why can't I serve my jesus blog

trip continues...

2006-03-23T11:19:00.000Z

After leaving Tenzug we headed back to Bolga to catch a tro on to Wa which is on the other side of the country. We decided to travel through one of the most remote and underdeveloped parts of Ghana. A tro to Wa was going to take about 8 hours so we decided to break up the trip and spend the night in Tumu. Which was only about 5 hours away. It was a good thing we did this because after waiting on the tro for a couple of hours for it to fill we immediately began our trip on one of the worst roads in Ghana. Padding on tros is pretty much nonexistent so five hours on a washboard road is torture. We also had horrible seats with no leg room at all. We were basically squatting. On top of that the dust was so bad that we had to wear bandanas over our mouths and noses. By the time we reached Tumu our hair was red from dust.

Not much exciting about Tumu. Not really many people visit there especially white ones. It was just about dark when we found a place to stay. After that we looked for food to eat. There really weren't too many options. Fufu and groundnut stew. My least favorite dish in Ghana! I ate it after much gagging. Fufu is made from cassava, plantains or yam (but not the yams we know)it is peeled, boiled and then pounded in a big wooded bowl with large sticks until it becomes a starchy ball of goo. You then pick off small pieces and dip it in a stew. You are not supposed to chew fufu as it is considered rude to the cook. Fine with me...gets it out of my mouth sooner. After eating we headed back to the room. On the way there I saw a white woman sitting in front of a store chatting with people. We exchanged glances and I did not think much of it. Funnything is that a few weeks ago I met a Peace Corps volunteer here in Accra who is stationed in Tumu. I told her I was there once and asked her if the person I saw might have been her. She got excited and said she remembered the Day that two white guys walked through her town. She said she was so desperate to speak with someone knew and almost chased after us to talk to us. We finally got to sleep and woke up at 5 with the Muslim call the prayer blasting all over the city. We headed out to find a tro to Wa and ended getting the last to places in the back of a truck sitting on an unpadded bench the truck. In a truck smaller than a standard bed pick up there were 17 people crammed in there! At this point in time, we knew this was going to be one long trip, but there were no other options. We were right. We did get a break, however, when it broke down. Gladly, I got off. Fortunately, the people found a van to put us on and we finished the journey in seats with slightly more padding. A few hours later, we arrive in Wa and eat another egg sandwich.

More to come.

my apartment

2006-03-22T17:01:00.000Z

I recently moved into an apartment in the busiest part of the city. It is near one one the main transportation hubs for buses and tro tros. All day long you can hear over a loud speaker a guy saying, "Koforidua Mountain!" over and over. He does this to attract people going there since there really is no structure to the stations. You just have to ask around where the tro tro to wherever is leaving from.

The neighborhood is safe, but I am pretty much one of the non-Africans living here. I live on a dirt road (calling it a road is a stretch). It has huge rocks in it and puddles. I kind of reminds me of the set from Blackhawk Down. Cars rarely drive there and taxis generally ask for more money if you have them drive there. People are friendly and things are much cheaper in this part of town.

I share the apartment with 3 other people and one of my best friends is moving in the week. We have a pretty constant supply of water which is not always the norm. We also have a guy that cleans, does the dishes and laundry. It is a nice life. I will post pics soon.

why i have not written

2006-03-17T09:13:00.000Z

I knew this would happen! I never seem to follow through with these writing things. At this point in time I really just dont know what to write about. Things are so everyday for me now. I figure why would anyone want to hear how a woman on the street screamed at me because I walked between her and the bananas she was selling? Or I had malaria again?

Anyway, I did move into an apartment. It is a cool place, but the neighborhood looks like it is straight from the set of Blackhawk Down.

I have less than two months left. I cant believe that I went from hating it here to not wanting to leave. I have really made a life for myself here and live at a different pace. I speak Ghanaian english which will have to end very quickly. I think that I am going to have a hard time readjusting to the US.

