shani in ghana

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2007-07-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

7/17/07

I am home (my mamma’s house) as a matter of fact I have been home for about a month now…my brother came to visit at the end of may for about 2/3 days - we went to cape coast, medie (the village), the market, osu…we definitely fit a lot into the time that he was there… he really enjoyed himself

He was so proud of me and it made me feel really good and actually see what we were doing there which was living and integrating into the society…

While he was there my throat started hurting and by the last day I had a serious fever…I got sick and after he left I went to the hospital…they said well we don’t see any malaria parasites or typhoid but your blood looks just like malaria…so he said that he would treat me for malaria and upper respiratory infection….the fever would not go away and I kept feeling worse so we went back to hospital and then they gave me malaria injection and some medicine (pills) for malaria that were so strong that … well lets just say that they were VERY strong…then greg got sick same fever and stuff …by this time we were calling home for prayer…and honestly afraid…the docs treated him for an upper respiratory infection –they saw no malaria or typhoid..and then changed my medicine from the strong stuff…so by the end I ended up taking 3 diff types of malaria pills and the injection that I received ….then adom got sick…fever and they really didn’t want to test him for malaria or typhoid because they figured it was an upper respiratory infection so they gave him augmentin and fever reduction medicine and sent us home….well his fever would not go away…it was terrible I think up to 104 well by this time it is time for greg to leave to return back to the states…the plan was for him to leave in june and adom and I would leave in july…and that is a whole diff story…to make it short…they (british airways) told him he couldn’t leave until he found the paper ticket bcus when his ticket was issued it was an e ticket but when he initially traveled someone (british airways employee) switched it to a paper ticket and even though they knew it had not been used he still needed to find the paper one and if he didn’t then - well he cant travel…sooooo he couldn’t travel on his appointed date …the next day we went to the dr’s office who owns the house we were living in and just had him run tests on all of us…come to find out adom had malaria and greg had typhoid….so he gave adom an injection and some rectal pills ….that he HATED…and gave greg some cypro for the typhoid and for me well some augmentin to completely remove the upper respiratory infection bcus I was still coughing….from there we went to the airport thank GOD that we found greg’s paper ticket in my bag and greg was off…. Well by this time I am realizing that adom is no longer in school…I am finished with my research…in all actuality my research could have continued for …well forever but inside of myself I was finished….and we were just spending money-that we really didn’t have…so after and through much prayer I went and changed our ticket and left the following Tuesday after greg left…..i had been missing this place for a while as those of you who have been reading my blogs know….i actually didn’t tell adom until we were about to go to the airport and he was so excited … he did express concern about seeing his friends in Ghana and I told him that we would have to go back and visit…it was a looooong flight and when we arrived in U.S. we were met with several delays concerning our connecting flights…but God was faithful in bringing us home…we ended up traveling for about 24 hours to come back…gruesome!!!

When the plane touched down on u.s. soil everyone on the plane started clapping and adom looked at me and I had tears in my eyes…what’s wrong mama he said…I just told him that God brought us home….i had begun to feel somewhat trapped there and missed my family and childhood home so much
The airport was another battle within itself just imagine…I had 7 bags and no help…all of the skycaps were busy and none could come and help me so adom and I fit all of our bags onto a push cart and wobbled our way through…it was very interesting to see all the people and attitudes…I was literally in a daze just trying to take it all in…on one hand everything felt extremely familiar but on the other I felt in quiet shock …the funny thing is when I was trying to manage with all of our bags there was a Ghanaian there and he smiled and said to me you see we are in america now it’s not like it is in Ghana where someone will come and help you or you can pay someone a couple of dollars and they will help you …here you have to pay a lot of money and no one wants to help you…I was kind of surprised that he actually thought that I was a Ghanaian but then not really, I mean I am right? Mmph Ghana was kind of mean to me maybe she was angry with me for something that I did …deep inside I think that maybe she didn’t want me/us to go back to U.S. but the more I thought about it I realized that coming back is my right…my birthright and that I cannot be denied that…God saw us through and if it had not been for prayer, fasting and faith maybe we would not have made it…I later found out that while I was sick another fulbrighter got sick with what sounds like the same illness only her fever got up to 105!!!!! Just recently I found out that 2 other friends of ours got sick with malaria around the same time that we were ill and one almost died and that one of the co-founders of ONEAFRICA located at cape coast…a guest house started by African Americans who moved to Ghana 17 years ago from Brooklyn died …Nana was hit by a tro tro in a hit and run….

I cant begin to tell you how all of my experiences in Ghana made/make me feel …I do feel like it has all been surreal and very spiritual and well let’s just say that I cant explain it to you and leave it at that…maybe I could dance it…dance has always been my medium of expression anyway…what I cannot say with words I tend to dance better…that way you can feel me and what I am saying…

Once we arrived I took a long shower/bath the combination of the both has always been very therapeutic for me (try it) and adom took a bath….with a tub full of water …instead of a bucket bath ;-) we then went to bed at least I thought adom went…he actually stayed up all night he was enjoying all of the cartoon channels…and he stayed up all night watching cartoons…

Being back has been interesting to say the least … I was surprised to see that mc donalds still had the same $1 menu…some things may never change ;-) surprisingly everything seemed to be pretty much unchanged …

Funny how so many people feel like Africa is this terrible place where so much bad can happen and honestly this is actually true….but the truth is life can be challenging wherever you are…when I got back I heard of all the flooding in texas and also about a man who was shot in the chest while driving on the freeway… no evidence of where the bullet came from his truck just swirved a little and then it came to a stop and he was the only one in the vehicle…I also heard of a texas a & m girl who apparently broke up with her boyfriend and he couldn’t handle it and asked to see or talk to her or something and ended up killing her and bar b que-ing her body for like two days on two grills on his balconly…he lived in an apartment complex and his neighbors noticed the smell…

I don’t regret going because I feel that the trip was supposed to happen…what I have gained is a stronger knowledge and affirmation that faith is something that you can take with you wherever you go and when all else fails God will definitely see you through as He did for us…so I don’t feel that taking the safe and comfortable route in life is best…rather I feel that whatever the passion is and purpose is burning inside that will not allow u to sleep at night is the very thing that you should pursue …. No matter what the costs and risks are…after all it is your reason for being here –on earth- right?

What’s next for me? I really don’t know…as you may have guessed many people have suggestions …which is good …but understand I have been working since I was 15 and I know how to go and get a job just because I need one…now is the time to do what is right and to move in the right direction … therefore that is what I am waiting on…

Peace blessings and love….thank u for being on my journey with me…at least this part of it…I know that there are many who have journeyed quietly and some who have let me know that they were with me every step of the way….

Now I am healing … day by day I am healing and still learnin and still laughin and still lovin and by the grace of God still LIVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Angel…please continue to check back for updates

full circle

2007-05-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

May 27th

Life has been for the most part good….don’t get me wrong we have had our share of issues concerning money, health, schooling, and of course other. But at the end of the day I am in Africa with my family and what more could we ask for? We are literally laughin, lovin, livin, and learnin TOGETHER!!! I can honestly say that we have definitely had a real African (Ghanain) experience ripe with all of the above - mentioned problems… can I honestly say that a person who has been in Africa for a couple of weeks or months but NEVER got sick…malaria / typhoid / etc or had to deal first hand with their child being sick did not have a real experience in Africa?…no I cannot because as I mentioned earlier - my Africa is not your Africa and yours is not mine but each individual experience IS Africa

Can u really say u know or have “lived” in a place if u have not had to deal with issues such as health and hospital politics…food security, home safety, etc?

I think u can because you have the experience of living there while not having to deal with those issues … and this is a valid experience…if you are familiar with Houston, Texas it is almost like the experience of living in River Oaks as opposed to 5th ward…..both are Houston

Often times I look at some of my counterparts / others who have come here to live, study, experience and wonder why in many cases my experience has been so different…. I mean honestly so many people have come here and have not had malaria, food poisoning, or had to deal with the utter FEAR of their child being sick…or even issues of money…. The other day I was having a conversation with Greg and I told him that in no way do I feel like I am threw/finished with Africa….in fact I feel that our relationship is just beginning…..( I want to work in and with MANY different countries/continents) but I have always had a longing and special place in my heart for the whole continent of africa…MAMA Africa…

we haven’t done much traveling aside from Cape Coast…..and Adom and I went to the North in the beginning….we actually got caught up in the living of it all … we really just lived in africa…I have not been back to the U.S. at all…in 8 months ….I miss my home there sooooooooooo much but as I was telling Greg, after this experience I feel that I know the REAL- I mean what its like to really just LIVE here and not be a tourist…and even still I feel blessed knowing that there is yet a level of pain, loss, suffering, fear that I have not experienced here…in fact as many would see it I am rich and truely blessed and honestly I am …

Adom is no longer in school here…we finally pulled him out when he told his father that he had officially been “caned” he even had a slight red mark on his behind. Well we had just had a BIG issue with his teacher because he pushed/hit Adom while Adom was sharpening his pencil and he wanted him to sit down……call us crazy but we don’t want teachers and others at the school imposing physical discipline on our child…I once met a grown man with horrible marks on his back from when he was caned as a child…no one can argue the intellectual level of the youth here….they are pushed very hard academically and they do very well however the question is ….. is the success from caning???????? We…greg and I - have no problem popping Adom and disciplining him physically….we don’t abuse him but when it is necessary we do pop him and we talk to him and explain why….better to pop him and explain to him why he needs to stop running around in the street then to pick him up off the street after being hit by a car……still it is hard to explain to head masters and teachers here that we feel that we can pop him but you cannot pop him….it doesn’t make sense because it does take a village right? Well I wonder how much of this is left over relics of European colonization….i cant say that I have extensively researched the topic so I really don’t know…I have talked to others who have and they say that I am right….well wherever it came from we don’t believe in it as a means of educating our youth…and at the end of the day we are both teachers and so are our mothers so maybe we just might know a little something….

Well even though they didn’t seem to understand, they did agree and so it was agreed that if there ever was an issue the teacher would call us…I think he was upset because the whole hitting/pushing incident was brought to the attention of the principle and he got in trouble…..the incident that broke the camel’s back was when the teacher allowed another teacher to come into the room and cane adom among other children and did not say a word (like don’t cane this one) and since we had just recently had a big issue…discussion…about the whole thing we knew that he knew better….soooooooooo…..we were upset and greg in particular was very upset……let’s just say that I had to hold him back some from both adom’s teacher and the teacher that did the caning…..dont get me wrong we didn’t feel like adom was going to die but it was now on principle…..you don’t pay school fees to have your wishes disregarded…not to even talk of the day that adom’s teacher refused him and some other children lunch on the basis that they were talking … he even made them stay in the classroom by themselves while he went and ate, or the time that he (the teacher) was locked out of the classroom by another older student (I guess it was a joke) but the students in adom’s class were locked in and the teacher got angry and caned all of them save adom this time…or the fact that after we had the first big discussion the teacher kept saying to adom … you see why did you tell your mother that I hit you that time…..

So you see we were by this time fed up and greg was on some other manhood stuff…it was a big stink and it all happened on the last day of class before the break so adom did not return after the break and he will be missing about two months of school ….we have been working with him at home and having more of what we call “family fun days” adom LOVES them and has begun to ask for them by request

We have had several talks with adom and among each other as parents and I feel that we handled the situation right…the more I live and heal from childhood experiences I am convinced that we cannot always control what happens to us but what is extremely important is how we as parents handle what may have happened…

I performed MUSU … a dance about slavery, along with the national dance company of Ghana at Elmina Slave castle in cape coast…..
The name of the performance was reflections… the purpose was to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, passed in the UK in 1807. For those that may have read my previous blogs you may know how much I was looking forward to the experience…I mean really, performing a dance with the national dance company/ghanains …about slavery at the slave castle….well I was so excited and it was a wonderful experience from the very first rehearsal til the performance….i must say however when we arrived at cape coast and approached the castle I was a little put off…they had re-painted the entire castle…white….it looked so clean and I felt that maybe they should have just left it the way that it was…. Even when you walked into some of the dungeons you could see paint buckets in the corner… before the performance I thought we would perform it in one of the dungeons but to the contrary we were on a stage inside the castle with full lighting and everything….because I was performing I didn’t hear any of the speeches but I heard that many people were disappointed with what was said…

Something like they shouldn’t have to pay reparations and we shouldn’t blame Europeans or white people because we also participated in the slave trade and that he also said that there is no need to apologize

Aside from the disappointments the whole experience was nonetheless wonderful…the National Dance Company of Ghana was wonderful to me and my family….extremely gracious and such a pleasure to work with…I feel that I have made some permanent friends in them

Sometime after MUSU I was asked by National Dance Company to set a piece on them, they had already wanted me to set a piece before I left which we had begun working on but now they wanted me to set a piece for the Ghana Music Awards in like 4 days….soooooo we worked hard and finished the piece, I was happy with what came out of it and just at the last minute because of politics they did not want to perform the piece, apparently the people who commissioned them did not want to pay what they were worth…I mean they are known as the black stars of Ghana as far as dance is concerned and they are the only government supported professional dance company in Ghana…so if you want to commission them to do anything you better be prepared to pay for their professionalism, they day before the performance we found out that we wouldn’t be doing it and while my family and I were watching the show live we saw that another group did it and I cant lie I kind of felt like both the promoter and the national dance co. lost out…..but truth is truth and if they start accepting jobs for less than their worth then this will become their standard

By now there is a ban on drumming in accra which is ga (a tribe) land….during this time every year the ga people have a festival in which they perform certain rituals and they like for their land to be quiet which means no loud music and no drumming…it has been this way and everyone respects it…so the NDCG (dance co) are taking a break and so am I …..

