We got an email from Emmanuel that said the library was now open for three days a week! When the librarian comes later this month it will be everyday, but until then, its being run by volunteers like Bright.
Yay!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Now Arriving at Gate C
So....we're home.
After a 31 hour flight from Accra to Dubai to New York to Toronto/Halifax, we made it!!!
The flight was long and the days blended together....but we watched the new Star Trek movie 4.5 times....as well as Pocahontas, part of Hercules, the second half of Australia (the first half was on the way there), Dragonball Evolution (which was weird at best) and the Street Fighter movie (a total plot holed waste of everyone's time, but I made it through to the end because I could). There may have been others but at this point, they've all blended together.
While I've made it home, I haven't stopped moving yet. I spent all this week with my family in Rondeau, but we're now on the move again, driving out to BC. I won't stop traveling until I get to Ottawa (which won't be until September 8th).
The Ghana adventure is over...but only for now...and only in some ways. The work that we did is always continuing, even though the library is finished. We're already planning our next rip and a series of projects that we're working on. I plan to keep track of some things here, though my blogging will likely be less frequent than it was while we were actually there.
Aside from all that, the Ghana trip isn't really over yeet because we're still sorting through pictures, memories and reflections. I'm posting a bunch of pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/goodquestion18
Not all of them are from Africa...but I'm sure you can figure out which ones are and aren't.
Thank you to everyone who helped make the library a reality!!!!
For information as to how you can help, you can email us!
Conor Falvey
sunbathing.turtle@gmail.com
Jessi Taylor
goodquestion18@gmail.com
Love,
The Spotted Jessicat
After a 31 hour flight from Accra to Dubai to New York to Toronto/Halifax, we made it!!!
The flight was long and the days blended together....but we watched the new Star Trek movie 4.5 times....as well as Pocahontas, part of Hercules, the second half of Australia (the first half was on the way there), Dragonball Evolution (which was weird at best) and the Street Fighter movie (a total plot holed waste of everyone's time, but I made it through to the end because I could). There may have been others but at this point, they've all blended together.
While I've made it home, I haven't stopped moving yet. I spent all this week with my family in Rondeau, but we're now on the move again, driving out to BC. I won't stop traveling until I get to Ottawa (which won't be until September 8th).
The Ghana adventure is over...but only for now...and only in some ways. The work that we did is always continuing, even though the library is finished. We're already planning our next rip and a series of projects that we're working on. I plan to keep track of some things here, though my blogging will likely be less frequent than it was while we were actually there.
Aside from all that, the Ghana trip isn't really over yeet because we're still sorting through pictures, memories and reflections. I'm posting a bunch of pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/goodquestion18
Not all of them are from Africa...but I'm sure you can figure out which ones are and aren't.
Thank you to everyone who helped make the library a reality!!!!
For information as to how you can help, you can email us!
Conor Falvey
sunbathing.turtle@gmail.com
Jessi Taylor
goodquestion18@gmail.com
Love,
The Spotted Jessicat
Thursday, August 6, 2009
To Kpetoe and Away
Yesterday, we spent the whole day in a roadside village known as Kpetoe.
Kpetoe is larger than Nyive, but really still just a spit of buildings along the highway to get to Aflao and the Lome/Togo border....but its FAMOUS!
Well, its famous around here.
Kpetoe is the hubbub and happening center for one of Ghana's best known and special handicrafts: kente cloth. When shopping for Kente, this is where you go.
Kente is a form of intricate and time consuming weaving that is done with some very elaborate looms. Kente is usually a family trade and small boys start their apprenticeships very young. Its very difficult to do and will require years of practice. Initially, Kente was done only by men and boys but lately (contrary to all the guidebooks) I've been hearing small mentions of women taking it up too.
Kente is very special to Ghanaians, especially the Ashanti and the Ewe (who I'm told have niftier patterns...but staying in Volta, my sources are a touch biased). Biased or not though, Kpetoe's collection of Kente is amazing, especially when you take a few minutes to watch it being made. Realising the effort that goes in to making it is a little breath taking. We found out that it takes one person 18 days to finish the average cloth. With a whole slew of apprentices working, they estimate they might be able to finish in 4 days.
Kente is woven in small strips, with varying patterns and colours, about the width of my land and 4 yards in length (I think that's about right). Then, when someone chooses their kente, the weaver takes all the strips and sews them together into one gigantic blanket of cloth according to the size needed (its pretty standard). Often, women have the kente sewn into a dress and the men wrap it around much in the way that they did at the inauguration. I'm keeping it in one big sheet since, as a chief, I need to wear it in the "men's" style. I don't know that its really a men's style, I just know they don't sew dresses out of it and some women do.
Also...sign of the day: on a tro-tro coming in to Ho, one of them had a sign that said "Heaven's Gate, No Bribe"
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Patriarchy on Top
Here are some helpful hints for women that we've had to learn on our own. About 2 weeks ago we picked up a fourth guide book for kids. This one was written by a man travelling with his wife and actually had one or two of the lessons we'd already learned. This isn't to say that they never had anything useful to women, but these ones were all missing. Please keep these in mind!
What the Patriarchal Guidebook Left Out
1) Moving to the tropics messes with everything you ever knew or thought you knew about your cycle...remember this in terms of kotex and ovulation.
2) The availability of Canesten/pads/tampons.
3) In a humid climate, pads CHAFE! Major badness here...>.<
4) A bra may be neceassary in a tro tro for even the most liberated of women, especially major roads to Accra. A rumble strip in Canada simply causes a noise. In Ghana, a rumble strip is a series of 5 speed bumps used to control speeding (necessary!). Rural roads have trenches the size of, well, tenches.
5) Hot, humid climates encourage Yeast Infection. Bring breathable panties or leave them at home. Canesten is your friend.
6) Probiotics and useful yoghourt are impossible to come by in Ghana. In the even that you have to take Cipro (or any other antibiotic) for digestive issues, there will be nothing to replace good bacteria. Canester is your friend.
7) There is no fool proof way to repel men.
8) When pretending to be married (which the guide book suggests) be sure to invent some kids as well or you will a) get lots of flack for not having children yet and/or b) a proposal from more "vigorous" and "potent" men than your imaginary husband.
9) Tro-tro drivers estimate how many people can fit on a seat based on male hips. Yours, and any other woman's (African or otherwise) will only ever be bigger than the skinny man they used to measure.
10) People WILL use the Bible (to attempt) to "prove" your inferiority.
Patriarchy rots!
Love,
The Jessicat
What the Patriarchal Guidebook Left Out
1) Moving to the tropics messes with everything you ever knew or thought you knew about your cycle...remember this in terms of kotex and ovulation.
2) The availability of Canesten/pads/tampons.
3) In a humid climate, pads CHAFE! Major badness here...>.<
4) A bra may be neceassary in a tro tro for even the most liberated of women, especially major roads to Accra. A rumble strip in Canada simply causes a noise. In Ghana, a rumble strip is a series of 5 speed bumps used to control speeding (necessary!). Rural roads have trenches the size of, well, tenches.
5) Hot, humid climates encourage Yeast Infection. Bring breathable panties or leave them at home. Canesten is your friend.
6) Probiotics and useful yoghourt are impossible to come by in Ghana. In the even that you have to take Cipro (or any other antibiotic) for digestive issues, there will be nothing to replace good bacteria. Canester is your friend.
7) There is no fool proof way to repel men.
8) When pretending to be married (which the guide book suggests) be sure to invent some kids as well or you will a) get lots of flack for not having children yet and/or b) a proposal from more "vigorous" and "potent" men than your imaginary husband.
9) Tro-tro drivers estimate how many people can fit on a seat based on male hips. Yours, and any other woman's (African or otherwise) will only ever be bigger than the skinny man they used to measure.
10) People WILL use the Bible (to attempt) to "prove" your inferiority.
Patriarchy rots!
Love,
The Jessicat
Friday, July 31, 2009
Fanfare for Literacy
Theses are pictures of us getting the library in order. As you can see the carpenters are all finished with the interior. The other pictures are us at various stages of the cataloguing process. There are about 6 or 7 steps to our cataloguing process.
We start by assigning the book a ca
ll number that is very roughly based on the Dewey Decimal System....I'm ashamed to say I was having a lot of trouble figuring out the decimal part of that equation. Then we entered the information into an electronic catalogue on the computer and created a catalogue card for the physical catalogue in pencil (that's one up there). Then someone edits the card for mistakes and inks it. When this is finished, we tape the edges of the paper back books in order to give them some added protection over the years and tape over the call n
umber too. The last step, and by far my favourite of all the library jobs here or in Ottawa is to take our fancy-pants-rubber-stamps we had made and to stamp the
umber too. The last step, and by far my favourite of all the library jobs here or in Ottawa is to take our fancy-pants-rubber-stamps we had made and to stamp the 
first page of 
the books and the three sides. I think that's most of the steps...I tip my hat again to all my librarians over the years and the people at Jean-Leon Allie Library for showing me all this. I hope the Saint Paul people in particular are not aghast at 
my irreverant trouncing on all that is Library of Congress.
the books and the three sides. I think that's most of the steps...I tip my hat again to all my librarians over the years and the people at Jean-Leon Allie Library for showing me all this. I hope the Saint Paul people in particular are not aghast at my irreverant trouncing on all that is Library of Congress. 
Eventually our set up was ready for the big day.
The big day involved a lot of speeches and participation from everyone is small ways. Anyone not making a speech was playing an instrument, singing, dancing, being chiefy, doing a cultural performance or working behind the scenes. There was a lot of cheering, celebrating, processing and even a ribbon cutting. It was so cool to see all the kids getting excited about the books in the library. It was definitely a community event....which is everything it should have been.
You may see from some of these pictures that Conor and I are hanging out with the chiefs when we're processing. As I mentioned in my last post, the community was moving to quasi enstool me this week. Despite some hitches that went on through the day, I am not enstooled but I am marked as a chief and will be enstooled formally next year (please see last post).
Making me chief involved having a group of people come over to the house (only certain people are allowed to participate but I knew them almost all of them...most of them are really good friends in fact). The ones I know least are actually the chiefs themselves. They all came in and with them came a bottle of something they called Schnapps.
They sat down and explained some things then went outside to pour some of the Schnapps outside on the ground as an offering and prayed for me. When they came back in they gave me a sizable dose of it to drink. Not really being allowed to go outside, I settled for pouring some on the carpet, also in prayer. I figured it was at least 40% and something akin to gin...so it should evaporate quickly. I then drank the firewater down. They put beads on me and and smeared my arms with white chalk. Then more Torgbe's came in and gave me another round of Schnapps where we poured more poured more libations and drank more. There was more chalk on my arms. They sent for beer and then sat down to explain some things to me. This is where my memory starts to fade a touch.
Apparently part of becoming chief is getting you very drunk....I don't think it actually is, but that's what the aforementioned Schnapps does. I don't know what this Schnapps is but it must be higher than 40% because it kicked our asses. The only time I was ever this drunk....It was 7 0r 8 shots of Tequila in a drinking game that involved episodes of Firefly (For those of you who are familiar with Firefly/Serenity, the one of the game's major premises was that everytime they spoke Chinese, you took a drink) All I know is that it is imported from Holland and that the box cannot/will not give us a percentage. To give you some perspective of how the night ended, one of these pictures, Conor took from her position on the floor.
Luckily, this didn't happen until after they all left for the night, but it was starting around the time they sat down and started going over duties and do's and don'ts. I'm not allowed to walk outside barefoot (I know some people who are gonna LOVE that...) and something about not dancing in public (which is tossed aside completely on the occasions where the chiefs tell us to dance....there are pictures of that at the inauguration too). The next morning, Torgbes returned and took me out of the house (I wasn't allowed to leave since the ceremony the night before) and while they couldn't present me, they had me walk in the procession for the Library inauguration so that everyone would know, without them making a procession for that occasion in itself. They dressed us in some beautiful kente cloth (that's what you see us wearing in all the procession pictures.
I feel like I really can't do justice to everything that happened the last few days...especially when it comes to the traditions and the enstoolment... There are tons of pictures of everything from our whole trip that we're going to put online when we get home....but we managed a bunch for today.
This library has been an amazing amount of work but the community always amazes me with he amount of effort they are willing to put in not just to build the place but also to make it really special for their community. I'm also touched by the effort that people make everyday to make us feel part of their community: whether its teaching us a little more Ewe or giving us a pineapple (or making me a chief) or telling us to bring our families down.
