A year on, some details are fuzzy, but I rediscovered the diary I kept at the time, and the emails I sent to my loved ones, and I thought I might share the latter, because they truly capture the mood I was in, and when it comes to first hand experiences of the Ghanaian life, it doesn't get more accurate than this :).
Hope you enjoy reading these emails as much as I enjoyed writing them in a little hut in the middle of friggin nowhere :) (special thanks to Voafone and its internet key :D)
PS Have removed names for obvious reasons.
1st August 2011:
Hello dears!
Greetings from Ghana, also known as “Africa for Beginners” writing to you from our little house in Adantia, a small rural village 20 minutes away from Sunyani, which in turn is a decent sized town which we are planning to visit this morning to get some provisions and have a look around.
But let’s go by order … our group (made up of 8 – 5 girls and 3 boys) arrived in Ghana last Monday afternoon after spending the night in Cairo in a very nice hotel supplied by Egyptair. Our first laugh occurred when we realised that we were also sharing the hotel with a hundred or so pilgrims on their way to Mecca whose idea of enjoying a buffet is very much akin to that of the noble patrons of Brittania Tours “ejja Guz! Gib iktar hobz ghat triq!!”. Managing to get a plateful meant having to brave a storm of flowing robes, veils, beards, praises to Allah and a hundred hands reaching for the same chicken. Insomma … qisna ir-Riviera Hotel waqt is-Sunday Lunch (change praises to Allah to swearing bil-Mulej and you kind of get the picture!).
Anyway, on Monday we landed in Accra, where we were picked up by Father ********, a Maltese missionary living in Ghana, and driven to Ashaiman at the Salesian compound where we could settle down a little and get our bearings back. The Compound is very sheltered, and hosts a boys’ hostel, a technical school (where boys and girls have the option to learn secretarial, autorepairing, IT and electrical skills), and a Church. The girls’ hostel is a few km away and run by the Salesian nuns tafu intom, ma jmurx ikun hemm ic-cajt bil-lejl. The students leave this school in their mid twenties with some real working skills, which secures them, at the very least, a better life inside the village.
On Wednesday we visited Tema New Town, a fishing slum which also hosts a small Salesian School that prepares children to be integrated into the state system of schooling. We met the children there and played with them, and it was my real taste of what poverty in Africa might look like (but always keeping in mind that in Ghana, things are actually not that bad). Education is extremely valued here, and one can easily understand why… it seems to be the only tiny ray of hope to get a life outside the slums.
On Wednesday evening we left for Wli to see the highest waterfall in Ghana, it was a four hour trip in a tiny van, which also included an incident where the driver admitted that he had absolutely no idea where our hotel was, and so recruited a man from a nearby village to hop on and give him directions. This guide was rewarded by us with an original signed Liverpool T-Shirt and we were really surprised to see that on Thursday evening, on our way back, this man was waiting for us at the village with all his friends to show us that he was wearing his new T-shirt and looking quite smug about it!
On Friday we started our 8 hour journey to Sunyani, in an airconditioned coach showing a hit Ghanaian series called “Evil Soul I II III IV V VI VII” (yes we saw them all), with a hit tune “she’s an evil soul sent from the darkness to sin, she’s an evil soul sent from the darkness to kill and destroy”. We’ve been humming the damn tune ever since.
Nevertheless, our desire to sing was momentarily subdued when we saw the house where we would be living for the following 3 weeks. With hanging cobwebs, hard beds and dirty rooms, it was a sorry sight indeed… but on Saturday we armed ourselves with bleach, dettol and some good will and rendered the place habitable. It’s not easy to live in a rural village in Africa, where the only source of light is one lightbulb (energy and light saving since it makes absolutely no difference in a dark room), and where the only source of water is a communal pump. The locals are having a field day with us, when they see us struggling with actually working a pump which children seem to have mastered before they reach the age of 10. We are the “useless obruni” and the giggles that we hear every time we try to carry our buckets of water to the house seem to increase with every trip Imma x’taghmel … it’s part of the fun!
