Yesterday, I had a really bad experience with culture shock. I woke up today feeling more positive. I know I’ll get used to it here, but it’s just really difficult to adjust to. Back home, I have an obsessive hand washing problem. I always want my hands to be clean. But here, I haven’t washed my hands in the past 48 hours or more.
I learned today that this is one of the most developed parts of Africa, known as Africa for beginners. I realized that these people are well off, in comparison with indigenous tribes living in the middle of the woods. It’s really interesting to me that this is what people are like when they are well off.
I guess I’ve always known this. Life is just so different when you are actually submersed, head on. I am living in a home where there is rarely toilet paper or running water. There is no house, actually. There is a big square where everyone in the town hangs out, and shops are around, and there are constantly people playing music and dancing. Right off of that is a gate. Inside the gate is just a walkway area outside where Mama Teiko cooks and makes food. If you go farther back, you will find a door with a toilet behind it. Then, there are some stairs going up to a hall with three rooms. So my room is basically a door from outside.
My roommate walked me around the town today. She’s so helpful because she’s been here for 5 weeks and knows everything that she is doing here. She has it all down and has already experienced everything that I will experience. Having her tell me that she has experienced all the same panic and homesickness makes me feel much better. So she showed me around and explained every possible thing to me.
There is open sewage running in a gutter on the side of all the streets. It smells pretty terrible here, but I’m getting used to it. Everything smells slightly rotten and like vinegar. The food looks very unappetizing. I haven’t really eaten anything since getting here either. Everything is pretty dirty. Kate, my roommate, said that you never really feel clean here even if you shower every day. I’m constantly sweating, and covered in anything that I touch. America is so clean. We put our garbage out of sight. We wash our hands so often. People aren’t dirty back home at all. Even the people that you think are dirty, really aren’t dirty. Even littering seems like no big deal to me in comparison with what I’ve seen here in only 24 hours. There is garbage poured out everywhere. Everywhere you walk, there could be garbage next to you. There are trash cans in the bathroom but I don’t know where that garbage goes after its taken out.
When I first arrived yesterday, we got into this little van with no seat belts, and five other volunteers and I were crammed together for the 6-8 hour amount of time that it took us to get to Cape Coast from Accra. Accra is where the airport is located, and is also the capital of Ghana. We drove by a lot of interesting stuff on the way to Cape Coast. One thing that really shocked me was that there were open shacks, or, I guess, business places, that were selling coffins. They were really nice, shiny, elaborate coffins. I feel like that was a big wake up call. A lot of people die here. Coffins are sold a lot.
Another thing that is really interesting is that the earth here is a deep red/orange. I’m not sure if the soil is really packed with nutrients or why it is red, but it looks really pretty. So does the ocean. The waves are so large; real seashore waves. There are a lot of palm trees and really big green foliage.
Something I realized about the world-
In America there is big focus on things. We go into our homes and play with the things that we have. We hide from the world, and that is what comforts us. Everything that we have is a presentation of who we are.
Here, there is no stuff to have. People do not even have homes. They go to their rooms to sleep at night, and that is all. Every other moment of life is about people. You spend time outdoors, dancing, and singing with people, and talking, and making food. You see so many people outside because no one is sitting inside playing with stuff. In America, you don’t see people. People are inside, in solitude. Here, people are everywhere. I have never seen so many people, without end. Of course back home we see people, but then we are alone again. It’s interesting to think about. We place so much importance on things that fade, and break, and need to be thrown away rather than on the people we are with, the people we love, and the people in our community. Here, everyone is family; everyone knows everyone, and interacts with everyone. And everyone spends all day together.
Later
Today feels like the longest day of my life. I feel like I’ve been here for a week already. Which makes me miss Jake even more, and miss home, and everything. My roommate, Kate, showed me around the town. We walked for a while, and she told me so many things about this place that she has learned in her five week stay, so I am really lucky to be so informed of things already. Then we went into Cape Coast because I’m living in a town 20 minutes away from there called Elmina. But Cape Coast is the main place to be, for volunteers or tourists. There were a lot of shops and restaurants there. We met up with a bunch of her friends which was amazing. They were all so awesome, and chill, and completely open about really gross experiences that they have had with pooping and diarrhea issues and parasites….ahhhhhh!! But they’ve all been here for around five weeks, which is when they all started having issues, so hopefully I will be perfectly fine since I’m only here for 4 weeks. You don’t die from anything that you catch as a volunteer, it just sucks getting diarrhea for a few days or having a fever and throwing up, when there’s no clean bathroom, no mom around, no air conditioning. I cant imagine being ill in a place that feels so sick already. I feel like I’d never get better. It’s just scary. If anyone is reading this, I need you to know that all the things I’m saying come from my deepest anxieties. They most likely aren’t going to be life altering. I’ll be okay even if I do get sick. It just wont be fun at all.
