Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
alas i am proud to be an american...
(saturday, july 11, 2009)
my alarm goes off at 5:15am, and i think about rolling out of bed, but the mating guard dogs woke me intermittently throughout the night, and i am TIRED. so, i turn my alarm off and go back to sleep, almost giving in to all the cynics who told me there was no way i would be able to get close enough to see obama.
my phone buzzes with a new message at 6:15am. it is matt. he says the magic words: traffic is non-existent!!! this is all the encouragement i need to hop out of bed, hurriedly eat my breakfast, and head into town to La General hospital where the president and first lady are expected anywhere between 9:30 and 10am. i arrive by 7am and to my surprise there really isn't much of a crowd. i comfortably find a place to sit directly across from the hospital. this is the closest the army of policemen will let us be, and i find a nice little spot of grass just above the open sewer/mote where i can alternate between sitting and standing. this turns out to be rather marvelous as the obamas didn't arrive until nearly noon.
as usual, i am the only obruni in a 50 meter radius (if you don't count a random foreign journalist here and there), and i am intrigued by the buzz and excitement of the ghanaian die-hards decked out in full body obama attire. i do have to say that saturday was the day that it finally hit me that barak obama is my president and i felt the incredible power he has throughout the world. yeah, yeah i was in argentina when he won the election, surrounded by excitement and several emotional, sobbing friends (you know who you are, jaja), but saturday as i sat amidst a sea of africans, waving a ghanaian flag myself, the sense of pride i felt about my country was a new and welcome sensation. i listened to bits of the conversations around me (most in twi, which unfortunately i am struggling to learn even the most basic of phrases). i didn't mind for the first time being white and sticking out in a crowd, because i was so proud to be an american and even prouder that the excited buzz around me was for once about my own country.
just a little background on why this day in accra, ghana was such a great american experience. my first time out of the countrywas january 1, 2002. my destination was paris, france. albeit i was young, naive and in a group of about 20 loud american college students, but i remember exactly how the street looked that second night when someone began taunting us, ranting about how great a man osama bin laden was and that "long live osama bin laden." i remember being shocked and saddened and completely taken off guard that someone would be so bitter about my country. hmmph, looking back i realize i had A LOT to learn.
my next experience abroad was the spring of my junior year, which i spent in buenos aires, argentina. i remember sitting next to my host-dad, agustin, in his study watching CNN in espanol on March 19, 2003 when President George W. Bush declared war on iraq. i didn't understand spanish very well, but the message was extremely clear. i remember that i felt so very far away from home. even more, i remember the experience of going to school the next morning at lenguas vivas. my classmates and i were all a bit disoriented. someone started to cry (for all i know it could have been me) when the topic of the freshly declared war came up. so our teacher told us to take a 15 minute break. we came back and each found a chocolate placed in the center of each of our desks and she gave us all big hugs reminding us that people know the difference between the actions of our government and us, but over the next 3 months i certainly met plenty of people who did not seem to really be capable of making that distinction or maybe i was the one incapable of accepting it.
i got used to telling people i was canadian or australian. i almost went as far as putting a canadian flag patch on my backpack. the truth was i was both ashamed to be american and afraid of the response i might get from the people around me if i were to admit it. i couldn't understand why we declared war on iraq and i was in no position to support it. watching my country go to war from afar was an uncomfortable experience. i saw more flags burned in the next 3 months than i have in my entire life, and i photo-documented the not so subtle anti-war sentiments throughout argentina.
when i returned to argentina in 2007, i felt a significant change in how the US was viewed. there seemed to be a clear separation between the government and the citizen (not sure if i was more mature or the world, maybe we both were). although George W certainly wasn't making us too many friends, i was not afraid of being physically harmed in any way for being american (not that this was ever an issue in 2003 either). i did, however, have to endure an ubiquitous amount of US bashing on the streets, in the classroom, and even in the homes of my own friends. sometimes i defended us, other times i was quiet, and occasionally i couldn't help but join in.
so these are just a few of my previous experiences that led to the sweetness of seeing Obama in ghana this past saturday. to be in africa when the first african-american president sets foot on the continent was a monumental day in history, and i was right there to experience it.
now back to my story...the president and first lady arrived sometime after 11:30 am, they stayed inside the hospital until after noon, before driving past the road where i had been sitting for the past 5 hours with thousands of others with the same goal in mind: to catch a glimpse of barak obama.
i videotaped him as he passed us in a heavily armored SUV. i saw him wave, but it all happened so fast that i wasn't able to get it on my camera. i was hardly disappointed. the morning, the company, and the woman who told me she loved barak obama because "he had brought the world closer together" made the wait so so worth it.
i went into the hospital to meet up with matt. he is going into his senior year studying engineerng, but matt is here on a mission/volunteer trip for the summer. he has been placed in the hospital, and he is getting a lot of great hands on experience to prepare for medical school. matt became my hero on saturday, not because he is a lot of fun or because he is a selfless volunteer, but rather because he got me an extra ticket to the "Send-off Jubilee" at the airport later in the day with President Barak Obama and President John Atta Mills.
