A slow week in Ghana news...

Well friends,

I don’t have whole lot to say this week. I had a fantastic Easter weekend in rural Ghana. My friends and I traveled to Nkawkaw, which is northwest, about 3 hours on a bus from Accra. We had nowhere to stay, as that is the place to be on Easter in Ghana, so all hotels were overbooked. That didn’t matter, however. We’d been in town a grad total of 10 minutes before we asked someone to show us where the hotels were, and when they were all full our new friend Harriet decided she would take us to her father’s house. The family hosted all 5 of us for 3 nights, and, of course refused to let us pay them. They fed us, taught me traditional dances, took us around town, etc. They were incredible, and we made many, many friends from around Ghana, as the father allows students who are completing their practicals from other Universities throughout Ghana to board in his home. We made traditional food from scratch for Easter dinner (meaning we slaughtered a goat and pulled Cassava root out of the ground- that kind of “from scratch”) which turned into Goat Pepper soup with Fufu, a very nice dish. Although, goat is still not my personal preference. We also went to a live Highlife concert (Highlife is a uniquely Ghanaian musical blend of trad. Music, regge, and pop/rock) which was an absolute blast (y’all know how much I like to dance!) Nkawkaw sits at the base of the Kdhwu plateau. Up on the mountain is a cluster of small towns were all the Easter street partying was taking place. The mountain is also the site of an annual Paragliding festival. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the cash on me to do it, but we had an excellent time watching people drift off the top of a grassy slope and sail peacefully over Nkawkaw.

After 6 weeks in the harsh, very western city, it was truly wonderful to get out into rural Ghana. For one, it is stunningly green. It was also fascinating to experience a culture that is rife with Western influence, but still not nearly to the extent of Accra. This is interesting to me, as the people I have encountered in Accra- especially the wealthy students who can afford to live on campus in a double room (most students sleep 11+ to a room…) think there is some huge difference between themselves and rural people. Many of them have grown up in the bigger towns or cities, and have never really lived in “the villages.” I participated in a particularly interesting conversation with my roommate and her friends that centered on the “national service” that all state university students must complete after they graduate. They said “they just put you on a bus, take you out to some village far, far away, with no lights or water, and just leave you there all alone.” They were absolutely not looking forward to the experience. My Sociology professor even commented on that today as well. We were talking about Domestic Violence, and students were arguing that the reasons for doing so would be different in a rural area… long story short, the professor told everyone off for thinking themselves as having some “essential difference” between themselves.

And besides… we live in the money capital of Ghana, Accra, and we oftentimes don’t have power or water, by the way. The power went out again in my building this morning. It’s really no big deal. It’s really only a nuisance as far as my ceiling fan goes off. It’s hysterical to me, that here when the power goes out, we get really hot and miserable, and at home, we get all cold and miserable… Anyway, the only things that run on power here are air conditioning and fans, lights, refrigerators (that most people don’t use) and computers. We all own flashlights for the night… The water getting shut off is a bigger deal. That means no showers or laundry. But since we don’t rely on the tap for drinking water, it’s really not a big deal either. Amazing how it sounds so serious to not have to water, but it’s really not that big a deal, in the city anyway. Out in the village this weekend we got our water from a well, which was kinda cool in its own way, but we also could not drink that, considering there is no septic line out there, so the water is, well, contaminated.

There will certainly be more to say next week, as I will be traveling with my program this weekend, so take care until then!

Um, Yea... Religion in Ghana.

OK, so I know I promised a lecture on “Religion in West Africa” today. It’s not going to happen, because I have something much more interesting than that to share. Ironically, I think it provides a much better picture of Ghanaian religiosity that any lecture could…

So yesterday I was at my internship. No teaching L because it is revision week, so all I did was teach the whole school and the teachers “I’ve Got Peace like a River” during their morning worship session (thanks again, Grandma and Grandpa!). I hope one day to post the pictures another teacher took of this occurrence, because it’s pretty funny to watch me attempt to keep 200 kid’s attentions. Anyway, I finish teaching to an embarrassing standing ovation, and take my seat at the back of the courtyard. Worship continues, but all of a sudden, I hear a whole lot of yelling going on in a classroom above my head. I thought it was a fight between two kids skipping worship. My supervising teacher left to investigate, but she never returned. To my astonishment, as I listened to what exactly was being shouted I realized that I was listening to an exorcism. Exorcism like, trying to shout the devil out of someone, like “I’m the name of Jesus, come out!” exorcism. Other kids noticed, but just kept going right on with their prayers… and a lot of the teachers disappeared.

