eggs and sunrises

you know that you’ve been in Africa too long when scrambled eggs taste like the most delectable treat you can imagine.

Last night I was in the apartment alone. My host mom had of course left me some dinner, pre-made (she’s always good about that sort of thing), but I wanted to add a little protein to the meal. So, after I finished eating the dinner she had made me (rice and stew), I scrambled two eggs and topped them with some freshly ground pepper. While still standing by the stove, I took a taste of the eggs. They were so good that I couldn’t even bring myself to go sit down to enjoy them…I just stood in the kitchen and ate them as if I hadn’t been fed in days.

Yeah, food is a pretty big obstacle in my life here. I know I haven’t talked about it much, but food is basically a chore to be endured here. It all tastes the same…fishy, oily, and peppery. Occasionally I enjoy an amazing meal of fried yam, fried chicken, and Heinz ketchup. But that is only on special occasions. Other than that, mealtime is just not enjoyable.

But here’s something that IS enjoyable…my walks every morning at six a.m. I think I wrote about my walks while I was staying at the shelter…those were the best. But even here in the city I love walking while everything is still peaceful in the early morning. I wake up at about 5:30 every morning but purposely don’t get out the door until about 6, since that’s when the sun rises. And let me tell you, I love watching the sun rise as I walk. The sun itself is always bright red, but there are never any colors surrounding it. So, it is just this fiery red ball rising in a foggy sky.

Also, on my walks here in Accra I have noticed that it doesn’t take too much effort to picture this area as it looked before it developed. There aren’t many tall buildings, and there are all sorts of palm trees and other lush greenery, so if you just concentrate on the sun and the treetops, it is easy to imagine what the area used to look like. It’s really a beautiful area, actually. But then I have to look back down at the paved road I’m walking on, and I always think, “Is this really ‘better’ than the way that this area was before?” Tough question, and I don’t know that there is a ‘right’ answer.

an insight on development from a peace corps volunteer

“And perhaps it was just as well Ilunga and the others weren’t in a hurry to become the kind of producers I wanted them to be. They might develop along Western lines with time, but why push them? The local system worked. Everyone was taken care of. Everyone did stay afloat. Besides, there were already plenty of myopic, self-enriching producers in the world—entrepreneurs and businesses guided by the sole principle of increasing their own wealth above all else. So many were there in fact that the planetary boat, battered by breakneck production and consumption, was in ever-increasing danger of sinking, taking with it the ultimate extended family: the species. There seemed to be no survival strategy at work for the planet as a whole as there was for this small patch of Africa; no thread of broader community interest that ensured against total collapse. Indeed … the thought occurred to me more than once that, in several important respects, African villages needed far less instruction from the West than the other way around.” (Mike Tidwell, Peace Corps volunteer)

nana yaw

meet nana yaw. his English name is chris. he is the reason that I'm
able to think about the prospect of staying in Africa for another five
months. no, seriously. seeing the rest of the people from my program
leave for the U.S. this past weekend was so ridiculously hard. I wrote
in another entry about how lonely things can be at the shelter…so if I
had to go five months without someone to talk to and share my life
with…I mean, you can just imagine. so, anyway, he is really great. he
challenges my thinking, he makes me laugh, and has a really winning,
extroverted personality. not to mention that beautiful smile.

pics

alright. so here are the pictures that I’ve been waiting to upload. the first is of a bead market in koforidua. this bead market is widely known to be one of the biggest and best in Ghana, so one day I went with my friend Carolyn to check it out. the second picture is of me doing my laundry at the shelter. let me tell you—-washing machines are a luxury that you never fully appreciate until you have to wash all of your clothes by hand. every time I do it I get cuts on my fingers from scrubbing the clothes. it’s really one of my least favorite parts of life here in Africa :-(. anyway, the third picture is of the farewell dinner that we just had Friday night. from left, it’s melony, me, nan, caroline, Carolyn, and in front is eric. it was actually kind of a sad night for me, because, well, I was the only one not saying farewell. but a memorable night nonetheless.

life at the shelter

so, it has been quite some time since I have given a lengthy update on life in Ghana. For the past few weeks I have been living in the Eastern Region of Ghana. My organization has a domestic violence shelter in a medium-sized town in a rural area of Ghana. And keep in mind, when I say “rural” it means a very different thing than the cornfields you might think of in the rural U.S. In southern Ghana, rural means stunningly beautiful, with mountains, all sorts of lush greenery, palm trees…in fact, one of my favorite parts about working at the shelter is taking a walk every morning and just breathing the fresh air and taking in the beautiful surroundings. The mornings are especially nice…because of the altitude, it is always very cool, and there is almost always some light fog that makes everything seem a bit mystical. Plus, the road that I walk down is a dirt road filled with people carrying things on their heads and wearing traditional dress, so I am always struck by how much the area fits into the image that people might hold of stereotypical Africa.

But, life at the shelter isn’t always as delightful as the walks in the morning. In fact, at the shelter I have at times felt more lonely than I can ever remember feeling. There isn’t really a “family” at the shelter…there are just two social workers who are only older than me by a couple of years. And even they are on a rotating basis, so I have seen four different social workers come and go since I’ve been there. So there’s not as much of a sense of continuity or of “coming home,” which makes it hard. Also, since we are far away from Accra (the capital), there is a lot less English spoken. I know that no one means to exclude me, but sometimes you just sit there while people converse in Twi and think, why am I even here? I am not contributing anything. Sure, I understand basic Twi, but when it comes to long conversations, there is a lot that I of course don’t understand. Plus, it’s really difficult to work with clients, because only one of the clients speaks decent English. So I feel a bit handicapped in doing work at the shelter, because I either shadow the social workers or else have to have one of the social workers translate for me if I want to work with a client.

The other frustrating part about living at the shelter is that I never get time off. Every day of the week I’m going somewhere during the day, running errands, doing work—and then in the evenings I work with clients on either their English skills, reading skills, or computer skills. In essence, I have had no break for four weeks. And let me tell you, when loneliness and frustration compound with no time to rest, life is HARD. So, I have actually been re-evaluating what my second semester will look like…it might be that I spend more time in Accra working at my organization’s main office than at the shelter.

One other thing about the shelter that has bothered me…since it’s in a rural area, I spend a lot more time riding in trotros (those crazy vehicles that I described in some earlier entries). Well, the other week I got in a trotro accident, and while no one got hurt, it was still a big reality check. The vehicles themselves are dangerous, and the way some of these men drive them (yes it is always men who drive trotros) is just out of control. But, there is really no other way to get around. So it’s one of those things where you can deal with the risk, or stay at home and never go anywhere.

Anyway. I think that is about enough about the shelter…I am back in Accra for my break now, so at least for a few weeks I won’t have to deal with all of those stresses.

it has been too long!

i am finally back in the capital city, with internet access. this is going to be a short entry, but i will post more updates soon...i just turned in all of the work for the end of my semester today...5 papers and a presentation. so, at this point i am breathing out a massive sigh of relief.

all the other people on my program are leaving this sunday (super sad for me), but my parents are coming december 23...

and i am now in a relationship with an amazing, wonderful Ghanaian guy named Nana Yaw Chris Addo. i mentioned him weeks ago on my blog...he is the brother of one of the staff members on my program, Aileen.

so, these days I wake up happy because of Chris.

i will write more later--
afia