The library project is not over...it will never really be over. We have some few odds and ends to tie up here but even after that , there will always be new books, new ideas, new technology and new resources for this community. It will definitely never be over.
We're looking at less than two weeks until we get home now...Not much time left to enjoy village life.
Thank you again to EVERYONE who helped make this project amazing!!!
Love,
The Jessicat
Monday, July 27, 2009
News of All Types
Firstly, I would like to share some sad news. Torgbe Kotoko, one of Nyive's chiefs has just past away this week. He's been sick for a very long time. Not totally unexpected, it still took everyone as a surprise. No one really expected him to go so soon. I guess he's been a part of the community a very long time. He's very well loved and the entire village is upset by their loss. I think people are also upset he isn't around to see the library now that its finally finishing up.
The inauguration of the library is still on Wednesday and we've confirmed the attendance of lots of dignitaries and the whole community. This means that we've spent the last few days, and probably all night tonight binding, cataloguing, stamping and shelving books. Its the Jean-Leon Allie Library all over again...ecept now I'm teaching everyone what to do. I keep asking myself "What would Desneiges do?"
For those of you who have been paying attention, you may ask about that missing day. The one where we're pulling a late nighter tonight instead of cataloguing tomorrow.That's because tomorrow, Tuesday, we're not allowed to work. At least I'm not. Tuesday I will be confined to the house. This is due to some really cool news which I've neglected to share up until now and some complications following it (one of the reasons I haven't mentioned it yet).
The piece of really cool news, the chiefs want/started planning to enstool me as a Queen Mother (Female Chief) partially for the work I've done and partially for the work they want me to continue in the future. They have lots of different chiefs for lots of different purposes, mine has to do with helping in the development of the community and being an elder for the youth (in Nyive, I think "youth" is anyone under 50). They tell me its because I'm interested and value their arts, crafts and industries. This paragraph really isn't doing justice to anything that's been happening the last few weeks. The complication I mentioned is that since Torgbe Kotoko died, there is a kink in everyone's plans for me. Its traditional not to enstool any chiefs between the time someone dies and they are buried. In Ghana, this is at least a month, especially for a chief. Funerals here are very costly and involve a big party with a lot of planning. We're very sad that we're going to miss it. This also means that they can't really enstool me.
Enstooling usually has two parts: an indoor part that is sort of private I guess and an outdoor part where they present someone to the community. Babies are also outdoored a few days after they are born for the same reasons. To have a big party would be disrespectful to Torgbe Kotoko since everyone is supposed to be in mourning but the chiefs are determined to do something. So what will happen is that there will be the indooring and then they want me to come back and have the outdooring in about a year. The indooring will involve some rituals done around 6 am and then they lock me in the house the whole day. Then they will come get me the next day (Wednesday) and will spend the day sort of treating me like a chief so everyone will know without it being announced. The special treatment is just in time for a big pubic occasion that has nothing to do with enstooling so it seems to work out perfectly for everyone. Pretty cool, eh? I'm really honoured because its really putting forward that they want me to stay a part of the community and involved in the affairs here.
Since I'm catching a cold, I think staying indoors all day (and SLEEPING) sounds like a fantastic idea. Conor and I were up at 5 am this morning singing "I just want to be a sheep"...I'm goofy when I'm sick.
Anyhow, its gonna be a big couple of days.
Ciao for now,
-The Jessicat
The inauguration of the library is still on Wednesday and we've confirmed the attendance of lots of dignitaries and the whole community. This means that we've spent the last few days, and probably all night tonight binding, cataloguing, stamping and shelving books. Its the Jean-Leon Allie Library all over again...ecept now I'm teaching everyone what to do. I keep asking myself "What would Desneiges do?"
For those of you who have been paying attention, you may ask about that missing day. The one where we're pulling a late nighter tonight instead of cataloguing tomorrow.That's because tomorrow, Tuesday, we're not allowed to work. At least I'm not. Tuesday I will be confined to the house. This is due to some really cool news which I've neglected to share up until now and some complications following it (one of the reasons I haven't mentioned it yet).
The piece of really cool news, the chiefs want/started planning to enstool me as a Queen Mother (Female Chief) partially for the work I've done and partially for the work they want me to continue in the future. They have lots of different chiefs for lots of different purposes, mine has to do with helping in the development of the community and being an elder for the youth (in Nyive, I think "youth" is anyone under 50). They tell me its because I'm interested and value their arts, crafts and industries. This paragraph really isn't doing justice to anything that's been happening the last few weeks. The complication I mentioned is that since Torgbe Kotoko died, there is a kink in everyone's plans for me. Its traditional not to enstool any chiefs between the time someone dies and they are buried. In Ghana, this is at least a month, especially for a chief. Funerals here are very costly and involve a big party with a lot of planning. We're very sad that we're going to miss it. This also means that they can't really enstool me.
Enstooling usually has two parts: an indoor part that is sort of private I guess and an outdoor part where they present someone to the community. Babies are also outdoored a few days after they are born for the same reasons. To have a big party would be disrespectful to Torgbe Kotoko since everyone is supposed to be in mourning but the chiefs are determined to do something. So what will happen is that there will be the indooring and then they want me to come back and have the outdooring in about a year. The indooring will involve some rituals done around 6 am and then they lock me in the house the whole day. Then they will come get me the next day (Wednesday) and will spend the day sort of treating me like a chief so everyone will know without it being announced. The special treatment is just in time for a big pubic occasion that has nothing to do with enstooling so it seems to work out perfectly for everyone. Pretty cool, eh? I'm really honoured because its really putting forward that they want me to stay a part of the community and involved in the affairs here.
Since I'm catching a cold, I think staying indoors all day (and SLEEPING) sounds like a fantastic idea. Conor and I were up at 5 am this morning singing "I just want to be a sheep"...I'm goofy when I'm sick.
Anyhow, its gonna be a big couple of days.
Ciao for now,
-The Jessicat
Friday, July 24, 2009
To All Who Made Me a Book Worm
Firstly, I want to put forth a special thank you to all the librarians and library technicians I've gotten to know over the years. I would be absolutely useless here without everything they taught me. I'm not in contact with most of them and many of them probably don't remember me (it all started with elementary school) but man have I learned a lot. My thanks especially to Mrs. Allen-Cofell (St. Mary/St. Anne's) Mrs. Goldhawk and Mrs. Woods at UCC (These people are all still in the Chatham-Kent area I think) And EVERYONE who works at the Jean-Leon Allie Library at St. Paul University (especially Desneiges). If anyone sees these people around, feel free to let them know I hold them partially responsible for the presence of a library in rural Ghana, in a village that knows no map. A library which is going to be officially opened this Wednesday!
The construction finishes today and the cataloguing operation (which Conor and I have been running out of our front room will be moved to the library tomorrow. We've been cataloguing mountains of books and we've only just touched the surface, from the sounds of it. We've been creating a catalogue, barcoding all the books and stamping them and everything I was doing at home for the Saint Paul Library. Given the lack of a Staples or similar stationary depot, this process, like the carpentry, takes longer because everything has to be done by hand. Rather than printing stickers and sticking them on the book, we have to cut out the sticker, create the non sticky sticker, write on it by hand and then tape it on the book. Thanks to the People's Republic of China, there is no shortage of affordable tape (though no stickers).
Luckily there are a lot of people who want to help out. This weekend is going to be a mad blur of readying books that will make me never want to enter a library again. Popular opinion feels that it will be worth it.
I will let you all know how it goes.
-The Jessicat
The construction finishes today and the cataloguing operation (which Conor and I have been running out of our front room will be moved to the library tomorrow. We've been cataloguing mountains of books and we've only just touched the surface, from the sounds of it. We've been creating a catalogue, barcoding all the books and stamping them and everything I was doing at home for the Saint Paul Library. Given the lack of a Staples or similar stationary depot, this process, like the carpentry, takes longer because everything has to be done by hand. Rather than printing stickers and sticking them on the book, we have to cut out the sticker, create the non sticky sticker, write on it by hand and then tape it on the book. Thanks to the People's Republic of China, there is no shortage of affordable tape (though no stickers).
Luckily there are a lot of people who want to help out. This weekend is going to be a mad blur of readying books that will make me never want to enter a library again. Popular opinion feels that it will be worth it.
I will let you all know how it goes.
-The Jessicat
Monday, July 20, 2009
Week of Suck
So this week has been officially deemed the week of suck.
You may know that the library is scheduled to have its big opening ceremony on the 29th. Aside from all the things that must be done for the library to be complete, there is a lot of planning that has to go into the actual opening ceremony. This seems to be a big and consistent pain in the ass that is a culturally accepted norm. Everything has to be planned, everything has to have a structure, letters of invitation have to be given out, with special roles given to all the special people that you want to invite and everyone has to have their say, whether or not they are really involved and whether or not they are around (or say in the next country over this week). This isn't really all that different from anything in Canada except for three things: 1) Time-they decided they wanted this whole thing to happen before school lets out (the 30th) and only mentioned it about a week ago, 2) There is a certain way to do everything so that it seems very professional and special and we're not really in on it, so its a learning experience for us. 3) EVERYTHING must be done by consensus-this is difficult enough under the best conditions but when everyone is so busy with their own livelhoods and are too poor to come to the meetings...but will be upset if anything is done without you, or if you're in Togo/Accra/anywhere not Nyive and out of service for two weeks and will be upset if something is done without your input.....ITS A PAIN IN THE ASS!!
It is such a pain in the ass that dictatorships have suddenly started making a lot of sense to me.
Either way though, everything is getting done (slowly but definitely surely) and everyone is doing their best to make it a real awesome affair. It sounds like Conor is gonna have to get all Mama'ed up for the occasion too. This community is really proud of what it has accomplished and they are inviting all the top cats to come see it including the heads of the local library board and the MP. I thought they should go all the way and send a note to Obama and Atta Mills, but the schedules didn't really coordinate.
This also means that the library is mere days away from completion. Even our books are being catalogued. This is all good news! So why is it the week of suck?
1) My intestines have betrayed me....again. I noticed they get a lot better when I travel. I've concluded that this is either because the food does not require chewing in the villages (teeth are downright vestigial traits in this area) or because teh conditions are more sanitary in restaurants that we have to eat in when we travel. One of our guides suggested not to worry to much unless there was blood, black fluid or somethign greasy involved. Since it wasn't, I decided to tough it out this time. What a mistake that was. I am currently popping Cipro like I'm doing a Keith Richards imitation and its all better.
2) My estrogen went and while it doesn't betray me, my period is not always a welcome addition to daily life. Cramps suck. They suck so bad that they encumbered my gettign to Ho today. Long story. There was a bus and some fainting and bananas and Fanta.
3) I fucked up the library's printer. That's not entirely true....the driver doesn't want to recognise it. I suspect that this is because people wanted me to try the wrong software and see if ti would work. It didn't...and now that we have a copy of the right software, but it still doesn't. I think I can fix it, but it is really difficult to explain especially when I only arely understand how it works myself. I wish I were more tech savvy.
4) BUGS. Really big Bugs. I know gigantic bugs are sort of an African stereotype....but this one is steeped in liquid truth.
5) Got invited to a Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. Really hoped this was gonna be better than it was. It was a great community, very friendly and welcoming...great in many ways. Not in others. The theologian in me is still twitching. There's a chance I would feel like this at the Catholic Church sometimes too, but everything is in Ewe so I can't understand. Most of my problems are not culturally related though...they are the same things that make me twitch in Canada too. Lets just say that churches who preach that Jesus will make you rich or the ones that come with coin-operated salvation are popular here. I feel like trial and error will weed out the prosperity gospel churches over time (I have heard of no great money-manna-fest yet, here or in Canada), as for the auto-salvation, I let you fight that one out for yourself. There is no way to explain certain subjects adequately on a blog. I miss the Byzantines.
6) Haven't been eating properly this week....this contributed to the bus thing too. Long story. With this I will couple that there exists no dairy food group in Ghana and I think I'm really low on Iron.
7) Other- There have been a lot of minor coinciental things to happen that just added to everything. An example was a teen story about AIDS which was kinda cool in some ways, kind of not in others. The not so cool part of the story is where thedoctor is trying to determine whether he shoud test for HIV and asks the man a series of questions...where he wasn't concerned that he might be having sex with women, only anal sex with women. I find this particular and confisuing detail in the book. The anal sex thing came out a lot actually. STRANGE book. Just another example of men getting off the hook for havinglots of "normal" sex with lots of women? I don't know.