The shouting continued for at least 10 minutes, before dying down, only to start up again briefly. I was shocked, all I could think over and over was “Jesus Christ, an exorcism!? In a school!?” Remember when I said going to the Pentecostal church was like “Jesus Camp” with college kids? Apparently it happens in Jr. High as well… I was beginning to wonder what would happen when worship ended and the kids in form 1 didn’t have a classroom to go into, but I was more concerned with weather the shouters were shouting at a student or a teacher. So I crept upstairs to try and see what was going on, but was too scared to walk to close to the door- I thought they might pull me in! All I could see was my supervisor, her back turned to me, shouting and waving her arms. When worship ended, the kids whose classroom was being occupied just milled around the courtyard. I went to sit in the teacher’s room so I could ask what had happened.

I didn’t immediately get a chance to ask. There was already a conference going on in the room between 4 teachers and a crying girl. I tried to understand what they were saying- the girl had apparently seen something bad, I thought it involved a boy, and the teachers kept murmuring about how the girl’s mother worked at another school, and never took the girl to church. Very concerned that she didn’t go to church. They asked her if she had been having sex, or thinking about having sex, or dreaming about sex. Then it sounded like she was “overpowered” by someone. I thought maybe she had been raped. They finally decided to send her to the library for the day.

I left the room for a moment, and two girls from form 2 approached me. They looked very nervous. To my delight, they asked me if I could find them penpals in the US! “Of course!” I said. I took down their names and addresses, and then gave them mine so they could write me as well. I was so happy, not only that the girls felt like they could ask me that, but also that they wanted me to correct their letters- they just want to practice their writing and learn about the US.

What happened next just threw me for a loop. After the girls walked away, the worship leader walked up behind me, grabbed my arm, and started leading to the room that the exorcism had occurred in. He asked me “Do you believe in spirits?” to which I flatly answered “no.” I was terrified, I honestly thought they were about to try and exorcise me or something. To my relief, the room was full of children by this point. He pulls me aside and says, “Do you know what spirits are?” “Yes, I’ve heard of them.” “Well, in Africa we believe in spirits, that some just want to harm and frustrate you. Do you know that the spirits can use people as a vessel, especially children?” He saw my confused look and kept trying to explain. “We just want you to come here, do your job, and leave with the joy you sung about in your song- I found your song very inspiring…” Bottom line, he was telling me that the children were carrying evil spirits, and the devil was using the children to get to me. He kept saying “don’t get close to the children” warning me that the last Obruni teacher did, and they stole a camera from her.

At this point I’m thinking “what the hell is going on.” I of course, do not believe in a devil, but more resolutely believe that the idea of evil spirits getting to me though children is ludicrous. Of course, I did not say that, and just kept nodding “ok” to everything he told me.

I went back into the teacher room, and there was Dorcus, my supervisor. She started going off about evil in the school. I asked what was happening with the little girl who was crying. This is a crazy story folks: Dorcus tells me that the girl was given a diamond ring that possessed her. She took off the ring, and put it into a boy’s backpack. She heard footsteps of someone entering the classroom, even though there was no one there. The backpack then proceeded to move itself across 3 desks and back. She came to the teachers because she was scared. (Ok, I don’t even know where to go with this one. Believe what you like, but I think the kid just wanted to go home for the day and knew the teachers would believe some spiritual issue…)

