The Sounds of Ghana

One thing I find myself missing (maybe the most) about Ghana is the music! I really fell in love with Ghanian music and really love the culture of just dancing and singing in the street when you happen to pass a spot (pub) or store that is playing the latest hit.

It never ceased to amaze me that even in the village, without power and only a radio, the kids and everyone else in the village were always up to date on the moves that consequently accompanied each song!

I went to a few events at each of my younger host sister's schools and was witness to the amazing dance abilities of Ghanaian kids!

I invite you to take a look/listen at some of the songs that were huge during my time in Ghana!

The first is V.I.P's song 'Away' - definitely one of my favourites!

For those that follow football/soccer, you probably know of the Black Stars' Asamoah Gyan. Well, he also has a thriving music career in Ghana...they call him Baby Jet :)

I also love this one :)

I love the video for this, some of it is filmed at the Accra Mall (only one in the country...also has a movie theatre) so it looks like any mall anywhere in the world...its a funny video in places.

This is another R2Bees song, I love their videos. And their songs.

This song is actually about the problems/dangers of being a prostitute. I had a CD of Ghanaian music by 'the DJ' in the village and this song is on it. When I listened to the CD courtesy of our host Father Andy's discman, he listened and his exact words were (while dancing) "and this song...is wondering...if you are a sex machine". Thanks Fr Andy, this one's in English. I get that.

All of these were considered 'hip life' but there is also reggae and the 'high life' which will be posted later!

Have fun at the dance party this music is about to spark :)

finding balance in a time of upheaval

This time last year I was preparing to head to Ghana and now I am starting my Master's degree. Time certainly has a way of making one stop and and wonder where it went.

My time at home has been a mix of really wonderful moments and really over

whelming, not-so-good moments.

At first I was happy to be home and see family and friends whom I hadn't seen or communicated with in a long time. This honeymoon period was short-lived and I soon started to miss the place and people with whom I shared so much of my life as I quickly started to realize that it will be a while before I return to Ghana.

Shortly after arriving home,

I learned of some devastating news. My host mother, Georgina had passed away. There was a fire at the store/home. The generator had spark

ed and the whole place had gone up in flames and taken Georgina with it. She was in the hospital for 6 weeks suffering from burns until her passing.

Hearing the news was very hard at the time and it made my transition home quite bumpy in places. I began judging every little thing I was doing from purchases I was making to what I was eating to whether I should be going to school. It was hard spending money and watch people continue on as though nothing happened while Georgina laid in the morgue for 2 months until there was enough money for her funeral.

Thankfully, I began to recognize that it is okay to judge and be conscious of my actions, but there has to be a balance. This summer at home has taught me a lot about the

importance of balance.

One must balance living life here with remembering what is happening other places in the world. One must balance trying to conserve money with not becoming a hermit and avoiding people/places. One must balance giving of oneself/time/energy without giving too much to be exhausted/broke/drained. One must balance their Canadian life with their Ghanaian life.

This, sadly is a much harder feat than it sounds, but I'm slowly becoming better at it each day. There are some days where I feel totally fine and

feel like life is balanced; there are other days when the scale is tipped so drastically in one direction its hard to imagine life ever was balanced.

One begins to treasure the days that are balanced, which are thankfully, more numerous than unbalanced days.

Charlie! Guess Who's Coming Home!

Tomorrow I head back to my village for a last visit with my family before returning to Canada. Now it seems like my return home is imminent. From the time I left Tiawiah, I knew that I would always come back before returning home. Now I'm going back - to both of my homes.

As I sit here, I get really excited for my journey back to my village. I see myself on the trotro, then finding a taxi to take me back into Tiawiah, where the red dirt, smell of drying cocoa beans and people's chatter filling the streets, awaits me.

I love the sense of community that exists here. When one of the women in my compound was out of town for a few days, the rest of the families in the compound rallied to make sure the children were fed, bathed and looked after. There was never any hesitation or questions, it just happened. I also feel like I've built a community in Accra. I've made friends and can walk down the street, be recognized and recognize people. Yes, I admit that a large part of what makes me recognizable is the colour of my skin, but that's not the only thing. Ghanaians greet each other on the street, when getting into taxis or trotros, they greet each other while waiting in line to buy food, they're involved in each other's lives.

Sometimes its a bit much because there are times one just wants to be left alone, but in the end, its nice. The harassment or meddling or curiosity or interest, however you want to define it is never done in a negative or harmful way. Even the times I don't appreciate it, I recognize the questions are rooted in a positive place and I've really come to appreciate it.

For instance it opens the door to ask for directions or more information if you need it. It gives you license to be a bit nosey and get another glimpse into everyday Ghanaian life, which is exactly the point of spending six months of your life in another culture.