Yesterday we went to mass in a little chapel in the middle of nowhere where people walk up to 7 km to attend service. As I watched the villagers, donning their best clothes, and praising the lord in spite of their poverty and dire living conditions, I do feel rather humbled, but a little voice in my head also reminds of me of the whole “opium” theory of Marx. It is very clear that the hope of these people rests in the afterlife, since the current one seems to be rather disappointing. Having said that however, I’ve realised that the smiles with which the children greet you while playing in the dirt and muck created by the mixture of mud and animal (?) dung, are wider, brighter and more sincere than in many of the children in the western world who have everything without asking for it. So really, who am I to judge their life when they probably are much happier with the little joys of every day, than I might ever be with my big plans?
Musings over. This week we have to prepare for summer camp that starts on the 8th August with the Ghanaian volunteers, and we also will be visiting some other remote villages to carry out some impromptu lessons and activities with the children. We will be teaching English, Maths and Religion (Alla Maghna!!! ME TEACHING RELIGION? DAWN BIS SERJETA?) and the school day will run from 8.30 till 4 with a 2 hour break. So for those who are doubting … vera ha nkun qed nahdem ta!
Anyway, this email is reaching epistolary proportions, so I will stop here, especially since I have no idea whether I will be able to send this email. As a final note – my hair is braided wiiiiii!!! It’s pulls like hell, but it is so convenient not have to worry about your hair in a scenario where even the most basic hygiene is a luxury! I got it braided in the village, where the hairdressing “salon” is really a bench in the middle of a clearing where turkeys, goats, naked babies, kittens and chickens all live together in one happy chaotic heap! L--aqwa li ta hdejja kienet qed tizbogh xaghra isfar
Over and out. This is Africa!
5th August:
Hello all,
Here is update number 2 :). During this week we settled down in our home in Adantia and also visited other tribes and remote villages to play with the children and organise activities for them. One of the villages we went to was Tainso, which is located about 1hr away from Adantia, but, in the words of Brother ******* “800 years away from civilisation”. Before I go on with describing the village, I guess it is also worth a minute or two of your reading time to describe the various fathers and brothers that are in contact with us from the Salesian community and come to help us and transport us to any required destination :).
Then there is Brother *********, an ******** from ******* whose talents are:
- cycling every day from Dingli to St Julians when stationed in Malta
- having breakfast with Ugo Mifsud Bonnici
- fitting in 8 volunteers, a novice, a dressmaker, a catechist, 2 kids and a dead grasscutter (like a massive rat) in a pickup truck.
Father *********, an ********** from ********* whose talents consist in:
- fitting in 8 volunteers, a novice, 2 catechists, 4 children and a motorcycle on a pick up truck
- speaking in a way that provides great pre-bedtime entertainment in trying to come up with the best impersonation (left or right? Right or left? Where do I go? Oh oh!).
With this bracket over, we can go back to a description of Tainso, which is pretty much what Super Quark and National Geographic show us. People are poor and dirty, kids are under nourished with swollen bellies and big needy eyes. A little toddler took a fancy to me, and wanted to spend the afternoon cuddling and snuggling with me. Since the fancy was mutual (although she really is the most serious little pretty cookie I’ve ever seen) and I felt like cuddles and snuggles myself, I happily obliged and in no time at all she was snoring peacefully away on me :). Rejoice! My maternal instinct was stirred! The end of the world is nigh … The villagers were very amused with our little bond, and I’m half expecting a sealed package with punched holes next Christmas from Ghana!
Adantia and Tainso have no running water, but Tainso does not even have electricity or a mobile network. Yet, strangely enough, many of the villagers have a mobile phone which they charge at a very enterprising guy who set up his own stall, with a large battery and a crooked smile. I guess business must be quite good!
Another fun fact of Ghana is the names given to the various “shops” (stalls or rickety huts) that are set up all over the place, like roundabouts for example, where “God is Beauty Hair Salon” is set up next “God’s Time is My Time Electrical Repairer”. The Ghanaians are very Christian, and these kind of names are seen everywhere. It is quite amusing really, although if we had to board a taxi with a large “God Forgive me!” written on the back, we would have had to admit a certain nervousness :).
