I knew I would have a lot of work to do when I came to Ghana, but seriously? 14-15 hour work days?!?!? After completing the randomization process that we started last week, it was time to go into the village and start administering the surveys I had previously developed in New York. This week, we went into the name-sake village for the Ghana MVP cluster, Bonsaaso. Myself, the Education Coordinator, and 5 interpreters/data clerks meet at the
office each morning at 7am to load up. Usually, we'd leave for the village about 9am, and I discovered I had to make sure I took some sort of motion sickness remedy before setting out on the road. It takes about an hour and a half on the worst roads imaginable to get into the cluster. The roads are riddled with pot-holes, ravines, puddles, stones, roots - you name it. Since it is the rainy season, it often downpours during the night, leaving water holes 4 feet deep. I can only equate ridding on the roads to the worst roller coaster ride ever! This is one place I can see the justification of having expensive 4-wheel drive vehicles and specially trained drivers. The poor Infrastructure Coordinator has a lot of work ahead of him!
office each morning at 7am to load up. Usually, we'd leave for the village about 9am, and I discovered I had to make sure I took some sort of motion sickness remedy before setting out on the road. It takes about an hour and a half on the worst roads imaginable to get into the cluster. The roads are riddled with pot-holes, ravines, puddles, stones, roots - you name it. Since it is the rainy season, it often downpours during the night, leaving water holes 4 feet deep. I can only equate ridding on the roads to the worst roller coaster ride ever! This is one place I can see the justification of having expensive 4-wheel drive vehicles and specially trained drivers. The poor Infrastructure Coordinator has a lot of work ahead of him!When we arrived at Bonsaaso the first day, all of the children were screaming, laughing, and yelling "boni, boni" (white person). One of the interpreters leaned over and said, "They are screaming like that because you are here." The people in these villages do not see white people very often, and they have come to associate all white people with bringing or doing good things for them. So naturally they get very excited to see a boni. I certainly did not feel worthy of all the cheering and I think I was actually just as excited to see them.
For three days we went to the school and surveyed the students, their parents, and the school meals cooks. I constantly feel like the center of attention and can sense all the eyes following me. The children in the school, l
ike the children in Manso Nkwanta where I live, come up to me and in very clear English say, "Hi, how are you." If you return the question, again in very clear English they answer, "I am fine, thank you." Do not think of straying from this one dialogue though because that is pretty much all the English they know. Some of the older children can say, "My name is....." I have found this limited vocabulary to be true of most of the older villagers as well. On my walk to the office each day, I get a lot of "Hi, how are you?" from the men and women on their way to the fields. If I say "I'm good" instead of "I'm fine", they look very confused. I'm not going to lie, it is a bit intimidating to pass 20 or so people with large machetes (used for work in the fields of course) as I walk, so I am sure to smile and say hello to each and every one of them. In Manso Nkwanta, and in the other villages when I am there, I have started answering to simply being called "Boni" or some might actually say "White Woman". I find the attention of the villagers to be much more pleasant than the attention of the city dwellers. The farmers in Manso Nkwanta give me the same price as the do Ghanaians, not trying to rip me off, and people seem to just generally want to say Hello.
ike the children in Manso Nkwanta where I live, come up to me and in very clear English say, "Hi, how are you." If you return the question, again in very clear English they answer, "I am fine, thank you." Do not think of straying from this one dialogue though because that is pretty much all the English they know. Some of the older children can say, "My name is....." I have found this limited vocabulary to be true of most of the older villagers as well. On my walk to the office each day, I get a lot of "Hi, how are you?" from the men and women on their way to the fields. If I say "I'm good" instead of "I'm fine", they look very confused. I'm not going to lie, it is a bit intimidating to pass 20 or so people with large machetes (used for work in the fields of course) as I walk, so I am sure to smile and say hello to each and every one of them. In Manso Nkwanta, and in the other villages when I am there, I have started answering to simply being called "Boni" or some might actually say "White Woman". I find the attention of the villagers to be much more pleasant than the attention of the city dwellers. The farmers in Manso Nkwanta give me the same price as the do Ghanaians, not trying to rip me off, and people seem to just generally want to say Hello.Each day after we finished 
surveying we had some sort of traditional Ghanaian meal prepared by some of the villagers. As I previously mentioned, it is usually some sort of cassava, plantain paste that you dip in a greasy oil pile of fish head, beef fat, tomato paste (see pictures), and sometimes beans. They literally eat everything - fish bones, chunks of fat, etc. I can't say I care much for these dishes, but I actually do really like their traditional rice cooked with tomato paste, called Jollof, and a ground corn mixture called Kenkey that reminds me somewhat of Grits. Those of you who know me well, know I'm a true southern girl who loves my grits :)
surveying we had some sort of traditional Ghanaian meal prepared by some of the villagers. As I previously mentioned, it is usually some sort of cassava, plantain paste that you dip in a greasy oil pile of fish head, beef fat, tomato paste (see pictures), and sometimes beans. They literally eat everything - fish bones, chunks of fat, etc. I can't say I care much for these dishes, but I actually do really like their traditional rice cooked with tomato paste, called Jollof, and a ground corn mixture called Kenkey that reminds me somewhat of Grits. Those of you who know me well, know I'm a true southern girl who loves my grits :) All of the staff has already left to go back to Kumasi for the weekend. I decided to stay back and organize all of this data I have now. I figure a good system needs to be in place before we continue on to the other two villages. Hopefully I wont get too bored. At least 2 of the drivers and one of the office assistants will be around to help me out.
1 comment:
I bet you are so glad that those Clif bars took up half your bag and weighed 50 lbs! Your description of the food does not sound appetizing. We miss you! Amy's in NC now so it's just me in 2B.
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