**on a sidenote: La General hospital had discharged many of it's patients whether healed or not to prepare for the US president's visit. They also gravelled the front yard, painted the fences, and planted palm trees to improve the exterior. This is the same hospital that when i visited a few weeks back had up to 3 children sharing a bed and the surgical unit was set up behind a curtain in the hallway; hardly a model of sanitation. i wish the obama's could have seen the version of the hospital i saw 3 weeks ago and not the new and improved version, but i realize when the boss comes to town, appearances are important. i just wish it weren't that way.
Matt and i hop a tro-tro to get to the airport early for the 5:45pm event. the doors were to open at 2:30pm and everyone we talked to said to get there as early as possible. we were on track, but traffic was not in our favor nor was the driver who at one point pulled over the tro tro, turned around and tried to punch the woman next to me who was yelling at him in twi. when matt successfully pushed him back toward the front seat, he got out and tried to punch her through the window and through me...imagine yourself in a mini-van with 15 ghanaian women all yelling in various local languages at the male driver as he tries to punch one of his riders who just so happens to be seated next to you.
by the end of the yelling, they told us to get out. we really have no idea what exactly happened, but apparently the fight had SOMETHING to do with matt and i.
we met emma our british housemate and aspiring american politico at the airport. there seemed to be a lot of confusion on how to get to the event, but eventually we found ourselves at the front of one of several queues. whomever thought up the entrance was obviously on crack, because they opened a gate the size of a small doorway to let people in. when everyone from the back started pushing, i got shoved up against the fence. i started to cry. i think it was a combination of the excitement and embarrassment about the utter barbarity of people sometimes. anyhow, i caught the eye of a security guard on the other side of the fence and he had me off the fence and inside the gate before i knew it.
we entered the VIP section (still not exactly sure how matt pulled this one off) with all the PCVs (peace corps volunteers). the 3 of us lined ourselves strategically along the red carpet in hopes of shaking the president's hand. to our dismay, the red carpet was for the entrance of President Atta Mills not President Obama. We did see airforce one and met a great many interesting people as we waited. The President and First Lady came within 10 feet of us, but we didn't get to introduce ourselves or shake his hand unfortunately. We watched him speak, but could not hear as the mics were set up for the back of the crowd and for the media.
It was a lovely day in all. In fact, I think it was a life changing day even if I didn't shake the hand of the president.
Yesterday, Sunday - we went to Kokrobite Beach on the West side of Accra. It was fantastically beautiful with white sand and rolling waves. the beach was scattered with obrunis and enormous, handmade fishing boats. We stopped by the Academy for African Music to see a drumming and dance performance - finally I saw live african music in africa. I will post pictures and video soon, I promise!
my alarm goes off at 5:15am, and i think about rolling out of bed, but the mating guard dogs woke me intermittently throughout the night, and i am TIRED. so, i turn my alarm off and go back to sleep, almost giving in to all the cynics who told me there was no way i would be able to get close enough to see obama.
my phone buzzes with a new message at 6:15am. it is matt. he says the magic words: traffic is non-existent!!! this is all the encouragement i need to hop out of bed, hurriedly eat my breakfast, and head into town to La General hospital where the president and first lady are expected anywhere between 9:30 and 10am. i arrive by 7am and to my surprise there really isn't much of a crowd. i comfortably find a place to sit directly across from the hospital. this is the closest the army of policemen will let us be, and i find a nice little spot of grass just above the open sewer/mote where i can alternate between sitting and standing. this turns out to be rather marvelous as the obamas didn't arrive until nearly noon.
as usual, i am the only obruni in a 50 meter radius (if you don't count a random foreign journalist here and there), and i am intrigued by the buzz and excitement of the ghanaian die-hards decked out in full body obama attire. i do have to say that saturday was the day that it finally hit me that barak obama is my president and i felt the incredible power he has throughout the world. yeah, yeah i was in argentina when he won the election, surrounded by excitement and several emotional, sobbing friends (you know who you are, jaja), but saturday as i sat amidst a sea of africans, waving a ghanaian flag myself, the sense of pride i felt about my country was a new and welcome sensation. i listened to bits of the conversations around me (most in twi, which unfortunately i am struggling to learn even the most basic of phrases). i didn't mind for the first time being white and sticking out in a crowd, because i was so proud to be an american and even prouder that the excited buzz around me was for once about my own country.
just a little background on why this day in accra, ghana was such a great american experience. my first time out of the countrywas january 1, 2002. my destination was paris, france. albeit i was young, naive and in a group of about 20 loud american college students, but i remember exactly how the street looked that second night when someone began taunting us, ranting about how great a man osama bin laden was and that "long live osama bin laden." i remember being shocked and saddened and completely taken off guard that someone would be so bitter about my country. hmmph, looking back i realize i had A LOT to learn.