Anyway, back on track… after the days spent in the tribes, today was allocated towards lesson preparation for the summer camp. I’ve been assigned to teach English in Primary 3, and to assist in Maths and Religious and Moral Education (which works brilliantly for me, since I’m not very confident in right angled triangles and the glory of the afterlife). However, my attention was caught by a pumping party which was going on in the village and we decided to explore, only to find out that it was a funeral in pure Ghanaian style … everyone dressed in black and red and partying like there is no tomorrow in the Sunglasses At Night kind of way! Quite fascinating really, especially since according to our calculations, this party lasted more than 6 hours…
But as everyone says here, this is Africa. And it is beautiful.
Hugs and love xxxxxx
9th August:
Hello dears,
It’s 7am here in Ghana and we just woke up to prepare the lessons for the children. To all those who think that we seem to be late planners, we have an excuse! Until yesterday we had no real idea what the level of knowledge of the kids is, and also last night, instead of preparing resources, we were invited by the bishop for a visit at his home. The bastard has running water of course. Enough said. The bishop also gave us a very interesting description of traditional Ghanaian culture and explained that the society in the rural villages is a matriarchal one, which is a polite term for saying that Ghanaian men do jacksh*t. The males have no say in anything, but it’s fair enough since they really don’t do much. Children are brought up by their mothers and the brothers of their mothers (ma tantx rajt zijiet ihabblu ghajnhom imma to be honest), and the men spend the looking helplessly around.
Niiiiice.
Anyway, since the last time I wrote to you we met up with a group of Italian volunteers (who live in the community house in Sunyani so ….Altogether now … they have running water! :D … qed tkiddni wisq din lol). They’re very nice, apart from the fact that they are from Turin and therefore are bianconeri nel cuore. I was very quick in setting the record straight of where my loyalties lie :). On Saturday evening we went to a club with them, stile Havana, but fun! We asked them to visit us so that we can show them how eight of us can live in a house of 50m2 while also sharing the space with a little mouse which seemed to have taken a fancy to our biscuits :). We also had a little visit by a scorpion, which we were all fascinated by. When we told Don *********** about it (special contributive factor to our adventure: being 2m tall and weiging 45 kilos!) he was shocked and hoped that we had killed it. Of course we hadn’t. One of us had even stuck a camera to it with a bright flash.
…
Anyhoo, as I said, real lessons started yesterday, and I’m teaching Primary 3 kids whose names range from Okyege to Prince, Comfort, Rejoice and Patience. The kids seem to be all very sweet although there is a girl in an upper class who definitely seems to need to have her face remodelled by the sole of my muddy shoes (and that is why teaching is not my vocation :P). The lesson plan for today is nouns and plurals …. Fingers crossed :). The afternoon is characterised by group games for the children who are divided into “houses” and get points like in Sports Day. Tifo da stadio sans vuvuzela (at least!).
One of us was injured during these games, and spent a few hours at a private doctor, but on the whole, we are surviving relatively unscathed!
On a funny note, the ******* priest, Father *****, has turned up to the summer camp dressed as a saintly Indiana Jones, with a side satchel with the face of Don Bosco printed on it, a shirt with Mary Help of Christians printed on it, and a female hat. We have all decided that he should be turned into a keychain and brought back to Malta. His other talent is also of placing “full stops” in his sentences in the wrong place, so his sermons sound something like this:
“It is important [full stop] for the CHILDREN [shouted] to eat[full stop] BREAKFAST! Insomma you get the idea. :)
That’s it for today … on a final note, I’m looking forward to this weekend, where we’re going to visit a lake about 4hrs away from here. Ha mmur lesta bix-shampoo ha nahsel xaghri u noqtol xi zewg eco systems!!! :).
