814 March 2010

GOOD (& NEW) FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS Jane left for Accra to fly back to the U.S., so it’s very quiet in the house again… Farewell Jane — I was much sadder than I thought I’d be see her leave, since I didn’t know her for that long. I guess you can develop fast and deep relationships when you’re all going through the same challenges in a new place. The house will not be quiet for long though, since I have at another 4-5 weeks of visitors in my just 11 weeks left here…

One of the neighbor’s daughters (Anna) came over to offer some help. She is waiting to get an internship and then get into journalism school in Accra, and so to stay busy, she wants to help me cook. After a bit of conversation, Jane stated “how about for Thursday night?” We had a farewell party planned for Jane – and we were just going to get food at the campus chop bar since we both had very busy days. Anna let us design the menu with her help – and we sent her off with 40 cedi (about $30). She cooked for 10 of us – and it

was enough for leftovers for everyone for lunch, and enough to send some home with my neighborhood friend — and I was still able to give her a 10 cedi tip and a taxi ride to & from the market! It was amazing, but she kept thanking me for the opportunity! We enjoyed a completely vegetarian (it took many questions, but Anna did an excellent job) meal of Waakye (black eyed peas & rice), lettuce/onion/tomato (which she doubled for my salad loving, mostly veg. friends), tomato stew, Ampesi (boiled plantain and yam), nkontomire (a stew made with cocoyam leaves), and shito (a very spicy pepper, onion, and oil condiment). We had a great time eating our fill, drinking cold beer (I’m I large trouble with the Staff Club since I have TWO crates of bottles right now) and sangria, and speaking until late. There was room for everyone to sleep since I purchased a few foam bed mats last week.

So now that we have gotten the tradition started, we got together again later in the week to finish the beer & wine. It was Jane’s last night so we had plans to go out, but we had all been

out and about in the heat doing various things all day, so we just watched a motion picture on my laptop and had some drinks & snacks instead. It’s astonishing that I can walk just 5 minutes to the market to get what I need to make guacamole for six people for just about $3 or $4 (4 avocados, 6 tomatoes, 4 small bags of plantain chips). We also had some super spicy ginger cookies (85 cents), and fresh cut papaya & pineapple (about $1 total for one of each). Oh yea, and not to forget the 625 ml beers for about $1.25 each.

I called my new driver, Asare, the night before to give Jane a ride to the bus station for Accra. I just met this driver last week when I had a hard time (since they weren’t running!) getting a shuttle to the maintenance area for some more house details… When Jane came back into town from the field with all of her things, we got a taxi – and there was Asare again. He stated I should take his number in case I wanted to go out anywhere that day, since it was a holiday (Independence

Day) and few taxis were running. I decided to take him up on it and get the foam sleeping mats for when I have lots of visitors. I took the opportunity to get more sacks of water, and various other heavy things. He turned out to be such a nice driver and at some point asked me what I would do with the things I’ve purchased here when I leave. He was not fishing at all, but I offered him a sleeping mat since he has three kids who sleep on the floor on two sleeping mats. At the end of the ride he stated that he wouldn’t even take money from me. He said, “Sometimes you can charge people, but sometimes they are your sister or brother. I can’t charge you.” After repeatedly asking him to please give me a price, because I couldn’t pay him nothing for the hour+ excursion, he said, “okay, just give from your heart.” I used him another time this week, and called him to pick Jane the morning she left… well, he was late and had misunderstood the time I told him… she walked up to the dorm and found another driver (not easy on a Sunday), so I called him and told him she got another car. He was so apologetic and actually came to the house anyway, just to beg for my forgiveness. It was just a misunderstanding and he is a really nice guy. He may have just dropped down to #3 of my three drivers, but he’s still a good guy.

