Discovery

I just discovered something awesome. I can come to the Boti Epicenter and use the electricity whenever the clinic is open. There is even a fan in this room. To me that means finally I can type a real blog post.

My time so far at site has been really good. I can say I've done an excellent job getting to know the people in the community where I live. I have realized that I haven't spent much time in the other communities though, and now I am focusing on going to those other places. It is hard though because they are farther away. Also it took me over a month to get to know everyone in my village so I'm not sure how I’m supposed to speed up the process of getting to know everyone in the next village over. To start my plan is just to ride my bike there and stop for anyone who wants to talk to me. It’s not hard. Basically I just ride my bike and when I see someone I greet them, and often times they will call me to them. Many of them already know my name which is nice. When they know my name I automatically know that they were already aware that I am here, and maybe they kind of know my mission, and they aren’t just people who want to harass me. My name by the way is Awisi Nakie. So anyway people will call me over (in Krobo “come here” is “Ba”) so I usually hear “Awisi ba ba ba!”  And I will go to talk. Some of the people can speak a little English. Some cant. Either way I know enough Krobo to amuse them. Sometimes they want me to dance because they've heard I like to do azunto. Depending on my mood I will humor them.

 The main point when getting to know people is that you sit there with them for a while. It’s still awkward sometimes, like when they don’t know any English, and they are saying things to me or about me and I can’t understand. I know enough Krobo to pick out words here and there, so I know they are talking about my hair, or my scab on my leg, or something else random, but I don’t know what they are saying about it. It can be frustrating. I want to be able to talk to people freely and joke with them. I can do that a little bit but most of the time when I make people laugh it’s not because I am trying to make them laugh. Even when I can't understand the words that are being said, most of the time it isn’t awkward and I am at peace to sit there and hang out with people. I can still feel their energy, which is welcoming and happy to be with me. I am okay with them thinking that I am hilarious, even if it may be for different reasons than my friends back home think I am.

 To try to do away with confusion, I will refer to the village in which I live as “my village” and the other ones as “next village over”. So in my village I have visited almost every house, I have formed a few groups that I will work with in the future and assigned leaders, and I know the leaders houses. Basically with the groups we will be constructing pens for their chickens and goats, etc. I will also teach them about sustainable land use, and try to find alternative sources of income for them. But that will come later. For now I am not supposed to be doing any projects really, but my counterpart wanted to go ahead and form the groups because people here take forever to get things done. Basically all we did was assign leaders, and if we have a next meeting it will be about them collecting materials to build their animal pens. I have been visiting people without a business agenda though; I have actually not talked to them at all about gathering bamboo or whatever. My main priority is for people to feel comfortable with me. I think I've done an alright job. The thing about making friends though, is that once you visit them they want you to visit again. Even though I do like some people more than others, at this point I feel guilty visiting anyone twice because I still haven’t met everyone. It’s an exhausting process. I am super comfortable in my village too, and when I go to the next village over it is like starting from scratch all over again. I should actually be riding my bike around there right now but I couldn’t resist the new find opportunity to get on my computer. Riding my bike with my computer in my backpack was awful by the way; this computer is old and heavy.

I hope I don’t repeat myself too bad but I’m going to try and give an overview of what I have done and learned since I got to site. The first part was trying to figure out the routine and things in the house. For water we have a well and I am lucky enough to be located right beside the well. This is good because I don’t have to go far, and everyone comes there so they see me all the time. I can carry the water on my head now, although if my bucket is too full then I spill and it gets all over my feet and the dust turns to mud. I have a big water barrel in one of my rooms, so I try to keep it full. This is especially important now because the water is super low in the well. I could actually see the bottom of it the other day. My daily routine can consist of the following; wake up, make tea, make breakfast, fetch water, wash clothes, fill up water filter, ride bike, go to farm, go to market, read, bathe, eat, visit people, help make dinner, bathe a second time, talk with family, bed. Sometimes at night I take a bench out and lay on it and look up at the stars. Until my back hurts so bad I can’t do it anymore.

 Figuring out the market was a fun adventure. The first time I went I went with John's wife (I call him my father and her my mother but she feels more like a sister). She was selling Gari, which is cassava that is ground and dried and fried and I think it tastes like mini wheats. She showed me John's sister in the market who always sells things in the same place and if I want to leave things with her I can because she has a whole booth. Whenever I stop at this woman’s booth there are always other people from my village there also, hanging out or whatever. Market is a pretty fun place to hang out. At first everyone would yell “Blefono” at me and then I would surprise them by knowing how to speak Krobo, and that is how I made friends. Many of them know my name now and when I went today to buy some things, more people were calling me Awisi than Blefono which was nice. It does make it really hard to have a quick trip to the market, being the only white person that goes there and everyone knows my name. Everyone wants me to come say hello to them. Today I was in the mood for it, and had a great time there, entertaining and talking with the women.

Another thing about the market though is that they like to gossip. Honestly that is also true for the village. In the market the rumor about me is that I am John's new wife, a rumor that I really do not appreciate. This rumor came from Opesika, a nearby village that I am not working with. John’s wife told me about the rumor and told me not to mind them because they have nothing better to do than to talk. They haven't had a volunteer there so they don’t assume that I am a volunteer. I don’t like being thought of like that though, I came here to help and try to teach them some things and I feel like it’s disrespectful for them to say I am his wife. Then again maybe it’s not the biggest deal because in Ghana they use the term wife very loosely. I’m pretty sure wife and girlfriend and interchangeable, also wife and friend-that-i-joke-with. It’s still a bit confusing for me. The other rumor is one in my village, and that one is that I fell off my bike. It is entirely untrue.

Other than finding my way around the house and market, I have helped in the kitchen. I have tried pounding fufu and driving banku. I can do it but I can’t finish it. My arms get tired. John's wife cooks for all of us most of the time, but sometimes I make my own food. In my own food I haven’t explored much. I have made stir fry and breakfast foods. I have been waiting forever to try and make tortillas.

It’s really strange that I seem to lack time to do everything here. Time flies. The days especially fly by, but the nights are long. I pretty much want to go to bed right after the sun goes down because I don’t go out at night, and that is the time when I feel lonely. If I ever feel bad though all I have to do is go out and someone will run up to me with a huge smile on their face and they will cheer me up. It is good that they want me to be here, but still it is not the same as belonging here.

I want to start on a video project soon. I’m trying to think of what to include in it so if anyone has anything you want to know about, I’m open to suggestion. I don’t have any video editing software right now so that might slow things down but the footage will be there. A lot of times I like to experience a moment and not record it, as with the football games, but if I have a project in mind then that is different. I think the first one will be basically life around my village. Also I want to make a video to send to my nephews about some kids in the village that are close to their age.

Basically I have a big task ahead of me: visit every home in my area before my reconnect on March 25. That is the only thing I’m super focused on right now. Everything else is normal life at this point. Eating and cleaning.