Me and Osman drumming
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Last week in Tamale
This past week I went back to Yendi and tagged along with Billie and Jessica for a day. They spent the last month or so creating workshops for girls clubs on things like teen pregnancy, personal hygiene, self-esteem and HIV/Aids. They sent letter out to the schools and asked if the clubs were interested in having one for their club. The day I was there we travelled to three different schools and did a workshop on one of the topics at each one. They do the workshops in English and the kids so their schooling in English. But they have a hard time understanding our accents and so often they need to have someone translate either into Dagbani (the local language) or just repeat what they are saying in a familiar accent. One of the schools in particular was impressive for their English comprehension and the girls were very involved and asking good question and participating in the discussion afterwards.
Patrick and I have officially finished our research now so we have been working on our reports for the past few days. The weather has been pretty weird. It rains and then gets sunny and then rain some more. Reminds me of Calgary.
Yesterday a guy that we met was going to a wedding and he invited us to come watch some dancing so Cassey and I went to watch some of it. We felt pretty out of place but weddings are such big events so there were tons of people there. It was a Muslim wedding that lasted for three days. Saturday they were preparing and celebrating. Then Sunday they did their vows in the morning and then while most people were dancing and celebrating, the bride was at home packing up her things. Then last night she was going to officially move into the husbands house. Then today there are the final celebrations. The dancing was really neat. For the first dance there were a bunch of drummers in the middle of a circle of people. All the people had a metal stick and they would dance and alternate hitting sticks with the two people on either side of them. Then for the second dance, the drummers would choose people who had danced in the first circle to come up and dance individually. They would dance and then people would come up and sticks coins to their foreheads (most of which fell to the ground and were picked up by kids). The money then went to the drummers because they do not charge for their musical services. The traditional outfits for the men are the big baggy smocks and when they dance they flail them around in the air. They also have these feather things that each person carries which is supposed to be their spiritual power. They are inscribed differently for each person. From what I understand, the Muslim belief system here is very much a fusion of Islam and traditional local religions. There are mosques all over and they play the call to prayer five times a day, but other than that it is not very obviously Muslim. No women wear veils and Muslims and Christians have no conflict with each other. Some families are half of each.
There was also a political figure in town the other day and apparently campaigning has started for the elections in December so there has been a bunch of trucks driving up and down the street with people playing horns and drums. Between that and the noisy celebrations from the wedding, our neighbourhood has been pretty raucous.
Monday I had a drum lesson with one of the guys who did the drumming and dancing performance for us last month. I’m not an expert by any means, but I think I caught on pretty fast. He taught me a song called Fueme fueme which is a traditional dance from the Accra region. It was fun but my hands got sore. I don’t know how they drum so fast for so long.
So things have been good. Until this morning that is, when Patrick got diagnosed with Malaria. A real downer, but he should be better by the time we leave on Saturday for Kumasi.
Patrick and I have officially finished our research now so we have been working on our reports for the past few days. The weather has been pretty weird. It rains and then gets sunny and then rain some more. Reminds me of Calgary.
Yesterday a guy that we met was going to a wedding and he invited us to come watch some dancing so Cassey and I went to watch some of it. We felt pretty out of place but weddings are such big events so there were tons of people there. It was a Muslim wedding that lasted for three days. Saturday they were preparing and celebrating. Then Sunday they did their vows in the morning and then while most people were dancing and celebrating, the bride was at home packing up her things. Then last night she was going to officially move into the husbands house. Then today there are the final celebrations. The dancing was really neat. For the first dance there were a bunch of drummers in the middle of a circle of people. All the people had a metal stick and they would dance and alternate hitting sticks with the two people on either side of them. Then for the second dance, the drummers would choose people who had danced in the first circle to come up and dance individually. They would dance and then people would come up and sticks coins to their foreheads (most of which fell to the ground and were picked up by kids). The money then went to the drummers because they do not charge for their musical services. The traditional outfits for the men are the big baggy smocks and when they dance they flail them around in the air. They also have these feather things that each person carries which is supposed to be their spiritual power. They are inscribed differently for each person. From what I understand, the Muslim belief system here is very much a fusion of Islam and traditional local religions. There are mosques all over and they play the call to prayer five times a day, but other than that it is not very obviously Muslim. No women wear veils and Muslims and Christians have no conflict with each other. Some families are half of each.
