The public transportation around here is quite impressive. Everywhere we have gone so far is accessible by tro-tro’s. Each one is a 12 seat van with fold down seats to make it a 15 seat van for maximum usage. The “Drivar” is on the left side (even though Ghana was colonized by the British) and the “Mate” is next to the sliding door, hanging out the window yelling and using locally known hand motions to where the tro-tro is going.
The accessibility of the tro-tro system is exemplified on a journey for mountain biking.
Derek, a student also in ISEP, and I set aside 5 hours to hop on a tro-tro to a destination about 45-60 minutes away, go mountain biking for two hours or so and get back for an appointment. As Ghanaian time has it, we started out late, but once we were at the tro-tro station we got on our tro-tro headed to Madina. We each paid 35 peswas (about 35 cents). The traveling is a bit rough as the tro-tro is a stop and go ride along with the unfinished roads. Once we arrived, we bought a tro-tro ticket, price of 1.80 cedis (1 cedi ~ 1 US$), to Abore which would take us to the mountain biking shop.
People are selling items, most commonly food and phone cards, on the road. If there are many items, they are carried on the seller’s head. Derek purchased 4 juice boxes, the tro-tro filled up in about 7 minutes or so and we were off. Now, tro-tro’s are a great mode of transportation but each journey may be an exercise on your bladder. This was one of those times for me. Yet, I still chose to drink a strawberry juice box, very sugary, but I guess, not like the orange that tasted like cough syrup.
We arrive in Abore and every taxi driver looks our way to see if we need a ride to where we are going. We say we are walking and go on our way up to where the shop in. The mountain bike shop had Swiss founders, but quite a while ago, so the bikes were a bit old, and really heavy. We received a fold out map of pictures of where we were supposed to go. (But some pictures were taken at times of construction where there is no more construction.) We did have the option of a guide but turned it down for the sake of price and taking our own time.
We start out in the streets of this town, with kids shouting “Obruni, Obruni” means foreigner, more specifically “white person.” (It’s not derogatory, at least from the kids.) We traverse down this huge hill, only to remember that we will have to come right back up the hill. Following the picture map already proved tedious, but the local people continued to help us, pointing us in the direction we needed.
Once in the bush, we had tall plants on either side for a good part of the ride, in a trail that wasn’t more than a foot wide. We went passed people harvesting fruits and another group harvesting crabs. We traveled through private farms of cassava, cocoa, cocoa yams, plantains and bananas, orange, and other citrus. At one time we had to cross through a gate-that wasn’t on the map, a families front yard, and another time we passed about 2 feet away from the back of someone’s home. A couple times we took the wrong way at a fork in the paths. (By this time we gave up being back in time for the appointment.) We passed through streams on the path (Ghana just came out of the rainy season.) and I think the most soothing and majestic point was when we past under a canopy of bamboo trees. Four large (10 X 10 ft) pods of bamboo came together at about 25 feet high to produce a canopy above the trail. I marveled at the beauty of the place for a long time, until an ant crawled up my shorts to bite me at my underwear line! I just laughed at the wonderful reminder of Africa, if the Bamboo wasn’t enough.
Through the trails we traversed, and it was just a blessed site to see a landmark we remembered! We zoomed ahead and I took out a tall cassava plant! Whoops! They are resilient and it flung back into place. We entered back into the city and came to the big hill we so wanted to forget. We tried, but gave in and walked our bikes back up the hill. Through the people on the streets and the roads we got back to the shop 2 hours and 18 minutes after we had started. We talked with the owner a little, paid our 11.20 cedis, and started walking back to the tro-tro station, but not five minutes on the road we were picked up by a tro-tro headed to Madina. And we arrived only 20 minutes back at the campus to make it to the appointment!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
A Month in Ghana
I arrived in Ghana looking ahead to a semester full of cultural differences, clashes, confusion, and just new experiences all around. I've been here just over a month and I have to say that I have experienced probably more than I bargained for. (This is just a recap blog since it has been a month since I arrived so I hope to expand on some of the points in later blogs.)
On the plane ride from Amsterdam to Accra, Ghana I sat with a man who grew up in Ghana but now lives in Oklahoma and sends money back to his family who still remains in Ghana (this is a very common practice). One of the things that we talked about was that most Ghanaian men want to marry an American woman to get the easy American citizenship. At the end of the conversations we exchanged email addresses and he told me to email him how many marriage proposals I receive when I'm here. I have had a couple marriage proposals and more conversations eluding to getting married.
I am apart of a organization called ISEP (International Student Exchange Program) with a group of about 30 persons from all over the US. ISEP has been very helpful with many things and for the first week here we were bused and guided to all the places we needed before we were to start classes and begin searching and learning on our own.
