Ghana Love It - Part 2

Previous Post - GHANA 1

Now edited with photos - click to enlarge!

Hello everyone, right now I am sitting in an internet cafe in Kumasi, Ghana. Unfortunately I have found out that I cannot upload any pictures from this cafe, and so there will not be any pictures available of this trip until I return, around August 20th. So I apologize, however I can promise that I do have many pictures of a great number of varied and interesting things, and when I get home I will upload all of them in a large album just for you guys. I promise it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, you'll just have to deal with written text, apologies! I'm also sorry for having such a late post, I am expected for my scholarship to keep up with at least 2 blog posts a week, however it can be hard to get at an internet cafe sometimes because it is far into the city, and is unsafe to travel to at night. And now I can update you about my story thus far this week. Because I can only do one update this week, I'm loading you guys with a ton of writing. Edit: Since I have returned home I have NOT edited the text I wrote when I first posted these blogs, I simply added pictures. Everything you read is as it was typed in Africa.

Kittens I came across in my adventures - Akwaaba to Ghana!

From the first moment I landed in Ghana at the airport after an 11 hour flight, it really hit me. "Wow.. just wow.. I'm in Africa, I don't believe it.." I met up with a projects abroad representative at the airport who was very kind, then was bustled into a taxi then agreed to drive to Kumasi in the same day, because at that point, it was 1PM, and I didn't really want to stay an entire day in the Accra hostel. So many sights and sounds that were new to me, I couldn't believe it! There were English signs, but Twi was shouted and spoken everywhere nearby me, with cars honking and children making noise and vendors showing their wares in a dusty yet nearly modernized city. When I landed it was not as hot as it was in NJ when I left, and it still hasn't been as hot! In fact, I think it was hotter when I was shadowing a large Animal Vet in Pennsylvania. I left Accra on a 5 hour VIP bus ride (the company name is VIP) during which a very loud salesman was standing on the bus shouting trying to sell his "medicine" (it was mustardseed... I don't know how it works but he claimed it was very helpful for heart problems and stroke) for around 2 hours. I had met another volunteer in my program, Rebecca from Ireland, who was also sitting with  me and we chatted a bit once the man was done and the bus was playing a very loud Ghanian movie (of which I had no idea what was going on, because again it was all in Twi.) We finally reached Kumasi again at around 10:30 pm (6:30pm in USA) and slept in the office beds rather than our host family beds because it would still be quite a distance.

The view of Kumasi from my daily commute

My host sister Justina and brother PK

When I got to Kumasi at night, I noted how nice and quiet it was compared to Accra, and I said that I liked it and asked if it stayed that way (I would have liked it to after being bombarded with so much noise and confusion in Accra). The Projects Abroad staff sort of chuckled and said no. After a rest at the office, Rebecca and I were taken to meet our host families (she lived with a different family than me.) I met my host mother, Agnes, and her son/host-brother, Ben, as well as Justina, my host-sister, all of whom were outstandingly friendly and accommodating. The house was very big compared to the rest of the houses I had seen in Kumasi, with a nice open lounge area. The bedding was set up as bunk beds and the volunteers had their own shared rooms (with an attached bathroom which was also very very nice for Ghana, very clean with a nice sink, toilet, and large shower... which I didn't see until the day after I moved in, and used the other bathroom.) The first night I moved in, culture shock and jet lag were already hitting me very hard because I had been swarmed by noise in Accra, and I had to also go out to Kumasi again that day with a very kind staff member called "Chief" for an orientation (to be shown how to get around, where to exchange money, how to withdraw money, internet cafes, grabbing a phone SIM and other things..) so I was very sluggish and quiet that day. Coming back to my host family, I was very tired, but I made sure to greet my family and ask them about their life, little things like how Justina likes to sing and how Ben's two small children are named PK and Ben (or junior). In Ghana a host family states "You are invited" meaning "come inside and eat my food, and visit." Ghana is an extremely welcoming country. Everywhere you arrive you see signs of "Akwaaba" meaning "Welcome" and strangers everywhere are willing to help you out, or simply talk to you because you are an "Obruni," or "White Person" in Twi. Being called "white" here is actually a good thing, as opposed to being called "white" in my city of New Brunswick in which case I may opt to run. Many people here speak English, but there is also Ghanian English that has different meanings. The first day however, I was alone in the house and had not met many other students besides Rebecca, so I was homesick as well as suffering from culture shock due to the new noise and surroundings rushing around me throughout the day.

