since my last post from tamale our educational tour has taken us all across ghana. we started in a small village in the central region called krobo that is best known for its beads and bead making. krobo uses beads in several different ceremonies. the most popular ceremony is a female right of passage called dipo where young girls completely cover themselves in beads and dance. we met with a group of queen mothers and young girls who told us about the process. we spent one afternoon in krobo with a bead maker. he showed us how he recycles empty bottles to make beads. he smashed guiness (for some reason guiness is the most popular beer in ghana) and schnapps bottles that he bought from local bars and then placed the shards into small molds which he then put into a kiln. next he pulled the molds out of the kiln and drove a nail through the formed beads to make a hole to put string through. we also visited a botanical garden outside of krobo where we found magic beans! these beans, however, do not grow stalks to the heavens; after you suck on a bean for a bit it changes the taste of anything you eat into a sweet taste, even hot peppers. in krobo we stayed at a guest house and when we returned home one afternoon a group of kids playing soccer waved at us to come join them. i was a bit hesitant after dislocating my shoulder in my sleep two nights earlier (luckily i was able to reduce it myself so it wasn't to bad), but decided to play. i started out playing a game of possession with some kids when another team arrived. the coach asked me what position i played and everyone laughed when i tried to show him on my hands a midfielder. we ended up playing a whole 90min game and it reminded me why i love soccer so much. ghanaians don't play as physical a game as americans do; they do move the ball as fast as i have ever seen though which is difficult on an uneven dirt field. the game ended right before the sun set behind a collection of mountains surrounding the field.
from krobo we travelled to a town on the boarder of ghana and togo called dagbe. in dagbe we learned a traditional war dance and got to visit the beach twice. the waves were huge! i felt like a blueberry in a blender. togo has a strong french affiliation so when we visited the boarder we were able to find and enjoy loaves of french bread with avocado and onion; we returned twice to for this sandwich.
now we are in vume; a pottery village in the volta region. we have spent two days working with a group of women who make and sell pots. the techniques they use are unlike anything i had ever seen before. they dig their own clay from a hillside near the volta river and fire their finished pots by covering them in palm leaves and tall grasses and setting them on fire. i am excited to return to vume during my independent study to learn more about their processes. tomorrow we will be leaving vume and driving to cape coast where we will be visiting another national park and a few former slave castles.
did you get rid of your green and gold number 4 jersey after brett signed with the jets? if so, it might have ended up in ghana! today i saw the fifth favre jersey i've seen since being in ghana.
we have been speaking twi far less frequently since leaving the ashante region, however, i did recently learn my new favorite response to 'how are you?' - bokoo se ntaafoo awoo - means literally i am cool like the birth of twins. ghanaians consider birth a very difficult but beautiful process so when a women gives birth to twins its a very cool thing. i think that's a lot cooler than a cucumber.
me reko didi - i'm going to eat. much love!
dane
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
elephants!
this afternoon we returned from two nights at mole national park. we arrived in the afternoon and spent the first night sleeping in tents that had been donated to the park from the u.s. army. they did a pretty good job of keeping us dry during the rain. i met a couple from the netherlands who were staying at the park and they asked me if i 'had met zee baboons yet.' then they showed me their truck and all of the damage that these crazy, red-assed monkeys had done to their vehicle. luckily they stayed away from our tent. we woke up ealry the second day and met telle, our guide for a two hour walking tour of the forest. telle took us to an elephant who was eating and was not nearly as excited to see us as we were to see him. the elephant began to charge us when he saw us and telle yelled 'run' as he cocked his shotgun. luckily the elephant stopped and we were able to come back and take its picture a million times. we also saw monkeys, warthogs, and antelope on our walking tour. when we returned to the campground we were preparing to leave the park and return to tamale when seven others and i decided that we wanted to spend another night. we booked a room in the motel and a jeep tour of the park. we left that afternoon on our safari and got to ride on the top of the jeep! on this tour we got to see a whole family of elephants, as well as crocodiles and baboons. that evening we met a few guys whose parents worked at the park and they had grown up their. they took us down into the forest (the motel is located on highest point in the park) to a watering hole to get a closer look at the crocodiles. moses, our friend, said that their were over 50 crocs living in the pond. he also told us about his friend who likes to swim across the pond! we didn't try.
