Medase Pa

3 days shy of 8 months, I found myself on a flight home. Here's the finale to my blog that I wrote in Kokrobite the week before I left. Sorry for the sentimental nature...

A few years ago I met some people on holiday. They had been travelling for a few months and I remember being so envious of one of the the girls' feet – so so brown. Browner that I ever thought my feet could be. Ever. But today, I look down (or up if I am in yoga doing the shoulder stand – not that other nifty move that involves drawing in the you know what...) and can barely believe that the feet I stare at are mine. The lovely bronzed colour I had never expected they would be.

Medase, thank you, or the literal meaning of medawasiye (I will lie under you) gives thanks a whole different connotation in Ghana. But the only way I can sum up this whole experience is to say thank you, less in the Ghanaian sense... To Ghana for the things I learned, and forgot. For presenting me with the expected and unexpected. For appreciation, challenging my limits. For the opportunity to live by the sea, be tanned, overdose on vitamin D, the simple delights and beautiful moments. To the people not in Ghana, friends and family, for their positivity, to the people who read this blog, the people who made me feel at home, my neighbours, the wonderful friends I gained, the amazing Accra, Kof and honorary Accra volunteers, to those who kept me sane and entertained at work, Mr Teiks, Yanka. And provident. For raised tolerance to so many things, more patience, ebbing taste buds, the power of hissing, the peppermint palace. To jazz music, hip life, music in general, cake, pizza, 241 pizza, melting moments, Bella, NECK(!), crazy tro tro rides that I would do all over again, long bus journeys, days at the beach, and nights, and to everyone I met here for your unique and inspiring perspectives. To memories and long friendships.

Packing my things to come home, I come across my favourite pink top. Massimo Dutti in Ghana, almost an oxymoron. So easy and light to wear in the oppresive heat, just the right sleeve length and neckline. I am wearing it in so many of my Ghana pictures. I am tempted to bring it home as a relic. Something about it is symbolic – laddered, snagged, victim to ant holes, moth eaten, a massive tear from where I pulled it off wet after wearing it under a waterfall, faded, but still pink, repairable, possibly wearable and still my favourite top.

Chahle, nante yie. Falafel is officially no longer in Ghana...

What's my name?

Aside from being a song by Rihanna that is fairly well-played in Ghana, I recently had a conversation with a Ghanaian about the significance of a name – the thought that goes into naming a child and how a name influences a person's character and personality. Most Ghanaians have several names – all my work colleagues had names at work that were different to the names they kept at home or on facebook, and everyone's middle name is linked to the day of the week on which they were born. For example, I would be Afia. Friday born.

In my last week, I attended a naming ceremony for a baby girl, Megan. Megan's parents run a project in James Town, a shanty town on the beach in Accra, for street kids to get them back into school, providing uniforms and meals. Click here for more info.

Naming ceremonies take place very early in the morning. We woke up at the crack of dawn, but an unexpected rainstorm delayed events and instead of leaving the house at 6am, we ended up leaving at around 7.45am. Armed with macs and umbrellas, feeling slightly chilly, the damp, grey overcast morning felt almost like being at home!

The small room was packed with visitors and well-wishers, so we peered in through the window as the priest finished off the ceremony. Everyone wore white, a few snacks and drinks were given out, including corn wine (non-alcoholic) that smelled of sweetcorn but had a very acquired taste and sobolo – a hibiscus drink with ginger that I much prefer when mixed with sprite.

Everyone brought a gift. Clothes, nappies, other baby things, money. There was a ceremony to say thank you for each gift where a lady stood in the middle of the room, with gifts held on her head, singing a long song in Ga, at the end of which the other women chimed in to a chorus of saying 'thank you' in Ga. This continued for about 45 minutes as there were quite a few presents to get through!

