Akwaaba to Ghana! Welcome to Ghana!

Let me familiarize you with some Ghanaian terms and people:
1. Tro Tro- The tro tro is a mini-bus. It is a 3-4 rowed van that acts as a local taxi. They jam as many people as possible into the tro tro and proceed to drive where-ever, collecting money as they go. There are seats at the end of each row that can fold up or down, depending on how many humans the tro tro will be transporting. This is an especially fun mode of transportation on a very hot day with lots of dust flying through the windows. They usually sport stickers on their back windows, mostly like Jesus Blessed or God's Love, Roots, or something like that, along with completely non-cohesive pictures of a white baby or a some Karate Kid looking fella. Quite amusing. The program has it's own tro tro and driver, and it seems luxurious compared to the public ones. We are often treated to a live round of drumming and songs by our musicians and dancers. Ghanaian radio, gotta love it.
An aside: Ghana is a very religious country so every little shop or cart is called "God's Love Barber" or "Blessed Be Fast Food, " or "Praise Allah Catering." Ghanaians are very literal people.
2. Fu Fu, Kenke, and Jollof rice-
African foods. Fu Fu is like a mush dough made from cassava root that is served in stew(there is this peanut stew that everyone eats). You eat it one handed(right-handed), and don't chew(it has no taste). It's a bit like taking a jello shot. No offense to Abby, but ew. Fu Fu is a no no. Kenke is the African tamale, a corn meal ball cooked inside the corn leaves, served with a smoked fish and sort of salsa (a spicy sauce on the side). It tastes a bit like sour-dough bread, and is pretty yummy. Jollof is a fried rice that is very spicy and tasty--however the spice was too extreme for our already weary tummies and we couldn't really eat it. Oh well. You can get anything with fish, chicken or goat here, in stews or on kabobs but I haven't really ventured into the meat-on-a-stick realm yet. I really enjoy this dish Auntie Dinah makes, which is like a cabbage stew over rice with fish. It tastes like stuffed cabbage because it has a tomato base.
Other delicacies you can try in Ghana are plantains--dried, fried, cooked--, peanuts, pineapple, watermelons, bananas, bread and pizza. Oh yes, Pizza. We went into the city last night for pizza and I have to say it wasn't half bad. The electricity was out in our village, so we stayed on at a little outside bar and watched a troupe of acrobats perform on the street. They had a pygmy with them, who we first mistook for a 5 year boy. Interesting, indeed.
3. Obronie, Obri Brene and Fine-
I, my friends, am an Obronie. It means white. So when I walk down the street, I hear children cry "Obronie, Obronie!" They really just want you to respond to them, so we yell back, "Obri Brene!" Which means black. It's hilarious, and they giggle, just happy to have you acknowledge them. (Ob-ron-ee, and Obrey-breanie are what they sound like)
We joke about ourselves as Obronies but as we always travel with locals, the merchants say I'm Obri brene and give me good prices! Score.
Whenever you ask someone how they are, they reply "I am fine." So it's ok to ask someone, "Are you fine?" I think it means good, so fine is good, and fine is fine. Sometimes, when you are asking someone a question such as, "Are you going to the market?" They will answer, "Yes, please." Communication here is funny because most people speak English but a lot of things are lost in translation.
4. Godziela-
Godziela (sic: Godzilla) is really my brother, Ebenezer. He is really well known around town because he sings and raps. So wherever we go, people yell out "Godziela!" It's funny because his father (the head of our host family) has a brother who is a chief, so he is a prince. We get escorted around town by a famous rapper/prince. He is a very sweet man who always helps us, breaks into song and dance, and makes me laugh. I had the distinct pleasure of telling him the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, which he hadn't heard before.
5. Issac-
Issac is one of the dancers with our program, but he is also our 24-hour concierge/servant. He is originally from Cameroon, but found himself here and now lives with our program directors. Like many of the young people here, is has lost a parent and lost touch with his family, so he basically is at the mercy of helpful friends or strangers. But through the program he is able to dance and interact with the volunteers--and he is amazing at it. A beautiful dancer, a full of life young man who is immature at times, but animated, engaging and very kind-hearted.
*I can condense my other friends into a few sentences...Iddi is drummer/dancer, a quite, considerate person who is laid back and cool. Rasta is the Sankofa Center communications person, who translates into local languages at our Outreach. He is soft-spoken, smart, and polite. Ronnie and James are the Cali and Local directors, respectively, and I have to say, I haven't spent as much time with them as I have the others, but Ronnie is very dedicated to the cause of spreading AIDS awareness(if anyone is familiar with my old boss Angela, he is sort of like her).
6. SANKOFA CENTER FOR AFRICAN DANCE AND CULTURE-
This is the program...the reason I am here. This week was the beginning of our outreach! On Tues. we traveled to a local school and demonstrated our dance dramas. They all combine traditional dances and hypothetical situations about contracting HIV/AIDS. Our first performance was a hit! The children seemed to love it! Afterward, we rewarded ourselves with a swim at a local motel in a very dirty, but chlorinated, and refreshing pool.
So Wed. we returned to the same school and did our AIDS informational seminar, followed by questions and answers and a game. They seemed to retain a lot of info, however, it was a lot to learn in a short period of time. Today was the most intense program experience yet--we, the volunteers, musicians, and dancers, traveled to a little village up on a jungley hillside. It seemed even nicer than where we are living, but something tells me they lack the "modern" conveniences that we do, i.e. they are POOR. So we did a large scale version of what we do at the schools, including the dance dramas, AIDS 101, counseling and TESTING! Yes, ladies and gents, I took part in testing other human beings for the HIV virus. I am not a medical professional, although I do not think it is a prerequisite here (in fact I know that it's not), butI therefore was not pricking fingers and drawing blood (this was done by my new hero Beth, and in a very sanitary and safe matter, might I add) but using the chemical buffer on their blood samples to see whether or not they were HIV positive. This was all of our first experiences with this sort of thing, and so it was extremely heart-wrenching; 2 out of about 27 people tested positive. I think it scared Beth the most, because she administered the tests, had to actually draw their blood ( in medical gloves, of course). I believe it was disheartening because both of them were women and both had or were pregnant with young children. But I rationalized that the facts were the facts and that these people had the disease out there and that with the knowledge of their status they are now able to be proactive, to get the ARV drugs and protect their children. So it goes in an AIDS ridden world, continent, country. We can't escape the ugliness and we can't escape the reality. I feel good about enabling people to make good choices about their futures. Hopefully all the negative people have listened to our message and will now practice safer sex and be tested regularly. This will most likely be my schedule for the next 4 weeks. And you know what? That is when I feel best, when I can forget myself, focus on the task at hand, and contribute.
BUT--tomorrow we leave for Cape Coast, for a get away to the beach and the rainforest. God, I love weekends!
Meda se = Thank you!
For reading. For supporting me! I love you!