Anyhow, lots is getting done with the library and my Keith Richards attitude on cipro seems to be working so lets hope for a better week!
-the Jessicat
You may know that the library is scheduled to have its big opening ceremony on the 29th. Aside from all the things that must be done for the library to be complete, there is a lot of planning that has to go into the actual opening ceremony. This seems to be a big and consistent pain in the ass that is a culturally accepted norm. Everything has to be planned, everything has to have a structure, letters of invitation have to be given out, with special roles given to all the special people that you want to invite and everyone has to have their say, whether or not they are really involved and whether or not they are around (or say in the next country over this week). This isn't really all that different from anything in Canada except for three things: 1) Time-they decided they wanted this whole thing to happen before school lets out (the 30th) and only mentioned it about a week ago, 2) There is a certain way to do everything so that it seems very professional and special and we're not really in on it, so its a learning experience for us. 3) EVERYTHING must be done by consensus-this is difficult enough under the best conditions but when everyone is so busy with their own livelhoods and are too poor to come to the meetings...but will be upset if anything is done without you, or if you're in Togo/Accra/anywhere not Nyive and out of service for two weeks and will be upset if something is done without your input.....ITS A PAIN IN THE ASS!!
It is such a pain in the ass that dictatorships have suddenly started making a lot of sense to me.
Either way though, everything is getting done (slowly but definitely surely) and everyone is doing their best to make it a real awesome affair. It sounds like Conor is gonna have to get all Mama'ed up for the occasion too. This community is really proud of what it has accomplished and they are inviting all the top cats to come see it including the heads of the local library board and the MP. I thought they should go all the way and send a note to Obama and Atta Mills, but the schedules didn't really coordinate.
This also means that the library is mere days away from completion. Even our books are being catalogued. This is all good news! So why is it the week of suck?
1) My intestines have betrayed me....again. I noticed they get a lot better when I travel. I've concluded that this is either because the food does not require chewing in the villages (teeth are downright vestigial traits in this area) or because teh conditions are more sanitary in restaurants that we have to eat in when we travel. One of our guides suggested not to worry to much unless there was blood, black fluid or somethign greasy involved. Since it wasn't, I decided to tough it out this time. What a mistake that was. I am currently popping Cipro like I'm doing a Keith Richards imitation and its all better.
2) My estrogen went and while it doesn't betray me, my period is not always a welcome addition to daily life. Cramps suck. They suck so bad that they encumbered my gettign to Ho today. Long story. There was a bus and some fainting and bananas and Fanta.
3) I fucked up the library's printer. That's not entirely true....the driver doesn't want to recognise it. I suspect that this is because people wanted me to try the wrong software and see if ti would work. It didn't...and now that we have a copy of the right software, but it still doesn't. I think I can fix it, but it is really difficult to explain especially when I only arely understand how it works myself. I wish I were more tech savvy.
4) BUGS. Really big Bugs. I know gigantic bugs are sort of an African stereotype....but this one is steeped in liquid truth.
5) Got invited to a Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. Really hoped this was gonna be better than it was. It was a great community, very friendly and welcoming...great in many ways. Not in others. The theologian in me is still twitching. There's a chance I would feel like this at the Catholic Church sometimes too, but everything is in Ewe so I can't understand. Most of my problems are not culturally related though...they are the same things that make me twitch in Canada too. Lets just say that churches who preach that Jesus will make you rich or the ones that come with coin-operated salvation are popular here. I feel like trial and error will weed out the prosperity gospel churches over time (I have heard of no great money-manna-fest yet, here or in Canada), as for the auto-salvation, I let you fight that one out for yourself. There is no way to explain certain subjects adequately on a blog. I miss the Byzantines.
6) Haven't been eating properly this week....this contributed to the bus thing too. Long story. With this I will couple that there exists no dairy food group in Ghana and I think I'm really low on Iron.
7) Other- There have been a lot of minor coinciental things to happen that just added to everything. An example was a teen story about AIDS which was kinda cool in some ways, kind of not in others. The not so cool part of the story is where thedoctor is trying to determine whether he shoud test for HIV and asks the man a series of questions...where he wasn't concerned that he might be having sex with women, only anal sex with women. I find this particular and confisuing detail in the book. The anal sex thing came out a lot actually. STRANGE book. Just another example of men getting off the hook for havinglots of "normal" sex with lots of women? I don't know.
Anyhow, lots is getting done with the library and my Keith Richards attitude on cipro seems to be working so lets hope for a better week!
-the Jessicat
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Still on Top
So now that I have all the major news out of the way....I thought that I'd add/update some more lists.
In honour of last weekend, the first list is the Top list of Obama Paraphanalia in Ghana. Some of this was official swag that the government had a hand in convincing people to sell, others were things people had designed and still others were normal everyday items that were either given the name "Obama ---" or they silkscreened/embroidered "Barack Obama" on it somewhere.
1) Obama Panties--These were a pair of cute flowery victorian panties with "Barack Obama" silk screened on the ass. I bought a pair for Conor. ^^
2) Child's Denim Obama Pant+Jacket Outfit--A little kid was wearing this around the Nyive trotro station in Ho.
3) Obama Wax Print-Obama's face on some wax print/batik like cloth....they do this a lot with many people's faces...most commonly (that I've seen) for people's ordinations or the arrival of a new bishop. They will have decorative cloth made out of the faces of all the bishops of the Ho diocese that ever lived. I find it weird and usually tacky, but next to the panties, this is one of my favourites. I have never, unfortunately, seen ordination panties. Many people had had formal dresses and collard shirts made out of it for the occasion.
4) Obama T-shirts-these all have Obama with one or more of the following: Pres Atta Mills, The Word Ghana, A picture of Africa sith Ghana coloured in, Ghanaian independence monument and/or Ghanaian or American flags.
5) Obama Hotel (Hotel in Accra...I suspect that the biblical shop name trend may be coming to a close while Obama remains popular.)
6) Obama 5-minute-hawker-name-bracelet-these are a little nifty, but the aggressive pestering of the hawkers decreases what little interest their products might give.
7) Obama billboards- these litter Accra and CapeCoast...sometimes sponsored by the government or large businesses like MTN
8) Obama American Flag
9) Obama Picture Frames
10) Obama Meat Pies-people wandered around the compound while we were waiting selling meat pies off their heads yelling "Obama Meat Pies". This was not limited to meat pies but was quickly taken up by all the head food sellers. "Obama Yogourt! Obama Chocolate! Obama Spring Roll! Obama Fanta! Obama Bo Froot!"
11) Obama buttons-pins with pictures of him (and maybe his family)
------------------------
The next list is an add on to my previous list of favourite signs. We always pick out more when we travel.
1) Evergreen Haircut
2) Still, You can Fly One Day Too
3) Trust Nobody Footwear
4) Welcome to Boy's and Girl's Lovers (I don't know what this place was....but it was a small booth that looked like a chop bar or a place to buy tools. (A chop bar is a place to buy food))
5) Perserverance Washing Bay
6) Hilarious Services
7) XXX Engineers (this apparently doesn't mean the same thing in Ghana)
8) Jama Maternity Clinic, Delivery Day and Night
9) Virgin Kids and Junior Secondary School (Your guess is as good as mine)
This is it for now!
Ciao,
-the Jessicat
In honour of last weekend, the first list is the Top list of Obama Paraphanalia in Ghana. Some of this was official swag that the government had a hand in convincing people to sell, others were things people had designed and still others were normal everyday items that were either given the name "Obama ---" or they silkscreened/embroidered "Barack Obama" on it somewhere.
1) Obama Panties--These were a pair of cute flowery victorian panties with "Barack Obama" silk screened on the ass. I bought a pair for Conor. ^^
2) Child's Denim Obama Pant+Jacket Outfit--A little kid was wearing this around the Nyive trotro station in Ho.
3) Obama Wax Print-Obama's face on some wax print/batik like cloth....they do this a lot with many people's faces...most commonly (that I've seen) for people's ordinations or the arrival of a new bishop. They will have decorative cloth made out of the faces of all the bishops of the Ho diocese that ever lived. I find it weird and usually tacky, but next to the panties, this is one of my favourites. I have never, unfortunately, seen ordination panties. Many people had had formal dresses and collard shirts made out of it for the occasion.
4) Obama T-shirts-these all have Obama with one or more of the following: Pres Atta Mills, The Word Ghana, A picture of Africa sith Ghana coloured in, Ghanaian independence monument and/or Ghanaian or American flags.
5) Obama Hotel (Hotel in Accra...I suspect that the biblical shop name trend may be coming to a close while Obama remains popular.)
6) Obama 5-minute-hawker-name-bracelet-these are a little nifty, but the aggressive pestering of the hawkers decreases what little interest their products might give.
7) Obama billboards- these litter Accra and CapeCoast...sometimes sponsored by the government or large businesses like MTN
8) Obama American Flag
9) Obama Picture Frames
10) Obama Meat Pies-people wandered around the compound while we were waiting selling meat pies off their heads yelling "Obama Meat Pies". This was not limited to meat pies but was quickly taken up by all the head food sellers. "Obama Yogourt! Obama Chocolate! Obama Spring Roll! Obama Fanta! Obama Bo Froot!"
11) Obama buttons-pins with pictures of him (and maybe his family)
------------------------
The next list is an add on to my previous list of favourite signs. We always pick out more when we travel.
1) Evergreen Haircut
2) Still, You can Fly One Day Too
3) Trust Nobody Footwear
4) Welcome to Boy's and Girl's Lovers (I don't know what this place was....but it was a small booth that looked like a chop bar or a place to buy tools. (A chop bar is a place to buy food))
5) Perserverance Washing Bay
6) Hilarious Services
7) XXX Engineers (this apparently doesn't mean the same thing in Ghana)
8) Jama Maternity Clinic, Delivery Day and Night
9) Virgin Kids and Junior Secondary School (Your guess is as good as mine)
This is it for now!
Ciao,
-the Jessicat
Monday, July 13, 2009
Chasing the Wild Obama-llama
So, like a few weeks ago when we went to see Accra to chase down the Stanley Cup, Conor and I took off last week in another mad dash for another Canadian pastime.....going to see Obama.
Conor and I, with our friend Portia, took off to Cape Coast to see the man himself as he stopped through the town, on a historic journey to Cape Coast Castle (which was the Costco of human trafficking in the day). The town was full of Yovus like us (or Obruni, outside of Ewe Land) though we couldn't find any Americans....mostly people from Germany, Great Britain and Canada. Still, lots of tourists....and lots of Ghanains (mostly Coastians) all excited to see Obama.
The next highest population consisted of imported police and military types from both countries. Have I mentioned the really big guns the police carry around on a normal day at a teeny little outpost/roadblock on the dirt road to the outlying villages like Nyive? Well, it seems they upgraded for the occasion....or maybe there was just lots of them, I dunno which.
As the hour of his arrival rolled closer (give or take 5 hours on the proposed itinerary) we gave up all belief that we were going to even make it to the road where he was supposed to pass by. It was right outside our hotel room, but we'd been yelled at by men in camouflage toting weapons as tall as I was, just trying to get into the place. We were resigned to not being allowed back out. Luckily, the hotel had an upstairs outdoor bar...where we had a great view of the road, from the shade, with a chair, all on our own and with the ability to order drinks. We stayed there for a few hours, watching security people drive by. Once we saw the strange sight of a hawker being chased by a policeman with a 2x4. Eventually two military types wandered over to the hotel and made the staff kick us out from the upstairs. As we came down, with no where to go, they told us to go across the road. We looked skeptically across the field with trolling security that seemed to be sweating ammunition. They told us to go and eventually gave us a police escort to the crowd on the other end of the street (no one was allowed on our side).
We joined the crowd, found a random rock to stand on and settled in for the wait. In the military's haste to kick us out, I didn't have time to retrieve sunscreen from our room (and Obama was supposed to be there any minute/3 hours ago) and seeing that he was very late, I got a terrible blistering sunburn on my nose and face...curse my red headed complexion without the saucy ginger hair itself. Just as we got there, the soldiers tried to herd the whole crowd into a narrower and narrower space. No one liked this, but we clung to our rock and were unaffected.