I promise to post some pics soon.

lady turns into chicken

2006-01-27T11:49:00.000Z

I was talking to a friend of mine here and he was telling me about a rumor that started early in the morning a few days ago and by noon it had gotten all over the city. It seems that a woman that makes a living carrying things for people bent over to pick up some money she saw on the ground. This is considered greedy here and should never be done. The story goes that as she picked up the money she turned into a chicken. People really believe this kind of thing. The next day it was on the front page of the most respectable newspaper in Ghana.

random pics from the trip

2006-01-25T12:29:00.000Z

Hopefully, I will get back to writing about the trip for my benefit as well as those reading, but right now I think I will try to upload some pics...If you want to know more about the pics just ask.

break from trip

2006-01-25T12:27:00.000Z

A few weeks agao, I wrote about how I had missed an exam and thought I failed the class. Well, it turns out that I somehow got an A- in that class. Strange considering the fact that the entire grade was based on an exam I did not take.

days four and five

2006-01-19T16:09:00.000Z

day three

2006-01-11T23:59:00.000Z

We woke up, got an egg sandwich and headed to catch a tro to Bolgatanga (Bolga). We got some of the last tickets and we learned that unless you are in a huge hurry you should just wait for the next one, otherwise, you end up with the worst seats. Drew ended up sitting in between two very large women on an already overcrowded bench. I ended up in a jump seat in the middle of the bus next to a woman with 3 children piled into her seat so that she only had to pay for one seat. At that point I knew that this was going to be one of the longest four hours ever! Along the way we saw a recently crashed tro tro turned on its side and people crawling out of the windows. This was not very comforting. We finally arrived in Bolga and went to look for some food to eat. It was Sunday, so there was not much open. We ended up getting some jollof (rice cooked with tomato paste and a few spices) and an egg (I have eaten more eggs here than I ever have in my life.) After eating we headed back to the tro tro station and found the van going to Tongo. The fare was 4,000 cedis. I asked how much it would cost to put my backpack on the roof and was told 5,000 cedis. This seemed like too much since it was more than the fare I would pay so I decided to carry it on. When it came time to pay I handed the tro tro mate 10,000 and paid for my ticket and Drew’s, expecting 2,000 back in change. The mate told me that he did not have change and would give it to me later. I told him that would be fine. In fact, I did not really care if I got the change or not since it is really less than a quarter. Later, he came back and told me that he was going to keep the 2,000 because I carried a bag on board. This was a new rule designed to squeeze extra money out of the tourist. At this point I decided that I really wanted that change and demanded he find the change and bring it right back to me. After arguing back and forth, I ended up getting it back. All left to do was wait for the tro to fillup and then we could leave. Since it was Sunday, we ended up waiting over an hour. For some reason, people are expected to wait on the tro and not leave after you have paid the fare. It was hot and I was still a little upset about the mate trying to take my 2,000. I could not wait to get off that van!

We finally arrive in Tongo and exit the tro. The driver comes up to me and tells me that I owe him 5,000 cedis for the bag. At this point I was in no mood to humor him and did what you should really not do in Ghana. I just said “NO!” and walked away. He was offended and began yelling at me. There was a time when I first arrived in which this would have intimidated me and I would have given in. Not anymore! He was saying that I can’t just say no. I could say that I did not have the money or I don’t want to pay, but not just “no”. Again, I just said “No!” and that I was not going to pay extra since the woman with the goat on her lap did not have to any anymore and my bag did not smell nearly as bad. I walked away as he was still yelling at me.

A kid, Zachias, on the tro was from Tenzug and said he knew our friend Tonya. We had heard that Tenzug was about 4 km away and located on top of a hill. Zachias picked up his bike in Tongo and agreed to carry one of our bags and water. We followed him down a path into the hills. The landscape was amazing and the setting sun made it look golden. It reminded me of the American Southwest. After about 5 minutes of walking and following Zachias we told him that he could go on ahead since he had his bike and we would be in Tenzug shortly. This was a mistake since we forgot to ask him for directions before he left. Ten minutes later we realized out mistake and we were lost. It was also beginning to get dark. We ended up asking some people we met along the way and they showed us to the road we were supposed to be on.

