Dude, let's go!: Happy New Year Homies!!!

December 31, 2010

Wow, last post of 2010…crazy. So things have been chugging along here. We had the big meeting with the water sachet group and told them we will start paying them by the purse and that we will learn new things to make. This week I started teaching them how to make the easy headband. It went pretty well. It’s hard to sew through the fabric and elastic with a hand machine…gets kinda gnarly and we broke a few needles. Anyway, we all made one for practice out of the same fabric…so we looked like a tribe with our matching headbands on. I started hopping around and doing an Indian battle cry…I don’t know if they understood what I was doing, but they laughed all the same, and that was the point :)

TMT is still dragging their feet on everything. We had the meeting; Mawuli and I went around to each member and told them to make sure and come…since I went around, they all came. So I opened by saying all the things we said we were gonna do, and then went down the list and showed that the only ones that got done were the ones I did and that that was not ok. The committee is made up of 1 member from each clan…the clan selected their person…the people did not choose to be on the TMT. I pointed this out and said that if they did not want to be on the team and did not want to come to meetings and work to increase the tourism, then we need to re-elect people who are actually interested in tourism. 3 people were automatically like, “I want out.” But then they all started talking in Sekua and I just kinda sat there and picked up a couple words. About 30 minutes later George goes (and he was one who said he wanted out), “Boala, do not worry, we will come.” Yeah right. So the meeting continues and I bitch about how the ladder in cave 6 is still not fixed and that it’s been broken since September and that I bring it up at every meeting. So who is gonna fix it? Who will take charge? Fo Nicho and the other “big men” are starting to get that I am basically and pretty obviously (which you don’t do here) saying that they are all SLACKERS! So he goes, “Oh, I think we will have to blame Mawuli for that.” Mawuli is sitting next me and has this WTF look on his face…but he can’t say much because he is not a big man. So I say it instead, “How is the ladder Mawuli’s responsibility? He is the financial secretary…that has nothing to do with the ladder. The tour guides need to make sure it is fixed. They take the tourists up there, they see it is not fixed…it should be their responsibility. And while we are talking about the tour guides, they need to weed. We are shooting some promotional footage on Saturday and you cannot even use the lookout point because the weeds are so high. They are the ones who directly make money from the tourism and they need to take pride in their work!” So here goes another long discussion in Sekua. The tour guides are actually present; it’s the chief’s 2 sons (conflict of interested…hello) and another kid; they are all 3 around 20 years old. Boss is out of commission because he had a stroke at Thanksgiving and his left side is still not working. (I haven’t mentioned this in the blog before because I didn’t have any real medical details… and apparently I won’t because such things don’t exist here or least don’t get communicated…at least not to me. So please pray for Boss.) Anyway, after a half hour or so of deliberation they decide that we will need to do community labor for the weeding in the future. I say that community labor never gets organized and that we need this done this week. So Mawuli, the guides and I will meet Friday morning and go to the mountain to weed. Ok, fine. I sit there and watch this unfold…here is how things go in my village and from what I’ve heard it is pretty much the norm in Ghana:

-there is an issue (weeding the trails) brought up, the committee discusses it, they say they will have to address it at a future meeting, but the problem is that no one ever shows up for meetings and so it gets put off, and put off, and….It’s maddening!!

The result of this meeting is that we establish that Thomas (a committee member and carpenter) will make the ladder by Saturday and then Mawuli will pay him from the TMT funds. Awesome. We also establish that I will not do anything until other people start doing their part. I explain this very nicely, “ I know that all of you have other jobs and families to take care of and that TMT is a volunteer position. But before we can grow and get enough tourists here so that we can pay a managing team, we have to work for free. We all have to put work in so that we can one day become big. I hope that you all care about the tourism here, I care about it, that is why the Peace Corps sent me here, but I will not work alone. I was sent here as an advisor, but I hold meetings and trainings and people don’t come. If the TMT does not work for the tourism then who will?” So we round out the night by saying that Friday morning we will weed and Sunday night we will have the training that we were supposed to have that night, but I didn’t give because I said there is no point in holding trainings when people won’t do what I train them on…this is Wednesday night by the way.

So….Friday morning Mawuli and I take our cutlasses (machetes) and head to the village to meet the guides to weed. 2 American girls stayed at the guesthouse that night and were going to do the caves that day, so we also needed one guide to take them to the caves. As we are walking (all 4 of us) into the village, we see 2 of the guides on the road. AND THEY TAKE OFF IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!!!! I’m not kidding! Mawuli yells at one of them and he stops but the other (one of the chief’s sons) is already gone. The one guide and Mawuli are talking…I’m getting pissed so I break in. “Francis, you know we are supposed to weed today; we talked about it on Wednesday.” I raise my cutlass to show we are ready to work. “Wom le lo.” Which means, “come on time.” So now if he doesn’t come it’s super disrespectful to me…I hope that makes a difference. So then Mawuli goes to the chief’s palace to get the twins. And then he comes back and says that the twins are not there and that the chief and the mom were mad because we were disrespectful to the guides by calling them temporary guides at the TMT meeting. BULLSHIT!!!! I was sooooo furious. So Mawuli, the 2 girls and I head up the mountain. I am fuming and huffing and puffing up the hill. I was so mad. So the lil’ babies went home and cried to daddy that we told them they needed to do something…boo f’in hoo! They are lazy! They make money directly from the tourists, they need to make the place look nice….not a hard concept. But because daddy is chief…so I start telling Mawuli that this is bullshit. I hope the whole village sees the white girl going to the mountain to weed and the lazy guides hiding somewhere. I also told him this is why we shouldn’t have the chief’s sons involved in the TMT. As we are walking I’m thinking about how to teach them a lesson. Suspend them…but then who will take the tourists…does anyone even want to be a guide…does anyone in this village even give a shit about the tourism? How much can I piss my chief off before the next two years of my life really suck in his village? So then I start comparing this situation to being in the mob or something. You can’t stand up for what is right because there are people who will make your life hell if you do. And why would I fight so hard when they people I’m fighting for don’t give a shit?!? My inner dialogue is going crazy!