While having a relaxing day around the house one day in which we planned on doing absolutely nothing aside from cleaning Greg went out to get some water and fresh fruit and things for breakfast wellllllll when he got back home I saw that his hands were full and saw a great opportunity to tickle him since he couldn’t do anything and he being the committed person that he is refused to dropped his bags and instead tried to run and this made me tickle him even more at any rate he kind of went/ran into the doorknob which is like an oval only very pointed at the end and the thing went inside his arm and came out making two…two holes !!!!!!!!!!!!!! he had to slide the thing out of his arm…….and he almost passed out…by this time I am freaking out and shaking and feeling like the poltergeist devil child incarnated ….i ask the stupid question do we need to go to the hospital and he calmly sits on the couch and says yes we need to go to the hospital…..i am now thinking we have no money and I ask where should we go and he says somewhere decent……I am going to have to get stitches-which I kind of figured but didn’t want to accept…… wrapped his arm, put ice on it and we left…just as we were walking out of the gate we saw our landlady and she came with us…just so happens that she knew a friend in accounting at Nyaho Hospital…what we didn’t have she billed until later……we were very blessed he got four stitches and now his arm is healing really well….he never blamed me and was very calm throughout the whole ordeal…. I had to call his parents and tell them what I did to their child!!!!!!!!!! They were real cool though…at least I think ;-)

Sulley my teacher is back from the U.S. and there are many students at the Dagara Music Center…where we used to live…about 40 or 50…so I have been going out there some and working with them but it is also rainy season and I really just want to stay in the house and chill with my family……I will be leaving soon and time to wrap things up

Oh by the way….i started my locs again ;-) can u believe it? 7 months ago I cut them in an effort to allow only truth to show and stop hiding behind my hair……I miss really miss them and honestly I feel that I have learned so much and have definitely accomplished my task so I have started them again…a sista here did them for me and all she used was aloe vera which was cool I really like it ….. while I had my locs before I basically maintained them myself and I used everything from coconut water to honey to shea butter but I never used aloe vera…it is literally like a natural gel…..so I have come full circle and how ironic with two months left I would loc again…

This life I am living never ceases to amaze me

Laughin, lovin, livin, learnin

angel
sorry i didnt proof read, please have patience....almost lost the whole thing trying to post it ;)

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2007-04-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

April 22nd 2007

My deepest apologies for not writing sooner…I have honestly been somewhat avoiding writing. I really don’t know how to write my experiences anymore without being completely and utterly honest and honestly I don’t know if I want to do that. So much and I mean literally so much has happened since I last blogged … how can I put it into my own words without offending anyone, or should I just log the events that occurred…kind of like I have been doing…well I have decided to speak my mind

The reality of being born in a place that was not your home and everyone made sure you knew it….while many in America are from other places I don’t think it is exactly the same. Actually you were never told where your home actually was, specifically… only a mention of a continent that is actually the second largest continent in the world. A continent consisting of 53 countries with people that make up more than 800 ethnic groups- each with it’s own language, religion, and way of life.
Imagine the longing and desire that you may have just to go and visit the place – not really knowing what part of the place you have come from - or maybe even to go and actually live in the place that was your home and the home of your people. To some this may sound like a typical story heard over and over again and sadly it is. Ever since I was a child I have dreamed, longed, desired, and purposed to come to Africa. Now since I am a mother I resolved early on that as a mother I would not allow my son to only receive the history lessons that are taught in school … I would encourage ALL mothers to on some level - do the same…. I decided that I would make sure he knew more than I did and by the grace of God he is now having a long term, first-hand history lesson. After all his name is ADOM – an Akan name meaning simply…by the grace of God…so it is extremely fitting that he would not only taste, see, and smell, the land where his name comes from but also that he would see the land of his ancestors. However unfortunately just as many of our ancestors have realized … home has changed and is not the same. Kind of like my grandmother’s house in Mississippi…and how I longed to visit it recently after I had not been there for so many years. I looked forward to her schedule of everyday home-cooking…..every-meal…something healthy and good….only to be met by my grandmother who naturally having advanced in years telling me “you know you gone have to cook” I think she saw how crushed I was and she didn’t make me cook – but the statement along with her physical state of being let me know that things had changed. The same can be said of Africa … many of us of African decent long for a place, scent, smell, taste of home that we do not get in America and when we get there we are met with not what was or what was missed but what is new and in many ways broken. Africa is like a beautiful, powerful, awesome animal that has been wounded. When you left her she was beautiful and awesome…powerful beyond measure…unconquerable….however, when you saw her again-she wasn’t the same…though she was still as beautiful as ever she has now been wounded….with broken limbs and blood and her injuries now affect the way that she deals with you.

Much has been done and much has to be done in the way of healing. Not only talking and complaining about a subject matter, but actual work to heal. Our people here are hurting just as in other places. Maybe one of my major faults is that I am an emotional person and maybe this can also be a positive. I know that it definitely affects my perspective. Upon arrival in Africa we (Africans in the diaspora) are received in varying ways. We receive every response from a heartfelt and deserved welcome home to requests to pay school fees, marriage proposals, and requests to sponsor people to the U.S. After being here a while you learn that all is normal and whether it is morally correct is definitely debatable.

Sadly for those of us in the African diaspora coming home reveals several truths and on the same note several un-truths. Depending on where you have been born within the diaspora you may be viewed a certain way. For those of us born in America in many cases we are called white. Not only have I been called obroni (white or foreigner) in Ghana but on one occasion I was also called “white woman” this presents a question of whether I consider this an insult… The answer is no and more importantly and ultimately YES…No I do not consider that an insult because I do not hate white people nor any other race for that matter/ you cannot control how you are born or what race you are when you are born….but you can control your behavior and actions after birth, this includes all races-- but in light of the struggles that I have had to endure - my brothers, my mothers, and my grandmothers have had to endure and my ancestors in America as well as in Africa along with other countries in between have had to endure yes I do consider that an insult. I am not white. I am African American. When I go back in my mind to where I grew up and I look at my counterparts, the stark reality is that not many of us have made it to Africa. Honestly some people don’t have any desire to go and others are not able financially. Still others are caught up in jobs and family lives that do not allow them the freedom to go. But for those of us that do make it to Africa it is a wonderful feat. So much so that some of us kiss the ground upon arrival or collect the dirt just to salvage the moment. Even others are met at the airport by welcoming crowds that play traditional music and dance welcoming us home.

I recently had a conversation with a brother born in Jamaica. He recognized himself as an African and of course others as well that have been born in other places because of slavery …he said that once he was a part of a program that had contingents from Africa, Jamaica, and U.S. they would once a year meet in South Africa and he said that every year the participants from Jamaica and Africa would rough it and stay among the others living there but the American contingent would always stay in a hotel. He also said that he had a conversation with one particular African American brother who he thought was “conscious” he said that late one night in comfortable conversation the African American brother said Yeah I am an American first and an African second. Naturally the brother from Jamaica was offended. But this brings up a very interesting perspective, while I could never imagine myself saying something like this …. Have many of us worked out where we stand or where we fit in?????? the brother from Jamaica also said that though African Americans are from Africa he feels that maybe because they have been exposed to the culture and conveniences of the western world that this causes culture shock when African Americans come to Africa to live or visit.

A couple of days ago I asked yet another Ghanain why they call us (African Americans) white and I was surprised to get a different answer this time. Usually I am told well it is because of your dialect or because you are a foreigner. Well this time he got kind of quiet, laughed and said I don’t think you really want to know. And of course I said yes I would like to know I have been asking several people. The natural response is to assume that the reason is because of a lack of education and that maybe they just don’t know!!! Well he said no, Ghanains are educated and they know that you are from Africa but he said many of you that come here ….you act like you are above us and like you know everything so if you feel like that then we will call you obroni…I guess some of us are receiving treatment based on other peoples mistakes….. I am still thinking about it all…..of course I didn’t have enough time to process it when I had a conversation with a white friend of mine about the subject matter. He shared with me that while I may not know when exactly my ancestors came from Africa he knows that his ancestors came early 1900’s from Germany. He also acknowledged that while he knows when his ancestors came and from where he wouldn’t go back there today and try to live as though he never left. He said that many African Americans that he runs into here are very angry and as I said well I can understand why…thinking that of course they are trying to process everything ….. he went into a little more detail saying that after talking to them they reveal that all they eat is American food … they don’t eat any local food, they are always complaining of the expenses when they wont eat any local food …. I got the feeling that he was saying that they just didn’t feel comfortable and were not really willing to change their ways of life to adjust to life here….

now so much can be taken from both of these conversations but at the root of it all I am sensing that number one I am extremely personally interested in the experience of the African American in Africa and that while in many ways it is, it is not always the romantic homecoming that some portray it as……with that being said it is also true that my Africa is not your Africa and that your Africa is not someone else’s…….it is completely possible to have different experiences in the same place and then also take away different things from the same place while still taking away some of the same….. this blog was hard for me to write and partially because it will not finish….i have 3 more months left and I have taken on a new research project that could easily take the rest of my life….in addition it would require me to travel to other places in Africa as well as other places to get accurate experiences………

Back to the animal that was wounded and is no longer the same ….maybe what we miss is not the same - and home is somewhat uncomfortable………while here I have been so uncomfortable to the point of tears while in other instances I have never felt more comfortable…….

How was my homecoming…it was good and bad, I was welcomed and also treated like a stranger….I do know that I have a greater sense of appreciation for our culture in Africa and in the U.S….specifically culture that existed in my neighborhood where my mother has lived for 32 years….we have and had so much culture….I used to think we had none

More to come on this topic…..I just really wish we could talk honestly about our experiences

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still laughin, lovin, livn, and learnin

2007-03-16T05:03:00.000-07:00

3/14/07

Valentine’s day was wonderful! Greg and I both decided not to buy each other anything and then we both surprised each other with something. We spent the night teaching Adom old dance moves…can you believe Greg even broke out the break dancing skills. Adom seems to be developing his own unique dance style which of course makes me proud- he used to call it freeze dancing and whenever he came to one of my dance performances he would give his own little impromptu freestyle improv- jam session out in the lobby. I never really knew if I should be proud or tell him to sit down or be still. Being proud of course won out. He was literally amazed when we saw Savion Glover perform at FSU I am glad that he is finding his own little voice in all of his involvement in my world of dance. I could go on forever talking about my crumb snatcher but I know that you really want to know about Africa and so I will get to the subject at hand. Africa has been very kind to me and my family. We really like where we are living. I am enjoying working with the National Dance Company of Ghana. Towards the end of Feb. I had the opportunity to take part in a collaboration between African Footprints – a dance company from South Africa – and The National Dance Company of Ghana. David Matamella came and set a piece on NDCG to be performed live along with African Footprints at the GLOCAF awards. I WAS IN IT!!!! I had the opportunity to perform live on t.v for all of Africa and guess what????????? The president was sitting right there watching the whole thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to perform for the president of Ghana!!!! Wow. I know your next question is … what in the world is the GLOCAF awards. Well this is the Confederation of African Football (soccer) or something like that and it is sponsored by GLO. Basically it was pretty huge. We were the opening act. I met some wonderful people from South Africa and learned about some huge differences and made a good contact with the guy who set the piece. It was a wonderful experience that literally brought me to tears as I watched all of the other performers I thought to myself how blessed I am to be experiencing all of this. The Soweto Gospel Choir was there and they recently won a Grammy….you should definitely check out their cd. The rehearsal process was interesting after being in grad school and the dance company there I had almost forgot how the energy of a group changes once a guest choreographer comes in and believe me Africa is no exception… I loved and learned every minute of the whole process. Adom and Greg came and watched/recorded the dress rehearsal and we took lots of pics. The night of the show they watched me on t.v and they were both very proud.

I am still working with the group out in Medie but I don’t get to work with them as much as I would like to. They mostly work on the weekends and since I have been rehearsing everyday the weekend is usually my time with my fam to unwind. I have come to realize that we just may not get a chance to do everything that we would like to. There is soooo much to do here in Ghana and if you live a liafe anywhere near normal then this means that you are always busy.

I have been allowing my hair to grow…don’t ask me what my next move is in the hair dep…I’m still considering a mowhawk ;-) watchout!!! Right now I am wearing long braids….. my trip to Africa would not be complete if I did not allow these talented sisters to braid my hair at least once. My hair is not long at all and still natural – no perm – and they caught my hair and braided every strand…….I LOVE IT AND I have been getting so many compliments….. it’s amazing the different responses I get depending on my hairstyle…. People do judge books by their cover and they also treat books by the way that the cover looks. When I had my locks people seemed to have the utmost respect for me always speaking and smiling and giving well wishes…… when I cut it and wore it VERY short they guys seemed a little more aggressive and flirtacious…then for a brief moment I did small locs like the beg stages of locs….how they start them here in Ghana. … then it was the same, people (mostly guys) speaking and yelling out rasti!!! Now that I have braids so far it seems that people are curious….. I get a lot of stares and smiles from the men, compliments from the women…..maybe I should try the Mohawk here and see what happens!

We are also in the process of celebrating Ghana’s independence which is a BIG thing! 50 years of freedom from British colonial rule. Kwame Nkrumah was extremely influential in the declaration of independence on March 6, 1957. To celebrate there was a huge ceremony attended by many people from Ghana and all over the world. We had plans to attend a concert at the beach but as fate would have it yours truly was sick from the night before. As a family we started celebrating independence early….we were so excited and so we went to the trade fair the day before ----- there were vendors from all over Africa, it was WONDERFUL --- and then we went to Osu and I ate fish…… that fish had me sick the following day…. I though I had malaria (the devil) or typhoid…so we took another trip to the hospital…this time we went straight to the lab and I was tested for both and thank God both were negative…..so we went home and I took some cypro (for stomach bacteria) and we just chilled….i was disappointed that we didn’t hang on the big day bit it really is a year long celebration…and it also made me think of not only how far Ghana has come but that in Ghana we still have a long way to go because I was not the only sick person on that day….some had malaria, typhoid, or other diseases that are prone to this area and cause problems for many.

Back to the celebration…Jesse Jackson was here along with other delegates from the U.S. The U.S. gave Ghana $50 million dollars a couple of days after the 6th. This is the first installment of a total of $547 million coming from the U.S. to Ghana over the next 5 years. The U.S. hopes to help Ghana in the area of rural banking and exporting of farmed goods….this is all in an effort to boost the economy…… I am amazed and when I look on MSN and other sights where I see international news I don’t see any news of it…

The weekend before the jubilee celebrations we went to the W.E.B. Duboise Center ( he spent his last days living here in Ghana) as we walked up we heard music and guess who it was? King Ayisoba and his whole group rehearsing for their show at the beach on March 6th. So we ended up getting a personal concert and after they finished Greg and I were discussing if it would be appropriate for Adom to walk up to him and ask for a picture and we looked up and Adom was already over there shaking one of his friends hands. So we went over and let me tell you this guy has a wonderful spirit….very calm, humble, peaceful, and friendly energy. Adom sang “I want to see you my Father” for him and he sang along with him…..remember I told you that this is Adom’s favorite song? So we all took pics with him and we basically had a wonderful day.

Adom is doing well in school. We are still not happy with the school but at the end of the day he has about 2 ½ more months there….he is learning a lot also…if something unbearable happens then I will remove him and he can sit the rest of the time out. He seems to have many friends at school though and we actually found a love note that he wrote to some girl along with other notes to his friends that said that they were going to beat the girls up on “our day” Our day is a day usually at all schools here at the end of the term when the children do not have to wear their uniforms and they wear whatever they want (they usually all wear western clothes) they play all day and dance and listen to music. All of the children are talking about what they are going to do on our day and what they will wear. We have finally finalized our leave date and we will leave mid july….i have to find a school in the U.S. for the crumb snatcher and he is looking forward to all the family we left at home. I must admit that before I came I actually thought that I would have wanted to move here (remember I visited in 2005) But early on I realized that I really wanted to go home…even though I am a traveler by heart and home for me changes but it never truelly changes because it will always be at my mamma’s house and I cant wait to go back to my mamma’s house.

still laughin, lovin, livin, and learnin

shani

sorry so long

2007-02-12T05:47:00.001-08:00

2/7/07

I must begin this blog entry with a heartfelt apology for not touching base in sooo long…. I know many of you check every day to see if I have blogged even though you don’t ever let me know that you read them I know I have many fans out there ;-) oh by the way, Curry I think I may have found the person who can make your shirt but I would like you to send me your other measurements as well because she made me a nice comfortable simple dress that I think you might like as well……I cant remember are you a dress person?

At any rate it has taken so long because there have been so many changes in our lives. In January I had the opportunity to attend a political party meeting of the NPP (New Patriotic Party)

Sulley put together a dance group consisting of dancers from all over the Accra area to perform at the political party meeting. The meeting was in Koforidua which is about 45 min to an hour from Medie. We left early in the morning and when we arrived I was amazed. There were so many people there and everyone was in such high spirits. Everyone and I mean Everyone had on red, white, and blue. I learned that these are the colors of The New Patriotic Party (NPP). It was so weird to see people from Africa wearing the same colors as the American Flag. Most people were wearing traditional African attire in red, white, and blue. I even saw kente in red, white, and blue. It was really an enlightening experience. I learned that the purpose of the meeting was for the party to choose a new flag bearer. I was amazed when the vice president showed up and I was almost moved to tears when the president showed up. I had no idea that I would see the president on that day. It took forever for the meeting to start and I was trying to get back to meet Adom and Greg at a birthday party in Osu. The group that Sulley assembled would be performing dances from every region. The group performed wonderfully and the president clearly showed his approval as he watched them dance. I was situated with all the press members and I recorded the whole thing.

