Eclaire

(If your money's small, your say is small.) To begin, I’d like to apologize for the long delay in posting. It’s been a busy month, but not THAT busy. I’m happy to report that my health is good, I’ve managed to avoid getting malaria so far, and there’ve been a few days of rain breaking up the “dry season”, so the heat isn’t too bad. And now to recap five weeks’ worth of happenings. Back in mid-October, the week after Kirk left, our CIEE group went to Kumasi, capital of the Ashanti Region and arguably the biggest cultural hub in all of Ghana. My Twi professor, Prof. Kofi Agyekum, swears that one cannot truly say s/he has been to Ghana without first paying a visit to Kumasi. Of course, he’s from Kumasi, so he may be ... read more

True to the old Chinese curse, I am living in interesting times. I went to the market Saturday before last, looking for cream-colored silk fabric with no pattern. Ha. Such a thing is not easily found in Ghana. Almost all of the material I saw was cotton or synthetic. The few swaths of silk available were in bold, vibrant floral patterns. Dresses here are certainly not boring. It didn’t help that many traders in the market places speak somewhat limited English, especially the older women. This meant that I often had to gesticulate or find another girl to translate. Fortunately, Carolyn came along and was able to help me through my fool’s errand. I was not successful, by the way. Not even with Carolyn’s help. Ghanaians really like to party. The Friday before last was Eid ... read more

08/28/10 It is midnight between Saturday and Sunday, and I’m currently typing a blog entry while Carolyn is explaining the concept of wizards and witches in an African context . Ghana is a very mystical place, with signs all along the road advertising herbal and spiritual healing. Witch doctors offer alternative remedies for everything from malaria to tooth decay to HIV/AIDS. I almost want to go to one of them to see what it’s like. Apparently, the homeopathic malaria treatment is fairly good, although if you get the quantities wrong, you’re likely to poison yourself. Not a risk I feel like taking, considering I’ve already invested in every precaution to avoid falling sick with it. Speaking of malaria, Grandpa Asante had a terrible case of it this week. Over here, because every Ghanaian who’s lived to ... read more

08/13/10 So much has happened in the last three days! On Tuesday, we did a load of…orientating. The Ghanaian way of speaking is like a narrative. They tell stories to communicate lessons and ideas. My program director, Kwasi Gyasi-Gyamerah, kept us all laughing for hours with funny stories about his family, and about life in Ghana. The food in Ghana is EXCELLENT. There are lots of spices and lots of starch, so you stay full for hours, until time for the next meal. We went to the mall on Tuesday night. I missed the shuttle, so I caught a taxi at the gates of the hotel. All I had was a large cedi note, and so I asked the driver if he could make change (rather without much hope). To my surprise, he took me to ... read more

Three days until I hop on a plane for Ghana, and I think I'm prepared for any and all contingencies. I have mosquito repellent, malaria pills (doxycycline, for those who care to know), sunblock, sunblock plus mosquito repellent, a razor, Neosporin, anti-diarrheal meds, Tums, band-aids, cough drops, cough medicine, pain killers, etc, etc. I still need to start/finish packing but meh...no rush. I've been vaccinated for yellow fever (mandatory to enter the country), typhoid fever (not 100% effective but it's better than nothing), and polio, as well as all of the hepatitis viruses. I think I'm covered, but I'll find out pretty quickly if I'm not, I guess. I don't know how soon I'll have access to the internet once I arrive. I fly from Indy to Dulles in D.C., and from there straight to Accra, ... read more