Miss you all and see you in 2 weeks! Xxxxx
13th August
Dear all,
It’s update 4 at the beginning of week 4 of my stay in Ghana. This last week has gone by in a flash, summer camp has begun in full swing! We leave our “house” and mousey housemate at 8am, to welcome the children and prepare them for assembly. Lessons start at 9 and continue until 12. After that, games at 14.00 until 16.30, followed by evaluation till 17.00. This past week I put in all my dedication, effort, enthusiasm and professionalism into the teaching of plurals with not extremely satisfactory results “1 cat, 2 catses! 1 man, 2 manses! 1 bench, 2 benchs! Which letters are the same between MAN and woman? Madame madame!! Yes, Agjemang? U!!!!!”. Sigh. Tomorrow I’m going to give them a little test and if they get them wrong, flip it, they have lived their lives without plurals so far, they will manage perfectly well for the next 50 years or so! Having, said that however, I do have my own little teacher’s pet in the classroom, a cute little boy called Prince who sits on the front bench, raises his hand constantly and provides some satisfaction to my short academic life :). When he grows up and becomes a Professor of Everything, I hope he will remember the white girl who taught him that words with a “ch” sound take an “es” as plural. :)
Summer camp also means that we have our very own “Mary Help of Christians” polo-shirt, printed by a very enterprising young woman called ******* whose marketing skills ar of a particularly persuasive nature … in the words of Don ****** “she talks and talks and out of desperation you buy”. E cosi e’ stato!
As I said, this week was quite full, and it also included dancing the waka waka during afternoon assembly, and buying three live chickens for us to kill and cook for dinner. When I say “us”, I actually mean the boys, and when I say boys I actually mean, 2 boys and a third one excitedly taking pictures and extracting “unlaid” eggs to the nauseated disgust of the girls. One of the boys (training to be a doctor) informed me that apparently a chicken has 4 *medicalgibberish* chambers in its heart like human beings. I’m sure it’s important info … I guess I should google it and store it for future reference!
On a positive note however, the chickens were carved with surgical precision. Mater Dei is in safe hands!
Anyhoo, the most exciting part of the week was the arrival of Don ***** with a tub of nutella! After much screaming, jumping, hugging and mass hysteria, 1 auditor, 2 accountants, 1 teacher, 1 assistant head, 1 doctor to be and a project manager (tal-OWPIEMMMM) were happily digging fingers and spoons in the tub without a shred of dignity. Breakfast is now pane e nutella (come la nazionale italiana di calcio!), and the world is a better place!
This past week I was also involved in a demonstration for the “Promotion of Religion, Science and Technology for a Better Economy”. In my not so humble opinion, this country seems to be very much sorted in terms of religion - “God is the head Carpentry Shop” and “God’s Style is the Best Boutique” – but would do no harm in investing a little bit more in Science and Technology, tafu intom, maybe trying to find a way to make the mud houses last more than three years. Incidentally, I think I seem to have arrived in Ghana in the third year of the houses’ existence ghax kollox qisu ha jaqa. Imma whatever rocks their boat after all :).
This weekend we booked a van (the driver’s religious affiliation seemed to have been towards Chelsea FC) and went to the Lake Bosuntswe, a beautiful lake caused by a falling meteor (thaaaaaaanks meteor!!!) where we swam, and ate and slept and WASHED and had a lovely break :). My hair shines and I’m squeaky clean, but I’m still looking forward to my first week in Malta where I will take care of fixing myself with various hairdresser, beautician and spa appointments. I haven’t looked this ugly since puberty!!! :).
Anyway dears, I’m not sure whether this will be my last update until I’m back … probably it will not be since I’m not receiving any of your smses :(. I’m not sure what’s wrong, unless you all decided to give me the silent treatment at the same time and stop answering my smses, but I am kind of hoping that this is not the case :). I will try and write a final email before embarking on the long journey home starting from Thursday night to Ashaiman, Saturday morning to Cairo, and Sunday morning to Malta. I will see most of you on Sunday evening and on Monday (waaaaaaaaa work!) so until then, I wish you all a great, fruitful and summery week!
Missing you all! Xxx
I did not manage to write another email after this one, I celebrated my 29th birthday three days later with an amazing surprise party and cake. I wept and laughed at the same time like never before, and made my way back home a few days later and lived a year after that to tell the tale :). I also stared at the washing machine for half an hour on the day of my return, and loved it with a passion that I have yet to feel again. Just saying.
Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of my experience in Africa before I became Gracie and started rambling about nonsense :).
Hugs and smiles
Gracie :)
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