African Liberation Day

Sorry for not posting more often, but internet is sketchy and electricity other wise known as lights out happened on Sunday when I was finally ready to post. They call it lights out because they often buy or pump water into a large tank and water is controlled through gravity. This is not drinking water, but water for bathing, washing dishes and only for cooking if it has been boiled.

Friday was African Liberation Day. I don’t really know what it is about, but it was a day off of work. I read the Wikipedia page, but it doesn’t say much. My roommate Eva invited me to join her and her coworkers at her boss’ house for a day of cooking and eating. I learned how to make several Ghanaian dishes and tried few others I haven’t had. It was a wonderfully fun day. It was my first time in a Ghanaian house and experiencing how they make their dishes. The kitchen is set up very similar to a kitchen in the USA with all the amenities we are used to. Except they have this cool outdoor little cooking area. Since a lot of the starchy foods are made in traditional ways they need more space and an open fire. I’ll go through some of the traditional dishes with pictures.

The Ghanains love their starches.

Rice Joloff is white rice with a bit of spices that makes it a red color. It is a bit spicy but not too much. It is pretty darn good and I must say the closest to US cuisine that I have gotten! I don't have a picture as of now, but there will be one at some point.

 Another starchy staple is Banku. Banku is fermented corn with cassava. It is a week long process to make it. First the corn must soak in water for three days. Second it is milled and then it is soaked again for three days in water.  Then one simmers it down until it is a similar consistency and finally it is rolled into a ball. I don't know when the cassava is added. When it is made without cassava it is called Kenkey and I have had that a few times as well. Here are a few pictures of the process the day of cooking.

Eva's coworker is working hard stirring it over the fire in the heat for a few hours.

Another starchy staple that is completely foreign to me is Fufu. It is a mixture of cassava (rooty starch) and plantain (looks like banana, but is still green).

  It is soaked in water for a bit and then boiled.






  Then it gets fun! Outside in the little outdoor cooking space there is a special hole in the ground to set a wooden type bowl. Then one has a long stick and they pound it. It is pretty cool. Here is a video of the pros!

  I helped a bit, but I was scared that my hand was going to get smashed because I wasn’t used to what I was doing so I turned it back over to the professionals. 

The final product is a doughy ball eaten with soup. It is finger food! 

I was told not to chew but just to swallow, it sort of felt like bread dough going down the throat. I ate the Fufu with a ground nut (peanut) soup with some sort of meat, I don't know if it was beef or goat. It doesn't have much taste on its own, and the texture is quite new and different, but I have a feeling it will grow on me. 

I will post again some time soon to expand on the other dishes we made that day. 

I have enjoyed my first two weeks. I have met some wonderful people and my research is getting  under way. I will be starting my household surveys on Wednesday if everything goes as plan. 

Tell next time!

Just a few more things....

It has been a while since I have posted, but things are going quite well. I have been busy preparing my questionnaire for household surveys I hope to complete in the Ashongman Estates neighborhood the following three weeks.

My friend Joe went home to Holland on Thursday. He had a wonderful visit to Ghana meeting up with old friends and coworkers as well as meeting me a new friend. He left me with some new friends here in Ghana that I am looking forward to get to know better throughout the next three months.

I had plans yesterday to go the interdenominational church service on campus, but I think my adventurous eating habits finally caught up to me. First the Ghanaians are extremely religious people, it doesn’t matter what religion you are, but only that you have some sort of faith. Since I’m not religious and share that I do not follow a specific religion they are often taken aback by this. I explain to them that I follow the golden rule.“One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.” Meaning in turn that if one wants to be religious I won’t judge that and I respect their faith and beliefs, so please don’t judge me for my lack of faith. But, even though I am not religious I have been told and invited by many people here to attend church services. I am willing to do this because I respect the fact that people have faith and I understand how religion plays an integral role of people’s lives here. I think for me to truly understand Ghanaian culture I must also experience some church services. So hopefully next Sunday I will make it to church, it’s been a long time!

Sunday was also the first day the electricity went out for a long period of time. I guess this isn’t unusual. Being on campus we are a bit luckier than most neighborhoods. I sometimes forget that things are quite different here when it comes to what we take for granted. Normal services like clean water, electricity, sewer, and in quite a few households cable and internet are not guaranteed. Here I do have water for washing and bathing, but I have to buy drinking water. Electricity is quite good, but the wifi internet is often spotty at the University. People do not have washers and dryers but do their laundry by hand, something I am learning quite quickly. I could pay someone, but I just think of it as my arm workout.

