Leaving Ghana

I was a lot wiser when I left Ghana. Visiting Ghana made me rethink about Africa and its people. It is clear that Africa has been misrepresented big time. Africa is everything but the outdated images that one sees in the media. Ghana had little jungle and no jungle folks. National geographic by condensing information paints pictures of worlds that are not true.

Also realized that Kwame Nkrumah has not yet taken his rightful place in history. Amazing man and visionary. Some day Ghana will follow the trend set by Nkrumah
and find real prosperity.

Independence day parade

6 th March was Ghana's independence day. We went to see the parade. One wonders when nations did not have freedom, the leaders were so accessible. Their lives were a lot threatened then. But leaders of free nations seem so distant and afraid. The president was recognized by the amount of security surrounding his car. The ex president could be seen from the window of his car and he waved to the crowds. But the traditional leader walked bare feet among the crowds. I realized then that I can only connect to a leader who connects to me in the crowd.

The search for fresh fish

Accra is coastal but fresh fish is hard to find. Unlike other coastal towns there are no large fish markets around. I need to get to the bottom of this. My search for fresh fish took me to a market behind a castle. The squalor was heart rending. I came back disturbed. The music, the art, and the manners of the people camouflage the material discomforts. The initial awareness of problems dims as time goes by. The trip to find fish brought me back to reality again. No people should be treated thus. The government must act and clean up the drainage system at once. Clean surroundings
brings in prosperity along with it.

Music in Ghana

Music in Ghana is awesome. The place can easily become New Orleans.

Public transport in Ghana

Public transport in Ghana is mostly taxis and tro tros. There are buses too but it is difficult to find any information about it. Yesterday, we decided to go to Koforidua using a STC bus. We got to the Bus station and there are no people manning the information counter. The lady at the ticket counter only said "Go to the circle" and she would say nothing more. Miss the US VTA systems, where the person on the other end of the phone line, will give you the best possible routes, and more than one option. So then we went from one bus stop to the other. Finally, we went to Nkwakwa instead of Koforidua. It was 4 hrs each way and it was really late when we got back home. When on work vacation, the best part is going any where is quite fun. But I need to find a way to extract information from non cooperating STC employees in Ghana.

Art in Ghana

Art in Ghana is sophisticated, contemporary, and affordable. I hope it always stays so. Its quite a thrill to explore art in Ghana.

The new site for Ashesi university

Ashesi university is shifting to a new site on the outskirts of Accra. Ashesi means
"The beginning" in Ashanti language (Tre). I think it is a start too. When I look at my students I am kind of sorry because they carry a burden of expectations. The expectation to change Ghana for the better. It a humongous task. We all expect them to measure up.

Witchcraft and tradition

Yesterday I watched the documentary "The Witches of Gambaga" at Ashesi university and got a chance to speak to the director of this documentary. The documentary was very disturbing and I did not sleep a wink last night thinking about the women who were branded as witches and living in camps for witches. Any woman can be branded as a witch and when she is branded so, she has to leave home, family, and land, and go live in a camp for witches. If men are found guilty of witchcraft they do not have to leave anything. Every woman in Northern Ghana may be afraid that this could happen to them.

This is injustice. When I asked whether there is a punishment for people who treat women so, the director said this was tradition. And change will be slow. People want to preserve tradition. I do not understand this. If something is wrong, the culprit needs to be punished. I do not care if the crime is traditional or not. All the people who are involved in making women suffer after branding them a witch must be punished.

Moreover, if a woman needs to leave home for being a witch, she should be allowed to take her children with her. These women witches who do not seek justice, and have no desire for revenge against society who treated them so, kept me awake last night. I am seriously touched and concerned.

Slavery and West Africa

West Africa was worst hit by slavery. The Cape Coast castle is a grim reminder of a horrific past. The dark dungeons where slaves lived among defecation, or the coffin ships (in which slaves were packed like sardines) that carried slaves far away from Africa was inhumane. The slaves had to lie down for the entire journey. In no trade even of the worst kind, did so many people die. It was a dirty war on these people. As we witness the door of no return for a slave, we are relieved that slavery is abolished and will never return.

