Tomorrow I head back to my village for a last visit with my family before returning to Canada. Now it seems like my return home is imminent. From the time I left Tiawiah, I knew that I would always come back before returning home. Now I'm going back - to both of my homes.
As I sit here, I get really excited for my journey back to my village. I see myself on the trotro, then finding a taxi to take me back into Tiawiah, where the red dirt, smell of drying cocoa beans and people's chatter filling the streets, awaits me.
I love the sense of community that exists here. When one of the women in my compound was out of town for a few days, the rest of the families in the compound rallied to make sure the children were fed, bathed and looked after. There was never any hesitation or questions, it just happened. I also feel like I've built a community in Accra. I've made friends and can walk down the street, be recognized and recognize people. Yes, I admit that a large part of what makes me recognizable is the colour of my skin, but that's not the only thing. Ghanaians greet each other on the street, when getting into taxis or trotros, they greet each other while waiting in line to buy food, they're involved in each other's lives.
Sometimes its a bit much because there are times one just wants to be left alone, but in the end, its nice. The harassment or meddling or curiosity or interest, however you want to define it is never done in a negative or harmful way. Even the times I don't appreciate it, I recognize the questions are rooted in a positive place and I've really come to appreciate it.
For instance it opens the door to ask for directions or more information if you need it. It gives you license to be a bit nosey and get another glimpse into everyday Ghanaian life, which is exactly the point of spending six months of your life in another culture.
Were it not for Ghanaian openness and my need to ask a lot of questions, a lot of opportunities and experiences wouldn't have made themselves available to me.
I recently read this quote that has been sticking with me:
"Sometimes you are aware when your great moments are happening, and sometimes they rise from the past. Perhaps its the same with people"
~James Salter, Burning the Days.
I'm sure the people I've been surrounded by both here and at home will ensure great moments continue to rise throughout my life. Ghana and the people in it have reignited a passion and love that has faded slightly over the years.
So, prepare yourself, Canada! I'm packing up the lessons, experiences, joy and laughter and am coming home!
**note: in Ghana, 'Charlie' means friend!**
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Time flies...
Can anyone believe that its the middle of March?
These past 5 months have flown by and its beyond me how we've already gotten to the middle of March!
I'm finishing up my time volunteering in Accra and soaking in every minute of the lovely chaos that is Accra. Next week I will meet the rest of my group in Kumasi (in the middle of the country) where we will come together for the first time since January, and begin to reflect on our journey. AFter Kumasi, I will then head back to my lovely village for my last visit with my family before I leave.
I'm not someone who particularly enjoys goodbyes, so I'm really not looking forward to having to say goodbye to my family because that's what they are now, my family.
Even though we're nearing the end, not a day goes by where I don't learn something else. These past 6 months have been an endless learning curve, that has been thrilling.
These past 5 months have flown by and its beyond me how we've already gotten to the middle of March!
I'm finishing up my time volunteering in Accra and soaking in every minute of the lovely chaos that is Accra. Next week I will meet the rest of my group in Kumasi (in the middle of the country) where we will come together for the first time since January, and begin to reflect on our journey. AFter Kumasi, I will then head back to my lovely village for my last visit with my family before I leave.
I'm not someone who particularly enjoys goodbyes, so I'm really not looking forward to having to say goodbye to my family because that's what they are now, my family.
Even though we're nearing the end, not a day goes by where I don't learn something else. These past 6 months have been an endless learning curve, that has been thrilling.
Is it time to eat yet?!
I have received a lot of questions about food in Ghana and figure this is the best way to answer! In short, food is flavourful and delicious. I've really enjoyed it so far and continue to do so. That being said, there are a few things that I don't like.
First, there aren't enough vegetables! As someone whose diet consists primarily on veggies, its been hard not always having green and colourful food around to eat. Now that I'm out of my village and don't have my banana and orange trees at my disposal, I've also seriously been missing fruit.
Back to what I love, which is mostly everything! I was also fortunate to learn how to make all of my favourite things in the hope I will be able to recreate this deliciousness at home (not likely...).