After they performed we left to return to Accra and I went to Osu for the birthday party. The party was for Gina’s (my friend that I mentioned earlier) daughter. At the party Gina’s mom told Greg and I about a house that her sister had for us to possibly rent. Within a week we went to look at the place and we really liked it and we moved. So now we are staying at Atomic Junction. We are in a 3 bedroom – 2 bathroom house and our neighbors are missionaries (a couple with a 7 year old daughter) from Nigeria. We miss Medie but we are also happy to be out of the village and closer into the city. We are literally right down the street from The University of Ghana. I have begun going to a traditional class there every Friday. Adom has his own room with bunk beds and the beds in the room where Greg and I sleep are literally 2 queen size beds put together. I really like the place and look at it as a definite answer to our prayers. I still work with the dance group out in Medie and next week I will resume working with the girls at Adom’s school. Everytime I go to pick him up one of them run up to me and grab my arm saying Auntie Auntie and it warms my heart in such a way. I will set a piece on them that they will perform late July at the end of the term ceremony.

Oh I forgot to mention that my teacher Sulley is no longer here, he left mid January for the U.S. he will be teaching at 5 Universities there. Initially we were trying to plan for me to go with him but it did not work out that way. Before he left the owner of the house where we were staying in Medie – Bernard Woma – came from the U.S. for the holidays. He attends school at Suny Freedonia. He teaches there as well, he also runs The Dagara Music Center out in Medie. Well he took me to The National Dance Company of Ghana and re-introduced me to Sister Grace there and from there I began working with the company. I sometimes lead the warm up in the morning and before I knew it I was learning Musu. Musu is a piece from their repertoire that was choreographed by Nii Yartey, who is now teaching at Swarthmore College. The piece is about slavery and it will be performed at Elmina…the historic slave castle in Cape Coast. I am so amazed and thankful that they have invited me to perform it with them. From day one Yaa Yaa (the rehearsal director) told every1 not to speak to me in English and to only speak to me in twi – so that I will learn…. And some people actually took him seriously. So I am learning a dance and literally it is… run, stop, sing, jump, dance, do this combo, pick this up, scream, go off stage, come on stage and everything in between. I don’t even have time to wonder about anything and I am lovin every minute of it. What a wonderful experience! Before I came to Africa and all while I was growing up I have always felt a sense of not knowing where I came from or not REALLY knowing my history. Now I am somewhat at a halfway point in my time here and I feel more than ever in my life confirmed as to my history, who I am, and where I come from. So far I have heard it best described by a guy who moved here 7 years ago from America. Check out www.info-ghana.com. African Americans are a tribe … a tribe that came from Africa. Now I will be performing a dance about the story of how slaves were taken from Africa and I will be performing it with Ghanaians and I will also be performing it in the actual slave castle that still exists. Just visiting the slave castle is an overwhelming experience. So much feeling remains there, wow I can only imagine what it will be like to perform it. I am humbled at the thought of it all. Oh Greg has been coming to all of my rehearsals and he even got on the stage and took part in my warm up. At first he was just doing it on the side where no one could really see him – he was trying not to be seen and trying to see at the same time. Oh my goodness I could not look in that direction or anywhere near that direction, or else I would start laughing… the look on his face was just too much. The next day he was up on the stage doing my warm up. On this day I wanted things to move a little faster and I didn’t change my plan because he was doing it … he did a good job of trying to keep up even though his legs wouldn’t straighten completely…. I led the whole warm up without hardly looking at him because if I did it would have been all over. He even had a role in Musu…but he had to abandon it –even though he didn’t want to - because it really would have taken too much of his time and he needs to focus on other things while here.

Just recently Adom developed a slight case of typhoid…. Had he not been immunized for it I am sure it would have been worse. I also got some food poisoning and had to be admitted to the hospital for one night with an i.v. drip. I cant even put inot words the pain that I was in. My whole life I have never had food poisoning and I never knew my stomach trying could hurt so bad. I still don’t know what it was that I ate. But now more than ever I am to watch what we eat.

Aside from the recent sickness things have been very well here. Every day Adom asks when we will return to the U.S. I have purchased a calendar so that he can keep up. Next month Ghana will be celebrating 50 years of independence and I learned that Oprah did a show about slavery that still exists in Ghana. (Some parents sale their children in a certain fishing community for money) and the people that they work for treat them horribly. People in government and other organizations have done work to get the children back to their parents and also give the parents money and supplies to help them take care of their children. I believe poverty breeds desperation and enables people to do things that they would not normally do and think in ways that they would not think. President Carter was just here campaigning for guinea worm – Ghana has a huge problem with guinea worm particularly in the north. There is so much work to do here it is hard to decide where to start. But the key is to get involved somewhere.

My midpoint thoughts:

*allow your heart to be tender
*when you see injustice don’t try to repay it
*find some way of helping – no matter how small
*do your part at your level
*don’t just talk about things DO SOMETHING
*don’t ever feel like the sky is the limit GO HIGHER!!!
*appreciate what your creator made in you
*establish a personal relationship with your creator
*give something to your creator everyday

************************************************************************

The Storm is Over Now

2007-01-04T02:46:00.000-08:00

It all started when we all went to Kanda so that Greg could get his hair braided. There was a lady at Max Mart with a style that he liked and so after much negotiating (which is a completely different story) we went to her house so that her sister could braid his hair. Well once we got there Adom was playing his game boy and seemed to be fine and getting along with the other children there. Only 30 minutes earlier he began complaining of headache, neck pain, and tummy ache. He was also running a slight fever. Adom had to urinate like 3-4 times within 30 minutes. He also began crying and his fever quickly began to rise (I had a thermometer in my purse)… Greg by now had a huge afro (we had all taken the braids down and she was about to wash it) I looked at Greg and said we need to go…so we took a cab to 37 military hospital. Because we are not from Ghana we had to pay more for the services. They make you purchase a identification card 150,000 then lab work 40,000 then back to see the doctor (cost may vary 0 – 40,000) well I was terrified and on the brink of tears….we did not budget for sickness – it was the weekend and we needed to go and get more money on Monday… funny these things never happen when you expect them to or when you “plan” for them to. Since it was the weekend they only tested him for malaria and then he had to have several other tests on Monday including a stool and urine sample that we had to collect ourselves and bring back on Monday well the report came back that Adom had indeed caught malaria…that dreaded demon … we then had to go and purchase the medicine, eat dinner, and make the 1-2 hour trek back to Medie from Accra….. when the pharmacists said 190,000 for the malaria medicine I thought I was going to scream …we really didn’t have it….I mean the money we had was enough to make it through the weekend but not enough to handle a bout of malaria …we decided to go to a different pharmacy across the street and sure enough the medicine was cheaper…if I remember correctly it was about 70,000…they told us to give him the medicine with food so we had to wait until we got back out to Medie….we couldn’t buy food in town because it was too expensive and like I said we didn’t budget for malaria. Well we got on the tro tro and headed back out to Medie. The traffic was horrendous!!!!! It got so bad that the driver turned the tro tro off. Adom was sleep and now his fever was up to 102, I didn’t know what to do but pray….Greg and I prayed together, somehow we got out of the traffic and out to Medie – we fed Adom and gave him his first dose of medicine. I kept giving him Tylenol and so by bedtime his fever was down and Adom began checking his fever himself. We even joked that it was 99. Well later that night his fever came back with a vengeance, 102.9. Greg and I woke up gave Adom a cold shower, popsicle, Tylenol, fanned him (it is hot here) and prayed long and hard…..WOW fear really set in deep – like what am I doing here and maybe it’s time to leave. Adom seemed to pretty much have his wits about him but definitely effected by the whole ordeal. The fever eventually came down and things slowly got better from the next day forward. I am so thankful for the prayers of many people back at home. We all had a real good laugh as Greg collected Adom’s stool sample and even took pictures of it. Adom seemed amazed that he actually caught MALARIA and from time to time felt the need to tell random people.

Things died down a little after the malaria scare and the group had a performance at the American Ambassadors house here in Ghana. This was Greg’s first time seeing me perform here in Ghana. It was wonderful. My two favorite men sat in the audience and watched me with huge smiles on their faces. Sulley even got Greg and Adom up to dance and they both did very well, they made me proud. My birthday was coming up and we were trying to decide how to spend it. At first I didn’t really want to do anything but at the last minute I decided you know what? I am not spending my birthday in Africa doing nothing!!!!! Even though that in itself would be doing something ;-) at any rate we decided to go to the beach and spend the night at a hotel. The rates were surprisingly higher than we thought. And contrary to what we thought the hotel rates were even up for negotiation so we ended up getting a family room ( 2 rooms that are joined together) for 920,000. Adom had his own room…not sure how much he liked that idea though… he fell asleep in the room with us and then Greg took him into the other room and as he was taking him he said Adom woke up and murmured “where is my mother?” he said he told him it’s alright lil daddy you sleeping in here tonight…and Adom said “I want to be comfortable” and Greg told him “you will be” you think he might be spoiled ? just a tad? ;-) earlier that night we walked out on the ocean which was right behind the hotel, then we got in the pool for a bit, and had a nice dinner and watched some locals dance and commented how alike people are whether in Africa or America. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and rested for a while and then got in the pool again and had some beers. A friend recommended this new kind of beer to me called Gordon’s Spark and it is soooo delicious – so I had a couple of those and Greg was drinking Star. Adom had a ball and really appreciated the break from being out in Medie. We then checked out of the hotel and headed to Osu to meet a friend for lunch. Our friend Gina was getting her hair done so we spent time with her family and had lunch as we waited on her. We had a good time and Adom was playing with her children. He really enjoyed himself because there was 2 birthdays going on and the restaurant had inflated a jumper. So we had a good day chillin out with friends. The next day we headed back to town to go to Max Mart in order to change a game that we got Adom for Christmas that was not working…. We didn’t have an opportunity to eat the night before because the eating place was closed in Medie. So I was dehydrated, hungry, and weak. An opportune time for me to get malaria right? Well just as we were sitting down to eat I began feeling really weird. I can’t even explain it only I knew something was wrong. I felt like all of my blood was rushing through my body or like something was rushing through my body. My heart began pounding like almost out of my chest and I literally began shaking. I thought I was about to pass out and it was a good thing that I didn’t. I got up and started walking around and said I need to go to the hospital. Ironically we were right across the street from the hospital – the same as when it happened to Adom. Even though we were right across the street I couldn’t walk, we had to take a taxi and of course the taxi driver took advantage of the lazy, sick Americans who did not want to walk across the street. He was trying to charge too much and Greg was getting angry – I mean like about to have a flashback and go postal on him angry. I told Greg let’s just take the taxi and may God have mercy on him for trying to take advantage of this situation. Well after arriving at 37 AGAIN and having to pay 150,000 for an identification card again and having to go to the lab again for a malaria test … I was told that yes I indeed had stage 1 malaria. I almost didn’t believe the guy because he said that the test would take 30 minutes and he came back in 10 with the test results. Also I didn’t have a fever or sore throat or any of those symptoms only feeling “weird” I tell you it was the scariest thing. I thought I was about to pass out or die or something. Greg and I laugh about it now but when we were at the restaurant and I was about to pass out I looked down and we had a bag from something that we had previously bought and it said something in twi but one of the words was die and I said to Greg , “why does that say die am I going to die?” and he was like no baby you not gone die … lets just go to the hospital. Well after the lady told me I had malaria I pulled out some malaria medicine from my purse that I had purchased when I first arrived here in Ghana. I bought some for me and some for Adom because we are so far out in Medie and may not be able to get to a hospital soon. I showed it to the doctor and she said that it was good and that I could take it so I just filled a prescription for amoxicillin that she gave me in case I had a respiratory tract infection. So I began taking the medicine and feeling better. Still I was not too happy about the fact that I would have malaria for x-mas but I felt soooo good that I caught it early and was treating it and that it could have been worse. Christmas went well…Greg and I woke early and talked…… We gave Adom 2 game boy games for x-mas and he really liked them. We spent some time out here in the village including the night before when they had a big party at the local bar…I felt like I was at the speak-easy or something…..we all went me, Greg, and Adom…..there was all ages there and this is when the research got good…..watching all those people dance as if no care in the world…at any rate later on x-mas day we went to Gina’s house for dinner. It was really nice and this family has really helped us out in sooooo many ways. It has just been a blessing to know them. Gina’s mother cooked Turkey, ham, pork, beef, mac and cheese, broccoli, home made mashed potatoes, rice, yams, plantains, salad, rolls, and other things that I cant even remember. Wow it was wonderful and made me feel x-mas like what I am used to at home. We began talking and relaxing. Gina is a very inspirational person to me. We always seem to have philosophical discussions when we are around her…. She doesn’t allow stereotypes to dictate who she is or her actions. She has taught in many different countries …she was teaching here for a while and now she is going to Holland to teach autistic children. Her parents are Ghanain and she was born in Europe and raised in Canada. At any rate we began talking with her and because her car had trouble that night we ended up spending the night there. Adom didn’t have any problems with that … I think he likes one of her daughters or maybe even both. Well as we were talking I began feeling weird again…this time the fever set in…I was freezing cold, I felt constipated…and just plain old sick……I began taking Tylenol but it did not work and through the night I kept having to pee and my condition just got worse. Well by the morning I was really ill with a fever of over 38 celsius. I didnt know what was going on….I was taking the malaria medicine so I felt sure it could not have been malaria. I thought maybe the hospital mis-diagnosed me or something. Maybe I had typhoid or some weird “other” well as fate would have it Gina’s mom was planning a visit to her ill brother in Nsawam and Gina’s uncle was also a doctor in Nsawam where they were going. They said that we should go with them. By this time I was feeling so bad I was in a go with the flow state of mind….. but Greg and I did pray and were hopeful that my condition would change. On the way to the doctor I saw a tro tro that said on the back long life and it made me happy… I also saw another one that said “THE STORM IS OVER NOW” and this also made me happy. By the time we arrived at the doctor’s office my fever was even higher and the doctor had me suck on asprin and he looked at my throat and said he saw some slight tonsillitis he also had me have another malaria test and a typhoid test as well. The typhoid test came back negative but the malaria test came back positive and I had progressed to stage 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The medicine that I was taking was not working at all!!!! I could not believe it. The doctor asked me if I had a problem with having the injection and I said no and now I know why he asked me because the shot hurt like…. well let’s just say the people outside heard me screaming. Those shots really hurt but surprisingly it was like I could feel the medicine killing the parasites and my headache went away. I felt slightly woozy from the shots. He also gave me some more malaria pills to take and told me not to take the amoxicillin – he wrote me a prescription for augmentin gave me appetite pills, asprin, and throat lozenges. He didn’t charge me anything for his services and told me to come back on Thursday to retest. Things were slow but pretty much up hill from there. I went back on Thursday and as we got into the cab guess what song was playin? The Storm Is Over Now…. The malaria test showed no malaria and he had me continue the rest of the pills to be sure. I felt a sweetness in Africa that I had not previously felt … I was angry with her before… for more reasons than I can list on this blog and the significance of the song … the storm is over now extends beyond my malaria….Africa and I have reconciled and I truely believe that things are going to get better from here…we really need to get out of Medie though…