At this point, the worship teacher came back in the room and asked me if I’d given the form 2 girls my contact information. At first I lied, but he kept pressing, so I said that I had. They made me go into the room and take my address back from the two girls. They kept insisting that I give them back the address having changed it so the spirits couldn’t get to me. They said over and over “children are dangerous.” I asked if there is a point when they believe that children are no longer dangerous, like if they grow out of it or the devil’s grasp, and they of course said “never.” Dorcus said that the form 1 and 2 children are especially dangerous (I almost laughed at this point. Form 1 and 2 are 6th and 7th graders- weren’t we all little brats in middle school?) I tried to explain that the girls just wanted to have pen pals and learn, but they wouldn’t have it. The worship leader kept saying “this is all apart of you studies while you are here.” Dear God. I did change my address before I gave it back to the girls- changed it from my mom’s house, to my dad’s house.

I did get to ask about the exorcism. It was of a student, a Jr. High boy, who had apparently been experiencing demon possession on and off for over a year. He even had to drop out of school, before he took his exams last term, so that he could go to a special religious center where priests prayed on him for a month… and now the demons were back. They had noticed him shouting and acting odd at worship and pulled him upstairs. Dorcus said Nadat is an especially dangerous school, that several of the children are possessed. She asked how I was assigned there- as if to imply that every day I go there I am under imminent danger…

That was my morning yesterday. I hope you found this interesting. To me, it shows the blending between Ghana’s extreme Christianity, and their traditional beliefs in spirits that inhabit all living things. It also just qualifies as an interesting story- and so man of you said I should come back with some of those!

Until next week- take care!
Skylar

An Abridged History of Ghana

Ok y’all, here is the first in the series of Orientation Lectures I received in the first week I was in Ghana. Hopefully you will find these interesting, or at least one will strike your fancy as a way to better understand the context in which I have been living!

History of Ghana- Lecture by Rev. Akon on 18th February

Archeologists believe that there have been people living in what is modern day Ghana for between 300 and 400 thousand years. This follows what I learned in a biological anthro class I took before I left, basically that the development of pre-human species occurred in Africa, and then migrated out into Asia and Europe. There was a point in time when the West African Savannah was actually a moist rainforest, but it dried over time with climate change until it became the dry desert we know it to be today. Hunter/ gatherer societies that roamed the Savannah migrated down into coastal areas (like Ghana) and eventually developed into more stable village-based agricultural societies, something like 2000 years ago.

Fast forward to the late 1400’s, when Europe made it’s first contact with the future Ghanaian people. The Portuguese found the area to be rich with gold, and began settling on the cost to trade in gold and Ivory. Their influence was pretty limited to the coastal areas, however. At the time the slave trade began, many Africans were beginning to die of European diseases to which they were not accustomed. It was a great feat if you were a European who could export a large number of slaves that actually lived for the entire journey to where you sold them. In the same way, it became very difficult for the Europeans who settled in Ghana to maintain European wives, because they would die of Malaria or other strange diseases. Many men took African wives for themselves (sometimes willingly and sometimes by force), and to this day there is a higher proportion of “mulatto” decedents on the coast of West Africa than anywhere else on the continent, presumably besides South Africa. (The prof actually used the term mulatto. It took me a second to realize that might not be an offensive term here as it is in the US. Or at least I was raised to think it was an offensive term from a bi-racial person…)

The slave trade lasted about 400 years. By that time, many other Europeans had come to Ghana, specifically the British and the Dutch. One major lasting impact of the slave trade, beyond the powerfully moving castles the still stand on the Cape Coast, was the institution of the European education system in Ghana. Someone had to come and teach the “mulatto” children, as well as make sure they knew they needed to be Christians. Missionaries came to Ghana in mass and developed the first schools. The impact has lasted until today- there has never been a time when Christianity was not taught in a formal Ghanaian school, and clearly my teaching experience reflects this fact.

England eventually emerged as the nation with the most powerful presence in Ghana, and began to take the missionary effort inland. They fought often with the most powerful indigenous people, the Ashanti (who at one time helped them with the slave trade by defeating other Ghanaian tribes and selling them to the British). In 1874 they decided to declare Ghana a British colony, but that is quite deceiving, as they really only ever controlled the coast. At that time, Ghana was essentially 3 countries- the British coast, the Ashanti central region, and the north, which has a hodge podge of various ethnicities. Eventually Britain defeated the Ashanti Empire and also added more territory to Ghana. The new area is now Eastern Ghana, or the Volta Region, which supplies almost all of the country with water and power.

