Finally, an update!

Wow so we have been having the toughest time getting internet here so I haven't been able to update my blog the way I was hoping. Darn! So I may only post a few times while in Ghana, but I'm keeping a journal for the memories.

Where to start......first off, I LOVE it here. I am so happy to be here. I'm learning a lot, both about Ghana and about myself. It's much more rugged than anywhere I've ever been. We shower with a bucket and there is no running water for the bathroom. Plus there are bugs literally everywhere including giant three inch long spiders. And it's really hot here so I'm getting used to being sweaty all the time. But those are the only negatives I can think of.

The positives are many, starting with my travel companions. The other fellows are amazing; we have the best group chemistry. I really enjoy hanging out with all of them, and we vibe well together. There are four guys and five girls, with most of us from USC but some from the East Coast as well. Ghana time moves very slowly here, so there is a lot of time that we spend chatting or playing games together while we wait for an appointment or for the Tro-Tro (which really deserves it's own post). I think these people are going to still be really close friends when I get back.

As for the research, it is going so incredibly well and I can't wait to see what comes out of it. I created surveys for primary school students, junior secondary, and senior secondary, as well as a survey for their teachers. I found a photocopy place in Asebu (which means a family owns a 20-year old photo copier in their mud hut that you can print on), and got a bunch of surveys printed. Then I went with some new friends from England I had met earlier to the school with them. They, along with their translator Antony, teaches HIV prevention programs to kids. I tagged along with them on a school visit and Antony helped me find girls to take my survey. By the end of the first day I had 80 surveys completed! I had gone into it hoping for 5-10. Woo hoo! That was really exciting.

I'm going next week to administer more surveys, and then the week after that I'm going to do narrative taped interviews with students about their educational experience. That way I have both numbers from the surveys and personal stories for a more complete picture.

It's so exciting to be doing research, I feel really grown up, and it's fascinating to see what I can learn from the students. The girls were so sweet taking my survey, they really wanted to do the right thing and smiled so broadly when I said they did a good job.

I can't even believe how friendly the people are here and how willing to help you they are. I met this woman named Patience in town and with-in 2 minutes of speaking, she invited me to visit her house. Once there, she introduced me to her whole family, and took me on a cool two hour tour of her family's farm, all the while piling up my arms with free fruits and vegetables to try. She had her cousin shimmy up a 40 foot palm tree to cut down a coconut for me and we drank the juice together. She showed me how the woman made Casab (I think that's how you spell it) and palm oil by squeezing the palm nuts. Here she is a perfect stranger, and she took the time out of her day just to entertain us. It was so sweet.

We are staying in a small village with less than 1,000 people so the people all recognize (also we are the only white people for like a 15 mile radius, so we stand out to say the least) us when we come into the village and yell out "Welcome home!" It feels so nice to be accepted into the village. They call us "obruni" meaning white person and the children follow us around everywhere. I feel like a cross between a celebrity and a zoo animal. When I did laundry outside on morning, kids on the way to school stopped to watch the strange obruni doing her own laundry. It's a bit strange to be stared at all the time, but it's not often hostile stares (never actually), only curious. Some of the babies cry when they see us, because they get scared since they haven't seen a white person and the village women all laugh when that happens. The men here can get pretty pushy though, yelling that they love you and want to marry you, or just overtly staring at your body. To avoid weird situations, the female fellows all chose a male fellow to be our "fake husbands" in case people ask where our husbands are.

The dynamics between men and women here is very bizarre. The women do all of the work, both cooking, cleaning, farming, and taking care of the babies. Often you will see a woman with a huge bowl of something perched on her head, a baby strapped to her back, and something she's working on in her hands. They are amazing like that. The men on the other hand, you often see sitting around talking together, huddled around a small TV, or occasionally farming. Our Ghanian friend, Elvis, told us that's the way it works a lot of time, even though it's not fair to the women. He believes that the way to end domestic violence, inequality, and a whole host of other problems is to empower the woman economically. He's created this program (along with like 20 others, he's incredible) where he donates a goat to a woman that she can use for her livelihood, and when a calf is born, she donates it to another woman. He also explained that the key to economic empowerment begins with education. An educated woman will have a better job, and will be in a better position to stand up to a man if he tries to force her into marriage or rape or abuses her. It makes a lot of sense to me. He explained that the main reason girls don't often attend secondary school is because they don't believe that they will be able to do anything. They reason that they will become a housewife anyway, so they drop out and get pregnant as teenagers. Also parents are less willing to support a girl in her education than a boy; they need her to help out on the farm and with the other babies, so they prefer to send a son to school. It seems to be a cultural mindset, in addition to extreme poverty, that contribute to the low female secondary education rate. Of course, I'll have a much clearer idea once I finish my research.

Okay, let's see, what else. The food is good here, especially the fruit. Fresh pineapple, mango, and bananas are available everywhere for like 15 cents max. We've been eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly for lunch and breakfast to save money so I'm pretty bored of that, but the dinner that the Asuansi Farm cooks for us is often good. My favorite is the peanut soup with rice balls and chicken, as well as the vegetable stew, rice, and chicken.

Oh also, I don't think I have ever looked as unattractive as I do now. I'm like all sweaty, no make-up, and REI clothing (although my REI pants are the best invention ever!! I wish I could wear them all the time). The pictures from this trip may never make it up on facebook, but I have to say, it's kind of fun to go totally natural for a while. No hair styling, no make up, wearing whatever I want (but yes, I am shaving my legs still -- not ready to go that natural haha). 

We are doing a lot of traveling on this trip. Each weekend we are headed to a different city so we can see everything Ghana has to offer. Right now I am in Kumasi, a city about five hours north of Cape Coast. We are visiting here for a few days to meet with a professor about research and to explore the city. It's a busting city, I have never been somewhere that felt so full of life and activity (at times too much so). Everywhere you look is packed with people mingling, trying to get somewhere. We went to the market yesterday which was extremely chaotic. Picture a square mile of stalls, only a foot and a half apart, packed to the brim with Ghanians. None of us could handle it for more than an hour, but it was cool for that hour. I bought some pretty handmade fabric that I am going to get made into a dress. Most of the clothes here are hand-made by a tailor, so you just bring in fabric and they measure you and do the rest. Isn't that cool? Couture African dress. Haha.

Well I'm getting kicked off the internet now (we are at an Internet Cafe), so I'll have to post more. I have so many stories to share, but they will have to wait.

Lots of love,

Megan