Ghanaian people have proven to be very helpful, to a fault at times, and always selling something for anyone to buy. I have gone to the markets a few times now and the first couple times we were so bombarded with people trying to sell us bracelets and paintings and carvings and shirts and footballs (soccer balls) and phone cards and fabric, whew...it's really a lot to look at. And I think they can tell who is a new Obruni (is what they call a foreigner or white person), and who has fresh money in the country for many people try to sell us many things. Recent trips to the market have been less obtrusive as I have become more accustomed to the ways of the market.
In most of my classes I am the only Obruni in the room which is nice in the way that many of my classmates have adopted me and helped me with the things I have needed for the day and semester. Also in classes it is not uncommon for the Professor to be up to a half an hour late in an hour lecture or an hour late in a two hour lecture. Since the semester is more settled in many classes start close to the time but there are some incidences of late professors.
Mainly, I am taking classes associated with the agriculture systems here in Ghana. The senior students (whom my classes are with) have experimental projects. Most of these projects are at the research farm and I have been able to go and assist and be a part of that community of people at the farm. It has been wonderful to work in the soil and around people learning about crops and desiring to better the agriculture systems of Ghana.
The length between the longest and shortest days is only 35 minutes. Ghana is located very near the equator and so once the sun sets it becomes dark quickly. Also, the southern part of Ghana, where I am staying, is very tropical, where the northern region is much more desert like. Right now we are coming out of the rainy season and many trees have gone to flower. It is very beautiful.
My living conditions include a two person bedroom with a screened porch and a shared bathroom. It is located on the outskirts of campus with security and a courtyard. A couple of lizard families live in the courtyard and as curious creatures they can come in close proximity with a human but will quickly run away to hide under a bush or down some holes into the sewer system. The alpha male has orange, gray, and black stripes.
Religion here, either Christianity, Islam, or Traditional is a part of most peoples lives. I have attended one church that is located near campus, Legon Interdenominational Church. The main part of the service is in English but a lot of the worship is spoken in their native language. (As a group we are all taking a course in Twi, a common native language.) Also, every time I have gone to church there has been a different speaker for the day, and every service has been different. They welcomed us with open arms and it has been nice to return.
I will hopefully elaborate or more in the future!
3 months left to explore!
Kara
On the plane ride from Amsterdam to Accra, Ghana I sat with a man who grew up in Ghana but now lives in Oklahoma and sends money back to his family who still remains in Ghana (this is a very common practice). One of the things that we talked about was that most Ghanaian men want to marry an American woman to get the easy American citizenship. At the end of the conversations we exchanged email addresses and he told me to email him how many marriage proposals I receive when I'm here. I have had a couple marriage proposals and more conversations eluding to getting married.
I am apart of a organization called ISEP (International Student Exchange Program) with a group of about 30 persons from all over the US. ISEP has been very helpful with many things and for the first week here we were bused and guided to all the places we needed before we were to start classes and begin searching and learning on our own.
Ghanaian people have proven to be very helpful, to a fault at times, and always selling something for anyone to buy. I have gone to the markets a few times now and the first couple times we were so bombarded with people trying to sell us bracelets and paintings and carvings and shirts and footballs (soccer balls) and phone cards and fabric, whew...it's really a lot to look at. And I think they can tell who is a new Obruni (is what they call a foreigner or white person), and who has fresh money in the country for many people try to sell us many things. Recent trips to the market have been less obtrusive as I have become more accustomed to the ways of the market.
In most of my classes I am the only Obruni in the room which is nice in the way that many of my classmates have adopted me and helped me with the things I have needed for the day and semester. Also in classes it is not uncommon for the Professor to be up to a half an hour late in an hour lecture or an hour late in a two hour lecture. Since the semester is more settled in many classes start close to the time but there are some incidences of late professors.
Mainly, I am taking classes associated with the agriculture systems here in Ghana. The senior students (whom my classes are with) have experimental projects. Most of these projects are at the research farm and I have been able to go and assist and be a part of that community of people at the farm. It has been wonderful to work in the soil and around people learning about crops and desiring to better the agriculture systems of Ghana.
The length between the longest and shortest days is only 35 minutes. Ghana is located very near the equator and so once the sun sets it becomes dark quickly. Also, the southern part of Ghana, where I am staying, is very tropical, where the northern region is much more desert like. Right now we are coming out of the rainy season and many trees have gone to flower. It is very beautiful.
My living conditions include a two person bedroom with a screened porch and a shared bathroom. It is located on the outskirts of campus with security and a courtyard. A couple of lizard families live in the courtyard and as curious creatures they can come in close proximity with a human but will quickly run away to hide under a bush or down some holes into the sewer system. The alpha male has orange, gray, and black stripes.
Religion here, either Christianity, Islam, or Traditional is a part of most peoples lives. I have attended one church that is located near campus, Legon Interdenominational Church. The main part of the service is in English but a lot of the worship is spoken in their native language. (As a group we are all taking a course in Twi, a common native language.) Also, every time I have gone to church there has been a different speaker for the day, and every service has been different. They welcomed us with open arms and it has been nice to return.
I will hopefully elaborate or more in the future!
3 months left to explore!
Kara
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