Ghana began to develop a sense of nationalism throughout the first half of the 1900’s. The British weren’t very popular, as they convinced many native people to sign agricultural and trade agreements that reduced their freedoms and rights significantly. At that time there was also a conference known as the Congress of West Africa, which sparked the beginning of the united Africa movement, where several nations came together and began discussing the possibility of viewing themselves as one whole. This helped to spur some African pride in Ghana that led to further desires to oust the British control. In some ways, the Missionary education backfired for England- by this time Ghanaians were beginning to seek University educations, both in Ghana and in the UK. Highly educated Africans, while still seen as inferior to similarly educated Europeans, were big spokespersons for independence and running their own state. The finial do-in for England was WWII, when they sent thousands of Ghanaians to fight for them in Japan and Burma. Working alongside Englishman destroyed any validity to claims that Ghanaians were in any way inferior.

Some Ghanaian soldiers asked for payment after the war- they were arrested and shot. The people began boycotting British products, and police from Nigeria came to assist with rioting. Academic intellectuals formed societies for peaceful negotiation. One man, Kwame Nkrumah decided to leave the society because his radical socialist ideas and desire for immediate change did not jive well with the other peacemakers. He formed his own groups to push for independence. His well organized group remained active, even as he was imprisoned for making too much noise. Nkrumah became the first president of Ghana- from prison, after the British decided to allow Ghanaians hold elections to see if they really wanted him. He actually won 3 elections of this sort over several years, but only with the last win did the British concede their power to the new socialist government.

That didn’t last very long though. The leadership of Ghana changed hands between Nkrumah/his successors, and the military, at least 6 or 8 times between 1964 and 1992. This is seen as the major reason for Ghana’s “stumped” development, because every time the military would overthrow a president all progress would stop and reverse. Ghana, when it gained independence was seen as the great hope of West Africa. She had money and resources, and plenty of pride to spur the most developed state around. But political instability ruined everything. Today, Ghana is 8 Billion dollars in debt, but has had stable political elections every 4 years since 1992. The prof said “we hope” people like the elections this way,” as if to suggest that if enough unrest were to occur again that Ghana has the potential to become unstable, but hopefully enough development will preempt any potential issues.

The push to develop into a modern state is huge here now. There is construction all of the time (7 am on Saturday, right outside my window. I think it’s supposed to be another dorm or something…) A current issue in Ghana is the recent discovery of oil on the coast. If you ask a well read person what they think this will do for/to Ghana, they are very worried. Ghana already suffers immensely from dependency on other nations. For instance, rice is a staple here, though it is not native to Ghana. Ghana could produce all of its own rice, no problem, but doesn’t have the info structure to do so. So they import almost every gain of rice they eat. People fear that oil, like every other resource Ghana has, will just get exported and them sold back to them by more developed countries. Also, Ghana’s other commodities that are more tied to her culture- wood carvings, textiles, and beads, are currently failed industries. The focus on oil will probably draw more attention away these products, further harming the mostly rural peoples who produce them. However, oil fever is already big here. Many countries have already come to Ghana intending to invest. With the money already coming, there’s not much that their government is organized enough to do to control the influence.

Well, there you have it! Don’t worry, this was probably the most boring lecture of the lot, so my blog should get better as wellJ Stay tuned next week for “Religion in Ghana and West Africa,” and perhaps a few words about what I’ve been up to!

Take Care!

Things to say...

Hello missed friends and family!

