Life in Ghana

Akwaaba!

Because we only recently arrived at Ghana, a lot of new and exciting things happen every day - definitely more than I could possibly blog extensively about. So I'll keep the structure of a few anecdotes about what we have been experiencing.

We went to the University of Ghana to visit the campus and talk to Yemi, one of the African Studies professors. The University is the most prestigious learning institution in Ghana, and attracts a wide variety of West African students, as well as study abroad programs from all over the world. In its objective of providing education to a wide variety of people, Ghanaians don't have to pay tuition. In its relatively short history, just over 60 years, it has achieved the spot of one of the top 10 schools in Africa.

Over the next months in Accra we have many lectures scheduled with professors from the University of Ghana, on topics such as the history of Ghanaian politics and the development of Ghana’s economy.

Our trip to the University was not, however, only focused on academics! We had a legitimate Ghanaian dance lesson, with two musicians playing drums and bell, and three dance instructors teaching us the traditional moves. The Akans, the major ethnic group in Ghana, used dancing as way to teach actions, like how to sweep the floor, mash yam and wash clothes.

After about two hours, we learned two different dances, that involved responding to change in drumming rhythm, pretending one leg was shorter than the other, and of course, free-styling.

 

 

Though we had been eating traditional Ghanaian food at our hostel for the past week, our first time eating exotic food was at a nearby “chop bar”. Replacing the daily courses of delicious plantains, rice, cooked vegetables, chicken and tomato sauce, each of us ventured in more challenging culinary experiences. My personal choice was fufu with bush meat soup. Fufu is pounded yam or cassava, and has a very doughy consistency to it. Apparently, it is so hard to chew you eat it by swallowing chunks. Unfortunately, I was only told this around dinner, and to figure my way around ruminating the fufu. As to the bush meat, I am honestly still am not sure as to which animal I consumed, though it had a very gamey taste to it. I’ve heard it could be a dear-like beast, a grass rat, or just anything they can catch in the bush. Yum!

Following custom, we all ate with our bare right hands (left one is used for other personal purposes).The mixture of different taste, consistency, touching soup with my bare hands and looking at the color of Clara's dish (see below), was quite an intense exposure to Ghanaian cuisine. It was delicious though, and one of my favorite parts of acting Ghanaian so far.

Clara's choice of fish and snail soup taught us a new Twi word: huhuuhu, or scary.

On Friday we were finally sent off to our homestay families! I now live with the Kumi, in a beautiful house and restaurant compound in West Legon. The family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Kumi, Kwasi, my 18-year-old host brother, and Kumea, who goes to University of Ghana and kindly offered her room.

They run a restaurant and catering business, which means there is always something delicious to eat! Mrs. Kumi is an excellent cook, and it is always great fun to watch TV with the family while having dinner. Also, Kwasi always has a fun movie to watch, and Mr. Kumi has told me from day 1 I will be "treated as a son". From the moment I stepped into their house, I have felt comfortably at home.

I knew I had forgotten to bring something to the internet café… It’s the picture of the family =/ Sorry. I’ll have it by the next post!

 Oh, by the way, I got my first "official" wedding proposal here! haha It was at a funeral, which in Ghana is a huge celebration of passing onto a new stage of life, rather than mourning the dead. After having met many people, eaten the lunch provided by the host, and dancing to some traditional music, the Bridge Year group was set to leave in our trotro. On the way to the van, though, I was stopped after taking a picture of the band (yup, to cheer up the party even more), by a girl asking me to take a picture of her. Her brother promptly came and told me "you can have my sister!" haha I was honored, although I'll admit a bit confused, and kind of excused my way out saying the group was leaving. Of course I left my number behind.

A band in a funeral - Ghana is always happy!

Alright, I have to run to get a trotro and head home. Trotros are vans, which function basically as busses, except you can never really know if the next one is full or when it will come.

For the next post, I’ll also talk about the service placement, which will start tomorrow. Although I still lack enough information to write something solid about this, I am going to volunteer at Self-help Initiative and Support Services (SISS), a local NGO that teaches personal development, IT, catering and tye-dye. Personally, I will be working with applicant assessment, presenting seminars on self-improvement topics, and helping with the counseling of the participants. Most come from a few slums around Accra, and look to opportunities like these for starting a carreer and redirecting their lives. I’m very excited for the personal contact with the participants, and even more for the opportunity to effectively help them transform their realities.

Nante yie! (see you later)

Kwame!