Funeral Season

During the dry weather it’s also funeral season since there isn’t work to do on the farm people can know spend time on the funerals, which are quite involved. Although the person is usually buried right away, the funeral celebration can occur a lot later. In some cases even years later because of money constraints and other reasons. It’s expensive to hold these funerals since you’re basically hosting all your extended relatives and families are quite big here. Pretty soon after I arrived in fall one of the community member volunteer teacher Thomas’ father passed away. The funeral for his father and 10 other people started last week in the Kunkwak section of Gbedema. Funerals are open to anyone and are also a social gathering so many of my students like to go for that aspect. Chris and I rode bikes to greet the families and for me to experience a local traditional funeral; he also answered my plethora of questions during and after. His good friend Edward’s father was also one of those the funeral was for.

I don’t know the significance but tradition here dictates that when a baby is born the naming ceremony occurs 3 days after birth for males and 4 days after birth for females. In the same way, funerals for men last 4 days while funerals for women last 5 days. The reason for the extra day is mid-way they need a day to rest. I asked why and Chris said it was because women need more rest than men. But I decided my own feminist reason is because women work so hard in life (especially here) that they’ve earned an extra day. Since this funeral was for 11 different people, including women, it was 5 days long with the day of rest on the third day.

I’d been hearing ‘gunshots’ a lot recently and it took me way too long to realize it was related to all the funeral celebrations that have been going on. When you hear them then you know either someone has passed away in the house or a funeral is being performed; they’re a sign of mourning. Turns out the ‘gunshots’ aren’t produced by typical gun and bullets but rather a local ‘gun’ created by putting ‘medicine’ in the ground, mixing sand, poking it with a stick, and then lighting it to make the ‘gunshot’ noise. I’m still not quite sure on what all that means but hopefully one day I’ll get to see it…

Since people are coming from all over, there are many different processionals as I like to call them and it’s very similar to the drumming I witnessed at the Feok festival in Sandema in December. The men usually wear their northern smocks and helmets with horns on them and play the drums while women run alongside them making the ulily noise (think high-pitched yell). Women might be wearing funeral clothes which might be black. Sometimes there is also wailing and crying to show mourning.

The forefathers here were using the locally made mats to sleep on in the past. The belief is that once a person dies their spirit resides in the mat. So today even though people don’t sleep on these mats anymore, after someone dies a mat is used to represent the person and is symbolic of their spirit. During the first 3 days (for males) or 4 days (for females) after a death, the relatives will sleep in the deceased’s hut and will stand the mat vertically during that time. Afterwards they find a storage place to hang that mat and more mats if additional people in their house pass away. Once the funeral takes place, the mat is an important part of the funeral put on display first, sometimes covered with cloth. Then, at the end of the second day, they burn the mat (since the spirit is inside it) to give the spirit a way to be released and help the spirit move closer to the ancestors. At this point the spirit is not yet with the ancestors yet but is on the way to the ancestor; a road of sort. After the funeral is completed, another three day long final process called ngwomsika (3 days) is performed so the spirit can pass through the ‘door’ to enter to the ancestors. The ancestors reside in the ground. Traditional food including TZ, rice is also cooked during this time.

Besides the mats, I saw photos of each person on display as well as luggage. The stuff a person has acquired is brought out from their room to symbolize all the property they own. Plus if you don’t bring out the person’s belongings, people might think you are trying to rob the dead person. Each person who is part of the family of the people the funeral is for wears body paint of sorts. It’s made with local sand mixed with water and is painted in stripes on people’s foreheads, arms, and legs if exposed. It’s a way to identify the bereaved. I asked Chris specifically about the widows since I’ve hear of different widowhood rituals in Ghana, including being forced to marry the husband’s brother and being exposed naked in public. During most of the funeral the women stay inside together and nobody can touch them during the funeral. Finally on the fourth day, they are brought out to bathe for the first time in three days and then wear whatever special clothing they have. Then during ngwomsikia, the widow is prepared to have water poured on her having someone shave/bob her head and then apply shea butter on her body. Traditionally the woman was naked except for leaves on her private parts and it was boiling water. The belief is that if you were wicked to you husband the water would burn you but if not then you were a good wife. Today they use strips of cloth to cover her private parts and the water isn’t really boiling but just warmed. Once this process is over, she is free to marry again.

