Shopping in Ghana by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

Car Shopping - As far as I can tell, there is nothing you can't buy from the 'comfort' of your taxi window in Accra. Let me set the scene - it's 100 degrees and I climb into a white and orange taxi (one of many that has been vying for my business, honking and waving) but only after bartering with the driver over the cost of the journey - a very important step to take and a mistake you need to make only once. We pull off and I roll down the windows hoping for a breeze, I don't worry about reaching for the seat belt; there isn't one. The initial panic I felt about this gave way as I realized the speed would never exceed 10mph due to both the amount of traffic and the state of the roads. As we navigate the pothole filled dirt roads it seems that there are no rules on which side of the street to drive - it seems more governed by which part of the road is navigable with drivers weaving in and out of one another, left to right and right to left, almost like some kind of traffic conga line. Each time we come to a stop throngs of people rush out into the road all vying for attention and business, some of the things for sale: toilet roll, gum, Cd's, plantain chips, a large clock(!), flags, t-shirts, water, juice, carvings, cloth. The list goes on. As the traffic pulls away again they jump back to safety at the side of the road, waiting for the next opportunity to make a sale. This was possibly my favorite thing about Ghana, being right in the hustle and bustle of a busy city.

Tourist shopping - I found that you can't go to Ghana without buying some type of carving, the talent is just amazing and by the end of the week I was beginning to worry about how I would get everything I had purchased back home. My first encounter with the local craft work was just past Independence Square along the beach - we stumbled upon a row of shops (or wooden shacks) each full of beautiful handicrafts. Masks, in all shapes and sizes - some covered in beads, others in hammered metal, drums, walking staffs, spears, wall hangings, small statues; The Thinking Man, Mama Africa, elephants, giraffs. Some large statues were stand out in front of the shacks - 6 feet or taller, calved from a single tree trunk. The artists were sat under a line of trees that ran infront of the shacks, carving new pieces. At the end of the row was the National Cultural Center, a large open building full of stalls, here you could buy clothing, paintings, jewellery, hand woven Kente cloth, more wooden carvings, anything really. This was definately more of a tourist trap and competition runs high with people pulling you this way and that to come and look at their stall. On the beach there was a nice breeze but here among the indoor stalls the heat is stiffling and the atmosphere a little overwhelming; I barter over a couple of beautiful paintings and two stalls selling traditional Ghanaian clothing compete for my Kenyan friends attention - this all culminates in several other stall owners gathering round and joining in the conversation. Someone begins to fan the air as we surely look close to fainting, we make our purchases and stumble back out to the breezy sand.

Back to Reality by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

With great sadness and a heavy heart I returned home from Ghana to Kentucky; as a friend aptly put it "Africa grows on you quickly". One positive note about being home is reliable internet and so i'll continue my blog from where i left off last:

Backgound: I should have mentioned this earlier - why I'm here. Sister Cities of Louisville, KY received a $115,000 grant from Sister Cities International (SCI) funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to carry out projects in Africa that will alleviate the living conditions of the urban poor. Seven cities in the US have been initially chosen to work on this grant with their respective Sister Cities in Africa. This week we have all gathered in Accra, Ghana to finalize project plans, often times sharing ideas with other African cities and brainstorming together - the atmosphere is one of cooperation with everyone striving for the same goal. Generosity is abound with even technical drawings being shared between groups. More practical and mundane is the training on local laws, procurement and tender processes and most intense of all - monitoring and evaluation reporting. Next week I will travel to Louisville's Sister City, Tamale to visit the sites where our projects will take place; naturally this is the part of the trip I am looking forward to most.

Feb 4th 2010: This morning I woke to no water. Thankfully the hotel was kind enough to bring me a bucket full, I imagine from the large tanker outside that has hauled in water to the hotel each day since i have arrived - I chalk it up to just another first and get on with it. I do wonder though what the local population is doing for water during what turns out to be a citywide shortage.

Things are more serious today in training and tensions run high as things get complicated; semantics are the order of the day and there is much disagreement - time for a coffee break. I should mention the coffee - granulated. I haven't had granulated coffee since i left Great Britain 5 years ago, it's actually surprisingly good. Perhaps it's the nostalgia or just the fact that this is the first coffee i have had in 5 days (surely a record), either way I'm getting a second cup.

At lunch I'm excited to try Banku - a traditional dish. The consistency is somewhat like mash potatoes but more gluey. You pull off a ball and using your hand as a scoop, use it to pick up some of the okra & fish stew. It takes some getting used to but eventually you get the hang of it. It's delicious.