I’ll have you all know that first hand wrote this update sitting in a classroom where I arrived 45 minutes early for class. When I got here, I snatched absolutely the last free desk in the room… the course is far too big for the space, which is common at University of Ghana. Most students, if they know there is not a course in a room in the preceding period, come an hour early (or more!) to stake out a seat with their notebooks… I unfortunately, could only get there 45 minutes early, because I was grading papers…

Yes, my teaching internship has started! I have officially become my mother- literally. I am acting as a Form 1 and 2 (like 6th and 7th grade) English teacher at Nadat Memorial, a smallish private primary and Jr. High school in Adenta, two communities north of my University/home.
There are so many things I could say about this place… it’s a concrete complex in disrepair, though not the worst I’ve seen in Ghana. The bathrooms should definitely be condemned. This is a middle class school- the fees for each kid are 210 Cidi a year, which is like 225 US. Keep in mind the avg. Ghanaian makes 300 Cidi a month… and people have many, many children… Kids are send home from school if they can’t pay their fees.
I get up at 5:30am to get ready, leave my building at 6:30, walk/ tro tro/ walk again to the school all to arrive at roughly 7:30. I go Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and Monday and Tuesday, because of my other courses at UG and through CIEE, I don’t get back to my room until 7 or 8 at night (sound familiar mom!?) I’m at the school for a total of 4-5 hours, so suddenly I’ve lost 15 hours of free time. On day one I showed up, met the current English teacher, a very nice woman with a mean sense of humor by the name of Dorcus (like dork-us, a very common girls name here, as funny as it sounds) who literally handed me a textbook and said “today you will teach form 3 lesson 10 on reading,” to which I responded “um, can I just observe today, I’ve never taught in my life…” They teach straight out of the textbook here, in fact Dorcus must borrow a book from the students, because they don’t have enough for the teachers. Makes life easy for me, though it’s hard to be creative with a list of instructions. I observed Dorcus’ “Religious and Moral Education” class (more on this in a moment.) The kids are so well behaved! Then I went to watch an English class, but 20 minutes in the teacher got pulled out… so I just stood up and kept going with the lesson on countable nouns. How’s THAT for crazy… and grammar really isn’t my best subject, but we got through it. My only critique the next day is that I spoke too quickly.
In Ghanaian private schools, religious education and Christian worship are endemic. In public schools, it was recently written out of the curriculum for primary school, but it still happens by way of “special assemblies” and taking time out of social studies courses. Education in Ghana is hardly consistent because each 4-year government changes the structure. New this year students have 6 years of primary school, 4 of Jr. High, and 4 of Sr. High, meaning a Ghanaian is about 22 before they graduate and can go to university. It used to be 20ish, with less Jr and Sr High, but people just weren’t ready for college when they graduated. Dorcus says it takes longer to go to school in Ghana because they just don’t have the resources that we do- no teacher’s aides, no colorful posters on the wall, no books in the classroom, etc. I think it’s also affected by their view of time- for instance, on Tuesday morning worship spilled over 45 minutes into what should have been a 1 hour, 45 minute reading lesson for my 7th graders. There’s also the issue, in my view at least, that they could cut out religious educ entirely in favor of academics- but in Ghana, it’s seen as the church and the school’s responsibility to teach those things, it’s not individualized by family like it is in the US, because pretty much everyone here is Christian, and especially they are at my school. There are surely factors I’m missing, but this is at least what is obvious to me. I think my 7th graders are at about a 4th grade reading level, and their writing was I think less than that…
Teaching itself is a joy! The children call me “Madame” and “Ms. Cole,” and occasionally laugh at my accent. On Tuesday when I showed up, I was informed that I would be leading worship songs with the whole school. A sense of minor panic ensued as struggled to come up with Christian kids songs… it’s been a while people… and eventually settled on “Jesus Loves Me,” “Go tell it on the mountain,” “and This Little Light of Mine.” The kids laughed at my singing for sure, but it was adorable. It was wonderful to later go into a 1st grade class and teach them another verse- so precious!!!! Does any one have any other suggestions for songs?
Unfortunately, my teaching post will only last three weeks, then I will help proctor 2 weeks of exams, and then the kids go on vacation for a month. I’m told my program and I will work out a new assignment. I love teaching, but I’m mixed on whether I’d like to do it all over again, or work in another context. There are just so many varied opportunities here- I’d love to work with gender resources, but the education system is very interesting as well… At any rate, it’s a great relief to be doing something, rather than having load s of free time to brood.