Eventually he came, drove by, shook hands with the chiefs of Cape Coast. Portia saw him but leaping locals and people swarming the soldier ridden balcony above us, despite the soldiers, and clung to the very wall itself to get a view, made it a little difficult for us to see. I held my camera up and blindly took picture after picture. Eventually he got back in the care and drove the next 300m to the castle itself for a tour with his family. Disapointed we had only seen the bumper of his motorcade, Conor and I were resigned that that was probably it. Just as we were debating whether to leave or wait for everyone to disperse a bit, as thy were doing, riot police came and ushered everyone back from the forward area they had been pushed out of initially.
Suddenly, the riot police ran forward, cleaving through the crowd and everyone started running. We clung to the rock for fear of being trampled. Remember that seen from the Lion King with the Wildebeasts and the hyenas? The one where Mufasa dies? That's what we were trying to avoid while perched on our tiny rock. Five feet in front of us, the riot police caught and started to beat the beligerent and suddenly very apologetic man who had started the commotion in the first place (Portia translated that the man had been insulting the cops for telling him what to do).
Once things calmed down, we got off our rock and made to leave. While attempting this, we discovered why the crowd was so slow at dispersing (we thought it was cause they all wanted to see him come back from the castle and drive away). Apparently no one was allowed to leave the conveniently squared off section, the only place anyone was allowed to be, until he had left the city. Any attempts to do otherwise were discouraged by more military types with even more guns. (I should add that I rarely see military/soldier types or large gatherings of armed police except when the American president is in town....my regular life is not nearly so cluttered with weaponry.) So we were stuck....for no one knew how long, in a hoard of hundreds of people with no shade, no shelter and no bathroom....
I would like to add, for President Atta Mills, if he ever reads my blog, that perhaps inserting a huge hoard of people under these conditions for hours in the sun is perhaps counter productive from a security point of view. Luckily there were plenty of people selling food and drinks off there heads, wandering around the small hilled compound. We took the opportunity to sample some of the Ghanaian head food that we were normally too busy to sample. We tried some interesting curried kebabs, bean based springrolls, cookies, and even some old favourites...a little bit of popcorn and something ain to a very large fresh plain timpit called "bo froot". I LOVE bo froot. But no matter how much I love bo froot, Obama was getting to be a pain in the ass. My gluteal muscles the next morning could tell you I mean this literally. I never thought I'd be happy for him to leave the vicinity, given how much I like him.
We also took the opportunity to look at some of the pictures we took. We discovered very happily, that I had managed a lucky shot of Obama waving out the window as he drove by! Very cool random shot....all the pictures I had taken without looking seemed to turn out really well.
Eventually he left, we waved off his motorcade and everyone flooded the streets partying. Lots of happy partying Ghanainas. We made it back to our hotel and through the palm trees we watched the US Marine Copters flying away. That last part was a little surreal and like the closing scene of a Vietnam War flick.
For everyone worried about our frolicking and full body frisking with danger, we're fine...nothing dangerous ever really happened, the police an military did very well, despite our preferences, and from what we could tell only ever acted appropriately.
Either way...we're alive and well. Conor feels like he healed her leprosy.
Ciao for now!
-The Jessicat
Conor and I, with our friend Portia, took off to Cape Coast to see the man himself as he stopped through the town, on a historic journey to Cape Coast Castle (which was the Costco of human trafficking in the day). The town was full of Yovus like us (or Obruni, outside of Ewe Land) though we couldn't find any Americans....mostly people from Germany, Great Britain and Canada. Still, lots of tourists....and lots of Ghanains (mostly Coastians) all excited to see Obama.
The next highest population consisted of imported police and military types from both countries. Have I mentioned the really big guns the police carry around on a normal day at a teeny little outpost/roadblock on the dirt road to the outlying villages like Nyive? Well, it seems they upgraded for the occasion....or maybe there was just lots of them, I dunno which.
As the hour of his arrival rolled closer (give or take 5 hours on the proposed itinerary) we gave up all belief that we were going to even make it to the road where he was supposed to pass by. It was right outside our hotel room, but we'd been yelled at by men in camouflage toting weapons as tall as I was, just trying to get into the place. We were resigned to not being allowed back out. Luckily, the hotel had an upstairs outdoor bar...where we had a great view of the road, from the shade, with a chair, all on our own and with the ability to order drinks. We stayed there for a few hours, watching security people drive by. Once we saw the strange sight of a hawker being chased by a policeman with a 2x4. Eventually two military types wandered over to the hotel and made the staff kick us out from the upstairs. As we came down, with no where to go, they told us to go across the road. We looked skeptically across the field with trolling security that seemed to be sweating ammunition. They told us to go and eventually gave us a police escort to the crowd on the other end of the street (no one was allowed on our side).
We joined the crowd, found a random rock to stand on and settled in for the wait. In the military's haste to kick us out, I didn't have time to retrieve sunscreen from our room (and Obama was supposed to be there any minute/3 hours ago) and seeing that he was very late, I got a terrible blistering sunburn on my nose and face...curse my red headed complexion without the saucy ginger hair itself. Just as we got there, the soldiers tried to herd the whole crowd into a narrower and narrower space. No one liked this, but we clung to our rock and were unaffected.
Eventually he came, drove by, shook hands with the chiefs of Cape Coast. Portia saw him but leaping locals and people swarming the soldier ridden balcony above us, despite the soldiers, and clung to the very wall itself to get a view, made it a little difficult for us to see. I held my camera up and blindly took picture after picture. Eventually he got back in the care and drove the next 300m to the castle itself for a tour with his family. Disapointed we had only seen the bumper of his motorcade, Conor and I were resigned that that was probably it. Just as we were debating whether to leave or wait for everyone to disperse a bit, as thy were doing, riot police came and ushered everyone back from the forward area they had been pushed out of initially.
Suddenly, the riot police ran forward, cleaving through the crowd and everyone started running. We clung to the rock for fear of being trampled. Remember that seen from the Lion King with the Wildebeasts and the hyenas? The one where Mufasa dies? That's what we were trying to avoid while perched on our tiny rock. Five feet in front of us, the riot police caught and started to beat the beligerent and suddenly very apologetic man who had started the commotion in the first place (Portia translated that the man had been insulting the cops for telling him what to do).
Once things calmed down, we got off our rock and made to leave. While attempting this, we discovered why the crowd was so slow at dispersing (we thought it was cause they all wanted to see him come back from the castle and drive away). Apparently no one was allowed to leave the conveniently squared off section, the only place anyone was allowed to be, until he had left the city. Any attempts to do otherwise were discouraged by more military types with even more guns. (I should add that I rarely see military/soldier types or large gatherings of armed police except when the American president is in town....my regular life is not nearly so cluttered with weaponry.) So we were stuck....for no one knew how long, in a hoard of hundreds of people with no shade, no shelter and no bathroom....
I would like to add, for President Atta Mills, if he ever reads my blog, that perhaps inserting a huge hoard of people under these conditions for hours in the sun is perhaps counter productive from a security point of view. Luckily there were plenty of people selling food and drinks off there heads, wandering around the small hilled compound. We took the opportunity to sample some of the Ghanaian head food that we were normally too busy to sample. We tried some interesting curried kebabs, bean based springrolls, cookies, and even some old favourites...a little bit of popcorn and something ain to a very large fresh plain timpit called "bo froot". I LOVE bo froot. But no matter how much I love bo froot, Obama was getting to be a pain in the ass. My gluteal muscles the next morning could tell you I mean this literally. I never thought I'd be happy for him to leave the vicinity, given how much I like him.
We also took the opportunity to look at some of the pictures we took. We discovered very happily, that I had managed a lucky shot of Obama waving out the window as he drove by! Very cool random shot....all the pictures I had taken without looking seemed to turn out really well.
Eventually he left, we waved off his motorcade and everyone flooded the streets partying. Lots of happy partying Ghanainas. We made it back to our hotel and through the palm trees we watched the US Marine Copters flying away. That last part was a little surreal and like the closing scene of a Vietnam War flick.
For everyone worried about our frolicking and full body frisking with danger, we're fine...nothing dangerous ever really happened, the police an military did very well, despite our preferences, and from what we could tell only ever acted appropriately.
Either way...we're alive and well. Conor feels like he healed her leprosy.
Ciao for now!
-The Jessicat
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Also....Calling all pickles! (WE NEED YOUR HELP!)
(Just a note, this is my second post on the blog today...)
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
The good news is that the library is almost finished! The village is planning to commission it by the end of the month, before school is out.
With its completion on the horizon, Conor and I have been looking into other projects we can start before we leave. One of the needs that has really put itself forward is the need to preserve food.
Nyive is made up of many farming families, who's livelihoods and income mostly derives from the land. Unfortunately, the inability to preserve food causes tremendous loss for the farmers both in food and income. Everything here is sold at its season, there is little or no affordable imports. Because the food is sold at season, everyone in the market sells the exact same thing at the exact same time. This means that no one can ask a good price for their goods, because there are 20 other stalls trying to sell the same thing. No one can sell off season because there is no way to maintain the produce.
There is also a loss to the farmers because if they can't sell their produce fast enough, even at a low price, the food will spoil and they receive nothing. The same happens when they buy food. People can only purchase items in small quantities, every day or risk their food spoiling, and having to spend further money.
Nyive and the rest of Ghana have no real traditional methods of preserving food, because there is no winter season, like in Canada, where NOTHING grows. There is always something to eat because there is always something growing, but it is incredibly difficult to run a business or make a profit in this way.
We are asking you for recipes, ideas, cautions, methods and ideas about how to preserve food. This can be anything from dehydration to jam, to pickles to relishes to fruit leather. We need methods, warnings, dangers, ways to sterilise....lots of things. Don't worry if there is no blackberries in Ghana, send us your blackberry jam recipe anyway, because there may be something that we can glean from it for some blackberry like substance in Ghana. If you have no recipes of your own, email familiy members, ask around your town, contact your local Society for Creative Anachronism chapter, or ask some engineers about dehydraters and pester some Girl Guides about tinfoil solar ovens that you make with a few rocks.
We're looking for anything that we can use that won't involve a factory (though a low tech device that we can McGuyver is helpful). Send us anything....even warnings about which foods we shouldn't try to preserve lest we kill off the entire village through food poisoning. If your area is secretly famous for someting like jam or dried fruit, don't feel shy about doing a little research on some old techniques.
Thank you all so much for your help! We really believe that a little information can go a long way into changing lives.
Love,
The Jessicat
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
The good news is that the library is almost finished! The village is planning to commission it by the end of the month, before school is out.
With its completion on the horizon, Conor and I have been looking into other projects we can start before we leave. One of the needs that has really put itself forward is the need to preserve food.
Nyive is made up of many farming families, who's livelihoods and income mostly derives from the land. Unfortunately, the inability to preserve food causes tremendous loss for the farmers both in food and income. Everything here is sold at its season, there is little or no affordable imports. Because the food is sold at season, everyone in the market sells the exact same thing at the exact same time. This means that no one can ask a good price for their goods, because there are 20 other stalls trying to sell the same thing. No one can sell off season because there is no way to maintain the produce.
There is also a loss to the farmers because if they can't sell their produce fast enough, even at a low price, the food will spoil and they receive nothing. The same happens when they buy food. People can only purchase items in small quantities, every day or risk their food spoiling, and having to spend further money.
Nyive and the rest of Ghana have no real traditional methods of preserving food, because there is no winter season, like in Canada, where NOTHING grows. There is always something to eat because there is always something growing, but it is incredibly difficult to run a business or make a profit in this way.
We are asking you for recipes, ideas, cautions, methods and ideas about how to preserve food. This can be anything from dehydration to jam, to pickles to relishes to fruit leather. We need methods, warnings, dangers, ways to sterilise....lots of things. Don't worry if there is no blackberries in Ghana, send us your blackberry jam recipe anyway, because there may be something that we can glean from it for some blackberry like substance in Ghana. If you have no recipes of your own, email familiy members, ask around your town, contact your local Society for Creative Anachronism chapter, or ask some engineers about dehydraters and pester some Girl Guides about tinfoil solar ovens that you make with a few rocks.
We're looking for anything that we can use that won't involve a factory (though a low tech device that we can McGuyver is helpful). Send us anything....even warnings about which foods we shouldn't try to preserve lest we kill off the entire village through food poisoning. If your area is secretly famous for someting like jam or dried fruit, don't feel shy about doing a little research on some old techniques.
