I really don’t know where the time has gone. I only have two more sleeps and three full days left in Ghana. Time seems to have moved both slowly and quickly on this trip. I remember the days crawling by in my first few weeks here but now, when I think back to my induction, it seems like it was just last week. Was it really almost two months ago?
I just re-read parts of my blog entries from my first few days here and the sense of Cape Coast as a foreign place seems like a really distant memory. I am now surprised to read about how uncomfortable I was in that first week. My last week here has been full as I tie up loose ends and try to cram in all the things I wanted to do or see in Cape Coast.
I had my last day at Unistar yesterday (I’m taking today off to run last minute errands and pack). The kids were, as always, sweet and adorable. I took my camera to school and it was chaotic as I took pictures during their morning break. It’s lucky that I’m so much bigger than all of them; they almost managed to pull me down in their excitement. I got some videos of them singing at the end of the day too. I can’t wait for people at home to see the footage!!
On Tuesday we did a medical outreach session at a Muslim school in Abura. Anita (the nurse) gave them a sex ed talk which was not as different from the ones at home as I had expected. We dressed some pretty infected wounds and a group of volunteers will return today to follow-up with those kids. I think this will continue with the medical outreach program – if a lot of treatment was given at the outreach early in the week, the group will return at the end of the week to check on those children. With so many people interested in the medical placement I think the program is going to keep improving. When I got here there were only two of us starting the medical placement and now, I think there are more than ten.
On Thursday night I went to the New Life orphanage with Nicole and a few of the other volunteers. We had intended to stay the night but ended up leaving after the kids were put to bed. This orphanage is amazing. It is on quite a bit of land and the kids all seem really healthy and happy. We hung out with them after dinner and watched part of Shrek on someone’s computer. These kids are clearly used to the presence of volunteers and really weren’t shy around new visitors. I had a nice snuggle with some of the little ones during the movie. I have no idea how Nicole, or anyone else, is going to say good-bye to these sweethearts after spending so much time with them.
Today I am running miscellaneous errands. Tomorrow we plan to walk around Elmina (the small fishing town I mentioned a while ago) and then spend the afternoon at the beach. On Sunday I will get on a bus to Accra and then start a very long trip home.
I have heard that the culture shock is worse on the way home than it is coming to a place like this. I suppose this is because you travel to a foreign place with a fairly open mind, unsure of what to expect. But, going in the other direction you expect home to be just as you remember it, without realizing that your perspective may have changed. I am expecting to be surprised at the amount of wasted water and at having the luxuries of electricity and internet always at your fingertips, but since I am expecting these things I don’t think I will be really shocked by them. I’m wondering if I will feel culture shocked by things I haven’t even considered. When I think of home now I find it hard to imagine any of it feeling foreign or strange. I plan to write one more update after I get home – I’ll let you know how I’m adjusting then. This last update doesn’t feel like much of a conclusion; I’ll try to do a better job with the next one.
Take care. See many of you in less than a week!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Puzzling things about Ghanaian life
This is a miscellaneous entry. These are all things that I have been meaning to mention at some point but haven’t included anywhere yet. Here is a brief list of things I find puzzling about Ghanaian life.
1. Couples - It was while we were at that Ghanaian wedding a few weekends ago that Nicole and I realized that you never seen couples walking around town, or anywhere, together. This is particularly odd because it is pretty common to see two men walking down the street holding hands. They aren’t gay; they seem to do it because it’s crowded in town and they don’t want to lose track of each other. I wonder what heterosexual relationships are like here. Are arranged marriages common? Considering the devout religious community, are relationships more clandestine?
2. Technology - I feel like civilization here has skipped a few steps. How is it that a third world country cannot conquer problems with personal hygiene, sanitation, food, and treatable/preventable diseases yet they somehow have access to luxuries such as DVD players and cell phones? I think DVD players and cell phones can still be considered a luxury at home – certainly they are things that are purchased only after all other necessities have been covered. I suppose we have been living in a city here where there is a market for such luxuries; I know a rural community would be a much different experience. Still, it’s strange.
3. Abnormal Gaits – It could be my imagination, but it seems to me that many people here have very strange limps or simply incorrectly assembled lower limbs. We’ve seen several people who have to crawl around town because their legs are so under-developed. Many children hobble around on crutches with horribly deformed legs and a lot of adults seem to walk with a slight limp. It could be that abnormal gaits occur with the same frequency back home but that we just have better management and assistance for those with disabilities.
