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Published: September 30th 2009
Today I chose to completely let go and live moment to moment.
Maybe it is because I wore high heels for the first (and last!) time in Ghana and knew each step had to be taken delicately. Or maybe it’s because I was tired of the worries that followed me overseas and needed to take action. But I think I made the choice consciously when I woke up early to finish reading
My Sister’s Keeper and cried a little over a mug of tea, bread and groundnut paste. Thinking about people dying young made everything suddenly more vivid, every minute filled with gratitude, reminding me to appreciate the details.
So here they are:
For my “interview” with the head administrator at the hospital, I am looking “sharp” (Ghanaian term for “cool/nice”) in a professional black skirt, white polo, and fancy platforms (blisters by the time I got to the main street...bad choice in this “off-roading” environment). I exchange greetings with the familiar ladies selling along the way and inform them where I am going and when I’ll be back, a friendly requirement that makes me feel safe and welcome. We never speak English because they aren’t very good at it and they want to force me to learn Twi, which I appreciate.
The first stop is brief: the guys at Happy Spot, the bar right by our house. Men seem to hang around there most of the day, and have all told me they will come visit but are too afraid. I prefer to keep them on a strictly “hi/bye” basis anyway.
About a “block” down is Auntie Theresa’s green kiosk, where a seamstress and her family sell popcorn and biscuits. They are always glad to see me and hook it up with the cheap snacks. Once Theresa came over with her other lady friend and discussed (in difficult Twi lingo) their request for American male pen-pals. I tried to explain that it might be a hard pitch to sell, since they don’t speak English and the West is not that into pen-palling the old fashioned way. But if anyone is interested, let me know... they are very willing to share the African love!
Today they notice me itching my body and it begins one of my favorite conversations: trying to convey the fact that I have been attacked by bedbugs (as in “don’t let the bedbugs bite”... not such a light expression over here). In Twi, the word for shoes and bedbugs is the same, but distinguished by a certain emphasis and pitch. Whenever I try to say the word (“mpaboa”) it always comes out “shoes”, which confuses people because they think I don’t know what I’m talking about. It would be easier if I could remember the word for “bed” but in the moment I never do. Anyhow, they finally understand, offer their condolences, and we all get a good laugh.
I miss the grilled plantain sellers and most of my biggest fans-- a few families of kids-- because I am lucky to catch the only tro-tro that leaves from our neighborhood to its main route in Accra. It is empty except for the driver, mate (money collector) and one woman. They bombard me with questions and then the mate declares his love for me. I’m pretty sure the first expressions I learned in the local language revolved around handling this situation, so they come naturally all over again.
Mate: Obruni, I love you
Me: OH! you can’t say that
Mate: Why? I love you
Me: Would you say “me pe wo” (I love you, in Twi)? I don’t think so, that is serious
Mate: I can say it! me pe wo, meware wo na yeko aburochiray (I’ll marry you and we’ll go overseas)
Me: Dabi, dabi, dabi, mempe (no no no, I don’t want to)
Woman: Aden na wompe no? (why don’t you like him?)
Me: Efise mennim no! (because I don’t know him!)
Every time this happens I wonder why this seems to surprise them-- you have to know someone to love them?? ADEN? (why?!)
Needless to say, my tro-tro ride was free today 😊
When I transfer tro-tros I land in one squished between a large woman and the raw metal door, which I later discover is infested with cockroaches! Amazingly, no one seemed to notice this or my highly uncomfortable/terrified position. Sitting in traffic for an hour I counted nine different cockroaches! I would’ve said something except the whole car was engaged in a loud hoo-ha about ride prices and cheating, a fairly common debate in these times of extreme economic fluctuation.
Relieved to be at my destination, I buy some papaya off a woman’s head and walk carefully in my heels to the military hospital.
After a few hours of waiting and being referred to other people, I meet the harsh-looking in-service coordinator and hand her my letter of approval from the headquarters (that took me three tedious weeks to obtain!)
“So you are a nurse?” She says. I admit that I am only a nursing assistant. She scowls.
“So what can you do?” I am thinking, well, I wipe butts and change bed sheets, but I say first aid and basic patient care.
“Ah! then you are only learning. You must pay the fees.”
Excuse me? You want me to PAY you to follow nurses around, do their dirty work and hopefully learn something from them one day? I am definitely talking to this woman’s supervisor. Sounds like an obruni scam. Just as I'm starting to get frustrated, I look at a simple printed quote hung beside her desk. It says:
Always remember that self-control is the ability to keep cool when someone is making it hot for you. I laugh to myself, thinking this sign is there because she is the type that often brings about conflict. But it worked for me... She says to come back on Thursday so hopefully then I will work out an arrangement.
Though it is only noon, I feel like I have had a full day and reward myself with a coconut. The water is so sweet and hydrating, I am instantly relaxed. A woman jokes that I will have to buy something from her if I sit on her bench, so I buy a piece of apple gum and we sit together in the shade, as cars and people pass us by. Remembering that my 16-year-old neighbor Charity has invited me to eat kenkay with her, I make my way back home in the scorching sun.
(Pictures coming soon!)
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shannon
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Getting Rid of Bed Bugs
Hey Tay, Love reading your posts! Just wanted to let u know I successfully got rid of the bedbugs in our room here on the reservation... do u have a cell phone I can call ? I'd love to explain the details so u guys can stop suffering the itcH!