Ann's Visit to Ghana: Maasse, KwakuSae, Koforidua

On March 30, we went to visit Jennifer, DeeDub's home-stay mother. When DeeDub first came to Ghana, she went to stay with a family for a period of time. Jennifer, pictured left, is a school teacher and lives with her extended family in a matriarchal compound. Below is Jennifer's mother and her daughter, Patience. Another daughter, Faustina, is trying to get into nursing school. Jennifer is very entrepreneurial and is growing cocoa plants to sell. She also raises chickens.

The compound is made up of several buildings surrounding a central area (shown to the right). Patience is ill and has lost an enormous amount of weight. Doctors have not yet been able to diagnose her illness, but Jennifer has prepared a herbal root and dried cassava to help treat her.

We stayed for a short visit and then caught a taxi back to Osien, where DeeDub was trying to see Madame Teresa about providing pizza for a girl's camp DeeDub is planning. Madame Teresa was not there, but it starting pouring rain, so we decided to share a beer and wait it out before catching a Tro back to Adjeikrom.

On the morning of March 31, we ran out of propane. DeeDub had been hearing that there was a significant shortage of propane and that people were having a hard time getting it. Osa came and took DeeDub's tank and the tank from the kitchen building and embarked on the project of trying to find some. DeeDub had to give him travel money (Tros and/or taxis) in addition to money for the propane so he could travel around on his search.

In the meantime, we set out to go to a dedication of a new kindergarten building that a couple of Peace Corps volunteers had built (both by raising money and through their labor). This couple, Marian and Alan Ruge, are stationed in Brekumanso and the school is in KwakuSae. We caught a Tro from Adjeikrom to Koforidua, where we changed to a Tro going to Asamankese. After a lot of confusion regarding how to pronounce the names of the various destinations, we were let off at the junction to KwakuSae. We then started hiking up the dirt road (in the noon-day sun, of course) to the school. I think we walked a good 20 minutes before I started hearing drums in the distance. We were quite relieved when the Peace Corps Country Director, Mike, and his driver, Kofi, stopped and picked us up to drive us the rest of the way. Whew! Air conditioned splendor!

There were quite a few people there singing and dancing. The building in the background of the first shot is the existing school building. The second picture is the new kindergarten building.

We retired to the room on the far right and had meat patties and soft drinks. The event was starting much later than originally planned because the dignitaries were late in arriving. One group was from the Presbyterian Church. Apparently the school was founded by Presbyterians. Below are some women wearing fabric that commemorates their church. Apparently it is quite common for the "church ladies" to have clothes made of fabric made to order by churches.

Once they arrived, there was a series of speeches, all of which were quite moving. Everyone praised Marian and Alan for their dedication and very hard work and encouraged residents to continue to support improvements to the school system. They even got the main political figure that was there to commit to providing computers!

Mike and his driver gave us a ride to Koforidua, where we spent the night at the "Partners May" hotel. What a trip!

We went to the restaurant and asked if they had white wine. All they had that was anything close was warm champagne. We then asked if they had gin and tonic. The man said he'd have to call the bar. So, we walked to the bar which was down the driveway, close to the road. A young woman was finally able to serve us each a jigger of dry gin (they don't know what gin is) and a bottle of fruit juice (no ice). We enjoyed it! DeeDub went back up to the restaurant and got a menu so we could decide what we wanted and allow plenty of time for food preparation. She very wisely suggested that we choose backups as it turned out all of our choices were "finished." The only thing available was fried fish (tilapia), which turned out to be quite tasty. It was a challenge eating though, since we decided to eat outside at the bar and there was no light. Picking around the fish heads and bones was slow going, but it was good.

The morning of April 1, we went downstairs and had the breakfast before taking a cab into the part of Koforidua near the Krobodan Internet Cafe. Kathryn, a Peace Corps volunteer, has an office at this facility. In addition to the internet cafe project, this organization (Dutch, I think) has women who make jewelry. There are tons of non-profit organizations that are set up to help Ghana develop. Volunteers come from all over the world, not just the Peace Corps.

We met Rebecca (another Peace Corps volunteer) at the internet cafe and she took me to the bead market. Rebecca also works with women who make and sell beads. Anyway, her assistance was great and I was able to buy lots of beautiful beads at a very reasonable price. She's a monster bargainer!

Rebecca also helped me buy some beautiful fabric.

Later, after we returned to the internet cafe and met Kathryn, the four of us went to lunch.

These women are great (Kathryn left, DeeDub and Rebecca right)! They provide enormous support for each other: exchanging magazines, picking up mail in Accra for each other, and texting each other to exchange ideas. Although they are stationed in different villages, they get together periodically. Neat!