Megan and Jay with me

Beads

Strings of brightly coloured glass beads are a trademark of Ghana. You can find them on sale by the beach, on the roadside, in upmarket jewellery shops, on the wrists and throats of men, women and children, interspersed with larger bright and unique stones or beads. Young girls and women also wear waist beads. Initially to a new eye, the locally made beads can look clumsy, but they grow on you. Some look like sweets, others are made from crushed sprite bottles. There is a bead market in Koforidua in the Eastern region that is meant to be amazing and where a lot of bead shops get their supplies from. Sadly I didn't make it there but did get some nice beads in Kumasi. I befriended the owner of the jewellery stand near Paloma, very close to my house, and have spent some satisfying times designing my own bracelets, necklaces and earrings as gifts to bring home. By the end of my stay, the owner was letting me bring my own beads and string them myself in his shop while he worked on more complex requests for me!

Selection of beads - the ones on the bottom left look like sweets!

Beads made from crushed Sprite bottles

Necklace and bracelet made and designed myself

Time

Time is something on my mind at the moment as each day brings me closer to the end of my stay in Ghana. One of the challenges of adjusting to a new culture is to understand and work through the different perceptions of time.

I read an article a few months ago about cultural perceptions of time around the world, and how this affects lifestyle and behaviours at work. The writer talks about time bound societies like the UK, that see time as linear, and contrasts them with time blind societies like Spain, Portugal and Greece who see time as cyclical.

Elements of my experience in Ghana certainly fall into the second category. A few weeks ago, I spotted a slogan on the back of a cab proclaiming No rush in life, which is a testimony to where Ghana sits on this spectrum, along with the fact that I no longer feel the need to wear a watch. Here there is none of the drive or frenzy to use every minute before it is lost. Time is cyclical, therefore the opportunity to do a given task will return. Deadlines are never absolute. Recently another volunteer was told that [as civil servants] 'deadlines mean nothing to us'! You can take 10 days off for a funeral; a day off to rest after a business trip is standard. There are lots of positives to this more relaxed attitude, it is almost necessary to deal with the intense heat and helps to counter the infrastructure constraints that in themselves inhibit efficiency and productivity. It's easier to live in and enjoy the moment and be more relaxed. But there are a few down sides too. It drives a very reactionary way of working and I have had to work hard to encourage colleagues to operate in a more focused way. Sometimes it means you can feel like the least important person in a conversation or meeting. Despite sitting face to face, you have to make your points fast as any number of things could trump you and take precedence. You will vie for the person's attention with mobile phones (the plural is deliberate), passing people, text messages, faxes, emails, someone selling lunch, a phone credit teller, you name it.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/Appointments/article502271.ece

And an extract from some travel writing I read recently. It's from the 50s, so some of the language is a bit outdated. The European and the African have an entirely different concept of time. In the European world view, time exists outside man, exists objectively, and has measurable and linear characteristics...... Africans apprehend time differently. For them it is a much looser concept, more open, elastic, subjective. It is man who influences time, its shape, course and rhythm... In practical terms, this means that if you go to a village where a meeting is scheduled for the afternoon but find no one at the appointed spot, asking "when will the meeting take place?" makes no sense. You know the answer: "It will take place when people come". Shadow of the Sun, Ryszard Kapuscinski

Safari

'Ghana' and 'safari' are not an obvious association. When my friend came to visit a couple of weeks ago, we followed the promise of seeing elephants, travelled the 15 hours or so to Mole National Park in northern Ghana and were well rewarded. During the afternoon safari, two elephants emerged from the undergrowth and ambled gracefully across the path, metres from where we had stopped.

This time of year, during the dry season, is when you are most likely to see elephants in Mole as all but the main watering hole dry up so the elephants are forced to head there at least once a day for a drink. It was amazing to see them in the wild, and we were lucky the next morning to see the pair again, guarding each others' backs, looking old and wise and inspiring everyone with awe. Sadly I didn't have my SLR with me (you should have seen the size and irritating qualities of some of the lenses present..).

Watch my back, darling!

Our journey back to Accra was not without its dramas, the main one being when the driver fell asleep at the wheel (40 minutes into a 14 hour journey) and   swerved into the middle of the road. We were lucky to reach Accra safely! Here's a selection of the other wildlife we saw:

Babboon - looking smug after stealing several people's lunches!



Cob, or bush bug. The solitary one.





Wart hog roams freely



 



Sun sets over the national park.