As I mentioned before, the funeral is a social gathering and for many it’s an excuse to drink alcohol and dance. When I went to the funeral again on the fourth day, I was offered pito in a calabash. Pito is the local beer made from millet (or sorghum) and is either sour or sweet. I don’t really enjoy it that much but took a few sips so as not to be rude and also for a photo op. It’s served in a calabash which is a cleaned and smoothed gourd that looks like a bowl.

A couple of nights ago Chris called me and said ‘Your friend, the station master, has died.’ The station master was in charge of the transportation in the town and liked people in general. He was always really nice and friendly to me. His name was Acuiana and since I first came her he’s made me feel so welcome by coming to greet me, bringing me milk and eggs, and making sure I have a seat on the lorry when I try to go to market. He liked for me to come to his house (where Chris is also from) and greet his family so Chris and I would go periodically to do so. Sadly he had a problem with alcohol so his death may have been related to this though we’ll probably never know. He has four children inscluding a baby girl who was born in December and who he liked to joke I named ‘Awenteme’ (God’s gift to me). I was hoping I had taken a picture of him with the baby girl and his wife but I just snapped the wife and baby alone. I wanted to end the post with a picture of the two of them in memory of Acuiana.

The Wishing Tree

Since we're studying Microsoft Word I asked my form 2 students to do some writing for me. The student retold a story she heard in primary school grade 3.

The Wishing Tree by Abasibey Rita

Many years ago there was no rain for a long, long time. There was no food and all the animals were hungry. Some of them died.

Now there was a big, tall tree in the middle of the forest. It was a magic tree. It was a wishing tree. If the animals could say the name of the tree, they could make a wish. But no one knew the name. They wanted to find it out. They decided to ask the spirit who lived at the top of the mountain.

The monkey said, “I am clever and fast. I will go.” So the monkey ran all the way to the top of the mountain to ask the spirit. The spirit understood and told the monkey the name of the tree. The monkey ran fast all the way home. But on the way, he forgot the name. The animals were sad and hungry. So the lion said, “I am brave and strong. I will go.” The lion ran all the way to the top of the mountain. He also asked the spirit and the spirit told him the name of the tree. Then he ran fast all the way home. But on the way, he also forgot the name. The animals were very sad and very hungry.

The tortoise said, “I am small and slow but I will go.” The other animals all laughed at her because she was so small and slow, but she didn’t mind. She set off slowly and steadily, climbing up and up. It was a long time before she got to the top and it was an even longer time before she got back. The other animals forgot about her. Then one day she walked up. She was very tired. The other animals watched as she walked slowly up to the tree and quietly said its name. Then she made a wish. At once the tree produced fruit and the rain began to fall. Plants began to grow. The animals ate and drank again. They were very happy. And they never laughed at the tortoise again. The End!

Disting

Last Tuesday night one of my form 3 students Diana came to the house complaining of neck pain and went with Felicity who stays with me to the clinic. They were already closed but she went back in the morning and they referred her to the Sandema hospital. Fortunately, it was market day so she had no trouble finding transportation to get there. That night Felicity went to Diana’s house to check on her but she hadn’t come back yet. We knew either she’d had to wait so long that she couldn’t find a lorry back or she’d been admitted. I feared the latter because of CSM. The next day her mother went to go see what had happened since Diana doesn’t have a cell phone so has no way of getting in touch with her family. On Friday we found out that she’d been admitted to the hospital with CSM but that she was expected to fully recover. Saturday I went to Sandema for market and ran into her father and one of her friends in the lorry station. Her father is one of the friendliest people I’ve met in the village and always tries speaking English with me even though he’s had no formal education (which means I get called sir but I’m ok with that). I went to the hospital to visit her and received special treatment; I was allowed to see her even though visiting hours were past. That doesn’t mean the security guard was very nice about it but at least he let me into the ward area. I made the visit quick and just wanted to see how she was doing really. She was dressed and up and looked strong. She was hoping to even be discharged the next day but didn’t get released until today. I’m yet to ask her if she took the injection when the nurses came to the school but I am curious. The number of deaths in the Upper East region is now up to 27 which I shared with one of my classes today. I also asked a question on an ICT class test about the signs/symptoms of CSM. One person wrote small malaria (a lot of people here refer to sickness here as malaria even when it’s not which gets rather confusing as you can imagine) which is of course incorrect and brings me to the next topic- five Ghanaian English words/phrases you probably don’t know.