The streets of Kumasi

The next day, however, I was better off and started to try to immerse myself in the culture and city around me, which helped me learn to like Kumasi, with its odd colored buildings, red dusty roads, loud speakers booming Ghanian music, aggressive cars and taxis and its plethora of small road shops. To get around Kumasi was absolutely insane, either grabbing a Tro-Tro (small minivan bus) and trying to understand where it was going, moving over for people, trying to pay and talk in broken english or small amounts of Twi, understanding the different taxis (drop vs line) and knowing where everything was in general. For Kumasi, everything was so varied and different that it was hard to keep track of where you were! It can get quite crazy, it's hard to describe. At first I thought it difficult, but now I find the panic somewhat fun now that I understand it. I had also met more people around town, and was introduced to the workers at the vet clinic, a small yellow-and-green building which had surprisingly clean rows and rows of different animal medications. The other vet students had been on "outreach," or trips to nearby rural farms, so I hadn't gotten to meet them until later that day, at my Cultural Induction and Twi lesson. I can't go over all the different parts of Ghanian culture in one sitting however I can go through a few things that would be interesting:

-70% of the people in the Ashanti Region (where I am) in Ghana are Christians.
-Only use your right hand with dealing with people! Never your left.
-Ghanians know many different dialects and while you can get around with English, it is helpful to speak in Twi
-Ghanians give much respect to mothers of society, and trace their family backgrounds maternally instead of paternally.

There were many other things, and I can hardly remember them all except when I need them. Once I realized I was accepted by both the people who lived in Kumasi and by my fellow abroad students (many of which are in the vet program, which makes it a fun group.. I will talk about them the next blog post).

I was quite happy when Maddy moved in, because I had been the lone volunteer in my house and she was just the sort of person to gabber about favorite mall shops with. She lived near London, in the UK and is a very kind and friendly person. Both of us had brought two suitcases filled with more than enough stuff, and felt guilty that we had done so. Maddy is a very relaxed and friendly person, who has quite a bit of veterinary experience even though she is just 16 (though she doesn't look it... She's 5'8"!!). Both of us enjoy visiting with our host family and Agnes, who has for two days straight prepared for me a wonderful carrot, egg, and onion sandwich that I very much love (because most of the food in Ghana is very spicy, with no fruit or veggies!!)

And now for the fun part - my first day of Outreach on rural African farms - or what I did today.

On the road to the farm - a cloudy day during cloudy season!

In a Tro, ready to go!

By far, today was the most fun, an dis also the day I took the most pictures at. I went with my fellow vet students (from all over.. France, Holland, Ohio US, UK, and many more places..) and in a group of about 8-9 we visited two rural farms in Africa. The first farm was a beautiful farm, wide open and quite clean, with many different kinds of animals and many goats/sheep. It even was an aquaculture farm, growing catfish and tilapia, as well as an Ostrich farm. The owner had won best Farmer in Ghana twice, and 2nd place even more. We did our work first, going around and vaccinating his goats for rabies, checking for foot rot, and giving dewormer (a white paste in the mouth.) At first I was quite unsure what to do, everyone had been volunteering for a while and I had just shown up, and I was simply given a needle and shown how to pull the skin around the shoulders and inject 1mL into the skin.) It was quite easy once I had done it, luckily. The rest of the visit our group (a very friendly bunch, chatting and joking along the way) got to see the rest of the farm, including a cute mother dog with puppies, a bunch of rabbits, some guinea pigs, the aquaculture farms small and large, a tortoise, alligator, etc.. many different things. It was actually very well-kept. I told myself not to expect all the Ghana farms to be like this, as it was probably one of the nicer farms.

Deworming time!

Teamwork with Alex and Alice

A mother and piglets also on the farm

We make quite the impressive group marching in a line of vet interns - but this is the largest the group was. The rest of the month we were split into two groups to have one group go to clinic and the other go to outreach.

I was right - the next farm we visited wasn't even a farm, it was a hut with a group of goats in the outskirts of the city, with very small houses and children in torn shirts (though they were so very cute, they let us play jumprope with them and were so interested in what we were doing). Again we dewormed and vaccinated the goats, though this time I got to wrangle a few (they're very small, like 25-40 lbs so it wasn't very difficult) and we were on our way. All in all, today was tiring, but so fun, and I'm so glad I get to participate. The supervisors are very kind and the group is very fun to travel with.

Bonus - Jump rope with the local kids after the last farm!

As for this weekend, I plan to visit Cape Coast, or the more tourist-y beach town of Ghana. I will go with a group of friends, and I plan to visit Kakum National Park as well as lie on the beaches there, and visit a palace there as well. I can't wait! I'm going to go exchange money now before it gets dark, and I promise you all when I get back I will have good pictures. Sorry for the delay!

-Marisa

Next Part 3