By the way I have come to realize that my life is truelly in God’s hands …. I thought I had planned for malaria (I had already bought medicine) and was ready but when it came down to it … it was truelly a miracle and blessing the way I was healed

Talk later

Still laughin, lovin, livin, learnin…
angel

Today is Jan 2, 2007….the new year passed quietly. New year’s eve we went to church and enjoyed the service here in Medie. The message was what will you shout for in 2007?
After my and Adom’s illness we began to pay more attention to when, how, and what we ate and we have been getting more rest. At midnight we were all sound asleep in the bed. I was awakened by the sound of pure joy coming from the church right outside of our gate where we are living. The people were shouting, laughing, singing, dancing, praying and playing instruments. I tried to wake Greg but it was no use. The next day we just rested around the house. My family called and it really meant the world to me. My mom called and as soon as I answered the phone I yelled “happy new year!” New Years is usually spent at my mom’s house with food, drinks, and just fun. This is when I usually let my hair down. My auntie called me also and it made my day. Our spirits had to be communicating because earlier that day I vowed to call her once I got some units. I miss her dearly…our conversations. I miss America and things that I never thought that I would miss like Walmart, Target, and my little relaxation technique of taking a bath and a shower at the same time….you should try it. I like to just sit there and let the hot water fall…this is when I think, contemplate, meditate, and pray. I also miss just laying around at mom’s house and my son and my nephew running around the house, bouncing off the walls, playing video games, and eating whatever I cook for them. My cousin asked me if I wanted to come home. Even though I miss home and with Adom and me getting sick I still feel that I have to complete my reasons for coming here which I shared earlier is not just about the dance…honestly I don’t know what it is about……I have learned sooooo much by just living here, just existing. Everything is a lesson and experience has been my professor. Funny some people refer to here as home and I feel them to a certain degree. I mean what is home? A familiar face, comfort, I feel these things here but really nothing can compare to my mama’s house and my mama….we have been in that house since I was about 2 months old….threw it all…my parent’s marriage and divorce…my mother having a stroke, my father dying, and soooooo oh so much more. I grew up in that neighborhood and no matter where I moved to I always would come back and stay home for a while…. I know the people there and they know me…….it’s almost like our own little village…Almeda Plaza….if anyone different…a foreigner …..walks down the street we all look, wonder, and ask who is this person, of course we feel like we are supposed to know everyone who enters into the neighborhood…and now all of us are adults and we have had children and the funny thing is all of our children look exactly like us….and when they are outside playing I feel like I am looking at us outside playing…and they seem to hold the same grudges and beliefs as their parents….interesting…very interesting…..at any rate I am full …full of emotion….I know that things are about to change here….we have outgrown village life, served our time, we need to find another place to live….soon we will have different experiences. Adom will begin in grade level 1 soon which will be a challenge for him…he has changed so much….wow he will be a different child when we return. Adom and I are planning a slumber party for him and his cousin/brother/best friend (lil rick – my brother’s son) they will stay up late, play video games, order pizza, and eat ice cream…he’s trying to negotiate a inflatable jumper also…. At any rate it will be nice….I haven’t been dancing much, nice to take a break, but I miss it so… it has been really nice having Greg here…growing and experiencing things together…our family is getting tight…I am blessed

Laughin, lovin, livin, learnin
shani

brief hello

2006-12-10T12:57:00.000-08:00

12/10/06

I can definitely feel a shift of things here. If ever going somewhere foreign to study and if it is at all possible I recommend staying there at least 6 months. I get the feeling that people are able to keep up a fairly decent front for about 3 months; I am sure even longer. Maybe the change is the presence of a man (Greg). I am sure that I was different to people when it was just Adom and I. I welcome his presence and feel that it was much needed. It has been wonderful for both Adom and me and Greg. Last week he had his official welcoming ceremony. Some guys that he met came and sang and basically did a little performance. It was some guys from the same village as King Agysoba (sp) he sings “I Want to See You My Father” maybe you could try to google him. He is a WONDERFULLY pure singer here. I love his music and so does Adom. The guys were from the Fra Fra tribe and they played this guitar made from a calabash…it was nice. Greg and I met with Adom’s principle and he said come what may he will move Adom to level 1 next term. (Adom was taking exams all last week) Greg and I have both observed that the transition from KG to level 1 will be a challenge for Adom but it is one that he somewhat needs. Academically he will adjust quickly but the children in level 1 actually go outside and they play ROUGH and they are actually playin….man it is serious. We had dinner with a lady who used to teach there and she gave us all the negative inside stuff about the school….she quit by the way. All things considered we may keep him at the school and Greg is planning on spending the first day of level one at the school with Adom. FYI caning is still an issue in Ghana … very much an issue. I don’t want him to have any SPECIAL attention but don’t want him to be beat either….well enough of my mother issues … the good Lord and everybody else knows that I can on all day on mother issues ;-) at any rate Saturday was really nice … Greg, Adom, and I took a nice walk to the Hare Krishna church in the village and we had a nice little tour and we all the questions that could come to our minds and then they gave us reading materials….it was really a nice experience and I have newfound respect for the Hare Krisna’s and honestly all of the other religions that I have studied since I have been here…. In my opinion the study of the religious practices that exist here in Ghana have a great deal to do with the study of the dances here… Which by the way my studies have definitely become intertwined with every day life …. I am somewhat disappointed with the line that I have drawn between work and life …. It’s a beautiful thing to have the two co-exist but also somewhat tricky. All the same it’s what I’ve prayed for so I am blessed. After we left the Hare Krisna church we walked to the next big village along a beautiful road…we passed about 2 small villages. It was really nice and quaint but definitely a long walk by all standards in the heat. I would guess it was about 6 to 8 miles there and the same back.

Today was my first day dancing since I came back from the north….man I was tired the WHOLE time….. I didn’t expect that… but it still felt good to dance…it really effects me when I don’t dance and not in good ways. Goodness the lights just went off AGAIN I must admit at first I was a real trooper but this light off situation is starting to get to me…it is so hot at night … I am up fanning Adom and making sure he does not get too hot ….

I hope I have not complained too much. Ghana is a beautiful place with wonderful people…

This one was short but I didn’t wait as long to write so I wanted to do a brief update
Laughin, lovin, livin, learnin
angel

to the north and back

2006-12-04T04:45:00.000-08:00

12/2/06

WOW!!!!

So much has happened since we last spoke. We traveled to the north and what an experience. We went to Wa for the NAFAC festival (national festival for arts and culture) it was so interesting. We got there late late Saturday night. We did about 3 performances while in Wa. I did not do Bawa because I didn’t want to disgrace the group ;-) the beauty of the whole thing is that while in Wa I GOT BAWA…it’s one of those things that just clicked. I finally got the step…I am sooooooo aahpppy!!!!! Now I just have to build up my endurance to finish the whole thing….it is a real workout. So even though I learned the hardest part of the dance I still have to perfect it b4 I will be at performance level…at least I don’t look like I am doing a bad m c hammer and kid and play anymore. The roads were horrifying!!!!!!!!!! No street lights and most of the trucks were overloaded, we saw several accidents….mostly with the big trucks … we are also in hamatan season which makes it very dry. It also makes the dust on the dusty roads worse. Basically all of our suitcases were covered with dust once we arrived - my hair looked like I dyed it some reddish brown color and whenever we blew our noses brown stuff came out…..it was really bad. I felt like such a guilty mother but honestly at the same time I felt wonderful for exposing Adom to all of the wonderful things that he experienced while we were on the trip. The hotel in Wa was ok it was GNAT (Ghana national association of teachers) it is a place where teachers can stay I believe they have locations all over Ghana. Even though it is for teachers other people can stay there as well. The teachers get a better rate and though the rate will be a little higher for non-teachers you can guarantee that it will be less than $10 a night. The room was fairly decent. Lela, Adom, and I share a room with Adom and I sharing a twin bed and Lela in the other bed. The bathroom was the only problem, while it looked decent it smelled like sewage fumes was coming through the pipes constantly. The festival was very interesting. It included dancing, singing, acting, a fashion show, and of course markets with several good things to buy and you know I bought some stuff. We saw outdoor performances that were simply amazing including a group who danced with bowls of fire on their heads. At one outdoor performance Sulley asked Adom if he wanted to meet one of the chiefs (there were several there) and Adom said that he did so we went over to meet him and as custom goes you should shake a group of people’s hands starting from your right and then move to the left, only using your right hand. Well as fate would have it as soon as Adom got to the chief to shake his hand he shook the chief’s hand with his right and he was digging in his but with his left. Oh my goodness I am glad that the chief in all his splendor did not see this little boy digging in his butt while shaking his hand. I laughed and laughed and thought yes this is definitely a blogging moment and then we went to meet another chief and I said Adom please don’t dig in your butt this time and he smiled and said ok. Wa was also somewhat disappointing because while the festival was there they were having a chieftancy problem and because of this we were told that the festival was not all that it has been or all that is should be. All things included I still enjoyed the festival. Adom got really sick the last day we were there (I think he must have eaten something bad) he was throwing up and running also with fever. Sulley and Lela were ready to get on the road (we all rode together in the car, all the other dancers traveled in the house tro tro) I pretty much refused to get on the road while Adom was throwing up and with diarrhea and fever. So we went to a local pharmacy and got some medicine called diaform – which is for diarrhea and dysentery of protozoal, bacterial or mixed origin, food poisoning and things along those lines. The total costs of the medicine was 33,000 cedis less than $4. I also got Anticid Plus, which stops the muscle contractions associated with throwing up and such. Then I gave him Tylenol for the fever. He basically calmed down and got better so that we could make to 4-5 hour drive to Mole National Park. It was very frustrating and the thought of him having malaria almost brought tears to my eyes. I am very thankful that Adom got better. When we got to Mole it was dark and the lights were off. The next day we woke to monkeys and warthogs outside of our door. Mole was beautiful the forestry was stunning. I was completely overtaken by the beauty of it all. The hotel was nice, there was a pool there and a nice restaurant. The rooms varied and the one we stayed in was 200,000 cedis a night, a little over $20. We rested and had a nice breakfast and then we went on the safari around 4pm. Oh my good ness I forgot to mention the fact that we went to a village not far from Mole where the oldest mosque in West Africa is located. It was built in the 1400’s by dwarfs and now it is a mosque. It is in a village that is 100 % muslim. We walked around the village and asked questions about everything we could think of. I had many questions about the Muslim faith and also why they call us Obroni – which is a word that means white …. They call white people obroni and they also call black people obroni … and poor Adom he gets called Obroni cocoa ….. ( white – black man) they basically told us that since we are foreigners this is why they call us this. I was going to set up an interview with a spiritual man but time would not allow it. We also went to look at the “mystic rock” this is a rock that refused to move when they were constructing the road. I was told that the area used to be a route in which slaves were taken……the people believe that something happened like maybe a slave died on the rock or was killed there or simply refused to move from that place. At any rate when they were constructing the road they moved the rock to the side in an effort to allow the road to pass there and when they came back the next day the rock was back in the same place…so they moved it again and it appeared back in the same spot again. This continued until they decided to leave the rock there and build the road around the rock. So now the rock remains there and people go there to pray sometimes. After we left the village we went on the safari and then we left for Tamale. Tamale was very relaxing and different, just going to the North was different. Accra is very much a city with many cars and a lot of pollution. The north was different in that there were less cars on the road. Many people rode bicycles or motor bikes. There was also less trash in the streets. Adom and I had our own room, which was nice. The hotel was very nice. Not elaborate and expensive but clean and quaint. It cost 90,000 cedis per night. There was a huge tree with branches that hung like ropes and Adom and some other little boys were swinging on them. I took lots of pictures. There was also a restaurant with 2 parrots. Adom and I talked to them and played with them for about an hour. It was very relaxing. My purpose for going to Tamale was to study one of the dances in the village. The dance is called Bamaya and I have already seen it performed by an amateur group and also at The University of Ghana at Legon. I am interested in how the traditional dances change as the environment changes. We saw the dance performed in the village and we also danced with them. It was amazing and definitely different. We also went to the market and bought some things of course. I make myself feel better by saying that it is all part of the research ;-) the way back to Accra from Tamale was in short TERRIFYING!!!! We counted 7 trucks that were overturned and one on fire. At night it was … oh my goodness….lets just say I did a lot of praying. And yes as a mother I wondered what I was thinking by being on this road with my son … but I must say the benefits of this trip FAR outweigh the risks….my son is having an extremely rich experiences and I feel blessed to share it with him. We got back late Monday night so I allowed Adom to miss school on Tuesday. Thursday was his birthday and I had a BIG early birthday surprise on Wednesday. Wednesday night Adom and I went to pick his father up from the airport. I told him that I was picking up my friend Carol from the airport. He was not in a good mood at the airport either. He was hungry, tired, and he kept saying he was ready to go home. When his father walked through the gate oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!! He was so surprised, he scooped Adom up and put him on his shoulders and I said happy birthday Adom and honestly his smile did not leave his face that night. He began teaching his father all that he has learned since he has been here. The next day of course was Adom’s b-day and he had cake and candy at school with his friends. Greg and I traveled into town to order the cake for Adom’s actual party at the house on Saturday (the bakery needed 2 days notice) we also went to the market with Lela and a couple of other friends. It was intense and I felt that maybe it was a bit much for Greg being his first day in Africa and all. It was nice seeing Greg see everything (Africa) for the first time and his reactions to many things. Everyone has been kind to him. Our space is extremely small now that we have increased in number and we are busting out of the seems in our room but I know something will work out. Adom’s party was supposed to start at 4pm but it started around 6pm. Those children had entirely too much fun. I can honestly say and I have asked Adom and he agrees that this has been his best birthday ever!!!!!!!! The children ate cake and ice cream, had LOTS of candy, popped balloons, we had a local hip life dance group come and dance, then the children and adults danced, then the children popped fire crackers and ate banku (which has become Adom’s favorite dish) Greg ate it for the first time and he seemed to like it okay. By the end of the night we were all so tired we just passed out. But we had a good time. For his birthday we got him a batik dress shirt, an electronic car, a electronic gun with a little helicopter on top, 2 books, a soccer ball, and from his friends he got 3 necklaces and a cd of music from Ghana. I also got him his favorite song here “My father the way you do it is not fine.” The next day was farmer’s day… a holiday for farmers in the country in which people do nice things and show their appreciation for the farmers who feed the country. In the meantime Lela received an e-mail when we got back from the north with a job offer for Urban Bush Women and so she left Ghana on Adom’s birthday. So as Greg came she left…she was sad but she had to go and do what was in her heart. Congrats Lela!
The day after Adom’s birthday all 3 of us went and had dinner near the university.

While I have been here I have learned a lot about myself and have been tested on many levels. More importantly I have learned about Africa, specifically Ghana and I have also un-learned a lot. I know that after this experience we will never be the same…. I am already different and look forward to sharing what I have learned once I return. My apologies for taking so long to write and I know this one reads very choppy but I had so much to get out and with many interruptions I finally realized that I just had to spit it out and hope that my friends and loved ones who are reading will excuse all errors…now I have a huge bag of dirty clothes that I have to wash by hand…I know it will take me some days but I think I better go and start… I also need to clean up some b4 time to go and get Adom….Greg is sleeping…still feeling an adjustment to the time change

Laughin, lovin, livin, learnin

angel

mate my balance!!!

