I want to tell a few stories from this week.
The first one I was sitting in the nutrition clinic. It was Monday and one of the nurses, Okia, and I had just finished doing an outreach clinic, the ones were we go to other places in camp and give immunizations. We were done early and socializing back at the clinic. Okia is one of the nurses I've grown very fond of. She is always laughing and she is the one that nicknamed me Obroni Abena (Abena because it is common here to be named after the day of the week you were born on- for me, Tuesday. And obroni because, well, I am one)- she also claims she started calling me this because she forgot my name as soon as I said it. Despite that, our senses of humor have always matched perfectly. She tells me racist Chinese jokes and says the only reason she is pregnant is because she eats to much fufu. She yells at children for staring at me and has taught me all the swear words in Twi so I can defend myself to rude locals. Monday she was giving me another Twi lesson. This time I was learning a few commands- sit down, come, go- and she starts getting into some of the objects near us. 'See this?' she says, while pointing at a chair. 'This is a chair'. Ok, I think, I can handle that one. 'But, this? Do you see this?' she points at a bench. 'This is also-chair.' Anything you might possibly sit on, I learn, is called chair. And it is up to you and context to figure out what that other person means. And chairs aren't the only thing treated this way in twi. All clothing is dress, any kind of foot wear is slippers, anything that might resemble a rope (straps, twine, links of chain) is string. 'Everything is very simple here'. 'Well what happens if you go into a shop and ask for a chair when you need a bench?' I ask. 'Well, you don't. You are satisfied with the benches you have'. She explains. 'Ok, but why is the language like that, though? So simple?' And then she said something that I don't think she realized at the moment but, it will stay with me forever. 'Well because, life is simple'.
Between learning about how simple life is here and writing about Pop's simple answers last week.. I'm starting to think that Pop and the Ghanaians are onto something.
So after Monday, I had a rough few days. If I've been explaining myself throughly then you'll know that the nurses and I have been doing a mosquito net project. Volunteers for the hospital went around door to door 2 weeks ago registering people and counting how many beds in the household. Based on those numbers we allocated a certain amount of nets per family. Well the time has come this week that we start handing them out.. I have never seen so much hostility my whole time here. 2 months of walking around a third world country feeling safer than I do some places at home and here I am getting screamed at in Twi over a stupid bed net! We started off just sitting at a table outside but the table kept getting swarmed by people making wild accusations about the system we were using. When we would run out of nets and have to wait for the next batch to arrive- 'You've got them, you're just not giving them to us!' 'You're just giving them to your Liberian sisters before us!' 'We've been waiting here all day and we're hungry' (It was the morning when I heard that one, and there was a lady selling porridge right next to us). A man had to get escorted off the premises because he needed to calm down. And, of course, since I'm white, I was a very easy target. 'The obroni doesn't know what she's doing! She wrote the wrong number on my coupon!'- so you can say it was a stressful few days. Eventually we got moved inside a very small room so we could shut the door every 5 people. That didn't stop the angry crowd from swarming the door every time we opened it with more accusations. It was to the point that I couldn't even feel like I was helping people. There were some people that I wanted to refuse nets to, but then I would remember- no, no this is for their health. Even if some of them will sell theirs off or refuse to sleep under it because of the heat, I know some need them and will use them properly. It wiped me out to say the least.
So it's been a long day of getting screamed at over nets and it's time to go home. I'm very hungry and can't wait to be there. Dreaming of fried plantains and pineapple, I'm sitting in my tro-tro. I've paid my mate for the ride and I'm looking out window. We're bumping along the dirt and I see a boy, a little boy, maybe 10 years old in his oversized school uniform. Happy. So happy to be alive and dancing to the music being played at the tire shop behind him and I remember Okia's words- 'well because, life is simple' -anddddd breathe.
This weekend another volunteer and I decided we needed to get away from the flat and dirty city life, so we went east to the Volta region to do some exploring. Our destination? Wli Falls- the tallest waterfall in West Africa. One of the Point Hope workers' father died recently and the funeral was in the same area so we planned on hitching a ride with them for the 5 hour drive out there. After a night of no sleeping (final Friday of the month and our neighbors were celebrating, aka amplified preaching with the back up of the marching band..), we 'woke up' at 3:30, with the band still playing, to start our adventure. I tried sleeping in the car on the way but the bumps in the road were making it difficult. We were dropped off at the tro-tro station in HoHoe at 9am where we caught one out to Wli. When we got there we checked into our breath taking accommodations and spoke with the the German woman who owns it. From our room you could see the falls and the amazing ridge line that it sits on. (I really wish I could put into words how beautiful this view was, it was that good, but I guess you'll just have to take my word for it). Our German host gave us some breakfast and some advice about the falls and we were on our way. We were able to walk to the reception area from our hotel where we paid for our guided hike up to the upper falls. This hike was easily the steepest one of my life and I don't think I've ever sweat that much. Prosper, our guide did the entire 2 hour hike in jeans and flip flops and was on the phone half the time. On the way up we got some beautiful views of the upper falls and the town below but the once we reached the top those views were put to shame. The water was so cold and refreshing but we didn't spend much time at the top. Just enough for Prosper to ask Heather and I if we were married and to snap a few pictures. Once at the bottom Prosper begged us for a tip for the same amount that we paid as an entrance fee and after only giving him half of that he left us to find the lower falls on our own. We got to the lower falls with ease and couldn't wait to get in. The water never went over our heads so we were able to duck under the falling water and the cold water felt so good on my fatigued legs. There was some kind of school or church group also there so after we got sick of everyone wanting to take pictures with the obronis we took off. We got back to our accommodations around 4, just in time for some Alvaros and fries before dinner. It was lights off at the hotel all night but we were both so exhausted from no sleep the night before and the grueling hike that we fell asleep just fine. In the morning we started our long journey home and after a hassling customs and immigration check point (they almost detained us because my passport has been tied up with them for 2 weeks now getting my visa renewed) and a not-so-scary ferry ride we made it home. I was glad to get out of the city for a while and enjoy the much cleaner rural Ghana on what will probably be my last weekend adventure.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Best thing carried on someone's head: computer tower
Ghana food for the week: Mango jelly
Number of times the lights went out: maybe only 3 or 4?
Here is the view from our accommodation. The falls are just to the right of that big tree.
Here is a view of the upper falls on the way up the trail.
And the view of the city below.
Our guide, Prosper. Notice the sandals. We saw another guide at the top with no shoes at all!
My legs felt like jelly at the top but I did it!
Lower falls. With everyone swimming underneath.
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