My dear friends,
This past weekend was perhaps one of the craziest I've had since coming to Ghana. We went as a whole group to Kumasi in central Ghana for a three day trip. Here are some of the highlights.
We had just arrived at the Kente Cultural Center. Walking into this large building we were hawked by dozens of sellers that noticed an entire bus of Obrunis just disembarked. Inside the building were about 20 Kente weaving machines with an aisle around the outside where the sewers were displaying their work for sale. You couldn't go a foot without being pulled in one direction or another, called by a salesperson saying "My friend", "Come see", "two cidi", or something of the like. Along the outskirts of the building many salespeople tried to get out attention through the small windows as we walked past. After purchasing a couple things I left the building and headed back to our bus. We had attracted quite a bit of attention and there were at least 50 people standing by the bus waiting for us to return. Many were sellers, others were kids who would say "give me money" or "can I have some money for food". After a few minutes the bus opened and we got on. About 12 people were on the bus meaning a big portion of the group was still inside. As we sat on the bus, people outside were banging on the windows and shouting trying to get our attention. It was quite stressful, but we decided to just close the shades so it limited the amount of space they could use to shout at us. My friend Clara had been asked what her name was as she had gotten off the bus in the first place by a man with a diamond ear stud that looked about 19 years old. When she got back on the bus this man was thre waiting for her with a bracelet that said Sara and asked her to pay the ridiculous fee of 14 cidi (worth about 1 cidi), so she refused to buy it. The man had written her name in the bracelet, I suppose, and he was visually displeased. He poked his head through the bus door several times trying to get her to buy it, but it wasn't her name and it was way overpriced. Rachel got up to the door and put her back onto it to keep it closed so he couldn't keep popping his head through to bother her. As this was going on the banging and shouting of people outside trying to get our attention continued, and Billy aptly described it like we were in Jurassic Park. So, Mary spotted a man selling bags and she thought he was gesturing 2 bags for 5 cidi so she called him to the door to bargain and buy. When she got to the door, Rachel opened it and she found out it was one bag for 7 so she wasn't interested. Nonetheless, our diamond-eared friend was at the door and let out a stream of curses saying "F****** white girl, you f****** white chicken" referring to Clara. Mary was not pleased with how he was trying Clara and trying to force his way into the bus while cursing. She remarks, "You can't talk to my sister like that" and knees him in the chest. He is not quite pleased with this turn of events and leaves. 5 minutes later he comes back with a 4 foot long, thick tree branch and starts hitting the windows of the bus. We are quite freaked out, but realize that he cannot break the windows. Nonetheless, for 10 minutes we saw him angrily circling the bus shouting at Mary to "Come out and fight like a man". It was quite an interesting experience as you can tell, but in the end we left and no one was harmed.
For the weekend we were staying in the same hotel as the Black Stars, the Ghana National Football Team who on Sunday competed with Benin in a World Cup qualifying game. While in the hotel on Saturday night I met several of the black stars and even got a picture with Appiah, the team captain.