In other news, classes are in full swing now. I joined an Islamic theology course, that so far is pretty interesting, and with only 17 students, it’s great by UG standards. Surprise- no one here wants to learn about Islam. I’ve had several people ask me if I’m afraid of the class, because the prof might be trying to turn me into a terrorist… brother! I’ve also started my Development Studies class, Twi (ugh, stressful) and Sociology of Deviance courses. So far, only 2 of the classes appear to have any reading whatsoever…

Last weekend I embarked on my first travels through Ghana independent of CIEE. Two friends and I took a two hour tro tro ride at night, complete with squawking chickens in the car, to a town called Kpong. We stayed the night in a very shady “leasiure center,” and then spent Saturday touring Cidi’s Bead Factory. Now, keep in mind that a “factory” here is 5 or 6 open grass and concrete huts. It was great, a man showed us how they make, recycle, and restore glass beads, which is a major industry to Ghanaian cultural life, even though glass beads were originally brought to Ghana by the Dutch. Both men and women commonly wear beaded jewelry here. Chiefs and Queen Mothers adorn themselves with gigantic beads round their necks, and girls obtain beads from birth until puberty, when they have a big celebration and are given several thin strands of “waist beads” to wear, signifying their womanhood. We watched the whole process, from crushing liquor bottles, to melting and shaping, to firing and cleaning and painting, and finally to several women clustered around a table stringing necklaces and bracelets.

That day we also found our way through a huge market, traveled to our 2nd hotel, and then spend 2 hours roaming around on the side of a highway, looking for a destination we never actually found. There was an awesome sense of freedom and joy in three women walking around in the middle of nowhere, no cars, people, or buildings in sight in the middle of West Africa… Day 2 we hired a forest service guide to walk us around the Shai Hills National Reserve. This place isn’t great for seeing animals (we say only free roaming bats, baboons, and antelope) but has peaks and caves for hiking. The caves themselves once served as the hiding place for the Shai people, as they were being enslaved by the Ashanti people (the dominate Ghanaian tribe of old) so that the Ashanti could sell them to the Europeans who would then sell them oversees. Yes, Africans participated handedly in their own slave trade. The Shai used the caves on the top of the peaks as hiding places, look outs, and to throw rocks at the oncoming Ashanti. For us, this meant hiking the hills, then crawling up through the caves to come out at the highest viewing points. It really was quite an adventure. And the views were beautiful- you could see out for miles and miles, though we were told that the viewing is better during the rainy season, when the dust is less. We ended up hiking for 6 hours and getting extremely dehydrated, but I have been so proud of my self for happily getting through such a physically taxing day. I feel so thankful that I am generally not a couch potato so that I was healthy enough to do what we did.

On that note, I happened upon 4 Ghanaian girls working out in the hall outside my door this morning… odd, almost all Ghanaians avoid even walking places if they have to, and there are very few gyms here. They invited me to join, but I said “no thank you!” explaining that I am reveling in their culture that does not say I need to be perfectly slim in a gym to be beautiful. I might eventually get around to doing a few crunches, but for the most part, I walk more than any Ghanaian so I don’t really worry about it. I found it odd that one of the girls told me she worked out because she wasn’t born with “skinny genes.” I hadn’t got the impression that many Ghanaian women thought in that way, I wonder where the pressure in coming from. Television? It doesn’t seem to me that skinny women are desirable to men here, so I’m not really sure what the deal is.

At any rate, that’s about all I’ve got! Now that life is more normal here I will try my hardest to publish the notes I took from our orientation lectures on Ghanaian religion, culture, gender, history, etc, so that you can more understand my context. I am also working on reflecting upon what I like and don’t like so much about Ghana in a meaningful way, rather than in a list format. I really struggle with the views and “place” of women in this country, as well as with the extreme homophobia, but I don’t know the best way to articulate those feelings. I’ll try though.

Take Care!