Another good guy is my neighbor/yard guy Samson… right now my house smells so clean… I have been in a struggle about the stereotype of Americans being lazy and rich, so I’ve not hired anyone to help me clean – even though I’m sure it would be very inexpensive, and I do have to keep in mind that most Ghanaian professionals have one or two live-in cooks/cleaners. Two of my Ghanaian women friends in the neighborhood, even told me that I need to be focusing on my research and teaching, not cleaning the never-ending dust problem. True. So, with that in mind, AND Samson’s persistence (he asked me about cleaning for me this week and called three times today, and then just came over when I didn’t pick up)… I gave in. He is SUCH a nice

young man (22 years old) who lives with a professor. He told me his story the other evening: the professor met his family when he (the professor) was at a funeral in the north, where Samson is from. He was 17 and not in school and not working (the family could not afford the fees, and he couldn’t find a job) – so this prof. stated “come live with me and I’ll take care of your schooling.” So Samson moved the many hours away from home (his small sister is just 12 and asks him to come home every time they talk on the phone), and he helps around the yard there too – and he stated about the professor: “he takes care of everything.” He hasn’t been home to see his family since he started senior high school 4 years ago, but he graduates this year, so he hopes to be going home soon. SO, he’s a good person to help, and he certainly just helped me with FIVE HOURS of cleaning. He washed the kitchen shelves with bleach. He swept, then mopped the whole downstairs. Then he started dusting the tables, and washing the many louvers in the downstairs… okay… I have to go count: 128 blades! And he didn’t even wash the 27 blades in my office because I was working in there all day. Then he swept again because he had just created more dust from washing the louvers. Just when I thought he was done, I found him in the kitchen wiping down all of the surfaces in there. Basically, I had just given up on trying to keep this house clean, let alone scrub away the dirt that was here when I moved in (yes, of course the university did clean it before I moved in, but it was empty for 8 months, so they couldn’t do a perfect job). Now I just have to figure out what is fair to pay him – it’s hard to figure out how all of that works. For maintaining the yard (cutting down the grass and weeds with a cutlass (machete), raking up the leaves and trash, sweeping the driveway, patio & walks, etc… the Planning Department (who keeps this house for visitors) only pays him $20 a month!

TRADITIONAL ARTS & CRAFTS I had another nice excursion this week. Two graduate students, Jerryson and Farouk took

Lindsay and me to the Adinkra (Google it!) cloth printing village of Ntonso. It was a nice trip and we got to see every step of the long process of boiling down a particular bark to make the thick black dye (it takes days…) and then we got to stamp our own Kente strip with stamps that we chose. Our guide through the process, Peter, was really nice and knowledgeable – and he is quite involved in the process – he stated his mom was actually off in the north getting more bark, and it was his dad who taught him the process. As a geographer, I’m curious how the bark is only found in the north, yet the stamping tradition is in the Asante region… On our way back, we stopped at the pottery village of Pankron, along the same road back to Kumasi. I purchased an apotoyowa and eta, used for grinding food (tomatoes, garlic, onion, etc.), and we both got some calabashes with lids to decorate – or drink out of. It’s easy to spend a lot of money on the traditional arts here – even though everything is so inexpensive… 2 cedi for apotoyowa, 1 cedi for eta, 2 cedi for a glazed clay pot, 7 cedi for the adinkra stamping (Kente cloth included)…

Can making vehicles be considered a local craft? Ghanaians have the reputation for being able to fix anything. For example, a few weeks ago, my student was completely surprised when I told him I would just throw out my broken phone (the screen was an unreadable psychedelic mess)… he stated he could find someone to fix it in a day. I gave it to him and stated to keep it, give it away, sell it, whatever. And you know what, I’m sure someone will fix it. Anyway, we drove by Suame Magazine (a former ammunitions depot), and I asked if we could go in… wow… Farouk drove his brother’s large Nissan SUV (Niiiiiice car!) into the crazy, narrow, packed “streets” of the magazine. I’ve been told that there is tremendous talent here to repair and build cars. As you drive through you just see piles of engines or axles or tires, or even just metal shells of cars. Jerry mentioned that many Hurricane Katrina vehicles came here on ships so that people could fix them up and make them work again

- he states that they made a LOT of money doing that… Brilliant.