Yesterday was the Ghana-Benin qorld cup qualifying game. We arrived at the stadium around 1, unneccessarily early for the 5 game, but just wanted to make sure that we'd all get seats. About an hour after arriving, Stephanie and I got bored of sitting around. We saw a large section of about 300 colorfully dressed people that were up and cheering and banging sticks, so we decided we wanted to join. We approached this section of what we later learned were the National Supporters Union, a group that travels to all the Ghana games to support the team, and were immediately welcomed. We started clapping with them to the beat of their own small band they had in the back and they even gave us seats. For several hours before the game we were dancing in a coordinated fashion lead by four people who were facing the group from the front all doing the same moves so that we copied. We put our hands over each others shoulders, all 8 rows in a line, and jumped 5 steps to the right and five to the left; we made swimming motions with our hands; we shouted Amen in unison and waved our white handkerchiefs. It was like sitting in the ASU student section but with 10 times more coordination and enthusiasm. By the time the game started I was already tired. Nonetheless, in the first 60 seconds of the game, Ghana scored on Benin, the person who scored was named Prince (one of the people I met and took a picture with). As he scored, the section passed up a huge flag that covered the whole section and we all jumped up and down. The dancing and coordinated cheering continued to half time and I was completely exhausted at the half. I had made some nice friends with the people next to me, and my friends Molly and Liz had been there with me the entire time, Stephanie had some time before. After the half, even the leaders of the cheering seemed tired. I mentioned to Liz how crazy it would be if we could get the whole group to do the chicken dance. So I being in the second row made eye contact with the main leader and tried to teach him the chicken dance, he missed a couple of the steps but people did alright with it. I was heavily thinking about going up in front of this group to lead a couple dances so started talking with Liz and Molly and Kristen about dances to do. As the leader tried again to do the chicken dance, I worked up the courage and went down to the front row. I turned around and was facing a group of nearly 300 jumping fans who I had never met and who were ready to copy my every move. It was quite an adrenaline rush! So, I started doing the chicken dance and the other leaders caught on and did it with me. Soon nearly 250 Ghanaians were doing the chicken dance to the accompaniment of the drum band in back-their favorite part was wiggling the but and getting lower. After doing the chicken dance for a little, it was time for a new dance so I lead the Macarena. This was a huge hit! Everyone was sticking their hands out, across their chest, on their waste, on their butt, and then wiggling the butt and clapping. I looked to my friends for inspiration to a new dance, Liz suggested the YMCA hand scan, so I did it. There I was in front of 300 fans who were scanning their hands and bobbing their head. I did a couple of other moves, but after about 15 minutes I was flush out of ideas and went back to my spot. I was welcomed with dozens of back pats, smiles; I had made 150 friends in about 15 minutes!! :-). Liz and Kristen also lead several dance moves as the game went on and then it ended as Ghana won 1-0. The crowd was ecstatic as we through up the flag again and jumped around waving our white handkerchiefs. After waiting for most of the crowd to clear, I headed back to the rest of our CIEE group. I was immediately stopped by a couple members of our group who had seen me up on the "jumbo tron" several times. Right afterwards I was stopped by a member of the CIEE staff who informed me that she had just gotten a call from Mr. Gyesi who had gotten a call from one of the CIEE staff at another program in Ashesi who recognized several CIEE people on TV. Apparently, I was on TV during the qualifying match!! How crazy is that! During that game I commanded 300 people in the chicken dance, screamed my lungs out in Twi songs, and was on international television as one of the Obrunis in this very enthusiastic crowd of Ghanaians that cheered the entire game. As you can guess, it was probably one of the funniest and most ridiculous moments I've ever had.
As you can tell it was quite a trip. I met two men that are doing a documentary on African football and I'm in the documentary now. I met a group of regular supporters of the Black Stars who have made me an honorary member and I will be going to their meetings in Accra. What a crazy weekend!
Miss you all!
Best,
Ben
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Too interesting to wait
Dearest friends,
So there I was, on the back of a motorcycle with a nice man who was the Assemblyman for the village of Abotoase, gliding through the town on our way to a meeting. It had been a very busy morning. Mr. Kumaa, the leader of GHAFUP and myself had traveled on Tuesday to Abotoase a town about 4 hours from Accra on the Northern shore of the Volta Lake. The Klagbokorpe group of GHAFUP had submitted a proposal to the office for a 10-seater KVIP toilet facility and it was our job to assess the situation on the ground and my job to take the information and make a proposal to submit to our partners for funding. The previous weeks I had spent developing questions for meetings with the GHAFUP group, the WATSAN (water & sanitation committee) and focus group discussions one of just men and one of just women.
The night before we arrived at about 5 and were surprised to immediately be greeted by the very important and hospital Assemblyman for the district. Unexpectedly, he thought our arrival was to assess a water project that was beginning in Abotoase in April so he had scheduled meetings for us with Abotoase GHAFUP and the WATSAN under that premise. After a short discussion, we resolved the problem and agreed to meet with both groups about both issues. In the afternoon we toured around Abotoase, saw sets of clogged KVIPs, overwhelmed boreholes. The town of Abotoase has 5 boreholes for about 5,000 people, and so they are very slow of overwhelmed by long lines of anxious women and children waiting to go to school. Frequently fights break out of water and 80 buckets surround the slow moving water waiting to be filled.
