Well, it’s been an interesting week,
filled with many things that will make my overall Ghana experience pretty
colourful. To make this update a little more exciting, I’m going to deliver it
in a Stewie Griffin-style ‘Compliment Sandwich,’ where I tell you some happy
things, throw in a subtle not so fun thing, and then end on a high note! This
is far different from my usual way of spilling the beans on something less than
ideal, which usually consists of me telling some obnoxious fact about myself
that is untrue, and then following it up with the real bad news! So, let’s see
how it goes…
Puppies! Who doesn’t love puppies?! I
certainly do. And we have been fortunate enough to have two litters close by.
The living arrangement for the five of us is done so that we are divided into
two different houses. Three of us live in the main homestay, while the
remaining two live a house down from us. It is at the other house that these
puppies are living. The first litter consisted of seven puppies, while the
second one had five. They are all pretty freakin’ adorable, as I’m sure you can
imagine! A few of them look like German Shepherds and I’ve taken to one in
particular (he’s super rambunctious, but also the most precious little creature
ever!). I was informed that to purchase one would cost me approximately 20
cedis, which is the equivalent of about $7 or 8 Canadian. So, Scott, you may
have a four legged friend heading your way…
Now, at this same house, the Mama of the
house makes and sells bread – and it’s quite the production. I, being my
mother’s daughter, therefore making me a bread maker, decided I’d like to give
it a try sometime. I was really excited and felt fairly confident going in, but
that quickly disappeared as how I make bread and how they do are quite different.
Despite this, we had many good laughs, and I’m certain they were thankful when
I was called for supper. Each time they make bread approximately 200 loaves are
baked, and their production level was surely slowed with me on the assembly-line!
Mom would have been thrilled to witness this!
Warning: the following tale is a tad
frightening, but being as I am writing this, I am more than okay. As the title
of this post suggests, I’m going to tell you shortly about getting married (and
no, this is the “tad-frightening” part I was warning you about!). To get to the
wedding, we had to switch trotros in Accra…at night. The driver was kind enough
to offer to escort us to the trotro we needed to be on, but warned us to keep
close. We had also received an email from DFATD (Department of Foreign Affairs)
warning anyone in the Accra region that there has been a rise in theft,
particularly at night. So, with this in mind, away we went. But, it didn’t take
long before a young man was telling me he wanted to come back to wherever I was
from with me. And from there, he put his arm around me, basically preventing me
from moving forward, while 2 guys searched my pockets and another grabbed me by
the hair (upon reflection later on, I’ve come to realize that they made it further
than most of my past boyfriends, so there’s that! Also, sorry Mike, Scott,
Grammy and any others who probably didn’t want to know that fun fact about
me!). Luckily, all I had in my pockets was a cedi (30ish cents Canadian) and my
cell phone. The whole think lasted maybe 2 or 3 minutes, and as you can imagine
left me pretty shaken up. The unfortunate part of this was that that phone had
pictures I hadn’t been able to transfer from my final weekend with Mom, and of
childhood memories we decided not to hang on to from when we were selling the
house. But, they are in my mind. And the cell phone is just a cell phone. I, on
the other hand was not harmed in any way (which could easily have not been the
case being as I had my pocket knife in my backpack!). This, I think, earned me
some street-cred.
And now for the leaving on a happy note!
With three weekends remaining in Ghana
(yeah…you read that correctly…THREE weekends, which have now turned into TWO!),
we arrived in Winneba to attend our friend Fred’s wedding. Fred was the first
Ghanaian I met upon my arrival, and I felt delighted to not only have been
invited to his wedding, but to be in attendance. Okay, so maybe not so
delighted after hour two, verging on three of the ceremony, but it was still
quite the experience, and despite the length, I was pretty excited to be there!
The ceremony was scheduled to begin at
10 am, which means it actually began closer to 11 am, and included a lot of
dancing, singing, and even an offering (which made me feel uncomfortable, as to
me, it seemed really inappropriate). Aside from that, I felt the process was
pretty much the same as what we’d see back home, except for the fact that he
invited about 300 people, but about 800 showed up! There were so many people in
attendance that there weren’t enough seats at the reception. But, lucky for us
obrunis, we were provided with VIP indoor seating and a “fast track” to the
buffet line! Thanks, Naana (I know you read these!)! My freshly made dress fit,
the food was good, the weather perfect, and the BP oil logo even made an
appearance in the program, making it an all-around good day!
The remainder of our time in Winneba
included a lovely chat over tea for about five or six hours with our group and
some other volunteers working in different parts of the country, but from the
same organization. In the morning I went for a walk to the nearby beach and
took in the sights. Like my first experience in Cape Coast, there was lots of
garbage in the water and intertwined amongst the sand, but the smell and sound
of the ocean was not unlike what I’d get back home. This made me fill with an
awkward mixture of pure joy at the thought of home and seeing so many of you
lovely people that I miss so much, and utterly sad at the thought of leaving this
beautiful, garbage-strewn country.
There is still one big adventure left
before I depart for Canada. I am hopeful that this will make my experience here
go out with a bang! But, as I reflect on the past two and a half months, I am
amazed by what I have learned, the mistakes I have made, and the amount that I
have grown. If only I were able to tell you every detail and have you all truly
grasp what life has been like for me while in Koforidua! And, as things begin
to wrap up, I am most certain my opportunity to ponder and process all that I
have been exposed to will only add to the tales I will tell you once I return
home.
-the Orange Canadian
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