Ghanaians
love to dance. I have already mentioned this before, but it is definitely worth
mentioning again: Ghanaians love to dance. Love. To dance. Big time. Preferably
on loud music and preferably just a little bit too loud for the speakers used (resulting
in metallic croaky sounding loud music...). Hands, feet, bums, hips, heads, and
knees, anything wiggles and twists. Bending and turning in places where I
definitely don’t have any joints that I know of.
By
now you might be picturing a happy moving young crowd during a night out at
your own town, but it doesn’t even come close to the average Dutch student-boy
pointing his index fingers in a diagonal up and down motion. This is actual dancing. No accidental moves or
drunk jumping up and down, but breath-taking amazing hip twisting and original
moves matching the words and typical rhythm of a song (mostly ‘Azonto’ or ‘High
life’). And all of this is drenched with sincere and infectious enjoyment.
Friday,
two weeks ago, we had a good-bye party of a Canadian girl that lived in Accra
for quite some time. She had made some good local friends and managed to
arrange some large speakers and a DJ with her roommates, to send her off
Ghanaian style: BBQ and dancing in the courtyard of the house she lived at, all
night long. That night, when I came home and landed in my bed as tired and sore
as from a good work-out, I just couldn’t stop smiling. After the initial
staring at a group of dancing guys (so cool!), I just dived in and... well...
danced! I might have gotten a bit carried away, but it just didn’t matter,
because everybody was just having so much fun! Some guys tried to teach me some
proper Azonto-moves (often vaguely inspired from daily motions like pounding
fufu). By the end of the night I was happy that there wasn’t much light out,
because I literally was soaked. Or as I heard several times that night: “No
worries, we’re all sweating like a pregnant fish!” Clearly, Ghanaian dancing + Ghanaian
heat + Ghanaian humidity = sweating like a pregnant fish. That saying is a
keeper for sure.
The
Saturday after my mom arrived in Accra. Sometimes you need an extra viewer to
change the way you look at things, or to actually see things again. The popping
of her head out of a tro-tro window to take in a street view (just turning it
didn’t do the trick) or her big eyes of amazement to passers-by, made me
realize how many things I already think of as ‘normal’. I don’t really think of the messy, slum-like
back-streets as shockingly poor anymore, that’s just how it is. But yes, it is
very poor, compared to Europe. But for some reason it is also much more
nuanced. In a dusty (mainly because of the unpaved roads and the Hamatan, sandy
hot wind from the Sahara), smelly (open sewers, sweat), and polluted (no waste
pick-up system, too many old cars) city like Accra, the 20-80 rule reigns. This
rule of thumb, often used for input of students during schooling, argues that
for an 80% result, you need 20% of the effort. To add the additional 20% of the
result (to make it 100%) you need 80% more effort. I really think that in Accra
it is just not worth the time and the money to keep things looking nice. Within
a day colours are faded by the sun and everything is covered in dust. Why spend
money on your house to make it look nice, if you can do ten times more with
that same money when it comes to fancy clothes, gadgets, and activities? Big,
nice houses is just something for the really really rich.
This
was one of the reasons why in the beginning I couldn’t really tell if someone
was poor or rich, or where on the scale in between. The same people living in
these back streets were the ones owning a blackberry and a giant sound system,
as well as the ones going to a beach with 10GHC entrance fee during the weekend
(which is quite a lot!). It just doesn’t really matter where you sleep, as long
as you have somewhere to sleep, eat, and wash yourself. Happiness does not
depend on having a shower, a bucket will do just fine. When these basic things
are out of reach however, yes, then it really starts being difficult.
Of
course, I have the luxury of living in a nice house and having everything I
need quite easily available. And I already get annoyed when we don’t have
internet for example (I am embarrassed to say, but I am slightly depending on
it!). Our very regular water and power cuts lead to the discussion which of the
two was worse. The conclusion: both are okay, as long as you know when it
happens and it doesn’t last too long. Unfortunately Ghanaians don’t stick to
time the way we do, so even if there is a schedule for the power-cuts in Accra,
they never stick to it. Oh well... it is just the best excuse for not working
and just sitting in front of our house with the rest of the street. Sorry, we
had ‘lights-off’!
In
between sight-seeing with my mom (which she also actually did on her own for a
part of the day! Very adventurous of her!) I actually had a very busy week. My
research-assistant Muni (who has been a great great help to me, not just by
translating, but also to get things to happen) had to go back to her regular
job somewhere way up in the north-east this Saturday, so we basically had to
fit all data collection in this one week! This meant interviewing like crazy,
and even getting the focus group discussion organized.
That
morning of the group discussion was a whole lot of Ghana at once. I asked the
women who agreed to participate in the group discussion to come at 8:30 am
(quite a normal time here, live starts very early). Around 9:15 the first one
showed up. After several reminder calls, two other women showed up between 9:30
and 10:30, after which the other four (“yes, yes, I’m coming! I am on my way!”)
decided to not answer their phones anymore and not show up at all. Apparently
saying “no” is just too difficult... So I decided to not waste any more time of
the three women that came and recruited three more women in their first
trimester from the antenatal care. Luckily they agreed on participating... The
funny thing was that I felt so guilty for wasting the time of the three women
that did come, but they were not surprised at all, just waiting around, blankly
staring away, switching to the “low-energy”-mode that Ghanaians have made to an
art. Imagine doing that in Holland!