tomorrow morning we return to kumasi for one night before departing on our educational tour. this tour will take us to cape coast, the voltal region, the central region, and several places in between. the tour will last two weeks and then we begin our independent study! i can't believe how fast this semester is moving. i hope everyone enjoyed their spring break and hopefully i'll be able to keep you updated during our tour as well as share some more stories!
go badgers!
dane
tomorrow morning we return to kumasi for one night before departing on our educational tour. this tour will take us to cape coast, the voltal region, the central region, and several places in between. the tour will last two weeks and then we begin our independent study! i can't believe how fast this semester is moving. i hope everyone enjoyed their spring break and hopefully i'll be able to keep you updated during our tour as well as share some more stories!
go badgers!
dane
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
tamale is hot!
tamale is really hot! our seven hour bus ride dropped us in what feels like a completely different country; northern ghana is sooo much different than the south. the north is much more desert like; the languages here are different; the dress, dance, music, food, and architecture are all different. yesterday afternoon we attended the last day of a week long festival celebrated by the dagomba people to honor the birth of mohammad. all of the kings from the northern region traveled to the central mosque in tamale to greet the high priest. the kings came on horses and over 10,000 citizens filled the streets to welcome them. when a king arrived, people would fire gun shots into the air to show their appreciation for them. ghanaians don't have fireworks, but they do have guns and they just as loud and exciting. lots of music and dancing accompanied the festival and when a king or an elder would dance, people would honor them by pressing money against their head. sometimes the money would stay and the dancer would keep it or else it would fall to the ground and children would hover beneath to collect it.
we are currently staying in hostels and have been having lectures in the mornings on northern culture and economy. today we learned about the role of the kings and the chiefs in the north. this afternoon we are visiting a shea butter farm.
alright i need to run, hope all is well!
we are currently staying in hostels and have been having lectures in the mornings on northern culture and economy. today we learned about the role of the kings and the chiefs in the north. this afternoon we are visiting a shea butter farm.
alright i need to run, hope all is well!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
okiakom
i'm back!! the village was a wild experience and i don't really know where to begin...
when we (me, 5 girls, 2 staff members, and a cook) arrived at okiakrom (about an hour outside of kumasi) we were immediately greeted by a man named jk and about 800 kids. jk was our housing coordinator in the village who also worked on a cocoa farm. jk took a special liking toward me, since i was the only man in the group, and would often grab me throughout the day for "small small apatshi" which meant shots of the local gin. one morning jk arrived at my window and said, "dan, wake up, today we go for goat." jk and i spent two hours that morning wondering the village comparing goats and goat prices; after small small apateshi. we eventually decided on a nice goat for 20 cedi; jk dragged it back to our home and gave me a stick to beat it with from the back. we then spent the afternoon slaughtering the goat, cleaning the goat, cooking the goat, and eating the goat with help from several other village members. eating the goat was a bit difficult...
march 6th was ghana's independence day and we were brought to a near by village to watch a parade of local school children. each school in the area trains their 30 students with the best looking uniforms to march in the parade. parents cheered as their children marched by and would sometimes run our and stick money in their pockets. we even got to march with the last school! after the parade, there was a lot music and dancing... but no egg toss
in the morning we would meet with different village leaders and observe activities that were taking place. in the afternoons we all picked a different area of village life to study; i studied education and village games and spent my afternoons working at the primary school. i taught math and english in a four grade class. it was difficult to know if the students understood what i was teaching them, but the teacher was very grateful to have me around. kids were everywhere in the village so i was very happy to be able to help out in the school.
one afternoon we went with the queen mother--a village leader--to a nearby village called asakore. every 60 days several village leaders gather to hear concerns from members of the village. we sat in on a land dispute case, but had a fairly difficult time understanding the twi. after the case we were able to witness the swearing in of a new chief. a village chief had died three years ago and there had been much controversy over who would replace him. usually a chief is replace in 3 days but this case took 3 years! after the swearing in, the village members raised the new chief on their shoulders and marched him through the streets while singing and dancing. this parade was interrupted, however, by a group of protesters who were in favor of a different candidate. a fight broke out between the two parties and when someone smashed a car's windshield, we decided to move away. the police eventually interfered and fired a few shots into the air to disperse the crowd. we were then led to a nearby house to meet the new chief and several other village leaders.