my next experience abroad was the spring of my junior year, which i spent in buenos aires, argentina. i remember sitting next to my host-dad, agustin, in his study watching CNN in espanol on March 19, 2003 when President George W. Bush declared war on iraq. i didn't understand spanish very well, but the message was extremely clear. i remember that i felt so very far away from home. even more, i remember the experience of going to school the next morning at lenguas vivas. my classmates and i were all a bit disoriented. someone started to cry (for all i know it could have been me) when the topic of the freshly declared war came up. so our teacher told us to take a 15 minute break. we came back and each found a chocolate placed in the center of each of our desks and she gave us all big hugs reminding us that people know the difference between the actions of our government and us, but over the next 3 months i certainly met plenty of people who did not seem to really be capable of making that distinction or maybe i was the one incapable of accepting it.
i got used to telling people i was canadian or australian. i almost went as far as putting a canadian flag patch on my backpack. the truth was i was both ashamed to be american and afraid of the response i might get from the people around me if i were to admit it. i couldn't understand why we declared war on iraq and i was in no position to support it. watching my country go to war from afar was an uncomfortable experience. i saw more flags burned in the next 3 months than i have in my entire life, and i photo-documented the not so subtle anti-war sentiments throughout argentina.
when i returned to argentina in 2007, i felt a significant change in how the US was viewed. there seemed to be a clear separation between the government and the citizen (not sure if i was more mature or the world, maybe we both were). although George W certainly wasn't making us too many friends, i was not afraid of being physically harmed in any way for being american (not that this was ever an issue in 2003 either). i did, however, have to endure an ubiquitous amount of US bashing on the streets, in the classroom, and even in the homes of my own friends. sometimes i defended us, other times i was quiet, and occasionally i couldn't help but join in.
so these are just a few of my previous experiences that led to the sweetness of seeing Obama in ghana this past saturday. to be in africa when the first african-american president sets foot on the continent was a monumental day in history, and i was right there to experience it.
now back to my story...the president and first lady arrived sometime after 11:30 am, they stayed inside the hospital until after noon, before driving past the road where i had been sitting for the past 5 hours with thousands of others with the same goal in mind: to catch a glimpse of barak obama.
i videotaped him as he passed us in a heavily armored SUV. i saw him wave, but it all happened so fast that i wasn't able to get it on my camera. i was hardly disappointed. the morning, the company, and the woman who told me she loved barak obama because "he had brought the world closer together" made the wait so so worth it.
i went into the hospital to meet up with matt. he is going into his senior year studying engineerng, but matt is here on a mission/volunteer trip for the summer. he has been placed in the hospital, and he is getting a lot of great hands on experience to prepare for medical school. matt became my hero on saturday, not because he is a lot of fun or because he is a selfless volunteer, but rather because he got me an extra ticket to the "Send-off Jubilee" at the airport later in the day with President Barak Obama and President John Atta Mills.
**on a sidenote: La General hospital had discharged many of it's patients whether healed or not to prepare for the US president's visit. They also gravelled the front yard, painted the fences, and planted palm trees to improve the exterior. This is the same hospital that when i visited a few weeks back had up to 3 children sharing a bed and the surgical unit was set up behind a curtain in the hallway; hardly a model of sanitation. i wish the obama's could have seen the version of the hospital i saw 3 weeks ago and not the new and improved version, but i realize when the boss comes to town, appearances are important. i just wish it weren't that way.
Matt and i hop a tro-tro to get to the airport early for the 5:45pm event. the doors were to open at 2:30pm and everyone we talked to said to get there as early as possible. we were on track, but traffic was not in our favor nor was the driver who at one point pulled over the tro tro, turned around and tried to punch the woman next to me who was yelling at him in twi. when matt successfully pushed him back toward the front seat, he got out and tried to punch her through the window and through me...imagine yourself in a mini-van with 15 ghanaian women all yelling in various local languages at the male driver as he tries to punch one of his riders who just so happens to be seated next to you.
by the end of the yelling, they told us to get out. we really have no idea what exactly happened, but apparently the fight had SOMETHING to do with matt and i.
we met emma our british housemate and aspiring american politico at the airport. there seemed to be a lot of confusion on how to get to the event, but eventually we found ourselves at the front of one of several queues. whomever thought up the entrance was obviously on crack, because they opened a gate the size of a small doorway to let people in. when everyone from the back started pushing, i got shoved up against the fence. i started to cry. i think it was a combination of the excitement and embarrassment about the utter barbarity of people sometimes. anyhow, i caught the eye of a security guard on the other side of the fence and he had me off the fence and inside the gate before i knew it.
we entered the VIP section (still not exactly sure how matt pulled this one off) with all the PCVs (peace corps volunteers). the 3 of us lined ourselves strategically along the red carpet in hopes of shaking the president's hand. to our dismay, the red carpet was for the entrance of President Atta Mills not President Obama. We did see airforce one and met a great many interesting people as we waited. The President and First Lady came within 10 feet of us, but we didn't get to introduce ourselves or shake his hand unfortunately. We watched him speak, but could not hear as the mics were set up for the back of the crowd and for the media.