So we get to the part that needs to be weeded and I tell Mawuli to take the girls on the tour and I will weed. As he is telling me he won’t leave me to do it alone, here come the 3 guides! Oh I was so happy to see them. I didn’t want to have to do the inner-self battle of what to do: teach them a lesson or let it go like everyone here always does. Oh, so happy. So Mawuli takes the girls on the tour and me and the guides start weeding. We have a good talk, too. They are concerned for the safety of the trails after cave 6. Yes, that is what we will talk about on Sunday at the meeting, please come. You guys have a lot of good input for the team. Ok. So we weed. The 3 of them leave after the one main part is done. I kinda weeded on my own on the way back down the hill and all of a sudden I hear someone else weeding. One of the twins stayed behind and was weeding with me. I was so happy. So he and I weeded for a long time and he had two small boys come help too. So all was well. We get back to the village and everyone is, “oh Boala, you were weeding. Oh you have tried!” Yes, I have…a sidenote…I believe the cutlass swinging is a major part of the amazingly ripped abs here in Ghana. I suggest we try this at home.

And just so you know, the ladder was made, but still hasn’t been taken to cave 6. And the meeting that everyone was gonna come to on Sunday…they didn’t…this was the Sunday before Christmas :) Ho, Ho, Ho.

Fun Christmas stuff: The week before Christmas the highschool in the neighboring village was gonna have a Caroling night and also a play about HIV and pregnancy. So Mawuli, Confidence, the 2 US tourist girls, and I walked over to Mate (the village). As we are walking down the dark road to the village we start singing Silent Night. Well, Mawuli starts singing in this high-pitched screeching voice, and then Confidence starts singing it in Ewe and we all are laughing and being silly…it was a really fun moment. The play and the two dances were good…we missed most of the caroling because we were 1.5 hours late and this thing actually started on time, but it was good fun!

For Christmas, Chris and I went to Accra and met Nivole. We stayed in a nice hotel with AC and a hot shower!!!! SO NICE. I ate Mexican food and Thai coconut soup! We pulled a limb off a bush in the parking lot, threw some battery operated Christmas lights on it and had a fantastic time; we each had a package under the tree. We skyped with our families on Christmas Eve; I watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas on my computer. Chris got me a kente strip with my full name woven into it…it’s super cute. So after we opened our presents on Christmas morning we went to the Cultural Center (after I got us lost on a tro…I said Tema station…the tro was going to Tema town…not the same thing!!! At all. So the tro dropped us on the side of the highway before we got out of Accra. And Nivole had to comment, “Why did I follow the white people anyway?!”). Cultural Center is a huge craft market with very pushy Rastas…they came up to us as soon as we got out of the taxi and started doing their selling “friend” spiel. I was a bitch and they accordingly called me a mean lady…it’s true...I’m very mean these days, I’m constantly at my limit of bullshit, so any extra just sends me over the edge. But I got 2 mud cloths, which I have been wanting. I talked them down to ½ the price they started out at…which means I’m sure I still paid too much, but I paid what I wanted so I was happy. I also got a kick ass moo moo! I really like it…it’s comfy and the arms are sewn to the sides so if I raise my arms I look like a flying squirrel! We then walked around Liberation Square and went down to the beach where lots of people were playing soccer. Nivole made a good point, “I have never seen so many black people on a beach!” It’s true. Chris and I were the only whities around…it was strange on a beach…

The week between Christmas and New Years has been pretty slow here; I’ve read a lot and started baking in the Coleman Camping Oven that my aunt sent me for Christmas. It sits right on top of my propane burner…Sweet. This week I put up more screen on my windows hoping to keep out those lil’ biting bugs. I was 1.5 windows into it when Innocent came over and took the job from me. Smiling and shaking his head at me, “Boala, get down from the chair, let me help you.” Which means let me do it for you. I love how I can start doing anything and someone else always finishes it. Actually, if you know me, you know I don’t like that…it makes me feel useless…but as Mawuli says, “Oh Jeanna, it is because we love you so much.”…who can argue with that? The next day Mawuli helped me finish the windows, so I baked brownies and took them both some.

I am staying in the village for New Years. They don’t do anything NYE so I’m typing this, maybe gonna start a box of wine and just chill. But I prob won’t make it till midnight here since I’m supposed to be getting an “early” call from Confidence to come pound foo foo. Her brothers were slaughtering a cow today when I left for HoHoe…yum meat!!! From what I can tell, we will pound and eat foo foo, go to church, and then come home and cook more and then take food to each other to “share love.” I baked muffins today to share tomorrow. And I have some balloon things my aunt sent earlier this year…I’ll finally be nice and give them to the kids tomorrow.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Love you and miss you guys. Mia and Angie, Happy Birthdays, Mom and Dad, Laura and Todd, Happy Anniversaries, and Mia and Nick congrats on the wedding!