there is sooo much more but i will have to write about it later. tomorrow we leave kumasi at 7:00am for tamale and i need to get back to our hotel. we will be in tamale for 2 weeks, where we will be visiting mole national park, and then we will depart on our educational tour all across ghana. my health is still well! and i am continuing to love my time here. i hope everyone is doing well and i promise some more village stories once we have settled in tamale!
love, dane
when we (me, 5 girls, 2 staff members, and a cook) arrived at okiakrom (about an hour outside of kumasi) we were immediately greeted by a man named jk and about 800 kids. jk was our housing coordinator in the village who also worked on a cocoa farm. jk took a special liking toward me, since i was the only man in the group, and would often grab me throughout the day for "small small apatshi" which meant shots of the local gin. one morning jk arrived at my window and said, "dan, wake up, today we go for goat." jk and i spent two hours that morning wondering the village comparing goats and goat prices; after small small apateshi. we eventually decided on a nice goat for 20 cedi; jk dragged it back to our home and gave me a stick to beat it with from the back. we then spent the afternoon slaughtering the goat, cleaning the goat, cooking the goat, and eating the goat with help from several other village members. eating the goat was a bit difficult...
march 6th was ghana's independence day and we were brought to a near by village to watch a parade of local school children. each school in the area trains their 30 students with the best looking uniforms to march in the parade. parents cheered as their children marched by and would sometimes run our and stick money in their pockets. we even got to march with the last school! after the parade, there was a lot music and dancing... but no egg toss
in the morning we would meet with different village leaders and observe activities that were taking place. in the afternoons we all picked a different area of village life to study; i studied education and village games and spent my afternoons working at the primary school. i taught math and english in a four grade class. it was difficult to know if the students understood what i was teaching them, but the teacher was very grateful to have me around. kids were everywhere in the village so i was very happy to be able to help out in the school.
one afternoon we went with the queen mother--a village leader--to a nearby village called asakore. every 60 days several village leaders gather to hear concerns from members of the village. we sat in on a land dispute case, but had a fairly difficult time understanding the twi. after the case we were able to witness the swearing in of a new chief. a village chief had died three years ago and there had been much controversy over who would replace him. usually a chief is replace in 3 days but this case took 3 years! after the swearing in, the village members raised the new chief on their shoulders and marched him through the streets while singing and dancing. this parade was interrupted, however, by a group of protesters who were in favor of a different candidate. a fight broke out between the two parties and when someone smashed a car's windshield, we decided to move away. the police eventually interfered and fired a few shots into the air to disperse the crowd. we were then led to a nearby house to meet the new chief and several other village leaders.
there is sooo much more but i will have to write about it later. tomorrow we leave kumasi at 7:00am for tamale and i need to get back to our hotel. we will be in tamale for 2 weeks, where we will be visiting mole national park, and then we will depart on our educational tour all across ghana. my health is still well! and i am continuing to love my time here. i hope everyone is doing well and i promise some more village stories once we have settled in tamale!
love, dane
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
kumasi updates
i'm not sick yet!
i also learned recently that my ghanaian name is kuesi. ghanaians usually go by two names; their ghanaian name and their western name. most go by their ghanaian name and give their western name to visitors. the interesting component to this name philosophy is that ghanaians receive their name in correlation with the day that they were born. kuesi is short for kuesiada which means sunday; all boys who are born on sundays are named kuesi and all sunday born girls are named kuesia. i imagine this makes it fairly difficult for teachers taking roll. ghanaians love it when we answer "wo din de sen? (what is your name?)" with our ghanaian name.
food continues to be one of the most difficult aspects of fully embracing the ghanaian culture; i have been overwhelmed with starches and spices. when i meet up with my classmates in the morning we usually find ourselves talking about how much fufu we were served the previous night or how much tom-brown (rice porridge) was in our bowl for breakfast. most ghanaian dishes you are not supposes to chew because it will stick to your throat; we americans have discovered that ghanaian food often times comes out as quickly as we swallow it in (we have given a new meaning to the ashanti symbol of pride and independence that rests in the middle of their flag--the golden stool). the golden stool was destroyed to prevent the british from stealing it, and on good days here we claim that "we have found the golden stool," other days we are still searching.
