Different and Normal

So Cape Coast, Ghana is quite different than Plymouth, Minnesota, USA.  When I first got here, all I could say was, “Wow, this is SO different…it’s just SO different….I can’t describe it any other way than being just completely different.”  I’m sure my family would have liked a bit more description of my surroundings, thoughts, and experiences, but I could not really give them more.  It was hard to describe what I thought and felt and saw.  And thinking about it now, I still cannot fully verbalize everything here.  I love it, but I can’t really explain it. 

What I have noticed is that things have become much more normal.  The way it is, is just the way it is.  Ghana hasn’t changed, but I have adapted to it.  It was not easy. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t change the color of my skin and therefore will always stand out as and be a foreigner, but as I’ve grown more used to Ghana, it has become easier to live in those differences and actually enjoy them.

The following pictures are an attempt to give you a slight example of what I mean.  These are all some of my common and everyday sights J

Clothes drying under the sun and out in the open for all to see (including my own underwear which they call pants).

Cows, goats, chickens, sheep, and dogs crossing or sharing the street with taxis or just generally getting in people’s way. 

Religious store names.  “Danielle, where are you going?”  “Oh I’m just going to get some biscuits at With God Supermarket.”

Women carrying anything and everything on their heads.  And oftentimes a baby on their back. 

Gutters on the side of the streets several feet deep…smelly & dangerous.  Some parts are covered, but many are open and waiting for their next victim’s misstep that lands them in the nastiness that lives at the bottom of the gutter.  Some people have told me it is better to get hit by a car then fall into the disease-infested gutters!

Children running up to you, touching you, grabbing your hand, and always yelling, “BRONI!”  Obronyi means ‘foreigner’ in the local Fante language.  Many times the kids will sing a song…”Broni, how are you?  I’m fine.  Thank you.  And you?” in a very stacoto tune. 

Kids who just want you to take their picture and get all excited when you show it to them.

The selling of undergarments on the sides of the streets.

Beautiful children staring back at us in the classroom as we teach them about hand washing.  They seem to enjoy following along with us!

Adorable goats EVERYWHERE!  I love the goats!  Mom – I'm bringing one home with me okay?!  These are the babies that live near my house.  They have a good, protective mommy.  Aren't they precious?!

These are just some examples of normal occurrences here in Cape Coast.  My reaction to them all changes on almost an hourly basis.  It can go from being annoyed that every single child you pass yells “Foreigner” at me or complete adoration that they actually want to hold my hand.  Sometimes, actually oftentimes, I laugh because the things Ghanaians don’t think twice about are quite outrageous to me, such as seeing my own underwear hanging out in the open for the world to see or the man peeing on the side of the road…facing a direction so the world can see.  Other times, I am stopped in amazement.  For example, a small woman can carry so much stuff on her head without dropping it…at the same time she will be carrying her baby on her back.  I tried carrying a sack of water on my head the other day and pretty much made a fool out of myself…here see for yourself…

But emotions come and go and in the end, all these things I have come to see as beautiful and part of the great experience Ghana is giving me.  Yes, it is different and I probably will never be able to fully describe or even understand everything here, but maybe that in itself is the beauty of it.  Love you Ghana!

Tree Platform...Attempt #2...Fail

So Kakum National Park has this tree platform that people can go to and spend the night.  It sounds really neat and is something us volunteers really want to do! 

Well the first time we tried was about 3 weeks ago.  We traveled to the entrance of Kakum only to be given the information that we were in the wrong place.  They told us we had to go back to Cape Coast and travel to a different part of the park.  Well it was too late at night and so we had to head back home.

Failure #1

So then this past weekend, we tried again.  We talked to lots of people about it, getting different information from everyone, but we decided to try it anyways.  This is where the adventure begins…

We headed out in the early afternoon and took a tro-tro (big van) to a town called Fantina Kumasi.  There, we spent at least a half hour arguing about a taxi ride and how much it should cost.  By the end, there were about 4 or 5 Ghanaians all arguing in Fante with us just standing there having no idea what was going on.  They told us for it to be a shared taxi (cheaper), we had to fit 4 people in the back seat and 2 people in the front seat….plus the taxi driver!  Mind you, we had backpacks full of stuff for our overnight – no way were we fitting 4 people in back!  See I guess since the village we were going to is more of a remote village, not many cars go there so they make the most out of each journey.  So finally we figured it out and ended up paying a little bit more so that it was only the 3 of us in the back.  

We set out basically to the middle of no where – lots of dirt, potholes, beautiful scenery and an evil looking storm cloud ahead.  We were headed to the rainforest so we eventually figured rain was inevitable, but we were in for a real treat.  It started down pouring during our ride.  We passed 4 people 2 little boys and 2 women) who were walking on the road and since, you know, we had all the room in the world, we picked them up to join the party!  They sat in the trunk with their large containers of freshly picked plantains.  So now we had 10 people in the taxi, lots of plantains, and lots of rain.  No big. 

Well then we came to a hill…it was not our friend.  We got stuck…bad. 

One of the women in the front seat got out and continued walking, I guess she thought it would be quicker.  The other 2 women, the taxi driver, and the man in the front seat all had to get out and start pushing the car!  They got completely drenched!  And then there’s Liz, McKell, and I just cracking up at the whole situation!  But they did manage to push us through, but only to get stuck 2 more times.  But I’m alive and we made it up the hill and to the village!  Oh Ghana J

We get to the village finally!  It was a very neat little place - when Americans think of Africa they think of mud huts and dirt roads...well this was something like that.