Basically I love plantains and anything to do with plantains, except one staple called Fufu, which is plantains pounded together with cassava. Outside of that, I love all plantains. I should specify I prefer the ripe/sweet ones to the hard, starchy one. The green, non ripe plantains are boiled and then eaten with a stew. Its like dipping bread into bread dip, basically. The sweet plantains, however are the BEST! They can be fried, eaten just on their own, or fried with lots of spices including ginger, cayenne, cloves, which is my favourite, called kelewele (pronounced killywilly).
There's another thing called Akakro, which is the same spices and sweet plantain mashed together with some corn dough and deep fried into crispy balls. Delicious!
The green plantains are also a staple in a dish called Ato. IN Ato, ripe and green plantains are mashed, more to the consistency and size of what a scrambled egg would look like - and mixed together with onions, tomatoes, hot peppers AND PEANUT BUTTER! Its basically fabulous and super filling. I'm told its fed to nursing mothers right after they've given birth because its great to assist with lactating.
I think this may be easier if I break this down into meals!
Breakfast:
There are a few different types of porridge. Corn flour or coarsely ground corn kernels are used as the base of a couple of porridges. The first is called white porridge, and its basically water mixed with ground corn, sugar and milk. The second consists of adding ginger, cayenne, and some seed I have yet to identify/been told the English name to the white porridge, which makes it a little bit grey. I once had the same thing but with millet as the base and it was the best porridge I've ever eaten.
Its also popular to get rice porridge or oats as well.
Bread and margarine are also available pretty much anywhere, but the best is when you can find bread and some peanut butter! There are also these things called boforut (pronounced: bofroot) that is basically dough just deep fried and its sooooo sweet! There's a woman around the corner from where I live who sells the BEST (what we call) boforut timbits ever!
Kind of in the same category as boforut are things called kose (kosay), which are bean biscuits in English. I haven't exactly figured out how these are made, but are my favourite thing to get for breakfast! Its this dough/bean/spice mixture deep fried...how can you go wrong?
Lunch/Dinner:
It should be noted that a lot of things are eaten interchangeably most things are eaten at either dinner or lunch and breakfast. Rice is pretty common to get and typically one can find it anywhere. Outside of just mixing rice and sauce together, a really popular dish is mixing rice with black eyed beans, which is called Waakye (pronounced: wachay) and its is easily the best thing to eat for both meals! The beans and rice are mixed with a stew that is tomato based with peppers, of course. Shito is then added and you can choose to get some cabbage/carrots or fried plantain mixed in as well. Shito is basically powdered fish mixed with garlic, salt, peppers and oil. Its terrible for you, but tastes delicious. There's a woman around the corner from my hostel who I'm certain, makes the best waakye in the country.
Similar to the corn based porridge you can find in the morning, the solid version of that is a big staple in Ghana. Its called banku. The ground corn is taken, water is added, then it ferments for a couple of days. It is then put in a big pot over the fire and stirred for a really long time until it becomes thick and smooth. There are special iron rods that are hooked on the bottom of the pot, and the person who is stirring the banku puts a foot on either iron rod to hold the pot in place. When I say that the banku was stirred, I don't want you to think that it is being stirred like one would stir soup or something, here they call it driving! It looks more like the person is paddling through the banku! The banku is then shaped into individual balls and eaten by dipping it in the stew/sauce/soup/salsa!
Banku is eaten with something called pepe (pronounced: pepay), which is made by grinding hot peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes. Its kind of like making a really smooth salsa. It is also eaten with some different kind of soups, a ground nut soup (peanut soup), palm nut soup or okro soup. Okro is a vegetable, which tastes sort of like asparagus, but is really, really slimy when it is mashed.
Similar to the banku, there is another corn-based food called kenkey (kenkay), which is similar to banku except its a bit more firm and dry. It is normally just eaten with pepe and fish.
This is just merely a glimpse of food in Ghana and I am by no means an expert, but at least now some questions have been answered and hopefully your mouth is salivating...I know mine is.
I'm going to see if the waakye lady is out now...
First, there aren't enough vegetables! As someone whose diet consists primarily on veggies, its been hard not always having green and colourful food around to eat. Now that I'm out of my village and don't have my banana and orange trees at my disposal, I've also seriously been missing fruit.