It was a lovely day in all. In fact, I think it was a life changing day even if I didn't shake the hand of the president.
Yesterday, Sunday - we went to Kokrobite Beach on the West side of Accra. It was fantastically beautiful with white sand and rolling waves. the beach was scattered with obrunis and enormous, handmade fishing boats. We stopped by the Academy for African Music to see a drumming and dance performance - finally I saw live african music in africa. I will post pictures and video soon, I promise!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
saw obama!!!
it is late, i am tired, and the poor doll that works the internet cafe has already stayed way past closing time, but I SAW HIM (and i almost, i mean almost, shook the man's hand). do tune back in for all the details tomorrow!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
the pangs of research
i am learning rather quickly that conducting research can certainly be humbling...yesterday was supposed to be a "big" day of interviews. first on the agenda, a trip to the university of ghana to meet with an "important" professor of political science. second stop to the center for democratic development to work my way into the offices of a few prominent scholars of ghanaian democracy...
well, i made it to both places, but didn't manage to talk to anyone. i waited for the professor for over two hours. i was really hoping the rain, rather than his pure disinterest, had kept him from keeping his appointment with me. after two hours, i got impatient and left him a note, which i know he will probably never read before heading over to the cdd.
at the cdd, i was faced with a rather unexpected obstacle: the receptionist, ramona. this stubborn young lady seemed to pick up on my desperation after my morning stand up and she attempted to capitalize on it. thankfully, a former intern was hanging around the lobby and managed to get me a little bit of information on the center despite ramona's not so subtle hints that the only way anyone at the center could "make time to see me" would be if i could provide some sort of "financial compensation." oh, bribery. i should be used to it considering my time in argentina, but this was more blatant than i ever experienced in buenos aires. and worse, it was coming from a center that is supposed to be "enhancing the democratic values and transparency" in ghana. i mean, i have come to expect it from government officials (particularly those affiliated with migration/customs work), but from the center for democratic development not so much.
turns out if i am able to find a UG professor to write me a letter and i pay an undetermined fee, i will have access to their one-room library for the next 3 months. i guess this is what i will do, not because i need to use the library, but to give myself the informal opportunity to ask a few staff members some questions.
after the bust of a day, i headed to a forum on US-Ghana relations: past, present and future. i actually learned a thing or two from the three key speakers (including the former candidate for president from the communist party), but most of the jokes were told in twi and we found ourselves confused, while the people around us reached hysterics. the key messages (aside from recognizing the important people who had come to the event) were that the relationship between the two countries could definitely be mutually beneficial, but for this to happen, the US had to stop giving hand outs as development aid and ghana needs to stop accepting them, aid should focus on agricultural development in the country, and ultimately the US should let africans decide for themselves how they would like to work together. interesting stuff, but nothing too earth shattering really.
after the forum we went to alliance frances (sorry about the spelling for all of you french speakers) for what the guide book said was a "cultural night." there was supposed to be food and drumming. we did find food, but drumming was a myth. there was a nice bar, full of other culture-seeking americans as well. we are learning over and over that the last edition of the Bradt Guidebook on Ghana has yet to really be right about much beyond the name and location of things...when it comes to music and other activities it mentions, none of them seem to exist. i guess we are really on our own to discover ghana, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
i know it is only thursday, but after the frustrating day yesterday, i am taking today off. i plan to spend some time at the markets in accra and maybe finally head to an art exhibit i have been eyeing up at the artist alliance building. but then again you never really know what a day will bring in ghana until the day has passed so we shall see.
well, i made it to both places, but didn't manage to talk to anyone. i waited for the professor for over two hours. i was really hoping the rain, rather than his pure disinterest, had kept him from keeping his appointment with me. after two hours, i got impatient and left him a note, which i know he will probably never read before heading over to the cdd.
at the cdd, i was faced with a rather unexpected obstacle: the receptionist, ramona. this stubborn young lady seemed to pick up on my desperation after my morning stand up and she attempted to capitalize on it. thankfully, a former intern was hanging around the lobby and managed to get me a little bit of information on the center despite ramona's not so subtle hints that the only way anyone at the center could "make time to see me" would be if i could provide some sort of "financial compensation." oh, bribery. i should be used to it considering my time in argentina, but this was more blatant than i ever experienced in buenos aires. and worse, it was coming from a center that is supposed to be "enhancing the democratic values and transparency" in ghana. i mean, i have come to expect it from government officials (particularly those affiliated with migration/customs work), but from the center for democratic development not so much.
turns out if i am able to find a UG professor to write me a letter and i pay an undetermined fee, i will have access to their one-room library for the next 3 months. i guess this is what i will do, not because i need to use the library, but to give myself the informal opportunity to ask a few staff members some questions.