Were it not for Ghanaian openness and my need to ask a lot of questions, a lot of opportunities and experiences wouldn't have made themselves available to me.

I recently read this quote that has been sticking with me:

"Sometimes you are aware when your great moments are happening, and sometimes they rise from the past. Perhaps its the same with people"
~James Salter, Burning the Days.

I'm sure the people I've been surrounded by both here and at home will ensure great moments continue to rise throughout my life. Ghana and the people in it have reignited a passion and love that has faded slightly over the years.

So, prepare yourself, Canada! I'm packing up the lessons, experiences, joy and laughter and am coming home!


**note: in Ghana, 'Charlie' means friend!**

Time flies...

Can anyone believe that its the middle of March?

These past 5 months have flown by and its beyond me how we've already gotten to the middle of March!

I'm finishing up my time volunteering in Accra and soaking in every minute of the lovely chaos that is Accra. Next week I will meet the rest of my group in Kumasi (in the middle of the country) where we will come together for the first time since January, and begin to reflect on our journey. AFter Kumasi, I will then head back to my lovely village for my last visit with my family before I leave.

I'm not someone who particularly enjoys goodbyes, so I'm really not looking forward to having to say goodbye to my family because that's what they are now, my family.

Even though we're nearing the end, not a day goes by where I don't learn something else. These past 6 months have been an endless learning curve, that has been thrilling.

Is it time to eat yet?!

I have received a lot of questions about food in Ghana and figure this is the best way to answer! In short, food is flavourful and delicious. I've really enjoyed it so far and continue to do so. That being said, there are a few things that I don't like.

First, there aren't enough vegetables! As someone whose diet consists primarily on veggies, its been hard not always having green and colourful food around to eat. Now that I'm out of my village and don't have my banana and orange trees at my disposal, I've also seriously been missing fruit.

Back to what I love, which is mostly everything! I was also fortunate to learn how to make all of my favourite things in the hope I will be able to recreate this deliciousness at home (not likely...).

Basically I love plantains and anything to do with plantains, except one staple called Fufu, which is plantains pounded together with cassava. Outside of that, I love all plantains. I should specify I prefer the ripe/sweet ones to the hard, starchy one. The green, non ripe plantains are boiled and then eaten with a stew. Its like dipping bread into bread dip, basically. The sweet plantains, however are the BEST! They can be fried, eaten just on their own, or fried with lots of spices including ginger, cayenne, cloves, which is my favourite, called kelewele (pronounced killywilly).
There's another thing called Akakro, which is the same spices and sweet plantain mashed together with some corn dough and deep fried into crispy balls. Delicious!
The green plantains are also a staple in a dish called Ato. IN Ato, ripe and green plantains are mashed, more to the consistency and size of what a scrambled egg would look like - and mixed together with onions, tomatoes, hot peppers AND PEANUT BUTTER! Its basically fabulous and super filling. I'm told its fed to nursing mothers right after they've given birth because its great to assist with lactating.

I think this may be easier if I break this down into meals!

Breakfast:
There are a few different types of porridge. Corn flour or coarsely ground corn kernels are used as the base of a couple of porridges. The first is called white porridge, and its basically water mixed with ground corn, sugar and milk. The second consists of adding ginger, cayenne, and some seed I have yet to identify/been told the English name to the white porridge, which makes it a little bit grey. I once had the same thing but with millet as the base and it was the best porridge I've ever eaten.
Its also popular to get rice porridge or oats as well.
Bread and margarine are also available pretty much anywhere, but the best is when you can find bread and some peanut butter! There are also these things called boforut (pronounced: bofroot) that is basically dough just deep fried and its sooooo sweet! There's a woman around the corner from where I live who sells the BEST (what we call) boforut timbits ever!
Kind of in the same category as boforut are things called kose (kosay), which are bean biscuits in English. I haven't exactly figured out how these are made, but are my favourite thing to get for breakfast! Its this dough/bean/spice mixture deep fried...how can you go wrong?

Lunch/Dinner:
It should be noted that a lot of things are eaten interchangeably most things are eaten at either dinner or lunch and breakfast. Rice is pretty common to get and typically one can find it anywhere. Outside of just mixing rice and sauce together, a really popular dish is mixing rice with black eyed beans, which is called Waakye (pronounced: wachay) and its is easily the best thing to eat for both meals! The beans and rice are mixed with a stew that is tomato based with peppers, of course. Shito is then added and you can choose to get some cabbage/carrots or fried plantain mixed in as well. Shito is basically powdered fish mixed with garlic, salt, peppers and oil. Its terrible for you, but tastes delicious. There's a woman around the corner from my hostel who I'm certain, makes the best waakye in the country.