I’ve been meaning to do a longer post with a dictionary of sorts but apparently find that task daunting so decided today just to post them in small small (little) chunks:

Madam Diana this morning upon meeting me outside brushing my teeth outside my house on her way to school: I’ll take the lead (I’ll go first to the place where we’re both headed)

My friend Chris today discussing the heat: Ahhh chalay (friend) this weather makes us tired so we must rest small.

Me every day when I leave school to go to my house to eat lunch: I will go and come.

Other people when I’m departing from their company despite the fact that I’m not at all expected to actually come back: You go and come.

Me either when people knock on my door or when students come to fetch me when it’s time for me to teach but is also used in situations where you leave and many people use it despite having no intention whatsoever of returning: I’m coming

Lazy person’s greeting: How? (meaning How are you? How’s the day? How is it?) Always respond: I am fine (even if you’re not fine at all) or We are fine (if responding in a group setting like school or if you’re a primary school kid who doesn’t yet understand what we means yet).

Discussing American versus British/Ghanaian English pronunciation with my friend Mohammed: I think it’s easier to spell disting using your English instead of trying to spell disting using our pronunciation. Basically instead of using the actual word term for what you mean (in this example disting means words) you use disting instead. Just for fun. Some teachers use it a lot in their classes and I have no idea how students understand what they’re talking about.

More to come next time…

I was telling Mohammed about my attempt to do a bee with my form 1 class today after we revised the class test I gave them yesterday. We’ve finished all the topics for the term and their spelling is absolutely atrocious so I thought doing this would be something fun but helpful too. It went fairly well but ended up doing it more one on one with the students by walking to each student to ask and listen to their spelling. I also had them spell their name first just to practice and feel comfortable. I’ve never been good at spelling aloud and know it’s not easy especially if it’s your second language. 13 of the students spelled their words correctly so we’ll hold a round 2 and subsequent rounds next. But I did have a rather difficult time not chuckling at some of the crazy spellings. I held it together but just barely....

Sorry no photo this week I only took one of a giant spider I was afraid was poisonous (it's not) and one of some of the kiddos playing with balloons in my house. Neither were really pertinent.

Letter to the Health Madam

The Health Madam
Gbedema Junior High School
P.O. Box 10
Sandema

PERMISSION TO BE ABSENT FROM SCHOOL

Dear Madam,

I am very sorry I cannot come to school today. This is because I had a severe
stomach pain last night. I will be going to the hospital today for treatment.

Please tell the class to pray for me so that I can get well soon.

Oh! How I am going to miss all the lessons for today! I hope to join my friends as soon as I am well again.

I hope my permission will be considered.

Yours faithfully,

Linda Abaapo

I received this letter from a student this week and just had to type and share it. It's probably silly of me, but things like this make me love my job here! I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but most everyone's surname (last name) in my village starts with an A. Atiim, Adeba, Ayaric, Akanbaba, Amwami, Azungbiik, Asonka, Amoak, Ajanka, Ayegsi, and the list goes on.

Announcement Announcement Announcement!

Exciting announcement everyone! My leave for August has been approved so looks like I’m coming home for a visit. The dates right now are the 1-24 but they could change slightly since I’m using a stand-by ticket. It’s nice to look forward to the trip back to Atlanta in less than 5 months. Even though this may seem like a long time, time has been flying by pretty fast for me so I’m sure it’ll be here in no time.

Mango season is finally here so that makes me one very happy lady. Mango is my favorite fruit and there are mango trees all around my village so I can get fruit here instead of having to go buy it in the market. Plus I was getting pretty tired of my daily orange. It’s nice to add some variety. My student Felicity who stays with me has been bringing some from her house and other neighbors and fellow teachers of mine have also been sharing with me so to make it even better I’ve gotten them for free! Another plus, to eating an orange or mango every day is invariable I get it stuck in my teeth so it forces me to floss. Flossing is something I aspire to do on a daily basis but back in the States I was always lazy. But here I need to plus have the time so it’s a good habit to form.

Two of my students, Sarah and Diana, last week asked me to go for training with them. Though I didn’t like their reason (they’d heard men don’t like big women), I agreed to go with them because I want to promote exercise and definitely could use some myself. Thankfully the past week it has been a bit cooler (more on that to come) so it was bearable to go for a short run. We just started small and ran to the nearby dam and back. Besides it being good for my body it also helps me be social since I greet people along the way. Also the kids run out to the path and I give them high fives. Sometimes they even join in and run with us for a little while. I could already tell once we got back that I was going to be really sore since I’ve lost a lot of muscle here. Only Diana and I went for a run yesterday so I hope tomorrow it’s not just me alone.

