Monday, September 26
Well, we are finally in our place. It’s very comfortable, although there have been a few unexpected issues that have to be fixed, namely the fact that there is no water coming out of the shower. This is probably because all of the water in the tank seems to have been deposited on the bathroom floor overnight from a leak. Anyways, that will be fixed soon. Also, there was an almost-dead cockroach that was about three times the size of the biggest ones at Go Home Bay. He (or she) enjoyed a watery grave in the toilet.
Yesterday saw my first contact with foreigners. It had been nearly 10 days, since I’d talked to a non-Ghanaian, which might not seem like a lot, but if you really think about it, was a long time, particularly given that it was a first for me. I met three Brits just out of high school who are volunteering here until December, as well as a woman from Vancouver who has been in Ghana with CUSO for about 4 years. I’ve got their numbers and I’m sure I’ll meet up with them soon. It’ll be nice to go out and grab some Western food cause I’ve been craving a good burger and fries. The food here is pretty good, some things better than others, but as my travel guide puts it, “while you wouldn’t want to travel in Ghana without trying fufu or kenkey, you will be unlikely to miss them when you return home.” Fufu and kenkey are basically dough that is eaten with spicy sauce or soup. And to be honest, they’re pretty terrible, unless you actually like eating dough. Maybe I’ll adjust.
It’s morning now so I’ll write more later in the day and, as always, post when I can. We have a meeting with a local chief to introduce our water project. More on that tonight.
It’s now tonight. Today was quite the experience. We arrived in Kumawu, which is north of where I’m staying. It’s in a very hilly area that is incredibly fertile, although most of the land is fallow. Because it is so hilly, there is no water in the elevated communities. We were introduced to the chief and presented him with the customary bottle of schnapps. Then his linguist told him about the project which took about two minutes. After that, we were led down to a room with lots of chairs in it and a throne. His court I suppose. There had been a complaint brought against us that needed to be addressed. It is pretty complicated—Dr. Addae explained it all to me—so I won’t bore you with all the details. It basically stems from a personal dispute involving a man and the sub-chief who is helping us with the project. It seems like this man was using our project as an excuse to make trouble for the sub-chief.
Anyways, the complaint was heard in the assembly, with the chief on his throne, the queen mother (his wife?) next to him, and all the sub-chiefs around him. We had to stand in front of him, along with the complainants. Dr. Addae spoke about what we are trying to do, which is provide water to people at the cost of about 1 cent per gallon (to cover costs). And then the complainant spoke. And then all the sub-chiefs spoke, then the queen mother, then the chief. This all took place in Twi, not English, and we had to stand there the whole time (maybe 45 minutes). By the tone of the elders, I could tell we were on the winning side. This was confirmed to me by Dr. Addae when we left. Apparently, the complainants were seriously admonished. The queen mother, who lives in Canada but is back for a while, even made some comment about me and Canada and how they were embarrassing Ghana. It was quite the experience.
As novel as it was, I think today illustrates some of the problems Africa faces with its bureaucracies. You’d think something as vital as supplying water could be done fairly easily. But there were so many hoops to jump through. And this is only one district. It seemed like a bit of a waste of time. I’m all for traditions, but they have to be adapted to be practical, particularly when you’re dealing with something like water supply. That said, it was pretty neat to be standing in front of a chief on his throne, with a guy behind him holding a huge umbrella (indoors) and another one beside him with a golden rod. He seemed pretty indifferent to the whole thing too.
That’s it for today. Because this is so long, I’ll likely keep Tuesday’s post short to spare you all. I’ll catch you obrunis later.
Yesterday saw my first contact with foreigners. It had been nearly 10 days, since I’d talked to a non-Ghanaian, which might not seem like a lot, but if you really think about it, was a long time, particularly given that it was a first for me. I met three Brits just out of high school who are volunteering here until December, as well as a woman from Vancouver who has been in Ghana with CUSO for about 4 years. I’ve got their numbers and I’m sure I’ll meet up with them soon. It’ll be nice to go out and grab some Western food cause I’ve been craving a good burger and fries. The food here is pretty good, some things better than others, but as my travel guide puts it, “while you wouldn’t want to travel in Ghana without trying fufu or kenkey, you will be unlikely to miss them when you return home.” Fufu and kenkey are basically dough that is eaten with spicy sauce or soup. And to be honest, they’re pretty terrible, unless you actually like eating dough. Maybe I’ll adjust.
It’s morning now so I’ll write more later in the day and, as always, post when I can. We have a meeting with a local chief to introduce our water project. More on that tonight.
It’s now tonight. Today was quite the experience. We arrived in Kumawu, which is north of where I’m staying. It’s in a very hilly area that is incredibly fertile, although most of the land is fallow. Because it is so hilly, there is no water in the elevated communities. We were introduced to the chief and presented him with the customary bottle of schnapps. Then his linguist told him about the project which took about two minutes. After that, we were led down to a room with lots of chairs in it and a throne. His court I suppose. There had been a complaint brought against us that needed to be addressed. It is pretty complicated—Dr. Addae explained it all to me—so I won’t bore you with all the details. It basically stems from a personal dispute involving a man and the sub-chief who is helping us with the project. It seems like this man was using our project as an excuse to make trouble for the sub-chief.
Anyways, the complaint was heard in the assembly, with the chief on his throne, the queen mother (his wife?) next to him, and all the sub-chiefs around him. We had to stand in front of him, along with the complainants. Dr. Addae spoke about what we are trying to do, which is provide water to people at the cost of about 1 cent per gallon (to cover costs). And then the complainant spoke. And then all the sub-chiefs spoke, then the queen mother, then the chief. This all took place in Twi, not English, and we had to stand there the whole time (maybe 45 minutes). By the tone of the elders, I could tell we were on the winning side. This was confirmed to me by Dr. Addae when we left. Apparently, the complainants were seriously admonished. The queen mother, who lives in Canada but is back for a while, even made some comment about me and Canada and how they were embarrassing Ghana. It was quite the experience.
As novel as it was, I think today illustrates some of the problems Africa faces with its bureaucracies. You’d think something as vital as supplying water could be done fairly easily. But there were so many hoops to jump through. And this is only one district. It seemed like a bit of a waste of time. I’m all for traditions, but they have to be adapted to be practical, particularly when you’re dealing with something like water supply. That said, it was pretty neat to be standing in front of a chief on his throne, with a guy behind him holding a huge umbrella (indoors) and another one beside him with a golden rod. He seemed pretty indifferent to the whole thing too.
That’s it for today. Because this is so long, I’ll likely keep Tuesday’s post short to spare you all. I’ll catch you obrunis later.
posted by Tony at 2:27 p.m.
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