Ghana 3: It is heating up!!

this is the 3rd in a series of my republished accounts of my trips in Ghana from January- February of this year, as a warm-up for my Ethiopian trip this September . . . more on that later!

For a cold-adapted guy like me, something more ominous than storm clouds is on the horizon, in fact it is already here. Each day is hotter than the last, and although these gains in heat and humidity are small, the fact that I've got a month of the same to look forward to is looming over me now! I'm now implementing the opening of windows in the evening once it is cooler, and then the closing of them again in the day once it starts to warm up. Every little bit helps, but the trend is undeniable. Fortunately my new clothes will be ready tomorrow evening as I'm sure I will sweat my way through at least one outfit a day, and I only have 3 or 4 light cottony outfits. V will have close to a continuous stream of laundry from me as S's washing machine broke down quite a while ago and V is its replacement. I sure do get nicely ironed clothes back from her!

Speaking of V, she is now learning her numbers from me: practising writing them as well as their visual recognition. Her English is also improving rapidly. We are able to communicate well enough that I now know that she likes the boy in Eremon who keeps calling her, that he is working, and that she's known him for about five years. He's a nice boy, smaller than her, but that's what she likes. I teased her about wanting to be the boss in her family, as this is a very patriarchal culture where the men still traditionally call all the shots. She liked the tease.

With the boys, I am the respected, loved and feared Uncle who supports their learning: so far I have helped K memorize his times tables, showed P how to ace exams, and helped R develop his soccer skills), and of course, at the drop of a hat they are being tickled or thumped, sometimes for no reason at all. S is now onside for the rough-housing, understanding the benefits for the boys in the development of their masculinity. P and S will also be taking some instruction in meditation and breathwork from me, as P had put together a meditation practice for himself based on what he found on the internet, but had been dissuaded by S because of the biased psychological and christian perspectives she had been fed. Fortunately she has a PhD in psychology and religion staying with her with a lot of experience in meditation who's all to familiar with the tendency of religious christians and religiously-biased psychologists to pathologize and demonize stuff they don't understand.

S and I have been working together a lot on her ideas for an NGO and what I'm finding in internet research, as well as going deeper into the spiritual direction, counselling side of what I do. She's encouraging me to think about setting up a counselling practice in Ghana; I'm encouraging her to think about a solar energy business since there is a UN NGO called AREED that supports the development of entrepreneurs in the renewable energy field, and my friend T's Dad has developed a really nice solar energy package viewable at wwww.solarfire.com. F has been away working this week, but when he's around we tend to focus a lot on guy stuff like watching soccer games and discussing bible translation, religion, and the country and its issues. At meal times, I've been telling them all about Holland, China and India rather than sitting listening to P and K extol the merits of one of their video games. Most evenings, S and I go out for a long walk in the cooler evening air, and I've had a couple of Skype computer to computer phone calls with T and A from Holland and L from Ottawa.

S and I met yesterday with a parishioner from St. John's (my church - Elgin and Somerset St. in Ottawa) and received some much appreciated support for our key perceptions and ideas, as well as some helpful networking contacts and general advice. He's acting head of the CIDA branch of the Canadian Embassy in Ghana, and a former international development professional, so he's being very helpful to us in many ways. Tomorrow we will meet with S's cousin, who's a senior bureaucrat in Ghana's Agriculture department. "Bit by bit the river grows, till all at once it overflows" is a line from an old song that comes to mind.

So I continue on living a day at a time, enjoying the walk, the company (both earthly and heavenly) and the scenery, if not the climate.

heating up in Ghana, but not sweating it too too much

Life in Accra

(2nd republished account of my time in Ghana in February this year: this republishing is a wetting of the palate in preparation for my trip to Ethiopia, Taiwan and Ghana beginning in mid-September)

Yesterday I was walking through Accra's downtown marketplace with literally thousands of other people, almost all of whom were very black (the only exceptions being one Chinese couple who owned a store we were in, one mixed race young woman working in that store, and one white guy I saw where the main business district boarders on the market). After picking up the things Stella was looking for we continued on prospecting for clothing for me. As the heat continues to build, so does my determination to be clothed in light flowing cotton, cut in the traditional style.

One of the really entertaining dynamics of our mutual exploration of this reality of navigating with a white guy through the 100's if not 1000's of sellers, is the tension between Stella's need to satisfy herself that I am not being ripped off and that she is being treated with respect that runs counter with my generosity combined with wanting the item that I want. Quite a few times the same scenario played itself out with Stella controlling the discussion (in English) with the seller, deciding they wanted a dollar or two too much and walking off leaving me without the item I wanted. One time I insisted on going back and getting the shirt I am currently wearing - -paying $7 for it instead of the $5 she thought it was worth, while another time she ended up promising me she would go back and get me the cup I wanted for $1 instead of trying to get it for less. All of this transpired in an atmosphere of relaxed work with lots of laughter as we continue to sort out how to handle things together. We did manage to get me 6 metre pieces of 100% cotton - one a bright patterned green, the other a darker, more subdued maroon - for having top and bottom sets of clothing made for me. One cost $10, the other $15.

Along the way quite a few men called me Jesus as I was going by, and in such cases I would smile at them and they would smile warmly back at me. Another time in our neighbourhood when we were out for a walk a group of young children excitedly called out "agroni" (white man) agroni Jesus. Meanwhile business and professional people have no idea what to think, as everyone here is of course closely cropped.

Today we visited Stella's tailor and agreed on a price of $30 in total for the two outfits. We were a good team when it came to ensuring we got a fair price from him. As Stella says, every time a vendor sees us coming, they believe that Stella has brought her bank with her and want to share in the wealth. Pretty ironic! :)

On the price of things, we saw Broccoli in the store for $9 a bunch and bought ordinary loaves of bread for $7 each. Fabian tells me that bread is available for $1 a loaf on the street, but the hygeine issues keep Stella away from street vendors. Anything for the Western palate is really expensive, but ordinary Ghanaian food and products are very reasonable. For example there were a couple of motorbikes on display in one store we went into - one for $700 and the other for $1200 - probably a 250cc. The latter looked to me like one that could easily cost $5,000 or more here in Canada. When discussing Ghanaian manufacturing with one of Fabian's relatives he mentioned trying to bite a piece of Ghanaian chocolate - trying without success to break off a piece! I see lots of room for CIDA's technology transfer program here, getting for example a successful Canadian chocolate manufacturer to set up a Ghanaian manufacturing operation with CIDA's support.

Oh, yes - after coffee this morning early, Stella at the last moment took me on the morning excursion to drop the boys off at school after an hour of rush hour traffic, and then took me to a business her sister owns where they produce Pito - a fermented Guinea corn brew. I was given a healthy bowl of this to drink, with the information that many people start their days like this - particularly where they come from. Her sister and her decided that despite my skin colour I am Dagabo - one of their tribe and family! This designation is based on my acceptance and enjoyment of their cuisine, as well as my consumption of Pito in the morning without showing any ill effects. Actually i had a very liquid bowel movement when I got home - and we have a bottle of Tipo available now in the fridge; so we'll see what the longer term effects are.

Finally, Stella and I had a little heart to heart about quantities of food and alcohol I'd been having stuffed down my throat. We've agreed that now that I'm a member of the family, I can eat less without her having to worry about whether I like the food or whether she is being sufficiently hospitable.

Enjoying life in Accra,

grace and blessings

your brother Daniel