MY GHANA
EXPERIENCE
June, 2005
By
Annie Halsey
Introduction
When I returned from spending five weeks
in Ghana
this summer, I found that the one word which best summarized my experience was
“different.” Ghana
is truly different from the United
States in some very significant ways. At the same time, however, I couldn’t help
reflecting that it is also similar in some other rather surprising ways. Living in an African country for any period
of time is, I think, an experience in itself, no matter what the purpose. This was an important concept for me as the
trip I experienced in reality was not the trip I had envisioned. Indeed, I faced several rather major
surprises along the way, some of them presenting a real challenge to my
endurance as a foreign traveler. I knew
at the time, however, that in order to make it a successful experience overall,
I needed to view it as a learning opportunity.
I was in Africa, after all, and that in
itself was something pretty extraordinary.
A learning opportunity is what it became, and I hope to pass along some
very valuable insight for those who may decide to someday visit Ghana,
particularly to do volunteer work.
Culture and People
First Impressions
The first thing I noticed about Ghana when I
stepped off the plane the Sunday evening I arrived was that the air smelled
different. I could not describe it even
if I wanted to, other than that it was simply that – different. The second thing that really surprised me,
and was just a glimpse of the noise which I would become very familiar with,
was the greeting line outside the airport.
I had never before seen so many people lined up in such a manner, all
crowded together and teeming. I was
fortunate to find my contact person right away amidst the crowd because he was
at the front, but to be honest, it was a little scary.
“I Want to Marry You”
Just about everything that is
written about Ghana
mentions how friendly the people are.
While this is true, I found that they were friendly in a way that was
somehow different from what I expected.
White people, called “Obrunis” in the local language Twi, are very
popular, especially American white people.
As an American white female, I was about as close to a celebrity as I
will probably ever get. The
friendliness, then, was a combination of men professing their love and offering
marriage proposals, which is a quite common phenomenon. Also because I was white, children, even
those who could barely talk, would shout, “Obruni, how are you? Obruni, what is your name?” They would run up to touch my hand and were
simply delighted when I let them. Men
and women also would shout “Obruni,” but not with nearly the frequency as the
children. More often, they would tell me
to “Come here,” or would try to sell me things.
As a white person in Ghana,
it is just not possible to go out in public, especially to a market or
someplace with many people, and go unnoticed.
In addition to “Obruni,” I was also
given a Ghanaian name, which is the day of the week on which I was born. Many Ghanaians go by this name, which has a
male and female version. Twi is not the
most melodic sounding language, but when I used it from time to time, people
were really excited. They would break
into a smile and say “Hey! Akua
Afriyie!” It seemed to mean a lot just
to attempt the language, even if it was only a word or two.
A Very Noisy Country
Ghanaians are very loud,
period. The notion of privacy or modesty
doesn’t really exist there. Everyone is
family; women and girls are called “Sister, Mama, or Auntie,” although I never
heard the male equivalent. It’s almost
impossible to walk down the street, in a city or in a village, and not hear
music playing or announcements and news from loudspeakers. On top of that is the noise of business,
cars, etc. Furthermore, people wake up
too early; 5:30 was not an uncommon hour to start cooking, playing music, and
talking, all right outside my room.
The Christian Influence
I was really amazed at the level of
involvement religion has in everyday life.
I couldn’t go anywhere without seeing Scripture passages or short
religious phrases praising God, expressing thanks, etc. Even the little “fast food” shanties and
taxis had inscriptions, as well as the back windows of tro-tros, the most
common form of public transportation that portrays the very essence of
efficiency by packing as many people as possible into an un-air-conditioned,
often beaten up van-type vehicle.
Furthermore, a very common question to be asked upon meeting someone is,
“What church do you attend?” I never was
able to make it to a church service while I was in Ghana, but they typically last
about three hours and are quite energetic, from what I hear.
Work
One of the aspects of life in Ghana that I
was never fully able to adjust to was the work schedule. I was prepared to work full time at my
placement, always having something to do, but unfortunately, this was not what
I experienced. This was in part because
Ghanaians simply have a different view towards work than do most of us in the
Western world. Theirs is much more
relaxed, and I often found myself feeling frustrated at always being asked if I
needed to rest after several hours of doing very little. It is not uncommon to see people chatting at
work, or even sleeping, and it’s no problem to break for a little while to run
an errand. The work day is not 8 or 9-5;
rather, it may start at 8 and finish or close at 3, when there are no more
patients, for example. What I saw was a
few people working hard, like my host mother (the head nurse), the doctors, and
a few other people. Everyone else seemed
to take it very easy, which did not appear to be an issue even to those who
worked all day.
