Ghanian Culture 101

From Road Scholar Meghan

Just Good Manners

• The people in general are very friendly. You say Good Morning/Good Evening/Hello first and let them respond to your greeting. 
• If offered water from the tap (which there was no way in hell we were drinking), take the glass, pour a bit out of the glass onto the floor/dirt, and at the end of the meeting, give the glass back. None of us could get over how pouring the water out of the glass wasn't an insult, but we were told it is not. Rejecting the water would be an insult. 
• Do not use your left hand for anything. Handing money to a cashier, taking money from a cashier, dispensing meds, taking a pulse, waving, shaking hands, etc. It is deemed improper. Not a total insult, but viewed as not the norm. 

For Medicinal Purposes Only

• Try not to drink bottled water in front of the locals, they don't have any. 
• Try to remember they do medical procedures differently than us and the U.S. way is not the only way. 
• Their version of pain is different than our version of pain, they state it differently, they hide it and tend never to complain about pain. So if you ask them if their pain is a little or a lot, and they respond a little, it's probably a lot. If they say no pain, there is probably a little. That's completely different from the hypochondriacs we get in the States. 
• Despite the cramped conditions in the hospital, men and women would be examined differently and could never room together, even with a curtain separating them. That would prove to be difficult when we took a tour of the hospital a few days later.
  

Air Conditioning and Beer...We're Good Here So Far

The following is from Road Scholar Meghan and her series of updates about her recent humanitarian aid trip to Ghana.  It appears here edited for content and length.

Luckily, we had an air conditioned bus on the 4 hour drive to Cape Coast. I still couldn't get over the landscapes. Amazing trees, shrubbery, and ant hills. Yup, ant hills almost 5 ft high…you don't screw with the ants over here. 

The villages in between the rolling hills were a huge eye opener. Primitive was the first word that came to mind. Billy goats galore, hens, chickens roaming all over the place. Shacks, wooden and no more than 12x12 ft large, mostly with small porches and sometimes painted. As far as I could tell, no electricity or running water. Wooden fires with cauldrons for cooking, and pumps for running water. The shacks were stacked one next to the other for miles. They were mostly businesses on the side of the road, most with titles such as "In God We Trust Hair Salon", "The Lord Is My Shepherd Plumbing Supply" or "Believe In God Womens Boutique". For having very little, the Ghanaian people have huge faith. 

We arrived to Cape Coast and the harbor area and my jaw dropped as I looked out at the harbor. I felt like I was instantly taken back to the Crusades. Wooden gondolas, hand painted with no particular flag hung at the end of the boat. Hundreds of boats. The dirt roads, the billy goats, the roosters, the women carrying baskets on their heads and their babies wrapped behind them in cloth. Never seen anything like it. Still the people would come up to the window asking you to buy products. Children would glance in the window, see the Abrunees and smile and wave. You would smile and wave back at them.

Shortly thereafter we were driving along the coast to the hotel. Away from the gondolas, you'd think I was in California without any sort of development. The beaches were beautiful with palm trees galore and waves like Huntington Beach. If I didn't close my jaw soon, a mosquito would fly in so I tried to compose myself but I couldn't get over where I was--Africa or California?? Then I'd look over at the other side of the road where the land was and quickly be brought back to reality. Mud huts were the local architecture, with thatch roofs made of palm trees and shrubbery.

We checked into the hotel and into our rooms. Rooms were fine, had a/c so I was OK with whatever else they didn't have. Even had a small fridge so we  weren't exactly roughing it..yet. Mattresses, I would soon find out, were made of something similar to plywood. Hard as stone but no bugs on the sheets so we were good. By this time it was 5pm…just enough time for Barbara and I to head out into the water for a quick dip into the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. If I closed my eyes, I was totally back in CALI. Awesome.

Dinner consisted of local cuisine. Appetizers were plantains, bananas fried with a sweet flavoring. Groundnut soup is a fave and I could see why. It was melted peanut butter with Thai spices and ch

icken bits, pour it over rice and you have dinner. Beer in Ghana is fantastic! Four or five different types, I tried something called Star Amber Ale, served in a 20 oz bottle, for 1 Cedi (dollar) 50 pesos (cents). The exchange rate was almost equal so I realized I was going to be quite the cheap date in Ghana. Moreover, a 20 oz bottled water…2 cedi's (dollars). Beer, again, is cheaper than water in the countries I visit. Tell me I don't have my priorities straight. Good food, great conversation, another Star beer and bed.

Our first day in Cape Coast was a tour of Kakum 

National Park. A small rainforest (it couldn't have been that big, we heard sirens in the background at one point) but the way you walk though it was completely unique. It was called the Canopy walk. You were not on the ground but walking on an 8 inch wide wooden platform, with rope woven on either side about 5 feet tall, hoisted almost 300 feet above ground and only connected in random spots by a large tree. While the animals were not to be seen at all, the views were absolutely incredible!!! While others were crapping their pants because they realized how civil engineering was so not involved in the design of the walk, I was living it up with my camera. I figured if hundreds of people before hadn't fallen, why would I? We ended the Canopy walk, had fresh coconut juice from a coconut a local chopped open for us and left. I bought a t-shirt in their gift shop. I had to. I had no other clothes.

Our last day was spent at Elimina Castle, a slave castle from way back when. People from all over Africa were brought here to be sold and traded for slavery. It was one of the largest ports for slave trading. Women were brought here to please the Governor and then bought and sold for slavery. Horrible dreary place with the stench of slavery still embedded in the walls. Not only did it make you nauseous, it made you realize how much the people have gone through in their history. This was our introduction to the "culture" part of the trip. I had a feeling this place would be brought up in our "de-briefing" later that night, and we were going to talk about how we felt. Not without a Star beer in hand though.

Lunch was at the harbor area and I ordered another local favorite, pavlava: Spicy sauce with onions and cabbage, poured over rice. (Side note, the group is trying to put together a cookbook of local Ghanaian dishes...highly recommend buying one, they have some great cuisine.) Then Janet, one of the other RN's introduced me to Castle, a local fave beer. It's Guinness but lighter and not as filling with a sweet side. I found my new addiction. Thank you, Janet. I also ended up ordering a coffee, and when the waitress repeated the word I jokingly said, "Yes please, large coffee, hahaha." 

Well, she took that very seriously and ten minutes later handed me a large Thermos full of hot water and two instant packets of coffee. OK. Won't make that joke again. The table was in hysterics already knowing what a huge fan I am of coffee, Starbucks in particular, and I had pretty much had no coffee for a few days. Coffee in Ghana consists of instant Nestle Café. Period. However, I realized that one of the other team members brought his own Mr. Coffee coffeemaker and--get this--5 pounds of Dunkin Dounuts roast. Nope. Still not drinking it. I'll stay with the instant stuff thanks.

After lunch it was back to the hotel to start our official planning details, orientation to Ghanaian culture, and of course, the "de-briefing". Without the beer, I was still able to wing it and talk about how I felt, without rolling my eyes. I knew the beer was going to follow shortly anyway as dinner was approaching.  Dinner followed the orientation, with local cuisine galore and Castle beer to be had. Good conversation, and good night.