Day 2 (Accra): Me din de Efie

[Currently playing 'Bad' by Micheal Jackson]

BREAKFAST
The average temperature is 88, but with 70% or higher humidity it feels like 99. Breakfast daily has been consiting of porrige, some type of plantain (there's always some type of plantain), and unlimited nescafe. They don't really do breakfast in Ghana. I don't know if it's like that in other parts of Africa, but Ophelia (who works with Ekem) told us that Ghanians eat the same kinds of food for every meal. Dessert is also not a thing. My bready breakfast and sugar-fueled mindedness is suffering withdrawls.

GHANA HISTORY AND CULTURE PRESENTATION

Rebecca is one of my favorite people to pass notes to in class :)

Ekem, with help from Ophelia, led this 2-hour workshop that we all absorbed like sponges as most of us have studied Ghana only recently in our guidebooks. I will summarize the presentation notes in bullet points for you now.

• The flag of Ghana has red, yellow, and green stripes. The red symbolizes blood, the yellow is for resources (gold), and the green is for land. The is a black star in the center and that represents the people of the country. Ghana's soccer team is also named The Black Stars.
• There are 10 regions in the country. It's commonly known that Muslims and Catholics are concentrated mostly in the north, while Christians make up the majority in the rest of the country.
• The Ashanti were the most powerful group and if not for the slave trade they would have ruled all of Ghana. They still make up a very large group with staunch pride throughout the regions. They have their own region and their own king that is sometimes seen as the symbolic ruler of Ghana over the president. Though technically he is not. But he is. But he is really not.
• There are 18 million people in Ghana. But there also might be 25 million.
• Christians are about 70% of the population and Muslims 16%. But this is a misnomer as many Muslim and Christians combine religious traditions with their regional customs.

[Sidebar: During a dinner conversation I asked Ekem and Ophelia about the religious tones here in Ghana. To me it seemed Muslims and Christians had no problem with one another. And for all intents and purposes, they don't. Ophelia told a story of a friend of hers who is a Christian and married a Muslim, they each practice their own religion, but they also both go to church and mosque with the other. It's not necessary here for people to convert for one another. It happens, of course, but it is not automatically expected nor is it a big deal. On the other hand, like in the States, you have a spectrum of people who practice their religion--some with evangelical undertones and others who see it has a way to connect with people in their community. This is one of many ways Ghanian people are similar to those in the states right now--we all struggle with those who are trying to push their beliefs on everyone in the country with disregard for difference of opinion. For disregard for the middle. It is a problem around the world where two sides are the only number of sides.]

• Due to the many regions in Ghana, there are also many languages spoken. The country, like many around the world being hit with "globalization" are losing their tribal languages and switching to English. However, the local language is being taught in school curriculums now alongside English. Many students (and the generations before them) spoke their language but could not write it. Ghanaians practice an oral tradition and that, in the local language, includes a heavy emphasis on parables, poetry, and other aspects of figurative language that are being lost with the loss of their home language.
• The singer 'Ashanti' gets her name from the Ashanti region.
• Language nuances between regions are interesting: Some Ghanians practice the tradition of naming their children based on the day of the week they were born--if you are Ashanti your name may end with an "h" whereas if you are part of the Fante tribe you would have the same name if you were born on a Tuesday but your name would not have an "h" at the end. EXAMPLE: I was born on a Friday so my Ghanian name would be 'Efie'
• Ghana declared independence in 1957 from colonial rule. This led to no more driving on the British side of the road as a small form of protest.
• There are no taxes in Ghana  EXAMPLE: While shopping in the mall with Gloria I asked if there would be tax on the total. Gloria just laughed at me.
• Ghana got missioned like nobody's business. The missionaries came in and established schools as well as pushing for English in both written and spoken form (to spread the gospel), though these schools today are some of the best in the country. The school I am being placed at next week is the #1 school in the country--Wesly Girls' School in Cape Coast. Members of parliament send their kids their. It's an all-girls school and the idea is to produce future leaders in all areas of the country. I want to explore this issue further, I still have a lot of questions. The missionary influence and feel is everywhere you turn here. But from what it seems is that the religious undertone for the public schools is not as strong as it used to be in the 50s and 60s. It seems like a religious leftover. But some are still required to go to mass or other religious services depending on the type of school that student attends. More on this tomorrow in the educational history of Ghana blog post for those interested.

Top 5 Cultural Fun Facts 

1. Funerals are a premium social event. To be invited is an honor and you should consider it a bigger party than a wedding. Typical color of dress are red and black, but varies based on family.

While explaining this to the group, Ophelia said, "I don't know what the equivalent is for you--maybe a county fair?"

2. Ashanti tribes hire professional cryers for their funerals to add to the pomp and circumstance feel. Other than that, people don't typically cry at Ghanian funerals. It is more a celebration of life.