Ann's Visit to Ghana: Bosuso

On March 28, the day after the engagement ceremony, we went to the Wedding Blessing in Bosuso. Again, Patience came to escort us to the event. We walked down the main street to the area where taxis, Tros and busses stop and caught a taxi to the neighboring village. The blessing, by three different clergymen, took place in an Apostolic Church. We were given front row seats, so had an excellent view of the entire ceremony.

The ceremony itself was very much like an American church wedding: the bride is lead down the center aisle by her father and turned over to the groom and they exchange vows and rings. Again, I was able to understand very little of what was said, but because the various aspects of the ceremony were familiar, because some English words were used, and because I had Patience to explain to me what was going on, this ceremony was a little more like home. This is a picture of Mary, Richard, and Mary's father.

Aside from three different clergymen being involved in the ceremony, there were some other unique characteristics. The most remarkable was a series (three, I think it was) of people parading up to put money in a box for the bride and groom.

The people sing and dance throughout these offerings and other parts of the ceremony. The excitement generated by their energy and joy was really quite remarkable and at one point I felt absolutely dizzy. Of course it was hot and humid, but that couldn't account for my heart beating so wildly.

You can get a better sense of how exhilarating it all was by watching my video of the blessing ceremony on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlWr8C7s3cE.

The picture above is of Patience; Dorothy's Peace Corp counterpart, Osa; and our wonderful DeeDub, more commonly known in Ghana as Mama Dee. It was taken outside the church after the ceremony. by the way, it appears that sometimes you can click on the photographs to see an enlargement. I can't figure out why it doesn't always work.

Ann's Visit to Ghana: Adjeikrom

The village where Dorothy lives and works does not appear on any map I've been able to find. Adjeikrom is northwest of Koforidua, which is almost directly north of Accra. Dorothy is currently involved in compiling a census of the village; no one really knows how many people live there. There is one main road through town. The picture to the left is taken from the north end of town, near the guest house where Dorothy lives.

The guest house was built by Cadbury and is part of a campus that includes a visitors' center, a screened canteen, a kitchen building, a four-shower bath structure, two latrines, and a large yard. I have posted a video of where Dorothy lives on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hjL9Sj6vVY

This is Dorothy standing outside the two rooms in the guest house that she lives in. One room is her bedroom and the other is a living area that includes a cooking area, a desk, a single bed/couch, and a couple of chairs.

We were very fortunate to be invited to a couple of events: a traditional engagement ceremony and a wedding blessing for Mary Tetteh and Richard Narketey. The engagement ceremony took place at Mary's father's house in Adjeikrom on . Patience (a young woman who sometimes works for Dorothy) came to escort us to the engagement ceremony. We walked down the main road and then walked off to the right between several mud buildings. The ceremony actually took place between several buildings, under canvas canopies that had been set up. When we arrived there were already many people there. There were two groups facing each other. One group was the bride's guests and the other was the groom's guests. I estimate there were more than a hundred people in all.

Soon after we arrived, a "door-knocking" ceremony began. This involved many of the groom's family/guests asking permission to enter and present gifts to the bride's family. I have posted a video of the engagement ceremony at :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69xs5sP6eEA

Because the ceremony was not in English, I had to rely on what Patience told us about what was going on. The ceremony involves a lot of negotiation and numerous appearances of the bride in different outfits. I noticed that the bride's hair arrangement changed with each outfit, but I don't know if there was any significance to that. The negotiations appeared to concern "bride price" or what the groom's family was offering to give the bride's family for the couple's wedding. At one point representatives from both families retire to a building where they apparently "audit" what the groom's family is giving. During another part of the ceremony, several women get up and sing to the groom's family a song that apparently questions how the groom will "perform" as a husband. 

After the families arrive at an agreement, Mary looks for her husband to be. She obviously knows that he is there, but at this point he is hidden behind a cloth. As you can see by watching the video, everyone is obviously very amused by this trick.

The last part of the video shows Mary presenting a "libation" to her father. Her father asks her if he should accept the libation. By telling him to accept it, she is telling him that she wants to marry Richard. 

The ceremony that day was an abbreviated version of the truly traditional ceremony that apparently can last a very long time. This version lasted 3 or 4 hours and was actually interrupted by a rain storm that filled the canopies and flooded the packed mud floor. The ceremony was then moved to the chief's palace. Dorothy & I went back to her place because Kate and Tony (teachers from Tafo) came to exchange books with Dorothy.

Ann's Visit to Ghana: Accra

I flew into Accra from Sacramento on March 24. Dorothy checked into our room at the Afia Beach Hotel early and rode with the hotel's driver to the airport to meet me. The hotel was modestly priced, quite comfortable, and within easy walking distance of the National Cultural Center (a huge craft market). I was overwhelmed with the heat and humidity so was quite pleased that we could return to an air conditioned room after changing money and getting lost in the craft market.