2006-11-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

11/10/2006

Well what can I say…I have been pretty busy here just living life. It has been good to have Lela here. We are very different from each other. Many people ask if we are twins or sisters… even when we both had our hair locked the same thing occurred. Strange…at any rate life has been good for the most part…I realized that I didn’t really update on the young boy who was ill here at the house…he is and has been doing a whole lot better! He is laughing, lovin, livin, learnin, and growin. Wonderfully refreshing to see and experience. My teacher got ill with malaria and typhoid….he had to go to the hospital and get a shot and take a powerful combination of about 7-10 pills…..we had a performance yesterday for a lady who is releasing a book. Her name is Carola Lentz and she is a German woman who wrote a book entitled “Ethnicity and the Making of History in Northern Ghana” The performance was in East Cantonments at a place called the Goethe – Institut next to NAFTI (national film and television institute) There were ambassadors from different countries and even the vice – president of Ghana was there. We danced Bawa, Bamaya, and Kpalongo. I did not do Bawa…it is a very complex dance and if you don’t do it correctly you look like you are doing a bad version of the M.C. Hammer and Kid and Play together or something weird like that..at any rate I did not want to embarrass myself or the group so I just refrained from doing that piece. Before we danced we stayed at the front gate of the property and ushered the people in with dancing, singing, playing the xylophone, and gonji….it was so weird because I had the opportunity to have an inside look at how the mechanics within a group (in africa) are while being a part of it…usually I’m just watching performers (like when I was here last summer) and trying to figure out how they feel, what they are thinking, and what they do before and after a performance. I’m always trying to figure out that far away look in their eyes. Well last night I was a part of it all and had a wonderful experience. Adom was bouncing around playing his game boy, dancing, and making things with paper. At any rate as the people came in we would dance with them as they walked to their seat. Some would dance with us…these were very few. Others I could tell felt very uncomfortable and this did not stop us…..ok maybe it stopped me, lela, and a couple of the other female dancers as we laughed till our backs hurt at the way some people tried to walk as fast as they could to their seats…… we had fun….. I could tell that some were not really accustomed to being in an environment where dance is not something that you just sit back and watch…..watch in a safe way where you are not connected to the dancers and not expected to do anything other than just watch- the whole separation of audience and performer … which keeps it safe for both the watchers and movers. I must admit that even I was thrown back when I walked into the environment before the show started and I saw the space that we would be performing in…I have been here roughly 2 months and this was my first time performing in an setting like what I am accustomed to in the U.S. (formal stage and audience areas) and a little tinge of fear passed through me but why? Something about the dance not just being the dance but it being “a show” …

When we ushered the vice – president of Ghana in I must admit I almost cried and this reaction was totally unexpected but I felt honored to be able to usher him in. The dancing went well and afterwards we pulled people out of the crowd to dance with us…and when we finished my teacher Sulley announced to everyone that Lela and I were from the U.S. I was amazed that Sulley who IS STILL recovering from malaria and typhoid was dancing and in HIGH spirits and I thought to myself wow I am really seeing what it is to be on the inside of a group and experience and know what is going on within the group….initially Sulley said that he would not dance with us but before I knew it he was in costume and had more energy than ANY1 else…he said the dance would help him. Next week we will travel to the north to a place called WA and take part in a festival called the NAFAC. I am trying to see if I will be able to see some dances in the villages there for my research…surprisingly money goes here…and I have not been living extravagantly. Adom has begun speaking a little twi and he seems to be enjoying it.

For the most part I have been very calm here and nice to every1 but as we all know every1 has limits and a tro tro mate pushed passed my limits the other day and I, as calm as I am, got into it with a tro tro mate. He was really tryin to cheat me for my money. Here’s how it went down. Me, Lela, and Adom got on the tro tro and lela gave the mate some money (5,000) then some kind of way she got her money back from him and gave it to me and said that he took it all from my 20,000… it cost 3,000 per person and I didn’t want Adom to sit in my lap so I paid for his seat…. So the mate gives me less change than I should have gotten while he still charged me for all 3 of us…. Then I looked at him and then looked at the money and said this is my change? Around this time we stop and 1 woman wants to get on so he is tryin to make me put adom in my lap and I said no because I paid for his seat …then he takes another 5,000 out of my hand which I am thinking so he can make proper change and then he gives me 1,000 after taking 5,000 – even if I didn’t pay for adom when we first got on WHICH I DID!!! His seat would not cost 4,000 cedis…I know because I take my son to school everyday that the fare is 3,000 for where I am going. So I look at him like ??????? So he took the 1,000 bill and gave me 2 coins that were 500 each……ok so now I am officially pissed and I am saying no no no this is the wrong change…..the women behind me are telling me no don’t worry about it you are winning just leave it…..and I am like NO THIS IS NOT RIGHT the man who cut my hair the first time was sitting right behind me looking kind of confused and there was this other man sitting next to me who ended up translating to the mate…so I am calculating everything out loud to myself, lela, the man next to me and the mate…by this time adom is just quiet and playing with his papertoy while listening……THE WHOLE TRO TRO WAS LISTENING and for some reason I didn’t even care I was just so upset….all in all he owed me 3,000 cedis … what angered me the most was how he tried to play the whole thing because lets just face it 3,000 cedis is like 35 to 40 cents but he just blatantly kept my change then tried to charge me again for the same seat and then wanted to charge another lady for the seat that I paid for twice before he gave me my money back…..so anyway the man sitting next to me kept telling me to calm down and he explained to the mate and eventually he gave me my change…. When there are arguments or disagreements here it is very normal for other people to try and calm the situation down, at any rate when I got off that tro tro I politely said thank you to the mate and walked away….then later that day I saw him again and even a couple of days later I saw him again…both times he was passing on the tro tro, both times we just looked at each other and smiled even laughed …but I don’t think I want to ride on that tro tro again.

The other day Mandie (the cat) caught a mouse and killed it and ate it….she is such a trip…always catching lizards or crickets or something….she has so much personality. When I first got here I wasn’t too excited about her because she would always come in my room and sharpen her claws on my suitcases. But one morning as soon as I opened the door she shot in the room and when I finally caught her and put her out I thought the whole thing was over with and I started walking to the washroom and then she basically hit my leg with both arms…like saying “why did you put me out” I stopped and said “MANDIE” then she jumped backed a ran off…..everytime I get here with food I always give her a bone. I don’t think I mentioned before but adom and I have pets…two birds, I forget what kind but they are small and beautiful…..i paid 30,000 cedis for the cage the birds and some food…… about $3. Adom named them fighter and lil player I think….but anyway I say that to say that Mandie is always tryin to come in my room to get the birds…when I leave and while I am locking the door she is standing on the top of the chair next to me and reaching out trying to hit my hand and stop me from locking the door. If I am in the room she will come to the room and reach her hand under the door. There are 4 dogs here also and the mother dog will follow me whenever she sees me in town. Usually she tries to sneak and follow but today as I was going to get adom she was right behind me….i had to make her stop when I got to the main street so she wouldn’t get hit by a car…the animals here have definitely rekindled my love for animals that I had when I was a young girl. For some reason after I had Adom I began to hate animals (as pets at least) in some weird way I think I felt like I need to protect Adom against them ….but now I think I am over it…if I could, I would take Mandie back with me…she is a gem

Time is beginning to pass quickly…I am beginning to hear Christmas songs and I have even seen Christmas trees at Max Mart in Osu…I have begun working with my dancers at Adom’s school on their Christmas dance…I hope they will be able to do it since I will be in the north for about 2 weeks

i am still trying to see the bigger picture of why I am here…because I know there is one….a part of me doesn’t want to rush it though…that’s when you make mistakes…I actually have a couple of long terms business ideas that I am passionate about but the major problem is money and HONEY I AM DREAMIN BIG ;-) so we shall see! I mean really I’m here right?

Talk later
Laughin, lovin, livin, learnin
angel

e-mail address

2006-11-01T04:11:00.003-08:00

just wanted to send a quick note of my e-mail addresses...

shanihenderson06@fulbrightweb.org or shanihenderson@hotmail.com or shani_sterling@yahoo.com

also I made a change to the blog so that it will be easier to make comments ... now you don't have to sign up or be a member or create a blog or whatever it was it was making you do....SO SEND THE COMMENTS ;-)

thank you Currie for the comments, you are right my brain is working hard at trying to process everything and this is all part of the process...research..life

livin, lovin, learnin and growin
shani/angel

one month two weeks

2006-10-31T02:30:00.000-08:00

10/29/06

since I last spoke to you things have been well…. Sulley took me to see another amateur dance group rehearse and it was very interesting…. Very helpful for my research… I also learned some other dances…gato (sp) and patcha (sp) I have also worked on listening for the breaks in other dances - hearing the drum language is extremely important in learning dances here… so I must focus a lot of attention on this…I also need to learn the drumming

I found out that I will not be able to accompany my teacher as he goes to some universities in the u.s. so I am scheduling a meeting with my contacts at the university of Ghana at legon and I will spend some time there while he is away. We are also planning to go to the north for a festival in which dancers from many other countries in Africa will attend…sometimes I feel like I need to do more but when I really look at things I am doing a lot not to mention the piece that I am setting on the dancers here and the piece that I am setting on the children at Adom’s school. They will perform it for their Christmas program. I have also chosen some other research topics that I would like to pursue personally. For example I am looking at gender – relations here concerning dress and I am also interested in the experience of other Americans who come here. So I have made my hands full and I have some long terms ideas as well. Still nothing is concrete

I have been eating a lot better. When I first got here I didn’t eat much because I was adjusting and afraid to get ill. I know that I am overprotective because of Adom. Last summer when I was here I was not as careful but this time I am taking things much slower, it’s good that I have more time. Adom on the other hand has been fearless…I have seen a different side of my child since I have been here. He is not concerned about the things that I thought he would have a hard time adjusting to. When we walk to catch the tro tro he runs sometimes chasing chickens and goats on the way. He does however have a problem speaking to people….i have to make him and then he is still shy about it…he also seems shy tryin out twi…..he is not confident with it…he has instead picked up an accent and I think he feels this is his way of adjusting to the language…but it kinda sounds weird.

Over the weekend I took Adom and the other boys here at the house to the playground and on the way people in town were asking where we were going (this is normal here) and when we told them I got requests from people to bring stuff back (which is also normal) I got 4 requests…. Two fro bread and one for a meat pie and fan milk (ice cream) and the other for…..an apple……I must say that I was irritated, I am just not used to people asking me for stuff and believe me this is not the first time….the misconception is that all Americans are rich….and true there are only a few of us that can make it abroad but those of us that are able to have a responsibility … which is an issue for a whole different blog…..at any rate b4 I came I had high dreams of giving sooo much but having people just ask for things is also a part of adjusting to the culture … its just a normal thing to do even for locals….and sometimes people really don’t want you to bring it they just may ask….well at any rate I ended up getting nothing because I guess I was still working things out in my mind…….i must say that since I have been here I have been doing a lot for people – some who asked and some who did not ask……but this day was diff…I guess bcus 4 people asked and I really just wanted to go to the park

Well today (Monday) one of the ladies asked for the bread and I told her I would bring it

After I dropped Adom I got her some sugar bread….a loaf slightly larger than our normal loafs and it was 5,000 cedis so when I got back she couldn’t see it bcus of the way I was carrying it and I went to her stand (she sells candy) I must admit I was kind of angry still at the fact that she even asked …I was all prepared to say okay so next time you will dash me something ( give me something) and instead I just handed her the bread … her whole demeanor changed…she kept saying God Bless you……she laughed and told her friends and even as I was walking off she said madame God Bless You…it made me feel good and I could tell that she kind of didn’t expect me to bring it and honestly I didn’t expect myself to bring it

Its been hard for me to find that middle ground …. I have some friends that feel that you have to be blunt with people here because of how blunt they are with you…and honestly I really don’t have money to be buying everything that people ask for … I have a family…and I have bills that I am still paying in the U.S. but when I came I came with the notion of finding a way to help … I feel it so strong within me….the hard part is I am realizing that my help is just not bug enough … at least in my eyes … so now my dilemma is finding a way to help that is lasting …. I now understand what Oprah meant when she said that she is doing HER part …

Ah well

On another note…today is Halloween and the people here don’t really celebrate…..at Adom’s school today and tomorrow are fun days and they play games all day .. he doesn’t have school on Thursday or Friday…. I am just chillin, I have a rehearsal later – there is a performance on the 9th and then there is a festival in the north later in nov. still tryin to decide if I will go since Adom will have to miss about two weeks of school

Take care until later
Angel

how can we really help?

2006-10-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

10/24/06
today as any other day was filled with highs and lows….my title of my last blog may not make sense to some but others may feel me…so much has been happening since I got here… things are starting to settle in and I feel the need to figure out how to really help…you know? I mean giving money and buying gifts is soooo temporary…when you look at the whole state of things …the question becomes… how do we really help? It’s a hard question and one that definitely needs attention.

I am having a hard time adjusting with the whole philosophy here of other people popping your child…. Let’s just pray that I don’t have to go postal on anyone…I mean is it bad that I feel that I can pop him and I don’t want anyone else to? He hasn’t gotten caned at school but a couple of people have popped him. Ahhh well maybe I am just too western huh? And I am sure that you guys don’t want to hear about my dilemmas and cultural adjustments or my refusal to adjust to that particular part of the culture. Being here is still new…I wonder how I will feel in 10 months. Speaking of time, we have been here a little over a month and Adom has developed an accent. He is not speaking twi but he is pronouncing EVERYTHING differently. When he got on the phone with his dad I could tell at first he was about to speak with an accent and then it was like he realized and then he reverted to his southern drawl. It is so weird to hear your child talking with an accent. I could only imagine how he feels right now.

Today I went to busy internet, by myself. I took the tro tro to Kwame Nkrumah Circle and then I walked to Busy Internet. It is probably the fastest internet service here in Accra. I usually pay for time on my account there and use the internet at the house. I went to get some more time and I stayed a little while and checked my e-mail. Then I had lunch of French fries and sprite and went back to catch a tro tro on the way I got some earings for 5000 cedis – which is a little over half a dollar. Nothing too fancy but I liked the style of them. Then I caught the tro tro back to the house and cleaned up a little before going to get Adom.

I am really disappointed with where he is in school. Initially they tested him when we had been here less than a week and they put him in nursery with 4 YEAR OLDS. Mind you Adom was tested as reading on a 4th grade level in the U.S. and he was tested right at grade level in other subjects. He was tested about 4 months before we came here. Within a week they moved him up to KG and they haven’t moved him up yet. Most of his age- mates or either in class 1 or class 2. The principal said he wanted Adom to finish this term in KG and then he may get moved up. I am seriously considering changing schools if he doesn’t because I don’t want my child to be stifled. The only problem is location and if you know Accra you know that it can EASILY take 2 hours to get somewhere and more if it is on a Monday or Friday. Also if I change schools then I will have to deal with other fees associated with beginning at a new school including buying new uniforms. Also Adom has begun making new friends and he seems to be adjusting to the school…I don’t want him to have to adjust all over again. He no longer has a tutor…it just wasn’t working out…so I will work with him. I am harder on him than the tutor and I AM a teacher so why not save the money and work with him when I can?