The day began as Mr. Kumaa and prepped for the meeting with Abotoase GHAFUP that we hadn't originally prepared for. We arrived at the site and after about half an hour, about 20 people were sitting on benches waiting for the people from the office to "talk about the water project". I was the main representative of the office, a big responsibility and Mr. Kumaa was the representative of the federation GHAFUP. I talked about the specific activities of the project and asked them how they saw the project as well as what benefits it would bring to the community and the group. The response was overwhelming. The project itself was a mechanized borehole with pipes to 15 distribution points, vastly expanding the speed and capacity of the water supply in the town. People sited benefits like more trust and awareness of the GHAFUP group, finally something is happening after complaining at the district assembly for water for several years, better health for the community. I walked out of the meeting very happy about the potential thisproject was bringing to he community. Plus it was an idea proposed by the people themselves who were affected and will be maintained by the people themselves through user fees. It's a real grassroots solution.
Then came the meeting with the WATSAN committee. It was a very productive meeting as I began to see that there were many actors doing different things in the community (i.e. District Assembly, NGOs, WATSAN) all of which had different projects, but when some fell apart no one was coming to fix them. So they fully supported our proposal for a KVIP in Klagbokorpe and I was fortunate to meet a very nice man who has worked as a sanitation officer for Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for the past 13 years who was greatly helpful in me understanding toilets and sanitation. After the meeting with met with the Paramount Chief of Tapa district, meaning the most important chief of nearly 100,000 people to inform him of the project. At that point I was amazed at what I was doing and what responsibility I held as a representative of the office.
I hopped off the motorcycle and sat down in some chairs behind the table under a large tree. The Klagbokorpe group was meeting today, amazed that a whiteman had come all the way from the office to talk with them about their little toilet project. After about half an hour there were 40 people sitting under that tree waiting anxiously for Mr. Kumaa and I to begin. The Assemblymen introduced us and our purpose, Mr. Kumaa stood up and explained the values of the Federation, and then it was my turn to lead. I stood up in front of 40 people I didn't know and spoke the little Twi I could to introduce myself: "Yefre me Fo Kwasi. Mefi Amerika aburokyire na meye mi internship waw PD..." (My name is Grandfather Kwasi, I am from America overseas and I'm in an internship with PD). At that point it was onto the discussion, I explained the purpose of my being there the project itself and asked them to explain to me how this idea came about and they thought the benefits would be. We then broke off into smaller discussion groups and I conducted a discussion first of men with 4 GHAFUP members and 4 community members and then a discussion of 4 GHAFUP women and 4 community women. What I learned was extremely interesting.
In Klagbokorpe, a town of nearly 3,000, there isn't a single public toilet facility. As a result, people use the bush or Lake Volta to make toilet. The problem is that there are big problems with both. While going toilet in the bush several complained about getting bit by snakes, one person's relative died because they couldn't get tothe hospital in time. Another danger is that small children may encounter a dangerous animal and not know what to do so either run or will get attacked by it. For women, many are shy and it isn't proper for a man to see you when you've declothed yourself to shit. In the bush, women will frequently run into men or men will be waiting there to see them naked. The other option for shitting (sorry pardon my language, in Ghana shitting is a very acceptable term not derogatory in any fashion) is using Lake Volta. The main problems with this are that the water is also used for washing, bathing, and cooking. Community members complained of many problems like Cholera, blood in stool (Bilharzia), diahrea, and other things as a result of drinking or using the polluted water. In addition, the crap sinks to the bottom of the lake but is flushed up again during the rainy season when it washes back into the town.
After these meetings, we saw that it was necessary to set up two KVIPs 10-seater each because of the number of people in the village. The group them took us to the two sites, which were approved by the DANIDA sanitation officer to be appropriate for the facility. The important factors were that it was more than 150 yards from the water and that the facility be water tight. This means that the tanks into which the excrement falls must be cement on all sides so that it can be pumped out by a truck when it is full. The small user fees that will be charged by the GHAFUP group who will be maintaining the facility will pay for periodic cleaning and waste removal as well as be contributed back to a revolving fund for other projects. People's Dialogue projects act like somewhere between a loan and a grant, there isn't full cost recovery, but much of the initial cost is paid back into a fund which will be used for other projects. In addition, the community members also take a portion of the funds as their profit as they are running the business. It's a very effective and community-based and led strategy.
