For the second portion of the day we had the Elmina City Walking Tour (same place where one of the slave castles is located). Now when I signed up for this trip back in November I thought “Oh cool we’ll get to see a Ghanaian community!!” And a Ghanaian community is exactly what I got. It was possibly one of the most uncomfortable situations I have ever been in. The streets were so overcrowded, I was part of the white minority being stared at, cars are honking left and right and kids were tugging at me constantly. They were cute and fun at first but then after you see them piss on the road 6 feet away then come play with your camera you’ll think twice. All I could think about was not touching my face and catching some African virus that my body isn’t immune too. The adults on the other hand weren’t so cute. Some ignored us, some were just checking out our clothes and some seem offended we were there. And in my opinion they had every right to be. They weren’t stupid – they knew we were there looking at how bad the poverty levels are. AKA poverty tourism. Pretty sad but I have a feeling I have a few more of these trips coming up… It would be different if we were going into these communities to help the poverty but going just to stare and gawk – not a fan. But like every experience I’ve had thus far, it has been eye and given me a better idea of what is beyond just the US.
Didn’t do much that night. Just had a few drinks with the locals in port, hung around and learned about Ghanaian culture. Haha, speaking of Ghanaian culture.. the gender roles in society are very interesting. I was asking about family life so I could take field notes for one of my classes- and yes the bar is the best place because we all know the truth comes out!! So the guy I was talking to, Kwame, gave me a perfect example. He had finished his beer before me and I had about half of mine left. He said, “if you were my wife, it would be your duty to share the rest of your beer with me.” I was so surprised at his remark, although everything was on joking terms, that I knew he was serious. So of course I fired back with, “well if I’m your wife, and this is my beer, I don’t want to share.” He didn’t like my answer too much. We kept going back and forth. He talked about how American women were so (too) independent and he could never marry one. But it still pretty much ended in my loss and I forfeited the beer. Probably better this way because I had an early morning – my home stay!!
Around 8 am February 9th, 2011 about 25 of us gathered in the Union to get ready for our next day and a half. We took about an hour and half bus ride back to a small village outside Elmina (where we went for the slave dungeons and city walking tour). When we arrived in the village of about 700, the families, especially the kids, were ecstatic. We were greeted with a drum ceremony, the chief and elders of the community. The drum ceremony and dancers were amazing – you’ll just have to wait to see the videos, I have to keep you guys excited for some stuff!! We were given a huge honor in their community by being assigned tribe names. It was a pretty long process in their native language but it was well worth it. Everyone’s fist name is based on the day of the week you are born then the last name is the family name. My name is Awura Adowa since I was born on a Monday and my family’s last name is Adowa. Before we got to meet our family, some of the village children showed us to the school and were SO proud of their classrooms. It was nice to spend time with some of the school aged children as we read with them. The first family member that was I was introduced to and mainly cared for me was a guy named Emanuel and was about 25. He and his father were working professionals at the University in Elmina (fairly close to the village). He lived with his 1 year old son, wife (or girlfriend – didn’t quite figure that situation out!!), mother and father. For most of the afternoon we spent talking about Ghanaian life, American life and walked around the village. He wants so badly to come to the United States but talked about how difficult and expensive it was to obtain a visa and passport. I instantly thought back to applying for my passport and visas to travel with semester at sea; I filled out a few papers, gave them a credit card number, wait for it to come back in the mail then was ready for the next three months to do whatever I wanted! This is definitely not the case in most foreign countries outside the US – sad. I CANT STRESS HOW FORTUNATE AMERICANS ARE!!!!! The mother and father were both happy to have me there but the wife or girlfriend.. I had mixed feelings about her. She never once looked at me, spoke to me, nothing. And the little boy cried each time he saw me because he had never seen a white person – I would cry too!!
Around 6:30 pm time everyone left the families to come to the community center for supper. It was catered by the resort we had visited the past few days for lunch since the water conditions are not very good to cook with in the village. We were very disappointed in the amount of bottled water that was provided for us. We received one bottle in the afternoon, one at supper and one at breakfast the next morning. Meanwhile, we were all sitting there sweating 10x more than we have ever in our life. We should have had at least twice that – WE’RE IN AFRICA!! Anyways… after supper my ‘brother’ offered to take me to the local bar for a few drinks where some of the other SASers were at with their families. It was mostly teenagers and some male adults. Adult females were nowhere in sight. I asked my brother why that was and he said because they need to stay home and take care of the kids. (Sorry Wayne – we’re going ½ and ½ - hahaha) It was SO much fun though– maybe too much. I can’t tell you through words how much energy these teenagers have and the dancing skills - I was embarrassed to dance but they thought it was hilarious, at least someone was humored. I don’t have rhythm to begin with but they just proved it even more! The drinks… I stuck with a dark local beer for the most part but I saw some of the guys drinking out of these little baggies. I really wanted to try one but the guys I was with kept saying no. I didn’t understand. Well then one explained that women in the community aren’t allowed to drink hard liquor or smoke because they will throw up. I couldn’t help but laugh and promised them I wouldn’t puke so they let me have one – then again it was the night I was celebrating my 21st since we were on sea on the 12th!!! It was pretty good – strong because you didn’t mix it with anything. I couldn’t read the package very well but the name of it was called ‘soccer’ and it was made from sugar cane. Yummy J After we got home from the bar, I showered (in a real shower – I was pumped – most others had to bath in a bucket!!) Then got ready for my DOUBLE bed – again I was pumped because I’ve been sleeping in a single on the ship.
The next morning, February 10th, 2011, I woke up and got ready for breakfast. Before I ate, I was told to brush my teeth. I figured ok not a problem. I had a modern shower the night before. A big comfortable bed to sleep in. But brushing my teeth? I didn’t know what to do because the toilet was an outhouse, so clearly no bathroom sink. So I just stepped outside with my bottle of water, hung out with the chickens and goats and brushed away!!! For breakfast we had one hardboiled egg, bread, plantains and hot chocolate. UGH hot chocolate in 90 degree weather is not really necessary in my opinion but I still drank it. Around 9 am it was time to head back to the community center and get ready to leave. But before I left, Emanuel presented me with a bottle of wine for my 21st birthday – he was such as sweetheart!!! I had a great time with my family at the home stay and definitely plan to keep in contact!!
On the way back to the ship, we stopped in Elmina City to see the process of fish smoking. It was in the same area in which we had walked around the day before but the people knew we were coming to watch the process so it was a little bit more comfortable. The smoking was pretty interesting. First the fish are laid on wire meshing and then placed on top of a fire pit built from the earth. Each side is smoked for 30 minutes and is then stored, sold or eaten. I was amazing at the amount of time it can be stored – ONE YEAR with refrigerating, sealing or anything!!!! I tried some of the fish and it had a very distinctive taste – very fishy but the texture was the same as beef jerky. I wouldn’t eat it on a regular basis but was glad I tried it.
We got back to the ship around noon and our stay in Ghana was coming to an end. Of course I had to finish my bottle of wine before getting on the ship since we aren’t allowed alcohol. One of my friends on the home stay, my friend Kwame (one of the vendors outside the ship) and I shared the bottle for my birthday! I quick ran into town to get a prepaid phone, last minute errands then headed back the ship and get ready for SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!!!!
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