Things I’m noticing about Ghanaians… (these are simply observations and nothing against the Ghanaian population)

1. Ghanaians have this obsession with everything being loud. It’s still beyond my amazement that these people aren’t deaf yet. Blaring music with the base turned up (they don’t have the treble base ratio down yet), watching TV with the volume ALL the way up, yelling at the top of their lungs, and being as loud as possible I’m guessing is just how it works in Ghana. Their motto is ‘if I want to listen to it, then so does the whole world (I feel like it could be heard all the way in Colorado)’… wrong, I don’t want to listen to it, I don’t want to feel the base, or be caught in the middle of a yelling war (when they are just talking across the compound.) I find myself using earplugs more and more, and enjoying the time when ‘lights are off’ (meaning power is out and all is QUIET!)

2. Ghanaians have yet another obsession with driving fast… fast and furious. Speed limits don’t really exist and if the accelerator works then why not use it? (But please not when my life is a stake)

3. Ghanaians like to know where you’re going and why? Everyone and everything is their business.

4. Ghanaians like to talk (and by talk I mean yell) at you when they are passing by in a car… “Hey obroni how are you?” And I’m thinking, “I’m standing on solid ground walking one direction, and you are in a moving vehicle going the other… how in the hell are we going to have a conversation?”

5. Ghanaians like to complement (and by complement I mean comment) on your weight. “Oh Sister Abra Africa suits you, you are getting very fat.” And I’m thinking, “well shit, I don’t want to be told that.”

6. Ghanaians think that whatever I have can be theirs… even if it is the shirt off my back (do they think that I’m going to strip down to my skivvies to give them the shirt they want… no)

I have just now accepted the fact that I’m just going to be hot as hell while sleeping in my small jail cell of a room.

My little living situation I have accepted… I have a great family in the compound that I’m living in, and some good families surrounding me. Yes it can be VERY loud, but I have come to terms with that (along with the use of ear plugs to sleep with) and the fact that I’m ALWAYS being watched… but I guess you have to give a little to live a little. In general I have felt safe thus far (doesn’t mean that I don’t lock my door at night or even while I walk across the compound to use the latrine… don’t want my precious computer or camera getting stolen.)

Being that I’m surrounded by families, I NEVER close my shutters at night (I have two layers of wire and some mosquito netting covering my window as well as someone would have to break the latch to open my window) unless it’s a torrential down pour, I just pull the curtain down (hoping to catch any breeze that will blow my way), put the fan on me and let the night take me away. I have started sleeping with my head at the opposite end of my bed being that the mattress is firmer there (I guess I could flip my mattress around but I’m scared of the critters that might be under my bed).

So the other night at about 2:30 am I woke up to someone poking a stick through my window (yes puncturing a hole in my mosquito netting) to push the curtain aside all the while shining a light on me (with my head at the opposite end I was facing my window). My first though was “did I leave my head lamp on?” (as I always read in bed before going to sleep) but the light was coming from too high up. Then I realized my curtain was pushed aside and I could see a shadow behind the light.

Panic set in, and I tried to yell at the person “what do you want, get the hell away” (yes yelling in English, but I think that the tone of my voice gave them a good idea to leave me the hell alone) all the while scrambling to find my own head lamp and turn on the main light to my room. I was too slow to catch any site of the possible intruder, but I immediately pulled and locked my shutters (turning my room into a sauna of 89°).

I still have no idea if this person was trying to steel anything (I did learn my lesson from week one in Ghana to NEVER leave anything under the window because people like to reach through with a stick and usually something sticky on the end and grab whatever they can pick up… this happened to a girl I was traveling with) or if this was some sort of ‘peeping Tom’ action. Nonetheless I will be keeping my shutter CLOSED from now on, and trying to sleep peacefully in my sauna of a room.

vILLaGe hOMeS

The Things I’m growing in my Garden

1. Carrots… very successfully
2. Beets… maybe third time is a charm (yes I just planted my third round, I think the chickens also like beets)
3. Onions… still waiting to see
4. Potatoes… can’t figure out what’s wrong but they are all getting a fungus and dying… sad
5. Arugula… have been enjoying some amazing salads
6. Watermelon… so far so good
7. Cabbage… some animal likes my cabbage… arrggg
8. Kale… very successfully
9. Swisschard… if something would stop eating it then I think it would do well
10. Tomatoes…. So far so good
11. Pineapple… to early to tell… I was told it takes a year for them to grow
12. Lettuce… nothing like the lettuce at Osage Gardens, but its growing well

Almost on a daily basis someone stops by my garden to watch me water it, pull the weeds, or add some manure to the soil, and they all watch with such interest… “What is the white girl doing?”

