Buy locally, think Globally or is it the other way around?

Well, have recently moved from San Francisco, where buying fresh local produce is the new black, ive been really confronted with the question of whether the American culture can ever really support ‘Buy Locally’ mentality on a large scale. Sure, Californians have it easy- a delicious variety of produce grows all up and down the state. There, you can get anything: lettuce, oranges, strawberries, potatoes, plantains, almonds, chard, you name it, it can grow there. But what of the rest of the country, where the climate is not so cooperative? Indianans would be restricted to…well, corn. And how about the poor Mainers? Can a person really survive on fiddleheads, potatoes, and blueberries?

Here in Ghana, there is no choice, you are forced to buy locally. The flash freezing, nutrient damaging, food preservation techniques employed in the U.S. are simply not in the cards for Ghana at this time. If it doesn’t grow somewhere in Ghana, or really even in the region of your residence, chances are you won’t get it.

The bananas grow next door; you get fish from the ocean or river if you live close enough to these sources or you don’t eat fish at all; and you buy your cabbage, carrots, Kontomire (the Ghanaian equivalent of spinach), Garden Eggs (mini yellow eggplants), onions, and tomatoes from the lady at the market if the season is right. In other words, if it is not mango or avocado season, there isn’t an avocado or a mango to be had. We eat by the laws of nature and that is just the accepted way of life here.

It makes me think that the only way, America could employ, the ‘Buy Purely Local Ingredients’ model is if we are able to sacrifice the concept of meal variety, which we unknowingly value so much. Let me rephrase, which I, personally didn’t know I valued so much.

In Ghana, there are no more than 10 different ingredients you can cook with, which of course gives you extremely limited menu options. Personally, I find it culinarily unstimulating and I’ve only been here for about three months. While cooking tasty meals with Civic Center farmers market ingredients used to be a hobby, now cooking is more of a daily chore, like sweeping the porch, and killing the ants on my counter. Tomato soup or tomato stew? Boiled cabbage or stir fried cabbage? These are my options. I wonder how you can balance the ‘fresh, local’ concept with our cultivated need as Americans for variety? Just something to think about.

For now, I go after every new ingredient I find at my village’s daily market. I swing by, see if there are any new faces with new things to try, and buy them by what I like to call the 5,000 rule. If I see something I haven’t seen before I buy 5,000 worth( or 50 Ghana pesewa, about the equivalent of $.35). I take my new discovery home, investigate it thoroughly, usually boil, steam or fry it and see what happens. Here is a picture of my latest 5,000 Rule purchase.

Crab Elbows?

After consulting a few other volunteers, via text message, we’ve agreed to refer to them as Crab elbows or forearms- they are not quite the claws but not quite the whole arm either. I deducted it was crab as the lady I bought them from was also selling whole crabs. She advised me these were the best ones to buy. Hey, why not?!

Updates from Home!

It is always nice to hear and especially see updates from America about friends and of course family. After a nice long conversation with my Mom the other day she mentioned that our house in Maine had recently gotten a little upgrade- a beautiful new metal roof. This means no more shoveling of the roof which for my Mom and Dad is truly a gift from god. Mom, was nice enough to send a beautiful picture of the new roof.

I just loved the picture so much, I thought I’d share!

A Festival in Cape Coast

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this thus far but Ghanaians, much like San Franciscans, really love to party! A short trip down the road to the Regional Capital, Cape Coast, gave me the opportunity to see just how much.

The city was brimming with people at a yet another bumping festival. Although, I was unable to get a consistent answer about what the festival was celebrating, I believe it had something to do with the a celebration of the Fante people.

Allow me to explain: Ghana is made up of 9 or 10 regions (depend on whether you count the Greater Accra region) and it is my understanding that within each region a certain tribes dominate. I, for example, live in the Central Region where the Fante people are the dominant tribe. The legend goes that the Fante people moved to the region by conquering the Akaan people who had originally come down from Burkina Faso. The Fante people were lead by three great settlers who are represented by three animals, I can’t remember which animals at this point but I am sure I will learn a lot more about the ethnic history of my villagers as time goes on!

