Hot Hot Heat

Well, it seems Ghana is getting hotter than I could have ever imagined. It’s so weird to experience the weather getting warmer at a time when I’m used to fall starting. It’s been in the mid to upper nineties all week during the day, sunny without any clouds. Normally, I could handle this heat but it’s coupled with heavy humidity. However, the international students seem to be the only ones affected. Basically all of the Ghanaians at the University wear jeans or trousers during the day, and I even saw a girl wearing a jacket and scarf out today. I don’t understand how these people do this, because I generally wear shorts / a skirt /a dress and immediately start sweating profusely as soon as I step outside. Luckily, it cools down (maybe to about 75 degrees) at night, so we have a small break from the heat.

Unfortunately, the water has been out again in the hostel. I’m not sure if I’ve blogged about this already, but everyone here drinks water out of plastic bags. You rip the corner off of the bag and then proceed to suck it / squeeze it out. So, when the water goes out, you have to use the bagged water for brushing your teeth, washing your hands and washing your face. I don’t know if any of y’all have tried it, but washing your face with a bag of water is difficult. I find myself holding the bag near my face, closing my eyes and squeezing / hoping I don’t miss my face. It’s pretty funny to watch other people use the bags of water for various hygienic activities and provides some much needed comic relief from the situation.

Yesterday, we travelled to the Togo embassy to apply for visas. We will be going to Togo this weekend and will spend Saturday and Sunday exploring. On our way back to campus, we caught a taxi and had an interesting conversation with the driver. It seems the driver’s aspiration is to gain entry to the U.S. and live in Brooklyn, NY (Alex, I told him to live in Prospect Park). Once I told the driver we were from America, he became very excited and asked if we would invite him to our country. I told him of course, I invite him to the U.S. He then asked if we could accompany him to the U.S. Embassy, because they “love the white man and ladies” there and we could surely help him get a visa. I tried the best I could to explain to him America’s strict immigration laws and visa lottery system, but I’m not sure I got my point across. The driver also told me his brother sells gold and diamonds in the black market and to call him if I’m interested.

Also yesterday, we had our usual Monday dance class. The dance studio is a large, open air room with a wooden floor. There are a few fans, but they are hardly ever on. Needless to say, a lot of sweating goes on in this room. Anyway, this is beside the point. We’ve been learning a traditional dance for a few weeks, and we also have learned a song to go along with it. It sounds something like this:

Nack ee nay
Nack ee nay
EE bee nack ee nay
Jay jay
Obama bama shoeessss

The song has something to do with the oldest girl in a household, but I’m not exactly sure. It’s pretty difficult to simultaneously do African dance while singing in a different language. Yesterday, instead of continuing learning our dance (which has been pretty boring considering we only learn 2-3 movements per class) one of the T.A.s led us in a sort of warm up / aerobics routine. It was so much fun! We were jumping all over the studio, doing fan kicks and shakes, etc. It made me really miss cheerleading / dance and just moving around wildly in general.

During my last Human Rights in Social Work Practice class the professor began by discussing current events that have been happening in West Africa. Apparently in rural West Africa, Albino parts are considered to be extremely valuable and to have mystical powers which convey wealth and prosperity to the owner. Recently, a 14 year old Albino boy was killed so that his body parts could be sold on the black market to witch doctors. It was shocking to hear about this type of crime, especially since I’ve mainly been in Legon and Accra, where rural villages and traditional practices are miles away and not visible on the surface. Apparently hunchbacked people (who are fairly common here) are also valued for their body parts. It’s pretty insane / really sad what people will do for money. There is an obvious, large black market for dangerous and dangerously acquired items such as arms, diamonds, body parts, etc. Another shocking practice I learned about is Trokosi, a traditional (but still occurring) practice in which in order to atone for a family member’s sin, a virgin girl is given to priests of the village’s shrine for life. (this is a really interesting / horrible practice if you care to look into it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_servitude#In_Ghana). I really can’t fully grasp the amount of traditional practices that are still common in rural villages here. The lives of people growing up in the cities are completely different from the lives of people growing up in rural villages. It’s a sometimes depressing / captivating case study of the effects of colonization and globalization. Clearly, the traditional cultures of the villages still exist, yet in the cities, the culture of the West has permeated everything from the religious beliefs to popular dress and music. I think this is a unique situation only really present in certain stages of developing countries. It’s very obvious here the divide between the older generations and the people my age and younger. Even just observing the difference between popular dress provides evidence of the divide. All of the older women I’ve seen (those who look about thirty or older) wear long dresses made with bright, traditional fabrics, and all of the younger women I’ve seen wear Western style jeans and shirts. Most of the younger people speak fluent English, while the older people generally stick to Twi. I’m not sure exactly what I’m trying to say here, I’m mostly just trying to make sense and draw conclusions from all of the observations I’ve made. I believe in twenty years, with the constant influence from the West and the continuous change into a more developed country, Ghana will have changed tremendously. Anyway, sorry for that large chunk of Sociology major babble.

Volunteering, like many things here, has been disorganized and slow moving. Upon returning to the hospital for the third time, I was informed that the counseling for HIV/AIDS patients is done in Twi, the local language, and so I would be of little help. I’m aggravated at the lack of volunteer opportunities here, as this was one of the things I was most excited about doing while on this program. There are so many practices here that I would love to work with (FGM, prostitution, human trafficking, witch camps, HIV/AIDS, etc.) but I'm having a really difficult time finding opportuinities / most of these issues are not discussed or acknowledged, there are few NGOs, etc. However, I am not willing to give up my pursuit. One of the girls on my program brought me a card with contact information for a human rights and gender organization, so I am planning on visiting the organization tomorrow.

Well, I believe I will grab my shower things and see if any of the surrounding hostels still have water, as I am covered in the daily dirt / sweat. Everyone has to promise to still love me and want to hang out with me even if I come back dirty and smelly : ).

I’m very excited about travelling to Togo this weekend, and will have more to report on Monday!