The rest of the day we spent touring the area. I encountered one image that I think will always stick with me. We came to the main KVIP for Abotoase, and it was completely full. For almost a year there hasn't been money to empty the tanks and replace the stolen pipes. I went totake pictures to notify the office so maybe we could issue a loan to repair the facility. Every stall door I opened, I was met by a completely full toilet, filled to the brim with crap and covered in a layer of moving white maggots. After seeing the decay of the main facility for many of our members, Mr.Kumaa wisely decided (out of the passion he has for other GHAFUP members) that we should figure out a way to repair it. We talked with the assemblyman for quite some time about what is needed to fix it and developed a cost outline of a 750 GHc loan (about $600) that could completely rennovate the facility. Because they will be charging for the use of the facility and there are thousands that need it but have nothing now, they will be able to make back the full cost in about 14 months. So we will take with the People's Dialogue office about making a micro-loan to the group for that amount to undertake this business venture. Once completed, it will be the groups job to maintain the facility and recieve the profit after the loan is paid back.
Now I am left with all this information, charged with the mission to create a proposal for a toilet in Klagbokorpe and a micro-loan proposal to rennovate the KVIP in Abotoase. It was a very interesting couple days and I grew immensely as I became empowered by the work and the potential I saw in the ability of people to solve problems themselves. I think it's key to invest in the people to solve the problem, to build the facility and maintain it so they will make sure it is kept in order and the benefit is fully within the community. I saw many other toilets that broke down after being built by an NGO and then were neglected, but I actually have faith that this one will stay for generations. It's a thrilling thing to see the difference that I as one person can make just by helping people translate a small, ineffective proposal they sent the office telling us about the issue, to using their stories to make a full scale proposal for an international donor, to guiding them in how to complete this project. The impact on the community will be enormous. Klagborpe has been around for many many years and has clamoured for toilets to NGOs and the District Assembly, but no one has come. The fact that the Federation, a group of 35 community members themselves can bring the project to the community themselves is a crowning and empowering achievement. I only pray that there is a funder out there willing to consider the project.
Just thought it was too important not to share!
Best,
Ben
So there I was, on the back of a motorcycle with a nice man who was the Assemblyman for the village of Abotoase, gliding through the town on our way to a meeting. It had been a very busy morning. Mr. Kumaa, the leader of GHAFUP and myself had traveled on Tuesday to Abotoase a town about 4 hours from Accra on the Northern shore of the Volta Lake. The Klagbokorpe group of GHAFUP had submitted a proposal to the office for a 10-seater KVIP toilet facility and it was our job to assess the situation on the ground and my job to take the information and make a proposal to submit to our partners for funding. The previous weeks I had spent developing questions for meetings with the GHAFUP group, the WATSAN (water & sanitation committee) and focus group discussions one of just men and one of just women.
The night before we arrived at about 5 and were surprised to immediately be greeted by the very important and hospital Assemblyman for the district. Unexpectedly, he thought our arrival was to assess a water project that was beginning in Abotoase in April so he had scheduled meetings for us with Abotoase GHAFUP and the WATSAN under that premise. After a short discussion, we resolved the problem and agreed to meet with both groups about both issues. In the afternoon we toured around Abotoase, saw sets of clogged KVIPs, overwhelmed boreholes. The town of Abotoase has 5 boreholes for about 5,000 people, and so they are very slow of overwhelmed by long lines of anxious women and children waiting to go to school. Frequently fights break out of water and 80 buckets surround the slow moving water waiting to be filled.