As they start to ask what I’m growing, I go through what each bed contains… some they know or at least have heard of, but a few they don’t know and haven’t ever seen (arugula, kale, swisschard). Carrots is the biggest one that most Ghanaians know, have seen a picture in a book and when are traveling though larger cities can find being sold in the market. Yet they have little idea what the plants look like. They don’t know that they grow in the ground and at least my village doesn’t know what you can do with them. Some boys stopped by my garden the other day after I had just picked some carrots and to their amazement I handed each one of them a baby carrot… they looked at me and asked what they could do with it. I responded with “eat it.” Watching their faces try their first carrot (imagine never having eaten a carrot…) was priceless (just like one of those credit card moments… tools for a garden 100 dollars, seeds for a garden 20 dollars, watching the children enjoy their first garden fresh carrot… priceless!)

I’m almost always asked why I’m not growing items such as okra and garden eggs (two items to me that don’t taste good at all and can also by found on any day of the week in my market for a price that I would rather pay than grow in my own garden). It’s unconceivable to my village that there are other vegetable items out in the world that people enjoy to cook with. One of my fellow ‘on lookers’ (she comes by about every week to see the progress of my garden) asked if she could have some seeds to grow some of the items that can be found in larger cities like watermelon and bell peppers. Its great to start seeing the enthusiasm of some of the people in my village when they realize that these items can be grown in their own farms.

My garden isn’t huge, but big enough for me. With more vegetables growing than I’ll know what to do with once they start producing (although I still wish had a few more seeds like zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, cucumbers and cantaloupe). But my village still finds that my 10 tomato plants isn’t ‘enough.’ I have to remind them that I’m one person eating this food and I don’t need to grow more that a few plants of each vegetable (especially when I don’t have a fridge to store excess food in). I just want enough to feed me and give to people that have helped me out when the plants start to produce. This garden is mainly for me, to prove that I have a green thumb somewhere in my genes (trying to make my parents proud).

ViLlAGe FAcEs

gOAtS

so cute when they are sleeping

where the goats enjoy sleeping (and by sleeping I mean bleating all night)... under my windows

pleasant... I think not

On a daily basis I surprise myself on how I’m able to handle the rustic setting that I’m currently living in (not that I don’t enjoy nature, but I don’t like nature in my living quarters)… termites live in my bed (hope they don’t bite), cockroaches are around (but dead as soon as I see them running around my room), mice run freely (luckily I have yet to see one in my room), rats roam the streets like they own them (I’ve watched my family kill them for supper), lizards are my wall companions (if I’m in my village alone long enough I might start talking to them), snakes are killed the minute they are spotted (I’ve witnessed death by cutlass twice now), and I haven’t seen a scorpion since day 1 or 2 in Ghana (thank God). Then there are the spiders…

The spiders have thus far seemed harmless (and I’m sure that they all are). There are the big flat spiders (yes they area called flat spiders because they are FLAT). I let them live on my wall (don’t want to be known as a spider masochist). The biggest I’ve seem them get is about the size of my palm (almost to big for my comfort). Then there are the normal small spiders (have yet to cause me any pain). If they stay out of my way, then I stay out of theirs (we have this unspoken deal.) But when I find a spider that is to big for my liking or gets in my way, then it’s death by Molly or whom ever I can find to do the deed.

The other night was going normal… dinner while watching a TV show, followed by dishes and then grant writing… when I came across a dinner plate size spider (ok maybe more like a salad plate size… but HUGE nonetheless) hanging out on my wall. I let out a large scream, dropped my computer on the bed and ran to my family. They were in the middle of pounding fufu for dinner and all started laughing when they noticed the look of disgust on my face. “Nu Ka” (“what” in Ewe) they asked me… “Spider” I responded as I held up my hands showing how big it was. Stella (the daughter-in-law) bursts out in this kackaling laugh while she grabs a broom and asks “Afi Ka?” (“Where?”) I point to my room and open the door for her to do the killing. 2 seconds later she sweeps the dead spider out of my room (I may be able to sleep after all) and gathers with the family and neighbors (who came over to see what all the commotion was about) as they all continue to laugh at me.

Embarrassing… Yes

Disgusting… Yes

Terrifying… Yes

Still giving me the chills… Yes