Am I back?

I’ve been back to Portugal for 3 weeks now and I could only write again today. Since the beginning of this experience, being back was the most uncomfortable experience of all.

As soon as I left the airport there were three lines of taxis. I just walked straight and approached one. When I reached the taxi driver he asked me “were you in the line?”. My immediate reaction was to say “Line? What line? Is there a line?”. He pointed to the line of people so I went to the end of it. At that moment I was feeling extremely frustrated because I didn´t understand why did we have to go to a line! There were more than 30 taxis there and there were only 5 people waiting. Why would we have to stand in a line?! Why would we need so much order?!

What I didn´t understand at that point in time was that I was still acting according to the society rules of Ghana. My body was in Lisbon, but my subconscious was still in Ghana.

I still remember my first impressions as soon as I left the airport: “Lisbon is way too quiet; there is too much order and structure. I don´t feel comfortable here…”. I felt like a strange in my own city; I felt like an animal that is put out of its habitat. I was expecting to feel this once I would arrive in Ghana, but I didn´t. It happened only when I arrived in Lisbon.

I slept for 12 hours and when I woke up, for some seconds, I didn’t understand where I was. After that I had a feeling that I still can´t put in words. Strange and weird do not fully explain the feeling. I felt like everything had been a dream – the people didn´t exist; I hadn´t really been there; all the things I had experienced were just a dream. How was it possible that in one moment I was in a place with certain social rules, type of people and environment and, only a few hours later I was in a completely different place, so different that it cannot be described in words? This feeling happens only when we wake up from a dream!

Yesterday I sent a facebook message to one of the volunteers, who just got back home, asking how it was to be back home. Her answer could not better describe what I also felt at the time:

"It's terrible! The first people I met were my parents and they were so happy to see me again, and I... hmm... I was not as happy as they were :p When I told them that I will for sure go back one day to Ghana and that I want to visit more countries in Africa they just coulnd´t understand. They didn´t understand how I could adapt to that life there so fast and that I didn´t feel like I spent holidays there but that I LIVED there.

And one day I was laying in my bed in the morning and listened to the Ghana music and then I had to cry... so strange...

And you know what I felt when I was driving the car?? I had the impression that there are so few cars in the streets and that the traffic is so boring! ahahha

Moreover, every time when I go to the toilet it feels strange throwing the toilet paper in the toilet instead of the bin! ahah

Today I arrived in my apartment in braunschweig and met my roommates and started to realize that the every-day-life has to start... but it's strange, really!

How are you doing? Did you adapt completely to Portugal?"

For some days I could only listen to Ghanaian music; only a few days ago I started to take hot showers; when I pay something, I still give the money with my right hand. I still don´t know what to answer when someone pops up the question “how was it?”…

I did learn a lot about Ghana and its people. But I definitely left Ghana knowing more about me, even if it means knowing what I don´t know and what I need to figure out. However, I somehow feel I’ve learnt something I’m still not aware of.

Thank you Ghana.

I’ll see you soon.

Constança

15/10/2012

Community Life

Two days ago Max, Lucija (new volunteers), Edem and me cooked our own dinner – rice with palavasauce. That was a long and interesting process.

At 5pm we left the office and headed the market. We bought tomatoes, onion, cotombre, eggs, palm oil and rice. On our way home Edem met a friend of him which happens to be his friend. He said he would drive us home. On the way home this police man said “one for the road” – we ended up in a drinking spot drinking whiskey!

When we got there I thought to myself “a police man drinking while driving… that’s not exactly what should happen”, but then I realized that he didn’t drink so I was relieved.

He paid for everyone’s drinks which is something very normal here: the most “powerful” person usually pays for everyone because “you never know what tomorrow might bring and maybe tomorrow you’ll need someone to back you up”. That’s the same for dinners. When people have dinner together there is usually one person who pays for everyone because “what if one person finishes dinner and then realizes that he has no money to pay for?”

When we finished drinking the police man threw the whiskey that was left on the glasses away. That means he is a traditional person who believes in spirits. He did so to give a bit of whiskey to the spirits because you “don´t want to piss them off” – they need to be kept satisfied or something bad might happen to you.

When we arrived home Edem said the police man hadn´t drunk because he was already tipsy. I guess I was wrong…

We left the ingredients at home and Edem said “ladies, stay here and we, the men, will get the stove and the char coals! Ahahah” – that meant they were actually going to get it but they were also having another whiskey! That’s how it works: most men spend the evenings at the drinking spots having whiskey.

When the men were back we started cooking – three hours after we started our cooking activity! Then we realized that we needed salt so Edem said again “we, the men, will get salt! Ahahah” – I guess it’s easy to understand the meaning behind it.

