Yesterday, I had a nice talk with my host sister Francesca. I was sitting downstairs watching her cut vegetables and make a special sauce for her tilapia. We talked about women here holding babies on their backs and cutting things in their hands rather than on a cutting board. We talked about her dreams for the future, how she wants to go to school for catering, making her own beautiful wedding cakes and pastries. However, she doesn’t have the money for it at all, so for now she makes money by selling tilapia at night. This money is needed to support the family because their father left when she was little and now is dead, so she must support the family and help her mother who is poor. For a while we also talked about the United States and how credit cards allow people to buy crazy things that they do not need and that the reason America looks so rich is not because they actually can buy these things, but because they buy things that they can not afford and often go into debt. This notion shocked her. She was also shocked to hear that we have homeless people and poor people. She thought that there were only rich people in America. It was a very good conversation to have, to even help her perspective of the world be opened up. Often, the people here are so admiring of America and any white person, thinking we have it all and are so happy and rich when that is not always the case. And even with money, are we really happy? I see more happiness here as I watch people with almost nothing appreciating everything they have, loving life, dancing and singing. They are always singing no matter what they are doing. It is beautiful.
Yesterday was Friday. Kate, Drew and I decided to go on an adventure around Elmina. We walked up to this place called the fort which is a huge castle like building. It’s awesome. From that point you can see all of Elmina encircling the fort. It was breathtaking. You can see the lagoon where all of the fishing boats are harbored. There were hundreds and hundreds of people, small from that view, all wearing vibrant fabrics. You could only tell because they were moving blobs of color. It was so cool to see all of the houses and streets and then beyond that on one side was the ocean, forever expanding, and on the other side were fields and huge hills of red earth and Cape Coast behind that. It was so amazing. As we were up by the fort, a man came and put his arm around me and asked me how I was doing. This was nothing new because everyone here is very friendly and always talking to us and asking us questions about our lives. I have even gotten a few marriage proposals right off the bat. But I just told them I had a boyfriend and then they get very happy for me that I’m not all alone and desolate. But anyway, today this man made me feel slightly uncomfortable and as I was trying to walk away he grabbed my breast. I looked at him in shock, said, “Don’t touch me” and then I walked away. I’ve felt totally okay and comfortable here up until that moment. For the rest of the day people kept being a little bit pushy and too intense. Little kids kept trying to take things from my hands, and people kept getting too close and I just felt nervous. I still feel a little nervous about things now. Not that this couldn’t happen anywhere, it is just more threatening to be away from home and feel uncomfortable like that.
After walking around, Kate and I went to Cape Coast. We picked up some more gifts for people back home and I bought fabric to make a few skirts. I also bought a French book from a used bookstore. It is my first French book. I am really excited to read it because it is also about spiritual enlightenment that is found in many different ways for many different people. I hope that it really expands my French. I may wait to read it until I get home so that as I am reading I can look up words in my French dictionary. This way I will really be learning. The reading looked more simple than any of the other French books available. There were books I wanted such as writings by Renee Descartes and Carl Jung. However, I can just barely understand their philosophies in English, so I decided to keep it simple. I also got those chocolate banana pancakes again. They are the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
As a part of this trip to Cape Coast, I had to deal with a lot with money, figuring out how much to take out in order to last me my final week here. I also had to pay my tuition bill so for the whole day and even now I have been feeling pretty anxious and stressed out. Things just seemed back to that rushed and worried pace of life, trying to fit everything into one day of running around and getting things done, and worrying about money. I didn’t like it. I don’t want this to be my life when I get back. I don’t want to return to being stressed and unhappy because there is too much to worry about. I hope that in this last week I can teach myself that even during stressful times, I can find inner peace. I have found a lot of inner strength and happiness here, which I hope to bring home with me. I feel very Zen and have a live in the moment mindset, which is easier to live in when there are not too many things to think about. But I am afraid that when I go home, so many things will consume my thoughts and time that I will go back to being just as stressed and worried about life, unable to keep this appreciation of life that I have gained through living among the people here. I also skyped with Jake last night which made me want to come home. I don’t want to feel that way. I miss home a lot but since I am here for one more week and there is nothing that can be changed, I want to accept this and enjoy myself every day until I arrive home.
I finally got the pair of pants that I had made for me last week. They are extremely epic. I also found out about this wonderful plant called Moringa. It is the super food of all super foods. There are so many amazing things in Ghana. Cool pants, cool plants?! It grows here in Ghana and is used to cure any kind of sickness. It contains Iron, Vitamin A, C, Protein, and many other things. When the plant grows you cut the branches off, then taking the leaves and drying them. Once they are dry you grind them into powder and boil the powder in water. Then you have tea! So of course, I bought some of the seeds to bring home and grow at school. I am so excited to make my own tea that has extreme health benefits. Mama Teiko has been giving us Moringa tea every morning and night for the past few days. She even let me help her take the leaves off of the branches and taught me how to make the tea.
Last night was Kate’s last night. We talked and ate a really nice meal of jollof rice, homemade coleslaw, and chicken. It was good. Mama Teiko even gave us Sprite. Kate left this morning though. We went to the station with her so she could get to the airport from there, and I almost cried because I was sad to have her leave. I loved meeting her and spending this time with her. But we live so close to each other back home and I hope we will stay in touch.
Thoughts: I met a woman who was volunteering for ProWorld this month. She just graduated from college and looks fairly young. She told us that she has an 11 year old son. So many people have such different lives and such varying experiences. It never fails to astound me when I hear stories like this. She couldn’t have had her baby at any older than 12. I was reading over her shoulder as she read a book called The Stolen Life about a girl who was kidnapped and used as a sex slave for this man at the age of 13. I feel that I can not even reflect on this because no matter how much suffering I see, I still can not get used to it. It still hurts me to know that people everywhere are dealing with issues of such magnitude.
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