More afternoon training and everyone is ready for the group outing SCI has organized - we gather in reception, huddling around the AC unit before heading into the humidity and blistering heat. Dinner is a short drive away, past the presidential palace, the sports stadium and several other sites. We are treated to a lovely Chinese meal (although I am a little disappointed that it's not more Ghanaian fare) followed by speeches and a few more speeches. We arrive back at the hotel one short - apparently they got into a rock star party in the back of the restaurant ?? Thankfully they made it back with many interesting stories & a pile of CDs!

Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as Pancake Day in England. You can bet that this evening most of Louisville's English Sister City residents in Leeds will be forfeiting dinner for pancakes. The tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday comes from using up ingredients restricted during the ritual fasting associated with lent, such as sugar, fat and eggs. These pancakes are more like French crepes with the filling drizzled on and rolled up into a tube. The most traditional filling is a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar which is still the way i make them - it instantly takes me back to my own childhood in the UK. The days leading up to Pancake Day are full of TV adverts for lemons and those handy plastic squeezy lemons. If you would like to have a go at making them yourself and celebrating along with Leeds, a recipe is below. You can also read more information about Shrove Tuesday Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday

The ingredients:

2 cups plain flour (about 230g)
2 eggs
2 cups Milk
Pinch of salt
Butter for frying

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and crack the egg into this. Begin to slowly add the milk to the bowl as you whisk. Finally add a pinsh of salt.

Place a frying pan over a reasonable heat and add a knob of butter or oil if preferred. Make sure that the fat has melted and is hot before you add the pancake mixture. If there is too much fat drain away the excess.

ladle some of the pancake mixture into the pan. As you are doing this swirl the pan around. This ensures that the pancakes are thin but that the pan is evenly covered.

It will only take a minute or two to brown and then you will need to flip, toss or turn your pancake over until that side is also brown.

Pancakes are best served straight away and hot. Add your filling - lemon and sugar or you can be creative - jam, nutella etc.

Enjoy!

Africa continued, by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

A word on Internet Access: As a group we have been coming to terms with the local internet access, or lack thereof. As each day passed it became more and more common to see white Americans walking around the hotel, laptop outstretched in front of them, trying to pick up a wireless signal. Greetings changed from ‘good morning’ to ‘have you been able to get online?’ with the local dialect greeting response of ‘naa’ instead being a resounding ‘no’. As word spreads that the internet is working there is a spurt of activity as everyone races to their laptops.......
AUPAP Day 1 & 2:
Today things became more intense as the heavy work load of the grant becomes a reality. Not only are we to complete a detailed proposal for our water project but we must backstep and create a Terms of Reference document along with an Action plan detailing how we arrived at our apparent pre-mature stage. We are too eager it seems to get to work – first we must write. We are also brought up to speed on creating the tender; discussing local laws and observances that may come into play as we work towards an open bidding process and evaluation procedures. As we navigate our way through the grant speak and technical red tape it becomes clear that we are in a great position, not only with our team here in Accra, Mohammed Haroon and Kaleem Jehanfo but also with our local Tamale connections in the TAMA. With approving nods from the Washington and Accra offices we dive in to our paperwork load with enthusiasm and even find time to outline plans for the next proposal – a Womans dormitory with a toilet and shower block. Things are starting to take shape.
Day 2: Woke up feeling rather delicate, perhaps a good idea to skip breakfast and concentrate on fluids for a while. The mood this morning is one of concentration; each city group huddles in corners of the conference room; discussing, planning, writing. The Tamale-Louisville group is feeling particularly confident after our achievements yesterday. By midday we are almost at a stopping point in terms of what we are trained to complete. Perhaps there will even be time for some sightseeing this afternoon - the hotel walls are becoming a little boring and after all, we're in Africa!
Tomorrow; monitoring and evaluation – a sigh can be heard around the room….

Ghana - First Impressions by Joanne Lloyd-Triplett

With eleven new vaccinations and malaria pills in hand I set off for my first visit to the continent of Africa. After vigorous sprints through Atlanta and JFK airports to catch connections with minutes to spare I finally touch down in Accra, Ghana, luggage and all. It seems that many of my fellow Delta travelers have similar reasons for visiting Ghana: a missionary group here to build a maternity ward; a gap year student volunteering at a local orphanage. The wave of heat that hits me as I exit the plane is a far cry from the three inches of snow I left behind in Louisville, Kentucky. I take a moment to look around and take it all in. The ride to the hotel is not that long but offers a feast for the eyes; groups of people sitting relaxing under trees, a football match (the British kind), roadside stalls offering freshly cooked foods; a lady carrying a huge basket on her head, full of what look like bananas. We pull onto a dirt road and the hotel appears on the left, the building reminds me somewhat of Buckheads on the river with its roofline imitating mountain peaks. The lobby is right out of a 1980’s Spanish hotel; small, marble and without AC. I’m already in love with this place. The room is very spacious and clean and as I start to unpack I hear singing coming from the conference rooms below. Before we get to work on AUPAP (African Urban Poverty Alleviation Program) there’s time for a quick look around……