Apart from the hospital staff, most
of the business I observed did not have a defined workweek, but sort of droned
on continuously at a sleepy pace.
Ghanaians who are not employed at a place of business generally occupy
themselves in petty trade or farming.
Countless people sit at booths along the road all day long advertising
their wares, most of which is food. This
inherently involves a whole lot of sitting, which I found only makes one
tired. In fact, I was amazed at how
listless I felt each day after having done very little actual work. I got plenty of sleep because I literally
could not stay awake past about 9:00 (sad as it is). I think the lethargy was a combination of
diet (cooking usually involves a fair amount of oil) and inactivity.
Time is relative in Ghana, and it does not hold nearly the
importance it does in the U.S. Meetings and appointments often do not begin
when they are scheduled, and people act more on impulse and according to the
moment than to the clock.
Food!
“Ghanaian
diet,” as my host mother called it, is not nearly as vast as what we’re used to
here in the U.S. It basically consists of yams, plantains,
corn, meat, bread (mostly white), tomatoes, rice, and cassava. These staples are prepared in a variety of
ways, but it’s not long before you realize that everything is pretty much the
same. The most popular food is fufu,
which is boiled unripe plantains and cassava pounded together. This is then formed into a ball of dough
which is served with some kind of soup, tomato-based with fish or another
sometimes unidentifiable meat. Banku is
very similar, but consists of corn meal and cassava cooked over heat. I was not much a fan of fufu or banku, my
preference being plantains. My favorite
dish was red-red, which consists of fried ripe plantains and a bean stew served
over chicken. Starch is a big part of
the diet in Ghana,
and generally speaking, vegetables and dairy are rare commodities. It is easy, however, to find fresh fruit, and
it’s usually quite good. Pineapple, cut
fresh to order, “oranges,” (I say this because they’re actually more of a
yellowish-green), coconut, and bananas are all readily available.
Despite
the fact that it’s a third-world country, food does not seem to be in short
supply in Ghana,
surprising as it might seem. It’s
extremely convenient to buy food whenever and wherever hunger hits, provided
you’re among some sort of civilization.
Even if you’re en route somewhere, you can easily buy a snack from one
of the many vendors who will come right up to your tro-tro or bus window to
sell things. Fast food does exist, but
it’s the kind of food that everyone makes.
In other words, it’s all home-made.
Food preparation involves a lot of time, time that just about everyone
is willing to invest. I never bought any
kind of meat off the street, however, which I wouldn’t recommend anyway
(especially the meat pies, I hear they’re not too great), but fruit and bread is
generally okay. Treated water is also
readily available in plastic packets, a corner of which you just chew off in
order to drink. A couple of beverages I
enjoyed, besides water, during my stay in Ghana were Milo, which is pretty much
instant hot cocoa, and Gordon’s Spark, a refreshing gin-based carbonated
drink. Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Guinness
are also wildly popular.
Money
Ghana is considered one of the more affluent
countries in Africa, although by Western
standards it still offers quite a good bang for your buck. The official currency is the Cedi, and its
equivalence is about 9,000 to the dollar.
I was warned to always keep my money where I could see it, which I did,
and I never had a problem. Some
Ghanaians will try to overcharge you since they really believe that just about
every white person is wealthy (even if you’re not white, if they know that
you’re a tourist the same thing applies).
This is true in many other countries as well, but Ghanaians are used to
haggling with both tourists and fellow Africans alike, so it’s perfectly okay
to argue a bit. It’s best to ask a
reliable local person, like someone at a hostel, what typical tro-tro fares are
to certain places, and what a good price is to pay for any souvenirs you’re
interested in, for example. Food and
some transportation fares are already fixed, so need to bargain there. Again, it’s best to ask a local person about
this so that you know what’s negotiable and what’s not.
In
terms of changing money, I changed all of mine at once, which I realized later
was probably not the best idea because the exchange rate was a little better a
couple of weeks into my stay. On the
other hand, I didn’t have to worry about making my money last until the next
time I was able to change it. Whenever
and wherever you choose to change money, it’s best to do it at a forex bureau
because you typically get a little bit more for your dollars there than at a
bank. These bureaus are quite numerous,
too, and if you go to any city you’re likely to find at least a few. I found that cash was the best medium for
changing money because everyone takes dollars, and our currency is usually
recommended in the form of Traveller’s Cheques even to foreigners.