The
group discussion was very interesting, and definitely gave me a lot of
information (the small stroopwafels and cold water kept the opinions
flowing...). I am very much looking forward to analysing my data, because I
really think the vulnerability of pregnant women here in Ghana is far greater
than I even expected! Starting a clinical trial here seems almost unethical!
Anyway, hopefully I can come with some good advice for medical researchers...
(For those of you who still are not quite sure what I was researching again,
I’ll go into that a bit more next time ;))
After
finishing all this (unbelievable!) I headed out with my mom towards Cape Coast
and Elmina, where we had a very nice weekend together exploring and relaxing.
It took me some time to wind down the first day... Did I really just do my
whole data collection in less than two weeks...?! But it was really nice to
hang out with my mom, showing her around in this interesting country.
Yet
again I’ve managed to write a long post... (I hope you manage to read up to
this point!) and I didn’t even talk about:
...
the pig family that randomly walked by on the beach
...
the fact that my mom really took my advice of talking to all the taxi drivers
at heart, which resulted in her hearing the most interesting life stories
...
including one of a guy wanting to write a book on how to life your life by
acting not waiting :) which would definitely change Ghana for good...
...
that I bought fabric and got a dress and skirt made! Can’t wait to see the
results
... that
I pounded fufu with Sandra (a girl I met through church, who lives in one of the
back streets), which basically was a joint venture with her neighbours, some
lost chickens, and the beats of “chop my money” in the background
... that
I’m surprised that we don’t have more fufu-pounding-accidents coming in at the
ER, like crushed hands
...
that adultery is such a common thing here, that it has been a major topic with
the women in church already almost every Sunday (what to do if your husband...)
...
that I have a double identity here (both Geerte, which is impossible for
Ghanaians, and Christine). What’s in a name, right?
...
that I am very much looking forward to actually working at the labour ward and
the obstetric operation theatre the coming weeks
and
...
that ‘God is wonderful tea’
Big
hug!!
(ps. don't forget to scroll down for pictures, click to enlarge, and the fufu movie!)
My street at dusk |
The women at church... and me :) |
Walking in Sandra's neighbourhood |
Sandra's room is in the house on the left |
Mama picking Maringa leaves (very very nutritious!) with Sandra land lady |
Making banku |
The beautiful Sandra starting the pounding of plantain for the fufu |
Me, trying not to get hit by the pounding stick whilst putting the fufu under it... |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AiQ7eeiNf2U
(fufu movie)
The result: fufu with groundnut (=peanut) soup |
The women waiting for antenatal care at the clinic |
Muni ready for interviewing |
One of the midwifes in action |
The mother of a friend from church, who sells red-red (beans with fried plantain) near the hospital, yum! |
Exploring Elmina |
The simple joy of a tire :) |
Mom making friends |
The upward view from the courtyard where the slave trader chose a woman for one night at Elmina Castle |
Cape coast... me in action |
Elmina harbour |
Showing my picture to some kids at Ada (from last blog) |
Sewers... |
Accra's sewer on my way to the hospital... |
Lighthouse of Jamestown (Accra) |
Jamestown 'harbour' (Accra) |
i dont have a clue what this button tells me but i guess the comment section is working..
ReplyDeletegreat pictures! im only missing the one with the sweaty pregnant fish
ps.: i really would wanna know what the little girl said on the exploring elmina pic. Maybe it was a "ur mom..." joke and her little friend was having good time ^^
haha! yay! It works :)
DeleteTrust me, you're not missing anything without a picture of the sweaty pregnant fish ;) And the little girl? Yup... a "Ur mom..."-joke must have been it, too bad my Fanti isn't good enough to have gotten it ;)
I nevr followed a blog before but reading your stories and looking at your pictures is great. It makes me want to take the next airplane and go somewhere far away too. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Kaylene ever told you that she made fufu before. It wasn't authentic, but it tasted really good. She made it for the Elder in our ward that was from Ghana.
ReplyDeleteWe are enjoying your blog tremendously. Thanks for writing in english :)
:) Really? That is so sweet of her! An elder from your ward e-mailed me, I still have to get back to him.
DeleteI really like that you are following everything!! Big hug!
Super leuk en interessant om te lezen. Mijn lover is 50 procent Nigeriaans (nooit dat hij ooit in Nigeria is geweest) en LOVES fufu. Ik ben er nog niet zo weg van....waarschijnlijk is locally beter:)
ReplyDeleteHaha... nou eerlijk gezegd, ik ben echt een alles-eter, maar fufu hoef je me niet wakker voor te maken ;)
DeleteChristine! Wat is fufu? Of moet ik een van je vorige blogs lezen? Leuk hoor Christine!
ReplyDeleteliefs, Paris
Haha 'moet'... Ben blij als ik weer van dat Christine af ben in Nederland ;)! Fufu is een slijmerige deeg massa die ze hier eigenlijk elke dag eten als avondeten/lunch. Dat of de gefermenteerde versie die banku heet. De smaak is ok, maar door de consistentie ga ik echt bijna kokhalzen als ik het doorslik :s Maar oefening baart kunst... Liefs! xx
Delete