Happy Birthday, Ghana!

March 6th was Ghana’s 53rd anniversary and Sue and I spent a wonderful evening at a concert of hymns and patriotic songs performed by the KNUST College Choir at the Great Hall on campus. The group was excellent – as good as any college choir I have heard - and the included selections from Handel’s Israel in Egypt, which they will perform in Accra at the National Theatre if they raise adequate funds, were exceptional. A very loud synthesized organ playing through a distorted bass amp was the only flaw during the evening – the low notes were especially fuzzy, but the mood was jubilant and the spirit was clearly in the house. We were very proud to be introduced, along with others, as “dignitaries,” and a faculty member who met her husband while a chorister in the mid-70s gave a rousing and hilarious appeal for support for the Accra trip.

Leah (our daughter) and Kris (her husband) spent this past week with us. We picked them in Accra and drove down to Cape Coast where we visited the Castle (Obama and Michelle posters remain intact everywhere), then went to Elmina to see the amazing harbour and ship building facilities.

The Castle moved me more than I had expected – it was the epicenter of British (if the not the world’s) slave trade.

We had a pleasant ride back to Kumasi in our rented Land Rover-class vehicle and stopped along the way to walk the canopy rope bridge in Kakum National Park – seven interconnected bridges 120 feet above the ground.

L and K gave a talk to students in the Publishing program while here; it was a giant hit. Leah was introduced first, then when the MC introduced Kris and said he was Leah’s husband, the crowd of nearly 200 gave a roar of approval. The class was very attentive and gave repeated collective vocal responses to the topics at hand. The biggest reaction came when Leah explained that many of the higher-quality color children’s books are printed in China because “The US doesn’t have the resources…” That appeared to be an unimaginable concept. The class concluded with one of the students being asked to thank the speakers on behalf of the entire group – he improvised some very thoughtful and heartfelt remarks. Afterwards, the Head of the Department added her own warm wishes and gave both Leah and Kris beautiful hand-painted framed paintings as tokens of thanks.

Perhaps the highlight of the week was our two-hour dance lecture/workshop in which the top KNUST dance instructor (Reggie, also an excellent drummer) and two drummers showed us moves from three of the main Ghanaian regional dances. After he explained a bit about the history and practice of each, we all joined in and tried our best to learn the steps. We got a real workout and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Our busy week also included leisurely visits to the Kumasi National Cultural center and the Asantehene’s palace (Leah was inducted as an honorary Queen Mother) as well as a very hectic and intense visit to the Central Market, the largest market in West Africa (over 10,000 stalls) on what may have been the hottest day we have had yet. L and K flew home from Accra at the end of the week and arrived safely courtesy Delta Airlines – we miss them already.

Around Town
Sue and I went to a concert this weekend that was the opening event of a weeklong Francophone festival. (http://www.20mars.francophonie.org/10155-Semaine-francophone-a-Kumasi-Ghana)

The show included a French Yves Montand-style accordion singer/dancer named Florent Vantringer who brought out a couple of Ghanaian drummers midway through his set (it didn’t work). He and his group (bass and drums) played well, but it was about the most Western European/Caucasian-centric music I’ve ever heard (the obrunis were even clapping on 1 and 3.. ouch!), and I have no clue what the many Ghanaians in the audience (many of whom probably came to hear the next act) must have thought of the band. There were a few hesitant attempts at dancing to the music (my drum teacher says music without dance is pointless), but for the most part, Vantringer received only luke warm applause. A very popular hiphop (sort of) singer named Bradez was the headliner - he started his set by dancing around the stage in a bright orange jumpsuit, affecting a very Western-style hiphop/rap manner while singing in Twi (with some beautiful alliteration).

For his next song, he sat at an electronic keyboard and it occurred to me that it is very hard to look badass while seated at a piano. In fact, Bradez’ group consisted of a classical (Spanish) guitar, a drummer performing on several Ghanaian drums (palogo and djembe), and an electric bass player; not a very hard-edged combination. There was a group of about 20 young girls, aged maybe 12 – 15, seated next to us who shouted out every word of every song. Midway through a performance of Bradez’ newest hit – a very pale (I vi IV V I) 60s-style bubble gum number, we left. (The transformation from aggressive hipster to teeny-bop popper was striking.) Sort of wish we had skipped the whole thing and gone to a concert of Ghanaian music that was at a venue across town (there aren’t a lot of cultural events in Kumasi).

But we did meet a nice fellow who owns a small guest house in Kumasi and doubles as a meat supplier to some local high-end restaurants. He told us he could get us bacon, sausage, ground meat, and pork chops, none of which we have had since December. We also had the pleasure of meeting a very well known Ghanaian street artist who goes by the name of  “Almighty God”
 (http://web.mac.com/fabriziosommaruga/NERART/Almighty_God_CV_.html). The work is very colorful and full of meaning - we hope to catch him at his studio before long.

On Language
Sign on a bus: “rust in God”
Menu offering at local restaurant: “Chicken baked in bread cramps, with salad or chips.” (another line offered “Jambokaya”)
When passing a broken down vehicle on the highway, our driver reported that “The car is sick.”
When I mentioned how much I liked my driver’s new car, he smiled and said, “The car is fresh.”

