We went to Accra to do some shopping at Trashy Bags
where we bought the duffle bag under the bench, and Global Mamas, social microfinance businesses, one by a Ghanaian woman and the other set up by outsiders. We also bought baskets. We stayed at the Sleepy Hippo hostel. We also had ice cream, probably the best ice cream we have ever had! Frank and I both had banana splits.
It turns out that Easter Monday is probably the biggest thing next to the festival in May in Winneba. Everyone comes to the beach.
The people who live on the beach, set up parking for a price, they sell water in sachets and bottles, they set up fences and charge access fees. The funny thing is that if you go about a block from the Sir Charles Beach junction, to the Fishing Village and the police depot, you can easily park for free and access the beach for free. We, of course, accessed the beach by way of the Police Depot.
We met Yusef and his family.
I saw a group of people and I knew that they were Americans, because they were quite diverse. I went over to see where they were from. I found out that they were on a cruise ship taking classes. One of them was from Alaska, and she is a student in Corvallis, only 20 minutes from my home town!
Carolina’s auntie passed away. Frank and I went to her funeral in Esiam. We caught a tro tro from Winneba Junction to Pedu junction, then we caught a taxi to Esiam. The roads may have been the worst we have experienced so far. After we arrived, we met with the family and, according to tradition, we explained why we were there – to attend the funeral.
We stayed with another of Carolina’s relatives in a single room with nothing, but a mattress that was brought after we arrived. We at our breakfast on a small table, chairs, and mattress.
We met many of Carolina’s relatives. That night we had dinner with Carolina and two of her cousins. It was very nice.
The next day was the funeral. There were three happening simultaneously, two women and one man. The man seemed to be quite well-to-do. While the women had the usual casket,
the man had a fancy casket that was a house. It even had a satellite disk!
The funeral was different than the first one we went to. This one had three happening together. The first one we attended had three, but they were not at all coordinated.
We left on Saturday afternoon with one of the relatives who helped us navigate our way back to Winneba.
My apologies for the delay in posting. There are so many reasons for the long delay. The most significant is that I was able to spend time with my smart, strong, beautiful baby girl!
[There should be a photo here, but for some reason I am unable to insert….Frustrating!]
I hope you have not given up on me. I have several posts awaiting upload and many photos to post. Thank you for waiting. I look forward to sharing more about my journey.
Frank and I were tasked with locating a little girl being sponsored by Frank’s Aunt. I had little faith that there was any hope of finding Esther. The first village we went to called was not the place. When I showed the photo, one woman knew that the yellow and blue was worn by the children going to the Methodist school. They told us that there was another village called with the same name and sent us off in that general direction. That village was very remote and the road to it was almost impassable.
When we got there, the first person we saw directed us to the school. As we continued, the driver stopped a man and they spoke in Fanti. I understood that I needed to show the photo. He looked at it and said, “I know her.” I could not believe it! He got in the Taxi and guided us to the school. There we met the headmaster who called Esther into the office.
Esther is lovely, sweet, quiet, gentle and, according to the headmaster, very hard working. She and the headmaster lead us to the house of the mother, where Esther lives with her two elder sisters and brother. Over an open fire outdoors, her mother makes kenkey, fermented maize that is pounded, boiled and stirred. Then it is wrapped in corn husk or banana leaves. It is served in stew. She sells the kenkey to make money to support her family. The husband is late (has passed away).
My mother came to Ghana for a visit. It was short and sweet. We met her at the airport with John, a taxi driver who has a beautiful Toyota with A/C. We met him back in August and have been hiring him to take us on longer trips ever since. There is a Chinese restaurant at the airport, so Frank and I were determined to eat there while we waited for my Mom. Sadly, not the best Chinese food I have ever eaten, but the food was filling and different.
We did not have to wait long. Mom got out of the airport in record time. She had met a man on the plane who was a Ghanaian living in Canada. He walked her past the lines and up to the front of Customs. We got to the car and then the rain started to pour down. The ride home was not long, because it was after 10:00 at night on a Saturday, but it was WET! The power was out on the way back and when we got to Winneba – no power all night, so no fan.
Sunday we laid low to give her some time to rest after her long journey. On Monday, Mom awoke frustrated with her hearing aid. I sent Dr. Offei a text to ask if we could visit the Audiology Clinic on campus. He quickly texted back that we were welcome to do so. After a walk on the beach and eating porridge at Summeryard, she and I walked to campus.
Mawuli and Collins were ready for us. They cleaned her hearing aid and cleaned out her ear. She could, again, hear out of her better ear and she was very happy! After we told Collins our plans for the week, he offered to make some calls to see if he could find a car for hire that would be easier on us than tro tros from Winneba to Volta Region. We walked over to the Special Education office where I was able to introduce her to Dr. Offei, Charlotte, and Madam Florence.
Then we traveled to Kakum. Mom walked up to the canopy bridge, across the bridge, and back down with a little help from the guide. When we got to the bottom, our friend Rebekka, who teaches German at the UEW, had Fan Milk waiting for us – yummy, welcome treat after a very long and hot hike!
(Darn! Why are they sideways???)
