Ghanaian Food

I guess it`s already really time to write a bit about Ghanaian food. Which is really good, and also, they eat a lot, too! Well, the food is cooked here at the school, because they feed both the children and the teachers (and the kitchen staff are one of the coolest people here, anyway!:)) and the children, who live here, have their dinner in the evening together, too. Aright, they eat a lot of stuff, that we eat back at home, too: like they have bread and tea for breakfast - sometimes with salad, too, or oats, or with the bread toasted… ok, the bread is sweater than ours (and it`s also baked here – every Sunday and Wednesday, I think), but it`s very good! They have a lot of fish, and sometimes chicken, too – though the chicken is mostly for me, they don`t have it that much. 

But besides these, they have quite a few typical Ghanaian food. These are for example fufu and banku. They are kinda similar: they both look like a big ball of pasta, they have both of them with soup and they eat them just with their hands (no spoon or anything like that). Just maybe fufu is sweeter than banku. They are a mixture of a lot of kinds of materials, like corn and plantain and things like that, which they mix together in a mortar with a huge pestle (which is like a very big and heavy stick). It takes quite a long time to prepare it. You can have it with for example fish soup, in which you already have a lot of material besides fish: like vegetables and everything, but it tastes pretty similar to the famous Hungarian fish soup :). At first I was a bit confused, eating with my hands: I started using both of them, but then it turned out, that you only use your right hand for eating. Which is pretty hard, believe me, but you can get used to it! :) The point is, that they both are really good, just at first be careful if you have a fussy European stomach, because they might be too heavy for you! Anyway, any kind of soup you can eat two ways: either with fufu or baku, eating with your hands, or you can also have it with rice: you just have to pour the soup on the rice, like a sauce or something like that. I think I have never seen a Ghanaian eating a soup with a spoon, just by itself...

Just today, I had a new typical Ghanaian dish, too: it`s called gari. In this one you have crushed and fried dry cassava and groundnuts which you have to mix with some sugar, milk and water and your meal is ready – very easy, you can eat with some simple biscuits or anything like that. 

I almost forgot, that as a side dish, besides rice and potatoes, you can also have yam. It looks pretty similar to potatoes and it tastes similar, too, but it`s a lot bigger and maybe it has some more fiber. When you clean it, you just have to peal it and cut out the stem from the middle and then it`s ready to be cooked. 

You can also buy a lot of kinds of food on the streets, too. Like roasted yam that you take with some spices or the roasted plantain with which you also get some groundnuts to eat. They are both really great! If we are already talking abut stuff that you can get on the streets: this week I just had some coconuts! Well, now it seems a bit ridicules that we call that thing that you can buy at home coconut. Here you can buy coconuts on the street, that they open up for you right there (just with a knife, you don`t have to struggle with a saw as we did), you can drink the milk, which is so much that I could hardly finish it and then they cut it for you so that you can have the flesh of it. Which is absolutely not dry, but juicy! It`s very-very nice, the ones that we can get home, are really nothing compared to these. And though I`ve never had mangoes at home, I guess it must be the same with them, because the ones that you can have here area really good! Sweet and juicy! 

Alright, I think I will stop writing about food, because I`m almost getting hungry, though I just had lunch… But the point is, that Ghanaian food is really good and I`m absolutely not bored of it yet! :)

You can see more pictures about the lunchtime here.

Promotional Exams

School life is a little bit different nowadays, since this is the end of the term here, so I thought I would update you a little bit about what`s going on nowadays. As I said, now it`s the end of the term which means that after having revised the week before this week, now they had exams. By exams I mean tests (not oral exams) that were very carefully prepared. A few teachers typed all the exam questions, which then they gave to the teachers to check if they were alright.  After the tests were printed they were locked up in the I.C.T (Internet and Computer Technology – I think) Center, so that the kids wouldn`t see it. Because of the exams this week I was mostly helping in the nursery. Imagine that even the smallest ones had “exams”: even in the playgroup, where the kids are about two or something like that, they were writing some tests (which mostly consisted of coloring and stuff like that). In the nursery, things were similar, too: only a few students were writing the exams at a time with the help of the teacher (that`s what I was helping with, too), while the others were mostly playing around. I had the feeling, that at this age the exams are mostly for the parents: so that they can see how much the teacher has taught to the kids – even though the exam questions are answered with the help of the teacher… 

Well, now next week will be mostly busy just for the teachers: they have to finish all the marking before the graduation, which is coming next Saturday, and which is going to be a pretty much fun ceremony. Although the next term only starts in September, we will still be busy during the rest of the summer: Since most parents are working, they can`t really look after their kids during this summer period, so we will come back to school just a few days after the graduation to start the vacation classes. The good news is that from that on I will probably start to teach photography to the older kids, which I`m really looking forward to! It will be really nice to see how they can use their creativity in this way!