I learned a new expression recently: Woa didi. Woa didi means “Have you eaten today?” It is used as a follow-up to the expression meaning “How are you.” So after someone asks you how you are and you tell them you are well, you are asked “Have you eaten today?,” meaning, are you doing so well that you have actually had an opportunity to eat something? Also learned that the response I had been hearing to my own question about one’s well being is “Nyame Adom” – “By God’s Grace (… I’m still alive and kicking).”

At the Home
Except for the week traveling with Leah and Kris, I’ve been going to the children’s home three afternoons per week. On a recent visit I asked one of the younger girls what country was next to Ghana and she said “China.” (China in Africa - so scary. Read China Safari!) So the next visit I brought a bunch of maps of Africa showing the country borders without any names along with some maps that displayed the countries and their names and asked the kids to write the correct names in the blanks on all the countries. We then listed the names on the blackboard by letter: “How many start with A, how many with B, etc.” and then counted them all when we were finished (53). I also brought a very large colored map of Africa on nice, thick glossy paper and hung that on one of the doors of the compound. (I have a puzzle of the African continent that I’ll bring some time in the future.) Also bought them all purses and bags during our recent trip to the weaving village, which Leah and Kris had the pleasure of distributing.

Our farm worker informed us that our soil was not great and that the sprouts weren’t progressing on schedule. He advised us to use some chicken manure as fertilizer and when we agreed, he set off on his motorcycle and returned with a 50-pound bag of the stuff. When he sprinkled it on the ground, I immediately associated the smell with tobacco – maybe from some time spent in North Carolina at summer camp or perhaps something in Louisiana (is it grown there?) in the past – but the association was strong (as was the smell!). We’re hopeful that the watermelon, tomatoes and cukes we initially planted along with the new seeds that L and K brought will be ready to harvest before we leave (the trip is half over this weekend).

We bought a couple of deck loungers made from nice fabric in Kente colors.  They look and feel great on our large back porch, which provides us with a great view of the dense tropical vegetation in our back yard.

We can also watch our neighbor’s goats wandering around amongst the banana trees. Ants have discovered a way into our Tupperware so now we wrap everything inside plastic freezer bags before we put it in the Tupperware.


The water supply has been more reliable recently, though we still have no water at least one or two days a week (we never know which). The electricity tends to go out several times per day, with a long blackout overnight earlier this week, but in general also seems more reliable. I read an article that said the national power companies are less than 10% away from absolute maximum capacity (no one talks about “conservation”) and that unless a planned expansion of the power plant is finished quickly, there will be routine national blackouts. Many of the district and regional representatives complain that Accra, the capital, gets more than its share… Not sure how that will all play out. Also learned that the best guess as to Ghana’s percentage of the revenue from the oil production due to start later this year is 38%. Unclear how to assess that number – I’ll ask a buddy in the chemical energy department at school – but I wonder if that is the best they can expect.

Lost another lecture due to a power outage in class last week; only two more weeks of class after this one. Very much enjoying my discussions with a prof. on the color symbolism in Kente as well as the actual weaving, which is ridiculously hard and requires hours of prep even before the first threads are crossed.

 If I’m lucky, I’ll finish with a single 5-inch strip of cloth, perhaps a few yards long, ready to take away, though my technician has already done a lot more work on it than I have. I now appreciate even more the amazing skill of the professionals we saw on our recent trip to one of the weaving villages.

In Local News

Lots of regional conflicts in the news, including Niger, Cote D’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and of course the chronic mess in Nigeria. Also a deadly conflict in northern Ghana related to rival claimants to the local chieftaincy. Coincidentally, when L, K and I were at the palace, there was a durbar on the conflict ordered by the Asantehene taking place at that very moment. We peeked in on the very large crowd but didn’t get a good look at the King.

After reading an article on the topic in Africa Watch, a magazine that I read thoroughly each month, I did some further research into the CIA’s involvement in the demise of Kwame Nkrumah; hadn’t known any of those details. Just one more event in the sad history of western interference and meddling in Africa (also watched a great film on Patrice Lumumba – another tragic story).

There’s building excitement about this summer’s World Cup and Ghana’s participation in same. We watched all of the Africa’s Cup matches and have also been watching games between the major European teams and it seems pretty clear that Ghana will have its hands full.

I’m still trying to watch the Super Bowl on TV; found a huge HD file that I downloaded via BitTorrent (thanks Kris!) and have been trying to convert the unusual format (MKV) to something I can edit and ultimately get onto a DVD – I’ll get it done, no matter how long it takes.

(Disclaimer: The following comments are not intended as gross generalizations or stereotypes. They are based on numerous personal observations and encounters.)

It’s becoming increasingly clear that a vast majority of the people have very little in the way of material resources; a large number of homes immediately outside of town and even in the city are extremely poor and we understand the situation is even worse in the north of the country. Yet for many people, there appears to be a safety net provided through the extended family network. It doesn’t look like anyone is starving – if you can’t afford to feed all of your children, you are likely to send a couple to a relative, and if you have a friend or clansmen who has even a little more than you do, then you can be sure that he or she will give you absolutely everything that can be spared.

We have not detected any sarcasm or cynicism among the people we’ve met. Everyone seems honest and sincere – there’s even a sense of innocence. It’s quite remarkable that people can be so upbeat in such an environment – a smile is an instant away from every face – and of course there is always hope (irrefutable) that tomorrow will be better. The Western world could learn a lot.