4. Re-denomination of the Cedi
At the beginning of July, the Bank of Ghana is going to change its currency. The value of the cedi won’t change, but the bills and the coins are going to be different. Basically, they are knocking four zeros off the old cedi to make new cedi bills (the new 1 cedi bill will be the same as the old 10 000 cedi bill) and knocking two zeros off the cedi to make new coins in Ghana pesowas (Gp). The old denominations of the cedi include 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000, and 20 000 bills as well as 100, 200, and 500 cedi coins.
As a rough idea of the value of things, here’s a brief list:
Taxi into town – 2 000 old cedis (0.2 new cedis; 20 Gp)
Corn on the cob – 1 000 old cedis (0.1 new cedis; 10 Gp)
Ice cream – 3 000 old cedis (0.3 new cedis; 30 Gp)
Bottle of pop – 5 000 old cedis (0.5 new cedis; 50 Gp)
Water sachet – 400 old cedis (0.04 new cedis; 4 Gp)
Rice and chicken – 10 000 old cedis (1 new cedis; 100 Gp)
New cell phone – 400 000 old cedis (40 new cedis; 4 000 Gp)
The new denominations will include 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cedi bills. So, the new bills are equal to 10 000, 50 000, 100 000, 200 000, and 500 000 old cedis. These are HUGE denominations. Few things in town would require a 100 000 cedi note, not to mention a 200 000 or 500 000 cedi bill. In fact, we like to have our money all in 5 000 notes to make general transactions faster. It’s true that handing over a huge wad of 5 000 notes is a bit annoying if you buy something more expensive, but this is really rare; most exchanges involve less than 5 000 cedis. The taxi drivers are going to be awful to deal with. Can you imagine handing someone a 50 cedi note for a 0.2 cedi taxi ride?
This is also going to create a lot of general confusion in converting old money to new bills. Whose brilliant idea was it to create two new forms of the cedi and to knock off four zeros and two zeros? Why not have one type of cedi and just take off just three zeros? Then the 10 000 note could simply become a 10 cedi bill. A huge advertising campaign has been launched to help people understand this change in currency (with an irritatingly catchy jingle: “There’s no change in value, the value is the same”) but I think there are going to be a lot of problems. It’s lucky for me that I won’t be here for that!! Good luck to Nicole and everyone else.
1. Couples - It was while we were at that Ghanaian wedding a few weekends ago that Nicole and I realized that you never seen couples walking around town, or anywhere, together. This is particularly odd because it is pretty common to see two men walking down the street holding hands. They aren’t gay; they seem to do it because it’s crowded in town and they don’t want to lose track of each other. I wonder what heterosexual relationships are like here. Are arranged marriages common? Considering the devout religious community, are relationships more clandestine?
2. Technology - I feel like civilization here has skipped a few steps. How is it that a third world country cannot conquer problems with personal hygiene, sanitation, food, and treatable/preventable diseases yet they somehow have access to luxuries such as DVD players and cell phones? I think DVD players and cell phones can still be considered a luxury at home – certainly they are things that are purchased only after all other necessities have been covered. I suppose we have been living in a city here where there is a market for such luxuries; I know a rural community would be a much different experience. Still, it’s strange.
3. Abnormal Gaits – It could be my imagination, but it seems to me that many people here have very strange limps or simply incorrectly assembled lower limbs. We’ve seen several people who have to crawl around town because their legs are so under-developed. Many children hobble around on crutches with horribly deformed legs and a lot of adults seem to walk with a slight limp. It could be that abnormal gaits occur with the same frequency back home but that we just have better management and assistance for those with disabilities.
4. Re-denomination of the Cedi
At the beginning of July, the Bank of Ghana is going to change its currency. The value of the cedi won’t change, but the bills and the coins are going to be different. Basically, they are knocking four zeros off the old cedi to make new cedi bills (the new 1 cedi bill will be the same as the old 10 000 cedi bill) and knocking two zeros off the cedi to make new coins in Ghana pesowas (Gp). The old denominations of the cedi include 1000, 2000, 5000, 10 000, and 20 000 bills as well as 100, 200, and 500 cedi coins.