Central Accra

This weekend I got to go to the central of Accra and do some sightseeing, too! Alright, first we took a tro-tro (you know, the car that I have already written about) to  central Accra, exactly to a huge market, called Makola market. Well, I thought that Kaneshie market (the one that`s closer to us) is a huge one, but then now I don`t know what to say about Makola market. It`s at least 4-5 times as big as Kaneshie market. We didn`t even go inside the buildings, we were just walking outside of the market buildings where the roads were still full of people selling their goods. And it was so crowed! Even this way that we didn`t go inside, I hardly have time to look everywhere, because I just had to go with the crowd… It`s quite an experience!

Then after a bit of walking we got to Kwame Nkrumah Museum. Kwame Nkrumah was the first to declare the independency of Ghana in 1957 and he was also the first president of Ghana from 1960. (Here you are, you can learn some history, too! :)) So this museum stands for him. The museum consists of a nice park, where there are some statues, a pretty modern monument for Kwame Nkrumah and it also has an inside parts, where you can see some pictures of him meeting other presidents, also Queen Elizabeth and all important people like that.

 

Very close to the museum you can find the Art Center that kind of stands in contrast with the museum`s modern monument. This is where traditional African art crafts are sold: all kinds of decorations, carpets, necklaces and a lot more. It`s a really nice place and since I love all these small stuff, I think I could spend here hours just looking around, but this time we didn`t have so much time, we still had a lot to see. 

After some walking we got to the Independence Square. Here`s there`s also a monument for the memory of 1957, and also a big square, where they sometimes have ceremonies and march around as a remembrance of the independence. There are also soldiers on one side of the square, so you are not really supposed to take pictures (actually at a lot of places you are not supposed top take pictures here…), but we still managed to take some :) 

  And on the other side of the square… there`s the ocean!!!!! It looks amazing! You just have to walk down through some rocks and then there`s the sandy shore, huge waves and some children playing around. We even saw some people who just went there to sleep (right, they are lucky, they don`t get burnt in the sun...). It`s really a great place to spend your freetime at.

After seeing all these we took a taxi and moved on to the military area. We didn`t take the first taxi, because the price he said was too much, probably if I weren`t there, he wouldn`t have said the same amount… Which is not fair… But anyway, we a saw a huge military hospital and then after some walking and then a palace, also built in very-very modern style. 

Altogether I felt that all the famous places were very modern, almost postmodern. I mean, I see that there`s something ancient and traditional here and then there`s this postmodern and I don`t know yet if there`s anything in between. We will see! :)

Being `Connected`

Just a short thought: I think in some ways people are a lot more connected here, than back at home. This week I was bit sick and everybody was just so worried and sad. I was told, that here when I`m ok, everybody is happy, but if I`m sick, everybody feels a bit sick, too. Like really! I think it`s this kind of natural `connectedness` that we have pretty much lost in our individualistic European world...

Transportation and Kaneshie Market

Alright, let`s see a little bit about how you can get around here. If you want to get somewhere, you can do two things: you either take a taxi or a tro-tro (ok, I`m not sure it`s written like this, but it`s said like this…). Most people here do the latter one. A tro-tro is like a minibus, in which they can fit even about twenty people. It got its name from the way it`s going on the roads that are sometimes full of holes. There are special routes for them and usually there`s a guy shouting which way they are going, that`s how people know which car to take. There are some traffic junctions where you can find a whole lot of different cars going in different ways, and there usually you can find the one you need just by asking the drivers about which car is going in that way. The tro-tros have no number at all or anything like that. Sometimes there are very long queues waiting for a car, so if you are not lucky, you can also pend hours standing in the queue, waiting to get home. But so far we have been very lucky. That`s how we went for example to Kaneshie market. It`s really a huge market, it has different departments for different kinds of food and it`s always very-very crowed. That`s also the place where they get the food for the school, too.

So far, I haven`t been alone to anywhere yet. I`m already learning the ways, but I still have quite a bit to learn. Also, I was told, that at some of these crowed places it might be a bit dangerous for me alone, so I just have to be careful, not stop for anybody, walk fast and things like that. Well, but altogether I think that traveling is really fun here, it`s quite an experience, that`s for sure.