Some Standard Prices
To
give you an idea of what things cost in terms of dollars, here’s a little list of
items and services you’re likely to need and use. Ghana is pretty inexpensive, but
imports are generally more money, so if you want to buy continental dishes or
items, plan on a little increased spending.
|
ITEM
|
COST (Cedis / Dollars)
|
|
Packet of water (1/2
L)
|
300 / 0.025
|
|
Loaf of bread
|
5,000 / 0.55
|
|
Bottle of Coke
|
5,000 / 0.55
|
|
Orange
|
500 / 0.055
|
|
Plate of red-red
|
32,000 / 3.50
|
|
Basic bus ticket
from Accra to Kumasi
|
46,000 / 5.00
|
|
Admission to Kakum National Park
|
50,000 / 5.50
|
|
Night’s stay at a
decent hostel/hotel
|
23,000 – 90,000 /
2.50 – 10.00
|
|
Internet (1/2
hour)
|
3 - 4,000 / 0.33
– 0.45
|
|
Traditional
Ghanaian shirt (a souvenir, perhaps)
|
75,000 / 8.33
|
Health
No Malaria for Me!
I’m sure you’ll do your homework on
different anti-malaria medications and vaccinations, so I’ll just tell what I
did and how that worked for me. I took
the Doxycycline tablets to help prevent malaria, and used Off insect repellant wipes at night. After dark, which in the summer months is
relatively early (6-6:30), is when the malaria-carrying mosquitoes come out, so
it’s really only then that you need to protect yourself. Malaria symptoms do not appear for about
10-14 days after a bite, so if you do get malaria, it will not be apparent
immediately. Fortunately for me, I took
the necessary precautions and returned home from Ghana without having been ill.
I was told that I would not be
allowed entry into the country without proof of a yellow fever vaccine. You can imagine, then, how disappointed I was
when no one even mentioned yellow fever after I went through the trouble of
getting immunized. Still, it is a good
idea to be fully immunized with everything that is recommended. I will never know if I would have gotten sick
without the vaccines, but it’s a risk I am certainly glad I did not take.
Toilet Paper is a Luxury?!
Yes, indeed. You will never appreciate having toilet
paper, let alone public facilities to use toilet paper, so much as when you
don’t have it. I strongly recommend
bringing tissues or a wad of toilet paper with you wherever you go in Ghana because
nine times out of ten you will need it.
It is also a good idea to accustom yourself to the very real possibility
that you will not always have a toilet to use (sometimes it’s just a paved spot
on the ground with a wall in front). And
you can forget about washing your hands because there is almost no place with
soap and water. I found my little bottle
of hand sanitizer, which I also never left home without, immensely helpful in
such situations, and hand wipes are not a bad idea, either.
A Different Definition of Hygiene
This is probably an understatement
considering some of the shocking displays of the more unpleasant side of
humanity I witnessed. Unfortunately, it
is not at all uncommon to spot public urination. One of the volunteers I met even told me of
one person she saw urinating in irrigating water while another person a little
further down bathed in the very same stream.
Ghanaians also eat largely with their hands, although not the left
because it is reserved for more taboo bodily functions. This always seemed a bit ironic to me
considering the right hand couldn’t be much more sanitary.
Ghana is not a clean country, to be very
forthright. I hardly ever felt that any
place I stayed was completely clean, even in the nicer hostels. Riding in tro-tros with the windows down to
let in the red dust of the road didn’t help any, especially when added to sweat
and automobile exhaust and fumes. To be
fair, though, people are not barbaric.
Some utensils are used, when eating soup for example, and bathing is
highly touted, although it’s not usually with running water.
Experiential Learning International (ELI)
and Student Youth and Travel Organization (SYTO)
ELI
ELI
is the organization I went through to receive my placement in Ghana. I found them on the internet at www.eliabroad.com. My experience with this particular
organization was a good one for the most part.
I was pleased with their accessibility – they have a screenname – and
they offered the least expensive volunteer program along the lines of what I
wanted to do.
They
are a fairly new organization, however, and still have some kinks to work out
in order to be more professional. My
most significant complaints would be that I was not really given very many
details unless I specifically asked for them.