RESEARCH & INTERVIEWS My interviews are going well. I’m continually refining my survey and interview questions, but I’m just glad to be over the hump of the hesitation in getting started. The women have been very responsive and very passionate about the topic. They want someone to listen, and I am here to listen to their voice. We’re starting with people and areas we know and then we’ll go from there. We went to see one particular woman on Friday, for example, and then interviewed the next three people down the line of stalls. I figure that I should purchase something from the women I’m interviewing, and then tip them a bit for their time, so I just got some tomato Maggi (seasoning cubes) and some spices. Kofi, my research assistant, doesn’t think I should pay them anything, but I’m sure that they are losing sales because we’re standing there for at least 30 minutes – it must look strange and a bit offputting. Now, I just have to think of how to repay my research assistants (I have another who is starting this week as well). Yes, they get paid by the university, but 150 cedi per month (about $100 USD). They argue that they just want the research experience, since they are preparing to begin their Master’s, but there is simply NO way I could do the interviews without them translating into Twi.

Jane and I also visited one of my research areas, Kejetia market, just for fun though. It was interesting, because when we entered at Railways, I got yelled at by a nearby trader as I was reaching into my bag for my camera: “Stop! Stop what you are doing right now!!!” She was really insistent and a bit angry… I’m always VERY careful about taking pics of people, but if it’s just a large street or market scene, I’m a bit more liberal. I certainly ALWAYS ask if I can take a pic of a person or their goods – and am often respectfully told no… but this woman just saw me reach into my bag from 30 feet away – I didn’t even have my hand on my camera yet – but she just knew what I was doing… We then entered the market to find the cloth section. Jane wanted to purchase fabric, fabric, fabric. I somehow ended up getting 7 different pieces of cloth myself – and Jane somehow got 14 different pieces! Next we found the bead area – and we found Bawa, the same guy who made Lindsay and me some bracelets and necklaces a few weeks ago. He is so nice, will take things apart and make whatever we want, and he charges next to nothing. While Jane is always bargaining, I just usually give them what they ask for, and even more sometimes because things are so cheap – I mean, $2 a yard for fabric? I’m not going to argue. And 35 cents for a bracelet or even $5 or 6 for a necklace… custom-made earrings for just 70 cents?

DAILY LIVING Language… I had my first Twi exam last week. It was a good thing they changed the exam format for me, because I was just not prepared. When they came in, they stated that I only had to do the written portion, on which I did very well. I thought it was much too easy though, especially for as tiny as I actually studied and practiced! I missed 4 questions, I think – out of maybe 30 or so. One was easy and I knew the answer, but I just wrote too fast and didn’t check my work (doh!). Another I just didn’t remember at the time, and then felt silly for not figuring it out… and the other two were not even things I thought I should study. I’m practicing more and more in the markets and people are so appreciative. It’s my students who are so critical of me – they state they’re trying to get me to talk better… I’m not sure that laughing at your professor is the ideal strategy though…

Water… Luckily the water pressure has been good lately for a few actual stand-up showers. The tank was in a week ago, but it took another week of tracing lines and digging until they figured out where to lay the new pipes so that the water didn’t just drain from my tank down the hill into my neighbor’s taps! It’s now complete, and I think I should now have water in the downstairs at all times. We’ll see when I get home later this day (the water should be out).

Fire prevention… After two month of asking with no one following up… and four visits on my own finally – I got a fire extinguisher. My primary concern is that I have a gas stove and an incredibly secure house with 5 locks on the back door, 4 on the side door, and two on the front (including padlocks, slide locks, and regular key locks)… I paid a ridiculous 75 cedi (more than $50 USD) for my fire extinguisher, but my wonderful across the street neighbors are so pleased that I offered to give it to them when I leave (8 people and no fire extinguisher)… no wonder people don’t have them here, they cost 75 cedi!

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814 March 2010

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