Makola

Yesterday it rained all morning. I decided to invest in an umbrella, and haggled one from the umbrella lady on the street to 5 Cedis from 15. After that, the rain couldn´t even handle me anymore and the sun came out. At the office, I´ve been working a lot on editing and drafting different press releases and publications that the CHRAJ sends out. I really enjoy it, and have also been working on writing some articles for a McGill online newspaper when I have the time. I´m hoping to write one of the articles on slum politics, and have been talking to one of the guys I´m living with at Rosa´s compound who is doing research on it. I think this weekend or early next week he´s taking me to Old Fadama, which is Ghana´s biggest slum. 


Today the CHRAJ staff stood in line to complete their biometric registration . Ghana started the exercise back in March and intends it to more easily facilitate the upcoming elections is December. Many Ghanaians see it as a very positive step, but there have been some concerns about the exercise being a tool of the government to manipulate citizens. Most of my coworkers laud it or have no opinion. After she got back, Evelyn took me to the Makola Market. 


I´m pretty sure Makola Market is the biggest market ever. 10 minutes after I thought we had already entered the market, Evelyn told me that we had gotten there and asked me how I liked it. Vendors line the streets and narrow sidewalks leading up to the market for several blocks, and once you enter the vacuum of buying and haggling and selling they double and triple. Piles of shoes and dried fish lie encircled by small children carrying heavy metal tubs and bowls of water and fruit on their heads. I was lost and overwhelmed and kept a steady eye on Evelyn´s back so I wouldn´t lose her. 


I really wished I had brought my camera, but it turns out that it´s not permitted to take pictures of the market anyways. Google still has lots of them:

After getting a nice farmer´s tan from two hours in the sun, I followed Evelyn back to the office and we had some watermelon. Maybe I´ll go back this weekend.

Today I found a gym

Zumba classes Wednesdays and Saturdays at 6:30 ; ) Our phone cracked in half at the office today after it fell on the floor. We couldn´t tape it back together because we didn´t find tape, but it still works so it´s not really broken

In Pictures

After breakfast on Friday, we took a bus to Tema Station, where we made our way through systematized chaos to find the trotro to Ho. We traded 7 Cedis for a ticket and waited in line to take our seats in the bus. The row of vans in the background of this picture are the buses -they usually seat 11 to 16 people. 

If you get lucky, the trotros fill up quickly and you don´t spend a lot of time waiting - the bus only leaves when all the seats are filled. While you´re waiting, people walk by the bus offering to sell bread or fried things (everything here is fried), cell phone credit or watches, snail shish kabobs, clothes hangers or hard-boiled eggs and remote controls. After a while, our bus filled up and honked its way through the crowds out on the street. In case of an emergency, our driver - Baby Boy - wrote his number by the front of the trotro. 

My favorite spot in the trotro is any seat by the window because the breeze substitutes absent air-conditioning. You also get a nice view:

Ho is the capital of the Volta Region, so called because of the Volta Lake which passes through it and flows all the way down to the Ocean. It´s a lot greener than Accra, and driving through you can see hills and a sprawling countryside. Sometimes you can also see second-hand trucks with your last name on it:

The drive to Ho takes takes about 3.5-5 hours depending on the traffic. About 1.5 hours outside of Ho you pass a bridge over the Volta Lake: 

Which is huge.

Things started looking familiar, and I anticipated the Ho trotro station from a couple miles away. We actually didn´t pull into the station because Baby Boy tried to cut off some taxis and got reprimanded by a local police officer guiding traffic, but we were let off on a nearby street and started making our way to Victoria´s house from there. Because she was out, we decided to drop our things and get some fresh fruit juice. I was ecstatic to find that my favourite place was still there, and for 1 Cedi we each bought Mango-Pineapple juice pressed right in front of our eyes.  

After the juicing, we walked to the market. Of course we  had to get some FanIce for the way. FanIce is soft serve ice cream, and comes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Vanilla is hands-down the best.

We entered through a narrow path and snaked our way along the small shops and stands. We were on the hunt for some Ghanaian fabric. 

After an innocent turn away from the dried fish section of the market, we reached some fabric stands. After gawking at the colors and patters, we all bought some, and happily headed back to Victoria´s house.