We finally arrived at Tonya’s village and found her house. It was a small building next to the school. We asked her about the area and if there were places that we were not allowed to explore. She pointed to two hills she said were off limits because they were considered sacred. If we went there she would have to pay for a cow to be sacrificed to cleanse the place. Not wanting to put her out we agreed not to go to those hills. That evening we sat around her house around a coleman lantern. Electricity had yet to come to her village and there were no immediate plans to connect it to the grid. She had lived there for over a year by then and said she enjoyed the simplicity. We were all pretty tired so we turned end after a couple of hours sitting around listening to Tonya play her guitar and sing. Drew and I decided to sleep outside in her courtyard. Because it was so dark here we had great view of the stars as we fell asleep.

The next day we got up had some breakfast that Tonya had gotten from the chief's house. Porrige and my fave food in Ghana, cosi. Cosi is smashed up beans that are made into a patty and fried. After that we playes some frisbee and then headed to take the tour of the village. The village is made up of people with traditional religious beliefs and they perform sacrifices of all sorts to the gods. At one point we went to a shrine in a cave on a cliff. This is the main shrine of the village where people come for advice. When you go there, you first have to have permission from the priest. You also have to bring a fowl to be sacrificed and you are not allowed to wear a shirt of any kind. It interesting to see and hear about since these people really believe in this stuff.

We spent the afternoon rock climbing around the village and the evening drinking warm beer that we sent a ckid to go get for us from the closest store (about 3 miles away).

day two

2006-01-04T11:18:00.000Z

Woke up at the Catholic Guest House. The room we took had no electricity and the guard told us we could stay there for free (we gave him 10,000 cedis for his kindness).

After finding an egg sandwich stand we began to explore the city. The first thing I noticed was how clean it was when compared to Accra. Also, bikes and scooters outnumbered cars. In fact, they even have bike lanes! In Accra, people rarely ride bikes, because only poor people would have to ride a bike and nobody wants to be seen as poor. They would rather walk. We passed a stand by the side of the road displaying cow heads for sale. They told us we could buy one and they woulc break open the head so we could get to the brain. We the guy flipped one of them over hundreds of flies flew out. They also sold tails and feet. We moved on with out making a purchase.

We then moved on to the market. I have been to markets before and always found them to be a bit annoying. In the south it is hard to walk more than a few feet with out someone grabbing you and telling you to take a "nice good look". We weren't bothered at all in this market. For anyone who has not seen an African market before: it is kind of like a flea market in the it is generally in the open air. Vendors are behind their stands on either side of a narrow dirt path. Goods are spread out on tables and usually neatly stacked. You can get everything from tomatoes to fabric, get a haircut or have clothes made. I made one purchase that day. I bought what I was told was a bracelet. It was made of iron, very heavy and I could just barely sqeeze it over my hand. I was pretty happy with it and got it for 10,000 cedis ($1). Later that night someone told me that it was not a bracelet at all. It was a link from a chain used to imprison slaves during the slave trade. I took it off right away and felt pretty foolish. Other than that, this market did not really offer anything different from anyother than I had been to, but it was a nice walk.

We had heard that there was a leather tanning shop in the city, so we set off to find it. When we got there we peaked into the courtyard to see what was going on. It smelled like chemicals and rotting meat. A man was hammering tanned goat skins to the ground to dry. We wanted to learn more, bnut were told by one man that we would have to pay 100,000 cedis to the elders before looking around more. We decided leave. Instead, we watched people making sandles down the street. For about five dollars you could have a pair of sandles custom made. We talked a little bit to the people making them and found out that the family had been making them at that site for generations.