While cooking we were all impressed about how Edem was moving the pot from one place to the other as well as the glowing char coals with his hands! He says that we just need to “switch off our mind” and it will be fine. I tried it: it was really warm but I managed to hold the pot only with my hands for some seconds! He says that’s how people cook in communities. Women move big pots from one side to the other as if they were cold and when men need to start the fire they walk to the closest house which has someone cooking and bring one piece of glowing char coal in their own hands so that they can start their own.

It was 9h30pm when we started eating. We all ate from the same plate with our hands, just like most of the people do it here. Since very young kids learn how to live in a community and soon they learn the values of sharing and baking up the one next to them – when they eat all from the same plate they learn to share their food.

07/09/2012

Private kids vs. public kids

I’m working on a pilot project to prevent child sexual abuse. Sex is a very strong taboo and people don´t usually talk about it. That’s why in this pilot kids and moms are involved and they are supposed to work together in a way that they have to talk to each other about it.

A workbook with exercises is given to the kids and the moms. They start by learning what are rules and why they exist, acknowledge feelings and understand what means to be sad, happy, angry and confused, and finally they learn about their private body parts. Then they learn the touching rules that say that “it is never all right for someone to touch your private body parts except to keep you clean”.

My job is to schedule meetings with the kids and the moms (one family at a time) to work on the workbook with them and make the mom and the kid talk to each other.

One of the kids I worked with, Kelvin, is very enthusiastic about the book. He is 7 years old and his body constitution actually corresponds to a 7 year old kid; his mom is a tailor and his aunt is a teacher. His mom speaks fluent English and Kelvin can also understand most of the things written in the workbook which means I don´t need to bring Edem with me to translate the book or what I say to them. Whenever we are working in the workbook Kelvin immediately answers the questions and makes the exercises, whether it’s a drawing or a topic to talk about with his mom.  Both of them can comfortably talk about it and he was the first one finishing the workbook.

Blaise is another kid participating. He is 9 years old but his body constitution corresponds to a 6 years old kid. His mom is also a tailor but she barely speaks English which means Edem has to come with me to translate. Even though he is 9 years old and he is supposed to know how to write and read English he can´t do it. I was there for 45 min trying to make him answer some questions that were part of the workbook exercise and he didn´t say more than 10 words during the whole time.

The difference between them? Kelvin is a “private school kid” and Blaise is a “public school kid”.

This is the school Balise attends:

05/09/2012

Water

When we go to some place where we don´t feel totally comfortable – when we’re invited to someone’s house for the first time or when we go to a meeting – and we are offered something like coffee, water or tea we tend to say “no, I’m fine thanks”. That’s what’s considered polite once we’re totally comfortable with the person. In Ghana, it works the other way around.

When we go to someone’s house here the first thing that happens is that we are offered water and we should not refuse it. Accepting it means that the topic that brings us there is a “cold topic” – it’s not bad news or something serious. If we don´t accept it then that’s because we’re bringing a “hot topic/news”.

If we don’t accept the water that is offered then we won´t get anything from that people – whatever we ask for; whatever information we want we won´t be given.

04/09/2012

Tomorrow never comes

“We live only one day: that’s today. Do you know why? Because tomorrow never comes. By the time it comes it’s today. Some people wanted to name the days so they made Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. Then they numbered the days and then created the months. Lastly, the years. But in the end it all comes up to one: one week, one month, one year, one decade, one day. So we live day by day; we live the moment.

Don´t you think I would work by plans if I was in your country? Of course I would. But not here. The system is not built for it. So I just enjoy the “now”; today!”

Edem Blaise

02/09/2012

Filhos do Coração

Two days ago a friend of mine asked me if I had heard of children slavery here in Ghana. My innocent answer was “well, it’s pretty clear that every kid works since a very young age. I’m not sure if that’s what you’re talking about”. How fool of me.

She explained me that there is a Portuguese journalist who has been telling this story to the world for some years now. Apparently in the Volta Lake, the biggest artificial lake in the world, there are moms who are selling their children to fishermen to work for them.

This journalist founded an NGO who buys the kids to the fishermen and provides them proper accommodation and pays them the next 10 years of education.

I opened their website. I read it. I cried.

I have been there. Just like any other futile tourist I went on a boat trip in the lake to see how “beautiful” it is. I just didn´t see how ugly is what’s behind it.

I have been there and I didn´t see it. It’s not like as if I was back home reading it on a website and being thousands of kilometers away. I have been there, so close, and I didn´t notice it.

I know, how could I notice it? It’s not something we just see. But still… it made me feel futile and useless.

02/09/2012

Boredom. Or not.

People say that doing volunteering work in developing countries changes you. I can´t say I’ve changed (at least not yet). But can certainly say that I’ve became much more aware of who I am - and that’s because of “The Holy Trinity of Inactivity”.