For the next 2 hours are running around trying to find the right people to take us to the tree platform.  Well it turns out that 4 out of 6 of the guides are traveling, one is sick, and the other just doesn’t want to go because it rained too much.  Well that’s nice…do they realize what we had been through?!  The community tourist guide (the guy helping us) tried everything so we could go, but it just didn’t work out.  We were bummed.  Especially since not that many cars come to the village, so now getting home became an unwanted issue. 

We waited, ears perked to the sound of any motor vehicle.  Finally, one came!  I have never been more excited to hear a car!  So after all our hard work, we had to get into the car and head back to Fantina Kumasi…oh but there were only 8 total people in the car this time…thank goodness?!

We thought we were fine then…but we were wrong.  You really can’t travel anywhere without something happening.  Well this time it was that the car had no headlights…and it was now dark out.  Hmmm…not a good mix?  We were assured that it would be fine because the driver was an electrician (of course he was) and he would fix it.  He did, but then we stalled and the lights went out again.  After at least a half hour of trying to fix it again, the driver decided to continue without.  The three of us were laughing and joking the whole time…we were jokingly offering our flashlights as headlights, never thinking that would be the real solution.  Well that’s exactly what happened.  The front seat passenger held his dying flashlight out the window for the entire duration of our ride (maybe 1 hour) down pitch black dirt roads with rainforest on both sides.  I have to say I did not feel very safe!  Just picture…8 people in a small taxi, pothole-y roads that were wet and slippery from the rain, and a flashlight as a head light.  Oh boy.  Many prayers were said and despite the circumstances, we all got to Fantina Kumasi in one piece.

Now it was getting later and I was a little worried we wouldn’t get a ride back to Cape Coast and then we would have no idea what to do.  But amazingly the second we got off the taxi, this very welcoming and friendly lady greeted us and told us that if we couldn’t find a car back to Cape that we could stay with her!  WOW!  But after awhile we ended up getting a tro-tro back home…the ride was surprisingly uneventful except for the creepy guy sitting in front of us who kept looking back and talking in mockingly high-pitched voice! 

So lessons learned – I have no idea.  Laugh at everything?  Know that you can always expect the unexpected?  God is watching over me?  Don’t ride in a taxi with 9 other people?  Plan ahead?  Always bring a flashlight in case your headlights don’t work?  Who knows…

Well anyways we didn’t accomplish what we had set out to do, but we had quite the adventure…many laughs, good conversations, and new experiences that I could never have imagined! 

We did get a pretty cool picture out of it with some adorable little children!

The Village Built on Stilts & Other Adventures

Who would have thought that an entire village of 450 people could live on top of the water.  Well the people of Nzulazu do just that and have been for the past 500 years.  This past weekend, me and the 4 other volunteers got the privilege to go visit this unique place built entirely on stilts.

The great thing about Ghana is that you can always expect the unexpected.  Everything ordinary turns out to be exciting in some way and that is no less true of this 2 day long trip.  The traveling to get to Beyin (the town we spent the night in; near to Nzulazu) took 2 tro-tro rides (these big, ugly vans that hold anywhere from 12-30 people…you never really know till you get in) and 2 taxis to get to the town.  It would have been 2 tros and only one taxi, but the road to our resort was too rough for the  taxi we were in to go down…so we needed to board a different one.  And yes…it was a bad road.  It was a dirt road filled with SO MANY pot-holes!  And you have to imagine 5 of us girls plus the taxi driver squished in the taxi car that oftentimes felt more like a rollercoaster ride.

But we made it and spent the night at the beautiful Beyin Beach Resort. 

This is where we saw the breath-taking sunset over the ocean.  The African sky is truly phenomenal. 

The night was wonderful.  We watched the sunset and ate a delicious meal.  I had a BLT!!!!  Oh my gosh it was so exciting and so darn tasty.  It’s been awhile since I had something that I am used to eating from back home. 

The next morning I went walking on the ocean and again watched the sky do its color changing magic.  I saw an awesome pig chase (some dogs were chasing a pig all over) and some really cool structures in the town. 

Next we headed out for our stilt village adventure.  We had to take an hour canoe ride to get out to the village. 

Charles was our guide.  He was pretty awesome and at one point was singing “I like to move it move it” to us.  A true Ghana romantic. 

We canoed through man-made and natural water canals, lakes,

and what looked like the rainforest!

We got to the stilt village with mouths wide open.  It was SO cool!

It was unlike anything I had ever seen.  We got off the canoe and walked the length of the village.  It was described to us as having a “main road” and “side avenues”, each belonging to a different family. 

Most the structures seemed pretty sturdy to me and the walkways too.  There were 3 churches and a school and there was even a guesthouse where visitors could stay.  There were lots of cute little kids and women going about normal Ghanaian activities like hand washing their clothing, cooking stew, and taking care of their babies. 

I felt like we were somewhat intruding on their lives though…I mean think about living in a place that is basically a tourist attraction.  But most people were really friendly and the kids were all excited to see us and have their pictures taken. 

Then we canoed back land.  It was an incredible adventure…definitely a highlight of my trip here in Ghana.  It is really neat to see a different side of life, a different way to live.  And of course it was so much fun to spend some time with these awesome ladies (and Charles!).