Thank you all so much for your help! We really believe that a little information can go a long way into changing lives.
Love,
The Jessicat
Baby, You're the Tops!
Feeling bad about not keeping up with the signs I meant to post on my blog, Conor and I created a list of our favourites. We also created a list for our top 15 conversations that we have had, or almost had but really don't want to have, with Ghanaians.
Top Favourite Signs (In no particular order)
1) Don't Mind Your Wife Chop Bar
2) CIRCUMSISE! your child here
3) No Weapon Restaurant
4) The Blood of Jesus Tailoring
5) Honorable Waste Management
6) Quebec Enterprises
7) The Young Shall Grow Haircut
8) Powerful Haircut
9) "Bullet/Cobra Power" (Men's health sign advertising some kind of Viagra type thing...with detailed paintings of strong and grinning, flexing naked men and their rigid "cobras")
10) God Will Do Welding
11) Don't Let AIDS "Service" YOU!
Top Conversations That We Discovered we don't Want to Have (but despite our best attempts, often have to) in Ghana. This is again in no particular order.
1) "Why don't you love me?" (self explanatory)
2) "Do you want to marry a Ghanaian?" (This is often trying because the answer is always no...and I only become more resolute about this over time)
3) "White People are ALWAYS great! (and Black people are not/lazy/steal)"...(this one is terrible)
4) "The Bible says...."(you'd think this one wouldn't be so bad for me, but often people come at me with it in an attempt to prove that women are inferior to men.....they picked the wrong person to pull this on. A sentence that starts this way rarely turns into a pleasant conversation, unfortunately.)
5) "Do you want to marry me?" (This can also be issued as a command or a statement that I will marry them or that I already have.)
6) "Do you like dancing/clubbing/alcohol/drinking/sex?"
7) "Homosexuals are....(insert negative, stereotype or statement of non-existence here)"
8) "There is no such thing as male prostitutes! How could it work?!" (This was one of my favourite conversations actually...but I wouldn't have it with most people....this particular instance was with a good friend)
9) "Hey Baby!/Its nice to be nice"
10) "Hello! My name is....will you write me a letter of invitation to you country/home/help me get a visa?"
11) "Yovu! Dash me 10 000! (or any ammount really....10 000 is one current cedi)"
12) "Let you go? Why?" (The earlier mentioned confusion of Papa Oubadouba)
13) You have indigenous people? Are they blacks? They must be whites if they are from Canada."
14) "Someone told me that people from the North Pole would die if you put them in Ghana, because their bodies are different. Is this true?" (apparently Inuit are believed to react like salt water fish chucked into a lake...according to this one person)
15) "Did you buy me bread/What did you bring me?" (This is usually meant in jest, something everyone says to one another....though one man, the one who crashed Conor's motorcycle last time keeps pestering us and we don't know if its a joke...it may be less of a joke where "rich white chicks" are concerned.)
Anyhow...all of these were certainly interesting conversations....I wish there was enough time to describe the results of these conversations....many of them happen multiple times with different people.
Top Favourite Signs (In no particular order)
1) Don't Mind Your Wife Chop Bar
2) CIRCUMSISE! your child here
3) No Weapon Restaurant
4) The Blood of Jesus Tailoring
5) Honorable Waste Management
6) Quebec Enterprises
7) The Young Shall Grow Haircut
8) Powerful Haircut
9) "Bullet/Cobra Power" (Men's health sign advertising some kind of Viagra type thing...with detailed paintings of strong and grinning, flexing naked men and their rigid "cobras")
10) God Will Do Welding
11) Don't Let AIDS "Service" YOU!
Top Conversations That We Discovered we don't Want to Have (but despite our best attempts, often have to) in Ghana. This is again in no particular order.
1) "Why don't you love me?" (self explanatory)
2) "Do you want to marry a Ghanaian?" (This is often trying because the answer is always no...and I only become more resolute about this over time)
3) "White People are ALWAYS great! (and Black people are not/lazy/steal)"...(this one is terrible)
4) "The Bible says...."(you'd think this one wouldn't be so bad for me, but often people come at me with it in an attempt to prove that women are inferior to men.....they picked the wrong person to pull this on. A sentence that starts this way rarely turns into a pleasant conversation, unfortunately.)
5) "Do you want to marry me?" (This can also be issued as a command or a statement that I will marry them or that I already have.)
6) "Do you like dancing/clubbing/alcohol/drinking/sex?"
7) "Homosexuals are....(insert negative, stereotype or statement of non-existence here)"
8) "There is no such thing as male prostitutes! How could it work?!" (This was one of my favourite conversations actually...but I wouldn't have it with most people....this particular instance was with a good friend)
9) "Hey Baby!/Its nice to be nice"
10) "Hello! My name is....will you write me a letter of invitation to you country/home/help me get a visa?"
11) "Yovu! Dash me 10 000! (or any ammount really....10 000 is one current cedi)"
12) "Let you go? Why?" (The earlier mentioned confusion of Papa Oubadouba)
13) You have indigenous people? Are they blacks? They must be whites if they are from Canada."
14) "Someone told me that people from the North Pole would die if you put them in Ghana, because their bodies are different. Is this true?" (apparently Inuit are believed to react like salt water fish chucked into a lake...according to this one person)
15) "Did you buy me bread/What did you bring me?" (This is usually meant in jest, something everyone says to one another....though one man, the one who crashed Conor's motorcycle last time keeps pestering us and we don't know if its a joke...it may be less of a joke where "rich white chicks" are concerned.)
Anyhow...all of these were certainly interesting conversations....I wish there was enough time to describe the results of these conversations....many of them happen multiple times with different people.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Cape Coast and Away
Hello!
Conr and I spent the rest of the week having adventuring in Accra and Cape Coast. Our only complaint about Cape Caost is that the bug population is exponentially higher....and more aggressive...and there was no mosquitoe nets this time. The bites are strange though...small red bumps...not like the usual welts. Conor and I have finally established that I am not immune to being bit by mosquitoes (I have also had bites all over me from this week) I am simply not allergic to them in a way that I don't get itchy. Conor, unfortunately, does not share this trait.
Speaking of Conor...before leaving the Osu area of Accra for something a little less expensive, we came across something that she likes even more than Sidney Crosby and the Senators put together. Apparently she rarely eats Indian food but was entirely supportive of my dashing around Osu trying to find some ethnic food for dinner. As much as I am having trouble with the monotony of Ghanaian food everyday, we can only eat so many french fries and hamburgers before that too is monotonous. We found a small place named Haveli (it was right outside our old hotel, I have no idea how I missed it so many times). We went in and discovered a place entirely unlike anything else we've seen in Ghana. A real restaurant, set to the theme of the food it was serving (lots of Hindu statues and Indian art) inside and being served by a tiny Indian lady (the expats who own establishments in Ghana seem to rarely actually run or work in them). It was so good!!!! And the biggest surprise, it was Kerala food! The woman who runs the restaurant is even Syro Malabar. Conor thought the food was so good....she almost wept at the first bite of naan.
We journeyed the next day to Cape Coast. What a beautiful area! You can see the sea everywhere you go (also, it was nice and warm). Its much smaller than Accra, much friendlier too. It was also much more tourist friendly (without beng like Niagara Falls) and prettier than Ho. The people are somewhat used to tourists and have no shame in trying to make friends so that they can convince us to let them take us on a pricey trip to Kakum. Actually, that wasn't so bad, since its easy to brush off. The men can be divided into about 4 main identifiable categories: a) the ones that didn't bother us, b) HEY BABY men, c) the sexually liberated college male, d) Rastafarian Burkinabes and e) Oubadoubas.
A) The ones that didn't bother us
We don't actually know anything about them...but they are noteworthy, because they didn't bother us. These men exist and we don't give them enough spotlight. Please give a round of applause for men who just don't give a fuck. This category also includes friendly expats and men we meet in the ATM lines. ATM lines are the best place to meet friendly men who want to pass on interesting information (such as the death of Michael Jackson...thats right...we got the news from an ATM line up). Should also note, that women have never bothered us, tried to marry us, shout hey baby, profess enduring and instantaneous love for us and therefore they should get a mention for being awesome too.
B) The HEY BABY! men
We also don't know much about them....this is mostly because we refuse to respond. They are men who scream "HEY BABY!" when we pass...this may be an attempt to hit on us, but is equally likely an attempt to get us to buy things. They also yell "Its nice to be nice!" when we don't talk to them....implying that if I were a good person, I would have to stop and accomodate them. Right.....like that's gonna happen.
C) The sexually liberated college male
Cape Coast is a university town. From this, hordes of educated and horny young men descend on the local touristy night scene. They are friendly, courteous, ask us about school and never ask us to marry them. They also do not proclaim instantaneous love or expect love in return. They do however, try to determine the looseness of our morals by asking us roundabout questions about whether we enjoy drinking/alcohol/dancing/clubbing. Over all, friendly, easy to talk to and not really a threat.
D) The Rastafarian Burkinabe
These are our favourite men that we've encountered (outside our circle of close friends in Nyive). They are friendly Rastafarian artists who all flock to Cape Coast to sell their wares, play music at the local clubs and hotels and occasionally preach the Rasta religion. Almost all of them are from Burkina Faso and they really are great multi talented artists. They make everything from music to jewellery. One of them was a particularly talented musician and had that gift of being able to make up songs out of nothing and play them at the same time. These guys are even easier to talk to than the college guys and mellower about the sex thing. I should at that they are mellower in fron tof me...this could be because they were occasionally stoned when we were chatting with them (this is based on seeing them rolling joints rather than stereotype). Altogether, an awesome group. They don't ask for marriage, love, whether we like sex/boooze/clubbing or anything. Occasionally they mention "The wonderous thing when blacks and obrunis make little mocha babies."
E) Oubadouba
The Oubadouba is an annoying man who believes he is all that, addresses us in commands and has no understanding of why I want him to let go of me. We haven't met many of these over our time here, but we sure encountered one this week. In brief, Conor was buying a shirt and while she was talking to him, a large man grabs a shirt, tosses it at me and exclaims in a boisterous fashion "You! Put this on! I am going to buy it for you!" I told him that was ok, he didn't need to do that. he repeated himslelf and I told him I didn't want him. I ignored him a little while Conor picked out the right size of shirt and he continued trying to find a shirt as if I hadn't said anything. As Conor got up to pay, he sat down grabbed my arm and said "Baby, I LOVE you. I love you so much. Eh? Do you love me?"
"No" I said, thinking that simple would be best.
He thought I didn't understand what he was thinking. In an attenpt to transcend the non-existant language barrier, he repeated himself. "......love you so much, do you loveme? Do you LOVE me?" (Conor adds that my imitation of him is better in person)
Once again, I replied in the negative. Still thinking I don't understand, he tries a different route...persuasion. He asks me why I don't love him. I explain, with a great deal of patience, that I don't know who he is and therefore, cannt love him.
"But I love you! I seen you just now...and I LOOOOOOVE you! I love you, so when I tell you I love you, you should reply back. So, Do you Loooooooooooove me?"
"Nope."
While his thick skull attempts to process this latest flabbergatation....like Windows ME trying to process, well, anything, I notice Conor is ready to leave and I get up to exit the stall with her. Unfortunately, Oubadouba can sort of multitask....and when I say multitask, I mean he can just forget about what I said in order to take on other annoying ( but to him important) tasks (again, Windows ME). He reaches out and grabs my arm...and won't let go. Everyone here can both guess my reaction and admire my restraint when I assure you that his face cartilage is still intact...and still looking like a goats ass.
I explain very calmly that he should let go. He tell me to sit down. I say let go, he says we're not done. I say let go and Conor yells at him. He lets go, my skunk like three warning reflexes are not activated and the base of my palm does not threaten to push through his crania.
The world is fine. Until we go for dinner. He shows up at the same bloody restaurant. (Not a surpise...there aren't exactly many of them....but still. He comes up to us and wants to interact with me once more. He detects my coldness and mistakes it for, I kid you not, my not remembering him. He finds this tragic but is obviously willing to forgive as he booms out "You don't remember me! I am Papa Marcus! (or Papa Oubadouba as we have come to call him) Come! I will buy you a drink!" I point out that I really don't want his drink. He continues to remind me that we met earlier. I point out that we don't want to remember him. He finally goes away. I was a little worried that he would get unpleasant if things weren't going this way, but eventually he got distracted...either other women or a shiny object...we didn't check.