I’ve recently read an article with an extraordinary title - The Holy Trinity ofInactivity: How Boredom, Distraction, and Procrastination Are Vital to HealthyLiving.

I have to admit that the reason why I started reading it in the first place was because I couldn´t understand how the idea presented in the title could be true! Even while I was going through the article I thought that it was a non-sense idea. Until I got to the last paragraph:

“We can't be inactive all the time, but it's a task we're losing touch with. Like all things, it's about balance, but the next time you're sitting at the bus stop, consider leaving your phone in your pocket. Take a walk without those headphones now and again. Procrastinate on your decisions for a couple of days. A lot of things in life happen at warp speed and you can't do anything about it, but a few moments each day can help you better understand the world.”

That’s when I had my “wow” moment: that is so absolutely true!

In the past 7 weeks I’ve leant more about myself and about what I want for my future than I have in the past few years. And that’s because I’ve been forced to be bored. Not bored with the connotation that we are used to use; not bored in the sense that “I want to go home because there is nothing going on here”. “Bored” here means that my mind is not focused and occupied with something like it usually is.

The interesting is that even when forced to be “bored” I try to escape from it. I have no books left to read so when I have internet I open several tabs with articles, copy them to a word document so that I can read when I’m “bored” without internet.

But then it happens that sometimes there is no electricity! I look around and there is nothing to do. So I simply walk around or just lay in my bed. That’s when I’m definitely forced to be “bored” - thoughts pop up like pop corns and I reach conclusions about things that I’ve been thinking for years.

We want to know so much about the others and about the world but so little about ourselves – how much time do we spend reading the news, watching TV and reading articles, and how much time do we spend thinking about ourselves?

It’s because I’ve been bored that I’ve became more aware of myself – I’ve been forced to give myself time to think about me.

01/08/2012

Hierarchy and respect

Yesterday Edem pulled a chair, sat beside me and made the following question “if you would manage this place [the NGO] how would you do it?”. Immediately I thought that I had gained his respect once he wanted to have my opinion. So started sharing my points of view on how the NGO could be less fund-dependent, how it could manage the volunteers in a more efficient ways and what kind of activities it could run to have more impact in Hohoe and in the Volta Region.

Later, during the conversation he said “you know… I know you were President of AIESEC in Portugal (…)”. Out of a sudden all my happiness about having gained his respect fell apart and I started wondering: was he asking for my opinion because he valued what I’ve been doing here or just for the simple fact that I was President of AIESEC in Portugal?

Today I know why he asked for my opinion. The NGO director just entered my office room and said: “I would like to have a conversation with you later on. I heard you were President of AIESEC in Portugal so I want to have your opinion on how we can better manage the volunteers; I want us to create a strategy to make the program better and improve the volunteers’ experience.”

In fact I do have some suggestions to make but I wanted to be heard because I’ve proven I’m worth to be heard and not because I have a label saying “Former President of AIESEC in Portugal” – he doesn´t even know if I did a good job there.

I do know that sometimes the same happens back home but for sure not has much as here. The power distance is quite high in this country.

29/08/2012

Plan not to plan

This past weekend I’ve been to Akatsi, a district in The Volta Region, 3 hours away from Hohoe. Jenny and I went there with Theresa (Project Manager at the NGO) to check on the conditions of some communities once we needed that information to fill in an application form to get funds to build a new health clinic and to renew another.

The interesting thing is that we talked to Theresa and we planned to go to Akatsi during the whole week – from Sunday to Friday (last week). Theresa was supposed to go there on Saturday and we would join her on Sunday. The Friday before the NGO director said that she was not going there on Saturday anymore but on Sunday. That was ok as we were planning on going there only on Sunday.

It was Sunday and Theresa told us that she would only go there “maybe” on Tuesday. On Tuesday she said she was going on Thursday. On Friday we heard a “Saturday will be”. Indeed we did go there on Saturday but I think that happened mostly because Jenny was flying back to The Netherlands the Tuesday after.

This is one of the many situations where I’ve experienced planning something and ending up doing something completely different. That was the case when I arrived in Accra and we were supposed to leave to Hohoe at 2pm. We left at 4h30pm. The same happened to the other volunteers.

Every time we don´t have internet because we’re out of credit, the NGO Director says he is going to recharge it again “today”. One week later it is recharged.

Most of the times the NGO Director is not in Hohoe; he spends most of the time in Accra. Several times I’ve talked to him on the phone and he says he is coming to Hohoe “today” – he ends up arriving in Hohoe two or three days later.

It’s extremely hard to live based on a plan (as we do back home) when no one ever sticks to the plan. From what I understood that’s mostly because there is no long term thinking. Every decision is made according to how much satisfaction they will get in the short term - this concept of short term is not the concept we use in economics in which it might refer to months or years; short term here means few hours.

