The thought often crosses my mind, as how would a Ghanaian…a Ghanaian from my rural village (where undoubtedly know one has left to venture much further than Togo…and they travel there by foot)… react if they came to the United States… came to Colorado… came to my house… for a visit.
The Ghanaian arrives at the house I grew up in… a 5/6-bedroom house, 2½ baths with a basement apartment and two-car garage. Sitting on six plus acres of land… as I show him or her to the guest room… a room with its own queen size bed, dresser, closet (most Ghanaians live out of a suite case and the idea of a dresser, closet or even a wardrobe is not very well know here), bookshelf staked full of books and a small bedside table that has a small light and an alarm clock on it. The bed is made up with copious amounts of blankets and two pillows. I tell the Ghanaian to make him or herself at home. Saying “mi casa es su casa” as most Americans tell their visitors. But unaccustomed to western traditions they might be set back a little bit. I then tell them that if they get cold (I’m guessing that they might freeze, or at least during the night, even if they come in the summer) here are a few extra blankets, as I would be pointing to the closet.
I would then continue to show them the bathroom… fully equipped with a shower… that has hot and cold water that runs at the turn of a knob… a flushing toilet, and a sink. I would then try to explain that it is important to keep the shower curtain in the shower while showering (the showers that I have seen in Ghana don’t have shower curtains) to prevent the water from going everywhere. And then if they had the need to do any washing while on vacation I would point them in the direction of the laundry room, but insist that if they wanted to wash to ask for help… as I’m sure VERY few Ghanaians are custom to washing with an actual washing machine.
I would guess that by this point they would be very overwhelmed… questions would be running through their mind… they would probably wonder why there isn’t much junk (most Ghanaians keep EVERYTHING, other than a wall of photos from my childhood, and a few bookshelves overloaded with books my parents don’t keep much around.) They might start questioning where everyone else sleeps (as for the houses in my village people sleep all in one room or divided between two rooms.) They then might question how we get around; as to them they might see that I live in the ‘bush.’
I would then point them in the direction of the kitchen and show them the fridge and the pantry… probably filled top to bottom with food… here I’m guessing they would be more than startled. I know in my family we like to the keep the pantry well stocked and the fridge filled with options, but to a Ghanaian (or at least one coming from a very rural village) this might seem a little excessive, where we have so much food that we probably won’t ever consume it all and there are children in their home village that are malnourished and underfed. I can then see the questions coming… “Why do you keep so much food in the house?” or “Who is all this food for?” and “Where is the cassava and the plantains to make fufu?”
I would then show them the water from the kitchen sink. Point out how it is drinkable right from the sink and that we don’t fetch water here. And again point out that they are to help themselves to anything in the fridge (although I’m not sure what they would eat considering EVERYTHING that would be normal for them to grab, garie, fufu, banku, ground nut soup, fried/boiled/grilled plantains and other such items that are eaten on a daily basis in Ghana would probably not exist in my parents fridge)
If it were night I would tell them to sleep well, but not expect anyone in the house to be up early… as in American and especially on the weekends we tend to not wake up till after 8 (on average the Ghanaians in my village are sweeping…yes the sweep every morning… by 5 or 5:30 and they laugh at me when I roll out of my room between 7 and 8).
If it were mealtime then I think that they would think we are really strange… cooking in the house on a gas stove and not over a fire (most Ghanaians cook outside over a wood burning fire or charcoal). We might then pull out chips and salsa or cheese and crackers for a small appetizer as we almost always have while preparing a big feast when guest are over. A bottle of wine would be opened and a few beers would be pulled out of the fridge. The Ghanaians would then watch as someone set the table, giving each spot at fork, knife and possible a spoon if the meal called for it. Then the various dishes would be set on the table… probably a salad, brown rice, pesto, grilled salmon, maybe steamed corn or other farm fresh veggies (very typical Rumery meal). There would be a wide variety of salad dressings and fresh cows milk on the table. We would all sit together, as family meals are a favorite thing in my family, where ideas are passed and discussions are had. We would start passing the various dishes around trying to explain to the Ghanaian that we don’t eat with our hands and out of a communal bowl, and that meal times are a time for everyone to come together rather than eating in alienation as is customary to do so in Ghana (or rather 2 or 3 people will eat together from the same bowl, but leaving the children out, or dividing the males against the females to eat.)
We would then all help with the dishes… males and females… loading everything in the dishwasher. I would have to go into deep explanation as how a dishwasher works, how all our dishes come out clean (or at least we hope they do).
Then there would probably be a few pints of various ice creams placed on the table. The Ghanaians would have his or her first experience with ice cream… rich, creamy and sugary. I can almost feel then pain in their stomach as they probably aren’t used to eating much dairy… or any at all… but explain that in America we like to eat something sweet after dinner.
If I was then to show the Ghanaian around, I would say that we should go… maybe pack a few things to take with for the day… as we probably won’t find anyone selling pure water or groundnuts off the top of their head… and head out for an adventure… in my own car. I’m not sure what would shock the Ghanaian more, the fact that I have my own car or the fact that I’ve been driving since I was 16 (and that my dad taught me when I was 11). I think that in my little village there are about 5 people that own a car maybe 20 that own motorbikes and the rest depend on the public transportation system of Ghana… very unreliable…
We would then set off on a grand adventure… driving down I-70. A smooth wide 4 lane interstate, with speed limit sign, and various rules and regulations that must be followed. We would then jet off to maybe hike Hanging Lake, or take the tram up to the Glenwood Springs Ferry Caves. In the adventure I would include showing them where I went to high school… and I can hear them say in disbelief “this was your school” (and to think that my school was lacking in funds form the government). Then I would try to explain that each teacher has his or her own classroom, rather than each grade having its own classroom. I would drive them around various neighbor hoods to show how people live when they live next door to one another (I can’t even begin to explain the differences between my Ghanaian neighbor hood and ones back home). We might stop off at a shopping center… show them the cement world of American… and then grab some groceries on the way home.
An American market… one that is indoors… one that is open 7 days a week… one where everything is at a set price, and there is no bargaining involved at the checkout counter… all these ideas are unheard of in my village. I would then try to explain that we don’t have a ‘market day’ rather we just have a big store where one can get almost anything… anything.
This adventure I’m sure would be more than eye opening… as it would be an opportunity for them to see that they rest of the world doesn’t live like them (and trust me they do think that we live just like them).