We were still pretty tired from the bus trip, so we decided to head back to the hotel and nap. Before that, we stopped and had lunch. A meal called red red. This is basically a stew made from beans and fried ripe plantains served on the side. Both the beans and plantains are red from the palm oil in which they are cooked. Food stands on the streets are called chop bars and are just about everywhere. In Ghana, you order your food based on how much you want to pay. For instance, I had 1000 cedis worth of beans and 500 cedis worth of plantains (total about 20 cents). It was enought to fill me up. Downside to chop bars...there is no running water, therefore, not always the cleanest for conditions. If you are not careful that the food is hot when served to you you could get sick! In the end it works out, with the money you are saving on food you will have enough left over and then some to by the meds you need to treat whatever illness you catch! Finally we reached the hotel and fell asleep.

We did not really know anyone in Tamale, but had gotten numbers from friends of friends. We gave them a call and were invited to a pub crawl that was going on that night. we ended up hitting it off with these people and meeting a ton more along the way. At about 1am we were in the back of a pick up on the way to the hotel for the night. The next day we would head further north to Bolgatanga.

day one

2006-01-03T13:35:00.000Z

The trip actually begins the day before leaving Accra. I finished packing and left the hostel and got a cab to drop my things off at Octavio's home (where I am currently house sitting). I arrived around 8pm, we had dinner and some wine and did not even notice that it was close to midnight. My original plan was to stay with my friend Heather for the night and meet up with Drew the next morning and head north. I knw that Heather had been working long hours and she was probably asleep by then, but I called her anyway. She did not answer. I went to her house hoping I could wake her; I couldn't. I ended up sleeping on her porch for the night in a hard wooden chair. The next morning Drew called and said he left his "traveling pants" (whatever those are?) at work and would be late in meeting me. When we finally leave to catch a bus we find that they had all left earlier that day and they were booked for the next few days. We looked for anything that would take us north and finally found a bus at another station that sold us the last 2 tickets. It was 3pm by then. Eventhough we got the last tickets more people kept getting on the bus. In Ghana, bus companies want to make money, in order to do so they haev eliminated the aisle and put in jumpseats. Even after these filled more people got on the bus. I sat for 12 hours without moving my legs more than 5 inches and had a sweaty armpit resting on my knee.
We finally arrived in Tamale at 3am, found the Catholic Guest House and got a place to sleep for a few hours. Tiring ride, but it was meant to be the longest single haul during our trip, but as with many thigns in Ghana, things don't always go as planned.

trip

2006-01-03T06:50:00.000Z

I just got back from a 2 plus week to the Upper West and Upper East regions of Ghana. It was one of the best trips I have taken in my life and allowed me to see a completely different side of Ghana. I took lots pictures, but then ended up deleting a good deal of them by accident halfway throught the trip; the ones that remained I have been unable to upload because I lost the USB connector cord somewhere along the route. Not sure what I will do about that since I dont think I can buy one here. If anyone has an extra they would like to send me, I would not argue!

Why did I like the North so much? Well, for one thing the weather was awesome-dry and hot. The landscape reminded me alot of the southwest US. Most of all it was the people. In the south, Accra especially, people are much more aggressive and I often get the feeling that people talk to me only becuase they want to sell me something or get get them to the US somehow. The endless obruni calls are also annoying in the south. The North is culturally much different. It is less developed and less
westernized for one. It is also mostly Muslim. They get far fewer westerners visiting and when they do visit they seem genuinely interested in talking to them. Not once did anyone want anything from me. In fact, most people were offering things for me to eat or drink all the time. My time in the North made me love Ghana and was sad to head back south. Fortunately, I am house sitting again. This time for a guy from Brazil, so I will live in a nice place for a while after a couple weeks of camping, sleeping on rooftops and riding in the back of pick up trucks on bumpy and dusty dirt roads. Also gives me time to find a place of my own before classes begin again.