on sunday jeff took me to church. this church was unlike any church i had ever experienced before (which aren't many, but that's besides the point). the whole time we were singing and dancing, throwing our hands to the sky and screaming. it was a lot of fun; my tie was loose by the end of it and i put some pretty serious pit stains in my only dress shirt.
yesterday we visited an okomfoo-- an akan priest. she performed a ritual which entailed her becoming possessed by her spirit husband and then dancing with us and telling us about our lives and our futures. she was dressed in traditional garb and began the ritual by smashing an egg and pouring gin and flour on it. after dancing and awakening the spirit and letting it enter her body she brought us into a room individually for consolation with the spirit (there was also a translator present). she didn't provide me with any information that was too crazy; she only said to stay in school so that i can help support my family one day. however, my friend bri's first child will be a girl, and if toby stays in school, he will become the president of the USA!
in class this week we have continued with our twi in the mornings and we have been dancing and drumming in the afternoons. twi has gotten harder; the word papa has four different meanings depending on how you pronounce it! our dancing a drumming has been in preparation for a final performance that we will be putting on for our host families. i will be playing drums for the performance (even though i think i'm a better dancer). the men are usually the drummers and since there are so few of us we have taken on those rolls. we have gotten pretty good, however, i think our families with still laugh at us.
this may be my last post for a bit; on sunday we leave kumasi for our village stays. i can't believe we are already leaving kumasi, saturday marks our one month departure from the states, but i feel like we just landed in accra yesterday. for the villages we will be split into three groups of six students and staying in different villages in the ashanti region. none of these villages have electricity or running water, and many of the huts we will be in are without beds so we are bringing along some mattresses. in the village we will each be studying a different aspect about the culture within the village. this maybe wood carving, education, palm wine tapping, chiefdom, or anything. i'm still not sure what i want to study. each night in the village we have a different event to attend. these will usually be ceremonies or performances of some sort. we will be in the village for 10 days so make sure to check back here then and i promise some wild stories!
in kumasi i have met a few times with the ceramics technichion at KNUST to discuss my independent study project. his name is naab (i think that i mentioned him before) and i have really enjoyed getting to know him. he is in charge of making clay and glazes, running firings, and several other tasks around the ceramics studio. he also spends much of this time at local corries and villages where he finds materials to use in his clay bodies and glazes to substitute for materials that he would otherwise have to import (for example naab collects shells from the coast to grind up and us in white glazes in place of calcium carbonate). i am really excited to work with naab for my project, he has lots of friends in nearby villages where i will be able to observe wood firings and i will also have full use of the studio at KNUST.
alright, i think that is all the news for now, but make sure to check back in 10 days or so! i hope everyone is doing well, ghana sb 09 anyone? let me know
love, dane
i also learned recently that my ghanaian name is kuesi. ghanaians usually go by two names; their ghanaian name and their western name. most go by their ghanaian name and give their western name to visitors. the interesting component to this name philosophy is that ghanaians receive their name in correlation with the day that they were born. kuesi is short for kuesiada which means sunday; all boys who are born on sundays are named kuesi and all sunday born girls are named kuesia. i imagine this makes it fairly difficult for teachers taking roll. ghanaians love it when we answer "wo din de sen? (what is your name?)" with our ghanaian name.
food continues to be one of the most difficult aspects of fully embracing the ghanaian culture; i have been overwhelmed with starches and spices. when i meet up with my classmates in the morning we usually find ourselves talking about how much fufu we were served the previous night or how much tom-brown (rice porridge) was in our bowl for breakfast. most ghanaian dishes you are not supposes to chew because it will stick to your throat; we americans have discovered that ghanaian food often times comes out as quickly as we swallow it in (we have given a new meaning to the ashanti symbol of pride and independence that rests in the middle of their flag--the golden stool). the golden stool was destroyed to prevent the british from stealing it, and on good days here we claim that "we have found the golden stool," other days we are still searching.
on sunday jeff took me to church. this church was unlike any church i had ever experienced before (which aren't many, but that's besides the point). the whole time we were singing and dancing, throwing our hands to the sky and screaming. it was a lot of fun; my tie was loose by the end of it and i put some pretty serious pit stains in my only dress shirt.
