Friday, January 20, 2006
More stories... email from Jenell Jan 14, 2006
More stories from life in the bush:
A young boy nervously enters my courtyard and pulls a rusted pot from a top his head to reveal a warm, jiggling piece of raw sheep meat. It is a gift (a very nice gift) from the chief for the Salah, a Muslim holiday called Eidel Addah (sp?). Although my diet desperately lacked protein and I often day dream of steaks and roasted chickens dancing by, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. the piece of meat was about the size of my foot (like I said a very nice gift).... I got to work right away and cooked it. I ate as much as I could and gave the rest to my dog (as there were no children around. I would say a miracle, but I know it's because their parents were keeping them busy delivering meat all over town). sure, now my dog is there! where was she earlier when I was nervously chewing on sheep stomach, intestines, heart, brains, who knows what I was eating... all very nice gifts from neighbors.
Later I went into the village to see the dancing. In a conga line circling around a cashew tree, some drummers and some elders, women and children danced and echoed the song of a woman on the edge of the circle with a microphone and speakers run by a car battery. The next thing I know I am pulled into the circle only to realize that I had no idea what I was doing. I tried to mimic the movements of the woman in front of me, but getting my feet to do a separate rhythm and tempo from my feet seemed impossible. So I tried, but kept adding in my own shakes, twists and spins. The crowd around us seemed to double in a matter of seconds. as I would pass by familiar faces they would smile at me (probably b/c I was smiling so wide), women would show their appreciation by letting out a shrill, "hoooooolililili" and hold up a peace sign as I passed, and the children (always your honest answer) were almost doubled over with laughter.
Erradicate GW!
I saw guinea worm! it looks a lot like spaghetti. If you thought the old spaghetti through the nose trick was nasty you should see this. I watched as local volunteers poked and massaged the foot of a girl whimpering in pain as GW, similar to playdough coming out of a fun factory, wriggled its way out of a big nasty blister on the side of her foot. It was pretty cool in the gross way that makes you wrinkle your nose and raise your eyebrows as you watch.
Peppe in your eye?
While sitting under a mango tree with my counterpart and her family, her youngest daughter, Beiza, wiped her eye with her hand with which she had just been eating fufu in spicy soup. I told her sister to go get some water for her and she came back and threw the water on her feet!! "What are you doing?" I asked. my counterpart explained that if you splash water on the person's feet then they will open their eyes to see why their feet are wet and the burning will go away. Really I think this is more Ghanaian humor b/c everyone was laughing at the girl's reaction to the water on her feet.
Try this at your own risk.
I hope all is well. Until next time....
jenell
p.s. From LHS: The last letter we received from Jenell had an updated snail mail address. If you used the "old" one it should be just fine, but FYI here is the updated version:
Jenell Stewart
Peace Corps Ghana
PO Box 1295
Tamale, NR
Ghana, West Africa
A young boy nervously enters my courtyard and pulls a rusted pot from a top his head to reveal a warm, jiggling piece of raw sheep meat. It is a gift (a very nice gift) from the chief for the Salah, a Muslim holiday called Eidel Addah (sp?). Although my diet desperately lacked protein and I often day dream of steaks and roasted chickens dancing by, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. the piece of meat was about the size of my foot (like I said a very nice gift).... I got to work right away and cooked it. I ate as much as I could and gave the rest to my dog (as there were no children around. I would say a miracle, but I know it's because their parents were keeping them busy delivering meat all over town). sure, now my dog is there! where was she earlier when I was nervously chewing on sheep stomach, intestines, heart, brains, who knows what I was eating... all very nice gifts from neighbors.
Later I went into the village to see the dancing. In a conga line circling around a cashew tree, some drummers and some elders, women and children danced and echoed the song of a woman on the edge of the circle with a microphone and speakers run by a car battery. The next thing I know I am pulled into the circle only to realize that I had no idea what I was doing. I tried to mimic the movements of the woman in front of me, but getting my feet to do a separate rhythm and tempo from my feet seemed impossible. So I tried, but kept adding in my own shakes, twists and spins. The crowd around us seemed to double in a matter of seconds. as I would pass by familiar faces they would smile at me (probably b/c I was smiling so wide), women would show their appreciation by letting out a shrill, "hoooooolililili" and hold up a peace sign as I passed, and the children (always your honest answer) were almost doubled over with laughter.
Erradicate GW!
I saw guinea worm! it looks a lot like spaghetti. If you thought the old spaghetti through the nose trick was nasty you should see this. I watched as local volunteers poked and massaged the foot of a girl whimpering in pain as GW, similar to playdough coming out of a fun factory, wriggled its way out of a big nasty blister on the side of her foot. It was pretty cool in the gross way that makes you wrinkle your nose and raise your eyebrows as you watch.
Peppe in your eye?
