Contemplations on the Cultural Contradictions

Wu hu te se! (how are you)! I am alive and well in Ghana, but with no internet access around it has been difficult to communicate back to Canada, so I apologize.
So far, in the past week, I have already learned so much and it is very hard to be concise or clear about what I have observed because often times I have been surprised by things I didn't expect or didn't fit in with the culture.
We came off the plane to find our Ghanaian counterparts holding signs with our names on them! The first week was spent in Accra at the University of Ghana residence, with all 40 students. This week included visits to the markets which is are sweltering, crowded, and exciting as you can imagine. Every where you turn people are yelling OBRUNI (white person/foreigner) and mostly it is a positive thing, not anything rude. The children just laugh and smile and wave as they yell Obruni, they are very intrigued by us. Something else I had seen in pictures that is more true than I could have dreamed was the amount of things people carry on their heads. As you drive around in tro tros (little buses) people are constantly trying to sell you things through the window, from fruit, to fish, to kleenex, to plastic bags of water, anything you can imagine. Even those not selling things carry everything on their heads- why use hands anyway. No word of a lie I saw a man walking with a wheel barrow on his head! Amazing.
We had the pleasure of attending a Canada Day celebration with the High Commissioner, and also attended a traditional ritual ceremony with a chief and queen mother and lots of amazing dancing and singing and music. First all the elders danced and we had to memorize their moves, and then it was the obrunis turn, and let me tell you it was the funniest thing you'd ever seen. They could not stop laughing at us and how bad our rhythm is- but they were impressed with my booty-shaking ability and some people here are convinced I'm an African at heart.
It was very interesting to see how traditional and modern elements interact. We are at this very traditional ceremony, and after the Chief sits down on his thrown from his dance, his "soul" (a boy) hands him his cell phone and the chief starts to text message. This is what you see in Ghana that I did not expect. Nearly everyone has cell phones and are on them constantly, and as often as you see someone in traditional clothing you will see someone in "american" clothing, listening to 50 Cent, Akon, Sean Kingston, Shakira, Beyonce.. etc. Here I thought I was being smart to bring really plain, comfortable clothes, no makeup or jewelry, but all the Ghanaians here are so beautifully dressed at all times- all of us Canadians look like slobs. Unfortunately Ghana is more materialistic than I expected and much of what they get from North America does not assist in development, but merely makes them want more. They watch trashy music videos and films and get Jerry Springer and Cheaters on TV and have a very unrealistic perspective of how rich and how sexual our culture really is. I wanted to cry when I went into a mall in Accra. I walked around stunned that this is the kind of development that is taking place in Accra- urbanization, material goods, shopping malls with imported fruits that could be bought down the street from your neighbor, and NIKE with ads and billboards of only white people. Myself and three other obrunis were sitting outside eating crackers (a staple of the ghanaian-canadian-vegetarian diet) and a young boy came up to us with a donation sheet and said he was fund raising for something and wanted us to sponsor him, and right away a mall security guard approached us, apologized, yelled at the boy to leave, wouldn't let him speak.. we sat there stunned.
Our priviledge is evident in all that we do. Even our counterparts want to do everything for us, because of course obrunis don't know how to wash clothes by hand in a bucket. It is hard to be sensitive and accomodating while also asserting the fact that I want to experience, as much as possible, the authentic Ghanaian lifestyle. As much as they are friendly, they are sometimes "pushy" or just will pull us or tell us to do something.
In regards to Ghana in general though, the people are VERY nice and friendly, and are always saying "sorry" even if I trip on my own clumsiness, and they had nothing to do with it. They are a very religious, positive people, and it is never long without seeing a smile or loud laughter or beautiful singing. It is interesting, in learning Twi, one day I asked what do you say if you are not me hu ye (fine). And they just sat there stunned, then said, "you always say you're fine. Even if you're on the way to your mother's funeral, you would tell someone you are fine." Think of how often you hear people in Canada saying "I'm stressed/pissed/tired/mad/sad/upset/sick/bored.. the list could go on for days. This simple element of their culture keeps such a positive feeling in the air and makes interactions always happy.
My heart is so full here and I have never felt so amazing in ways that I unfortunately cannot put into words for you now. I have so much love for the people I've met already and was so sad to see half the group head to the North, as my group headed to Apam (on Thursday). I was crying and you cannot believe how quickly some people can bond and connect across cultures in a matter of days; it is so beautiful.
Food, people always seem to want to know about, so I will say briefly that they eat ENORMOUS portions (and anyone who knows me, know I have won many a pizza eating competitions and can eat a lot "for a girl", but here they always think something is wrong with me). Breakfast is like eating a turkey dinner basically, and the amount of carbs they consume would blow all of your minds- and yet they are all so slim, while we Canadians look so fat. My vegetarianism has been hard, but luckily I have some veg allies so we make sure to eat together, even if every meal ends up being 2 pounds of rice or crackers or a watermelon or a pineapple.
I am very happy in Apam and am thankful that from our guest house we can see the ocean, that there aren't many mosquitoes, that there is a dog around named Lady who loves me as much as I love her, and goats and roosters and chickens and geckos, and children around who always want to play with us or show us how to get to the beach or just laugh at us.
The guest house is quite comfortable, and apart from having baths in a bucket, it is much like staying in a cottage so I cannot say I am living in the most rural conditions but it is still a great learning experience, and an eye opening one for sure, simply in regards to water and how at all times of day you are thinking about water and if you have enough and when to wash clothes and how to bath and how to wash fruit and dishes and hands- water is such a life force that we take for granted in Canada and I hope that is one thing I can bring back with me.
I am sorry this has been a long rant from my mind but this is all that I can do at the present moment. We are heading to Elmina to see some festival where some "beast" is supposed to be killed.. should be very interesting, and then we are heading back to our home sweet home in Apam.
On Friday we visited the schools we will be working in, starting on Tuesday, and that too was immensely powerful and touching. Hundreds of students swarming us jumping, laughing, screaming, yelling obruni, smiling and wanting to see every picture you take of them, and laughing 10 times harder when they see the picture. The schools themselves look as you might expect them to, not like Canadian schools at all. And in skimming through the primary workbooks I was shocked to see that primary students learn about HIV and how it is transmitted and how to protect yourself- I cannot fathom learning this at that age, but this is so relevant to their culture.
I am excited to keep learning more, and to sort out in my mind what this culture actually is, how it differs from what I expected or read, and how traditional and modern elements connect and contradict and how all of this functions to make them the country that they are- very developed in regards to other parts of Africa, but very under developed in comparison to the global north, and furthermore how this functions in regards to my role here as a Canadian. I feel there is little I can achieve in 6 weeks but part of me feels this will not be my last time in the beautiful country that is Ghana.
Please keep in touch and stay positive as I am ,
With love,
Robin