Aki's Ceremony, Crazy Todome Climbing

Here's some more pics from around my village, Aki's ceremony and the crazy mountain climbing in my village.  I will never look at this mountain the same...at one point or another, it made us all cry.

 These twins still cry when they see me in the village!

Women's Group with our batik headbands on

We have fun.

Apolonia likes to wear my sunglasses.  Taught her how to throw up the peace!  Changing the world, one hippie at a time :)

Aki getting decked out in beads for her ceremony.

This girl was dressed to present the gifts from the community to Aki.  She is striking! Especially in the kente.

Aki and me beaded out for the ceremony.

Potluck craziness after the ceremony.

Mawuli, Confi, and me

Oh, and I got Boss's name on a list for a free wheelchair...hopefully by June; we may have found a way to borrow one until then too!  Cross your fingers!

Hike up

First resting stop of the vertical climb

 

 

Rhoda is 76. I want to be like her when I grow up!

View around the mountain range.

View over the 3 villages.

Utter happiness!

We all made it...somehow

Aki's Going Away Ceremony

February 24, 2011

So today was Aki’s going away party in my village.  We had so much fun.  The ceremony started 3 hours late (as usual) so we spent the morning just hanging out and being silly.  We had a formal ceremony with the kids drumming and dancing and Aki and I getting decked out in beads.  The community bought her 2 nice woven cloths, a kente strip, and the chief bought her a kente woman’s cloth.  The women’s group bought her a batik purse and we all brought food to have a huge potluck after the ceremony.  We danced (the good pics from Aki’s camera to come later) and took palm wine.  We had so much fun.  It really made me so thankful for my awesome village.  They really are giving and loving people; I know I bitch about things not getting done and people asking me for stuff, but I am so very lucky to be in this village.  They’re really sweet!

 Bustin' a move at Aki's ceremony.

This weekend I have 5 friends coming to my village so we can climb the big mountain and hike from Mate to Todome…so right on.  We are also gonna make fufu and light soup with Esther Saturday night.  It’s gonna be a good weekend…and next weekend is Aki’s going away party from us PCV’s…I’m gonna really miss her a lot!

She and I are working on getting a wheelchair for Boss, so we can at least strap him in and take him outside…he’s just been lying on his mat for 3 months in his sister’s house…it’s very sad…so next week I’ll start searching for the wheelchair; I’ve heard we can get one in Ho. We’ll see.

This week has gone by really quickly, but it has been emotional for some reason.  Monday I had a great day going to Accra to pick batik supplies, Tuesday I ran out of propane and had to cook on a coal pot.  Wednesday I couldn’t get the damn thing to light and I was so hungry and aggravated; I called Confidence and she came and lit it by burning a poly bag (gross…it stunk and gave me a headache) and then I cooked a less than delicious egg and was trying to hurry so I could get to HoHoe to get my tank refilled and get home in time to hold class.  I couldn’t get the regulator off; I pulled and pulled like I was told to do.  I called Chris crying because I was so aggravated.  He gave me a little piece of information that Mawuli had failed to, “You know the switch, press it in as you pull up.” And it came right off.  So I threw my tank on my head and headed down to the road to catch a tro…Mawuli caught me and took it from me…and I got my gas…and made it back for class…and everything was fine.  It’s so funny how simple things drive me to tears here…and then today I’m supremely happy…geeze.

j

Batikin'

February 22, 2011

Yesterday, Confi and I went to Tema to pick batik supplies for the youth group.  I woke up at 4:15 so we could leave the village by 5:30 am.  We were going to Tema (before you get to Accra) because Kafui said we could get the supplies there cheaper than in Accra. So, armed with a phone number and directions that included, “drop at the Tema roundabout, pick a car to Community 2, drop at Adom FM, call the number.”  OK.  So we arrive in Tema and drop at the round about; Confi has never been to this place either, so we ask random people how to pick a car to Community 2.  Ok, stand here and wait.  Holla. So we get a car to someplace and from there we are told to catch a line taxi.  Ok. So now we drop in front of the radio station and I call the number to ask for directions.  “I’ll send someone to get you.  What color dress are you wearing?  Are you Chinese?”  “No, I’m a white lady.  My friend is wearing...” “Oh, no problem. If you are white they will be able to see you.”  It’s true.

So we get to the place and the lady is being less than helpful (the person on the phone was a very nice man who was at the bank and not at the shop to help us) and they were out of fabric.  DAMMIT. We just went through 45 minutes of backwoods car picking to get here and no fabric!  “Is there anywhere else?”  “Oh, they are having a container across from the police station.  Walk that way.”  So we start walking and Confi is getting pissy.  So she goes and asks someone where the police station is and they point that we have to turn right (lady didn’t mention this little fact).  So we go right and ask someone else…walk through this little building walkway…ask someone else… “oh, go beyond those trees and there is the police station…there is a container there…that must be what she was talking about.”  Confi is bitching about the women giving us bad directions and she doesn’t like going where she doesn’t know.  “Confi, this is my everyday life in Ghana.  Unless I’m in the village or HoHoe, I have no idea where I’m going.  I have to keep asking and asking, and walking and walking…and people make fun of me because I’m white and talk funny…that’s why I hide in my house for 2 days after I travel…I’m pissed at the world!”  She starts laughing.  We get to the container and they only have shitty quality fabric.  So we go back to the first place to pick the dyes and chemicals and decide to go on to Accra to pick the fabric.  So the women is once again less than helpful…we pick our stuff and head back to the road to ask for where we need to stand to pick a tro to Accra…big tree…got it.  So we pick a tro to Accra.  It takes about an hour due to all the stops along the way; but we drive a direction I’ve never been and I had no idea where we were, so I was entertained.  We drove along the coast and I got to see the guys dragging in nets, and big ocean fish on road stands for sale (not the crappy river fish we usually have) and even a couple octopi!  It reminded me of one of the best meals of my life: grilled octopus in olive oil in Athens…I smiled. 