yesterday we visited an okomfoo-- an akan priest. she performed a ritual which entailed her becoming possessed by her spirit husband and then dancing with us and telling us about our lives and our futures. she was dressed in traditional garb and began the ritual by smashing an egg and pouring gin and flour on it. after dancing and awakening the spirit and letting it enter her body she brought us into a room individually for consolation with the spirit (there was also a translator present). she didn't provide me with any information that was too crazy; she only said to stay in school so that i can help support my family one day. however, my friend bri's first child will be a girl, and if toby stays in school, he will become the president of the USA!
in class this week we have continued with our twi in the mornings and we have been dancing and drumming in the afternoons. twi has gotten harder; the word papa has four different meanings depending on how you pronounce it! our dancing a drumming has been in preparation for a final performance that we will be putting on for our host families. i will be playing drums for the performance (even though i think i'm a better dancer). the men are usually the drummers and since there are so few of us we have taken on those rolls. we have gotten pretty good, however, i think our families with still laugh at us.
this may be my last post for a bit; on sunday we leave kumasi for our village stays. i can't believe we are already leaving kumasi, saturday marks our one month departure from the states, but i feel like we just landed in accra yesterday. for the villages we will be split into three groups of six students and staying in different villages in the ashanti region. none of these villages have electricity or running water, and many of the huts we will be in are without beds so we are bringing along some mattresses. in the village we will each be studying a different aspect about the culture within the village. this maybe wood carving, education, palm wine tapping, chiefdom, or anything. i'm still not sure what i want to study. each night in the village we have a different event to attend. these will usually be ceremonies or performances of some sort. we will be in the village for 10 days so make sure to check back here then and i promise some wild stories!
in kumasi i have met a few times with the ceramics technichion at KNUST to discuss my independent study project. his name is naab (i think that i mentioned him before) and i have really enjoyed getting to know him. he is in charge of making clay and glazes, running firings, and several other tasks around the ceramics studio. he also spends much of this time at local corries and villages where he finds materials to use in his clay bodies and glazes to substitute for materials that he would otherwise have to import (for example naab collects shells from the coast to grind up and us in white glazes in place of calcium carbonate). i am really excited to work with naab for my project, he has lots of friends in nearby villages where i will be able to observe wood firings and i will also have full use of the studio at KNUST.
alright, i think that is all the news for now, but make sure to check back in 10 days or so! i hope everyone is doing well, ghana sb 09 anyone? let me know
love, dane
Saturday, February 21, 2009
guac in ghana
the guac turned out better than i had expected, however, now i am a bit nervous; jeff told me that my guacamole was the first time he had ever eaten uncooked vegetables... i had been wondering why all ghanaian food is served hot... i hope i don't end up with cholera! i don't think my family enjoyed my cooking as much as i did, my brother's and sister's facial expressions made me realize what i must look like when i eat fufu. i even caught nana fake dipping a plantain chip and then telling me he enjoyed my cooking.
we started dancing and drumming in class last week in the afternoons, a group of performers from KNUST have been joining us and teaching us their skills. we are still learning the basics so everything is fairly repeditive but its been really fun and funny. yesterday some friends and i found the pool on campus. it was really fun until jones (whose real name is jules, but ghanaians cannot pronounce the oo sound so we switched it) jumped off the high dive and ruptured his eardrum.
almost all of the girls in our group left for the night to visit a crator lake 45 mins outside of kumasi, its the largest natural lake in west africa, i think that me and the two other guys are going to check it out next weekend. this weekend were just going to chill im kumasi. i played soccer again this morning with nana and joyce and then taught jeff how to do sudokus, he had a handheld sudoku player but didn't know how to use it.
have a good weekend!
dane
we started dancing and drumming in class last week in the afternoons, a group of performers from KNUST have been joining us and teaching us their skills. we are still learning the basics so everything is fairly repeditive but its been really fun and funny. yesterday some friends and i found the pool on campus. it was really fun until jones (whose real name is jules, but ghanaians cannot pronounce the oo sound so we switched it) jumped off the high dive and ruptured his eardrum.