after the bust of a day, i headed to a forum on US-Ghana relations: past, present and future. i actually learned a thing or two from the three key speakers (including the former candidate for president from the communist party), but most of the jokes were told in twi and we found ourselves confused, while the people around us reached hysterics. the key messages (aside from recognizing the important people who had come to the event) were that the relationship between the two countries could definitely be mutually beneficial, but for this to happen, the US had to stop giving hand outs as development aid and ghana needs to stop accepting them, aid should focus on agricultural development in the country, and ultimately the US should let africans decide for themselves how they would like to work together. interesting stuff, but nothing too earth shattering really.
after the forum we went to alliance frances (sorry about the spelling for all of you french speakers) for what the guide book said was a "cultural night." there was supposed to be food and drumming. we did find food, but drumming was a myth. there was a nice bar, full of other culture-seeking americans as well. we are learning over and over that the last edition of the Bradt Guidebook on Ghana has yet to really be right about much beyond the name and location of things...when it comes to music and other activities it mentions, none of them seem to exist. i guess we are really on our own to discover ghana, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
i know it is only thursday, but after the frustrating day yesterday, i am taking today off. i plan to spend some time at the markets in accra and maybe finally head to an art exhibit i have been eyeing up at the artist alliance building. but then again you never really know what a day will bring in ghana until the day has passed so we shall see.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
good thing i was born to walk...
hey there. so my computer troubles continue, but i think i may see a light at the end of the tunnel, because a man i interviewed this morning from the communist party just so happens to have an extra laptop he offered to lend me...fingers crossed it comes through. i always knew i was a commie somewhere deep inside of myself.
so the weekend travel consisted of a day trip to the botanical gardens in a quiet little mountain town, an arduous transportation adventure and a pretty lil water fall (although after iguazu falls i don't think any other water fall can quite win my approval). we left about 8am with a short stop at the botannical gardens and finally arrived at the falls around 4pm. there was a handmade sign on the path instructing us to call a certain o.b. something or other before entering. of course we did as instructed. he or some of his guys arrived about 5 minutes later charging us 10 cedi to walk us down a 10-minute path ridden with the largest scorpions i have seen in my life (i was grateful for o.b.'s protection in the end). our quick jaunt took us to the nice little trickly known as Asenema falls...we never quite figured out if o.b. and his guys were actually formally employed by the government or whomever "owns" the falls or if they are just some local entrepreneurs aware of how to make a quick dollar or two. either way, good for them.
the nature excursion was pleasant enough even with the 7 tro tros we ended up taking over the span of 6 hours or so in actual transport that it took us to get to the falls. the real butt of the joke was that we only had to take one tro-tro back into accra and it took less than 2 hours...we definitely didn't take the most direct route to arrive at the falls apparently, but no big deal - it was a lot of fun.
sunday night, i moved to my new house. i have my own room and some new roommates: an 18-year old canadian boy, 2 just-out-of high school girls from scotland, as well as several local kids that have been taken in. i like it so far. mostly, i am just grateful for running water and a flushing toilet. i could, however, do without the insane traffic to get into accra.
monday morning i was supposed to be out at the university by 9am. i woke at 5:30am to eat breakfast and get out the door and on the road by 6:30 am...everything went accordingly, but by 8am i had just gotten into a tro-tro and was sittng less than a mile from my house. i finally arrived at the university by 10:30am. the problem is that there is only one route to and around accra and this road has about a 15-ft patch of potholes as a result of the rain. this nice little piece of road has caused the worst traffic on a daily basis than i have ever, i seriously mean ever, seen in my life. time in transportation: 4 hours.
i finished up at the university in just over an hour, but because my phone was dying decided to run home quick to charge it and have a coffee before heading back into the city for an afternoon interview with the editor of a local newspaper. i got home to my charger to find out that the power was out. guess i probably would have been just as well off had i not gone home to charge it in the first place :( but i decided to have my coffee at a little place overlooking the ocean before heading into the office anyway.
about half way through my ride back into accra, my tummy started to grumble. it seemed i might finally be coming down with the infamous "travelers diarrhea" that i had somehow, up until this point, managed to avoid. i did all i could to ignore it and focus on the questions i was going to ask before arriving at the station. in the end, the total time in transportation home from the university and back into accra: 2 hours.
the interview went really well with the exception of the bathroom emergency in the middle, and i was excited about the idea of getting home early. however, it is really hard to get a tro to my part of the city (teshie/nungua) because the tro tros don't like sitting in traffic either and it is not economically sensical to go that way when there are alternative destinations people are trying to reach. and because i find it absolutely uncivilized the way that people push, grab, yell, and fight to get into the tros tros, i decided to take a tro to a station a little out of the way, because i know they form nice little neat lines to get people on the tro tro...this was probably my biggest mistake of the evening.
