit of a dilemma- I wanted to bring business to the vendors who struggle for a living, but I am on a tight budget.
Afterward, we went to Old Accra and saw some hideous things. Whole families living in a house that Americans would think was a dumpster (maybe it is), children bathing in a bucket inches away from the sewers, and other unimaginable poverty. Seeing this made a deep impression on the Westerners. Bianca said "I wouldn't even put my dog there"- being in Old Accra was like being on a different planet.
Upon returning to the hostel, we ate dinner and said goodbyes (Bianca will be staying in a place eleven hours away from me and we'll see about Per Odd) and I was about to write in my journal when a Swiss guy named Benny came in the dormitory. Benny, initiating his gap year with Ghana, is the replacement for Martina in the Wale Wale village. We took a walk and I told him things to watch out for in Ghana. Tangentially, I still can't get over the way that the German Swiss say "yaaaa" as an affirmative. I think that's really cool. Anyway, we conversed very easily - he is an avid traveler. Two weeks ago, he went on a ten day kayaking trip in the Finnish wilderness and last year, he volunteered in Mozambique. We made vague plans to travel together (he will be 13 hours away from Akwatia) so we'll see if those come to fruition.
I don't know if I will be able to write tomorrow, but I will have a post up by Saturday.
Cooking Ghanaian food
Red Red
Malian friends
Martina
Goats-Very common: runs with cars on the road
Pigs-Emergency Ghanaian food source
These photogenic kids asked for a picture
Urinating and defecating in public places is a problem in Ghana
Houses
More poverty-that wooden shack to the right is a house
Really, the poverty was so bad in Old Accra that it felt like we were on another planet
Awesome! Keep the posts coming.
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