(For info about our awesome trip to Cape Coast Castle, please see Conor's blog...there is never enough time to write while we are here.)
So the conclusion for the trip....my daughters are going in to Martial Arts from the day they can walk and our favourite things about Ghana are a prime South Indian Restaurant and Burkinabe Rastas who dress like Jamaicans. I can't tell if this is sad or just one of the tentative joys of globalization.
Ciao for now!
-The Jessicat
Conr and I spent the rest of the week having adventuring in Accra and Cape Coast. Our only complaint about Cape Caost is that the bug population is exponentially higher....and more aggressive...and there was no mosquitoe nets this time. The bites are strange though...small red bumps...not like the usual welts. Conor and I have finally established that I am not immune to being bit by mosquitoes (I have also had bites all over me from this week) I am simply not allergic to them in a way that I don't get itchy. Conor, unfortunately, does not share this trait.
Speaking of Conor...before leaving the Osu area of Accra for something a little less expensive, we came across something that she likes even more than Sidney Crosby and the Senators put together. Apparently she rarely eats Indian food but was entirely supportive of my dashing around Osu trying to find some ethnic food for dinner. As much as I am having trouble with the monotony of Ghanaian food everyday, we can only eat so many french fries and hamburgers before that too is monotonous. We found a small place named Haveli (it was right outside our old hotel, I have no idea how I missed it so many times). We went in and discovered a place entirely unlike anything else we've seen in Ghana. A real restaurant, set to the theme of the food it was serving (lots of Hindu statues and Indian art) inside and being served by a tiny Indian lady (the expats who own establishments in Ghana seem to rarely actually run or work in them). It was so good!!!! And the biggest surprise, it was Kerala food! The woman who runs the restaurant is even Syro Malabar. Conor thought the food was so good....she almost wept at the first bite of naan.
We journeyed the next day to Cape Coast. What a beautiful area! You can see the sea everywhere you go (also, it was nice and warm). Its much smaller than Accra, much friendlier too. It was also much more tourist friendly (without beng like Niagara Falls) and prettier than Ho. The people are somewhat used to tourists and have no shame in trying to make friends so that they can convince us to let them take us on a pricey trip to Kakum. Actually, that wasn't so bad, since its easy to brush off. The men can be divided into about 4 main identifiable categories: a) the ones that didn't bother us, b) HEY BABY men, c) the sexually liberated college male, d) Rastafarian Burkinabes and e) Oubadoubas.
A) The ones that didn't bother us
We don't actually know anything about them...but they are noteworthy, because they didn't bother us. These men exist and we don't give them enough spotlight. Please give a round of applause for men who just don't give a fuck. This category also includes friendly expats and men we meet in the ATM lines. ATM lines are the best place to meet friendly men who want to pass on interesting information (such as the death of Michael Jackson...thats right...we got the news from an ATM line up). Should also note, that women have never bothered us, tried to marry us, shout hey baby, profess enduring and instantaneous love for us and therefore they should get a mention for being awesome too.
B) The HEY BABY! men
We also don't know much about them....this is mostly because we refuse to respond. They are men who scream "HEY BABY!" when we pass...this may be an attempt to hit on us, but is equally likely an attempt to get us to buy things. They also yell "Its nice to be nice!" when we don't talk to them....implying that if I were a good person, I would have to stop and accomodate them. Right.....like that's gonna happen.
C) The sexually liberated college male
Cape Coast is a university town. From this, hordes of educated and horny young men descend on the local touristy night scene. They are friendly, courteous, ask us about school and never ask us to marry them. They also do not proclaim instantaneous love or expect love in return. They do however, try to determine the looseness of our morals by asking us roundabout questions about whether we enjoy drinking/alcohol/dancing/clubbing. Over all, friendly, easy to talk to and not really a threat.
D) The Rastafarian Burkinabe
These are our favourite men that we've encountered (outside our circle of close friends in Nyive). They are friendly Rastafarian artists who all flock to Cape Coast to sell their wares, play music at the local clubs and hotels and occasionally preach the Rasta religion. Almost all of them are from Burkina Faso and they really are great multi talented artists. They make everything from music to jewellery. One of them was a particularly talented musician and had that gift of being able to make up songs out of nothing and play them at the same time. These guys are even easier to talk to than the college guys and mellower about the sex thing. I should at that they are mellower in fron tof me...this could be because they were occasionally stoned when we were chatting with them (this is based on seeing them rolling joints rather than stereotype). Altogether, an awesome group. They don't ask for marriage, love, whether we like sex/boooze/clubbing or anything. Occasionally they mention "The wonderous thing when blacks and obrunis make little mocha babies."
E) Oubadouba
The Oubadouba is an annoying man who believes he is all that, addresses us in commands and has no understanding of why I want him to let go of me. We haven't met many of these over our time here, but we sure encountered one this week. In brief, Conor was buying a shirt and while she was talking to him, a large man grabs a shirt, tosses it at me and exclaims in a boisterous fashion "You! Put this on! I am going to buy it for you!" I told him that was ok, he didn't need to do that. he repeated himslelf and I told him I didn't want him. I ignored him a little while Conor picked out the right size of shirt and he continued trying to find a shirt as if I hadn't said anything. As Conor got up to pay, he sat down grabbed my arm and said "Baby, I LOVE you. I love you so much. Eh? Do you love me?"
"No" I said, thinking that simple would be best.
He thought I didn't understand what he was thinking. In an attenpt to transcend the non-existant language barrier, he repeated himself. "......love you so much, do you loveme? Do you LOVE me?" (Conor adds that my imitation of him is better in person)
Once again, I replied in the negative. Still thinking I don't understand, he tries a different route...persuasion. He asks me why I don't love him. I explain, with a great deal of patience, that I don't know who he is and therefore, cannt love him.
"But I love you! I seen you just now...and I LOOOOOOVE you! I love you, so when I tell you I love you, you should reply back. So, Do you Loooooooooooove me?"
"Nope."
While his thick skull attempts to process this latest flabbergatation....like Windows ME trying to process, well, anything, I notice Conor is ready to leave and I get up to exit the stall with her. Unfortunately, Oubadouba can sort of multitask....and when I say multitask, I mean he can just forget about what I said in order to take on other annoying ( but to him important) tasks (again, Windows ME). He reaches out and grabs my arm...and won't let go. Everyone here can both guess my reaction and admire my restraint when I assure you that his face cartilage is still intact...and still looking like a goats ass.
I explain very calmly that he should let go. He tell me to sit down. I say let go, he says we're not done. I say let go and Conor yells at him. He lets go, my skunk like three warning reflexes are not activated and the base of my palm does not threaten to push through his crania.
The world is fine. Until we go for dinner. He shows up at the same bloody restaurant. (Not a surpise...there aren't exactly many of them....but still. He comes up to us and wants to interact with me once more. He detects my coldness and mistakes it for, I kid you not, my not remembering him. He finds this tragic but is obviously willing to forgive as he booms out "You don't remember me! I am Papa Marcus! (or Papa Oubadouba as we have come to call him) Come! I will buy you a drink!" I point out that I really don't want his drink. He continues to remind me that we met earlier. I point out that we don't want to remember him. He finally goes away. I was a little worried that he would get unpleasant if things weren't going this way, but eventually he got distracted...either other women or a shiny object...we didn't check.
(For info about our awesome trip to Cape Coast Castle, please see Conor's blog...there is never enough time to write while we are here.)
So the conclusion for the trip....my daughters are going in to Martial Arts from the day they can walk and our favourite things about Ghana are a prime South Indian Restaurant and Burkinabe Rastas who dress like Jamaicans. I can't tell if this is sad or just one of the tentative joys of globalization.
Ciao for now!
-The Jessicat
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Fancy Dress
Oh!
Yesterday, I forgot to mention the great dresses we've had made.
We bought some of the terrific cloth you find all over here. Its usually batik made by wax stampings. The outcome is beautiful. The Ghanaian cloth is quite nice, but so is the cloth from Togo. Togolese cloth is distinct because the pattern often have a layer of gold stamping. This cloth, I believe is from Ghana, no gold. But I have bought, and have also been itching to buy some cloth with the gold in it. I may wait until our trip to Lome in a few weeks.
So, we took the cloth to our friend Florence, who is a tailor. She's an absolute artist when it comes to fabric!
Labour in Ghana is relatively inexpensive while materials themselves are quite pricey. Still, these dresses are fairly inexpensive. I think we're planning to get some more things done while we're here.
-zeh ever stylish and funky spotted Jessicat
Monday, June 29, 2009
Firstly....a quick apology for being so pokey at posting....this entire last week, the internet in all of Ho has been either painfully slow or out completely.
Secondly, some news about the library!
We have bought all the supplies we need (apparently with the exception of one lock) and the wide assortment of local carpenters, electricians, masons and steelbenders are all hard at work to complete the project.
This past week, the carpenters finished all of the tables and shelves. This took them two days of work. (The carpenters work by communal labour...they donate their time for free but can only do so when they can all give up a day from their jobs. Ghanaians like to work by consensus so everyone has to help out.) To the carpenters reading this, two days to build all this furniture may not seem like an overly impressive feat...but people should know that they have no electric tools....or air compressors...or anything else that would speed things along. The boards are not even cut to the appropriate size, only the width. They must be sawed down the entire length of them, measuring all the while. They also have to be made smooth, they were all ruff. This is done mostly with some kind of hand blade that makes shaving over the board and makes it smooth....this works the same way one shaves their legs. They also go over everything with sandpaper after that, to get whatever the shaver-sliverer thing didn't. Its incredibly slow and tedious and amazing to watch them create something so beautiful out of such rough materials.
Its not like Canadian carpenters like my dad have it easy....but the shape that even your basic materials come in and access to certain tools definitely make the job easier.
The masons and the steelbenders have a short job, unlike the ongoing work of the carpenters. They are needed to cement the iron bars into the windows. After that is finished, the carpenters will install the glass slates....they are like gigantic glass venetian blinds. This is a popular way for windows to work here.
The electrician is also working this week. He and his apprentices are coming from the neighbouring village so their work isn't being done communally. This is a lot more costly, but he has a good reputation in Nyive and does all the work for the Nyive Development Association. This will give us the lights, the fans and the electrical sockets that we need to use the library (especially for the computers). Computers are a vital part of the library since no one in the village can really afford one. Also, the high schools make it mandatory that students need to know how to use a computer in order to go to highschool and its even becoming part of the curriculum. If there are no computers, there will be no highschool education.
Speaking of computers, we have our donated laptop all up and running properly now. I'm typing this post from it in fact. I want into the computer store across from my hotel room which I had been eyeballing a few weeks ago. I went in and found a lovely man named Martin who took the computer, fixed everything that could possibly have been awry with it (the drivers were all screwed up when it was bought) and then installed about $200 worth of software on it (including Office 2007, Adobe, a program to teach typing, burning software and antivirus software. All of it awesome!!!!), pretty much for free. Because I badgered him into giving me a price, it cost us a toal of 20 cedis (about 15$) for the work. I came back an hour later, the computer was runing magnificently, and I got away without giving my number to his colleagues who wanted to take us drinking and dancing (the most forward proposal we've received yet...) We also bought some software based on the Ghana Education Service science syllabus. Computer wise, it was an awesome day.
Oh yeah...I should mention....we're in Accra again. We randomly decided to come and try once more to gt things done this week....and then last night, randomly bumped it up again. We got up at 5:30 this morning so that we could be in Accra nice and early. Its been a good days work. Its also been relaxing to be able to do something and to have it go our way...in an easy matter....without the dustiness of crowded Nyive trotro twice a day.
On our way out to dinner, we also managed to find a place we'd missed in our last visit-Gladys'. Gladys' is like the Body Shop, but actually all natural and also Fair Trade. It was small but full of some wonderful things. Even the prices were more reasonable than the Body Shop....Fair Trade is a lot cheaper without having to pay shipping and customs. Among other things, I bought a large tub of 100% shea butter. Its difficult to find 100% in Canada...and when it is there, its expensive. What might have easily cost 60-100$ in Canada, cost me a lot less. I think because I bought in bulk.
Dinner was supposed to be an Indonesian restaurant called Banana Leafz (we were foiled at this in our last trip to Accra) only to be foiled AGAIN! By a change of owners! Who are not selling Indonesian food...and don't actually open until tomorrow. Then we tried for Vietnamese up the street...also strangely closed. We went for the most delicious lebanese food (with the exception of Joe's shwarma, which I miss with a tahini based passion!).