Quick overview
Day 1 & 2
Left Accra for Tamale, pub crawl in Tamale with some Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)
Day 3 & 4
Tamale to Bolgatanga then to a town outside the city (Tenzug) to stay at a PCV's site
Day 5
Left Tenzug through Bolga again and then stopped in Tumu to rest for the night.
Day 6
Arrived in Wa and headed to Wechaiu Hippo Sanctuary
Day 7
Hippo Sanct
Day 8 & 9
Back to Wa and then to Sombo for a PCV Christmas party
Day 10
Back to Wa, spent the night with some more volunteers
Day 11-13
Left Wa and headed to Mole National Park
Day 14
Left Mole and headed back to Tamale to catch a tro tro to Kumasi
Day 15-17
Left Kumasi and headed for the beach in Axim and then Busua for New Year's Eve
Day 18
Back to Accra to House sit

It was a long trip and did get a little tired of the endless tro tros, but I actually really loved the whole thing and had a great travel partner. With the exception of the money that was stolen from me between Wa and Mole I actually saved money by traveling rather than staying in Accra. Today I will begin the trip and hopefully find a way to put the pics on here too. Until then, Happy Holidays!

end of round one...difficult start, strong finish

2005-12-14T11:15:00.000Z

The first semester is over and the last of the students on my program left last night. I am the only one staying for two semesters. I have to admit that is was a bit hard to see them go, eventhough I was not close with most of them. Most of all I think I was a bit jealous listening to them talking about all the things they were planning to do when they got back to the US. I am over that now and really can't think of anything I really want from the US, honestly. I am just glad that I made a point to make friends with people off campus, otherwise I think I would not be in very good shape right now.

I have been busy this week thinking about cleaning. I think I will actually begin today since I have to move out of the hostel on Friday. I am also planning a trip with my friend Drew. We leave on Friday morning and we will be going to northern Ghana, meeting up with Peace Corps friends of ours along the way. Both of us are pretty strapped for cash, so we plan to keep it cheap. We will be taking tro tros the whoel way and I foresee a meltdown on my part. Tro tros can be trying (overcrowded, hot, unreliable and sometimes occupied by one or two goats or chickens) but they are the cheapest way to travel. You can get a few hundred miles for less than 3 dollars. We will also be eating cheaply, trying to keep the meals down to less than 50 cents per meal. We will be heading to Tamale, Bolgatanga, Wa (were will will spend Christmas with some Peace Corps people and then making a trip to a hippo sanctuary for a canoe trip), then to Mole National Park where I hope to see some elephants. For New Year's we will be heading to Green Turtle Lodge in Busua for a beach party with more Peace Corps people. I will be sleeping on the beach while there.

I have been really bad about taking pictures, but hope to change that soon. When I do have new pics I will be sure to post them here.

I was a little worried about finding a place to live for next semester since I won't get my housing stipend until Mid January, but I lucked out again and have been offered another house sitting gig. Awesome place and the guy insists that I have the cook cook for me. I won't argue this time. I went there last night for dinner and had lobster. The guy is from Brazil, so the cook makes mainly Brazilian food. I can handle that.

Other than all that, I have been eating better and gaining some weight, but if anyone out there has size 28 shorts/pants send them my way. I am looking like a clown with my oversized pants. I am also glad that I did not return to the US early. By the way thanks for the emails of support during that time.

On a scary note...a friend of mine got a really bad case of malaria, developed pnemonia and is now on life support here in Ghana. They want to airlift him to France, but can't until his condition improves. Personally, I think that he should be taken to South Africa where they have more experience treating tropical diseases. He was taking his malaria meds regularly, but did not seem to make a difference.

At any rate, I probably not have much access to email or phone while on this trip up north, but will be giving some contact information out to my travel partner Drew in case anything goes wrong...not that I expect it to.

Check back here for updates in Mid January. Until then, Happy Holidays everyone!!!! I will be thinking of you all while I am at the beach enjoying 90 degree weather.

pub crawl

2005-11-27T09:06:00.000Z

Lat night, I went to a pub crawl sponsored by Champs Bar. I was a little worried that I was not going to have much fun since the people I was going with got stranded in the middle of Ghana on a broken down bus. It was awesome without them, though. We started at 4pm at Champs. We got our T-shrts and piled into an old school tro-tro. By old school I mean a truck with 2x4s for seats. The thing only went about 30 miles per hour, but felt like 90.