I guess I’ll plan not to plan.

29/08/2012

One of those stories we hear but we never think it will happen to us!

Today I had a worm inside my foot. Yes, a worm. As if it was not enough there were also eggs! Here goes the whole story.

During the morning me, the new German interns and Edem “went to the moms”. We’re running a pilot about child sexual abuse and the goal is to prevent child sexual abuse by breaking the taboo that exists about sex and teaching the children that there are certain things that no one is allowed to do with them. There is a book with some exercises that the moms have to do with their children and them we visit them to monitor the progress and to take key learning points.

When we were at a mom’s house I felt something in my foot; it was just a fly as most of the times. But when I looked at my foot carefully I saw a white thing under my skin and a black spot. I thought I had been bitten by some sort of strange animal so I started to squeeze it. Edem saw what I was doing and asked to take a look:

-          Ahahah you have something growing inside you! Ah it’s nothing, don´t worry – He added right after he saw the look on my face.

He said he was going to take care of it so we walked back home. We disinfected the place in my foot and he cut it open! A white thing came out right away. Disgusting!

Apparently this is some kind of flying insect that bites only the hard parts of our skin; that’s why it usually happens in people’s feet. This insect bites until it gets stuck under the skin. That’s when it starts putting eggs all over! Edem says that it’s really important to make sure that all the eggs are out when we cut it open otherwise worm will continue growing under the skin.

I really hope we took all the eggs out…

28/08/2012

Is the world actually flat?

While in Ghana I’m also looking for a professional international internship to do right after I get back from Ghana. On Monday I got an e-mail confirming that I had an interview scheduled for Tuesday; my first job interview was scheduled for the day after!

So what did I think of doing? Just what I think anyone would do: I would search on the internet for tips on job interviews and talk to some friends who have been in a few to get some advices. But what if there is no internet? I didn´t have internet access yesterday so I was “looking” everywhere but there was no one to support me on this because I was disconnected from the rest of the world. I felt like my hands were tighten and I couldn´t move; as if the space was too short for me.

Some years ago I read the book “The World is Flat” from Thomas Friedman. In short, the book analyzes globalization and it states that all competitors have equal opportunities around the world. One of the first things Edem asked me when I got here was if I had read the book. Then he asked me if I agreed that the world is flat. I thought “why not?!”.

Yesterday, for the first time, the world didn´t seem flat to me. I guess the world is flat in some parts but not everywhere. I have to agree that we are definitely on the right track but we’re just not there yet.

22/08/2012

Speechless

Today I was walking back from the internet café (because we didn´t have internet today) and I saw a girl grabbing something from the open sewers.  I stopped to have a better look:

She was inside the open sewers. 

She grabbed a plastic bag with fried flour that probably fell there – some kind of biscuit they eat here.

She opened it with her teeth.

She ate it.

20/08/2012

Social Status

Jenny, Sonja and I went to Akatsi for the weekend: the place where the Volta River and the sea meet each other!

We went on a boat to the Rum Island. Once there the chief of that community told us about the Rum he was responsible for; how it was done and its benefits. Apparently it is believed that Rum can cure diseases: it’s the best of all medicine. It “cures” colds, stomach pains, headaches, and, the best of all, it gives the so called “man power”. As the “man power” was followed by some proud laughs we understood those are the words for sexual performance ahahah!

At a certain point I was asking the chief about his family and about his children. He said he had 6 kids: two living in the island with him and the rest living in Accra. That’s when I asked:

-          Are they working? What do they do?

-          Oh no! The girls got married – he proudly said – and the boys are working, yes.

That’s when I become conscious about the fact that social status might be very different from country to country. My question was based on my perception of social status and his answer based on his concept of social status, even though probably none of us was aware of that during the conversation.

The simple fact that I asked if they were working and what they were working on shows that for me - and probably for most of people in developed countries – that is what defines that person’s success; his/her social status is based on the kind of job he/she has even though that happened  unconsciously for me. As for the Ghanaian culture getting married is the best social status once can get. That was pretty obvious not only by his answer but also from his body language.

Now I understand why I keep on getting marriage proposals J

20/08/2012

?!#$\?/&$#”!?

Today Jenny, Sonja and me organized a one afternoon activity for 20 teenagers aged between 14 and 18 about social entrepreneurship. The goal was to teach them about what it is but more than that we wanted them to understand what kind of skills are required – we focused on critical and creative thinking and group decision making.

Briefly, we introduced the concept of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship by inviting two local people who are entrepreneurs (one of them was Marcus, the painter) to share their experience. After that we made them indentify social problems; we clustered them in three main problems and then they had to decide, as a group, on one to work on during the afternoon. Once this was done they should divide in three groups and find a solution for the social problem that was found – in the end we had three different solutions. As last exercise they had to decide which solution was the best (considering social impact and resources).