Victoria welcomed us with open arms when we came back. It was as if nothing had changed, and being in the house made me feel like I was one of her daughters coming home after a long trip. As always, several smiling faces were sprawled out in her in her living room, and the ones I did not recognize introduced themselves as friends and relatives of Victoria. We were happy to relax after a long day. That night, she cooked us Jollof Rice and told us stories about the Vision School and children. She showed us a video her nephew Frankie had made of a school fest that had taken place earlier in the year. I couldn´t believe the changes to the school building, and how many children were running around and dancing in the video. I had never seen it so alive. We arranged to visit the school the next day, and I went to bed not wanting to close my eyes in fear of losing a single moment of my time spent with her. 

The next morning we went to the Vision School.

A narrow path leads to the entrance of the school. I took these pictures when we were leaving because I was too excited to stop and take them when we first walked up to the entrance. From the distance, you see the new pink color of the building

I don´t have the photos of how it looked before, but there are some here if you want a comparison. I had seen it the video the night before, but seeing the school in person was different and better. Walking through the courtyard, we met some of the staff who live close by, and we could tell that the school was in loving hands. We were introduced to Victoria´s mother, who sat under a tree and did laundry in a big metal tub. Two giggling children were sitting at a small wooden table eating bananas. It was quiet without the other students, but their presence left traces in the classrooms. Victoria gave us the tour

There are around 260 children at the Vision School, and the number is rising every term. The number of teachers has also doubled to 12 from 6 when I was there in 2010. The school houses kids from the Nursery level to Grade 2, but plans are in place to introduce Grade 3 in September to accommodate the oldest students who will complete Grade 2 in July. 

The picture below is of The Victoria Project addition - built by very many incredible people whose names should be on there more than mine. 

I don´t think I´ve ever seen a more beautiful building.  

The addition is split to house two grades

The school now also has electricity in every room. 

There´s also a computer in the office

The Kindergarten-2 class makes up about 110 children of the total student body. Because the other classrooms cannot accommodate all of the kids, another structure was erected to avoid overcrowding.  

The building has no electricity or windows, but is more than a temporary structure. Victoria explained that if new buildings can be added to the school grounds, this building may serve further as a classroom if the student population requires, or as a lunch or assembly hall. 

Victoria also told me that she had looked into building a 2-story building next to the structure - each story three classrooms, one of which could be made into a library. Later in the day, she showed me the estimates of what it would take to erect the structure, and I think it´s possible.

We strolled back through the courtyard, and looking at the school again after hearing Victoria speak about all the changes it had experienced made it more wonderful yet.

Saving the best for last: a new swing set in Ghana colors!

Just waiting to be swung on

We headed back to Victoria´s house after, and I spent the day in Ho with her while the other three went to see the Wli Waterfalls about four hours outside of Ho. 

We spent some time looking at old pictures. Despite its questionable quality, this picture of a picture shows the Vision School in the very beginning. That´s the entire class and the entire staff. Victoria (who is the one sitting on the chair on the right) explained that the leader of her church had made the patio-like structure available to them. And then it grew 

This pictures was taken earlier this year:

We left for Accra the next day to get back before dark. We told her we´d be back.

Dieses Wochenende waren wir in Ho um Victoria zu besuchen und die Vision School zu besichtigen. Wir sind am Freitag losgefahren, und am späten Nachmittag dort angekommen. Nach einer kurzen Stadtbesichtigung und einem Ausflug zu dem Markt - wo wir bunte Stoffe gekauft haben - sind wir zu Victoria´s Haus zurückgehert, und haben mit ihr Abendbrot gegessen. Sie hat uns viel erzählt, und uns auch ein Video von dem Schulfest gezeigt. Auf dem Video konnte man schon die Verwandlung des Gebäudes sehen, aber als wir am nächsten Tag früh dort hingingen war es doch als ob ich es zum ersten Mal sah seit ich vor zwei Jahren dort war. 