There was also a political figure in town the other day and apparently campaigning has started for the elections in December so there has been a bunch of trucks driving up and down the street with people playing horns and drums. Between that and the noisy celebrations from the wedding, our neighbourhood has been pretty raucous.
Monday I had a drum lesson with one of the guys who did the drumming and dancing performance for us last month. I’m not an expert by any means, but I think I caught on pretty fast. He taught me a song called Fueme fueme which is a traditional dance from the Accra region. It was fun but my hands got sore. I don’t know how they drum so fast for so long.
So things have been good. Until this morning that is, when Patrick got diagnosed with Malaria. A real downer, but he should be better by the time we leave on Saturday for Kumasi.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Pics
The elders in Walewale
Me stamping my fabric with Margaret (right)
Me and Jess with our finiished products
Me stamping my fabric with Margaret (right)
Me and Jess with our finiished products
Walewale and Batik
This week we went into the office Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and worked on our reports (when the power was on, which wasn’t often). It was nice to get into the office and our reports are coming along pretty well.
On Thursday Patrick and I visited our last district of Walewale, which is about 2 hours north of Tamale. We stayed there for a night and hung out with Whitney the WUSC intern there. Friday morning we went to the office, which was one big room, and then we went with Esenam (the long term volunteer) and Mme. Mary, (the DGEO) to a Wannugu to visit a school there. It was really neat. When we first got there we went to visit the chief and the elders of the community to tell them why we are here and seek permission to meet with the school. Permission is more of a formality and a sign of respect than a necessity. Here were maybe 50 of them and it was really cool. There was a guy playing the drums and they were all greeting each other. Then we went into this open building where they all sat around on the floor while we sat on chairs in the middle of the floor. Then a group of men filed in to the drumming and one of them was singing. The chief and a few other men, who I assume are the most senior and important community members, sat at the front. Mme. Mary introduced us to the chief and told him what we were doing there. Then Esenam spoke to him through a translator about the importance of education and especially of educating girls. She quoted a saying that says “When you educate a man, you educate one individual. But when you educate a woman, you are educating a nation” which speaks to the idea that women will pass their knowledge onto their children and so forth. Then a few of the men had a discussion with Mme. Mary in Dagbani so I did not understand all of it, but from what I picked up, they were expressing their skepticism about investing in a girls education since she will probably go out and get pregnant anyway. That was slightly discouraging but over all it was a really neat experience to see this meeting and see the elders of the community. At the end of the meeting the chief told the translator to tell me that he wanted to keep me there to be one of his wives. We all had a good laugh about that.
Then we went to the school and met with the teachers where they talked about the different organizations and stakeholders who are supporting the school, what each of them is doing and what else they could be doing. Afterwards I met with the two matrons of the girls club there, which was really interesting. Then we caught a tro-tro back to Tamale, which was crammed full of people, luggage, and live chickens. Tro-tros are always an adventure.
On Saturday a few of us girls went to learn to make Batik fabric from a very nice lady named Margaret. It was a really neat process. We each got 2 yards of white cotton fabric and then you melt wax until it is liquid and use a wooden stamp that is carved in a design. You dip the stamp in the wax, and then make a print on the fabric. Then you pick a colour and mix the dye with this stuff called costic that relaxes the fabric so it will accept the dye and then another chemical that makes the dye stay in so the colour won’t run. When you dye the fabric, the wax keeps the dye from getting on the design that you have printed. Once the fabric is dry, you boil the fabric to melt the wax off, and then wash and rinse it. You can also so a few different colours and fold it to make stripes, but I chose to do a white stamp with blue dye and it turned out very well. I am having it made into a dress that will be ready next week. Saturday evening we had a bunch of the other interns over for home made pizza (courtesy of Patrick) and then we all went out to this open air club, which was really cool.
Today is the beginning of our second last week in Tamale which is pretty crazy. I am planning on going back to Yendi for a few days to observe some of the workshops that Billie and Jess have been doing with the girls clubs there. Then we have the next week and a half to finish our research reports.