When we designed this exercise I must say that I was quite relaxed because this is a very simple thing to do. But I have to say it was a very intense experience and not at all what I was expecting. Definitely this was the day when everything came together and now I understand what I didn´t before.

Critical thinking is definitely something that is not promoted at all here. They don´t know how to have a conversation in order reach consensus. They don´t know how to build arguments to defend an idea or to make a decision; there is definitely lack of logical thinking.

At a certain point during this afternoon we clearly told them that one important skill that an entrepreneur must have is to be able to make group decisions so we wanted them to decide as a group which of the three social problems they were going to focus on. Right after that a boy wrote the social problems in a paper with a “yes” and a “no” and made the paper rotate by everyone. In the end, the one with more “yes” was the chosen one. The amazing thing is that all of them were totally comfortable with the process so I guess that’s how they were taught to make group decisions.

Kids know what they hear and that’s it; they repeat the exact same words as they learned it just like when a kid says the alphabet. They don´t learn to think for themselves. I never thought this could be so easy to understand through a simple interaction.

Yesterday some kids showed up in the office saying that they “wanted to learn”. So we grabbed some exercises about child rights and sexual transmitted infections. At a certain point a kid was drinking water and when he finished it we saw that he threw the water sachet away. We brought them together and asked: “what do you do to your water sachets when you finish them?”. They all answered at the same time as if in a school choir: “we put them in the pocket and then in a trash bin when we get home”. So they all know the theory but minutes before one of them had thrown it on the floor; and just as this one did all the other do it.

These kids know a lot about malaria, about social problems and some of them knew more about sexual transmitted infections than all of us (the interns) – in this case they were aged between 10 and 13!! When I realized that I was extremely impressed. But now I’m not anymore. They know the theory but they never apply it. They have standard sentences that they all say in the same way. If we talk about social problems they all use the same verbal construction in their speech. It’s just absolutely insane.

Another clear example of this was what happened when we told them they had to find solutions for the social problem that they had chosen. The idea was to create a social business out of it. One of the immediate presented solutions for the lack of access to education due to lack of financial resources was “the government should create feeding programs for schools (so that kids can eat for free)”. When I told them that it had to be something that they could do; something that depended on them, then the exercise became harder; simply because I made them think for themselves. Note: they were aged between 14 and 18!

The thinking process is automatic. It looks like as if the most used teaching methodology is memorization. It’s simply unbelievable!

And examples go on and on. The NGO that I’m working at has a child right center which they are very much proud of: “kids have a safe space there to learn about their rights”. There is even a logo saying “safe space”. But then the NGO director doesn´t like to have kids around… Edem says that parents beat and shout at the kids all the time and that it is wrong but then he shouts at the kids all the time…

Actions don´t match words. Ever. The speech is beautiful. The actions that are supposed to follow it just  don´t happen.

The simple fact that this post doesn´t have a consistent structure proves that I’m still astonished and a bit lost trying to understand the pillars of this society.

So yes: !#$\?/&$#”!? I don´t know what to think…

16/08/2012

Short hair & immaturity

I’ve been noticing that most of the young girls use their hair short, just like boys. Yesterday I learnt why.

Every young girl who is in a government school should have her air short otherwise they will “do grown up things” and the government doesn´t want that. Besides that if girls have long hair they need to take care of it which takes money. If they can´t afford it (which happens in most communities) their hair starts creating dreadlocks; the government doesn´t want that either because that’s associated with drugs.

From this small detail it’s quite simple to draw some conclusions about the education system and the principles and values that it is based on: they are not taught how to make decisions for themselves; they do not learn to be responsible for themselves and for their decisions or to take risks. That’s why I think most people here tend to be much more immature than what I’m used to back home. The other interns and I have noticed that when it comes to maturity levels a teenager here is 3 or 4 years “younger” than one back home with the same age.

16/08/2012

Home!

Today, after dinner me, Jenny and Sonja went to a bar to have an Alvaro (local drink). Jenny was saying that Hohoe feels like home. And it’s actually true.

I leave the house and 5 or 6 kids shout “Yavô, how are you?” right away. Some steps further I say “Beatriz, efoa?” and I get a “Constança! ee mefon!” back which means “How are you” and “I’m fine” in ewe, the local language of The Volta Region. Beatriz is one of the thousands tailors here.

By lunch time the lady across the street laughs when I say “watse” (rice and beans) because I’m a “yavô” pretending to speak ewe.

In the afternoon I just walk in the street and stop to talk to Marcus or to Kofi. Marcus is a very nice guy who does paints for living. Kofi owns a small shop with souvenirs. One day we stopped by and he thought us how to play “owari” – a game played in some developing countries.

