At work we walked all the way out to the fields and planted plantain trees. We had to dig holes in the ground and then place the base of a cut off tree back into the ground. I spent most of the time just realizing that I am in Africa and really enjoying just being in that moment. I feel that I don’t live in the present moment enough. Some of my days here I have been waiting for work to be over or thinking about going home or always on to the next thing. This is the same thing at home. We all live our lives in a perpetual state of waiting for the future or looking to the past. We are never truly just living here and now. It produces a lot of anxiety and makes life very negative because you aren’t really enjoying life, you are just comparing it to what it could be or what it used to be. I want to make this better. The books I have been reading cover this topic extensively. I am reading a lot on Buddhist philosophies and about what I just explained above. So at the farm that day I just kept stopping my mind and really focusing on what I was doing and where I was. I listened to birds cooing in the distance, felt a slight breeze, looked around at the hills and valleys surrounding me, all covered in trees, green everywhere. I bent down close to the ground to replant the plantains. As I was doing this I smelled the soil and really focused on how I was pushing it around the plantain root. I realized that I was adding to the life in Africa. I just planted a field full of plantain trees that will grow tall and produce food that will be picked and then eaten in Africa. I am leaving in a week but these trees will be here for a long time. This experience was really amazing to me because I was so focused on it. I was such a part of the earth and the plants and the world in those few hours.
Later on we all had to go to the ProWorld house for Fante lessons because we do that every Tuesday night. I actually learned a bunch of things: how to say how are you, I am good, good morning, good evening, and good afternoon. These three greetings are very important. You always say them to everyone you meet. If someone gets into the taxi and it is afternoon you must say good afternoon to them. It’s really cool. I like learning the rules of how to exist here and what social norms and expectations exist. Basically, CULTURE. It was really awesome to be learning Fante in Ghana. This whole day was just good. After Fante lessons, ProWorld takes all of the volunteers out to eat at various restaurants each week. That night we went to a place called One Africa which was a nice place because we got to eat outdoors. Now that I think of it, most places that we eat are at least slightly outdoors, just with a roof over our heads. I love it. Why stay inside when it’s so nice out? I got Mac and Cheese with vegetables which was delicious. Tuesdays are always a nice way to get a small taste of home, eating fake American food and talking to American people.
Overall I’d say that day 19 was one of the good days. It’s like that here. Good days, good days, and then one bad day, and then some more good.
My roommate Kate has malaria. I feel really bad for her. She only has a few days left here and has to lay in bed sick the whole time. I think back home we assume that malaria will kill you if you get it but here it’s kind of like having the flu. It is definitely dangerous, but if you get the medication, you’ll be better soon. You just spend a few days vomiting and having diarrhea and feeling terrible. Then you recover. A lot of volunteers have gotten it, but mostly those that have stayed longer than 4 weeks. However, locals do die of malaria for many different reasons. Often they aren’t cautious enough and just let it slide, not really getting checked for it and not taking the pills. Or they can’t afford the medication. It is fairly cheap but some people barely have enough to eat, not to mention extra money for medication.
It’s getting hard to find time to journal anymore. I am always doing something and when I’m not I want to enjoy the culture here as much as possible. I want to get as many experiences as I can, not just write about experiences. I feel like there are so many little things that I want to mention here though that by the end of the day so much has happened that I can’t even remember them all. Like the fact that on the morning of day 19 we tried to get a taxi for such a long time and the drivers were trying to screw us over cause we are white and they think they can take advantage of us. It’s really frustrating. They lie to us sometimes and raise the prices just to see what they can get away with because we’re just dumb tourists. It can be stressful because you have to argue with them and tell them that you're not just a stupid Obruni (white person). Then when we finally got a taxi, we stopped on the side of the road to pick some people up. We ended up putting 12 people in one taxi: the driver, 2 in the front seat, 4 in the back, and 5 in the trunk. It was seriously just a car trunk, so they were just sitting in it and standing on the back of the car, holding on for a good 5 miles. It was so funny and ridiculous and crazy. These are normal things you experience in Ghana. It’s a good time.
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