2-0

A blog about Ghana would be incomplete without a post about football and I have just committed that unforgivable error of announcing the score ahead of describing the match. As they say in Ghana, "sorry-o"! I attended my first match last Sunday at the stadium in Accra. Hearts of Oak vs Kotoka, the big Accra and Kumasi teams against each other. A bit like Man U vs Arsenal.

Football is really big here, everyone follows the premiership and champions league, especially the teams with Ghanaian players like Chelsea FC. I hope someone is impressed with this level of football talk from me...! I am really looking forward to the Ghana - England match next week.

Back to the game, the crowds were huge, with almost everyone in their team colours (except us)! It was also very frenetic. People got punched in the queue for tickets and the atmosphere was even more volatile inside with fights and punch-ups breaking out all around us, including on the pitch. But there was also a carnival atmosphere with drums, trombones, women dancing and singing, school boys being the football equivalent of ball boys, and it was very colourful to look around the huge stadium and see everyone in their strips and singing team songs. Outside people ate fufu with soup, clearly a match staple. The teams came on to warm up amidst lots of cheering and did a great dance as they went off the pitch to prepare for the match. The game was really fast moving, and Kotoka scored in the first five minutes and a second time in the first half. At one point we saw this blur as a creature of some sort scampered towards the pitch. Security rushed after it and bludgeoned it to death. We thought it was a rat, or a large lizard, but according to press coverage afterwards it was a cat, and it had to be killed in case it was bringing a bad juju spell to one of the teams. Apparently a common part of Ghanaian fotball!

I decided I'd had enough live football experience after the first half. During half time people used the are around the stadium, even the steps, to wash and do their prayers. There was a scuffle to get out as people were still trying to force their way in and we had to dodge a police taser which suddenly erupted to life! So, several thousand people, live music and dancing, diet coke, a few punch-ups, fufu, a taser and a cat bludgeoned to death all in 45 minutes makes for a very entertaining football experience!

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, but will try and get hold of some pictures.

Luscious Temptations

There are lots of ways to be conned whilst abroad. But lunch in the A&C mall ought to be fairly innocuous. In the 2 weeks I'd been away new places had sprung up. Like Luscious Temptations. Turned out to be not so luscious, hardly a temptation. The name should have been a warning. And the plush decor, booths, wooden panelling, Heinz ketchup and tabasco on every table. Very TGI/Frankie and Benny-esque. The copy cat menu: potato skins, fish fingers, apple pie, brownies, Cranberry juice.. All a veneer for something it wasn't. The cranberry juice was too watery. Then the fish fingers arrived without fries. 6 goujons stacked in a tower for 12 cedi. I cut into the first. I had to saw through it. I tried the second, same thing. Third time lucky. With each portion came generous pots of sauces. No fries. The fries arrived as an after thought when I prompted it and the menu was double checked. Ah yes, the tower of fish isn't just served by itself. 12 cedi for 6 lumps of fish, of which only a third were edible. That was taken away and I was given my pick of something else on the menu. A cheese sandwich. Safe option? A toasted sandwich filled with stir fried vegetables and feta cheese appeared. Not a happy food marriage. But this time they remembered the fries.

 

With it being international women's day, we thought we'd treat ourselves to dessert. We should have known better. Crumbly apple pie, with a creamy custard was the description on the menu. The pie arrived. In place of the slice, maybe with a crumble topping and custard was what looked like a meat pastie covered in aerosol cream. At this point we were in hysterics. As we started to eat, strange orange pieces were discovered in the filling. Maybe remnants of the meat filling that could have plausibly been scraped from the pastry casing to make room for the apple.

 

I am not one to post moany food reviews. But this place annoyed me because it is trying too hard to be something it wasn't, giving the illusion of high quality food on the menu when they are probably defrosting things in the freezer. And charging UK prices for awful awful food.

 

The owner assured us we would not be disappointed next time and took the apple pie off the bill. And the fish fingers. If there is a next time. Otherwise they'd make a good candidate for kitchen nightmares. At least Gordon wouldn't need to refurbish. Koffee Lounge, we will be faithful to you next time.