There is no other food on earth that is more unlike Ghanaian food than Lebanese food. Every true Ghanaian meal consists of a boiled-and-pounded-no-need-to-chew-steaming-mass-of-carbohydrates, which is used to scoop up a tomato based stew (or if you're /un/lucky, okra), that has something dead in it. Not the meat of a dead thing....A hunk of bone with lots of gristle and a touch of stringey flesh....or intestines with the consistency of , I kid you not, Eric's/Kira's hedgehog. I wondered about the meat for a few weeks...until I got questioned as to why I wasn't ever eating my bones. This food is, especially the tomato stew, is delicious on every possible level! But Lebanese foof seems just so entirely different....the meat has no bones, even the skewer is gone. The eat it with pita, which if you didn't know, is not boiled and the tomatoes are entirely optional. I have also never seen okra shwarma.
I could describe more....but really, experience is better. Outside our hotel was akid selling his art on the street. I think he was the brother of the artist I met last visit to Accra. I recognised some of his paintings from her stand. I caved and bought a second painting. They are really beautiful.
For the rest of our trip to Accra, we plan to be buying books, both from the University of Legon (to those faithful readers, you will remember that our last attempts were soundly foiled by some misplaced and unwanted weekend) and the rest of the week will be spent in Cape Coast...also buying books.
Anyhow....I'm going to get on with some neverending computer/internet related busyness now.
Hope all is well with everyone!
-The Jessicat
Secondly, some news about the library!
We have bought all the supplies we need (apparently with the exception of one lock) and the wide assortment of local carpenters, electricians, masons and steelbenders are all hard at work to complete the project.
This past week, the carpenters finished all of the tables and shelves. This took them two days of work. (The carpenters work by communal labour...they donate their time for free but can only do so when they can all give up a day from their jobs. Ghanaians like to work by consensus so everyone has to help out.) To the carpenters reading this, two days to build all this furniture may not seem like an overly impressive feat...but people should know that they have no electric tools....or air compressors...or anything else that would speed things along. The boards are not even cut to the appropriate size, only the width. They must be sawed down the entire length of them, measuring all the while. They also have to be made smooth, they were all ruff. This is done mostly with some kind of hand blade that makes shaving over the board and makes it smooth....this works the same way one shaves their legs. They also go over everything with sandpaper after that, to get whatever the shaver-sliverer thing didn't. Its incredibly slow and tedious and amazing to watch them create something so beautiful out of such rough materials.
Its not like Canadian carpenters like my dad have it easy....but the shape that even your basic materials come in and access to certain tools definitely make the job easier.
The masons and the steelbenders have a short job, unlike the ongoing work of the carpenters. They are needed to cement the iron bars into the windows. After that is finished, the carpenters will install the glass slates....they are like gigantic glass venetian blinds. This is a popular way for windows to work here.
The electrician is also working this week. He and his apprentices are coming from the neighbouring village so their work isn't being done communally. This is a lot more costly, but he has a good reputation in Nyive and does all the work for the Nyive Development Association. This will give us the lights, the fans and the electrical sockets that we need to use the library (especially for the computers). Computers are a vital part of the library since no one in the village can really afford one. Also, the high schools make it mandatory that students need to know how to use a computer in order to go to highschool and its even becoming part of the curriculum. If there are no computers, there will be no highschool education.
Speaking of computers, we have our donated laptop all up and running properly now. I'm typing this post from it in fact. I want into the computer store across from my hotel room which I had been eyeballing a few weeks ago. I went in and found a lovely man named Martin who took the computer, fixed everything that could possibly have been awry with it (the drivers were all screwed up when it was bought) and then installed about $200 worth of software on it (including Office 2007, Adobe, a program to teach typing, burning software and antivirus software. All of it awesome!!!!), pretty much for free. Because I badgered him into giving me a price, it cost us a toal of 20 cedis (about 15$) for the work. I came back an hour later, the computer was runing magnificently, and I got away without giving my number to his colleagues who wanted to take us drinking and dancing (the most forward proposal we've received yet...) We also bought some software based on the Ghana Education Service science syllabus. Computer wise, it was an awesome day.
Oh yeah...I should mention....we're in Accra again. We randomly decided to come and try once more to gt things done this week....and then last night, randomly bumped it up again. We got up at 5:30 this morning so that we could be in Accra nice and early. Its been a good days work. Its also been relaxing to be able to do something and to have it go our way...in an easy matter....without the dustiness of crowded Nyive trotro twice a day.
On our way out to dinner, we also managed to find a place we'd missed in our last visit-Gladys'. Gladys' is like the Body Shop, but actually all natural and also Fair Trade. It was small but full of some wonderful things. Even the prices were more reasonable than the Body Shop....Fair Trade is a lot cheaper without having to pay shipping and customs. Among other things, I bought a large tub of 100% shea butter. Its difficult to find 100% in Canada...and when it is there, its expensive. What might have easily cost 60-100$ in Canada, cost me a lot less. I think because I bought in bulk.
Dinner was supposed to be an Indonesian restaurant called Banana Leafz (we were foiled at this in our last trip to Accra) only to be foiled AGAIN! By a change of owners! Who are not selling Indonesian food...and don't actually open until tomorrow. Then we tried for Vietnamese up the street...also strangely closed. We went for the most delicious lebanese food (with the exception of Joe's shwarma, which I miss with a tahini based passion!).
There is no other food on earth that is more unlike Ghanaian food than Lebanese food. Every true Ghanaian meal consists of a boiled-and-pounded-no-need-to-chew-steaming-mass-of-carbohydrates, which is used to scoop up a tomato based stew (or if you're /un/lucky, okra), that has something dead in it. Not the meat of a dead thing....A hunk of bone with lots of gristle and a touch of stringey flesh....or intestines with the consistency of , I kid you not, Eric's/Kira's hedgehog. I wondered about the meat for a few weeks...until I got questioned as to why I wasn't ever eating my bones. This food is, especially the tomato stew, is delicious on every possible level! But Lebanese foof seems just so entirely different....the meat has no bones, even the skewer is gone. The eat it with pita, which if you didn't know, is not boiled and the tomatoes are entirely optional. I have also never seen okra shwarma.
I could describe more....but really, experience is better. Outside our hotel was akid selling his art on the street. I think he was the brother of the artist I met last visit to Accra. I recognised some of his paintings from her stand. I caved and bought a second painting. They are really beautiful.
For the rest of our trip to Accra, we plan to be buying books, both from the University of Legon (to those faithful readers, you will remember that our last attempts were soundly foiled by some misplaced and unwanted weekend) and the rest of the week will be spent in Cape Coast...also buying books.
Anyhow....I'm going to get on with some neverending computer/internet related busyness now.
Hope all is well with everyone!
-The Jessicat
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Penguins won! And other important library related activity...
First and foremost....THE PENGUINS WON! 2-1...I was awakened from my deep slumber by cries of elation and ecstasy as Conor pounced on my bed, with a big clinging hug to announce VICTORY! QABLA'!!! (Klingon for victory I think).
We spent the weekend in Accra, and believe it or not, there was a Stanley Cup game to be watched...and we did watch it. We spent the rest of our time in Accra doing productive things, or trying to do productive things, like buy books for the library. Friday is a blur, and we only got there later in the day...so no books. Saturday we had to change hotels, and then went for books, only to discover that they closed at noon on Saturday (we were trying to get to the University bookstore in particular...most other book shops actually only sell stationary). Sunday, nothing was open. Anywhere. Nothing but hawkers pushing us to buy things. And Monday we had to check out early and leave for home, which took for ever. So no University bookstore.
However.
On Saturday, right near our hotel, was a sign for a book shop that we decided to try for. Not only was it open, but it was a REAL book shop! FULL OF AWESOME BOOKS!!! I had no idea how much I missed actual bookshops until we got there...my heart did a brief weeping before we swept the shelves in utter ecstasy. Lots of books! Canadian books even! Lots of books! Anyone who knows me, knows my fetish and love for books...but an actual bookstore, in the middle of our trip...I know that thats what we've been looking for all along, but it was so cool to finally do it. Any of the North American/European books were fairly expensive, but there was a whole collection of African writers (novels, poetry etc), and best of all, African children's books.
We'd been a little worried about finding appropriate children's books. Books are a hot and rare commodity....and there isn't always much available, or at least well known for Children....and not written about African children or buy Africans or talking about anything kids here might care about. A lot of them were even advertised as being gender/girl friendly/positive, which is getting to be a big deal here. Wish it were that easy in Canada some days.
I've started a catalogue for the books we've bought already, and I've spent the time since we've been back, registering all of them. This means I get to take a realy good look at many of them. We got books for all ages and reading levels...but let me tell you...the things that are in these books are crucially relevant and important....and a lot less fluffy than our books. A lot of them seemed to focus on AIDS, gender equality and children's rights and the importance of education. Because there is a lot of stigma in parts of Africa about AIDS, there seems to be a lot of books aiming to break the silence, show the dangers of silence, and demonstrate more useful approaches to to the whole thing. I'm REALLY happy about the books we got! I wish I were better at expressing how cool they are. Some of them are happy, some of them are sad...they're...I dunno...children's books.
Also, for any women reading this, I have some helpful information that the patriarchal guide book neglected to mention. Apparently moving to the equator can greatly alter your menstrual cycle, give or take two weeks. So whether you're planning ahead for a honeymoon, or trying to figure out whether you need to cart along that extra package of tampons (or any other scenario where an idea of whether or not you're ovulating can be useful)....its useful to know that the traditional counting method is apparently a little less useful in at least the first month (for anyone who cares, I'm sure I can keep you updated). This is probably caused from drastic changes in diet, time zone, sleep schedule, physical activity, travel medication, etc. Either way...a little unanticipated, but I thought it might be useful to anyone else planning to travel.
Anyhow....we miss Canada....but Ghana totally kicks ass! Its so beautiful and warm....and there are some really cool things to see (if you didn't get that from my last few blogs, you lead a life far more interesting than mine). The best part about it is that I only have time to mention about an eighth of the things that we see and do here. So just imagine!
Oh yeah! Aside from seeing the hockey game, we scoured the country and found something that one can only get in one area of the country. It will tide us over until we return to the land of beavers and coffee and snow....Nutella!!! We're trying to restrain ourselves from bathing in it. I like nutella, but I never felt like I would really miss it...I never really eat it at home after all....but Africa makes it taste so much awesomer!
Anyhow, Ciao for now,
The Spotted Jessicat
Oh yeah! Aside from seeing the hockey game, we scoured the country and found something that one can only get in one area of the country. It will tide us over until we return to the land of beavers and coffee and snow....Nutella!!! We're trying to restrain ourselves from bathing in it. I like nutella, but I never felt like I would really miss it...I never really eat it at home after all....but Africa makes it taste so much awesomer!
Anyhow, Ciao for now,
The Spotted Jessicat
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The Centauri Ambassador to Earth Uses Radio to Break Local's Nose
So immediately after my last post, yesterday, we rushed off for an appointment with Volta Star Radio. Conor, with Vero's help, had arranged to meet with them on behalf of an NGO she worked with called Farm Radio. Farm Radio supports educational programming on the radio for rural farmers in developing countries and Volta Star is one of the stations that has been providing these projects. They also work trying to promote something called NEw RICe for Africa (NERICA). This is a blend of rice that is drought resistant (like african rice) but has a high yield (like asian rice)...Africa currently imports a lot of rice, and I guess the idea is that they want to turn Africa into a major rice exporter instead. Anyway, we chatted with the director of the station and three other staff members who work on the farm radio programming. They said a lot of interesting things about their programs. When we were finished, they wanted to give us a quick tour of the station....and quick tour of the station is apparently code for sitting us down and interviewing us for ten minutes ON LIVE RADIO! Really! Live Radio. (I should mention that Volta Star is pretty much the only station so EVERYBODY heard us...people mentioned it when we got back to Nyive last night.)