i arrived at "37" station to find a line that easily could have wrapped an entire city block had there been one. there didn't seem to be any vans coming in and those that did were quickly filled with passengers willing to bribe some big scary-looking man that seemed to be able to strong-arm people in and out of seats. (aside note: ghana just made the list of countries with high levels of petty bribary according to Transparency International's June 2009 report - and i saw it in action). well, i waited in line for about an hour before finally getting a tro. i kept thinking of the mosquitos biting my ankles and how my afternoon interview may not have been worth catching milaria...i guess it was just plain stupid to think a) that i could out-smart traffic more than the average ghanaian and b). that the traffic would be a little lighter by 7:30pm, because it proceeded to take another 2 hours to get from the station home. total from the time i left the city to the time i arrived home: 4 hours.
this means i spent 10 hours on and/or waiting for transportation yesterday. the actual travel in normal conditions with light traffic could not ahve been more than 2 hours. all of this delay seems to be the byproduct of one tiny spot in a gravel road that is in dire need of pavement...it is quite frustrating...and at one point on the way home, i thought i was going to have a panic attack. from now on, i am walking.
this morning, i was supposed to be in the city by 11am. i left around 9am, took the tro on the non-traffic parts of the route and walked about 45 minutes in the middle. i made it to the city in less than 2 hours...it seems i just might have found the loophole and this is what i shall be doing from now on. this of course and eating lots and lots of ghanaian chocolate bars as walking fuel :)
so the weekend travel consisted of a day trip to the botanical gardens in a quiet little mountain town, an arduous transportation adventure and a pretty lil water fall (although after iguazu falls i don't think any other water fall can quite win my approval). we left about 8am with a short stop at the botannical gardens and finally arrived at the falls around 4pm. there was a handmade sign on the path instructing us to call a certain o.b. something or other before entering. of course we did as instructed. he or some of his guys arrived about 5 minutes later charging us 10 cedi to walk us down a 10-minute path ridden with the largest scorpions i have seen in my life (i was grateful for o.b.'s protection in the end). our quick jaunt took us to the nice little trickly known as Asenema falls...we never quite figured out if o.b. and his guys were actually formally employed by the government or whomever "owns" the falls or if they are just some local entrepreneurs aware of how to make a quick dollar or two. either way, good for them.
the nature excursion was pleasant enough even with the 7 tro tros we ended up taking over the span of 6 hours or so in actual transport that it took us to get to the falls. the real butt of the joke was that we only had to take one tro-tro back into accra and it took less than 2 hours...we definitely didn't take the most direct route to arrive at the falls apparently, but no big deal - it was a lot of fun.
sunday night, i moved to my new house. i have my own room and some new roommates: an 18-year old canadian boy, 2 just-out-of high school girls from scotland, as well as several local kids that have been taken in. i like it so far. mostly, i am just grateful for running water and a flushing toilet. i could, however, do without the insane traffic to get into accra.
monday morning i was supposed to be out at the university by 9am. i woke at 5:30am to eat breakfast and get out the door and on the road by 6:30 am...everything went accordingly, but by 8am i had just gotten into a tro-tro and was sittng less than a mile from my house. i finally arrived at the university by 10:30am. the problem is that there is only one route to and around accra and this road has about a 15-ft patch of potholes as a result of the rain. this nice little piece of road has caused the worst traffic on a daily basis than i have ever, i seriously mean ever, seen in my life. time in transportation: 4 hours.
i finished up at the university in just over an hour, but because my phone was dying decided to run home quick to charge it and have a coffee before heading back into the city for an afternoon interview with the editor of a local newspaper. i got home to my charger to find out that the power was out. guess i probably would have been just as well off had i not gone home to charge it in the first place :( but i decided to have my coffee at a little place overlooking the ocean before heading into the office anyway.
about half way through my ride back into accra, my tummy started to grumble. it seemed i might finally be coming down with the infamous "travelers diarrhea" that i had somehow, up until this point, managed to avoid. i did all i could to ignore it and focus on the questions i was going to ask before arriving at the station. in the end, the total time in transportation home from the university and back into accra: 2 hours.
the interview went really well with the exception of the bathroom emergency in the middle, and i was excited about the idea of getting home early. however, it is really hard to get a tro to my part of the city (teshie/nungua) because the tro tros don't like sitting in traffic either and it is not economically sensical to go that way when there are alternative destinations people are trying to reach. and because i find it absolutely uncivilized the way that people push, grab, yell, and fight to get into the tros tros, i decided to take a tro to a station a little out of the way, because i know they form nice little neat lines to get people on the tro tro...this was probably my biggest mistake of the evening.