As a rough idea of the value of things, here’s a brief list:
Taxi into town – 2 000 old cedis (0.2 new cedis; 20 Gp)
Corn on the cob – 1 000 old cedis (0.1 new cedis; 10 Gp)
Ice cream – 3 000 old cedis (0.3 new cedis; 30 Gp)
Bottle of pop – 5 000 old cedis (0.5 new cedis; 50 Gp)
Water sachet – 400 old cedis (0.04 new cedis; 4 Gp)
Rice and chicken – 10 000 old cedis (1 new cedis; 100 Gp)
New cell phone – 400 000 old cedis (40 new cedis; 4 000 Gp)
The new denominations will include 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cedi bills. So, the new bills are equal to 10 000, 50 000, 100 000, 200 000, and 500 000 old cedis. These are HUGE denominations. Few things in town would require a 100 000 cedi note, not to mention a 200 000 or 500 000 cedi bill. In fact, we like to have our money all in 5 000 notes to make general transactions faster. It’s true that handing over a huge wad of 5 000 notes is a bit annoying if you buy something more expensive, but this is really rare; most exchanges involve less than 5 000 cedis. The taxi drivers are going to be awful to deal with. Can you imagine handing someone a 50 cedi note for a 0.2 cedi taxi ride?
This is also going to create a lot of general confusion in converting old money to new bills. Whose brilliant idea was it to create two new forms of the cedi and to knock off four zeros and two zeros? Why not have one type of cedi and just take off just three zeros? Then the 10 000 note could simply become a 10 cedi bill. A huge advertising campaign has been launched to help people understand this change in currency (with an irritatingly catchy jingle: “There’s no change in value, the value is the same”) but I think there are going to be a lot of problems. It’s lucky for me that I won’t be here for that!! Good luck to Nicole and everyone else.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sick Weekend
Well, Nicole and I had a fantastic weekend. We have both been pretty sick over the last several days and spent most of Friday and all day Saturday lying in bed. Nicole has had a brutal cold for the last week and added stomach problems to her ailments over the weekend. I was okay, minus my endless runny tummy, until I devoured a lot of fried rice on Friday night. I felt gross for the rest of the night and couldn’t get to sleep until after 4 am, when I vomited up most of my dinner. Puking into a bucket on the filthy bathroom floor definitely does not make my list of “10 best experiences in Ghana.”
Saturday was fairly miserable too. Nicole and I skipped what was supposed to be a day at the beach and spent our time in bed moaning about squashy duvets and chicken soup. The other volunteers continue to be great and thoughtfully came over on Saturday night for a surprise visit armed with digestives, fresh fruit, Sprite, and movies. We felt much better on Sunday and got one full lazy day at the beach.
Saturday was fairly miserable too. Nicole and I skipped what was supposed to be a day at the beach and spent our time in bed moaning about squashy duvets and chicken soup. The other volunteers continue to be great and thoughtfully came over on Saturday night for a surprise visit armed with digestives, fresh fruit, Sprite, and movies. We felt much better on Sunday and got one full lazy day at the beach.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Photos
I just wanted to let everyone know that I've added some new photos to my Flickr account. There's a link to them on the right side of this page. Sorry that there aren't more but the computers here are really slow.
I hope everyone is well at home. Take care.
I hope everyone is well at home. Take care.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Midweek update
Teaching is still going well at Unistar. The KG 1 teacher is back so the class is totally under control. I’ve been able to continue teaching some lessons – with the real teacher translating the tricky bits into Fanti – and have also had a chance to work with some of the kids in smaller groups.
Unlike at home, the teachers here seem to focus on punishing mistakes rather than celebrating success. So, when a student isn’t answering a question I find it hard to decide whether they don’t understand the concept, don’t understand my English instructions, are painfully shy, or are too scared of being wrong (and being caned as a result) to say anything at all. I’ve also been wondering what happens to the children with learning disabilities here. They certainly don’t have the programs and support that we have at home and the poor children aren’t going to benefit from the canings that result from their errors.
We had our weekly quiz night/volunteer meeting last night. We usually just play games or watch a movie but Grant (our regional director) organized a treat for us last night. We watched a demonstration of African dancing and drumming from different countries and different regions in Ghana and then had a brief dancing lesson at the end of the evening. It was really amazing to see – people here are so rhythmically talented. They grow up surrounded by music all the time, whether it’s at home, in school, songs playing from stores during the day, in bars at night – they are always moving. Also, if everyone in Western culture danced with their energy and vigour, obesity would not be non-existent (Katie, this is definitely a calorie-burning workout that we should look into!). On Wednesday night we saw an impromptu drumming/acrobatic/dancing/fire show that was even more impressive.