almost all of the girls in our group left for the night to visit a crator lake 45 mins outside of kumasi, its the largest natural lake in west africa, i think that me and the two other guys are going to check it out next weekend. this weekend were just going to chill im kumasi. i played soccer again this morning with nana and joyce and then taught jeff how to do sudokus, he had a handheld sudoku player but didn't know how to use it.
have a good weekend!
dane
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
kumasi
we made it to kumasi! the drive took about six hours, but i would guess that our average speed was about 25 mph because of traffic and road conditions. kumasi is wonderful and so is my new host family. i live directly across the street from KNUST (kwame nkruma university of science and technology) which is where we have classes in the afternoon. this location gives me lots of extra time to hang around campus after class because i can just walk home. in the morning i wake up at about 6:30 and catch a 30 min trou trou to KASS (kumasi anglican secondary school) where we have twi classes. then we catch another trou trou to KNUST for lunch and afternoon classes. the first afternoon at KNUST we toured around the several different art facilities by the head of the art department. i met a professor name naab who works in the ceramics department and am going back tomorrow to talk with him and trade glaze recipes. in the afternoons we have also had lectures from different professors on observation and interviewing techniques and ethnography ethics. this morning after twi class we went to the central market which is the largest market in west africa! we walked around the miles of vendors and practiced our barganing skills that we learned in class. i bought two payas (avocados), a gyeene (onion) and two ntoosi (tomatoes); i'm going to try to make my family some guacamole, i have a feeling it may not be some of my best stuff... especially since we will be eating it with plantain chips.
my parents are named joyce and erik both working on their masters in business administration at KNUST; they are both really excited to have me around and love to speak twi with me. they want to eventually open up a chain of restaurants. i have one brother jeffery who is 18 years old and has been taking care of me; he took me on a tour around campus and the neighborhood. he is currently on his mandatory break after graduating from high school and is waiting to go to the university where he wants to study human biology to become a surgeon. i eat most of my meals with jeffrey out on their porch.I also have an older sister named shila who is 23 and two younger siblings; nana is a 10 year old boy who loves to play soccer and joyce is a 12 year old girl. our family lives on the second floor of a two building compound. my parents rent out the bottom floor and the second building to students at KNUST from accra.
other ghana observations...
-it's totally cool to pick your nose wherever and whenever
-6 people died at a soccer game last week between accra and kumasi from heat exhaustion
-although homosexuality is illegal in ghana, it's very common to see two young men or women walk together holding hands
-ghana recently had the closest election in its history, however, everyone is 10 times more excited and interested in obama
-there is no waste management here
-cipro is nice
-it's the dry season, but since we have been in kumasi we have had two huge storms, one this afternoon
alright i need to get going, but here are a few responses to some comments...
nye - yes
molls - what's an SkB?
alex - yes i do look a little south korean, have you kicked over any eggs yet in italia?
grace - you're a fufu
lars - you're a wenis
i miss you all!!!
love, dane
my parents are named joyce and erik both working on their masters in business administration at KNUST; they are both really excited to have me around and love to speak twi with me. they want to eventually open up a chain of restaurants. i have one brother jeffery who is 18 years old and has been taking care of me; he took me on a tour around campus and the neighborhood. he is currently on his mandatory break after graduating from high school and is waiting to go to the university where he wants to study human biology to become a surgeon. i eat most of my meals with jeffrey out on their porch.I also have an older sister named shila who is 23 and two younger siblings; nana is a 10 year old boy who loves to play soccer and joyce is a 12 year old girl. our family lives on the second floor of a two building compound. my parents rent out the bottom floor and the second building to students at KNUST from accra.
other ghana observations...
-it's totally cool to pick your nose wherever and whenever
-6 people died at a soccer game last week between accra and kumasi from heat exhaustion
-although homosexuality is illegal in ghana, it's very common to see two young men or women walk together holding hands
-ghana recently had the closest election in its history, however, everyone is 10 times more excited and interested in obama
-there is no waste management here
-cipro is nice
-it's the dry season, but since we have been in kumasi we have had two huge storms, one this afternoon
alright i need to get going, but here are a few responses to some comments...
nye - yes
molls - what's an SkB?
alex - yes i do look a little south korean, have you kicked over any eggs yet in italia?
grace - you're a fufu
lars - you're a wenis
i miss you all!!!
love, dane
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)