On Thursday Patrick and I visited our last district of Walewale, which is about 2 hours north of Tamale. We stayed there for a night and hung out with Whitney the WUSC intern there. Friday morning we went to the office, which was one big room, and then we went with Esenam (the long term volunteer) and Mme. Mary, (the DGEO) to a Wannugu to visit a school there. It was really neat. When we first got there we went to visit the chief and the elders of the community to tell them why we are here and seek permission to meet with the school. Permission is more of a formality and a sign of respect than a necessity. Here were maybe 50 of them and it was really cool. There was a guy playing the drums and they were all greeting each other. Then we went into this open building where they all sat around on the floor while we sat on chairs in the middle of the floor. Then a group of men filed in to the drumming and one of them was singing. The chief and a few other men, who I assume are the most senior and important community members, sat at the front. Mme. Mary introduced us to the chief and told him what we were doing there. Then Esenam spoke to him through a translator about the importance of education and especially of educating girls. She quoted a saying that says “When you educate a man, you educate one individual. But when you educate a woman, you are educating a nation” which speaks to the idea that women will pass their knowledge onto their children and so forth. Then a few of the men had a discussion with Mme. Mary in Dagbani so I did not understand all of it, but from what I picked up, they were expressing their skepticism about investing in a girls education since she will probably go out and get pregnant anyway. That was slightly discouraging but over all it was a really neat experience to see this meeting and see the elders of the community. At the end of the meeting the chief told the translator to tell me that he wanted to keep me there to be one of his wives. We all had a good laugh about that.
Then we went to the school and met with the teachers where they talked about the different organizations and stakeholders who are supporting the school, what each of them is doing and what else they could be doing. Afterwards I met with the two matrons of the girls club there, which was really interesting. Then we caught a tro-tro back to Tamale, which was crammed full of people, luggage, and live chickens. Tro-tros are always an adventure.
On Saturday a few of us girls went to learn to make Batik fabric from a very nice lady named Margaret. It was a really neat process. We each got 2 yards of white cotton fabric and then you melt wax until it is liquid and use a wooden stamp that is carved in a design. You dip the stamp in the wax, and then make a print on the fabric. Then you pick a colour and mix the dye with this stuff called costic that relaxes the fabric so it will accept the dye and then another chemical that makes the dye stay in so the colour won’t run. When you dye the fabric, the wax keeps the dye from getting on the design that you have printed. Once the fabric is dry, you boil the fabric to melt the wax off, and then wash and rinse it. You can also so a few different colours and fold it to make stripes, but I chose to do a white stamp with blue dye and it turned out very well. I am having it made into a dress that will be ready next week. Saturday evening we had a bunch of the other interns over for home made pizza (courtesy of Patrick) and then we all went out to this open air club, which was really cool.
Today is the beginning of our second last week in Tamale which is pretty crazy. I am planning on going back to Yendi for a few days to observe some of the workshops that Billie and Jess have been doing with the girls clubs there. Then we have the next week and a half to finish our research reports.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Burkina Faso and Northern Ghana
I had a very eventful weekend. On Friday I left early in the morning on a bus to Bolgatanga (aka Bolga) with Billie and Jess and then we stayed over night in Bolga and did dinner with Jess and Faye who were on their way to Paga. Bolga was kind of a sketchy town and it was super dark at night but we had a good dinner and a nice room which was cool. Jess met with one of Sheena’s friends who introduced her to someone who knows a lot about female circumcision (her thesis topic). Our room was pretty nice and the food there was decent.
The next day we got up, had breakfast and met up with Whitney. Then this guy Yao who Jessica met and a couple of his friends took us around to the Tongo Hills and Shrine. We didn’t end up going in the shrine (because it was raining and the local tradition also requires women to take off their shirts and bras) but we saw the hills and the caves where there were schools, or meetings or hiding places which came in handy when there was a battle with the British. Then we met the chief of Tongo (who has 16 wives) and saw his palace which was pretty amazing. My camera’s battery died part way through so I need to get pictures from some of the other girls, but it was pretty amazing.
When we got to Paga we crossed the border into Burkina Faso, which was a bit of a long drawn out process, but we made it. Then we exchanged money and caught a tro-tro to Ouagadougou (pronounced Wa-ga-doo-goo), the capital of Burkina Faso. It took us four hours by tro-tro with 2 dead cows on the roof.
So we finally made it into Ouaga and got a cab to a hotel. The guys who worked at the hotel were super nice and showed us a restaurant where we could get some food. My French was the best out of our group so we were able to navigate reasonably well and I could translate most things. I was proud of how well I did with the French actually.