Die Schule ist ein wundervolles Rosa angemalt, und mit dem Anbau gibt es jetzt auch mehr Kinder und Lehrer die die Klassenzimmer füllen. 260 Kinder und 12 Lehrer gibt es jetzt, und Victoria erzählte dass die Schule jedes Jahr wächst. Es war unglaublich durch die Schule zu laufen und alles zu sehen. Es gibt Schaukeln und eine Rutsche, Elektrizität, und sogar einen Computer. Victoria hat von Plänen gesprochen ein neues zweistöckiges Gebäude zu errichten, und nach weiterer Besprechung bei ihr zu Hause glaube ich dass es klappen könnte wenn es in Stufen gebaut wird. 

Wir haben vor noch Mal nach Ho zu fahren, und einen noch farblosen Teil des Gebäudes anzumalen. Ich habe auch mit Victoria gesprochen dass wir vielleict ein Abschlussfest für die Schulkinder am Ende ihres Schuljahres im Juli planen können, und Ich freue mich jetzt schon die Kinder dann zu sehen wenn es klappt. Eine von Victoria´s Tochtern wohnt auch in Accra - und sogar ganz in der Nähe von mir - und ich habe auch vor mich mir ihr zu treffen, und dann vielleicht auch mit ihr nach Ho zu gehen. Mein Wochenende dort war unglaublich, und ich denke mein Aufenthalt in Ghana hat danach eine andere Bedeutung angenommen. 

Noch ein Spezialbild für meine lieben Eltern: 

(Ich hätte ihn für dich mitgenommen, aber leider war er etwas zu schwer)

Preview

We got back to Accra today. The weekend in Ho was incredible, especially seeing Victoria and the school. I started uploading some pictures but the internet is fairly slow so it´s taking a while. I´ll be able to finish the upload tomorrow and will write more thoroughly about our adventures in Ho! Until then, here is a little preview of how we started our trip:

Ho

Today I snuck into a conference hosted by the Public Education department of the Commission (I´m totally confident nobody noticed). They were talking about the state of human rights in mining communities, which was the topic of a report published some time ago. The topic received renewed mentions when the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology  (MEST) urged last year to implement the recommendations set out in the report. The focus of their efforts is directed towards the regulation of mining companies and mandating compensation of land to the farmers in the affected areas. It´s interesting because the Commission looks at the mining issue from both the human rights perspective and the corruption perspective, and therein proposes a more complete solution to the issue. 
On my way back to my office, I took a secret pathway and found this:

There were a lot of them.Tomorrow is African Liberation Day, so instead of going to work we´re heading North to see Victoria in Ho. I´m really really excited to see her again and visit the school, and am anxious to see what has changed and what is still familiar. I don´t know if I´ll have internet while I´m there, but am very much looking forward to write about my experiences when we get back to Accra on Sunday. 

Dieses Wochenende gehe ich mit den anderen drei Praktikantinnen nach Ho um die Schule zu besuchen die mein Projekt dort unterstützt. Ich freue mich schon Victoria zu sehen, und freue mich auch dass ich mich direkt mit ihr unterhalten kann um festzustellen was sie am nötigsten braucht, und wie alles mit der Schule läuft. Leider werde ich dieses Mal nicht die Kinder treffen können da keine Schule ist, aber ich hoffe dass ich sie Alle für ein Fest an einem Wochenende im Juni oder Juli zusammen bringen kann inclusive ihren Familien. 


Bis zu Ho sind es nur drei Stunden, also fahren wir Morgen früh los und kommen dann am Sonntag wieder zurück. Ich weiß nicht ob ich dort auch Internet haben werde, aber freue mich schon Alles am Sonntag zu berichten : )

watermelon

Today I had the best watermelon I´ve ever tasted. I bought it from the watermelon lady at the station near the CHRAJ office and brought it in to share with the others. I think tomorrow I´ll get another one.

The fruit in Ghana is really good. We eat a lot of oranges and pineapple and baby bananas - you can buy them almost anywhere, but we have one main supplier. Her name is Amina, and she sometimes gives us an extra banana because we´re pretty good customers. Recently, however, we found out that she´s been charging us more than the standard rate on oranges (20 pesawas instead of just 10 per orange) Not well played, Amina.

