Hey everyone,
Well I’ve already been in Ghana for a tad over 3 weeks. That flew past. I realized a few days ago that the last time I had a hot shower was in July. I could do with a hot shower, its pretty hard to get clean when the water in the shower is freezing. Also, its approaching 1 year since I had a hair-cut, and I haven’t had a shave since March (although I have trimmed my beard).
Another funny development in the ‘yam festival’ story. If we are caught eating yam before the festival (which we have been doing, but have not been caught), we have to pay the tribal chief of our village with GOATS AND SCHNAPPS to appease him. I hope we get caught just so we have to do it, its so funny.
So, onto the Aussie rules grand final story. A taxi was supposed to pick us up in our village at 2am Saturday and drive us into Accra. It didn’t arrive, no suprises there. Amazingly we caught a tro-tro (local mini-van) at 2:30 in the morning, and arrived at ‘Champs Sports Bar’ under the cover of darkness, in time for the start of the game. The game was supposed to be on Fox Sports, however Fox News and Sports share a channel in Africa, with the most important event being broadcast. Because of another hurricane in the US, the grand final was not shown. Instead, we were able to listen to the game over the radio, which was still a lot of fun. There was an interesting bunch of people at the pub at 4 in the morning. There are a heap of gold mines in Ghana and there are a lot of Aussies from Perth working on them over here, for the tax free pay. After the game we headed off for a beer or two (at 8 in the morning), with some geologists who were working on the mines, Vlad from Romania (who tells me Trannsylvania is a great holiday spot), Beau from Perth, and Colin from Northern Ireland. Colin came good on his claim to be able to find a bar that was open at 8 on a Saturday morning, and we toasted to the swans sitting at a really cool streetside spot. We made it back to Akropong, and bed, later on that afternoon. All in all, a memorable day fitting for the Grand Final.
Teaching is going well. It’s a little strange at times, but I am enjoying it and I think the kids are too, at least some of the time. In my social studies class, I have to follow the curriculum set out in the books, and now we are looking at ‘slavery and the effect of white men on Africa’. Basically we are spending a few weeks looking at the awful way white men have treated Africans over the years and that has had a effect to make people here feel inferior to whites. It really is weird to teach this to a class of black kids as a white man, but maybe coming from me they will believe it even more. I read in the social studies book the 220 million slaves were taken from West Africa, and Ghana had a huge proportion of that. You can easily see many similarities between African-americans and Ghanan people, more so than any other African nation. My computer classes are pretty strange as well, as after 3 weeks we have not yet had strong enough power to turn a single computer on. Its pretty weird to teach computers without using them.
I have been getting pretty sick over here, not sure what it is. A fair bit of vomiting, and now ive got a COLD! I feel ridiculous to have a cold in a hot, tropical climate. So ive been doing a lot of sleeping and reading. Ross brought a heap of books with him. I just finished reading Bill Clintons autobiography which is a brilliant read.
Have not been to church for a few weeks as the deliver 90% of the sermon in Twi (local language) and all the singing is in Twi. Once at church got asked to go up the front and were introduced to the massive congregation. Then the preacher spoke about us for a while, receiving lots of cheers from the crowd. We, however, have no idea what he said. Vera, a host, goes nuts for church. She attends the 5 hour Saturday service, and the 3 hour Sunday church. Still, even when you don’t go to church over here, you are still completely surrounded by Christianity. For example, the internet café I am in has worship songs played over the speakers. God is in everything, names, shop names, general conversation. If you ask someone how they are, the general response is ‘By gods grace I am find’. Its really a wonderful thing to see a really poor person with very little material wealth, who is very happy and self-assured because of their faith. I am sure this has a large role to play in the friendliness and safety of Ghana.
One thing that seems very strange against the backdrop of rampant Christianity, is the VERY common practice of a man having multiple wives. Having 2 is common, 3 is rare but still around. The principal of the school, Mr Boafo, has two wives and our host’s (Vera) father has 2. Its not really something I have asked the men about, but Vera shares my opinion that’s its pretty dodgy.
Ross has been asking his English class to write letters to children in Australia, so he can set-up a pen pall program. The letters they have written are, in many cases, hilarious. Things such as, ‘I am of fair complexion’ for the darkest boy I have ever seen. They also have vivid imaginations, telling kids in Australia they keep lions as pets. One girl started her letter “By the grace of the seven rainbows, I am writing you a letter.” Not sure what that means. Some things that sound untrue, however, have been found to be true. Such as “I have 9 brother and 7 sisters”, that one is true, and “I have a pet monkey” which is also true for a few of the kids. When asked to “describe the school”, most of the kids wrote “My school is 30 meters long and 10 meters wide and is made with wood and mud.”. Its been a really fun exercise.
Oh, here is something to make people jealous. I think Ghana is the cheapest country I have been in on the trip so far. Anyway, a 750ml bottle of cold beer costs $1.08 (in aussie dollars) so 4 or 5 bucks pays for a big night out. The internet café were I am is around 10 kilometers from Akropong, and I come here in a shared taxi (a taxi that runs a certain route and you share with anyone along the way that wants a lift|) which costs me about 40 cents. Yep, its pretty cheap.
We uncovered the source of the ‘John the Baptist’ craze sweeping the town. If you haven’t heard already, people like to murmur “John the Baptist” after I walk past them in the street. Anyway, the children have a lesson at school called ‘Religious and Moral Education’, which is a great subject, teaching them about god, but also doing good work in informing them about AIDS and how to prevent it. Anyway, in their text books there is a picture of John the Baptist, baptizing Jesus in the river. And yes, I have to admit, there is a fairly obvious similarity between big John and myself.
School uniforms are pretty funny in Ghana. Every school has exactly the same uniform. Brown short or brown dress, and a yellowish shirt. Its crazy, I always see kids, think they are wagging, but cant be sure if they go to my school. Last year was the ten year anniversary of our school, and they made special shirts for the occasion. The are crazy, flouro green Hawaiian shirts. Ghana men love crazy looking coloured shirts. Anyway, Ross and I both bought material and got a local tailor to make us the school shirts. The kids love it that we have the same shirts as them. The girls also love my hair, and always ask me to stop so they can feel how soft it is. I didn’t realize African hair felt similar to steel wool.
Anyway, that’s all ive got for now. Im learning how to make palm wine of the weekend. I have heaps of brilliant photos but cant find anyway to upload them. I am sure within 2 weeks I will have some photos on here though. Anyway, love you all,
Ryan
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