Ok so I have shared some of the not so fortunate issues …still others I cannot divulge over the internet…but why settle on the bad?…I AM IN AFRIKKKKKA and I am breathin, livin, learnin, and growin

10/23

today Lela, Adom, and I went to Nima and Tudu in Accra with Sulley for the Saladay (sp?) celebration; this is the Muslim holiday that is like Christmas. When I woke up this morning I saw children singing on t.v. they were all dressed in pink and the young girls were covered from head to toe with only their faces showing. We also saw women singing that were dressed the same way. We met Sulley in Achimota and then we went to his house in Ablenkpe. His wife had prepared Tizzert. It was delicious. A banku type dish in which the doughy substance is made from ground rice and the soup is made from ground nut (p-nut), a leafy vegetable, tomato paste and this one had cow meat and fish in it. Adom didn’t like it so I didn’t make him eat it. I think the texture turned him off he said it tasted like guey chopped up chicken into little pieces ;-)

The Saladay celebration was interesting. Men were riding horses and it was like a parade, I was terrified that Adom would get hit by one. He was walking with Sulley and he actually almost did at one point in time and when I tried to run for him the horse almost got me and Lela. You know I was trippin!!!!! The horses were riding up and down the street fast and some were doing tricks. It cost 300,000 cedis to rent the horse for the day. I didn’t see any women on the horses. There were also trucks and cars with lots of people in them riding and playing music. There were high life songs and then some western songs also. It is so weird to hear western music hear and the children are doing some of the same dances that are done in the states. In some cases they give them different names and they execute the movement a little differently but still it’s the same.

It’s been good to have Lela here. She is helping me to release some and not be so uptight…not sure if that is the right word. My first year of grad – school she and I said that we would write a Fulbright together – which I don’t think can be done but it is so interesting that now we are here together…everything happens for a reason

a series of un/fortunate events

2006-10-23T02:03:00.000-07:00

10/21/2006

so much has been happening and I really cannot divulge all because let’s just face it - this is a public forum……but let’s just say there’s been a series of not so fortunate events and leave it at that. But I am still livin, lovin, and learnin!!!!!!
I have been trying to learn twi and I have been slightly successful

The other day I went with Sulley to take one of the boys that lives here at the house to Korle-Bu which I am told is the biggest hospital in Ghana and in West Africa. The appointment was at 1pm and the Doctor did not show on the scene until about 4pm and the child was not seen until 6, we did not leave until 7pm

It was depressing…there were so many patients waiting and some who decided to go home. Sulley told me that many of the Doctors have their own practice and they will sometimes work there and then go to the hospital after they finish their work. On the way to the hospital we passed the ocean, it was beautiful…a side of Ghana that I had not seen yet. There was also a prison called Jamestown…Sulley told me that it was a former slave holding place before the slaves were placed on the ships…I couldn’t believe that now it is a prison …I still haven’t had time to really process that,

While they were waiting we went to look for Christmas music so that I could set a piece on the young children that I am working with. I couldn’t find anything local. I want to use local music to set the piece, I also want something slow…we shall see

I also started setting a piece on one of the young ladies in the dance group here. The movement that I set did not completely go according to plan but this is always to be expected and sometimes welcomed since it may give way to new ideas and possibilities. I am supposed to work with her again today and I am hoping that we can work more on the emotional aspect of the movement, the feeling behind the movement.

My hair cut is ok aside from some small irritation at the back of my head…I will not allow them to use a razor again…my friend Lela is here from grad school and it has been nice seeing some1 that I know. I have learned that I need to delve more into the culture and not be so afraid to try new things. Last summer when I came I tried everything put before me and I learned the language very quickly…( I was around the Ewe people) now it just seems so different and I know that it is because I have Adom with me. Funny it seems that now he is so free and I am the one worrying….if there are any mothers out there then I am sure you know how I feel. I must admit that I am afraid of him getting ill and the guilt that I would feel if anything happened to him. Before I came I did receive some strange looks from some when I told them that I was taking my son to West Africa for 10 months. Some people eve came out and told me that I was basically crazy and others were extremely understanding and supportive. In short I have been easing my way into the food and other things. Yesterday Adom and I tried kosi and coco. It was good and Adom really enjoyed the kosi. Kosi is made from the local bean here (black eyed peas) Sulley’s sister prepared it…everyone prepares it a little different but she soaked the beans for a couple of hours and then she sent it to the grinder to be ground up into a powder. Next she added seasonings like pepper and then it is mixed into a batter and placed into hot grease and fried. While it is grinding she placed egg on top of it and it is fried on both sides. I must admit that it is very good. The coco was good as well although I am not sure how it is prepared … both are usually breakfast foods. The muslims are fasting for 30 days – no food or water from 6am to 6pm and then on Monday which is a school holiday it is called salada (sp?) and there will be a big party and praying for the muslims and it is the end of the fasting. At any rate the muslims eat a lot of the kosi during this time…usually when they break their fast in the evening.

This week we didn’t dance much. Sulley had to mail some drums and a xylophone and it took a while. Everything here in Ghana takes longer.

Budgeting money has been somewhat tricky and to a certain degree I still feel like I am settling in…I guess I am allowing myself more time to settle in because I know I will be here longer. Lela is staying for 3 months. Her experience is different – where she is staying there is no running water and no light – not sure if there is a “bathroom” either. She is thinking of staying here where I am for one month after her program is over.

The other night there was a waykeeping here in Medie. It lasted all night. All I heard was music. Eddie explained to me that once a person dies then about three days later there will be a waykeeping and then the next day they will go to bury the body and then about a year later they will have a last farewell. The times can vary and also a muslim funeral is different. The coffins here are also very interesting sometimes they can vary from coke bottles to cars, whatever the person was into. I plan to go and visit the place where they make the coffins.

Last night Lela came to dance with us during our rehearsal, it was cool. After rehearsal as Sulley was talking to us I looked to the side and she was sitting next to me and we were both sitting the same – with our legs crossed. I don’t see many women sitting like that here. She also spent the night and we went to town with Eddie and ate and I had a couple of beers, which I don’t usually drink. We talked / debated about dance in Africa and in America, black Americans, Africans, cultural transference and much more. I feel that we need to really address how we are teaching our children about things and she agrees with me but feels that I need to be exposed to more people who are doing it right. It was great! She is different than me in many ways and the same in many … I would say that we both have fighting spirits ... only in different ways … we both have some good ideas

Today is the muslim holiday and Sulley is muslim, there is a big celebration and festival for the end of fasting … Lela and I will go with him.

I apologize that my writing is all over the place. I am trying to write everything but it is coming out in bits and pieces…be patient with me I plan to start writing every night and then posting twice a week. Also I have been taking pictures and I need to find a sight in which I can post all of them – like an online album……any suggestions?

Take care, live well and in the words of my son, Adom, ….. DO A GOOD ONE!!!!!!!!

my new love affair

2006-10-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

FORGIVE MY TONE BUT MY SKIN HAS BEEN MAKING LOVE TO THE SUN AND I LUV THE WAY IT FEELS

MASSAGING HUES OF BROWN, RED, AND ORANGE ALL OVER ME
AND YOU KNOW WHAT?

I DON’T WANT TO BUY NO BLEACHIN CREAM!
I JUS WANT TO BE
ME !

FREE!

BRAVE!

DARK!

CURVY!
A FEARLESS, UN-LOCKED, DREAD-LESS PRINCESS
AN ASHANTI WOMAN WITH QUIET, BOLD, POWERFUL, FEARLESS STRENGTH…

from mommi ras to ashanti woman

2006-10-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

October 16th 2006

Sorry it has taken me so long to touch base…I ran out of time on my internet account and had to send some1 to town to post more time also...i have just been livin…I guess this means that I am somewhat getting used to life here….. here time can go so slow and then so fast, how is that possible at the same time? It has already been 1 month and I have 9 more. Adom and I have been tryin so much local food that it is insane! He doesn’t want to admit that he likes it but I think that he is starting to dig the banku a little and he seems to always ask for rice. So far one of my most treasured moments has been venturing out alone (I mean just me and Adom) and going to Osu to meet a friend for lunch at a nice little spot called Frankies. It was cool I felt like I was on my own time and I could do my own thing. I wasn’t with any of my local friends. I haggled with the vendors ON MY OWN and I decided to buy Adom a soccer ball, which was demolished by some local boys with flip flops on the next day! I decided not to buy Adom a Ghana shirt that was way overpriced at about 100,000 cedis. I’ll shop around and get a couple eventually – no need to rush. I got a cover for my cell phone and I got the sweetest pair of sandals - my friend Veena (Fulbrighter) and I talked him down from 85,000 cedis to 45,000 I thought this was wonderful considering they are leather sandals with beautiful beads on them. Speaking of beautiful I have been feeling so lately. Surprisingly my hips don’t feel too big nor does my backside. I don’t feel grossly overweight, even as a dancer. I feel pretty good on most days about how I look.

I am addressing my fears. I have realized that I have picked up some fears because of things that have happened in my life……after reading some of my journal entries from over a year ago and looking at some pics and video clips of me dancing I realized that I have been cheating myself. I have been dancing and living through fear…not brave enough to show my full potential …isn’t that funny? here I am in Ghana on a Fulbright Fellowship and still feeling fear and feeling inadequate. I realized that I was hiding myself and being shy and I decided NO WAY!! I decided that I wanted to get the full benefit of this experience so I decided to cut my hair…this may not make sense to most but I was hiding behind my hair….soooooooo i read, I prayed and I thought and I got up and cut all 116 locs off…all by myself, I didn’t tell any1 b4 hand or afterwards – I just did it – it had to be this way- almost 5 years of growth; I started cutting at 11:36pm and I stopped at 12:15am from Oct 14 to Oct 15 Sat to Sun, then I wrote in my journal

OCT 14 11:36 PM
CUT MY LOCS
REMOVE FEAR
TRUST GOD
LET NOTHING BUT
TRUTH SHOW

I STARTED WITH 129 LOCS
ENDED WITH 116

When I started my locs I did so because I wanted to go through a process of letting go and trusting that everything would be ok…especially considering things that I was going through in my life a the time - so I let go of my hair and tried to take my hands off as much and stopped trying to control the outcome of how my hair looked as much while at the same time trusting God that everything would be ok…it has definitely been a process and now I remove my hair to remove fear….when I dance I no longer want to be afraid to dance FULL OUT and free and now I cant hide behind anything…all of my hair is gone so nothing but the truth remains… I am forcing myself to be brave

The next day (Sunday) I went to a local barber shop and got it all cleaned up for 10,000 cedis…and when I say short I mean only the shape of my head really shows with VERY LITTLE HAIR AT THE TOP- not even $2 the barber used clippers and a new razor to cut my hair…

Its been somewhat frustrating because the people around me don’t really understand why I cut my hair and honestly I don’t expect them to… since they didn’t really understand my locs to begin with..ahh well naturally so and expected. All my rasta friends are trippin…These decisions are truly FOR ME SPIRITUALLY and so all of this comes with the territory

Eddie gave me the nick-name of mommi ras and since he is a rasta he was somewhat devastated when I cut my hair but now he says I look like an ASHANTI WOMAN

The joke is I thought that by cutting my hair I would receive less attention here but it hasn’t worked ;-) instead they seem more forward

Today I went and got my eyebrows arched by threading (Venna told me about an Indian woman who does it) I wanted to go alone. On the way I stopped at a bookstore and got Adom some study books for his tutor to use…by the way Adom gave himself a new nick-name “Lil Cool Blue” he also wants to keep Ohenne as well

My eyebrows cost 15,000 cedis and should last 20 days she said the threading pulls it from the root so it takes longer to grow back … I really like it and it didn’t even hurt. Next time I may get a facial…I think I may have found a way to pamper myself.

On Sunday I taught class to the dance group here and on tomorrow I begin setting a piece. I decided to begin with a solo and then maybe add other dancers. We will see this is where my new braveness and courage comes in. I am so excited and nervous at the same time. What a wonderfully crazy feeling.

I promise to write more and please forgive my brief hiatus…I am about to finish my lunch of pineapple and plantain chips. I’m eating light because last night my stomach was very upset so I had to take a cipro this morning and I am feeling better. I’m still not sure if it was the food I ate last night or the bag of water I drank…not sure if I trust those little bags yet…my local friends tell me that not all of them clean the water properly ….at any rate this is … Ashanti Woman signing out….

africa smiling through her tears

2006-10-05T03:50:00.000-07:00

Okay so I made the spagetti…I soaked my vegetables for about 5 minutes and then rinsed them … with local water and the food came out VERY GOOD if I do say so myself..i gave everyone in the house some and they seemed to like it and we didn’t even get sick…the day I was going to go into mommy mode Sulley ended up picking Adom up from school and I think he was probably more strict with them than I would have been…he told Adom right in front of the lady “if you don’t like the rice and you don’t want to eat it then don’t okay” he also explained everything to the lady about the water and stuff…he said she kept telling him we give the students good food here…everyone eats it even the director and no 1 gets sick then he said that she told him it’s the temperature change that is making his stomach hurt and he told her well the temperature did not change in his stomach! Oh my goodness she even gave Sulley her number and told him to have me call her because she felt bad…..i felt bad so the next day I wrote a note to the teacher(s) just telling them that I know they take good care and that we are just trying to determine why his stomach is hurting. I even sent an orange to school for each teacher…They didn’t get it until I picked Adom up though…when he gave it to them they thought it was for him and told him they didn’t have time to peel it. Later that day the school called and told me that they will only give him the water I send to school and that they know it is hard for him to adjust and that since they have my number now they will call if anything should happen.

While Adom was at school Eddie gave me a private drumming lesson and we worked on kpalongo. Later that day we had a performance for the family of another fulbrighter that I met in Washington D.C. there is also a performance this weekend that Sulley says I will do (funerals) I cant believe the way he is just putting me in performances so soon…I haven’t even been here 3 weeks. Today I will have a private dance lesson with Sulley.

For some reason Adom was fine on the way to school…playing with me and Eddie but once he got to school he started crying and saying that he did not want to go. It seemed very strange I am very concerned…always about him, he is still complaining of his stomach off and on….please continue to pray for us

Africa has been so beautiful, a strange combination of stark, natural beauty along with deep and painful wounds. My local friends have been opening up to me … telling me of their personal stories of life, love, education, and such. My soul is happy and my soul cries. The people are hurting and the people are so happy. How so when the people home are so unhappy and in most cases in a crappy mood even though they usually have all their needs met and then some. One of the young boys that lives here had a fainting spell and a seizure…when I met him I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know what. He was sick at school and then at home. His brother told me that this usually happens during this season and that he has medicine to take … I felt so bad …he also told me that they don’t even know the sickness that he has …at that moment Adom who was soooo concerned about him said I’m glad I don’t have that sickness momma…I told him it is a blessing but you should remain prayerful always praying to God for people. He said okay and that night we both prayed for him.