We went to ten bars and had a drink at each. At bar #4 somebody puked. It was not me, but someone wrote on my shirt, "puked at Ryan's Bar". Later, the found the real vomitter and added to my shirt "wrongly accused".

I met tons of people. I would be more descriptive, but I am still recovering from the crawl.

"f" in geography

2005-11-26T13:09:00.000Z

So, the exam I missed... can't make it up. Got an F in Medical Geography.

missed exam

2005-11-22T16:09:00.000Z

Ok, taking classes here is frustrating, but I have gotten used to it. When the exam schedule came out I knew that it was bound to change since no times or locations were included. What I did not expect was the date they begin to change. I checked the schedule last friday afternoon and realized I had just missed my first exam. Not really sure what I can do about. Hopefully, I can make it up since the whole grade is based up on this exam.

weight loss ghana-style

2005-11-20T13:24:00.001Z

I arrived to Ghana weighing 155 lbs. Since then, I have lost a considerable amount of weight. Ever since I had malaria I have not had an appetite. I have to force myself to eat.

I am now about 125 lbs. and none of my clothes fit me. I think I will go to the doctor this week.

weight loss ghana-style

2005-11-20T13:24:00.000Z

still alive

2005-11-20T13:18:00.000Z

Ok, Things are going well here. So well, that I just can't seem to find the time to sit in front of the computer and update my blog.

That will soon change. Classes are over. Finals beginning and a good percentage of my friends here will be leaving. I don't have a place to live after the 20th of December, but I am sure that I will figure something out.

I also missed my first final exam. They change the dates of finals and I found out that a exam I was supposed to have on the 21st of Novemember was actually on the 17th. Not good!

I will be posting more pics and entries soon, so keep watching.

it was bound to happen

2005-10-25T21:15:00.000Z

Today one of the most disgusting things ever happened. I was returning from class, it was dark and stepped right into a gutter (see earlier post)! Knee deep in raw sewage. Worst of all, I also got cut, so who knows what has entered my system.

People got a good laugh from it and I did too, but I think I will start a round of antibiotics tomorrow.

update from ghana

2005-10-25T20:56:00.000Z

After having some serious doubts, I have decided to stay until May. I feel like I have definitely begun to get into the swing of things here and am having fun. And the urge I had to kick chickens out of frustration only happens on a weekly basis rather than daily. A few things have happened to change my outlook: I got an internship, I am not living in the dorm for the next five weeks, and I am meeting some really cool people.

The internship is doing GIS for a commodity trading website. It is going to be pretty challenging since I am using software I have never used before that requires writing a lot of code. This internship led me to move off campus for thenext five weeks. The guy who runs the firm is away for 5 weeks and he told me that I could stay at his place while he is gone in exchange for the work I am doing. So, I am living in luxury now: A/C, digital cable, a cook and in the city. I won't want to go back to living in the dorms after this.

coca cola+barren women=babies

2005-10-05T10:38:00.000Z

I have a thing for ridiculous tabloid papers. My favorite is the Weekly World News. I love to read about Big Foot serving on a jury in Washington state or how a giant rodent/human creature is spooking people in South Carolina. When I saw the above paper, I knew that I had a new source of entertainment in Ghana. To be honest, the main story about rape is just WRONG, but the one about how barren women drank bottles of blessed Coke was well worth the 3,000 cedis.

The story reads:

Now Odeefoo Acquah has done it again. Last year, he organised SPECIAL PRAYERS for barren or childless women. What did he do?

He simply prayed over a bottle of Coca Cola, blessed it and gave it to each childless woman to drink. He told them: "As You Drink In The Almighty God's Name, You Will Be Made Pregnant By Your Husbands. And Next Year By This Time, All Of You, Who Have Drank The Coca Cola Will Give Birth To Your Own Children. And No One Will Call You Barren Or Childless Again....

I wonder what Coca Cola would think about this?