Back to what I love, which is mostly everything! I was also fortunate to learn how to make all of my favourite things in the hope I will be able to recreate this deliciousness at home (not likely...).
Basically I love plantains and anything to do with plantains, except one staple called Fufu, which is plantains pounded together with cassava. Outside of that, I love all plantains. I should specify I prefer the ripe/sweet ones to the hard, starchy one. The green, non ripe plantains are boiled and then eaten with a stew. Its like dipping bread into bread dip, basically. The sweet plantains, however are the BEST! They can be fried, eaten just on their own, or fried with lots of spices including ginger, cayenne, cloves, which is my favourite, called kelewele (pronounced killywilly).
There's another thing called Akakro, which is the same spices and sweet plantain mashed together with some corn dough and deep fried into crispy balls. Delicious!
The green plantains are also a staple in a dish called Ato. IN Ato, ripe and green plantains are mashed, more to the consistency and size of what a scrambled egg would look like - and mixed together with onions, tomatoes, hot peppers AND PEANUT BUTTER! Its basically fabulous and super filling. I'm told its fed to nursing mothers right after they've given birth because its great to assist with lactating.
I think this may be easier if I break this down into meals!
Breakfast:
There are a few different types of porridge. Corn flour or coarsely ground corn kernels are used as the base of a couple of porridges. The first is called white porridge, and its basically water mixed with ground corn, sugar and milk. The second consists of adding ginger, cayenne, and some seed I have yet to identify/been told the English name to the white porridge, which makes it a little bit grey. I once had the same thing but with millet as the base and it was the best porridge I've ever eaten.
Its also popular to get rice porridge or oats as well.
Bread and margarine are also available pretty much anywhere, but the best is when you can find bread and some peanut butter! There are also these things called boforut (pronounced: bofroot) that is basically dough just deep fried and its sooooo sweet! There's a woman around the corner from where I live who sells the BEST (what we call) boforut timbits ever!
Kind of in the same category as boforut are things called kose (kosay), which are bean biscuits in English. I haven't exactly figured out how these are made, but are my favourite thing to get for breakfast! Its this dough/bean/spice mixture deep fried...how can you go wrong?
Lunch/Dinner:
It should be noted that a lot of things are eaten interchangeably most things are eaten at either dinner or lunch and breakfast. Rice is pretty common to get and typically one can find it anywhere. Outside of just mixing rice and sauce together, a really popular dish is mixing rice with black eyed beans, which is called Waakye (pronounced: wachay) and its is easily the best thing to eat for both meals! The beans and rice are mixed with a stew that is tomato based with peppers, of course. Shito is then added and you can choose to get some cabbage/carrots or fried plantain mixed in as well. Shito is basically powdered fish mixed with garlic, salt, peppers and oil. Its terrible for you, but tastes delicious. There's a woman around the corner from my hostel who I'm certain, makes the best waakye in the country.
Similar to the corn based porridge you can find in the morning, the solid version of that is a big staple in Ghana. Its called banku. The ground corn is taken, water is added, then it ferments for a couple of days. It is then put in a big pot over the fire and stirred for a really long time until it becomes thick and smooth. There are special iron rods that are hooked on the bottom of the pot, and the person who is stirring the banku puts a foot on either iron rod to hold the pot in place. When I say that the banku was stirred, I don't want you to think that it is being stirred like one would stir soup or something, here they call it driving! It looks more like the person is paddling through the banku! The banku is then shaped into individual balls and eaten by dipping it in the stew/sauce/soup/salsa!
Banku is eaten with something called pepe (pronounced: pepay), which is made by grinding hot peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes. Its kind of like making a really smooth salsa. It is also eaten with some different kind of soups, a ground nut soup (peanut soup), palm nut soup or okro soup. Okro is a vegetable, which tastes sort of like asparagus, but is really, really slimy when it is mashed.
Similar to the banku, there is another corn-based food called kenkey (kenkay), which is similar to banku except its a bit more firm and dry. It is normally just eaten with pepe and fish.
This is just merely a glimpse of food in Ghana and I am by no means an expert, but at least now some questions have been answered and hopefully your mouth is salivating...I know mine is.
I'm going to see if the waakye lady is out now...
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