Similar to the corn based porridge you can find in the morning, the solid version of that is a big staple in Ghana. Its called banku. The ground corn is taken, water is added, then it ferments for a couple of days. It is then put in a big pot over the fire and stirred for a really long time until it becomes thick and smooth. There are special iron rods that are hooked on the bottom of the pot, and the person who is stirring the banku puts a foot on either iron rod to hold the pot in place. When I say that the banku was stirred, I don't want you to think that it is being stirred like one would stir soup or something, here they call it driving! It looks more like the person is paddling through the banku! The banku is then shaped into individual balls and eaten by dipping it in the stew/sauce/soup/salsa!

Banku is eaten with something called pepe (pronounced: pepay), which is made by grinding hot peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes. Its kind of like making a really smooth salsa. It is also eaten with some different kind of soups, a ground nut soup (peanut soup), palm nut soup or okro soup. Okro is a vegetable, which tastes sort of like asparagus, but is really, really slimy when it is mashed.

Similar to the banku, there is another corn-based food called kenkey (kenkay), which is similar to banku except its a bit more firm and dry. It is normally just eaten with pepe and fish.

This is just merely a glimpse of food in Ghana and I am by no means an expert, but at least now some questions have been answered and hopefully your mouth is salivating...I know mine is.

I'm going to see if the waakye lady is out now...

trains, planes and some form of autombile...

Transportation in Ghana is incredibly organized chaos. The vast majority of the country does not have private cars, meaning that people use public transport. Public transport in Ghana looks like this: trotros, which seat anywhere from 12-18 people (or often more!), share taxis and finally charter or dropping taxis.

Trotros are basically big vans, or minibuses that work the same way as buses, minus one’s personal space. Fare on trotros is pretty cheap and your chances of getting a trotro to where you want to go are always pretty high – typically is this the mode of choice.

Share taxis are taxis that work on the same basis as trotros, they have fixed rates and routes, just less people, so the rates tend to be a bit higher. Dropping or charter taxis are like the taxis we know at home. They’re pretty expensive and generally not worth the extra money despite having your own space.

I can honestly say that I’ve never had a boring trotro ride. Something interesting, entertaining or surprising always happens, from fights breaking out to making friends who have proven valuable in assisting on the next leg of the journey – it all happens on a trotro in Ghana!

For instance, myself and 2 others were in Accra, wanting to get a trotro heading east to Hohoe. This happened to be on Boxing Day and the station was pretty busy, and as the Hohoe trotro approached where we were waiting and then there was a STAMPEDE to get on the trotro! The three of us fought our way on and were all sat down, only to be told to get out because the driver was charging too much, so we didn’t end up going. As we were trying to get out, the people that didn’t get on in the first stamped began rushing the trotro. We managed to get out and finally got ourselves into another trotro, survived another mini stampede and then we were off.

The three of us were sitting in the back seat and we’re driving along, a couple of hours into our journey and we hear a loud click. I should mention that when I say the back seat, I mean the VERY back seat. So far back that the seat was in the trunk and actually folded down and then we sat on it, with the back of the seat resting on the trunk door.

We hear this loud click and the seat shifted a little. We looked at each other and looked to where we thought we heard the click. The seat had unhinged and now the back part of the seat was LEANING on the trunk door. Given that we’re in Ghana, it was not a smooth ride to begin with and each time we hit a bump, we saw a small crack of sunlight between the car and the trunk door, so we would need to lean forward each time we hit a bump because we were afraid the door would pop open and we would fly out! These were likely irrational thoughts, but that’s what we were afraid of.

Since the seat folded down, we were essentially sitting on people’s luggage and other cargo. As we started to approach the destination, people started to get out, which ignited feelings of anxiety that if the driver opened the trunk, the seat would fall out of the back!

When we finally arrived, the driver came around back and opened the trunk and to our dismay and delight nothing at all happened.

Another time I was leaving my village to head to a group meetings. To get out of my village, I needed to take a 15-20 min taxi ride that cost 50 pesawas (about 50 cents). These would be normal-sized cars and we would put 4 people in the back seat and two people, plus the driver in the front seat. This particular time, I was one of the middle people in the back and the front seat was a little bit broken so it was reclined a little further than usual and digging into our legs. About ¾ of the way to the junction, the car just stops. The driver was having problems starting it. So, for almost the entire last bit of the ride, we literally rolled almost to the junction (mostly downhill) and then the driver got the car started once again.

Ghanaian highways leave a lot to be desired in terms of their construction. They are bumpy, narrow and people drive a little bit like maniacs at times. People pass as if they’re playing chicken, drive on the shoulder, sometimes even on the shoulder of the other side of the road.