On the way back home I hear a “Constança!!” and then Edem (not the one who works in Care Net; this is a 10 year old kid) shows up with his big smile together with Kobi (his friend). Because it’s holidays they hang around most of the time.

In the days that I eat Anita’s food I get home and I hear a big “Constançaaaaa!” followed by a big laugh. I usually sit in the kitchen while Anita cooks and we just talk. She laughed at me the first time she saw me eating with my hands – usually “yavô’s” don´t do that J

In the days I don´t get Anita’s food I buy kenkey. As soon as I enter the place I hear also “Constança!”. She immediately knows what I want so she just confirms the quantity of kenkey: “deka?” and I say “ee” (yes).

After dinner, I go to a small shop to get the next day’s breakfast: “ma fle botato abolo”. I get a “nenie?” back and answer “cedi deka” – “I want to buy butter bread”; “how much?”; “one cedi”. The quantity of some of the things we buy here is defined by the amount of money. So if I want to buy beans I might ask for 50 pesewas, 75 pesewas or 1 cedi and the quantities are in accordance to that. After that I say “mea do go echó” – I’ll see you tomorrow.

I like it here J

15/08/2012

 Note: some of the ewe words are written as I hear them not as in their local language.

Internet

Since I got back from Cape Coast on Monday last week, we don´t have internet. Considering that I’m currently of the phase of research on the internet for the project I’m working in (building a new health clinic in Akatsi – a small town in the Volta Region) I haven´t done any work so far this week.

We’ve been doing random things to fill in our days.

I’ve done laundry; I’ve explored a bit more of Hohoe with Jenny; we’ve been to the tailor several times; we’ve been to Marcus’ store just talking to him (he is a painter); we met Kofi, a man who sells souvenirs who taught us who to play an African game; we’ve watched the President’s funeral on TV; I’ve read about Ghana in my guide book as well as a novel; we’ve walked around trying different street food; I’ve been listening to music and just talking with the girls.

That’s how the days look like here when the tools that are essential to work are not in place as usual – internet and/or electricity. No wonder the rhythm here is a bit different from what I’m used to.

13/08/2012

President Milles’ funeral

Today started the President Milles’ funeral. Funerals usually take place on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but once it’s the former President’s funeral it’s carried on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Since Monday every city has been preparing for it: there are posters all over the place as well as black and red ribbons in the buildings. Cars and bicycles also have these ribbons. Even in Hohoe, which is a small town, they are in every place.

Today we can see several people in the street dresses in black and red to show some respect to the former president. There are even printed red t-shirts with the President’s picture.

The funeral has been going on the national TV for the entire day. As it was the first day of the funeral it was the time to visit the body which is officially dressed and lying in a glass chamber so people can see him. In the morning it was time for official visitors and in the afternoon and tomorrow is time for Ghanaian people to visit their former President. The body is then buried on Friday which will be a public holiday.

08/08/2012

Trash

Yesterday I spent the whole day in a tro-tro on my way back from Cape Coast to Hohoe.

Tro-tro stations are crowed, noisy and dusty. We must look for the tro-tro that heads our final destination and enter. We wait until it’s full and when that happens we leave. While we wait inside the tro-tro lots of people sell food through the tro-tro’s windows.

I had been curious for a while to try fried plantain so I bought it - it’s quite similar to chips but with plantain instead. I ate it and in the end when I was going to put the plastic bag inside my backpack to later put it in a trash can the guy next to me, who had been trying to handle a conversation, hold the plastic bag, throw it to the tro-tro’s floor and said:

-          Don´t put it in your backpack; put it the floor – they’ll pick up latter.

-          No! – I grabbed the plastic bag and put it in my backpack – I’ll put it here and when I get home I’ll put it in a trash can.

-          Why? They will pick it up later.

That’s when I thought “right, and then they will just throw it somewhere on the floor like everyone always does here”.

-          How would you do if you have something liquid?

-          If it was back home I would put it in a trash can because they are all over. Here I would do the exact same thing – I showed him that I also had a water bag inside another plastic bag.

-          Hum… ok, I understand – He didn´t seen that much convinced.

I can count the number of trash bins I have seen around – most of them are in touristic places. Usually people just throw the trash away so it’s all over; I even saw it at the beach in Cape Coast which is quite sad because the place is really beautiful.

Some people (the more educated ones from what I understood) keep it at home and then burn it usually either early in the morning or later in the evening – we can smell it quite often.

From what heard there is one trash company but when I asked Anita (the cook) she said she didn´t know of anything. Probably it operates only in Accra; but I’m not sure.

I can now see the importance of education even on the things I used to take as granted – I never actually thought about the fact that I (and the rest of the country) was educated to put the trash in trash bins; it’s like there is not even another way of doing it; it’s automatic.