On Sunday while waiting for 3 hours for the lorry to come to go to Sandema market, I sat a while with Madam Diana, the other lady teacher at the school. She started waiting even earlier than me. I was asking her about the weather because the wind is still around thankfully but I thought it was supposed to be gone by now. She said usually in March it’s just hot with no wind so everyone is saying that God has answered their prayers about CSM (Cerebro Spinal Meningitis) not spreading. The dryness makes it easier for it to spread. Transportation is definitely an issue in our community. We didn’t even get to Sandema until noon on Sunday so many of the market women who sells their goods from our village lost valuable time where they could be making money.

Our form 3 students are in the process of writing down their names and nicknames so they can get t-shirts made since they are about to ‘graduate.’ Today some of the girls asked me to help give them nicknames because they didn’t like theirs. I came up with Smiling Sweetheart for one girl named Gifty who smiles a lot and Princess of Laughter for Felicity who stays with me since she likes to laugh. My other roommate Sarah was also looking for one so when I saw her dancing while walking away from school this afternoon I thought of a perfect one- Dancing Queen. I then went home and played the Abba song for her. We also had fun taking pictures with my web cam! I took the one with the New York skyline to go with my homecoming announcement and like the one of Felicity wearing her princess crown. We’ll see if the nicknames actually stick or if like typical teenagers they change it to something else tomorrow. During class with them today I was advising them to make sure to have their own math set (containing a protractor, compass, ruler, etc) before they take their big test next month. They were trying to tell me they didn’t have enough money (one costs 1 cedi, 50 pewawas) so I asked them how much their t-shirts were going to cost. 8 cedis... enough said.

Changes Small

Last term as the health madam I requested for funds to buy new medicines for the school and also containers for water. Finally this term the money was approved and given to me to spend. Last week in Sandema I bought two large containers and took them to a man who added taps to them. Since we had holidays last week we didn’t start using them but today we did! This is victory to be celebrated in my role as the health madam even though it’s only a small change and on-going education is still needed. One container to be used for drinking water is now in the form 2 classroom and the other container is outside our office for handwashing. Previously there was just one small container (see 'before' photo) with cups that was mostly used for the teachers so the students had to go to the borehole to drink water.

We announced last week that students should start bringing their own drinking cups to school. At first I thought this was a great idea but upon further reflection and research to determine all the diseases transmitted by sharing cups although of course it’s a good idea and the best way it’s not as important as I thought. But regardless I spoke with my students yesterday about hygiene: bringing their own cups (one girl already did) and then hand-washing. For handwashing we discussed the following five facts taken from a handout on Global Handwashing Day that I used last term:
1) Handwashing with soap is the single most cost-effective health intervention.

A $3.35 investment in handwashing brings the same health benefits as an $11.00 investment in latrine construction, a $200.00 investment in household water supply, and an investment of thousands of dollars in immunization.

2) Washing hands with water alone is not enough!
I mentioned to my students that I’ve observed that many people here only wash their hands (or just the hand they plan to eat with) with water prior to eating and then more often with soap after eating to clean the food off their hands. The students knew exactly what I was talking about. In fact, even last night this happened to me as I was over at someone’s house and they offered me food but only brought water to wash hands with before and then brought out the soap afterwards. We also talked about how soap is readily available since it’s used for bathing (Ghanaians bathe twice a day), washing clothes, and doing dishes.

3) Handwashing with soap can prevent diseases that kill millions of children a year.
Handwashing with soap is among the most effective ways to prevent diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, which together are responsible for the majority of child deaths. Every year, more than 3.5 million children do not live to celebrate their fifth birthday because of diarrhea and
pneumonia.

4) Use soap to wash your hands after using the toilet or cleaning a child and before handling food (eating or cooking).

I think a lot of people wash their hands only from a cleanliness perspective- as in when they can see dirt on themselves. So we talked about how washing hands after cleaning the chalkboard, farming, picking up rubbish, etc is good but that these other times are even more important.

5) You can be an agent of change!

I asked them to go home and share these facts with their family members especially their younger brothers and sisters who look up to them.

Here is the after or now photo- I wanted to try to snap a photo of a student washing their hands but then felt silly so opted for just the container:

Life in the Village...

