Valentine's Greetings from Ghana!

February 14, 2014

It’s my first Valentine’s Day in Ghana! Ghanians celebrate this day too, and there’s a Valentine’s Day party at a gas station about a half hour away from us. I’ve been invited and have not yet decided if I’m going. My housemates are going, so there’s a good chance! If anything, I can then report back what a Valentine’s Day party at a gas station is like!

(My phone has been dead a couple of days so these photos are from the web.)

So I’ve been here a few days and I think it’s neat to see a new place, but also interesting to observe how so many parts of Ghana remind me of the different places I’ve been.

Ghana is a developing country with open sewage, poverty, intermittent electricity, street beggars, no running hot water and not much water pressure so we take “bucket baths” and sometimes have to flush the toilet with a bucket of water.  Also, dividing lanes in the street don’t seem to mean much as cars swerve all over the road and pass other cars on hills at top speeds. But believe it or not, I’m an old hat at this stuff. Our family trip to Bombay (as it was called back then!) and Ganeshpuri, India in 1984 prepared me for this! 

In Cape Coast, street vendors line all the streets and pineapples and mangos are common foods here. The beaches are beautiful, lined with coconut trees and boats that look like really big canoes. Needless to say, I’m getting a little taste of my first home state, Hawaii, here too. My commute to work, which is 25 minutes or so in a shared taxi with other coworkers and costs the equivalent of $1, is mostly along this beautiful coast. Unfortunately, as lovely it is to gaze at, the ocean here is not safe to swim in due to pollution, but you can’t see the pollution from the shore so I just imagine it’s pristine as I look at it. 

Cape Coast beach area. I wanted to give you an idea of how pretty this area can be, and the juxtaposition of images here.

Ghanians love spicy foods and most of the sauces here are very spicy, usually spiced with Cayenne.  I’ve actually been called weird for being a white person, or “obruni,” who loves spicy food! It’s a nice opportunity to talk about New Mexico chile. And man is it dusty here! Which reminds me of New Mexico when the Spring winds kick in.

Yesterday was my orientation at work. The first half of the day was spent on a walking tour of downtown Cape Coast. Did I mention there are no sidewalks and cars have the right of way on the narrow streets? It definitely keeps you on your toes!  I was taken to a couple of the stores our Global Mamas have, and at the end of the tour we walked by, not into, the famous White Castle where slaves were lead to boats to take them across the sea. My tour guide, a very friendly, young Ghanian man named Hubert, said he didn’t want to go in, and so neither did I. There is a palpable sadness that lingers at the site. I asked Hubert why they didn’t tear down the reminder of such a sad part of Ghanian history, and he said he thought it was because so many people of African descent from all over the world feel it is important to visit, and so it remains.  Our tour ended at the beach. Once Hubert found out I was from Hawaii, he felt determined to get me there. He took me to a part of the beach near a resort that was clean and so I felt safe dipping my toes into the Gulf of Guinea. It was cold! But for some reason getting my feet into the ocean made my arrival in Ghana complete.

The second part of my day was working in the Quality Control area where clothing that the Global Mamas have sewn are checked.  I sat near two lovely Ghanian women named Benedicta and Roberta, who would break out in song once in a while. They would ask me questions now and then to get to know me. They asked if I hurt when I got my tattoo, and I said “Yes and don’t let anyone else tell you differently!” To which they laughed, at my great relief!

Today, I met with our two coordinators to discuss our plan for my volunteer work. I’ll be doing our first training with a nutritionist from the University of Ghana. Our focus will be nutrition for women and young children. Global Mamas is very excited to start this program, and I feel so privileged to be a part of building it!

NEWS FLASH: I’m not going to the Valentine’s Day party at the gas station. I’ve been invited to join some other volunteers to go to Cape Three Points, which is a beautiful beach where it’s safe to swim! One of them is apparently going to surf, too, which will be fun to watch.

Happy Valentine's Day! XOXO