Next, we visited the Cape Coast Castle and then ate dinner at the Oasis, a restaurant a short walk from the Castle.
We took it easy on Tuesday, going to Market, introducing her to Joan and buying a few things to take home.
On Wednesday, thanks to Collins, a driver met us at our house to pick us for our trip to the Volta Region. He drove to the North Campus to pick Rebekka and then we left for the Vume pottery village in the Volta Region. Mom was like a little girl in a candy shop!
Then, the driver took us to Dzita where we stayed at Meet Me There African Home Lodge for three nights. We went on a boat trip in the Volta Lake, took walks on the beach, lazed on the deck eating and drinking wonderful food, watching the local fisherman bring in their nets.
On Saturday, Bro Justice picked us and we dropped Mom at the airport in Accra. It was a wonderful trip! I am so very glad she came!
I had the opportunity to work with some signers and some interpreters at the Supreme Sign Institute (SSI). This is a new and private Sign Language school in Accra. Dr. Oppong asked me to teach. The training was to last two-weeks, but ended up only going for one-week. I taught on Monday and Friday. We covered linguistics of signed language, Deaf culture and Deaf Community, translation, and Demand Control Schema. These students were lovely and so hungry for information! Working with them and talking about interpretation work was a pleasure and a delight. My hope for this institute is that a partnership may be fostered between the the Deaf Community and the Executive Director. He has passion and a vision. What might move this venture forward is a Deaf person with the same passion and vision.
I had a wonderful day on Wednesday when Timothy Mac-Hadjah came to Winneba to meet with me about his research on number marking in Ghanaian Sign Language. What is it about linguists? They feel like family to me, especially one who is looking at morphological minutiae in a signed language.
I asked him if he would present to interested parties and he agreed to do so. I set up a presentation for him at 2:00. Due to traffic in Kasoa, Tim ran a little late. The 400-level students were in a lecture, so they started arriving about 2:30. There were about six Deaf students and 5 hearing students. They ranged from 100-level to graduate students. Tim signed his presentation. He and his research were well-received. We had a lively discussion after the presentation with lots of questions about the data, the results, and research, in general.
Tim and I went to my house where we talked about his data and the work he has done to date on his thesis. We did not have enough time, but when is there ever enough time to talk about linguistic minutiae?
I am ever so grateful to him for sharing his work with me. I look forward to seeing him publish and present his work. Ghanaian Sign Language is being researched and documented. That is good news!
Going to the bank is stressful! I have a savings account. I have been going into the bank to withdraw cash; you know, because Ghana is a cash economy. I want to avoid going into the bank, because I get so stressed out! There are like 5 windows. Two of them seem to be for something other than withdrawing cash. I think one is for paying school fees and the other one — who knows? The fifth window seems to be for UEW senior faculty. It is rarely open and I haven’t figured out if I qualify to stand in that line when it is open. The other two tellers seem to be for those of us who want to withdraw cash and one of those is always open when the bank is open.
The part that is so very stressful for me is the queue. I had no idea how much I appreciated the orderly lines where there is a handy dandy queue ribbon or rope until I experienced the sitting queue at the bank. There are about five rows of uncomfortable metal chairs. You determine which person is at the end of the line and sit down next to that person. Then, each time a person moves to the window, everyone in lines gets up and moves one seat over.
Now, the problems are numerous — people who do not know how to use this type of queue, just go to the front row where they may or may not just sit down in what is inevitably an empty seat, because someone did not get up and move over when the person in that seat got up to go to the window. If nobody notices the person, then that person somehow gets to the front of the line.
Then there are the people who just go straight to the window as if they own the place.
Then there are the people who are just sitting on a chair, but not in line and you have to go around them.
Then there is that strange line that is sometimes open that is for the senior faculty at the UEW. When that window closes, all of those people somehow move to the front of the other line for the one or two windows that might be open.
I feel much relief when I get to the front row, because I feel that there is now hope — I will get my cash! Eventually.
When I get to the window, the teller is never happy. She (being a teller seems to be a woman’s job in Ghana) rarely greets me. She simply takes my withdrawal slip, punches in my account number and then decides what she is going to require of me on that particular day. Once I was asked to re-sign my withdrawal slip. Another time, I was asked to write my full physical address (which is virtually meaningless here, because nobody uses an address; it is something like “Sir Charles Beach Resort Road, near the Police Depot and next door to the Windy Lodge at the beach”). Today, my withdrawal slip was taken to the branch manager for some reason unbeknownst to me. Finally, I was asked for my phone number.
To avoid going into the bank and experiencing that extremely stressful sitting queue, I applied for a debit card about a week ago. I was told it might be ready in one month and I should check back on 11 May. So, I have to continue going into the bank….
I was able to visit the Cape Coast School for the Deaf and Blind with Western Oregon University students on a Service Learning trip.
While there, I was able to give the Headmaster a $650.00 check, thanks to several generous donors. The funds will be used for materials for the students who are deaf in the woodworking class to build desks for children who are blind. I was pleased to see that a group from the Ashanti region of Ghana had also contributed some funds for materials and the desks had already been made. This is what the new desks will look like:
