queen mothers&cults

---

I just finished writing a huge update here and it somehow deleted itself, so here we go again. I am hanging around Eagles nest waiting to see if the meeting for peace cells will go ahead today, despite the TRAGEDY that there are no funds for refreshments.
I've been very crap at writing in my blog lately, there's just been so much to do since the volunteer group fell from 13 to 5, but have plenty to write about so here we go. fingers crossed it doesn't self detruct this time.
I will start with thursday night, we had a newbie arrive; chelsea from America and had a few drinks of ghanain sangria from a carton trying to do a crossword that we found in a year old independent newspaper.
On Friday night, we had drinks again as Lena, one of the volunteers was leaving on Saturday. Seeing as we all have so much work to do, and not so much money, we didn't travel and just hung around the house doing pretty much nothing. Saturday night we went into our village, Awutu, where there's a huge festival taking place at the moment. We sat at 'Henry Spot' and had a couple of beers, not being able to talk due to the sheer volume of the music by our table. At one point there were a few people dancing on stage, then I looked up again and we were totally surrounded in people dancing, especially the kids, they get so into it and its amazing to see, because our culture is so different.
On sunday we met Lena and her boyfriend for lunch at Brotherhood, a spaghetti/egg hangout of ours, then went back and spent a very lazy afternoon at the guesthouse. We decided to just go down to this new bar in Awutu to experience th festival again and have a quiet drink. Didnt happen. A terrential downpour hit us so we moved our party of 9 inside this tiny, tiny bar, where we couldnt leave, so had to drink and out came the akpatashi, the strawberry schnapps and gin, then Celine DIon began (of course it was the only cd they had) and i just had to embrace it, there's no use in fighting it here so we sang and I think scared the owner. Then came the rolling blackout, one of many recently that left us sitting in the dark drinking. all in all, was a late, crazy, hazy night which somehow ended up with MD in the freezer back at the guesthouse, me trying to drink a bag of water with my feet and carrying Jemima round on my back....(we have the video footage for photobucket).
Monday morning I felt surpisingly good. Isaac had disappeared in the morning to find water which the police chief and his 5 wives have used making fufu in bulk for the festival. So our faithful helper Sweet Africa helped me wash the dishes, boil water and make the coffee. He presented MD with some gorgeous shell/corn husk slippers for his birthday(for those of you who don't know, sweet africa is the one and only doctor of corn husk art in the world). I had to teach that morning which was ok, the kids appreciated my head was a bit sore and worked well. I then met up with Suge, a reporter form the Buduburam based newspaper 'The Vision'. He took me on a tour of the office, which was a library and its there that they meet twice a week to pitch ideas and run workshops. He then took me farrrrrrrr far away, beyond zone 10, beyond the village, across the border that seperates the Ghanain villages with the camp to this setting among the farmland. It was about 100sqm area of little trees in perfect rows which was a bit weird alone, but then i heard the chanting....now Suge hadnt really explained the reason for our mission, other than we were 'chasing a story'. Getting caught up in the reporter excitement with my dictaphone and notebook I didn't ask again, just followed. There was a group of 25 people or so, just wandering aimlessly around alone, chanting either from knowledge or from the bible but with such passion and conviction that some would drop to their knees and raise their arms to the sky and be screaming to God. We interviewed a Pastor and tried to understand why they come here to chant and pray instead of in a church, they put it down to needing space, quiet and not wanting everyone to hear their testimonies. It seemed more than just your average church group though. They hadn't eaten in 3 days becasue they fast at the beginning of each month, and they dont work, just pray all day.
Anyway, it was bizarre but no time to dwell on it, we had to get back to the guesthouse and put our party outfits on, as Emmanuel had notified us than the queen mother (of awutu) herself had requested our presence at her house for tea, at 4pm. So there we were looking fiiiiine until 5 when PCO picked us up and drove us not to the queens house, but to the open courtyard in Awutu, where, in front of hundreds, we had to walk into the middle and be paraded like showdogs, shaking the chiefs and chiefesses hands and then, under instruction, take photos. was a very weird, uncomfortable situation which thankfully didnt last long. we then had to follow the procession who danced all the way back to the queens house, along with a jazz band and cameramen. when we reached her 'palace' there were young girls waiting to greet her and we all had to dance in circles around her, waving cloths above her head. we then followed her into her house, still dancing, into her bedroom STILL dancing and then finally into the living room where we were given bowls of fufu and beer which I opened and sprayed all over the queens couch. It was all fine, interesting experience, then she pulled out the strawberry schnapps and we politely knocked back a few shots, immediately transported back to the previous night. The best part, however, was her speech. She was either very drunk or very tired but with a nodding head and half shut eyes she said something along these lines..." I feel proud, so happy and so proud ahhaaaaaaaaaaa. I am proud in the morning, I am proud in the evening ahaaaaaaaaaaaaa I am so proud (then we would clap). ahhaaaaaaaaaaaa I am proud to be your mother, be PROUD to be my childrens (more clapping). I have a dream, ahhhaaaaaaa a dream that PCO can empower the women, ahhaaaaaaaaa emPOwer the women of Ghana ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhha (more clapping, more ahhaaaaaaaaing)."
We stayed there until late, dancing in the backyard with everyone before we walked home and sat there and were told that we had to do the same thing the next morning at 8am!
We were picked up at 9.20am.
We all had to wear matching t-shirts with the queen mothers face on it.
we sat in her living room watching news about Steve Irwin being killed for about an hour before she came out and denied having told us to come at 8am and to come back at 3pm.
Esther (zone leader) cancelled the Peace cell meeting when we didnt show for mobilisation, PCO didnt tell anyone the office was shut, nothing was running that day all because we had to suck up to the queen mother some more. we were back there at 3 to do exactly that, more drinking etc then finally we were released, no more obligation to mother. Apparently though if I ask, she will give me gold that I will sell to raise money for PCO. Didn't understand that one at all.
So that has been my week thus far! This morning I waited for the zone leader to show for mobilization which he didnt and then told me it wasnt happening today because theres no money for refreshments. So PCO continues to drive us up the wall and apart from our 2 day bender with the queen mother and a bottle of strawberry schnapps, all is the same. We had drinks with CBW last night on top of Holiday Inn and drank them under the table of course, there are about 15 of them so was quite amusing.
Now I really need to do work but Joyce ('eccentric' lady) is sitting at Holiday Inn and shes about ready to kill me because I wont give her money to go to Accra, she's begun muttering under her breath and has been sitting over there for the past 4 hours since I turned down her request for money so we'll see what happens.
we've got kokrabite planned for this weekend so will write if anything intersting happens between now and then and if not, next week.
Hope you're all well, will see everyone in NZ in about 3 weeks!
Hope the volunteers are settling in ok back home.

---