Generally, things are good here in Cape Coast. We are well into the rainy season now and it rains at least a little bit every day. A ton of new volunteers have been arriving in the last few weeks and many more will be here over the summer months. Nicole and I are getting two new Canadian girls to this house on the weekend (four Canadian girls in all of Cape Coast and they put us all together). I think I’m going to be sad to leave many of these people behind. Through taking care of each other, sharing un-flushable toilets, and having too many discussions about the activities of our intestines, we’ve formed close friendships in a really short period of time.
Unlike at home, the teachers here seem to focus on punishing mistakes rather than celebrating success. So, when a student isn’t answering a question I find it hard to decide whether they don’t understand the concept, don’t understand my English instructions, are painfully shy, or are too scared of being wrong (and being caned as a result) to say anything at all. I’ve also been wondering what happens to the children with learning disabilities here. They certainly don’t have the programs and support that we have at home and the poor children aren’t going to benefit from the canings that result from their errors.
We had our weekly quiz night/volunteer meeting last night. We usually just play games or watch a movie but Grant (our regional director) organized a treat for us last night. We watched a demonstration of African dancing and drumming from different countries and different regions in Ghana and then had a brief dancing lesson at the end of the evening. It was really amazing to see – people here are so rhythmically talented. They grow up surrounded by music all the time, whether it’s at home, in school, songs playing from stores during the day, in bars at night – they are always moving. Also, if everyone in Western culture danced with their energy and vigour, obesity would not be non-existent (Katie, this is definitely a calorie-burning workout that we should look into!). On Wednesday night we saw an impromptu drumming/acrobatic/dancing/fire show that was even more impressive.
Generally, things are good here in Cape Coast. We are well into the rainy season now and it rains at least a little bit every day. A ton of new volunteers have been arriving in the last few weeks and many more will be here over the summer months. Nicole and I are getting two new Canadian girls to this house on the weekend (four Canadian girls in all of Cape Coast and they put us all together). I think I’m going to be sad to leave many of these people behind. Through taking care of each other, sharing un-flushable toilets, and having too many discussions about the activities of our intestines, we’ve formed close friendships in a really short period of time.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Weekend in Kumasi
Yesterday we got back from a great weekend with the girls in Kumasi. Nicole and I went with six other girls who were traveling up there to see their host sister graduate from University. With this connection to the University we managed to stay in the super cheap dorm rooms and it felt like one big slumber party with everyone crammed into a small room.
Kumasi is great. It’s quite a bit bigger than Cape Coast but I liked it a lot more than Accra. The Kejetia market is advertised as the biggest open market in West Africa and it is indeed huge. It makes Kotokuraba (our Cape Coast market) look petite and peaceful by comparison.
The Kejetia market is roughly divided into sections with fabric, shoes, jewelry, and food all concentrated in different areas. There was so much of everything and we managed to spend at least five hours wandering around. The fabric section was really extensive with a huge amount of variety. I found some patterns that I really like and I’m having them made into bags and skirts before I leave here (Mom, Katie, Mare – I hope you like the colours I picked!).
From Cape Coast, it takes about four hours to get to Kumasi by tro. The road is brutal. For the last hour getting into Kumasi, it is only partially paved. The road alternates: 500 meters paved, 500 meters dirt, 500 meters paved, etc (for an hour!!!!). Also, the heavy trucks kick up the loose dirt in the unpaved sections so you spend the hour driving through a dust cloud with windows that don’t fully close. On the way home I was feeling sick for this enjoyable part of the ride and eventually had to ask the driver to pull over so I could trek into the jungle and go to the bathroom. Amazing. On car trips at home, you’d never be expected to drive for four hours without some kind of a break. We’ve all survived another tro ride though. I think that was my last long tro ride too because I’m not leaving Cape Coast again until I go home and then I’ll be taking the STC bus to Accra.
Kumasi is great. It’s quite a bit bigger than Cape Coast but I liked it a lot more than Accra. The Kejetia market is advertised as the biggest open market in West Africa and it is indeed huge. It makes Kotokuraba (our Cape Coast market) look petite and peaceful by comparison.
The Kejetia market is roughly divided into sections with fabric, shoes, jewelry, and food all concentrated in different areas. There was so much of everything and we managed to spend at least five hours wandering around. The fabric section was really extensive with a huge amount of variety. I found some patterns that I really like and I’m having them made into bags and skirts before I leave here (Mom, Katie, Mare – I hope you like the colours I picked!).