3. In the north it is was common practice to grab women in the market, tie them up, lock them up and ask the family how much money they want to marry their daughter. This doesn't occur much anymore, but it was seen as a compliment to the woman's beauty and those in the market look on in celebration and support of the man grabbing the woman. Clearly I have issue with this. Ophelia did mention that other women are able to help those escape as long as they know where they go. But to note, this practice is in no way illegal, but hopefully dying out quickly. The woman who is honorably trapped may also become impregnated as she is trapped before she is given away in marriage and that is another way the man traps her into a life with him.

4. Cows are given from one family to another to secure marriage. If a marriage is terminated the cows must be returned or any children with the next man will always belong to the original cow giver. And again this is not still practiced widely, but was a known practice many can remember.

5. Goldminning is attracting a lot of Chinese businessmen. Because of this Ghanians are anticipating a large number of half-Chinese and half-Ghanian children very soon. Others moving into Ghana are the Brits and Lebanese.

FISH

For lunch we went to Buka Restaurant in Osu (part of Accra) which was our first real food outing outside of the hotel. I ordered the special: Talapia which, as I should have known, would be served properly with head and skin and all. It was delicious. It was also served with a side of buku which is similar to the Ethiopian Injera, but more dough-y and in a ball like uncooked pizza dough. Not the #1 fan of buku, unfortunately, but glad I was able to try it. Later I learned that Talapia is one of the only fish served in this part of Ghana and because of the various fishing issues most fish in Ghana is now farmed and therefore many hormones are injected into the fish. That will most likely be my last time eating fish here in West Africa. I wish the hormones didn't taste so good. 

U.S. EMBASSY

We were then driven in our fancy van to the embassy compound. It's weird when the people escorting us were describing the size and scope of "the compound". Something about that word makes me feel like an American jerk. Not to mention the embassy in it's new location now assumes the largest grass area in Ghana. Again, U.S.A. Sharing is caring. Come on.

BUT to the embassy's credit, they organized a really cool meeting between current IREX participants (us) and past Ghanians who participated in ILEP which is the equivalent in that Ghanian teachers are sent to the U.S. for for a bit longer--usually a few months at a time. We sat in a circle and it was kind of like a really polite crossfire: we would ask questions about teaching here and they would ask questions about teaching in the states. Anywhere from curriculum to teacher pay to student attention span. It was very cool. I wish this was something that could happen more often with more countries. I really loved it.

Something funny was the 'Word of the Day' that was posted in the incredibly bare room they put us in. That day's word was "assertive". Naturally.

Here are some of the main take-aways from the discussion:

• Ghanian teachers were surprised by Americans "time-conciousness" as they operate in a state of, and I quote, "time is timeless"
• American teachers teach in a more relaxed atmosphere, this allows for more relaxed conversations with students. Can get to know them easier.
• Teachers have their own classrooms. In Ghana teachers move around, not students.
• Teachers in U.S. complain of large class sizes when they teach 30-40 students at most. While in Ghana classrooms are typically from 60-70.
• The amount of books U.S. teachers have in their personal classroom libraries in equal to entire school libraries (and at times more) in Ghanian schools.
• Ghanians don't bring outside teachers when a substitute is needed like U.S. teachers do.
• All Ghanian students where uniforms, not all U.S. do.
• U.S. teachers give a lot of extra time for students to turn in work and in Ghana late work is never excepted.
• The West African Examination is still modeled on the British system and needs to be updated. It reinforces the talk and chalk model of teaching (lecture) and the idea that students should reproduce what they learn and not be more problem-solving centered (which is seen as a more U.S. approach, though that has it's own problems. More later.)
• Therefore, U.S. education is viewed as more practical.
• Ghanaian teachers, like U.S. teachers, face low pay. But they said it is getting better than it was.
• Ghanian schools have major infrastructure problems and lack basic tools to educate their students (technology being the biggest).
• Teachers in Ghana stay in the profession because they like to see student success, there are no alternative options (ha), it is flexible schedule-wise, and gives you the time to have your own business on the side to make extra money to subsidize the low teacher pay.

[insert no photos here because no cameras allowed because of secrets]

SAAKUMU DANCE TROUPE

A dance troupe came to dance for us special at the hotel this night. Like we were chiefs or something. They are a very famous Ghanian dance troupe that has traveled all over the world to showcase African art and culture. They were incredible. They even taught us some dances and will be returning hopefully at the end our trip to give us an entire lesson.

My favorite was the 'Bamaya' dance which means the river valley is wet and is the most popular social dance of the Dagbama people in the north. It's usually performed at big celebrations like Independence Day. What is unique about it is that because it is a dance that requires a lot of hip movement, back in the olden times they thought this would hurt women's ability to make babies so men would dress up as women and shake their hips for them. Now both genders perform the dance because, among other things, we have discovered that the earth is in fact round and woman can shake their baby makers as much as they'd like and still babies.

Until next time!