Everyday I’m asked 1,001 questions… or so it seems. Generally once a question is asked it opens the floodgates to the rest. So today when my land lady asked me if the change of seasons was the same in America as it was in Ghana I had to shake my head and say no… that rather as Ghana is heating up, most of the US is cooling off (not really including Florida, Hawaii, Arizona and SoCal in the mix of things). I tried to explain that there is snow on the ground and everyone is bunkering down for winter… I don’t think they fully grasped they idea.

But with a card I received in one of my packages (thanks Scott Doherty) I was able to show what Glenwood Springs looks like with a clean, white blanket of snow. The crowed quickly gathered around in amazement… “ahhh snoooooo, that is snooooooo on the ground.” (coming from a crowd of people who only know heat) As the card got passed around the 10 or so Ghanaians that were gathered the first question was asked…

“So Sister Abra, how do people stay warm then with the snow? I mean what do the poor people do when it gets cold?”

(Hummmmm… welll) I had to think about this for a minute, but these are questions that never really have crossed my mind (luckily I’ve always had a roof over my head a warm place to sleep)… almost all houses have either a central heating system, and or a fire place (gas, electric, or wood burning). Now I could very well be wrong here, but it’s almost one of the building codes, just as houses have to have stairs built by certain measurement, houses must have a way to heat its self. And that’s not to disregard the fact that houses are built with insulation too. Then to talk about the poor… if one is homeless then there are many shelters that open their doors to the poor during the winter providing food and a warm place to sleep… I knew I was in over my head trying to explain this to a group of undereducated Ghanaians… “a house for people to sleep that don’t have money?” but it was fun trying. Then the next question arose…

“Ok so then during the winter what do people do? It must be so cold that you can NEVER leave your house. Do you stay inside for the whole winter?

(These questions always make me laugh) At this point in the conversation I threw out my Ghanaian English and said, “I am coming” (meaning I’ll be right back) and went to grab my computer. (I was reluctant to bring my computer out, but I realized that pictures are the best way to describe skiing!) So with my computer in hand I started to show the crowd pictures of snow falling form the sky and skiing and some of the various winter activities that I have photographically documented. Trying to help these Ghanaians grasp that winter is my favorite time of year. Then one of the onlookers looks at me and asks…

“So then Sister Abra, how do the trees cope with the cold?

(I was about to roll over laughing at this point… found a true tree hugger in the group) Well I then tried to explain that where I live we have a different variety of trees… there aren’t coconut, palm nut, orange, mango, baobab, moringa, papaya, avocado, teek, coco, and many other varieties that they grow here in Ghana. We have needle trees, and deciduous trees, and that during the winter Mother Nature puts her plants to sleep. They found this fascinating. I found it fascinating trying to explain this to them.
As I was about to end the picture show the crowd asked to see one more… saying…

“Sister Abra, you were supposed to show your parents first… so please show us a photo of you parents.”

(Sorry mom and dad, love you and all, but you weren’t the first thing to cross my mind when showing a group of Ghanaians pictures of America) The first picture I found was a family shot taken at my cousin’s wedding last October (when I had short, short hair). The whole crowd (maybe 15 at this point) all gushed “oh Sister Abra your mother and father and your sisters, an American Family!” Then another on looker said “In Ghana when a man is bald that means he is a rich man.” (Props to you dad, and your baldhead!)