Information which I feel should have been brought to my attention, like
the toilet paper issue, for example, was not.
I expected a thorough account of my host family, where I would be
staying, and information about Ghana,
but I received only the bare minimum. I
was also not given a very clear breakdown of the program fee until I asked for
it, and even then I could not get a clear sense of what was going where.
In the interest of future
volunteers, I would maybe recommend ELI for programs in countries besides Ghana for
reasons I will address in the next section.
SYTO
From what I understood while I was
in Ghana,
SYTO is the organization that places just about every volunteer who goes there,
unless they are part of a private organization or enterprise with their own
connections in the country. While
everyone at SYTO was perfectly friendly, the information they provided me with
was inaccurate. The biggest
disappointment came when I discovered that I was not needed at the hospital in
which I was placed. It was a regional
hospital (Bekwai District Hospital),
and was well staffed with plenty of nurses and nurses’ assistants. There was no program laid out for me, which I
naturally assumed there would be, and I did not get to do many of the duties I
was told I would have the opportunity to do, like dress wounds and help with
AIDS education. Although many people
know English and will use it when speaking to a white person, it is not used in
many other situations. Many of the
patients who visited the hospital did not speak English, so communication with
them was virtually impossible without a translator. I was thus limited in the help I could give.
I
will spare other details about SYTO because the point I would like to get
across is mainly that I was misinformed about what I could expect. That said, I feel that I should point out
some of its creditable qualities, which included sensitivity to how volunteers
might be feeling about their new environment, and willingness to correct
various problems that were addressed.
Whether these issues will be made right remains to be seen, but until
that time, I would suggest going to Ghana as part of a group that has
established connections with a more reliable in-country party.
Work and Travel
A Learning Experience, Indeed
I knew that Ghana would be
different from any expectations or pre-conceived notions I could have. I didn’t really know what to expect, and yet
somehow Ghana
was not what I expected. The volunteer
work I did there certainly wasn’t, but I also had no idea of the kind of
culture shock I was to encounter. I
don’t think you really can know the full meaning of the phrase unless you’ve
experienced it. It took me just about
the entire time I was there to really adjust, and I felt as I left that I was
just beginning to know what life in Ghana was really about. During the first couple of weeks I was amazed
at how comforting the reminders of home I came across actually were. I chided myself because I hadn’t even been
gone for very long! It was almost
shameful to me to observe how much of an influence America
has on Ghana and the rest of
the world while I knew hardly anything about Ghana. My host brother knew more about American pop
singers than I do. I was a bit
embarrassed about some aspects of American culture that have managed a
trans-Atlantic trip while other aspects have not.
When I realized that I could not
make my position at Bekwai
Hospital something it was
not, I decided to make the best of it.
It was more of an opportunity to observe medicine in a different
culture, and observe I did. No one
really kept tabs on whether I went to work or not, but I felt that I had
invested too much in making the journey to wile away my. So, I worked for as long as I could during
the day, and when there simply was not anything else to do or watch, I
reconciled myself to going home. I lived
at the hospital, so going to and from work was easy.
I
spent much of my time helping in the Maternity Ward, where I would sometimes
take blood pressures and enter vital statistics into the record books. Nothing was computerized, so the record books
were just that, and sometimes the pages were hardly even bound together. Many times I simply observed the nurses as
they performed their duties, and a couple of times I had the opportunity to
witness a natural birth. These were no
nonsense occasions, however. Childbirth
in Ghana,
it seemed to me, is something that you just do, and there are no frills about
it. In each case, the woman lay
completely nude on a table with padding, with no sheets or pillow, in a room
barely separated from the main chamber of the ward. No epidurals or painkillers were given, and
in only one of the cases was someone in the room as moral support. Even then, when I asked the head midwife if I
could get a wet towel to place over the woman’s head because the room was
rather warm, she kind of laughed and said no, and the mother of the woman
giving birth said, “No, we’re not going to pamper her.” I didn’t see it as pampering, just providing
some basic comfort.
Basic human needs were what the
hospital met, and beyond that there was not much else. There were not even enough sheets for all the
beds, and those the hospital did have were often worn linens or hand-me-downs
from foreign hospitals. More often
patients would use their own cloth to put over the beds, and their families
brought them their food if they had a prolonged stay. The buildings were dirty, not at all up to
the standards of an American hospital.