And anyway, just as a bonus, here`s a picture of Kaneshie market, too: (just so that I don`t leave you without a picture :))

Ceremonies: Wedding and Funeral

Last Saturday we went to a wedding, because some of the kids were dancing there, so now I have a little experience about how a wedding goes like here – which is pretty similar to what it`s like at home. Except for that I`m not sure, that I could walk in to somebody`s wedding without an invitation at home… Anyways, it all started in the church, where the ceremony was a bit different that one at home. Instead of talking, there were a lot more singing and dancing, too. And the whole thing just wasn`t so strict: people could still walk in and out during the ceremony. After this we all went to another place, which was in the garden of the hotel. Speeches were said here, there was some dancing and food was served, too. This part a bit shorter than at home, because the place was probably rented only for this time. They had a program, that contained all the speeches and everything and they sticked to this program pretty much. Altogether at weddings there are huge celebrations here, too, when people spend a lot of money and they all have a lot of fun. 

We were at a funeral this Saturday and it might be a bit more surprising that here funerals are just as big ceremonies or actually maybe even bigger than weddings. Here a funeral is open to everybody and it`s absolutely not just for the close family and friends. It also starts in the church then they have they have speeches at another place and after that they go to the graveyard. This one was held in the park of a university in Tema, which is close to Accra. It was at a huge place, with tents around and hundreds of people attending. Not everybody was wearing black, some of the people were wearing white dresses with a little black on it. Right there I had the feeling that it looked more like a festival than a funeral. There was even live music after the speeches and food was served here to everybody as well. It was really amazing. I was told here, that in Ghana the funeral is more like a celebration: the celebration of someone`s life (we even got a small booklet with the persons life written in it and a whole lot of pictures and everything) and death. They think that death might be painful physically, but altogether it`s a good thing, because without death there`s no transition. And how true this is! Well, these we my impressions right there, but later I was told, people do cry here at funerals, too, mostly the family, but sometimes others, too, to help them with this. Well, it`s true, that I didn`t go too close, so maybe I just caught an impression as an outsider… I don`t know, but it still was an amazing experience. Anyway, here`s a picture of it just to see how big it was:

African Modernity

Tradition and modernity – there`s such a great mixture of them here, in Ghana. On one side, they have so many things that some people in Europe wouldn`t think, they have. Especially in the center of Accra, and around the airport there are even skyscrapers, they have a big shopping mall (Accra Mall), which looks just like a European mall, there`s even cinema in it, and everything:

You see? :) Oh right, and number one fact about Accra, that you wouldn`t think: THERE ARE TRAFFIC JAMS!! Like really, you can be on the roads and going by like 10 km/hour because there are so many cars there. Then when you are leaving the center you are also leaving the flat roads with asphalt on it and the few skyscrapers. That`s what I saw like the real Africa: the roads with some holes on it and people walking around with baskets on their head selling their goods.

Then, by African modernity I also mean some very interesting scenes like these: the kitchen staff is making fufu which is a very popular food here (I just tried it today and it`s great! :)) and they use a huge stick (like 2 meter tall) to mix it and in the middle of that a cell phone rings in the window, where there are like 5 other cell phones, too. Or another one: they have a TV with a pretty big screen (at least it`s bigger than ours in Hungary), and a bit fuzzy picture, which sometimes you have to push from the side so that you get a better picture. (I have already watched a few Ghanaian movies anyway, which are pretty much fun. They are a bit like Latin American movies and series: with a lot of drama, and an evil person who wants to kill all the goods – at least this is what I`ve seen so far.) But getting back to African modernity it could be nicely summed in a scene that I just saw the other day. We were sitting in a car, going to the center of Accra. It was a pretty big road and in the background there were some skyscrapers that were just being built. And in front of these skyscrapers a woman was just walking among the cars, with a huge basket on her head, and selling her goods. It would have been such a great picture (I just couldn`t take it), it would so nicely symbolize traditions, while in the background modernity is being built.

Being 'Different'

Before coming I was already a bit afraid of what it`s gonna be like to be absolutely different. I mean I imagined just sitting on the plane and then getting off and being just about the only white person around. It happened like this, too, but it didn`t bother me as much as I thought it would. Then here in the school all the kids wanted to touch me, look at my skin and everything like that. I could hardly go out of my room without getting caught by a lot of children who were all clinging onto me. It was a bit strange at first, but by now I think I got used to it. I also became Aunty Monika – that`s how the children call the teachers here: they either Aunty or Sir. So I`m starting to like my new name, too. :) It seems the children like me a lot, which makes me feel good, but I also have a feeling that this mostly not because of being me, but more because of just being white. I was told, that here everybody, already the children think that white people are good people. The children already get excited when they see a white person on the TV, and probably also that`s why they are so excited about me, too. Anyway, it`s all just about the same, when I go out on the streets, too. People are looking at me, the kids are waving to me and everybody is calling me 'obruni' (I think that`s how it`s written), which is the Ghanaian word for a white person. On one of my first days I even had a guy who was taking pictures of me. But I guess I`m getting used to this too, and I guess the point is also, that when I start feeling not so different, then they won`t see me so different either. Anyways, I have already seen a few white people since I`m here, just not around where I`m staying. Near the airport there`s a big shopping mall, where tourist usually go, and today we also went to a funeral (I will write about that more later) where I saw two white girls. I was so happy about them, I was thinking that now at least there`s three of us! :)