While sitting under a mango tree with my counterpart and her family, her youngest daughter, Beiza, wiped her eye with her hand with which she had just been eating fufu in spicy soup. I told her sister to go get some water for her and she came back and threw the water on her feet!! "What are you doing?" I asked. my counterpart explained that if you splash water on the person's feet then they will open their eyes to see why their feet are wet and the burning will go away. Really I think this is more Ghanaian humor b/c everyone was laughing at the girl's reaction to the water on her feet.
Try this at your own risk.
I hope all is well. Until next time....
jenell
p.s. From LHS: The last letter we received from Jenell had an updated snail mail address. If you used the "old" one it should be just fine, but FYI here is the updated version:
Jenell Stewart
Peace Corps Ghana
PO Box 1295
Tamale, NR
Ghana, West Africa
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Holiday Adventures- email from Jenell Jan 4, 2006
Happy New Year!
I have 20 minutes to tell you as much as I can, and then I need to catch a tro-tro back to mpaha.
Christmas:
On Christmas morning, my peace corps friend, Jessica, and I left tamale at dawn and headed to her village (about 45 minutes). She lives on a mango orchard right on the White Volta river. Needless to say her site is gorgeous. Her village is tiny, less than 1000, and all the houses are traditional round mud huts with thatched roofs. After hitchhiking on the back of a sand dumper truck (the only means to her village, and great for making sand castles while driving down the road), we pulled into town just in time for Christmas church service. Under a woven grass lean-to held up by twigs, I heard Luke 2 ( the Christmas story) in dagbane, the local language followed by a hell fire and damnation sermon given by a pastor with no hair or teeth, but wearing bright white tennis shoes. The small congregation responded with traditional songs and drumming, then turned right to me and said, "you look like a golden angel, sing us one of your songs." On the spot I went through all the songs I grew up with, but wanting to keep the tempo going with the drums, Jessica and I sang jingle bells (accompanied by drums of course). We then did some traditional dancing, that looked something like a booty shakin' chicken dance. I felt the same family feeling with these strangers drumming and dancing as I do singing Christmas carols with my family in the states. It was a beautiful Christmas that I will never forget AND I didn't see a present the entire day! We then went back to tamale to join the other volunteers and cook as much food as we could.
Highlights from New Years at the beach:
The beach was beautiful! a great place to hang out for a few days and welcome the new year. I got to meet some volunteers who have been in the country for a while, body surf, listen to guitar and singing on the beach at night, and eat a whole lot of fresh tropical fruits.
On the ride home, Jessica and I decided to spend the extra money (spend half the time) and take the big nice bus back up north. During the 11 hour ride they played king kong on the tv in the front of the bus. I sat there in shock as I realized how similar I must look to the ditsy blond, and how the Ghanaian on board looked like the wild savages running around half naked in monkey masks.... I wanted to crawl under my seat as to avoid anyone making this connection.
until next time
jenell
I have 20 minutes to tell you as much as I can, and then I need to catch a tro-tro back to mpaha.
Christmas:
On Christmas morning, my peace corps friend, Jessica, and I left tamale at dawn and headed to her village (about 45 minutes). She lives on a mango orchard right on the White Volta river. Needless to say her site is gorgeous. Her village is tiny, less than 1000, and all the houses are traditional round mud huts with thatched roofs. After hitchhiking on the back of a sand dumper truck (the only means to her village, and great for making sand castles while driving down the road), we pulled into town just in time for Christmas church service. Under a woven grass lean-to held up by twigs, I heard Luke 2 ( the Christmas story) in dagbane, the local language followed by a hell fire and damnation sermon given by a pastor with no hair or teeth, but wearing bright white tennis shoes. The small congregation responded with traditional songs and drumming, then turned right to me and said, "you look like a golden angel, sing us one of your songs." On the spot I went through all the songs I grew up with, but wanting to keep the tempo going with the drums, Jessica and I sang jingle bells (accompanied by drums of course). We then did some traditional dancing, that looked something like a booty shakin' chicken dance. I felt the same family feeling with these strangers drumming and dancing as I do singing Christmas carols with my family in the states. It was a beautiful Christmas that I will never forget AND I didn't see a present the entire day! We then went back to tamale to join the other volunteers and cook as much food as we could.
Highlights from New Years at the beach:
The beach was beautiful! a great place to hang out for a few days and welcome the new year. I got to meet some volunteers who have been in the country for a while, body surf, listen to guitar and singing on the beach at night, and eat a whole lot of fresh tropical fruits.
On the ride home, Jessica and I decided to spend the extra money (spend half the time) and take the big nice bus back up north. During the 11 hour ride they played king kong on the tv in the front of the bus. I sat there in shock as I realized how similar I must look to the ditsy blond, and how the Ghanaian on board looked like the wild savages running around half naked in monkey masks.... I wanted to crawl under my seat as to avoid anyone making this connection.
until next time
jenell