On Sunday we wondered around the city a bit, saw some different things and went to some of the markets. Most people there were super nice but some were super aggressive. It was exhausting having to translate and feel like I was in charge, but I was proud of myself for handling it. Saturday night we had the most amazing meal at this swanky French restaurant. I had spaghetti carbonara and then crepes for dessert. It was unreal. Ouaga was more expensive and nice than we had expected. Burkina Faso is the third poorest country in the world, so that was a shock to us. Some of the architecture was gorgeous too. Most things were closed on Sunday which was actually surprising to us.
Monday we got up super early to get to the bus station for a bus that never really showed up. We ended up getting in a tro-tro that was a super stressful experience. In the end the tro-tro got us to Paga where we crossed the border again into Ghana and went into the town of Paga. We did a tour of a traditional village and then went to a crocodile sanctuary where you buy a live chicken and then some guy lures the croc out of the water with the chicken and you can go up and touch it and some people sit on it. The crocodile that came out was huge and they slither and walk in such a gross way. And then there were two other ones that were on either side of it. You can’t approach crocodiles from the front or they get scared so you have to go around behind them to touch them. But because there were two others on either side that were facing the big one, I was a huge baby and was too scared. But some of the other girls went up and touched the crocs tail. Too scary for me. Then we chartered a taxi back to Bolga and found a bus going to Kumasi that would drop us off in Tamale on the way. We ended up waiting for 5 hours for the bus and then had a four hour bus ride back to Tamale. It was an exhausting day.
Overall a very interesting experience and it was really neat to see the differences between a french and english colony. There are many, but the food is most notable.
The next day we got up, had breakfast and met up with Whitney. Then this guy Yao who Jessica met and a couple of his friends took us around to the Tongo Hills and Shrine. We didn’t end up going in the shrine (because it was raining and the local tradition also requires women to take off their shirts and bras) but we saw the hills and the caves where there were schools, or meetings or hiding places which came in handy when there was a battle with the British. Then we met the chief of Tongo (who has 16 wives) and saw his palace which was pretty amazing. My camera’s battery died part way through so I need to get pictures from some of the other girls, but it was pretty amazing.
When we got to Paga we crossed the border into Burkina Faso, which was a bit of a long drawn out process, but we made it. Then we exchanged money and caught a tro-tro to Ouagadougou (pronounced Wa-ga-doo-goo), the capital of Burkina Faso. It took us four hours by tro-tro with 2 dead cows on the roof.
So we finally made it into Ouaga and got a cab to a hotel. The guys who worked at the hotel were super nice and showed us a restaurant where we could get some food. My French was the best out of our group so we were able to navigate reasonably well and I could translate most things. I was proud of how well I did with the French actually.
On Sunday we wondered around the city a bit, saw some different things and went to some of the markets. Most people there were super nice but some were super aggressive. It was exhausting having to translate and feel like I was in charge, but I was proud of myself for handling it. Saturday night we had the most amazing meal at this swanky French restaurant. I had spaghetti carbonara and then crepes for dessert. It was unreal. Ouaga was more expensive and nice than we had expected. Burkina Faso is the third poorest country in the world, so that was a shock to us. Some of the architecture was gorgeous too. Most things were closed on Sunday which was actually surprising to us.
Monday we got up super early to get to the bus station for a bus that never really showed up. We ended up getting in a tro-tro that was a super stressful experience. In the end the tro-tro got us to Paga where we crossed the border again into Ghana and went into the town of Paga. We did a tour of a traditional village and then went to a crocodile sanctuary where you buy a live chicken and then some guy lures the croc out of the water with the chicken and you can go up and touch it and some people sit on it. The crocodile that came out was huge and they slither and walk in such a gross way. And then there were two other ones that were on either side of it. You can’t approach crocodiles from the front or they get scared so you have to go around behind them to touch them. But because there were two others on either side that were facing the big one, I was a huge baby and was too scared. But some of the other girls went up and touched the crocs tail. Too scary for me. Then we chartered a taxi back to Bolga and found a bus going to Kumasi that would drop us off in Tamale on the way. We ended up waiting for 5 hours for the bus and then had a four hour bus ride back to Tamale. It was an exhausting day.
Overall a very interesting experience and it was really neat to see the differences between a french and english colony. There are many, but the food is most notable.
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