The school life

Ok, let`s see a little bit about the school, where I`m staying. In Emmanuel School there are kids from about the age of two till junior high school. For the smallest ones they have a playgroup, then kindergarten, where they already learn a bit of reading and writing, and so on. In the lower classes there are really a lot of children, like 30 - 35 kids in kindergarten. To the school belongs a house where Mercy, the school founder lives, and also those children who stay here. I also have my own room by the school which is really nice. We usually get up early, around 6 in the morning, then have a bath, which means bathing with a bucket of water. Then around 7 the kids who don`t live here start coming to school, so that classes can start around 8. Before that there are assemblies for the kids, where they sing the national anthem and the anthem of the school while somebody is drumming. On my first day I was introduced to the kids during the assembly, and then I was mostly sitting in the nursery watching how teaching is here. Then on Monday we agreed that I`m going to teach English, computer skills, and maybe later photography, too. We made a timetable too, which was nice to have a schedule for my day. On these classes I mostly help the teachers, I for example correct the children`s exercises, and I help the children when they do individual work. On the computer classes I was mostly alone, and it didn`t go that bad I think, though I sometimes have some problems with keeping them quiet. Which I guess I could expect too, I`m not too good with keeping order… But I will get better, I know! :) Now I`m getting used to Ghanaian English too, and I think they start to understand me better, too. Oh yes, and I`m learning the Ghanaian language (Twi) too! I can already say ‘how are you?’ and ‘I`m fine`, and I can count, too! I will have to learn some more, too. The weekends anyway are not so busy here, as weekdays. Last weekend for example we read stories with the kids who stay here and I also went to church with them in the afternoon, where in the children`s section they were watching an allegoric movie about that the path to Jesus is not easy.

Getting to here

The flight to Ghana was already an adventure. On the plane I could hardly see any white people (alright, maybe there were about 7 – 8 white people besides me) – at least I knew it for sure that I was on the right plane. It took at least 30 minutes to pack up everybody`s cabin bags, because they brought so much stuff on the plane that the room for the handbags was hardly enough. After this the captain announced that we would leave a bit late, because they mixed up the luggages and now there`s two of them missing and there are also three luggages on the plane that are not supposed to be there. After all these, we left at least an hour later than when we should have. The flight from London to Accra took us about six and a half hours till we landed at Kotoka International Airport. It was already evening when we landed, I couldn`t see any lights at all until I saw Accra, which looked really great from above. Getting through the visa control went easier than I would have thought: we only had to fill out a form on the plane so they asked for that form and the visa. They didn`t even ask any questions, didn`t even check my luggage (though they did check some other people`s), so I could just go free – it seems I didn`t look to dangerous for them… :) When I was coming out of the airport I saw a lot of people holding names who they were waiting for. I was looking at all the names till I saw Richard, my volunteer coordinator holding mine. From that time I knew that everything was alright. We sat in a taxi, took about a 40 minutes drive from the airport and then we arrived to Emmanuel School, which is in northern Accra, and which is now my home for a few month. Some of the kids live here, at the school, so they were waiting for me when I arrived and sang a lovely welcome song to me. It was just great!

Introduction

My name is Mónika Gera, a 24-year-old Hungarian girl and since now I`m spending four month of volunteer time in Ghana, I decided to write a blog about my experiences here.  I have wanted to come here for a really long time - at least for 6 – 7 years since I heard about somebody, who came here and loved it a lot. It took me quite some time to find the right oragnization for me, which is an organization based in Uruguay, and which is called HEARTWILL TEYI (http://www.heartwillteyi.org/). This oragnization has projects all over the world, but I chose the Emmanuel School Project in Accra, Ghana and I already have the feeling that I made the very best choice.
Now that I'm here at last I`m trying to enjoy every minute of my stay. . I just arrived on the 7^th July and I`m staying till 7^th November and during that time every now and then I will write here so that you can follow some of my experiences, too.