Cape Coast Castle

Find me my African god

I went to a discussion last Friday where people were looking for an African god. The theme was most cultures have their own gods but Africans have lost theirs. Their gods are given to them by the West or the Middle East. It is kind of funny. Mainly because Europeans got their god from the middle east. Jesus now looks European with his blue eyes and blond hair. But most of us know that this is just an artist's interpretation of what Jesus looks like. Or do we? The people I was talking to in Ghana think that Jesus looks like a white man so he cannot be our god. But Europeans on the other hand took a middle eastern god and made him look European. The Chinese god Buddha also came from India and is not Chinese. But now Buddhism is a Chinese religion and China do not think of Buddhism as foreign. If Africans are truly looking for a religion from Africa then the Egyptian ancient religion is a good option. It might be interesting to see how that will go and who will be the new priests of this revived religion.

Also this conversation made me realize that every one needs a religion. Religion gives you a backbone of morals and also a means to analyze your life time and again. I for one do not care where my religion came from as long as the bunch of morals proposed appeals to me.

Where is the Fufu?

My search of fufu always resulted eating banku. Banku is fermented maize and is quite yummy. I ate the meal below all wrong. You are supposed to put pieces of fish and chilly paste in to a small ball of banku and eat it. I ate the fish first and then the banku and chilli paste. Not bad but would have been better if I had eaten it right. Our friend only explained the proper procedure at the end of the meal. Anyways, this is a meal I am looking forward to eating again. Cheers!

The not so impressive Okra soup: The okra soup was really sticky. This comes from adding water before the water of the okra is dried. This would be a strict no no in India. But I am told that is how Ghanians like their okra soup.

Three weeks in Accra and no Fufu to be found. So I made some myself from a powdered version. In Accra no one uses this version. They pound boiled yams and cassava. But since they were not selling any I had to make my own. Its not kneaded in to perfect balls but it tastes awesome with home made okra soup.

The university of Ghana

The university of Ghana is a huge lovely campus. The Botanical garden had plenty of blue birds I am guessing are hoopoes and rollers. Beautiful butterflies flew all around. We walked a long way till we reached a lake. The trees by the lake was full of nesting egrets. I saw baby egrets for the first time. I also saw a pied king fisher. Unfortunately the bird book I borrowed from the library is outdated and inadequate. University of Ghana looks a lot like IIT Mumbai with its tree lined roads. At the lake a man came and asked for money to visit the lake. Apparently the lake was private property. I first thought he was swindling but later we got a receipt.

University of Ghana

National museum in Accra

I really liked the national museum. We were supposed to go to National art center but the cab driver took us to the museum instead. This is a museum which is also a shop. The products are quite good and reasonably priced. The entrance fee is 7 cedis per person. I picked up an earring with symbols that say god is within me. I did not know that the symbol meant that in Ashanti but now I know because a few people told me so. I also picked up a nice original painting. My goal of no more decorating with prints like a grad student is completely plausible in Ghana with the choice of art and pricing. The national art center in turn turned out to be very hassly. The shop keepers were aggressively trying to sell their products and they crowd around you. I did not like the center much because of the attitude but I found one shop to pick up good bead products. I might have to return to the center to visit that shop again.

Ghana Beads are really beautiful and I plan to explore it more.

Some images from the national museum in Accra

Rethinking slavery

A visit to the museum and conversations made me think of slavery again. You cannot escape the theme in Ghana. West Africa might have been the worst hit by slavery. I still need to go to Cape coast to see the gates of no return but I am coming to a better understanding already.

Slavery already existed in Africa, way before the westerners began dabbling in it. The Arabs sold slaves from West Africa to East Africans. The argument is that this trading was a lot more humane than what the Europeans did. Possibly.

A few months back I watched many documentaries of Cattle herders. The Tibetans were really gentle and cared, the Iranians cared less but they did care. The children carried lambs in their arms while migrating. But the westerners cared very little. The lambs would be dragged around by feet and there was no personal connection with the animals.