We finally arrive in Accra and we have to pee. So we go to the urinal at the bus station, ie, a cement stall with a trough cut in the floor…you go multiple people at a time and I always manage to pee on my feet (cement??? Come on…splashing!!).  They thought it was hilarious to see the obruni’s white shiny ass…don’t care, ladies. So we then head to the market to pick the rest of the supplies.  The market we go to is one I’ve never been to.  It’s super crowded and covers blocks…all kinds of stuff for sale.   After we pick our stuff, I go to the station to pick a car home and Confi stays in Accra to do something.  It takes an hour to get out of the city due to traffic; I stick my Ipod on and spend the 4 hours in a state of happiness.  I pick a tro in HoHoe and arrive back in Todome to drop the supplies off at the shed around 7 p.m.  Long day, yet fun.  It always surprises me the things that make me realize how grateful I am to be here.  Today it was driving down a coastal road in a hot, stinky tro…and maybe it was seeing Confidence get aggravated at the lack of information and multitude of delays.  Apparently the bad traveling attitude is not just me; it’s human.

j

"Hi. I'd like to order some snake soup and a Coke, please..."

February 7, 2011

Today I met Aki at Kafui’s shop (at Wli Waterfalls…super busy tourist spot). She sells our water sachet purses and we were taking her the new headbands the women are making.  We show her the headbands and she agrees to sell them and I pick her brain about batik making (she has been doing it for over 10 years; I was asking prices of the supplies for our batik group in Todome).  Aki and I of course shop because she has awesome stuff: batik, dresses, hats, bags, beads (tons!).  A tour bus arrives full of kids from Semester at Sea and they take over her shop.  So Aki and I play sales girls…it was fun!  We sold 4 of the 7 headbands we brought; and there were only 2 colors to pick from.  They bought some of the water sachet purses too.  Kick ass!

We’re sitting there and Kafui goes, “Oh, look they have got a snake.” Huh? So Aki and I go over to where these guys are stoking a fire and placing a 4 to 5 foot long boa or python (I can’t tell the difference) on the grill. They have chopped off its head and tail (they said the tail can be poisonous…I’ve never heard that…I’ll have to google) and are toasting it and scraping off the scales.  They said they were gonna make soup and would bring us some; apparently the meat is really sweet.  “Once you eat this, you will not take any other meat.  It is good.”  So we got back to Kafui’s and she had made banku and pepe for us.  Aki goes and buys us all a Coke and we sit and eat and discuss opening an on-line shop using Kafui’s products.  It was a great afternoon!   Koku, the carver next door, carves these cool leaf trays out of wood, so I told him I want to him to make me 1 big, 2 mediums and 2 smalls.  Some with the dark wood, some with the light, and some with the mahogany.  He’s cutting me a deal and charging me about $20 US for all of them.  He also sells hair combs made from wood with an elephant carved as the handle (it’s really a pick, not a comb) and it’s only $3.45 US.  So I tell him I’ll buy a comb next time (I spent all my money at Kafui’s) and that I would pick the leaves in August when my parents come so they can take it back to the U.S. for me (May to August is high tourist season so I wanted to make sure he knew to make some and hold them back for me).  As we’re hanging around Kafui’s I see a hat I like… 4 cedis.  “Ok, I’ll pick it next time, I’m out of money.”  “Oh, take it. It is for you.  For coming to see me today and doing business with me.”  I argue for a bit and then she just shoves it in my bag…she also shoves the one Aki’s been eyein’ in her bag. Geeze Kafui…you fed us, gave us each a free hat and pair of earrings… People here are so nice and giving.  I’m gonna have to take them some muffins next time I go.  And I really would like to work with her getting an internet shop set up when I head back to the U.S.

So around 3 Aki and I leave and the snake soup was not finished…so no snake for us.  I came back to Todome and told the women how fast the headbands sold and that they better be ready to start producing for here and the US…I already have a standing order for 15 headbands from my fam and we need to stock Kafui up before the May tourist season starts!  It was a fun and productive day…work days were never like this at home…

j

Women Talk Too Much...All Over the World

Februrary 4, 2011

Katie Mae and Sheldon have bought their tickets to Ghana!!!!!!  YIPPEEEEE.  I’m so excited! They’ll be here at the end of March; so I’m staying in my village and saving my cedis so I can travel around with them when they get here.  And Katie Mae is bringing my new SLR camera!!!!! And a double cheeseburger from McDonalds!!!!!  :)  I can’t wait to hang with someone who actually knows me and understands me and…I’m just so happy!!!

So today I went to HoHoe to pick food and supplies for the women’s group  (the headband expansion is in full swing).  I was at my friend’s shop hanging out and a man and woman came in. She left her bags and went somewhere while the man stayed to buy the liquor.  So he’s done picking what he needs and is paying. He starts mumbling (in English) about how she is off somewhere talking.  “This woman.  She goes off and starts talking somewhere.  I am finished; where is she?  Talking somewhere!  Oh!”  And then he sticks his head outside to look for her. He gets his change and keeps mumbling.  I’m cracking up…it’s the same everywhere.  Men griping that the women talk too much …  I was so tickled. Wisdom, my friend, was watching me trying not to laugh, so he starts laughing and the man notices and turns to me and says, “I am sorry sister, but women! Oh, they make no sense!  They go off and talk for a long time.  Talk about nothing!”  LOL.  “Oh brother, it is the same everywhere. The men in my country say the same.  Oh, but you still love us!”  “Oh, yes. We love you.  Women are fine.”  It was really funny.  Things like this, make my day.

j