We also make plantains often. Tukeni is a master at getting them to the perfect crispy-ness, and the rest of us are masters at eating them. Yesterday we (Tukeni) cooked them in the candle-light because our electricity was off again

Electricity

In Ghana, the rainy season begins in late May and lasts throughout the summer until early September or so. In the early months, the rain comes in sudden, heavy but short bursts, and in August and September it can drizzle on for hours. Sometimes it rains when you´re at a wedding. Sometimes you lose electricity after. Sometimes for two days...

After scrambling to find Sarah and Laura some traditional wear early Saturday, the four of us got ready to go to our first Ghanaian wedding. 

Laura and me in front of Rosa´s compound in Kotobabi

The church service was held in Achimota, a nice area in Accra about 45 minutes away. The ride cost 55 pesewas, or about 30 cents. After getting to the Achimota bus station, we took a taxi to the church - a huge hall with high ceilings and many windows. People filled chairs and benches, and little kids danced in the wide aisles in between. Everybody was wearing the traditional Kente cloth - including bride and groom! 

We foolishly arrived on Ghana time, but soon learned that the proceedings had actually started promptly. We took a seat towards the back, and turned to the front to watch the bride and groom exchange their vows and light candles. 

I´m not an expert, but from what I could tell the wedding seemed very similar to a traditional Western wedding apart from the more colourful attire. Maybe the music was a little more upbeat and the guests more apt to engage in spontaneous dancing. At one point of the ceremony, all guests were asked to make their way to the front of the hall to give donations to the church (or the couple?), and everybody danced up the aisles and clapped as they did it. I think that was my favourite part. After some more singing and praying and clapping and dancing, the choir sang their last song and the wedding party marched out to take some pictures on the front steps. 

The Bride and Groom in matching Kente : )

Sarah took this one - it was so wonderful that I had to have it too 

After the church proceeding, all guests were invited to head to the wedding reception to celebrate with friends and food - and dancing! This time we arrived on time and took our seats. Cold water was brought around as more guests filed in. Before I could take any pictures, the sky suddenly turned dark and the wind started blowing through the courtyard. Then it got windier. Then it began raining. Then it began raining a lot. 

I have never seen rain like that ever. It was so powerful and heavy that it tore down ribbons in seconds and blew over tables and chairs. The guests squeezed along the sides of the open yard, and made themselves comfortable. After realizing the rain would not stop soon, we followed suit and watched as the storm passed through and washed away decorations. The rain lasted about an hour, and everybody waited patiently until it was over. Ghanaians are very patient (as am I ;)

When the rain dwindled, the guests rearranged their tables and chairs, and bride and groom walked in unfazed and took their seat at the main table. Speeches were made and the food was served. The bride and groom walked around to everybody and thanked them for coming. Although we had never met them, they embraced us just as everybody else - as did the other guests. The bride and groom danced their first dance, which was soon followed by

this dance. It´s called the Azonto and is the latest Ghanaian sensation. I dare you all to learn it. 

After more handshakes and hugs and thank you´s, we put our present for the bride and groom on the table and took a taxi back to Kotobabi. To our joy, the storm had successfully killed all electricity. It only came back briefly for part of the champions league soccer match that night, the result of which made me no happier (although Ghanaians are all Chelsea fans so they were celebrating)

Als wir bei der Hochzeit auf unser taxi gewartet haben hat uns Tukeni La Casera vorgestellt. Sie hat es als Apfel-soda beschrieben. Ich wollte mich nicht zu früh freuen, aber nach einem Schluck war ich verliebt - es schmeckt (fast) genau so wie Apfelschorle! Ist natürlich mein neues Lieblingsgetränk : )

Nach dem peinlichen Spiel am Samstag wurde ich von den feiernden Leuten in den Straßen in den Schlaf gesungen. Am Sonntag gingen wir dann zu dem Markt, wo wir Gemüse, Fleisch und Plantanen kauften. Inzwischen können wir schon ziemlich gut handeln. Wichtig ist es auch immer den Leuten zu sagen dass man wieder kommt wenn sie einen guten Preis bieten können, denn Leute wollen sich neue Kunden sichern. Zum Abendessen gab es Hünchencurry bei Kerzenlicht : )