The day began as Mr. Kumaa and prepped for the meeting with Abotoase GHAFUP that we hadn't originally prepared for. We arrived at the site and after about half an hour, about 20 people were sitting on benches waiting for the people from the office to "talk about the water project". I was the main representative of the office, a big responsibility and Mr. Kumaa was the representative of the federation GHAFUP. I talked about the specific activities of the project and asked them how they saw the project as well as what benefits it would bring to the community and the group. The response was overwhelming. The project itself was a mechanized borehole with pipes to 15 distribution points, vastly expanding the speed and capacity of the water supply in the town. People sited benefits like more trust and awareness of the GHAFUP group, finally something is happening after complaining at the district assembly for water for several years, better health for the community. I walked out of the meeting very happy about the potential thisproject was bringing to he community. Plus it was an idea proposed by the people themselves who were affected and will be maintained by the people themselves through user fees. It's a real grassroots solution.
Then came the meeting with the WATSAN committee. It was a very productive meeting as I began to see that there were many actors doing different things in the community (i.e. District Assembly, NGOs, WATSAN) all of which had different projects, but when some fell apart no one was coming to fix them. So they fully supported our proposal for a KVIP in Klagbokorpe and I was fortunate to meet a very nice man who has worked as a sanitation officer for Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for the past 13 years who was greatly helpful in me understanding toilets and sanitation. After the meeting with met with the Paramount Chief of Tapa district, meaning the most important chief of nearly 100,000 people to inform him of the project. At that point I was amazed at what I was doing and what responsibility I held as a representative of the office.
I hopped off the motorcycle and sat down in some chairs behind the table under a large tree. The Klagbokorpe group was meeting today, amazed that a whiteman had come all the way from the office to talk with them about their little toilet project. After about half an hour there were 40 people sitting under that tree waiting anxiously for Mr. Kumaa and I to begin. The Assemblymen introduced us and our purpose, Mr. Kumaa stood up and explained the values of the Federation, and then it was my turn to lead. I stood up in front of 40 people I didn't know and spoke the little Twi I could to introduce myself: "Yefre me Fo Kwasi. Mefi Amerika aburokyire na meye mi internship waw PD..." (My name is Grandfather Kwasi, I am from America overseas and I'm in an internship with PD). At that point it was onto the discussion, I explained the purpose of my being there the project itself and asked them to explain to me how this idea came about and they thought the benefits would be. We then broke off into smaller discussion groups and I conducted a discussion first of men with 4 GHAFUP members and 4 community members and then a discussion of 4 GHAFUP women and 4 community women. What I learned was extremely interesting.
In Klagbokorpe, a town of nearly 3,000, there isn't a single public toilet facility. As a result, people use the bush or Lake Volta to make toilet. The problem is that there are big problems with both. While going toilet in the bush several complained about getting bit by snakes, one person's relative died because they couldn't get tothe hospital in time. Another danger is that small children may encounter a dangerous animal and not know what to do so either run or will get attacked by it. For women, many are shy and it isn't proper for a man to see you when you've declothed yourself to shit. In the bush, women will frequently run into men or men will be waiting there to see them naked. The other option for shitting (sorry pardon my language, in Ghana shitting is a very acceptable term not derogatory in any fashion) is using Lake Volta. The main problems with this are that the water is also used for washing, bathing, and cooking. Community members complained of many problems like Cholera, blood in stool (Bilharzia), diahrea, and other things as a result of drinking or using the polluted water. In addition, the crap sinks to the bottom of the lake but is flushed up again during the rainy season when it washes back into the town.
After these meetings, we saw that it was necessary to set up two KVIPs 10-seater each because of the number of people in the village. The group them took us to the two sites, which were approved by the DANIDA sanitation officer to be appropriate for the facility. The important factors were that it was more than 150 yards from the water and that the facility be water tight. This means that the tanks into which the excrement falls must be cement on all sides so that it can be pumped out by a truck when it is full. The small user fees that will be charged by the GHAFUP group who will be maintaining the facility will pay for periodic cleaning and waste removal as well as be contributed back to a revolving fund for other projects. People's Dialogue projects act like somewhere between a loan and a grant, there isn't full cost recovery, but much of the initial cost is paid back into a fund which will be used for other projects. In addition, the community members also take a portion of the funds as their profit as they are running the business. It's a very effective and community-based and led strategy.