Yes the scale of trade matters. But to treat people like commodities was a crime in humanity but justified even in many religious texts. I would say that we must treat every living thing with a lot more respect because at a later day our actions will turn around to haunt us.

The Makola market fiasco

I went to Makola market yesterday with my camera expecting to take plenty of pictures. Some women got real angry and would not allow pictures of the place.
They threatened to pour water on my camera and said the police will catch me. Pretty quickly, my camera went back in to the bag it came from. Too bad because otherwise we would have had some fun pictures. I did manage to get a few. Enjoy!

Some images from Makola market

Our Landlady and the home baked cake she gave me yesterday.

Mango trees everywhere. No shortage of mango pickles in my kitchen.

The school that becomes many churches on Sunday!

About Red Red and other things

Today I had red red for lunch at school. This dish consists of fried bananas (plantains) and bean curry. The bean curry is red. I do not know why it is called red-red. It was good. But now I am too full. With a faculty discount the meal comes to a dollar or less. So if I was complaining about high prices, school lunches are not among those.

In fact this is the second time I have tried outside food, with being sick and busy and all that. I have not had fufu yet but I did taste banku, which is similar to fufu, which I liked very much. The markets around where we live are uninteresting. The land lady and others have offered to take me around. I stop at the Land lady's house for a chat when I go back from school. People here are really friendly and orderly. No rushing, pushing, or shouting. Every one speaks English even road side sellers. They also speak Ga in Accra. In other cities they speak different languages.

There are 37 students in my class right now. It is a pleasure to see them hard at work on the hw which is due on Thursday. A little hard work hurt no one, so they say!

Dust allergy and a wasted weekend in Accra

It is the Harmattan season in Ghana and there is dust from the Sahara desert everywhere. I cannot see any dust but I can feel it. And with my dust allergy, I was coughing and sneezing the last few days. I wore a towel veil all day and that made me feel better. I am sure the French president wont mind a full face cover if a woman is protecting herself from dust.

Everything is quite expensive in Ghana. I was making weekend plans which would have come to naught anyways since I was sick. But the point is that the tour operator decided to charge 400 dollars for a day trip. I say America is quite cheap compared to the rest of the world these days. It is 125 dollars a day for renting a car and you pay for a full tank on top of that. The stores in Ghana, at least in the parts I live, have few choices in goods. A lot of products are imported and costs three times US prices. So my meals are rather simple. In a way that is a good thing. In the US we consume too much whether it is food or other stuff.

I figured the cheapest way to explore will be by bus or hiring a taxi for a whole day. But I will worry about that in the weekend, since I will be busy teaching the next few days.

Wishing all good health and cheer.

Good bye for now from Ghana.

First week in Ghana - Finally in Africa!

I finally have time to realize that I am in Africa. As I walked to school today, I saw this lovely yellow butterfly, I have never seen before. The butterfly was really beautiful. Accra, Ghana, does not spell Africa all the time, because it is a city. Moreover, I am busy with school. But once in a while the flash of colors of a butterfly, a colorful lizard, or a bird I have never seen before brings me to awareness that I am indeed in Africa!

As I walk down the market the beaded jewelry is all ceramic and really beautiful. Africa means strong colors. The people have given up colors but the flora and fauna have not and it is quite a thrill. People of Ghana are really friendly. I have never come across friendly people like this. On Sunday, a school was transformed in to a bunch of churches. All the singing from these different groups made me feel like it is Christmas time. They kept shaking hands and welcoming us, strangers from a different land.

The art and people of Ghana rocks. Now on the down side, Ghana really needs to work on its sewage systems. The current sewage systems in Accra is unacceptable and needs more urgent attention than global warming. I will ask the world to step in and help these wonderful people address this health hazard. I am at a loss how alarm bells did not ring for any one yet, for me it surely did.

Teaching in Ghana is no different from teaching in America. The TA system, course outline, even the books are familiar. This week was busy figuring out school. Hopefully the weekend will be spend figuring out Africa.

Cheers!