Father!!

I’m not sure how to interpret the instant celebrity status affixed to me due to my pasty white skin. The local term for outsider is Jabroni or Dgebroni (not sure of the spelling, it is Twi but sounds like an Italian word) , I asked a local friend what connotations it had, he replied that it was a neutral term for outsider/white man. He then said it was like being called ‘black’ in the states. I don’t know what to think of that. I bet that being called ‘white man’ by a smiling Ghanaian is a whole lot more enjoyable.

The second local term for outsider (white male in particular) is Father, once again I just do not know what to think of it all. I can only imagine that this town( Kpandai town) has not be shaken by the indecencies that seem to plague the Catholic church in North America. Good for them, lucky bunch.

I went for a bike ride this past weekend (great news eh!?). I had only travelled through one side of the district (coming in on a dirt road much like those encountered in Labrador) and was curious about the other half. It took me around 4.5 hours, I had underestimated the heat, left at around 1pm and arrived back at 6pm having drained my water and with little power left in my legs(a one speed makes any hill just that much more interesting, especially when your front wheel and handle bars aren’t properly attached). The most memorable part of the ride was the chorus of children screaming ‘Father!’ while smiling what could possible be the biggest smile one could fit on a child sized face and streaming towards the road in groups of 20. One group would spot me coming and signal my approach, then another group would sound off and the chorus would rise again. I’m going to have nightmares about my loss of identity and may possibly be sharing dreams of a chorus with the pope (although for very very different reasons).

Also on the religion topic, people here seem to think I’m Muslim. Possibly due to my hippie parents giving me an Arabic first name. It’s been more help than hindrance, I just explain a bit about my background and the conversation takes off. Some of the customs are new, rituals vary from region to region, but the core beliefs I’ve encountered here are similar to those held by my Muslim friends in Canada. Well, with the exception of polygamy. I had a great light hearted conversation with one of my co-workers about the polygamy issue, he offered to marry my little sister (whom I believe is 19 and in Ethiopia for another few months) and I protested against a 32 year old man marrying a 19 year old as his second wife. It is apparently common, with one excuse being that an older man is likely to run around with many girlfriends, so why not tie him down to just a couple wives, plus it’s in the Koran so it must be what the big G wants. I have a lot of respect for my aforementioned friend, and this conversation was being had with a side of humor, but he touched on some cultural issues I’m likely to have to deal with over the next few months.

In Ghana

I'm sitting in an Internet cafe with around 20 other Canadians, all furiously typing blog posts and emails. We finished our pre-departure training last Monday and left Ontario on Wednesday morning. I'm not sure how to describe pre-dep, I think 'interesting' sums it up. It was kind of like a car crash, the vehicle completely destroyed and yet everyone somehow managed to exit the wreckage(to the shock and dismay of any pedestrians who witnessed the crash), or maybe it was like biting into an apple, expecting it to be slightly sour and instead receiving a mouthful of jalapeno. All I know is that it was an interesting experience.



We arrived in Rome sometime Thursday morning(8hrs from Toronto) and spent the morning at the airport(a couple of the more adventurous JF's went into Rome for an hour). Then it was another 8hr flight to Ghana via Nigeria (seems absurd to travel around the world in a metal box to meddle in the lives of others).


We stayed at a nice little gated hotel/motel/hostel in Accra for the night(arriving at 10pm, leaving at 6am).


At 6am we left for the bus station and took what was supposed to be a 13 hour bus station, with the bus breaking down around 3 hours from Tamale:



We have now spent a couple of days in Ghana, visiting the market yesterday and focusing today on preparing for our placements. Tomorrow morning I will be traveling to Kpandai and meeting with the District Planning Officer, with whom I will be working for the next 3.5 months.

I'll try to post some pictures and a few more words sometime soon, we are being kicked out of the cafe.