i arrived at "37" station to find a line that easily could have wrapped an entire city block had there been one. there didn't seem to be any vans coming in and those that did were quickly filled with passengers willing to bribe some big scary-looking man that seemed to be able to strong-arm people in and out of seats. (aside note: ghana just made the list of countries with high levels of petty bribary according to Transparency International's June 2009 report - and i saw it in action). well, i waited in line for about an hour before finally getting a tro. i kept thinking of the mosquitos biting my ankles and how my afternoon interview may not have been worth catching milaria...i guess it was just plain stupid to think a) that i could out-smart traffic more than the average ghanaian and b). that the traffic would be a little lighter by 7:30pm, because it proceeded to take another 2 hours to get from the station home. total from the time i left the city to the time i arrived home: 4 hours.
this means i spent 10 hours on and/or waiting for transportation yesterday. the actual travel in normal conditions with light traffic could not ahve been more than 2 hours. all of this delay seems to be the byproduct of one tiny spot in a gravel road that is in dire need of pavement...it is quite frustrating...and at one point on the way home, i thought i was going to have a panic attack. from now on, i am walking.
this morning, i was supposed to be in the city by 11am. i left around 9am, took the tro on the non-traffic parts of the route and walked about 45 minutes in the middle. i made it to the city in less than 2 hours...it seems i just might have found the loophole and this is what i shall be doing from now on. this of course and eating lots and lots of ghanaian chocolate bars as walking fuel :)
Friday, July 3, 2009
That pear is not really a pear....
it is an avocado!!! so many things are not quite what they seem to this foreigner in ghana, the least of which is that they call their avocados pears!!! jajaja.
so today officially marks two full weeks in this friendly humid country. i think i am somewhat adjusted to not only the extreme heat, but the culture and life in general. i am getting into a routine (sort of), making lots of contacts for my research, and learning to solve each mini crisis as it comes ;p the haphazard system of public transportation no longer frightens, but just frustrates me...
at this point, i can honestly say, i like it here. the people are really friendly, the food is spicy and delicious, and my lifestyle is much much slower than it was in buenos aires. i really quite like it this way. i do have to say that my choosing to be here has a definite impact on my opinion of the place...i think if i were living here permanently, the open sewers, public shitting grounds, lack of drinkable water, and ridiculous traffic would drive me mad...but in the end, i have chosen to be here and my collection of small grievances are all things i can deal with for a period of a few months before i exchange them for my usual comforts.
last wednesday (the day my computer passed on from the world), was a holiday known as Republic Day. I asked one of the little girls living at the compound what it meant. she said, "it is a celebration of the day africa became free forever." it was sweet, but i could not help myself from questioning how truly free the people around me actually are.
on a very basic level, there is a very real lack of infrastructure that puts some limits, in my opinion, on freedom. for example, the roads wash out every time it rains causing unfathomable traffic pileups. during rainy season, it can downpour nearly every day. other examples are that the electricity and running water come and go in even the nicest of neighborhoods. and yet i read about the ridiculous compensation package to the ex-president that was quickly and quietly pushed through congress. the package includes six brand new SUVs, each with a lifetime fuel supply, not to mention several houses, and monthly allowances, amongst other things. it seems ludicrous really in a country with so many people living in such obviously deplorable conditions that a certain few should live so well at the expense of so many...such blatant inequality is troubling really and it warrants at least some thought about how inequality compromises freedom not just in ghana, but in general.
this extreme inequality is politics here or so i am told. and sadly, maybe this is politics in most places today. in ghana, i have seen and read that politics are a game in which the winner takes all (quite literally). politics is also viewed as something people with lots of money and no need to work, do in order to pass the time (and make themselves richer) -- at least this was one of the university professor's takes on it. i was quite surprised when i asked if he saw himself dabbling in politics in the future that he even considered it after such the way he, himself, described politics in ghana.
this all makes my being here to study politics, to applaud a seemingly democratic election and contribute to a body of work on how democracy is possible in a place like africa, um, well less than ideal. i don't feel overly zealous about this project at all -- actually i find it quite frustrating. i am grateful for the opportunity to be here, but it is hard to watch and ask questions, while people struggle around me. this experience is already reinforcing that i am much more of a doer than a thinker in the end, and research rather than gritty development work is somewhat counter to my natural being.
but enough of my complaints about my research - on to other more exciting news, i moved houses today! i am staying at the beachcomber resort with my friend elizabeth until sunday night when i move into my new home. apparently, the woman i will be living with is the wife of a former head of state who was executed in public during the infamous military coup on June 4, 1979. i am just beginning to piece together the bits and bobs of this very interesting story and will definitely fill you in as it starts to make sense.
tomorrow, we are headed to visit some waterfalls, go dirt-biking and do a little hiking, which should be a nice little break from accra. if the weather is bad, i think we will forgo the excursion and check out a music festival in a park by the university to celebrate our united states independence day!
so today officially marks two full weeks in this friendly humid country. i think i am somewhat adjusted to not only the extreme heat, but the culture and life in general. i am getting into a routine (sort of), making lots of contacts for my research, and learning to solve each mini crisis as it comes ;p the haphazard system of public transportation no longer frightens, but just frustrates me...
at this point, i can honestly say, i like it here. the people are really friendly, the food is spicy and delicious, and my lifestyle is much much slower than it was in buenos aires. i really quite like it this way. i do have to say that my choosing to be here has a definite impact on my opinion of the place...i think if i were living here permanently, the open sewers, public shitting grounds, lack of drinkable water, and ridiculous traffic would drive me mad...but in the end, i have chosen to be here and my collection of small grievances are all things i can deal with for a period of a few months before i exchange them for my usual comforts.
last wednesday (the day my computer passed on from the world), was a holiday known as Republic Day. I asked one of the little girls living at the compound what it meant. she said, "it is a celebration of the day africa became free forever." it was sweet, but i could not help myself from questioning how truly free the people around me actually are.
on a very basic level, there is a very real lack of infrastructure that puts some limits, in my opinion, on freedom. for example, the roads wash out every time it rains causing unfathomable traffic pileups. during rainy season, it can downpour nearly every day. other examples are that the electricity and running water come and go in even the nicest of neighborhoods. and yet i read about the ridiculous compensation package to the ex-president that was quickly and quietly pushed through congress. the package includes six brand new SUVs, each with a lifetime fuel supply, not to mention several houses, and monthly allowances, amongst other things. it seems ludicrous really in a country with so many people living in such obviously deplorable conditions that a certain few should live so well at the expense of so many...such blatant inequality is troubling really and it warrants at least some thought about how inequality compromises freedom not just in ghana, but in general.
this extreme inequality is politics here or so i am told. and sadly, maybe this is politics in most places today. in ghana, i have seen and read that politics are a game in which the winner takes all (quite literally). politics is also viewed as something people with lots of money and no need to work, do in order to pass the time (and make themselves richer) -- at least this was one of the university professor's takes on it. i was quite surprised when i asked if he saw himself dabbling in politics in the future that he even considered it after such the way he, himself, described politics in ghana.
this all makes my being here to study politics, to applaud a seemingly democratic election and contribute to a body of work on how democracy is possible in a place like africa, um, well less than ideal. i don't feel overly zealous about this project at all -- actually i find it quite frustrating. i am grateful for the opportunity to be here, but it is hard to watch and ask questions, while people struggle around me. this experience is already reinforcing that i am much more of a doer than a thinker in the end, and research rather than gritty development work is somewhat counter to my natural being.
but enough of my complaints about my research - on to other more exciting news, i moved houses today! i am staying at the beachcomber resort with my friend elizabeth until sunday night when i move into my new home. apparently, the woman i will be living with is the wife of a former head of state who was executed in public during the infamous military coup on June 4, 1979. i am just beginning to piece together the bits and bobs of this very interesting story and will definitely fill you in as it starts to make sense.
tomorrow, we are headed to visit some waterfalls, go dirt-biking and do a little hiking, which should be a nice little break from accra. if the weather is bad, i think we will forgo the excursion and check out a music festival in a park by the university to celebrate our united states independence day!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
R.I.P. to my beloved Macbook....(I so hope not)
I woke up this morning to the unpleasant surprise that my macbook no longer turns on. Just two days after finally getting my own personal internet connection, my world crashes in. I don't mean to be dramatic, but I am pretty panicky about what I will do for the next two months without a computer, not to mention my research, ah my research...all of it was there inside that damn machine. I absolutely hate the fact that I am so dependent on this small white box, which is now ruining my life or at least my project here in Ghana or so it seems...
The worst part is, personal computers are not that common and MACs are definitely a rarity so the chances of finding someone, anyone that can take a look at it is slim to none if I am at all realistic. I searched the Mac website for service providers and the closest seems to be somewhere in the middle east, gee, that does me a whole lot of good.
For now, the internet cafe man is trying to take a look at it...I already exhausted the trouble-shooting techniques provided online and I am about to head in to the city to the internet company that hooked up my wireless a few days ago...I have a sneaking suspicion their software has taken my operating system hostage, but my computer knowledge is about as extensive as my knowledge of mandarin (by that I mean zilch)...if anyone has any tips, please send them my way...thoughts, prayers, spells, luck charms, I don't know...anything would be appreciated at this point....
The worst part is, personal computers are not that common and MACs are definitely a rarity so the chances of finding someone, anyone that can take a look at it is slim to none if I am at all realistic. I searched the Mac website for service providers and the closest seems to be somewhere in the middle east, gee, that does me a whole lot of good.
For now, the internet cafe man is trying to take a look at it...I already exhausted the trouble-shooting techniques provided online and I am about to head in to the city to the internet company that hooked up my wireless a few days ago...I have a sneaking suspicion their software has taken my operating system hostage, but my computer knowledge is about as extensive as my knowledge of mandarin (by that I mean zilch)...if anyone has any tips, please send them my way...thoughts, prayers, spells, luck charms, I don't know...anything would be appreciated at this point....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