From Cape Coast, it takes about four hours to get to Kumasi by tro. The road is brutal. For the last hour getting into Kumasi, it is only partially paved. The road alternates: 500 meters paved, 500 meters dirt, 500 meters paved, etc (for an hour!!!!). Also, the heavy trucks kick up the loose dirt in the unpaved sections so you spend the hour driving through a dust cloud with windows that don’t fully close. On the way home I was feeling sick for this enjoyable part of the ride and eventually had to ask the driver to pull over so I could trek into the jungle and go to the bathroom. Amazing. On car trips at home, you’d never be expected to drive for four hours without some kind of a break. We’ve all survived another tro ride though. I think that was my last long tro ride too because I’m not leaving Cape Coast again until I go home and then I’ll be taking the STC bus to Accra.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Good day at Unistar
Today was a great day with the KG 1 kids at Unistar. I felt like I had better control of the class and that I was actually getting through to them.
The kids here have an incredible ability with memorization. They have no trouble reciting the alphabet, numbers, or countless nursery rhymes and songs. When given the title (“Jack and Jill”, “Little Miss Muffet”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” etc), the whole class will recite the rest of the rhyme/song in unison. They know the words to some really obscure nursery rhymes. And all of this is in their second language! However, they don’t seem to understand what they have memorized. If you try to get them to identify numbers or letters out of sequence, they can’t do it.
At some point in the morning, I usually hand out their notebooks so they can do some writing or colouring. This always results in chaos as they fight over crayons or pencils, cry because someone ripped their book, and crowd around me so I can mark their work (they LOVE having their work marked). So, today I decided to skip the whole ordeal and we had educational, themed pictionary for most of the day. We covered common animals, things in the sky, body parts, clothing, sources of light, and sources of water. As I drew on the chalkboard, the kids would call out the English word for the object and then I had them spell it by calling out the letters as I wrote them – they were actually recognizing them out of the A to Z sequence! It was lots of fun and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. I really enjoyed it.
Even though I have switched to a teaching placement, I am still doing the once-a-week medical outreach program. Yesterday afternoon we went to a village just outside of Cape Coast. It was really interesting to visit this totally self-sufficient community. We were introduced to the chief of the village who was a very welcoming man. We spoke with him for a while and learned that he is the eighteenth chief of this 450-year-old village. There are about 700 people living in the community and they have their own school and church. He said he was grateful for our visit because sanitation is a problem for them and he is always glad to accept any help or education that will improve the health of his people. We met some of the village members in the school building and treated their small wounds. The experience was really interesting and I wish I had more time to spend the more rural areas of Ghana.
The kids here have an incredible ability with memorization. They have no trouble reciting the alphabet, numbers, or countless nursery rhymes and songs. When given the title (“Jack and Jill”, “Little Miss Muffet”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” etc), the whole class will recite the rest of the rhyme/song in unison. They know the words to some really obscure nursery rhymes. And all of this is in their second language! However, they don’t seem to understand what they have memorized. If you try to get them to identify numbers or letters out of sequence, they can’t do it.
At some point in the morning, I usually hand out their notebooks so they can do some writing or colouring. This always results in chaos as they fight over crayons or pencils, cry because someone ripped their book, and crowd around me so I can mark their work (they LOVE having their work marked). So, today I decided to skip the whole ordeal and we had educational, themed pictionary for most of the day. We covered common animals, things in the sky, body parts, clothing, sources of light, and sources of water. As I drew on the chalkboard, the kids would call out the English word for the object and then I had them spell it by calling out the letters as I wrote them – they were actually recognizing them out of the A to Z sequence! It was lots of fun and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. I really enjoyed it.
Even though I have switched to a teaching placement, I am still doing the once-a-week medical outreach program. Yesterday afternoon we went to a village just outside of Cape Coast. It was really interesting to visit this totally self-sufficient community. We were introduced to the chief of the village who was a very welcoming man. We spoke with him for a while and learned that he is the eighteenth chief of this 450-year-old village. There are about 700 people living in the community and they have their own school and church. He said he was grateful for our visit because sanitation is a problem for them and he is always glad to accept any help or education that will improve the health of his people. We met some of the village members in the school building and treated their small wounds. The experience was really interesting and I wish I had more time to spend the more rural areas of Ghana.
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