Conor had about 10 seconds warning and I had maybe 2. They introduced Conor, Vero and I in Ewe and in English, asked Conor some questions about development and Canadian involvement. Then he started to talk to me and asked me about, I kid you not, forest fires in Canada. This is apparently a real problem in Ghana during the rainy season for a couple reasons, chiefly because they have no real fire departments let alone equipment designed to fight forest fires. I had to, with no preparation I might add, give a talk on the radio about fighting forest fires. Because I couldn't say "Well, you need some special planes and a lot of water and money this money that..." I tried to say something a little more beneficial...I said the best way to fight fires was to try and prevent them in the first place. I went on for multiple minutes about the benefits of fire education and fire safety and fire prevention and awareness in schools for young children. I would like to add that while I think this is reasonable, I feel vastly unqualified to discuss the best fire fighting techniques for forest fires of all things in a third world country.
Strange but amusing thing, I may have gotten a Ghanaian name. A guy called Bright, who's a terrific guy who we see every morning, decided to put forward a suggestion. He suggested Fafaa, which supposedly means "calm, serene, peaceful"....I'm sure some of you who know me may already be giggling, but it gets funnier.
This name was suggested immediately after another man came to our house and tried to be more friendly than I appreciated. He tried to hit my arm in a frinendly way, which I frowned at, then proceeded to pinch my cheek (like the way an elderly aunt does in every cartoon that ever was). I took his hand away, told him to stop and explained he wasn't allowed to just touch me like that.....and I /politely/ threatened to break his nose if he ever did and explained that if I hadn't known him, it would already be askew and that I would not ahve stopped to inquire whether he was touching me in a joking way. He may be the first Ghanaian man who believed I would hit him. Anyway, immediately after this guy left, Bright who had been there the whole time, changed the topic and quite seriously put forward the suggestion of Fafaa.
Last item on my list of things to mention, we're headed to Accra this weekend. This is partially a mad attempt on Conor's part to watch the last game of the Stanley cup and partially an excursion to buy books for the library. I preparation for this, we tried to pluck our eyebrows this morning. Its not that I even care much about my eyebrows...but what most people don't know is that high humidity which does strange things and makes your hair all foofy can apparently do the same thing to your eyebrows. Unlike the last three weeks, I no longer look like the Centauri Ambassador to Earth (for zeh non geeky friends, please see Babylon 5 for reference....just google Londo Mollari) or Londo Mollari's third cousin. We are psyched for Accra and hoping to meet some Expats and PeaceCorp-y types....apparently there is also a Canadian owned sports bar that may be showing the game. Go PENGUINS!
Today's sign: This one uses religion...but is mixes two different ones (rare)! Its a hair salon called "His Grace Rasta Palace".
Conor had about 10 seconds warning and I had maybe 2. They introduced Conor, Vero and I in Ewe and in English, asked Conor some questions about development and Canadian involvement. Then he started to talk to me and asked me about, I kid you not, forest fires in Canada. This is apparently a real problem in Ghana during the rainy season for a couple reasons, chiefly because they have no real fire departments let alone equipment designed to fight forest fires. I had to, with no preparation I might add, give a talk on the radio about fighting forest fires. Because I couldn't say "Well, you need some special planes and a lot of water and money this money that..." I tried to say something a little more beneficial...I said the best way to fight fires was to try and prevent them in the first place. I went on for multiple minutes about the benefits of fire education and fire safety and fire prevention and awareness in schools for young children. I would like to add that while I think this is reasonable, I feel vastly unqualified to discuss the best fire fighting techniques for forest fires of all things in a third world country.
Strange but amusing thing, I may have gotten a Ghanaian name. A guy called Bright, who's a terrific guy who we see every morning, decided to put forward a suggestion. He suggested Fafaa, which supposedly means "calm, serene, peaceful"....I'm sure some of you who know me may already be giggling, but it gets funnier.
This name was suggested immediately after another man came to our house and tried to be more friendly than I appreciated. He tried to hit my arm in a frinendly way, which I frowned at, then proceeded to pinch my cheek (like the way an elderly aunt does in every cartoon that ever was). I took his hand away, told him to stop and explained he wasn't allowed to just touch me like that.....and I /politely/ threatened to break his nose if he ever did and explained that if I hadn't known him, it would already be askew and that I would not ahve stopped to inquire whether he was touching me in a joking way. He may be the first Ghanaian man who believed I would hit him. Anyway, immediately after this guy left, Bright who had been there the whole time, changed the topic and quite seriously put forward the suggestion of Fafaa.
Last item on my list of things to mention, we're headed to Accra this weekend. This is partially a mad attempt on Conor's part to watch the last game of the Stanley cup and partially an excursion to buy books for the library. I preparation for this, we tried to pluck our eyebrows this morning. Its not that I even care much about my eyebrows...but what most people don't know is that high humidity which does strange things and makes your hair all foofy can apparently do the same thing to your eyebrows. Unlike the last three weeks, I no longer look like the Centauri Ambassador to Earth (for zeh non geeky friends, please see Babylon 5 for reference....just google Londo Mollari) or Londo Mollari's third cousin. We are psyched for Accra and hoping to meet some Expats and PeaceCorp-y types....apparently there is also a Canadian owned sports bar that may be showing the game. Go PENGUINS!
Today's sign: This one uses religion...but is mixes two different ones (rare)! Its a hair salon called "His Grace Rasta Palace".
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
These are some of the footage and photos
that we've been meaning to share...but which
required a little more creativity than initially realised.
This first is a video of the Roach Genocide. Feel free to watch that and reread the report of the violence and calamity on the parts of us....and our crazy velociraptor allies.
This is Edem, Vero's nephew, who was terrified of the monkeys at Tafi. His reaction to the monkeys was to scream, become a monkey himself and attempt to get to higher ground (my head) stick a banana in my ear and then proceed to lob it angrily at the confused but very pleased monkeys.
This is me feeding the monkeys. They be SOFT!!!
I've also decided to input a new element to my blogs. All the businesses are named very strange things...usually to do with something absurdly biblical. Some are very strange....others are terribly ironic in some ways. Some of the funny signs aren't even for businesses.
Today's funny sign has to do with the many polite reminders you see on walls all over Ho...usually not to piss on their business...literally. Today's sign said "ONLY FOOLS URINATE HERE!"
Not much has happened in the last few days because either the power has been out or I've ben miserably sick and unable to leave the house. Thankfully, both of these have come to an end.
The power was out all night last night (not so abnormal) due to a TERRIFIC African thunderstorm, with lightning and buckets and buckets of rain.....It was amazing!
Ciao for now!
-The Jessicat
Friday, June 5, 2009
Night (and Morning) of the Flamboyant Soft Rock Country Rapper
Apparently the last two weeks, the man who lives next to us (consider our house like a duplex) has been travelling. We didn't know that. Now he has returned and we are very much aware of his presence...we will never mistake it.
Part of the problem, I think, stems from the wall between us. While it is solid, and there are no doors between us, the roof is tin and apparently 10 ft up, there is a gap about 6 inches big between the roof and the wall. His activities throughout his apartment are very well known to us.
Now, its not as though we hear him having sex everynight or that he chews his bubble gum loudly...rather, we share the complex with the only man in 50 kms who has his own set of speakers with bass. I should also add that everyone in Ghana, since electricity is pricey, rises and ends the night according to the patterns of the sun. Everyone in Ghana is up and busy by 7 am, and we have to be also because not only do people wake us up at 7 for the purpose of getting our asses out of bed, but it is socially acceptable to go visiting after 6:30 am. Before that is probably frowned upon...but we have yet to put it to the test. Please keep in mind that the socially accepted norm in Canada for an impromptu visit is generally after 10 am.
So, not only do people rise early, get ready early and everyting else early....Our neighbour likes to play his music very loudly at 7:05 sharp every morning. We awake to a rap at our front door, followed by a completely independent blast of sound coming from the opposite direction. I answer the door, bleary eyed, trying to keep my sarong on and as I greet whoever happens to have been knocking, I notice our neighbour brushing his teeth to what appears to be American rap music. By the time I make it back to the room, the rap has changed to country, then soft rock and then a whole half hour of Michael Bolton.
This music is obscenely loud even if it didn't clash so profoundly with my own likes.
Eventually he goes to work and everything is quiet. It is now 8 am and we're expected to be getting on with the day by now.
Unfortunately, this is not the end of Michael Bolton. This whole process, from rap to country to soft rock to Michael Boloten occurs again, but not until we're back in the house from our bucket bath and brushing our teeth before bed.
This morning however, there was an interesting variation. It must have been his day off because he opened the day with what I could only identify as a Vin Diesel movie. I don't know which one...I'm only certain I recognised Vin Diesel's voice. Whatever it was, sounded interesting despite not being able to see the screen. Who needs a screen when you have surround sound?
In other news, I have long hair again. That's right. Miracle growth.
Conor and I bought some lengths of hair that matched our own colours and the hairdressers and hair dressing students went at us wih vigour. With at least 6 people working on us at anyone time, doing various jobs, it still took us each 4 hours. Now we have beautiful long braids (which are very heavy after having such short hair) and you know how much they wanted for it? In Canadian currency, a little over 3 dollars!!! 6 people working for 4 hours, and they wanted 3 bucks?!!!! Conor and I both decided it wasn't enough, but it gives a pretty good idea of what things cost here....and what people value....and what women's work is valued at. (For comparison sake, I understand that the equivalent hairstyle in Canada would easily cost 70 dollars...which is why I can't afford it at home).
But enough with the Marxist feminist analysis...the origin of the story was that not only do Conor and I have cool hair styles, but for a little while anyway, I have long hair too!
Finally, so that people know, we've been trying to post pictures but have discovered that we need to compress them a touch...the connections here are very slow.
Anyhow...Many Happy Meanderings!
-The Jessicat
Part of the problem, I think, stems from the wall between us. While it is solid, and there are no doors between us, the roof is tin and apparently 10 ft up, there is a gap about 6 inches big between the roof and the wall. His activities throughout his apartment are very well known to us.
Now, its not as though we hear him having sex everynight or that he chews his bubble gum loudly...rather, we share the complex with the only man in 50 kms who has his own set of speakers with bass. I should also add that everyone in Ghana, since electricity is pricey, rises and ends the night according to the patterns of the sun. Everyone in Ghana is up and busy by 7 am, and we have to be also because not only do people wake us up at 7 for the purpose of getting our asses out of bed, but it is socially acceptable to go visiting after 6:30 am. Before that is probably frowned upon...but we have yet to put it to the test. Please keep in mind that the socially accepted norm in Canada for an impromptu visit is generally after 10 am.
So, not only do people rise early, get ready early and everyting else early....Our neighbour likes to play his music very loudly at 7:05 sharp every morning. We awake to a rap at our front door, followed by a completely independent blast of sound coming from the opposite direction. I answer the door, bleary eyed, trying to keep my sarong on and as I greet whoever happens to have been knocking, I notice our neighbour brushing his teeth to what appears to be American rap music. By the time I make it back to the room, the rap has changed to country, then soft rock and then a whole half hour of Michael Bolton.
This music is obscenely loud even if it didn't clash so profoundly with my own likes.
Eventually he goes to work and everything is quiet. It is now 8 am and we're expected to be getting on with the day by now.
Unfortunately, this is not the end of Michael Bolton. This whole process, from rap to country to soft rock to Michael Boloten occurs again, but not until we're back in the house from our bucket bath and brushing our teeth before bed.
This morning however, there was an interesting variation. It must have been his day off because he opened the day with what I could only identify as a Vin Diesel movie. I don't know which one...I'm only certain I recognised Vin Diesel's voice. Whatever it was, sounded interesting despite not being able to see the screen. Who needs a screen when you have surround sound?
In other news, I have long hair again. That's right. Miracle growth.
Conor and I bought some lengths of hair that matched our own colours and the hairdressers and hair dressing students went at us wih vigour. With at least 6 people working on us at anyone time, doing various jobs, it still took us each 4 hours. Now we have beautiful long braids (which are very heavy after having such short hair) and you know how much they wanted for it? In Canadian currency, a little over 3 dollars!!! 6 people working for 4 hours, and they wanted 3 bucks?!!!! Conor and I both decided it wasn't enough, but it gives a pretty good idea of what things cost here....and what people value....and what women's work is valued at. (For comparison sake, I understand that the equivalent hairstyle in Canada would easily cost 70 dollars...which is why I can't afford it at home).
But enough with the Marxist feminist analysis...the origin of the story was that not only do Conor and I have cool hair styles, but for a little while anyway, I have long hair too!
Finally, so that people know, we've been trying to post pictures but have discovered that we need to compress them a touch...the connections here are very slow.
Anyhow...Many Happy Meanderings!
-The Jessicat
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