My soul began to relate to those that are ill and because of the illness they don’t feel comfortable in their skin. We are all here for a reason and we all must go…this is reality

This makes me want to dance and express my feelings through dance since it is my form of communication…I cant put what I am feeling into words but I understand it soooo much that I can say it with my movements and make you understand it…..THE POWER OF MOVEMENT

Oh also the goat had babies…two….they were there when we arrived back at the house yesterday…the cutest little things Adom was amazed

Take care
And pray for us…all of us
shani

check out the pics

2006-10-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

ok so go to www.myspace.com/shaniangel to check out some pics not many but until i find a better way...i am sure it will do

shani
(moma ras)

Adom has a new name

2006-10-03T04:14:00.001-07:00

9/29

this morning on the way to the tro tro some one said to me in twi ahhh princess how are you? I didn’t understand a word he said so eddie told me what he said and how to respond which I have already forgotten…this evening I will have to take the tro tro alone…I’m afraid….and I will also teach a ballet class to a small group of girls (10) at Adom’s school

wish me well ;-)

So I ended up catching a ride with the dancers and drummers, they were on their way to a funeral. I was feeling really bad on the way to the school (weak and sick) but I took an emergen-c and said some prayers and I felt better by the time I taught. The emergen-c has been really helping me to feel better…and I have been taking about two a day…..hopefully once I get used to being here I wont need so much.

I taught the class and it was actually quite refreshing. I felt that it was amazing to be doing in Africa what I do at home…teach ballet to young children. I had 8 girls and 2 boys. They were all beginners with the exception of one girl who said that she had some ballet in New York when she was 7. They were all 8 or 9 years old. Doing what I am familiar with in Africa gave me a sense of familiarity/home. The room was very small and there were many children watching in the doorway and laughing until one of the teachers made them leave and then they were trying to peak in the windows…also there were teachers in there grading papers and watching…maybe they were grading me ;-) it was fun…I think maybe I gave them too much since they were all beginners…but they were excited and wanted to know when the next class would be. They all called me Auntie…something the children do here…so sweet. After speaking with the principal we decided that I would teach a contemporary class next and see which is best for the students. They would like the students to master the dance and then have a performance at the end of all academic terms when they celebrate the countries anniversary. After this I picked Adom up from his classroom and we waited around for a call from my friend Baby Quaye who I met in 2002 at Jacob’s Pillow. I was going to just go back to the house when I finally got him on the phone and I decided to go to the University of Ghana at Legon and sit in on a lecture class which was a performance laboratory. So I had to take the tro tro ALONE !!!!!!! I didn’t even know where to go and stand…and I began to realize that every since I have been here whenever I go somewhere I have always been with a local and now I am alone and with Adom. So I looked behind me and I saw one of the teachers at Adom’s school and I greeted her and asked her if she was going to Achimota which was my first stop. She said no and that she was going to Lapas…. I asked her where I could catch the tro tro and she told me and we waited there together and talked a little about our children. She left first and then I waited for the Achimota tro tro and boarded once it arrived. So the mate (the guy who takes the money) motioned for me to pay him and I told him achimota and gave him 10,000 cedis. I got annoyed because he never gave me any change and I knew that 10,000 (a little over a dollar) was too much to pay to go to achimota. After riding and thinking a little while I decided not to address it and I resolved within myself that cheating people is no way to win. The driver ended up making us get off the tro tro a little before the place where he was supposed to take us to because he wanted to make a turn. I couldn’t understand what everyone was saying but I could tell from their actions that everyone was getting off and a little pissed about it so I got off and began talking with a lady who was carrying a baby on her back….i said he was supposed to take us to achimota and she said AH! And we began going back and forth about how wrong he was and so I asked her is this the taxi rank? She told me yes and asked me where I was going and told me where to go to get the taxi. As I was walking up a taxi driver ran up to me and asked me if I needed a taxi and I told him yes and where I was going and asked him how much he told me 30,000 cedis which I didn’t know whether it was good or bad I just wanted to look like I knew what was going on…so I made a face like I okay …I guess ..and we were off…once we got in the car I began to wonder if this man ever used his breaks and I decided that he really didn’t like to use his breaks and wanted to avoid using them at all costs. He would speed and then stop at the very last minute…I was worried and then the police stopped him and I am not sure what they were asking for but he left me in the car for about two minutes and then came back and we were off again…once we got on the campus of the university of Ghana I began to wonder if I was on a HBCU campus in the US. It really didn’t seem that much different to me only difference was that many students were drying their clothes outside on lines and such. But we saw students walking, chilin, romancing, playing basketball, playing futbol, meeting and everything other students do on college campuses. So before I got in the taxi I asked the driver if he knew where the school of performing arts was, he said yes, but once we got on campus he began asking me where it was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got annoyed and told him I didn’t know and then he asked a student and he told him. Once I got to the place I waited around for my friend. I thought I was going to just sit in and watch a class but it turned out to be a movement class including all the students – freshmen, sophmore, juniors, and seniors. Of course they made me dance!!! You know they did. I am beginnin to really grasp the healing power of dance…if I am feeling ill each time I dance I feel better…the students were singing and dancing with all their might and there was so much joy in their faces and in their hearts…it was beautiful to observe. I also had an opportunity to kind of begin my research, which involves the way traditional dance is taught and transferred from villages to performance groups to colleges to other countries. It was interesting. I called Sulley and he came to get me and we left after we went to this little spot to get some food (which was good) fish fingers and fried chicken and chips (French fries) it was a cool little spot near campus where the college and locals hung out and have drinks and such. It was cool.

The next day we went into town to the art center and I got some waist beads (women here wear beads on their waist) I got some last summer but left them back home…I wanted some different colors. I got yellow and blue 3 for 30,000. I also got Adom a music toy that he really wanted called alesatuwa (sp) I got him 2 for 20,000. We went to the beach and walked around a little then Sulley came to the center and picked us up and we got some food on the way back.

This morning I decided not to go to church I wanted to get some rest since I will be dancing today…I may a private lesson with Sulley and then a group practice with the rest of the dancers.

Things are okay here definitely getting better as we ease into this way of life. I am surprised at the attention I get because of my hair…even when I cover it. I love being called Empress, Princess, and Queen all the time…the people here are friendly most of the time. I have left out many stories but I feel that I am typing so much and I still have to find a way to include all of the pictures that I have been taking. I am still concerned about getting sick…. I met a nurse from Ghana but who livesd in the US at Adom’s school and she told me to go and get some cipro for me and Adom and just keep it at home. I will try to do this next week…please continue to pray for us…forgive my typing errors .. I am trying to say so much so fast…and even with all my words it is still an understatement ;-) THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! To all who are so tenderly loving MAMA and taking her food, doing her hair, calling, thanks aunt bee for printing these out and taking them to her….it does my heart good to hear the joy in her voice…genuine…Haley I read your message, thanks, and Curry I got your e-mail….thanks …its hard for me to respond…it will get better soon…I hope

I have to type everything on word and then try and quickly load it because the internet is so slow and I have to pay by the hour

Take care until next time

10/3

On Sunday I had a private lesson with Sulley in which I learned Bamaya…the story and the dance. Please understand that by no means can I learn a dance in one day…..so we danced some and then he told me the story of how the dance came about and he continued with his story (career). Sulley is from Tamale which is in the northern part of Ghana. His father was a dancer as well. Later in the day the dancers came for a rehearsal and we danced Bamaya, kpalongo, gahone, and fume fume. When we started the rehearsal I was so tired that I didn’t know how I would continue I wanted to stop dancing but I had to remind myself that this is the whole reason why I am here (technically) so I pulled through and ended up having a wonderful time. I was even not so shy when it came time for my solo in fume fume…everyone takes solos in fume fume…I messed up a little but I ended well ;-) I thought Sunday would be sort of a rest day but man I have been so busy with everything, always something to do, which is good but I haven’t even unpacked yet

Monday Adom began complaining of stomach pain…I am worried…I hope he is ok…his water intake has somewhat declined and eddie seems to think that this may be the problem, in fact I cant remember the last time he did #2. Also at school for lunch they give them rice EVERYDAY!!!! When I ask Adom what did you have for lunch today he says “all they gave me was rice and it was SPICY” and then I ask if he ate it he says yes the teacher made us eat it…..when you drop the kids off they don’t let you go any further but when you pick them up they let you go to the classroom…today (Tuesday) I am going to tell his teacher to not MAKE him eat all his rice for goodness sakes he hasn’t even been here for 1 month he cannot completely adjust to the food and he is not used to spicy food…I will also make sure she knows not to give him ANY of the local water…this is why I send water to school….I am going into MOMMY mode and I don’t care… it is no fun being sick and I cant necessarily feel how he feels….I had a long talk with him about the importance of telling the truth and when he says that his stomach hurts I need to know if this is actually the case or if he just doesn’t want to walk, or doesn’t want to eat…..after talking to him over and over on this matter I think he understands and also I want him to know that whatever the issue is if it is within my power I will make him comfortable…I have to because I am here….everything has to be taken seriously…not like at home…I got some cipro, the only problem is he is not running…so I don’t know what to do…I gave him pepto bismol, maybe this caused an issue…not sure

Yesterday Sulley and I had some running around to do…I had to give the U.S. Embassy 2 million cedis OUCH!!! For Adom and me to get multiple country long term visas. I also went to Busy Internet and place 60,000 cedis on my internet account the rate is 10,000 cedis for one hour and then I plug my laptop into the phone line here at the house and use dial up…it is slow…on the way back to the house I bought some food 3 pieces of fried chicken and chips (fries) for 25,000 cedis then I bought Adom a Dr. Seuss book for 55,000 cedis, things are cheaper here but money seems to go…when I picked Adom up he seemed to be feeling better…no fun worrying about him….once we got back Adom’s tutor was there to work with him 150,000 cedis for the month and he works with him for three days a week…he helped him with his homework last night and then gave him a nick name….ohenne pronounced ohh hen eh in the twi language it means chief or king…Adom loved it!!! If someone called him Adom he would say no Ohenne and he said momma I’m going to have to tell my teacher my new name…..this morning on the way to school Adom’s tummy was hurting again and I am worried they would let me go and talk to his teacher about it…I left my number with the secretary and they said that if he continued to feel bad then they would send him to the school nurse…Eddie said that when he felt his stomach that it felt as if Adom needed to drink more water…I am prayerful…on the way back I bought some tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, garlic, and bleach…today I will make spagetti….i hope the vegetables will be okay and not make us sick… the embassy said that we should prepare a bleach solution…one tablespoon to one gallon of water and let the veggies soak for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking or eating…maybe I will try it but I don’t want to look too weird to them while cooking…it is so funny … I ‘m not sure how much personal space exists here…whenever I go onto the internet in the family room (where the t.v. is) they all seem to gather round and just look…of course I am uncomfortable and want my privacy but I am not sure if I am allowed…they just kind of peak over my shoulder…I don’t mind ultimately…

At any rate I will keep you posted this is mommi ras signing out ;-)

feeling better

2006-09-30T04:58:00.001-07:00

9/28

today was a good day…I cant really remember what happened yesterday other than I rode the tro tro for the first time…it was okay…traffic didn’t seem so bad in the tro - tro…I guess when you are on public transport you don’t have as high expectations so you don’t get as angry…funny though many people around here and in accra think that I may be Ghanaian and many times people will speak to me in their language wether it is twi or some other language and me being the person that I am I just act like I understand them and this makes for some really interesting encounters…it hasn’t happened much but its funny when it does especially to eddie (the rasta who has been helping me) on the tro tro the guy who takes the fare was saying to me to move out of the way so that someone else could pass and I figured by his actions what he said and I did it…eddie said that it was weird the way I responded right after he said it…I cant really explain it…part of it is me reading the actions of the people and the other part is me just listening and feeling like I kind of understand it …hard to explain…no I do not know twi, ewe, or any other language and sometimes I am listening at a loss but other times I feel that I understand

oh I also bought paw paw (papaya) oranges that looked green and are supposed to “clean your heart” and pineapples…we bought them from a lady named monica…she said that she would maybe come by the center and teach me some adowa , which is a dance from the Ashanti region

today was a good day…after eddie showed me how to ride the tro tro to adom’s school we went to the art center where the big market is in accra…I wanted to meet some more rastas….from what I have been told many people don’t really like them here….the feel that they should cut their hair and be gentle…cut their hair and shave so that they could get a job and such….however on the other hand I have received a lot of kindness and genuine niceness from people who call me hey ras or mama ras … I actually like mama ras ;-) I have to admit that I am not a rasta and I have said it to some people here but because of my hair this is what I am called…so today I got a inside look at the market…I was with eddie who is a master drummer…he told the people at the market that we just wanted to walk around and so they didn’t really push us to buy…I played the drums in the market with eddie and another guy…we played kpalongo… I met all the rastas in the market and they were really nice…not tryin to flirt or anything….today I was called EMPRESS, PRINCESS, GODDESS, AND QUEEN!!!!!! Much different from pssss hey lil mama can I get yo # well f-ck you then I didn’t want it no way….no offense guys but it felt good to be called such wonderful names and REALLY with no alterior motive I had two bracelets made for me and a ring made for me and then I also got a necklace all for about 60,000 cedis which is wonderful…a rasta named Kelley made it and he also makes these wonderful shoes that are woven yarn…red yellow and green….other colors too…I’m going to have him make me some boots later … I am in no rush to buy things…thats when you make mistakes…I will take my time…(I haven’t forgot about you Currie) ;-) I will also get adom some shoes made and maybe even a hat too…I will get it larger so that he can wear it later…we were in the back of the market … this is the part that I didn’t see last summer when I was here…today I also got some different anti malaria pills … I guess I will try doxcycyline again despite my fainting spell last summer…mefloquine just didn’t sit right with me..it seems to work ok with adom and I guess this means that I have enough to last the entire ten months for him,,,,,,,,malarone would have been ideal but it is entirely too expensive even in Ghana. It is the best one with little to no side effects but it costs 1million 92,000 cedis for 10 days worth of pills this is well over 1 hundred dollars and basically insane…so I got 20 doxycyline pills for 6,000 cedis which is less than one dollar…he told me that I cant take it for more than 3 months though…so I will have to switch to something else…I also got some treatment medicine for both adom and me in case we should get it and we are so far away in Medie that he said I should just start the medicine and then go to a doctor the next day…at any rate getting the treatment medicine made me feel better and I got all of that for 107,000 cedis at an exchange rate of 9095 cedis to one dollar you do the math…I like the fact that you do not need a prescription for the medicine here

I met the oldest rasta and his name is ras kunta…I think he lives way in the back of the market where it doesn’t even look like the market anymore…you can see the water from his house….the ocean is behind the market

He talked to us about Jah and how you have to be careful how you use your words, not saying things like understand…instead say overstand, and hello (not using the word hell) he offered me some ganja but I politely declined … he stressed to me that many are called but few are chosen…he said that when he first saw me that he knew that I was smart…he said that he could see it in my eyes…it made me feel good…so nice to be appreciated and unfortunate that sometimes you have to go away to be appreciated

Before we picked adom up from school I got some butter bread for 5,000 cedis for a big loaf…when we got to Adom’s school they were sounding out words on the board and Adom was right along with the rest …today he said that he lliked his class… whenever I get to his school I greet the principal, the director, the secretary, and Adom’s teachers…so nice to do this and feel like I don’t know cool with them and not that they are so far away… I plan to teach at Adom’s school….i will teach ballet. Many of the students and teachers have no idea what ballet is so this will be FUN…I am interested in some things aesthetically as far as teaching ballet to Africans…since ballet was created by Europeans……..more on that later…..in short I don’t want to change them too much…the principal asked me to teach a class tomorrow so that the other children can be excited. When I asked him how many students he said we will start small about 20…and I looked at him and said lets start with 10…. Oh my goodness I cannot teach a ballet class to 20 students on my own…that’s crazy. At any rate tomorrow the dancers are going to perform at a funeral and they are leaving at 12:30pm and the funeral starts at 2pm….the class that I am to teach at Adom’s school starts at 2pm… so I have to decide…..teach ballet class- go to funeral…I think adom has decided it for me …every Friday is p.e. day and they even wear a different uniform …all week he has been wanting to go outside and play on the playground but they have been waiting for p.e day…he does not want me to pick him up early so I may not go to the funeral…and teach the class…