07/08/2012

Gospel

I met Gospel in Cape Coast.

Gospel studied until he was 15. After that he decided he didn´t want to study anymore: we wanted to start his own business. So for 5 years he was selling paintings at the entrance of Cape Coast Castle. During that period he kept his savings at the bank so he was able to get a loan.

With that loan he started his business: he sells watches, trousers, shoes, etc. He goes to Togo, buys everything at the cheaper price that if he would buy it in Ghana and then sells it at a higher price.

Five years have passed since he started his business and he has paid the loan already. He managed to get his own house and he is very proud of what he managed to achieve.

06/08/2012

Being Portuguese in Africa

Margo and I went to Cape Coast for the weekend. As any tourist we’ve been to the tourist places: Kakum National Park, Cape Coast Catle and Elmina Castle – that’s when I realized that being Portuguese in Africa is quite different than being Portuguese in Europe.

Elmina Castle holds the status of Africa´s oldest European building. It was built by the Portuguese explores in the 15^th century when they discovered the rich gold lands of Western Africa Coast. In the 17^th century the Dutch took control over it and later in the 19^th it was time for the British to hold it.

Back in Portugal when the Portuguese negativism and pessimism takes control over us there is always someone who says “Came on, we were great back in the 15^th century; we discovered great part of the world! We should be proud of it”. And we are. I am. Or I was. Now I don´t really know…

At Elmina Castle we heard about how life was back then and how the Portuguese, Dutch and British had great life conditions and how they treated the slaves – very cruel and brutal ways.

I didn´t feel like saying that I was Portuguese if anyone had asked…

Should I or shouldn´t I be proud of the Portuguese discoveries?!

06/08/2012

Electricity

Today there was no electricity during the entire day.

I woke up at 7h30 as usually. Took my breakfast that here for some reason takes 30min (at home it would take 10min!) – I guess we just enjoy every single thing we do here.

At 9am I was at the office but without electricity. So I waited… and waited. Then I decided to do some work that could be done just with a notebook. It took me 20min and then there was nothing I could do again so I went home.

I couldn’t use my laptop because there was no power; I couldn´t use my phone to play because it was run out of battery. So I decided to read. But eventually I got bored. So I decided to take some time to reflect (something that doesn´t happen often back home once there is never time for it!). But again I got bored at the certain point. I wanted to go for a walk to get to know a bit more of Hohoe, but it was raining. So I decided to just listen to music once my Ipod had battery! That was when I realized how much we depend on electricity to do everything.

Eventually the rain stopped so I decided to go for a walk around Hohoe so I was out for about 2 hours just randomly walking. I had been wondering why was it that people seemed to randomly walk on the streets. Now I get it – it’s not necessarily because there is no electricity (because there usually is) but because they don´t depend that much on these kind of devices once most of the people in Hohoe cannot afford it.

02/08/2012

Somehow uncomfortable

I’ve been around and trying to get to know you for two weeks already.

Curiosity has taken control over me. I think I’ve never asked so many questions or observed so much. I’ve been trying to understand how you think, how you act… who you are.

I guess curiosity has also taken control over people here. I can´t walk on the street for 2min without having to answer a “hi!” back; or without listening an “I want to be your friend” just because I’m white! I can´t hide myself here; everyone can see me; everyone notices me!

I don´t want to be noticed. It’s like my privacy has been stolen…

I need to think about everything I say, everything I do, every movement I make – “Is it normal here?”; “Is it a tabu here?”; “Am I offending anyone by doing/saying this?” It’s like I cannot be spontaneous; it’s like I can´t do things without thinking; it’s like my mouth, legs, arms, hands are tight; it’s like I can´t be me…

I now understand that a big part of what we are is what surrounds us. But if what surrounds us is not there anymore then what are we?

1/08/2012

Where is everyone?

I see kids everyday;

I see teenagers everyday;

I see people over 30’s everyday;

But I don´t see the people of my age… ever.

In Portugal we usually hang around in groups of friends. In Hohoe I haven´t seen any… Not in the bars, not in the streets, nowhere.

Where is everyone?!

31/07/2012

Funerals

Yesterday (Friday) I noticed quite a lot of movement in one of the houses close to the one I’m living in.

Those tents are usually not there. There were a lot of people walking around and they sounded quite busy.

In the afternoon I was taking a nap when I woke up with the sound of African music: the funeral had started!

Funerals in Ghana are quite a big event. They start on Friday and last the entire weekend. The mood is not at all what I’m used to in a funeral. Here there is music all the time. When I say all the time is literally all the time. Since Friday afternoon the drums and the African music hasn´t stopped; not even at night!

