March 7, 2011
Last Monday the Batik group was supposed to start working, but that morning I got a call from Fo Nicho saying that the Palm Oil Women’s group was pissed. So I met with him and he said they do not want us using the palm oil shed, but he told them that NaNa approved it and so he sent them to him. Fo Nicho and I went to meet with NaNa and he said the women were mad because the youth did not help them build the shed when they asked them to and that they did want them using it. Also, that I have not been working with them. So NaNa said we should find somewhere else to work. I f’in lost it! I started balling my eyes out because I was sooooo pissed. That building has not been touched for over one year and now these old bitches (not all of them; only 2…you know, the 2 that are known for chopping the money) are raising a fuss because they see someone else trying to do something. And that fact that NaNa just gave into them pissed me off beyond control. So there I was crying and trying to argue at the chief’s palace…it’s NaNa, Fo Nicho and me. They both looked completely uncomfortable and shocked at my reaction. And I didn’t want to cry like some little baby, but as frustrating as it is living here, this group was actually getting somewhere and then SMACK…shut down…by some jealous, hateful old ladies. I argued to NaNa that they are wasting that building and that if this community wants to develop they need to use me and listen and not do this petty bullshit. So I tell him that I wanna meet with the women and we decided we’d meet the next day. I went home to collect myself…the whole village heard about it by the time I went back to town later that day. The old women were going around town talking shit that we’ve locked them out of their building…but anyone who has half a brain knows that they don’t use it and the chairwoman is completely shady.
So anyway, I was completely unhappy and really wondering what the f I’m doing here if nothing gets done…it was a really bad day. So Fo Nicho and Esther felt sorry for me and cooked fufu and light soup because I like it. I helped pound fufu for the first time…the 4 year old laughed at me the whole time…and the next day there was a funeral so the meeting was cancelled. Which is just as well because I woke up with a screaming case of diarrhea and spent the whole day laying on my floor w/ no electricity (NO FAN) and running to the bathroom. I pooped my pants…and then had to hand wash them…2 days in a row of SHIT!!!
The week went on and we still didn’t get to meet because of funeral stuff. By Thursday I was completely tired of the drama in the village, so I left with Aki after the Water Sachet Group and spent the night with her. We did some business and took some of the batik headbands to one of the shops in HoHoe. Friday we ran around and she introduced me to some NGO’s she knows in HoHoe where I can advertise my village. I then did some more running around and got a lady I know to start carrying our headbands in her shop too. Then a bunch of PCV’s and a couple JICA people headed to Liate Wote to have a going away party for Aki. Getting to Liate sucks (a PCV lives there). We walked up to the station and they were not selling tickets yet, but there’s a ton of people waiting for the tro. So all of a sudden there was a mad dash to the ticket booth and the tickets for the next tro sold out. Dammit. So we waited around and hoped there would be another tro at some point. A while later another came and we got tickets after some finagling. So we all crammed into this tro and there’s one extra woman outside bitching that she has a ticket and there is no where for her to sit. So we all pulled out our tickets and were discussing it. After about 5 minutes the driver comes and checks everyone’s tickets. One old man had got on the tro without a ticket and refused to get out. The final solution, instead of throwing his old ass out (my personal preference), was sticking 2 guys on the roof. After an hour on shitty roads we arrived. We all cooked a bunch of food (guacamole, bean salad, sushi rice stuff from Japan, PCV ghetto pizza, and chocolate cake with fan ice!), had some beers, I was able to score Aki some Tequila (no small feat in Ghana…let me tell you…) so there were some shots involved, and we all just hung out and it was fun. Early Saturday morning, Rhoda and I went to hike Mt. Afadjato, the highest mountain in Ghana, and the others hiked to the waterfall below. It was around noon when we were done hiking and showering and just waiting on a tro to come. We waited for over 4 hours! No tro…all day; there were two funerals going on around her village and therefore the couple tros that usually come were filling up there and never making it to us! So the JICA peops hopped motos (PCV’s arent’ allowed on them) and a couple PCV’s hopped rides with a bus full of kids from Accra that came to hike the mountain. Rhoda and I decided to just stay because by the time we got back to HoHoe and then to our villages it would be past dark and we were both exhausted from our mountain hike and needed to go to the HoHoe market. So us 3 ladies made spaghetti and got pretty schocked on boxed wine and had a very enjoyable evening talking on the porch. No tro the next day either, but we were able to beg a ride pretty early in the morning.
So that was my weekend. Today I met with the POW group at 6am with the chief, elders, and Fo Nicho. They argued for a while and Fo Nicho was yelling at the chairwoman once…I’m pretty sure she was saying that I wasn’t working with them and he started yelling back that I tried to work with them and that she didn’t call them like she was supposed to…but whatever...it was all in Sekua. The final outcome is we can use one room, but I need to start working with the Palm Oil Group again…that I need to push them…that’s what the women said. I said that I’m not going to beg them to work, and that if I’m gonna work with the group then they will have to pick new officers and I will be in charge of the money since people have been stealing money. So we’ll see…I’m hoping they just never organize and I don’t have to deal with their bullshit. Confidence never showed up for the meeting even though I called her when I got there. So after the meeting I went and yelled at her for being a coward and told her I was pissed that I was the only one there fighting and that she should have been there too. She said she would have said mean things to them and so she did not come….well, my friend, I wasn’t really fond of it, but I sucked it up and did it and sometimes you have to do that kind of stuff if you want to achieve something. So basically I went to fight old asshole women, and they bitched about everything in Sekua (well, Augusta, the chairwoman did all the talking) and pointed at ME a couple times…and no one would tell me what the hefer said! I just got the final outcome in English and that’s it. Tell me how f’n frustrating that is! But I decided f it! Just let it go. I’ll go to the POW group one day next week to organize them and I’m quite sure they will fall off the wagon again and then I won’t have to deal with them….it’s just ridiculous!
The Batik group started working today. We dyed and stamped 12 yards of fabric; they did well.
My life is weird; an emotional roller coaster of extreme highs and lows…all within days of each other…it’s exhausting. 3 weeks till Katie Mae and Sheldon come! Yeah, normal people!!! I really can’t wait!!!!!!
J