The rest of the day we spent touring the area. I encountered one image that I think will always stick with me. We came to the main KVIP for Abotoase, and it was completely full. For almost a year there hasn't been money to empty the tanks and replace the stolen pipes. I went totake pictures to notify the office so maybe we could issue a loan to repair the facility. Every stall door I opened, I was met by a completely full toilet, filled to the brim with crap and covered in a layer of moving white maggots. After seeing the decay of the main facility for many of our members, Mr.Kumaa wisely decided (out of the passion he has for other GHAFUP members) that we should figure out a way to repair it. We talked with the assemblyman for quite some time about what is needed to fix it and developed a cost outline of a 750 GHc loan (about $600) that could completely rennovate the facility. Because they will be charging for the use of the facility and there are thousands that need it but have nothing now, they will be able to make back the full cost in about 14 months. So we will take with the People's Dialogue office about making a micro-loan to the group for that amount to undertake this business venture. Once completed, it will be the groups job to maintain the facility and recieve the profit after the loan is paid back.
Now I am left with all this information, charged with the mission to create a proposal for a toilet in Klagbokorpe and a micro-loan proposal to rennovate the KVIP in Abotoase. It was a very interesting couple days and I grew immensely as I became empowered by the work and the potential I saw in the ability of people to solve problems themselves. I think it's key to invest in the people to solve the problem, to build the facility and maintain it so they will make sure it is kept in order and the benefit is fully within the community. I saw many other toilets that broke down after being built by an NGO and then were neglected, but I actually have faith that this one will stay for generations. It's a thrilling thing to see the difference that I as one person can make just by helping people translate a small, ineffective proposal they sent the office telling us about the issue, to using their stories to make a full scale proposal for an international donor, to guiding them in how to complete this project. The impact on the community will be enormous. Klagborpe has been around for many many years and has clamoured for toilets to NGOs and the District Assembly, but no one has come. The fact that the Federation, a group of 35 community members themselves can bring the project to the community themselves is a crowning and empowering achievement. I only pray that there is a funder out there willing to consider the project.
Just thought it was too important not to share!
Best,
Ben
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Hello!
Dearest friends,
Life as always has been exciting the past two weeks! Yesterday, I went on an adventure with my host family to Akosombo Dam-the largest Dam in Ghana. On route to the dam, we saw two monkeys perched on the side of the road, a very rare sight. On the way to the dam we stopped at my host mother sisters house, which was very much what I percieved all of Ghana to be. The houses were rectangular, mud-made with palm fron roofs. When we arrived in the village we started touring around a nice man named Joseph showed us around his home and fed us Womentausen, the smalled fish I've ever seen with a sweet corn meal called Abolo. After sitting with the family for a while, we headed off the to Dam and recieved a tour. Wahab, my host brother is afraid of heights so we had a good time making fun of him for that on the way to the dam. The Aksombo Dam is on the Volta River and created the Volta Lake, the largest man-made lake in the world. The dam itself creates about 161kvolts I believe and supplies electricity to much of Ghana as well as Togo and Benin. After recieving a tour we headed back towards the town of my mothers sister and stopped along the Volta river at a fishing village to buy fish. At the fishing village I was adamantly followed by a fishing women who told me I should take her as my wife. When I said no, she said "But I love you, but I love you...say you love me too". The next fve minutes of conversation was me saying "No, No, I don't love you, sorry". At the fish market we bought the largest fish I've ever seen that had to have weighed about 25 pounds, it was like a small shark. So we headed back to the village and picked up a chicken that Auntie's mothers sister had provided to us as a gift. Armed with a chicken, a mini-shark, and a dozen small fish we headed home. On the way home we killed 40 birds with one stone and picked up mangoes, nkruma (Okra), onions, a large sack of rice, dried clams, and crawfish. So it was a very loud and full car. Nonetheless, there was a true feeling of family and we laughed and joked in the tro-tro.
My internship has really kept me busy. I've visited Old Fadama, the largest slum in Ghana, to sit it on three of the group meetings and conduct a interview session about the success of micro-business loans. I helped Philip, the emerging leader of GHAFUP, to develop a report about his travels auditing project loans. I am now working on evaluating People's Dialogues HIV/AIDS program that is funded by none other then AJWS-it's a small world. The work I'm doing with this is extremely interesting as I'm starting to understand the perceptions of slum dwellers towards HIV/AIDS. So far I can tell that many percieve it to be caused by witchcraft, a curse, or a result of past transgressions. Many percieve it to be transmitted by touch and that they should isolate persons with HIV so that others won't get infected. I'm learning a ton about self-help and about this organization's work in Ghana.