When a person dies his/her body is kept in a fridge for months or sometimes years. While the body is there the family has the time to set up the funeral. If the house does not have the necessary conditions to host a funeral then the family will paint it or do whatever it takes to get those conditions; if the direct family does not have money then there is always someone in the family (a cousin, a grandson) that has the money and that will put the funeral in place. There is the incentive for this to happen because then this person will be respected by everyone once everyone will know that he/she was the one arranging the funeral. In the Ghanaian society, respect is the most important thing.

The family tries to promote the funeral as much as possible; even putting posters on the walls. This is the moment where everyone gathers; relatives who live in Accra or even out of the country come to the funeral. If by any change someone cannot go to the funeral he/she can send someone to represent him/her. This is an event for hundreds of people. The reason for this is again related to respect: the more people that go to a funeral, the more respect the person who died had in life. In the end that’s what it’s all about: respect.

Black is the formal color to use in a funeral for the ones who were friends and supporters; the family usually wears black and read. There is a lot of music, dancing, laughing and of course drinking. So much drinking that Edem said “tonight a little girl will get pregnant” because her parents will be too drunk to take care of them.

Food and drinks are served but not in an equal way: the “have’s” (the people who have money) are better served than the “have not’s” (people who have less money).

During these funerals there is a moment to make donations - there is usually a queue to make them. A funeral is one of the biggest forms of getting funds around here; thousands of cedis can be raised in a funeral.

At some point the body leaves the house where the funeral is being hosted and heads the place where the dead person was born and another event is hosted there. If by any chance the body cannot go there then someone will cut some of his/her nails, hair, eyebrows and pubic hairs. All this is then taken to the place where the person was born and then buried.

28/07/2012

My shorts

Today Edem took me for a walk in the community. We walked for 2 hours – I got to see how people actually live, what they do and how they interact with each other.

At a certain point we were going to a woman’s house to talk to her because she is participating in one of our projects. When we got there Edem asked for the woman to an old lady. The next thing I see is that she is speaking ewe and pointing at my legs with a very mad face. I could not understand what she was saying but I can tell I didn´t feel welcomed at all.

Edem told me afterwards that she was telling him to tell me that the next time I want to show up there I should wear pants and not shorts otherwise the children who are girls will want to use the same shorts. Edem explained me that usually old people still believe that if we don´t have our legs and harms covered then we are whores; it’s almost like I was naked for her.

As this happened a few minutes after we were talking to a younger woman (she should be on her thirties) and Edem told her about what had just happened. She started laughing. For this woman the old lady belief was already outdated.  

25/07/2012

My teacher

Edem is my teacher – he has been teaching me everything about Ghana, Ghanaians and how they live in the small communities.

Edem works at Care Net Ghana, the NGO I’m working at too. Like he says we (the volunteers) are smarter than them because we have the knowhow – we know how to structure projects, how to make proposals, etc. He has the local knowledge that we don´t have and that we so much need to build projects that can actually have an impact in the communities. Like he says, it’s team work and exchange of knowledge =)

Edem studied Electronic Engineering in a Polytechnic in Ho, the capital of The Volta Region. He had his first contact with a computer in 2004 and it happened because he had a friend who knew how to use one so he learnt from him.

Before he entered the Polytechnic he worked for a while and he actually participated in a project organized by Johns Hopkins University.

He is a compulsive reader with very strong ideas. He says that in order for Ghana to grow and develop they need to bet on children education because they are the ones who can change things; because the elders have extremely strong mindsets that cannot be changed anymore.

According to him there are two things Ghanaians need to change in order to grow.

One of them is confidence and initiative. He says Ghanaians learn from very early in their lives what he calls the “don´ts” but they don´t learn the “do’s”. This means that they always know what they should not do but not what they should do. So when someone tries to do something different he/she is usually convinced not to do so because “you shouldn´t do this or you shouldn´t do that”. People are supposed to follow and not “get out of the line”. If a young man tries to build his house in a different way from the one that has been used people around will say “we’ve been building it this way for years and years and now you think you’ll be the one doing it differently?!”. When someone thinks differently than that person is an outlier and people don´t want to hang out with him anymore; so that person becomes excluded so other people do not have the incentive to think different too because they know what will happen. Considering all of this it’s easy to understand there the spirit of initiative and critical thinking is not fostered.

The second thing he says is to “learn to give back to the communities”. Edem says that when people manage to get studies and to succeed in their careers their first destiny is Kotoka International Airport – they want to leave the country and they don´t want to give back to their communities. For example, a man who studies medicine and manages to become a Doctor will most probably not want to go back to his community and work there. The interesting thing is that this happens not only because they simply don´t want to go back but because the people in their communities don´t accept them anymore; they make vudu and they wish them bad things. Edem says that the key is in educating the children and by doing so in some years these children will be grown up and will accept the ones who studied and come back with innovative methodologies.

25/07/2012