Morocco to Mainz; the Holidays abroad

This is my first contribution to the Sister Cities of Louisville blog during my stay here in Mainz, but late is certainly better than never! I have been living in Mainz for a little over four months and have become rather accustomed to things here - and I have to say that a warm bed and a hot shower at my place in Mainz are a welcome sight after a few weeks of backpacking.

I just returned last evening (well... actually about 1:00 this morning) from spending 8 days in North Italy. My friend Liana (from Columbia) and I flew down to Venice (thank God for budget airlines!) for New Year's Eve, and I have to say that midnight in Piazza San Marco was certainly 'once in a lifetime experience,' in no small part due to the foot of ocean water covering the ground; you see, Venice during the winter has this wonderful little characteristic of, well, flooding. Now, when I say "flooding," I do not mean sporadic puddles of rain, or the occasional overflowing canal - I mean real, unadulterated, unquenchable flooding - and my salt stained covered shoes can attest to this dreary fact. That memory will last a lifetime!

I spent my New Year's Eve in Venice, but that wasn't the first stop during my brief winter break. I spent a few days backpacking in Morocco with my friend Danae from the U.S. I have to say that as different as Germany can be from home, Morocco is worlds away. Seeing snake charmers in the streets of Marrakech and the Arabic words "God, Country, King" inscribed on the side of a mountain in Agadir really makes an impression! It was a very interesting experience, and I really can not wait to return to Africa. We returned from Morocco on the 24th of December, the first day of the three days of celebration in Germany. I was lucky enough to spend the three days with a wonderful couple from the Mainz Friendship Circle, Frau Ursula Bell-Koehler and Herr William Bell. It was a wonderful time, and I really appreciate the time I was able to spend with them - not to mention all of the wonderful home cooked German food! It certainly was different from my usual Christmas at home with the family, but I enjoyed myself and the wonderful company all the same!

Duloglana Ebenezer Adam

Wednesday, July 22, 2009, the day before my departure from Tamale to Accra and about two hours before our "Good-bye" dinner given by our host, I had the pleasure of meeting Ebenezer Adam. Last minute is the description the event and anxious was my state of mind. I was a bit nervous because I didn't have his phone number to schedule a meeting time. Thoughts of rejection and of being turned around at the door rattled me. "But how am I supposed to get in touch with someone who does not have a telephone," I thought. Once again I was proven to be the Americanized foreigner whom induces her own anxiety such as, being nervous about showing up to some one's home unannounced in the Ghanaian culture. I had to tell myself "Relax, this is the way they do it, it's fine." Of course it was no big deal. And my soothing process began when Ebenezer walked in excited and very welcoming. He has a smile and eyes that carried the innocence of a child and the joy of a grandfather every time he sees his grandchild. I felt the warmth of his welcome as he did my visit. At ease I felt.
Duloglana Ebenezer Adam of Tamale, Ghana is a sub-chief; Duloglana represents the region or neighborhood of Tamale in which the Chief resides. The Duloglana is eighty-nine years young and will be ninety in December. The Duloglana began his career as a teacher in Kumasi which is about three to four hours south of Tamale. His career then took a turn in 1948-49 in favor of politics, particularly, in the advocation of independence for Ghana. Chief Ebenezer Adam has worked closely with the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, in the establishment of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in both the southern and northern regions of Ghana. Later after serving as a member of the the UGCC, he then became the General Secretary of the UGCC.
About six years after Ghana's independence was won in 1957, Ebenezer Adam became the Regional Commissionor for the Northern Region of Ghana in 1963 to 1966. He was also the NP for the Tamale. Chief is also known for his mastery work of facilitating, along with three other translators, a complete translation of the Old and New Testament Bible into the Dagbani language. The conception of the Naawuni Kundi Kasi was around 1980 and it took approximately 28 years total to translate both Old and New Testaments into Dagbani. The first Dagbani written bible, the Naawuni Kundi Kasi translated as God's Holy Bible, was published in 2006.