We ate at a restaurant today that resembled normal, American-style life, a little. I got pizza. It was a little bit strange but so far it was the first thing I could really eat without wanting to throw up. I also got ice cream at a local store or shop. I can’t really figure out what to call these places. It’s weird getting anything normal here. It’s like an illusion. We live without running water but drink coca cola and have cell phones. All the people here have cell phones. But no stoves. It hurts my brain. I still haven’t showered here which feels nasty but it has really only been one day. The biggest issue for me is my dirty hands. I haven’t washed them in days. I actually begged for hand sanitizer earlier and have never been happier to rub it all over my hands. They were still dirty after that.
One thing that’s cool though is that this exposure has already made me so close with my roommate and those other girls. I feel like nothing could gross us out at this point. Whereas back home, even talking about poop out loud upsets people. Here, poop is everywhere and a major topic of conversation. They told me that having a solid poop becomes an achievement for us.
I’m also enjoying observing people, hearing their life stories, and seeing what they do. It’s all really stimulating. Nothing is normal.
Today I learned that girls whose parents don’t care about them expect them, at around the age of 12, to get money from boys outside of the home. So if the girls want to live, or have things, they have to go out and let boys buy them things and in exchange, they have sex with them. Its like prostitution but more discreet, I suppose. Then they get pregnant. It’s a cultural norm for some people. It’s not the norm for all people though. There are people, like the family that I am living with, to whom that doesn’t happen. Your well being here all depends on if your parents care enough about you, or if they are strict enough. If they are strict, you will go to school, and do homework, and do well in school which will make you more successful. If your parents don’t care, you will basically live on the streets. The terrible thing is that these 12 year old girls who become prostitutes like this have parents that don’t care. Then they get pregnant and become parents who don’t care because they are only teenagers. It’s a vicious cycle.
People pee and poop in the streets here sometimes. Mostly kids.
People have dogs as pets here, but beat them with sticks sometimes, and then eat them after about 6 years.
If you steal here and get caught, the people of the community will beat you and then burn you alive. This is not enforced by the government. The government will beat you, but then the people of the town will kill you.
Smoking weed is also illegal (jail for 6 days, and a really expensive fine).
I’m starting to get used to it here, but it’s still frustrating. I feel more comfortable with the people than I did last night. It’s normal to see their way of life now. But its still hard for me to feel okay about living it. I spontaneously want to cry for no reason sometimes. It’s not like wanting to cry at home. That was just emotions. This is me actually feeling sad out of nowhere because of what’s going on around me, because I’m not home, because I can’t wash my hands. If I don’t wash my hands, I’m more likely to catch something, that’s why I am so paranoid. The idea of a sink with water coming out of it is so enticing to me at this moment. I feel like if I got to go home right now I would cry at the sight of a sink. It’s ridiculous.
One thing that’s cool is that everything is really cheap here. Things I would never buy at home, I would get here because it’s so cheap. For example, taking taxis. Also, you can get skirts and dresses made here out of fabric that you choose, for really cheap. I am so excited about this! I’m going to do that so many times, and come home with all the best dresses in the world.
It’s really interesting how much my perspective has already changed since being here for only 24 hours. I know I’ve been complaining in here a lot, but in my head, every minute, I’m just so grateful that this is not my real life. It makes living at home seem so easy and so wonderful. Things like dorm showers and bathrooms seem like a blessing to me. The grossest situations seem so clean and normal now. Toilets I’ve cleaned in for my job in Cape Cod, I would eat off of, at this point.
I feel like after life like this for a month, I will never not appreciate delicious food, running water, feeling safe from sickness. Life is so normal back home. What do we worry about on a daily basis? Is there anything to worry about on a daily basis? There’s nothing I can think about that would bother me about being home right now or ever.
Something else mind blowing to me as I realize all of this is that these people don’t get to go home. This is their real life, forever. Africans never get to have the beautiful clean bathrooms I will see at home. They don’t get to be healthy and well fed and clean. This is so hard for my mind to wrap around.
