After a month here we finally went and did a little bit of sightseeing. Friday we took a trotro to Accra and did the tourist thing (there is absolutely no way to blend in here so we embraced it and went all out; camera, souvenirs, the whole shebang!) First we went to the National Cultural Center, which is really just a market, similar to khan el khalili, where you bargain hard and the shop owners all conspire to get your money. We spent a long time talking to a few of the vendors, which of course meant we had to buy a few things, but had some really interesting conversations with them and enjoyed getting to know each other. I absolutely love the fabrics here so it is always hard for me to resist those, but we found a few unique items and made our first for-fun purchases since our arrival (okay besides chocolate, and I did get that one fabric a few days ago…). They love Obama here, and since his visit in July there is an insane amount of Obama paraphernalia and incredibly huge posters all over the city proclaiming their affection for him. I am trying to at least get pictures (impossible to upload with this connection) of what I can’t purchase; “Obama Biscuits”, yes, tiny packages of cookies with his face and the American flag on them (and are actually quite tasty), textiles, t-shirts, and bags are everywhere. It is quite hilarious. I even saw a Michelle Obama bag.
Another funny thing is the slogans, which they plaster to cars (similar to the Egyptian fetish for stickers) and are often introduced as “Motto:” For example “Such and such Preparatory school – Motto: Knowleg is Power” (I am not kidding; Knowleg!) I mentioned earlier the Christianese as store names, but it goes way beyond that – I have to admit I have begun calling a lot of things here faux- Christianity, I know it’s not right to judge, but I have to be able to at least make a distinction in order to keep my own faith. Of course I see the similarities to a lot of pop-Christianity in the west (there’s a Winner’s Chapel here – I’m not going to mention of who it reminded me of in the US, you can probably guess.) It’s all warm fuzzies, name-it-and-claim-it, believe-in-yourself, your-enemies-will-all-fail-miserably and so on. Of course there are some very sincere and grounded people too, but sadly, the most vocal ones are the ones you remember.
We went to a couple of slave forts which were right next to each other in Accra. It was a really sobering experience, as you can imagine. Unfortunately they were in great disrepair; in order to get in you have to duck through a tiny door, wake up a doorman-turned-tour-guide, and negotiate a price for him to “show you around” (which has varying degrees of meaning ranging from a fairly detailed tour with a small museum and historical facts, to occasional, unintelligible noises and something about someone who was here at some unknown point in time). But really it was horrifying and very powerful to see. It was interesting to view it from an African perspective and to realize how intertwined our histories are. We were amazed to find out the places had been used as prisons until very recently (one was used in 2005 to hold 200 Sudanese refugees who left Arabic graffiti on the walls of some cells) and they are supposedly turning them into museums, though they are at different stages of this process.
Today we had a football tournament. Ghana vs. America, were the teams. The games are frequently interrupted for injuries and whenever the ball got kicked over the wall (every 2 minutes) and there were also random intermissions for dancing.
We are conducting some interviews with the kids, which are enlightening and confusing at the same time. There are several new volunteers arriving this month, most are staying for a few weeks at a time. So it should be fun to have some new people around, though we aren’t sure exactly what the plan is for their time here.
Not much else to report right now except a continuation of my list of store names; “Christ in the Vessel Fast Food” “Jesus First Fast Food” “God Can Do It Communication and Snack” ? Thanks for reading. 