Last weekend was also particularly interesting as I traveled to Kumasi with a friend of mine named Dranaya. We left Accra at about 6pm and arrived in Kumasi at midnight, we got on a tro tro at 12am that was the most sketchy ride I've been on. We stopped along the route so people could get out and pop a squat by the side of the road. Within 5 minutes of getting on the tro there was a huge argument that spurred as one women paid the fair but lost the ticket-so one row was shouting at another and then the back joined in and the whole car was shouting for 15 minutes at least. Finally it stopped. At one point we stopped for what I thought was a bathroom break and a man and a women got off together and went behind a building, but then the mate noticed and ran after them and shouted at them for 5 minutes, I'm pretty sure whe was a prostitute and was servicing him. My view was supported as they both came back zipping and buttoning their pants. So we stayed in Guosu in a nice appartment that Dranaya owned. The next day we wondered around the time as Dranaya and I socialized with many of his friends-this was where he grew up. Eventually we made our way to the local hopsital where I recieved a tour. Then we headed to Mim and got a tour of Mim's water production facility. This was very interesting because Dranaya, having worked for the Identification service of the government, told them he was from the Identification Service and asked for a tour, after whipping out his card they agreed. It was fascinating! So then we took a walk through the bush to the timber production facility but didn't get a tour because it was closed. So we headed home and the guys (3 of us) cooked dinner for ourselves-Banku and Okra soup, my favorite. The night was a little interesting as there was a Ghanaian girl that Dranaya wanted to link me up with who later offered to wash me. When I looked at her confused she said "Are you scared, are you shy", so I said "no fine, let's go". She asked me to wait, but eventually told me "Go shower, tommorrow I will wash you". It was quite funny. So the next day we headed to Lake Bosomtwe, a very beautiful large lake that apparently is very far from Kumasi. We took one tro after another and eventually ended up in a town of Dranaya's friend who went with us to the lake, but we took three more tro-tros. Finally arriving, we spent about 2 hours at the lake as we ate lunch, drank palm wine, and I went on a small walk to a secluded spot where I could sit and reflect. It was a beautiful lake. Getting on a bus at about 4 I headed back to Accra. I got into Circle tro-tro station pretty late around 9:30 and it was quite intense. It was loud and hectic. A man pounded on the tro-tro I got in claiming I had insulted him and wanting to fight me. Thank God I was in a tro-tro already.
So as you can tell things have stayed interesting. This past week I finished my Twi class, hopefully I did well. My drumming class is very interesting as we are now studying our third song. And of course my internship will stay interesting as I start the evaluation and attending a workshop on HIV/AIDS for slum community members sometime soon.
Much love to all of my friends and family. I wish that I could be there to celebrate all the joys with you and be there for all of you during your hard times. I miss you all very much.
Yebehyia Bio,
Ben
Life as always has been exciting the past two weeks! Yesterday, I went on an adventure with my host family to Akosombo Dam-the largest Dam in Ghana. On route to the dam, we saw two monkeys perched on the side of the road, a very rare sight. On the way to the dam we stopped at my host mother sisters house, which was very much what I percieved all of Ghana to be. The houses were rectangular, mud-made with palm fron roofs. When we arrived in the village we started touring around a nice man named Joseph showed us around his home and fed us Womentausen, the smalled fish I've ever seen with a sweet corn meal called Abolo. After sitting with the family for a while, we headed off the to Dam and recieved a tour. Wahab, my host brother is afraid of heights so we had a good time making fun of him for that on the way to the dam. The Aksombo Dam is on the Volta River and created the Volta Lake, the largest man-made lake in the world. The dam itself creates about 161kvolts I believe and supplies electricity to much of Ghana as well as Togo and Benin. After recieving a tour we headed back towards the town of my mothers sister and stopped along the Volta river at a fishing village to buy fish. At the fishing village I was adamantly followed by a fishing women who told me I should take her as my wife. When I said no, she said "But I love you, but I love you...say you love me too". The next fve minutes of conversation was me saying "No, No, I don't love you, sorry". At the fish market we bought the largest fish I've ever seen that had to have weighed about 25 pounds, it was like a small shark. So we headed back to the village and picked up a chicken that Auntie's mothers sister had provided to us as a gift. Armed with a chicken, a mini-shark, and a dozen small fish we headed home. On the way home we killed 40 birds with one stone and picked up mangoes, nkruma (Okra), onions, a large sack of rice, dried clams, and crawfish. So it was a very loud and full car. Nonetheless, there was a true feeling of family and we laughed and joked in the tro-tro.