Anyway, this festival is a Fante Festival and it included a parade of all the Fante Paramount Chiefs, in addition to the Chief of Cape Coast who I hear is an expensive man to meet. My friend Nancy who teaches are at the School for the Deaf in Cape Coast proper, told me it will cost you about $50 and a couple bottles of Schnapps to even go and greet him. Well, I may not get to meet him but at least I got his picture!

Enjoy the photos, I sure had a great time taking them.

The Asafo Whale?

The Asafo waving a flag

Before a chief is paraded down the street he must preceded by his Asafo. The Asafo are kind of like the chief's militia, made up of the strongest most honorable warriors in the village. This is the flag of one Fante Asafo, with a crowd of warriors parading proudly as their chief makes his way through the procession. Following the Asafo is the paramount stool. This is an object of worship and represents all the power of the chief.

Here is a woman carrying one of the marble stools on her head. She is being held/dragged along by an assistant to represent the power of the stool being too much for just one human to control.

Voted by the Central Region PCVs in attendance, best dressed parader

These women and men were painted with white paint in designs all over their bodies. I am not sure what they represent but they directly preceded the Cheif of Cape Coast so...they're important!

Despite the illegality of homosexuality, no Ghanaian festival is complete without a few people dressing in drag. This guy had some killer pumps!


And Now Presenting...the Paramount Chiefs!

The Chief of Cape CoastThe Chief of Abura. He is my the Paramount Chief for the district my village is in! I yelled extra loud as he passed by.
This guy was a crowd favorite as he was throwing out candy and plastic jewelry. Clearly not his first rodeo!
Yes there are glorious Lady Chiefs too! We call them Queen Mothers instead. She was definitely my favorite of the few that were paraded.

Following the chiefs were of course a few people on stilts. I mean, what's a parade without stilts. We ended up joining in the tail end of the parade and dancing our way down the block! A good time was had by all.

All in A Day's Work

Here is a lovely photo of what laundry day looks like for me, here in Ghana.

Man do I miss that Post Street Laundromat right now.

Yes, it is true each dirty garment must be hand-washed in a bucket, rinsed properly (to avoid detergent itch), and line dried. It is extremely humid in the Central Region and so nothing ever really dries completely but I can’t complain. Dry enough is good enough for me. I’ve been told that sometimes during the rainy season it can take days for clothes to dry and just when they do…torrential downpour. I am sure you will have the chance to read a furious blog post in the future when I experience this tragedy first hand.

Back to School Shopping

School is scheduled to begin sometime in the second or third week of September and so, like any good teacher, I went back to school shopping for some sweet new Ghanaian fabrics to have made into some acceptable teacher wear. Now we must all keep our fingers crossed that the seamstress I bring them too doesn’t sculpt them into un-wearable monstrosities. It happens more often than you can imagine.

I will post pictures of the final results later, but here are the fabrics I chose:There are four different fabrics there.
I even got some fake Kente print- the light blue one, second from the left.
Wish me luck!

Meet the Neighbors

Introducing...My backyard friends

Well, now that I am all moved in...I think it is time to introduce you to a few of my noisiest neighbors. The sheep belong to the Director of Education of Ghana. I am still a little unsure why they live in my back yard but they sure do help me get rid of my leftovers. They have such expressive faces and love posing for pictures. So, Enjoy the photos:

This one I refer to as "Willy Nelson", although because rumor on the block is that he was born on Tuesday, his Ghanaian name would be Kwabena.

This is the newest member of our sheep family. Like mother, like daughter (or son- frankly I can't tell). Ridiculously adorable though.

Acronym Upgrade!

I don’t know that I have ever been to a graduation that I’ve enjoyed. I think that by law they are required to be disproportionately sweaty, uncomfortable, and of course, mind numbing. It is sort of the final, final exam to make sure you are really committed to getting through the whole process. Our Swearing in Ceremony, was no exception.Everybody showed up in there newly tailored Ghanaian threads, looking good as ever. We posed endlessly for pictures, heard several speeches, performed some silly skits in our target languages, did a cultural performance, and most important took the oath of service. After all was said and done, my acronym PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) was upgraded to PCV.
This is "The Kukurantumi Boys Club". They have all been assigned to teach Math in Junior High Schools around Ghana.