The village taxis are much less strict rules and you will often find the arrangement I mentioned before with 4 people in the back and 2 plus the driver in the front, but with a couple of kids on the laps of people in the back! Another time, I was in a trotro and they had one extra person in the trotro because this extra person was going to get off fairly soon, but we happened to pass by a police check point, and the mate (the person who is in charge of taking the money and getting people dropped off at the right spots, had to squeeze down on the floor to hide from the police!

There are countless more stories of such events, but they get tiring after a while. Perhaps I’ll save those for conversations. If I had my camera cord, I could post some photos of trotros, but you will have to wait until I get back and upload all of my photos.

Safe and happy travels until next time!

Oy Vey!

Its hard to believe that I’ve been in Accra for almost a month now. I’m really enjoying my time here and my volunteer placement so far. I’m volunteering with a human rights organization, which seeks to provide services to and education for the sexual minority of Ghana, consisting of the gay and transgender communities as well as sex workers.

Its been a very eye opening working with these marginalized communities in a country where homosexuality is against the law. Many of the workshops and group discussions we attend/run are done so in secret in order to ensure the safety of the participants as well as the staff. We don’t even have a sign outside advertising the office to make sure security is at its highest.
One of my tasks is to create a newsletter that will go out to these marginalized communities, but also to the general public, as the newsletter focuses on different human rights abuses in addition to the abuses faced by the LGBT community. One of the stories that is featured in the newsletter is about a phenomenon occurring in South Africa called “corrective rape”.

Millicent Gaika was bound, strangled, tortured and raped for 5 hours by a man claiming he was curing her of her lesbianism. “Corrective rape” is a term used to describe when a man, or group of men, target and rape a lesbian with the aim of “turning” her straight. Sadly, this heinous act is not even considered a hate crime.

Called the rainbow nation, South Africa is revered globally for its efforts to constitutionally protect against discrimination, post apartheid. Interestingly, it was the first country to constitutionally protect citizens from discrimination based on sexuality, yet no one in South Africa has been convicted of corrective rape, while a local organization, Luleki Sizwe has recorded more than one corrective rape a day.

Hate crimes promote fear and insecurity among minority communities. Victims of hate crimes are usually doubly victimized, as they must deal with the attack itself, but also realize it is an attack inherent to the victim’s identity. The victims of corrective rape in South Africa are typically black, poor, lesbian women. South Africa’s Justice Minister has said that motive for rape is irrelevant.

South Africa is considered the rape capital of the world and a girl born in South Africa today has a one in three chance of finishing school, and a one in two chance of being raped. One quarter of South African girls are raped before their 16th birthday. It is believed that masculine entitlement, poverty, cramped settlements, unemployed and disenfranchised men, dismal police response and lax sentencing are the root causes. 62% of boys over 11 believe that forcing someone to have sex is not an act of violence. A survey by the South Africa Medical Research Council found that 1 in 4 men admit to raping and one third of men believe girls enjoy rape.
South Africa has the highest number of people infected with HIV in the world, around 5.7 million people. Given this high number and having the largest number of rapes reported, there is considerable concern about the links between these two problems, as HIV can obviously be transmitted in the course of the rape and this compounds the human rights violation of the rape.
Last week, David Kato, a Ugandan activist for gay rights, was beat to death in his home. A few months ago, a newspaper in Uganda published photos of people believed to be gay in Uganda under a banner urging “Hang Them”. Supporters and friends of Kato’s indicate they believe his death is a direct result of a visit by US Evangelicals in 2009. This visit by American evangelicals held rallies and workshops in Uganda on how to turn gay people straight.

Its been painfully obvious that the rights of the LGBT community should be at the forefront of any discussions related to human rights, yet, Human Rights Day in December, marked the first time the UN Secretary General discussed sexual rights within the framework of general human rights.

Let’s end this tide of hatred and discrimination. When will enough be enough?
For more information, please visit:

To sign a petition encouraging the South African government to make corrective rape a hate crime, visit:

www.avaaz.org

To visit the blog of Luleki Sizwe, the organization working to advocate for victims of corrective rape:
lulekisizwe.wordpress.com

To visit a petition launched on Change.org visit:
http://humanrights.change.org/petitions/view/south_africa_declare_corrective_rape_a_hate-crime

“South Africa’s Shame: The Rise of Child Rape” (The Independent):
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-africas-shame-the-rise-of-child-rape-1974578.html

“We have a major problem in South Africa” (The Guardian):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/18/south-africa-murder-rape

“Preventing Rape and Violence in South Africa” (South Africa Medical Research Council):
http://www.mrc.ac.za/gender/prev_rapedd041209.pdf