After we got to the house I cut up my pineapple …It was divine…..so sweet …so I ate my pineapple and shared it with everyone at the house, I also ate my butter bread sweet and good . Adom fed the goat leaves…he has been having fun chasing chickens and trying to tell if this is a goat or sheep and male or female…

Later Adom, Mike, and Julius created a band and took turns alternating instruments between two xylophones and a set of snare drums and a djembe drum

Afterwards I ate some bangku that Grace prepared and I gave Adom some …he said that he didn’t like it but I think he is just looking at it like it is weird so he doesn’t know if he likes it or not…so I made him some ramen noodle soup outside on the coals in a pot

Earlier while adom was feeding the goat I called his doctor in florida and told him what happened, he told me that Adom was fine and assured me that the head is pretty durable…as long as he did not go unconscious when it happened, not complaining of headache, and no blurred vision…This boy has been ENJOYING HIMSELF to the fullest and seems normal…so I am happy…he doesn’t worry at all and I worry for both me and him

After I ate I took a shower while Adom watched Zorro on my laptop and then he took a shower…even though there is a hot water heater here I have trouble trying to figure it out and since sometimes the generator may be going or the petrol may be out…the hot water heater may be too much…so we are somewhat adjusting to the cold showers and they are actually quite refreching…Saturday we plan to go to the mountain … I hear there is a pineapple farm there and you can get pineapples for about 1,000 cedis which is a little more than a dime I think….i will let you know though

Now adom is sleeping and I have chased the cat out of my room like 4 times…she like to come in and find one of my suitcases and sharpen her claws there until I chase her out…or she will just hide under the bed until Julius pulls her out. This morning when I woke up and opened the door she was waiting there and just ran in the room….i called her and then I picked her up and put her out and as I was walking into the bathroom she grabbed my leg with both arms and then jumped back when I looked at her and called her name she started running sideways away from me……her name is mandie or slimantuwa…they seem to use mandie more…..also there are four cute and flicked looking small dogs here… and a pregnant goat that eddie says got pregnant without a male…so there is so much for him to get into….i will post pics

Good night
Angel

Please forgive any typos and mistakes, I am assuming that I am among family and friends here and no need to do extreme editing……this is more like stream of consciousness….

Also ask questions if you have them

9/29

this morning on the way to the tro tro some one said to me in twi ahhh princess how are you? I didn’t understand a word he said so eddie told me what he said and how to respond which I have already forgotten…this evening I will have to take the tro tro alone…I’m afraid….and I will also teach a ballet class to a small group of girls (10) at Adom’s school

wish me well ;-)

first week

2006-09-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well what can I say? I have been here for 6 days now and I have experienced so much. Adom was sick our first night here…which terrified me. He woke in the middle of the night crying and walking aimlessly, he wouldn’t answer me at all, he was sweating and had a fever. He seemed as if he wanted to throw up but didn’t. He was crying so loud that Steve came downstairs to check on him and he told me that their youngest daughter just finished throwing up. I think he may have picked something up before coming here and also that night he had to take his malaria pill - which may not have agreed with him. I may try and give him one more dose and if he doesn’t work well with it I will have to switch his medicine to another kind. That night I wondered if I made a huge mistake by even coming to Africa. Here I am in the middle of the night with my baby crying and I am just so scared. I began praying and wondering if I should just maybe go home…it definitely became an option.

The next day I had my briefing at the public affairs office. I gave Adom some medicine (Tylenol) that morning and he seemed to be fine as the day went on. I also got a different malaria medicine for myself because I didn’t like the way the mefloquine made me feel after one dose. Mefloquine is the medicine that is usually prescribed for anti malaria but it can cause some bad reactions in a small percentage of people. When taking mefloquine some people may have kidney problems, some may experience extremely vivid dreams, some may experience psychological problems and in some cases people have had suicidal tendencies. After taking one dose I didn’t necessarily experience any of these problems but I did feel a sense of aggression that made me uncomfortable. I cant really explain how I felt I just didn’t like it. Another fulbrighter and I went to a local pharmacy and picked up a local anti malarial called daraprim. It cost 35,000 cedis for six weeks worth of pills the exchange rate is 9095 cedis to 1 us dollar. I also bought Adom some amoxiklav, which cost 70,000 cedis and I did not need a prescription to get it. I just told the pharmacist what was going on with Adom and she gave me the medicine. Wish it were that easy in the U.S. Later that day Sulley (who I am working with) came to get us and he took us out to Medie pronounced med-eee-yeah. I like Medie in that it is far from the city with all of the sounds and exhaust and smoke but I am somewhat concerned that being so far away from the city may cause a problem because if we get sick we may have a ways to go to get to a doctor or clinic. During traffic it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to get from Accra to Medie. Since all of my bags would not fit into Sulley car I had to leave some at the house of the Bucheles and Sulley and I planned to get them the next day. Before Sulley came for me Susan’s husband Steve took me to Osu so that I could get a cell phone and a voltage stabilizer…this will prevent my computer and other equipment from being damaged. The cell phone was 420,000 cedis about $45 This included a cute little basic phone with flashlight and a card for the phone (kind of like t mobile) and 50 units which were gone after calling mom. When I called her on Wed she said that she was just about to call the Embassy to check on me ;-) it is free for me to receive calls so you guys should go and buy a calling card from a gas station or on the internet (about $5) and call me! My number is 0246781839 I think the correct way to dial the number from the U.S. would be 011233246781839, oh by the way I can get text messages too and they really make my day ….so send me some…the voltage stabilizer was 450,000. It was kind of weird walking around Osu with Adom and Steve who is white. Since I have been here I have experienced some people thinking that I am from here. It is only when I open my mouth that they can tell that I am not. So I bet some people thought that Adom was our child…funny…

While we were walking back I fell down and hurt my ankle on one of those sewage drains…this came after fussing at Adom for carelessly jumping over them, my ankle is still sore…..still no rest for the weary I have already begun dancing and I haven’t even been here 1 week…there is a performance on Tuesday at the house of an American ambassador. So I have been dancing Bamaya, kpalango, and I think I may learn some more today…yesterday was the first day dancing. The culture shock has set in and I shed some tears today…just frustrated and tired.

Adom wanted to go to a school close by where the boys that live in the same house as us go. The name of it is Acropolis. Sulley took us by there and I talked to the headmaster (a woman who all the children call mommy) From the time we got there until we left the children were so amazed by Adom they just kept touching him and pulling on his shirt and laughing. They kept calling him “Obruni coco…Obruni coco” I saw a different side of my son. He stuck his chest out and threw his arms behind him and was fighting every little person he could …he just kept getting into fights……he even tried to take up for Julius (one of the boys who lives with us who is 10)

We then went to look at another school called Silicon Valley International School. The web address is www.siliconvalleyinternationalschool.com. This seemed to be a better option since Adom would not be the only child of his skin color…I saw at least 2 more and then I also saw a little girl who must have been Indian or something. When we got to the school Adom was tested and he didn’t do very well even though his teacher in the U.S. tested him and said that he was reading on a fourth grade level and comprehending what he read on a 3rd grade level. The principal says that this always happens with children from other countries…….they basically teach different…so Adom will be in a classroom with children younger than him, four years old and then some his age. If they see that he does well then they will move him up. My main concern is that he learns. I know that he wouldn’t have at the other school. There was too much fun and fighting (which has somehow become fun to him) and running around to do for Adom, he just didn’t seem to gel well. I am sure that if I would have put him in this school with time he would have been fine … but I don’t feel like we have a lot of time for a major adjustment and I really want to make this transition as easy as possible for him.

We decided to get Adom a tutor so that he will excel. Sulley worked with Adom some yesterday and he talked to a tutor today. He may get tutoring 3 times a week. The school cost about $300 US the first term and about $200 each term afterwards and there are 3 terms in a year…my grant does not cover his educational expenses so I had to use some of the money to pay for that. After the second day of class, Adom teacher who everyone calls Auntie Mary decided to put him up to KG which is kindergarten…keep in mind Adom tested at a 4th grade reading level in US but he is somewhat behind here…some of this can be attributed to the traveling, I mean we haven’t even been here 1 week but really they just teach the children different here. We have also been talking to the director of the school and the principal about me teaching ballet to the students there. They seem interested but they are concerned of what will happen to the children once I leave. They say that 10 months is too short…will I come back because after I leave the children will just be bumping their heads not knowing what to do. They are so protective of the children, which is good. The director asked me to teach ballet to his daughters…

On Saturday we woke early to the village boys waiting for Adom to go and play soccer. They waited for him to put on his soccer uniform from when he played in Tallahassee (about 4 seasons) and then he went to the local field. I could tell he felt like a champ. Before they played they all just took off running around the field and before I knew it Adom was off running too. Most of the local boys only had on shorts and nothing else no shoes no shirt. Adom on the other hand was wearing his red, black, and white soccer uniform and long soccer socks and cleats. I didn’t want the shin guards on because I felt it may be too much ;-). At any rate he didn’t care and they didn’t either…he played hard and they were all older than him and seemed to take special care to him. I think he likes it here so far. There is always a baby around for him to play with and he LOVES babies. There is also always some little boys to play with. Adom had three skate boards and he gave 2 away to Julius and Bismark…the boys that live here. He kept the other one so they usually all play on it. Also the boys have created a game called “rough play” which they love and I HATE…they basically beat up on each other and laugh … I don’t see how this is fun but Adom loves it. He’s playing with older boys and they are usually pretty light on him. Today 9/26 he was swinging on they arms of two chairs and apparently he fell and hit his head on the concrete tiled floor. I was in the kitchen when I heard the distinct yells and cries of my baby …….when I made it to him a saw a huge bubble developing on his head and I just felt kind of numb…not knowing what to do. Here I am in Africa. And I guess I didn’t mention that where I am staying is far away from the city (Accra) it takes about 45 minutes to get to the city and besides it was night time. This is when fear and a feeling of being stupid sets in…like what was I thinking and what am I doing???????? Well Julius got some ice and everybody seemed to appear from no where and check on him. Of course I was praying to dear God internally. They assured and re assured that he would be okay and that it would go down…I wondered if I needed to get him to a hospital and even if I did what they could do. The knot is still there and I am just believing that it will go down. Actually it was a time for the family to tell stories of other incidents that may have happened to them. I just hope and pray that everything will be ok. I may not get much sleep tonight. Ahhhhh the joys of being a mother!!!!! Sleep one hour watch Adom for 10 minutes, sleep one hour and a half watch Adom 5-10 minutes this will go on all night. Oh well it’s all part of the job and boys will be boys I am just praying no brain damage….i gave him a small test and asked him to count to 20 and he counted to 100 while laying down and dancing…so I guess he is ok ;-)

I have been dancing already. For my research I have been talking with Sulley and have decided to focus on 2 dances from the north and 2 from the south. I will look at bamaya, fume fume, bawa, and kpalongo. I will travel to the northern region (Tamale) to look at the dances in the villages as well. I will sit in and take part in rehearsals here at the Dagara Music Center in Medie and look at the same at the University of Ghana Legon. I will also set a contemporary piece on the dance ensemble here at the Dagara Music Center. Before I set the piece I will teach them a class. I may also be teaching ballet at another school in Accra. Sulley wants to set up a performance for the t.v. station. It’s all so very exciting and hard to separate life from study…the trick here is that life is study…what a pity ;-) no really it is hard to decide when to break out the camera or to write and when to just live.

Speaking of live, I am getting used to it. There are about 2 or 3 mountains or huge hills here behind where I am staying. We keep planning to go up the mountain…Julius told me that there is a pineapple farm on the mountain and they cost about 1,000 cedis which is robbery considering how good I remember those pineapples being when I was here last summer. The thing I like most about where I am is the thing that I like least…I don’t like being so far away from everything…just like tonight he fell right on his head and now I am sitting here looking at this big know on his head….but in the city there is so much exhaust from all the cars and so much noise and SOOOOOOOOOOOO much traffic….in fact just for me to make it into the city in Sulley’s car as a passenger takes about 45 minutes. I wish something could give

Today I took the plunge and ate some of the food that was cooked here at the house. Up til now I have been eating things that I bought from town and heating it or something that I already had. Basically cans of soup, noodles, and such. Well I tried the yams with soup (tomato, chicken, egg, bell pepper) IT WAS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. Oh my goodness. But I got so full so fast. I have been trying to avoid eating the food because I don’t want to get sick but I feel fine and it was really good. I even gave Adom some. He says he didn’t like it but I could tell that it tasted ok to him he was just trippin because it was new and different.

On Sunday I cried. I missed home and people. Keep In mind that where I am living I am the only one from US. Well on Monday I saw a red bird….so meaningful. I felt better and it was a good day. My feelings of culture shock can best be described as feeling closterphobic and trapped in Ghana but it is ok now a little better…I just have to keep focused on why I am here …so many reasons

Tomorrow I will try the tro tro Eddie will come with me so that I know what I am doing next time. I hope this is a good enough update and that you enjoy the pics I took…I am going to bed or should I say I am going to go and stare at Adom’s head.

Angel

i tried to put the pics but they were taking too long...i will try later

WE ARE HERE

2006-09-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

okay we are here. the flight was okay not too bad...i actually was supposed to pay about $125 in houston at the airport because each bag was about 70 pounds but the lady forgot to charge me and i realized it when i got inside the airport and didnt go back to tell her. i cant lie i am afraid...adom actually left houston sick...i thought it was just allergies...but last night after we got here he woke in the middle of the night crying with a fever...so i think it is some cold or something my neice was at my house and her mother told me that she had strep throat about a week prior and that she shouldn't be contagious...well i think she may have been ... at any rate he is running a fever of about 99 - 100 degrees and i have been giving him tylenol...other than that he seems to be in good spirits and when the plane first touched down he was looking out of the window and the first thing he said was "momma i thought you said people in africa dont have much?" i guess from what he could tell it seemed that people had a lot. he has been somewhat playful and his usual self other than the discomfort of this cold or whatever it is...I HATE THIS...him being sick that is...

we spent the night at another fulbrighters house last night...a family. the wife has a fulbright and her husband is a pastor and they have 3 children 11, 14 1nd 15 i believe...we ate spagetti, salad, apple slices, and bread.....talked...i think they may be considering getting a church here...at any rate they like it...she teaches computer science courses at ashesi university and they are from austin texas

today after my briefing with the pubic affairs office i plan to go to the pharmacy ( i stopped taking the mefloquine...side effects) get a phone, get a voltage stabilizer, and try and get out to medie where i will me staying...seems like so much...i cannot wait until i get settled

if any1 talks to my mom tell her that i love her and that i miss her

until next time

angel

so soon

2006-09-16T04:49:00.000-07:00

my feelings right now

calm
happy
excited
anxious
afraid
nervous
faithful
hopeful
crazy
like i'm on the brink of...

next time i post i will be on the other side ;-)

angel

preparing to leave

2006-09-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

i am preparing to leave ... 10 days from now. to go to ghana for 10 months, i am feeling so many different emotions now it is unbelievable! i plan to blog as often as possible so please check back and send messages often

shani