Also in the paper are stories about: how a goat thief tries to avoid arrest by playing dead, how pornography ruins lives (including Bible quotes) and, strangely enough, some softcore erotica.

less than 2 dollars a day

2005-09-26T16:47:00.000Z

I read in the paper the other day that most Ghanaians make less than 2 dollars a day. It is true that money goes a lot farther here in Ghana, but 2 dollars is below the poverty level determined by the UN. Because of this, families need their children to work. It is not uncommon to see a 7 year old selling gum for 10 cents at a busy intersection late at night or a 10 year old with selling water out of little sachets for 3 cents. I try to make sure to give one working child 20,000 cedis (about 2 dollars) at least once a day, the hard part is that I cannot afford to help everyone I pass and I have to chose which to help. In the end, I am not even sure that this will make a difference in their lives.
Despite the poverty, I see fewer people begging here than I did in DC or Albuquerque. Those I do see begging tend to be refugees or disabled. Those with at least some capital and physical ability chose to work and make money however they can.

Kakum National Park

2005-09-26T15:32:00.000Z

Kakum National Park is located near Cape Coast. It is probably one of the biggest rourist atractions in Ghana. The canopy walkway is a cool way to see the park from the treetops. The walkway is about 350 meters long and 30 meters (90+ feet above the ground). It is basically a series of aluminum ladders with boards over them to form the walking surface and held together by rope. These walks are hung between trees with about enough room at each stopping place for about 5 people. If you are afraid of heights or wobbly bridges, you should probably stay away.

Unfortunately, because this place is so popular, there is not a very good chance of seeing much wildlife. I did see a few ants and a butterfly.

If you do go here, DO NOT EAT at the cafe. I have heard from several people about the horrible service the got there. When I went I sat at a table of five. We placed our orders and made bets as to how long it would take before we were all served. Service tends to be slow here. I guesses ranged from 45 minutes to 2 hours and 10 minutes. No body won the bet. That day we waited for over 2 hours and only 2 people ended up getting their food. After two hours the waiter came to tell us that they did not have the food we ordered. Other people have told me that when they were there the waiter told them they were not allowed to order from the menu because they were students. Instead they had to take the "student special", but would not tell them what exactly that was.

My advice: go there, but don't expect to see a monkey and dont eat at the cafe!

oburoni

2005-09-23T10:31:00.000Z

Oburoni is the first Twi word that most non-Africans learn in Ghana. Not because it is a useful or important word, but because you hear someone yelling at you about every 15 seconds. Literally, it can be translated in a few different ways. One translation means "someone from the land beyond the horizon," but it also can be traced back as meaning "a bad, mean, selfish or destructive person." Considering the slave trade and colonial history of Ghana, this meaning can be easily understood. Commonly, it is used to describe a white person, i.e. anyone that is not of Africa descent including Asians, Hispanics, Arabs, etc. Sometimes it is meant as an insult, other times not.

Whatever the meaning and the speaker's intention, hearing it REALLY begins to wear on my nerves. First of all, it happens so often. I am not exagerating when I say that I hear it several times a minute. People say it just for the sake of it. Almost like they are just pointing out to everyone that you are different. Laughs and giggles usually follow.

One blonde woman told me that she went into the bathroom once and someone came up to her and said, "you are white." She was not really sure how to respond. She also says that strangers often will pull her hair and ask her if it is real. I was with her once when a random woman on the street reached over and grabbed her breasts. I guess in the end I am lucky that I am at least not blonde.

The strange thing is that Ghana is really westernized and most people in Accra come in contact with non Africans everyday. But they still feel compelled to shout "Oburoni."

people not systems

2005-09-20T10:44:00.000Z

One thing I don't ever think I will get used to is the smell of open sewers. They line all the streets and are basically big ditches between the sidewalk and road. I think they all lead to one big river I passed over once. It had a thick black skin over it, seemed to bubble and then flowed directly into the sea.
The odd thing is that these kind of conditions exist alongside one of the neatest and most orderly cultures I have ever lived in. For example, consider the plate of peanuts stacked like Lincoln Logs or that the streets and sidewalks are swept every morning or everyone's clothes are always clean and pressed despite the dust and dirt everywhere.
I have heard that people, not systems work in Ghana and think that this may be true.