The nurses dusted everyday, but that did not eliminate the fact that
many of the tables and bed equipment was rusted and old. The staff was friendly to me, but when
dealing with patients, not a whole lot of extra effort was made. They were not unfriendly; they were simply
doing their job, and nothing more. One
situation in which I particularly noticed this was before a skin grafting (of
which I observed two) of a ten year old girl who was a regular visitor to my
room and had been admitted to the hospital over a month before this second
grafting (the first had been rejected).
This girl was clearly nervous as she waited on the operating table,
again with no sheet. Only one male nurse
made an attempt to calm her before the surgery.
He spoke in Twi, so I could not understand what he was saying, which
characterized most of the time I spent observing surgeries, but he laughed
quite a bit and even managed to bring out a smile on her face.
The hospital was a very relaxed
place, even for a hospital, and so I was able to wander from ward to ward
whenever I liked. I spent another large
portion of my time at the Surgical Theater, where I observed several caesarian
sections, a hysterectomy, a hernia, and a typhoid perforation correction. I also accompanied the public health nurses
on several outreach trips to nearby villages.
These visits were to provide immunizations to babies of mothers who
could not get to the district hospital.
We would drive on the bumpy, unpaved roads to a village, and then wait
for someone to meet us at our car. This
person, who was often in some way connected to public health, would then
recruit schoolchildren to bring a table and some chairs to set up under a tree,
from which we would hang the scale for weighing. I would then record the weight and would
check each baby’s record book to see what immunizations were needed. I remember one particular village we visited
because I had never before heard so many babies crying at one time, nor had I
felt so overwhelmed by the number of children surrounding us, most of them
staring at me.
Ghana being an African country, I
expected to see at least some HIV/AIDS patients, but as far as I know, I saw
not a one. A significant number of those
who came to the outpatient department of the hospital were afflicted with
malaria, largely because it was the rainy season and mosquitoes were present in
full force. I was frustrated at times
because I was sure there was more that could be done for the patients, but
because I was only one person, and one without medical expertise, I was
severely limited in the influence I could exert. I found that the biggest difference I could
make was to be a friend to the children in and on the grounds of the hospital,
and to help in whatever small manner I could in the different wards.
Happy Trails
I had reserved only one weekend for
traveling at the end of my volunteer term, but I was fortunate enough to be
able to travel every weekend. I met
other volunteers along the way, and so I only traveled alone for one
weekend. I much preferred traveling with
others, and it was really great to meet volunteers from other countries. Holland in
particular seems to send quite a few volunteers to Ghana,
but I also met volunteers from Ireland,
Germany, the U.S., England,
and Switzerland.
Ghana is a surprisingly verdant
country, and because it was the rainy season and a bit cooler than normal (80s
and 90s), plant life was especially lush.
Notable places I visited include Kumasi, the second largest city after
Accra, Sunyani, a bit north of Kumasi and noted for the nearby monkey
sanctuary, Lake Bosomtwi, a filled in crater and the only safe lake in which to
swim, and Cape Coast, the first capital of Ghana and base of the Ghanaian slave
trade.
I was pleasantly surprised to have
the opportunity to see much more of the country than I thought I would be able
to, and if I had stayed longer there are several more places I would have liked
to visit. Each place was different and
had certain qualities, but I especially enjoyed the scenery by the lake, the
coastal feel of Cape Coast, and Kakum
National Park (a rainforest complete
with seven canopy bridges) located very near Cape Coast. This was my last excursion in Ghana, and an
exceptional one at that.
Places to Stay and Eat
It’s hard to know what exactly
you’ll be getting yourself into when you go by what the guidebooks say. These are some places that have been tried
and tested true.
|
LOCATION
|
NAME
|
COST (in Cedis)
|
|
Lake Bosomtwi
|
Lake Point
Guesthouse
|
180,000/rm.
(holds 2)
|
|
Cape Coast
|
Sammo Guesthouse
|
69,000/rm. (holds
3)
|
|
Kumasi
|
Vic Baboo’s Cafe
|
varied (tasty
continental dishes)
|
|
|
|
|
Left: A view of Bekwai
Bottom Left: Me with my host family
|
|
|
|
Top: Bartering at Cape Coast
Castle
Left: Outside the castle
|
|
Top: Bekwai
District Hospital
Middle: Mothers at the hospital
Bottom: Sunset on the hospital hill
|
|