The rainy season is starting, so it will cool down and hopefully rain. With climate change weather has become even more unpredictable in Africa, which has become apparent on the global scale with increase droughts resulting in increased food insecurity and in worse case situations famine like the recent one in Somalia. It stormed on Saturday. It was sort of crazy, I didn’t know what was going on it got really dark and the wind was blowing. At first I thought it was raining, but then I realized it was the dust blowing in on the front of the storm. The wind blew and rained so hard it knocked tiles off the roofs. It was nice to have a thunderstorm, but I hope it doesn’t always rain like that because it will make it difficult for the farmers.

I have been quite adventurous with my eating, trying a lot of Ghanaian food. It is quite good, but hot and spicy, so I will take some pictures of the food and also what I will call the cafeteria….it is quite different than what you might picture in your own head.  

TaTa!

On my own in Ashongman Estates

Today I went into the field on my own for the first time. It went wonderfully. The people in the neighborhood were very friendly. I have made two friends that live close to the bus stop. They answered a bunch of my questions and helped me get my orientation using the maps I made up yesterday from Google maps. I walked around an area that I have decided to use as cluster 1.
Currently I am creating clusters to choose houses from to interview about their shopping habits and consumption trends. I am also looking for in home or street food distribution locations. There are families who sell produce from a little shop on the bottom floor of their homes or have a shed that they sell staples and processed foods out of. It is to early for me to start GPSing these places by taking photos. I must first earn the trust of the community. So far they have been very helpful and friendly. They almost all smiled and greeted me. A few asked me what I was doing and I just explained I was doing research in the neighborhood so I was wondering around getting to know it a bit, but that they would be seeing me until August. This is the view of the neighborhood and greater Accra from the top of a huge hill I walked up. Man was I tired.

On my way home it was quite interesting. I jumped in a Tro-Tro and they took me to the circle in Atomic Junction. I knew that it was only half way to my other transfer point but I thought I got in a Tro-tro that was going the right way, but I soon found out I wasn't going the way I did before. After reaching the next stop I got on another Tro-tro and found my way safely back to the University. On the other side, but about the same distance as the other stop. Now I know another way at least. One major lesson learned today was that I need to get out of the field earlier if I don't want the sun to beat me down. When I was walking back from the Tro-tro at 12:30 it was unbearable. My goal next time is to make sure to get on the Tro-tro around eleven then I should be back a bit before noon if I'm lucky.
Now, I know there was a controversial time magazine cover with a woman breast feeding her three year old son, which I don't have an opinion on, but I just thought I should mention that the woman next to me in the Tro-tro had no fear pulling her breast out to feed her daughter. The women here carry their babies on their backs all the time even while working. I will take a picture so you can understand what I mean. Also, I have observed them breast feed when the baby is hungry or it is convenient for them, which in the case today sitting in the Tro-tro. I believe this is correct and it didn't bother me one bit. Babies need to eat and women need to continue on with life. I'm assuming they don't have the luxury to put everything aside to pump or breast feed in private. They are to busy trying to work or live life to let a baby stop them. I just thought it was an interesting cultural difference that while we provide lactation rooms that let women continue to breast feed or at least pump and work, here it is seen as part of life that a woman is to care for her child and that often means carrying them with them all the time even if they are working or going to school. At least for the beginning of the life of the baby when they need to be fed more often.      

Eileen's Birthday Party

Tonight I was lucky enough to attend a birthday party for a Ghanaian friend of the Dutch guy, Joe. As I mentioned in a previous post he works with insurance negotiation for a hospital but he is also involved in a non-profit that sends pharmacist students from the Netherlands to Ghana to complete an internship. I met two Dutch girls that are finishing up their 8 week internship and I got a few tips on how to get around using Tro-tros. Back to the birthday girl, Eileen turned 30 and her mentor threw her a wonderful birthday celebration. She is a pharmacist and I can tell by the words shared by her friends a family a very caring and loving woman. We had a wonderful dinner with traditional Ghanaian foods. I love the food here, but once in a while the spice gets to me. I’ll come back ready to eat fire! It was a fun and enjoyable night and I met some great people that I hope to build a friendship with.