My internship has really kept me busy. I've visited Old Fadama, the largest slum in Ghana, to sit it on three of the group meetings and conduct a interview session about the success of micro-business loans. I helped Philip, the emerging leader of GHAFUP, to develop a report about his travels auditing project loans. I am now working on evaluating People's Dialogues HIV/AIDS program that is funded by none other then AJWS-it's a small world. The work I'm doing with this is extremely interesting as I'm starting to understand the perceptions of slum dwellers towards HIV/AIDS. So far I can tell that many percieve it to be caused by witchcraft, a curse, or a result of past transgressions. Many percieve it to be transmitted by touch and that they should isolate persons with HIV so that others won't get infected. I'm learning a ton about self-help and about this organization's work in Ghana.
Last weekend was also particularly interesting as I traveled to Kumasi with a friend of mine named Dranaya. We left Accra at about 6pm and arrived in Kumasi at midnight, we got on a tro tro at 12am that was the most sketchy ride I've been on. We stopped along the route so people could get out and pop a squat by the side of the road. Within 5 minutes of getting on the tro there was a huge argument that spurred as one women paid the fair but lost the ticket-so one row was shouting at another and then the back joined in and the whole car was shouting for 15 minutes at least. Finally it stopped. At one point we stopped for what I thought was a bathroom break and a man and a women got off together and went behind a building, but then the mate noticed and ran after them and shouted at them for 5 minutes, I'm pretty sure whe was a prostitute and was servicing him. My view was supported as they both came back zipping and buttoning their pants. So we stayed in Guosu in a nice appartment that Dranaya owned. The next day we wondered around the time as Dranaya and I socialized with many of his friends-this was where he grew up. Eventually we made our way to the local hopsital where I recieved a tour. Then we headed to Mim and got a tour of Mim's water production facility. This was very interesting because Dranaya, having worked for the Identification service of the government, told them he was from the Identification Service and asked for a tour, after whipping out his card they agreed. It was fascinating! So then we took a walk through the bush to the timber production facility but didn't get a tour because it was closed. So we headed home and the guys (3 of us) cooked dinner for ourselves-Banku and Okra soup, my favorite. The night was a little interesting as there was a Ghanaian girl that Dranaya wanted to link me up with who later offered to wash me. When I looked at her confused she said "Are you scared, are you shy", so I said "no fine, let's go". She asked me to wait, but eventually told me "Go shower, tommorrow I will wash you". It was quite funny. So the next day we headed to Lake Bosomtwe, a very beautiful large lake that apparently is very far from Kumasi. We took one tro after another and eventually ended up in a town of Dranaya's friend who went with us to the lake, but we took three more tro-tros. Finally arriving, we spent about 2 hours at the lake as we ate lunch, drank palm wine, and I went on a small walk to a secluded spot where I could sit and reflect. It was a beautiful lake. Getting on a bus at about 4 I headed back to Accra. I got into Circle tro-tro station pretty late around 9:30 and it was quite intense. It was loud and hectic. A man pounded on the tro-tro I got in claiming I had insulted him and wanting to fight me. Thank God I was in a tro-tro already.
So as you can tell things have stayed interesting. This past week I finished my Twi class, hopefully I did well. My drumming class is very interesting as we are now studying our third song. And of course my internship will stay interesting as I start the evaluation and attending a workshop on HIV/AIDS for slum community members sometime soon.
Much love to all of my friends and family. I wish that I could be there to celebrate all the joys with you and be there for all of you during your hard times. I miss you all very much.
Yebehyia Bio,
Ben
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