... where each day was like all others' ~The Alchemist

Recently I found out one of my form 2 students got married and moved to a nearby village so won’t be coming to school any more. This happens pretty often here; rumor has it another one of my girls got married last term but she still comes to school. When I first arrived in my village, I had my students fill out an index card containing info about themselves to help me get to know them. During the example I gave, I wrote something about marital status single or married and joked that we didn’t need this one. In retrospect how foolish I was! Coming in as an outsider I was completely oblivious to the reality of many aspects of life here. Another illustration, during a PTA meeting last term I gave basic facts on HIV/AIDS to the parents using a UNICEF booklet. One of the prevention techniques is to be faithful to one uninfected partner which got lots of laughs from the audience since its typical here for men to have multiple wives. For example, the chief has five wives.

I commissioned a man in my village to make two wooden ‘lazy’ chairs for my house and he finished yesterday. Today some kids came to visit so I snapped photos of them (you can see the chairs in the background). I’d seen the boy Kweku around before but learned today that he can hear people but when he speaks it doesn’t make much sense. I let him listen to my iPod today and we danced together while the girls painted and jumped rope. Sometimes I enjoy when the kids come to visit me more than adults because with them I can just play but with older folks I struggle to make small talk.
Last week I had a bad day which happens here just like it does back in America. I feel like my teaching isn’t very effective, the students don’t respect, other teachers aren’t doing their jobs, etc. After going home, crying and watching TV shows on my laptop for a while I decided I needed to get out of the house and stop wallowing. So I asked to borrow a bicycle and setup for the Kunkwak dam, farther away than the dam I usually walk to (about a 40 minute bike ride roundtrip). It was great to get out, exercise, and see other sections of the village. I didn’t even think about the fact that I might finally spot a crocodile. Which is probably precisely why I did get to see it; funny how that works. It was just chilling, floating with only its head visible in the middle of the dam. I’ve wanted to see one in our local dam since first arriving and being told they reside there. People bathe, wash clothes/dishes, go fishing, and swim in these but the docile crocs don’t bother them. I also ran into a few students who live out there including the two boys who stay with my friend Chris so they can study at night. They were fishing so I spent time with them and met one of the boys Sunday’s younger brothers. They tried to give me the only fish they’d caught so far but I protested and told them next time when they had caught more I’d accept. So Sunday when I returned from my weekend away they gave me a smoked fish which turned out to be quite delicious. Sometimes I don’t enjoy the fish here but other times it’s pretty tasty.

I’ve had the past two days off from school because of the Independence Day holiday yesterday. Usually in the district capitals students do marching to celebrate but our school didn’t participate this year. I stayed home until around 5 in the evening to just relax. In the evenings this week I’ve been going to the site of my friend Chris’ house he’s building to see the progress of the roofing work and snap photos. On the way yesterday I stopped in our town center to buy some groundnuts and much to my delight women at one of the stores where they recently added on were working on pounding the floor while singing and dancing. I snapped some photos which they loved. I also took a video which I hope to post next month when I go south for a conference. I’ve been storing up lots of photos of village life so can’t wait to share those then!

I went to Chi(a)na!

Friday I ventured to Chiana (pronounced China) in the next district over to visit my friend Vince. Vince is Chinese American now living in ‘China’ Ghana. Two other friends met me there so we had a small party. We watched Vince play in the teachers versus students football match at his SHS. During the half, the Azonto was blared on the girls so we girls started dancing small (translate: a little) when instantly a circle of students and children formed. I then hid behind a camera since I got shy. It got awkward quickly because we were just being stared at while good despite wanting them to join us. Especially since Ghanaians are generally good dancers. It was a nice weekend- Friday night we had somehow pad thai and did a lot of catch up talking. Saturday we made pumkin pancakes with banana orange sauce, chicken dogs for lunch, played Bananagrams for a long while, hiked the ‘mountain’ (translate: small hill) for a pretty view, dined at a spot in town, and watched a movie. Chiana is a good sized town with a PO and police station and it was nice to take a much needed break from my village. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but hopefully someone else will post pictures soon.

On my way back home Sunday I had to sit and wait for a lorry to Sandema in Chuchulga. While I was sitting and reading, the Sandema police drove by and then a few minutes later passed again coming back. A few minutes later it came by and that’s when people started running to the street to look and make noise. I didn’t know what was going on but later found out they were chasing an armed robber on a moto but the police car couldn’t pass the way he rode. Too much excitement for me!