One side note about why I think things work a bit differently in Ghana versus the developed world. Interest rates hover around 25% and the Cedi (money) is somewhat stable, but not like the dollar. This makes it very unwise to loan or borrow money in Ghana, so this forces people to build and collect things for a house piece by piece when money is available. It is common to take years to build an office building or homes. Often families will live in a half-finished home that is huge even in our standards waiting to make enough money to finish or even furnish the rooms. This makes me realize that we should be happy that we have a functioning financial and monetary system even though it has its faults as well. At least we can get a mortgage or a loan to buy a car with a reasonable interest rate and know that the dollar will remain fairly stable. In my opinion this is one reason why developed nations are where we are and why developing countries still struggle to improve their daily lives.  

First day in the field

Today was the first day in the field. I met my guide and translator. Her name is Anna (all people mentioned have been given different names). She is a very nice lady. The same age as me but married with an adorable son. We went with the Tro tro to the neighborhood where I will be completing my research Ashongman Estates. This was my first time in a Tro Tro. Tro Tros are old, old vans that have been retrofitted to fit about fifteen people. They are so much more affordable than taxis. It can get a little cramped but it is worth the saving. One important thing is to watch so that one does not cut or scrape themselves on the rusty parts of the van. That isn’t very hard if one pays attention but I think everyone knows how absent minded I can be.

The neighborhood I will be performing my research is a fast growing upper middleclass neighborhood with mostly single family homes from what I saw yesterday. Tomorrow I am going to adventure on my own and figure out exactly what the neighborhood is like. Today is to study the google maps and try to figure out how I should select where I will perform household interviews.

First Adventure in Accra

I had my first adventure in Accra yesterday. It was quite the experience. On the airplane from London to Accra I met a young professional from the Netherlands. He works with hospitals and insurance companies as a negotiator of prices. Or at least that is how I understand it. At least I know he is on the side of the consumer not insurance companies. He has visited Ghana several times and is here on vacation so he decided to invite me out to experience central Accra. We got our walking legs on and went out for the day.

We took a taxi from the hostel where I am staying. Taxis are the best mode of transportation here and they are fairly affordable. The Ghanaians are not big fans of walking being it so hot and the sun so strong. We went to Oxford Street the main tourist drag is what I got out of it. There was even a KFC. After getting lost going the wrong way we got more lost going the other way. It was sort of like the lost in Venice tour but in Accra instead. Although we were a bit lost, we were never in any unsavory or unsafe places. We eventually haled a taxi to go to a nice seaside resort called the La Palma. There we enjoyed a light lunch and shade!

Since Accra is not exactly a tourist Mecca we went to the one really touristy thing next, the Independence Square. Every year on Independence Day they have a large parade and festival to celebrate.

It is right along the beach so we headed down to the beach and walked along a garbage strewn coast. It was quite disgusting I must say.

It looked as if the shore was the land fill and after a mile of walking I decided it is. In the background of this picture below the hills are piles of garbage. Eww! At the end of our walk we found ourselves in a bit of a conundrum. We could either walk back to where we started or walk up through a slum that didn’t look all to appealing having been warned they aren’t to appreciative of strangers. But since it was nearing dark and we were together we figured if we stayed in the open and walked quickly we would be fine. The first person we met could tell we were a little disoriented and with a nice smile told us how to reach the street. We then realized that maybe we were being a bit paranoid. While walking to the street people just continued living their lives not even paying attention to us. I wouldn’t want to be there by myself, but I realize that they are just trying to live the same as anyone else. They don’t have time to bother us.

The last thing on the agenda for the day was clubbing Ghanaian style. After wondering the city all day you can only imagine how much grime had collected on our sweaty skin. That is one thing that amazes me how clean the Ghanaians are even though it is dusty, hot and humid. They must shower five times a day. The club scene here is very comparable to that of Europe. It was “Old Skull Night” (old school) so they started out playing dance music from my childhood. I had so many good memories of junior high and high school dances come rushing back. With tired legs we danced a bit and headed home early.

For my first time out and about I have to say this place will soon become a home away from home. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Roommate and logistics

I made it safely to Ghana. Now it is time to exchange some money and get myself in order. I have one roommate Eva (name changed to respect privacy). She is a nice young woman a few years younger than me. We chatted quite a bit my first night here. She fears mosquitoes and told me I should as well. You may think that’s a laughing matter but actually it is a very serious issue. The last thing I want is to come down with Malaria or Dengue Fever. I even brought out the Permethrin to spray down the curtains on the windows and add an extra squirt to our bed nets.

I knew it was going to be hot, but it actually wasn’t too bad last night or today. I’m definitely sticky, but it isn’t unbearable. I know it will get worse and I better prepare myself. I went to the bank to exchange money which is surprisingly super easy.

Long day and the heat is calling me to my bed and I need my rest for the next day. This weekend will be wondering the city.