Osa, Dorothy's Peace Corps counterpart from Adjeikrom (Odd-jay-chrome) came to Accra on my third morning there to help us get all of our luggage (and us) back to Adjeikrom.

Osa went with us to find  a coffin-carver studio that Dorothy had read about and the Artists' Alliance Gallery on Labadi Road. We went to the gallery first and it was quite good with a beautiful, large collection of art and crafts, including some beautiful examples of the exotic coffins. Unfortunately, the gallery does not permit photographs. But, these coffins are amazing. They come in a variety of forms: a large red fish, an airplane, a small lion, etc. I was able to take a couple of pictures of coffins that were on the second floor of the carvers' studio.

One of the featured artists at the gallery is Ablade Glover. Here is a link to a site that shows some of his work: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/images/760x570/glover_red_market2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.octobergallery.co.uk/exhibitions/2009glo/index.shtml&h=507&w=760&sz=285&tbnid=RX7PxwiAeGH7WM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dablade%2Bglover&usg=__UFSPwE0wrRUMtKm0NQ5HDrvN9yA=&ei=kUnQS8F9h5yyA43ayK4P&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=9&ct=image&ved=0CBwQ9QEwCA

After checking out of the hotel, we took a cab through the streets of Accra to the station where we would catch a Tro that would take us to Adjeikrom.  

As Dorothy described in an earlier posting, Tros are vans that provide transportation throughout Ghana. They are typically packed with passengers and the back door must be tied shut to hold all of the luggage and products being transported. The station was wild: lots of people carrying a huge variety of wares on their heads. Everything from pure water in small plastic satchets, to food, to sandals, to toothpaste. It was total chaos.

If you are interested, I have posted a video of Accra at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frcOsR9_yrs

At the end of the trip, we returned to Accra for my departure back to the US. This time we stayed at Beachcomber Guesthouse in Nungua. This was less expensive than the Afia and quite nice.

I would recommend both of these hotels. However, the Afia had the distinct advantage of having cold white wine available at the bar!

Ann Campbell

Light at the end of the tunnel.

April 1, 2010. Just a quick update, and I think I may have sounded more morose than I actually felt. A friend from home is visiting me, and it is just wonderful. Also, the projects are taking hold. So here's a brief review. 28 kids showed up for the English club, and didn't even have to be bribed. I'm thinking of word games we can play, and they had a spelling bee that was a lot of fun. More later.
The grant money that we did get includes funds to drill a new borehole on campus, with an electric pump that would fill both polytanks. They are now filled by women, one bucket at a time, from a borehole about half a mile away. One tank will flush the toilets in the visitor center, and the other will provide water for the kitchen and have a standpipe close to the gueshouse. My house water, stored in a large garbage can, now is filled separately but from the far borehole. So we are getting bids for the work, and it's pretty fun. Apparently old ladies, or women of any age, don't ask questions like:
What size pump? What's the hp? How deep will you drill, and what kind of guarantee will we have that the hole won' t dry up three months later? The first bid we got was like 6800 ghana cedis for drilling, 500 for development, and 200 for plumbing. When I asked the director what he meant by development, and what size pipe he would use for the plumbing, he hung up on me. So I am seeking new bids now, and have talked with a couple of guys that seem really promising. One says they will drill through bedrock to deliver *ancient water*, and the other says at least 300 feet. The members of the committee were as shocked as I was that the first bid refused to provide any real information, and each said (with no prompting from me) that it was totally unacceptable.
I am also working with the pastors of four churches in the village, three of which do not have electricity. For one Sunday a month we will ask each member of the congregation to contribute one cedi to the electricity fund. I also had a census done, and just got the results. Five men in the village went to every household and asked how many adults, how many kids and what age, do they go to school, and whether there is light in the house. I am trying to put it all into an Excel spreadsheet, and use the information to convince the District Assembly that they should help. Then I can show that X number of kids in this village don't have electricity at home, that the two schools do not have electricity so kids can't learn computer skills or study at home, etc. Everybody is excited about that, because we don't even know how many people live here, and they are checking with me to be sure they got included, etc. We will try to raise the money locally, and try for matching funds from the government and/or with an NGO. I want it to be THEIR project, not mine, and not just so the white lady can have electricity in her quarters. It requires a lot of money from people where the minimum wage is 3 cedis a day, but people are working together to see it happen.
A friend lives close to a church that often has all-night services, and she reminds me that as soon as they have power the two churches across the road from me will install amplifiers, but I'll deal with that when the time comes. In either event I'll be ready to go home by the time we get this done, but I'm not leaving yet.