Here, we have the Health/Water/Sanitation Crew (Health/Wat/San). Their jobs include anything from managing water sourcing projects to volunteering in HIV/AIDS clinics.

A few brave volunteers performed some traditional African drumming in front of our homestay families and did a lovely job at that. I ended up playing the shaker for the last drumming/dancing number.

Home Sweet Home

I’ve been living out of suitcases since pretty much May 1st, so upon arriving to the bungalow that will be my home for the next year, I was nothing but completely and totally relieved! I finally had a chance to put my bags down, unpack my frying pan and knife and feel like I was home. The flat I am staying in, used to be the Headmaster’s home so it is well furnished and despite a small mouse and cockroach problem which may necessitate a cat, is quite comfortable. There is no running water, but I do have electricity. I have no trouble calling this place home.

The Living Room is nicely furnished with chairs, couches supplied by the Senior High School I will teach at. There is also a table and chairs, a giant television, a dvd player, 16 James Bond movies, and a library of other American action movies.
I am the first one to say, the Kitchen needs some work. I think a good scrub down and building some counter space will be high priority upon my return.
This is a picture of what one of my fellow volunteers termed, the Soft Yellow Cage. A mosquito net is a crucial part of any anti-malarial lifestyle.

Now the challenge lies in enduring another 2.5 weeks of Peace Corps training before I am finally turned loose.

Ghanaian Fufood

Now that the sweet taste of cheese burgers and carne asada super burritos has vanished from my mouth, I think it is high time I talk about the agony and the ecstasy of Ghanaian cuisine. Most Ghanaian meals follow a simple 75/25 rule; 75% starch, 25% nutritious, life-sustaining ingredients. Let’s just say, if the Peace Corps didn’t supply us with a daily multivitamin, irreparable damage may be the result of my two years here.

In a nutshell, the majority of the food take just a few different forms and fall into a just a few different categories. In as many variations as you can imagine: plantains, cassava, yam, rice, and maize are boiled, mashed, pounded or all three at once- boiled, mashed, and pounded. Common combinations include: ampesi, boiled plantains and yams; banku, mildly fermented boiled and mashed maize; fufu, plantains and yams boiled then pounded into a substance with a texture similar to chewing gum; kenkey; fermented maize boiled in a plantain leaf (kind of like a tamale but without the excellent center stuffing). Each of these annihilated starchy compounds are then served with either scalding hot soup or stew and, of course, painfully eaten with your hands.

This is my homestay brother and sister preparing fufu.

As for my particular tastes, I like Banku the most, it has a nice taste reminiscent of San Francisco sourdough bread, only hot and gooey. You can’t go wrong with Ampesi dipped in a some sort of stew. Kenkey makes the list and then at the very bottom is Fufu. Despite my initial enthusiasm for it (yeah there was one day where I ate it for lunch and dinner), Fufu has lost my attention, completely. It is by far one of the strangest foods I have experienced. Allow me to explain:

This is the infamous Fufu before it is drowned in boiling hot soup.

First, the taste. If made with some semi-ripe plantains, and cassava it has a nice sweet starchy flavor, but nothing more. Let’s just say it doesn’t add flavor to a meal, just calories. Next, the texture.

It is smooth and sticky, so much so that it is not to chewed, just swallowed. In fact, it is culturally inappropriate to chew your Fufu, not to mention the risk of choking as it sticks to the roof of your mouth semi-permanently. All jokes aside, it has the texture and consistency of chewing gum. A big bowl of chewing gum, with piping hot soup, to swallow.
Not to mention it takes more than an hour of physical labor to make the stuff. I just don’t get it.

And this, is a ready to eat bowl of Fufu, Peanut Soup, and Fish.

To all my future visitors, you better believe this will be your first meal upon arrival in Ghana, and by the time you leave, you’ll be pounding Fufu better than my homestay family.

Boti Falls

About a 40 minute drive from the Eastern Region capital, Koforidua, is a georgous waterfall. There is a short trek down several hundred stairs to get to the catch pool at the base of the waterfall. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves: