Mark Simmons

Home again

Well, I'm home again... kind of. After three days back in Courtice, I went to London, ON to do the final two week portion of my volunteer placement with the AIDS Committee of London (ACOL).

That ended last Friday, and then it was back to Courtice again for a few days before going to Ottawa to visit relatives (which is where I am now). I'll be heading back to Courtice tomorrow for a week of visiting friends and relaxing, and then a week from Sunday I'll be going back to London to do some IT training and support work with ACOL (and getting paid for it :-) while I get my TESL certificate.

I'll be in London until mid-June, and then it's off to South Korea to teach English for a year or two. I guess I definitely have the travel bug now, and I figure I might as well see the world now and get it out of my system before I settle down. But I do have to admit all this traveling is a little tiring -- be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

So I survived my return home, and luckily the reverse culture shock was minimal for me. It only took me a day or two to readjust to the Western way of life, and a week or so to get over my jetlag. But I still haven't adjusted to the temperature change -- on days when people around me are wearing t-shirts, I don't feel warm unless I've got a heavy sweater on. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss sweating.

I've definitely noticed some changes since coming home -- both in the people and places around me and in myself. I still don't wear a watch, and I'm really enjoying being less time-conscious. I lost about 20 pounds while I was away (which must have been from sweating, since I ate pretty well and always found it too hot to exercise), and I definitely feel more healthy than when I left. And I think I'm a little more outgoing than I used to be -- maybe because I have a lot more interesting stories to tell now!

Well, that's all for my blog. Medasi (thank you) to everyone who read it -- I hope you found it to be entertaining and educational, or at least interesting. And if not, well you probably won't want to read my blog from South Korea!

Top five habits I hope not to keep

So now I've covered what I've learned about life since coming to Ghana, what I've learned about myself, and the habits I hope to keep.  So next is the top five habits that I've gained in Ghana that I hope not to keep when I return home.

5.  Chronic sweating.  I'm a few pounds overweight, and that plus a hot, humid climate equals a lot of empty bottles of deodorant.  As long as the air is moving and I'm not doing anything strenuous, my brow and shirt remain dry.  But soon as I have to lift a heavy box, or walk up a hill, or um, breathe...

4.  Negotiating with taxi drivers.  Somehow, I don't think it would go over as well in Toronto:

"25 cents a km?  That's too much!  I'll give you 15."
"Get out of my cab, moron."
"You drive a hard bargain my friend.  I'll give you 20 -- but that's my final price!"

3.  Taking anti-malarial medication.  Now if I was on the pills that make you hallucinate, that could be fun.  But I'm on the boring ones that just make you burst into flames when exposed to sunlight (luckily I didn't experience that particular side effect).  And remembering to take them every morning is about as much fun as... remembering to take any other pill every morning for six months.

2.  Not knowing where I'm going.  It's embarrassing to be in a taxi and have the driver ask "where do you live?" and have to reply "I was hoping you knew."  I've gotten better at finding my way around Accra in the past few months, but I'm definitely no Magellan.

1.  Keeping a blog.  This blog has been a great opportunity for me to share my experiences in Ghana, and hopeful to change some people's perceptions about what life in Africa is like.  And it will also make for a great diary of my time here, since my attempt to keep a daily journal didn't last much longer than the first month.  But all great adventures must come to an end, and so my blog must come to an end too.

Well, that's it from Ghana.  I'll probably make a couple more blog entries when I return to Canada next week to let you, my faithful readers, know that I've made it home in one piece and that I didn't die of hypothermia from the 20+ degree change in temperature.  Until then, goodbye from Ghana!

Top five habits I hope to keep

I've now covered the top five lessons I've learned since coming to Ghana, and the top five things I've learned about myself.  Next, I'll list the five habits that I've developed since coming here which I hope to keep when I return to Canada.

5.  Drinking water.  I always hated drinking water at home, and would always have to force myself to drink it unless I was really thirsty.  But in Ghana, I'm really thirsty a lot -- that's the price I pay for being a sweaty guy in a hot country.  So I drink a lot of water here -- at least 1.5L a day -- and I've considerably decreased my intake of pop and other empty calorie-filled liquids.

4.  Eating healthier.  I would be easy to gain weight by regularly eating Ghana's more carbohydrate- and oil-heavy foods (like fufu with goat light soup), and I've known a few obrunis who've gained 20 or more pounds since coming here.  Luckily, that's one bullet I've managed to dodge.  But much of the food here is fresher and has fewer preservatives and other chemicals than the food I used to eat at home.  And because I usually eat in moderation, I feel like I have a much healthier and more natural diet here in Ghana, and that I'm much better off for it.

3.  Being more spontaneous.  It can be hard to plan ahead in Ghana -- there aren't any fixed schedules for the tros-tros, meeting times are often flexible, and (because it is often prepared fresh) food can take anyway from 15 minutes to an hour at a restaurant.  In Canada, I lived by life by the clock -- often planning my schedule down to the minute.  But I've found life to be much more exciting when you don't plan so much, and so I'm planning to be much more spontaneous (is that an oxymoron?) when I return home.

2.  Talking to strangers.  Contrary to what my mothers told me, sometimes it is okay to talk to strangers -- at least now that I'm an adult.  In fact, I never would have been able to travel around Ghana without the kindness of strangers.  I found most Ghanaians to be very friendly and approachable, and they always seemed happy to help when I ask for directions.  I also had some very interesting discussions with strangers that I've met here, and it made me realize that I may be missing out a lot by not being more sociable with strangers at home.

1.  Exploring the world around me.  I found that a lot of Ghanaians were impressed by how much of their country I'd visited.  But I only traveled as much as I did because I knew I was here for a limited time, and that I might not ever come back.  There have been many times in Canada that I've thought "oh, that would be nice/interesting/fun to go and see", but then I usually never get around to going and seeing it.  But I learned in Ghana that just how much fun it is to explore, whether it's a weekend trip to a nearby village or a walk around some of the many different parts of Accra.  And so when I return to Canada I'm planning to do a lot more exploring of my own neighbourhood, province and country, so that I can say I've seen as much of my own country as I've seen of Ghana.

... and that's it for the habits I hope to keep.  Next, I'll list the top five habits I hope to lose when I go back home.

Top five things I've learned about myself

My last top five list was on the life lessons I've learned since coming to Ghana.  This time, I'll list the top five things I've learned, or confirmed, about myself in my time here.

5.  I am a patient person.  I've been told this several times in Canada, but I wasn't sure how well my patience would hold up here in Ghana.  And while my life here in Accra is very similar to my life back home, there are differences in the lifestyle and culture which I sometimes found frustrating.  And I've seen many of my fellow obrunis express their frustrations in inappropriate ways, and I was always embarrassed by their behaviour.  Since coming to Ghana, I've come to appreciate just how valuable an attribute my patience is.

4.  I am terrible with directions, names and new languages.  Some people have a photographic memory -- I have a very unphotographic one.  In fact, mine is more like an Etch-A-Sketch.  And yet for some reason I can remember the lyrics to all of the popular hard rock songs from the 80s.  Go figure.  But my poor memory proved to be a real challenge in Ghana, and it's something I'm going to have to work on improving if I'm going to keep traveling abroad.  Which leads me to #3, which is...

3.  I enjoy living abroad.  I've always felt a desire to travel throughout the world, but I never knew for sure if I'd enjoy long trips away from home.  But I've thoroughly enjoyed my six months in Ghana, and while there were things and people that I missed from home, I never really felt homesick.  As long as I can regularly return home to Canada, I would love to continue living abroad.  And speaking of Canada...

2.  I am proud to be a Canadian.  I've always been proud of my country, but I've felt that pride very deeply during my time in Ghana.  I've seen the great development work that the Canadian government is doing in Ghana, met some amazing volunteers that Canadian NGOs like Canadian Crossroads International have sent here, and felt the respect with which Canada is viewed by Ghanaians.  But I've also realized that I don't know enough about my own country.  I've seen much more of the U.S. than I have of Canada, and frankly I'm embarrassed by just how little of my own country I've explored.  I will definitely be making some Canadian destinations part of my future travel plans.

1.  I still have a lot to learn about life.  I was (and still am) amazed by how quickly my views on some pretty major issues changed after just a month or two of living in Ghana (like my view on the importance of money -- see below).  I had thought before coming here that I had life pretty much figured out -- at least in terms of how I wanted to live it.  But I realize now that my views were based entirely upon my comfortable existence in Canada, and once I was removed from that, I began to see life quite differently.

Next, I'll talk about the top five habits that I've developed in Ghana and that I hope to keep when I return to Canada.

Top five lessons I've learned

I now have four workdays left at WAAF, and eleven days left in Ghana.  And while I'd love to stay longer, I definitely won't be extending my stay again -- the time has come for me to go back home and get a J-O-B.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I've gained from my experience in Ghana.  I've lived in a different country and a different culture for almost six months now, far away from the people, places and things that I was familiar with.  My volunteer placement has been an amazing experience, and one I'd recommend for anyone with a desire to see the world.

So I thought I'd use my last few blog entries to list some of my top fives relating to my experience in Ghana.

In this blog, I'll outline the top five life lessons I've learned or had reinforced during my time here, which are:

5.  The importance of money.  I've wanted to go to Africa for many years, but always thought it was too expensive and that maybe it would be something I could do after I retired.  But now that I've made it here, I'm eager to travel to many other parts in the world.  But that will take money, so when I return to Canada I'm going to start a side business and save as much money as possible so that I can travel wherever in the world I want to go.

4.  The importance of relationships.  I've found that Ghanaians put a lot of emphasis on building and maintaining relationships, and I can recall several times here when tasks that I thought would be impossible to do end up getting done because someone has a friend who can help.  And personally, I now have two possibilities of working overseas in the near future -- both because through people I know.  It's true in Ghana, but also very true in Canada -- who you know can often be more important than what you know.

3.  A little effort can go a long way.  I admit that I've had a lot of difficulty learning to speak Twi, but I have found that just making an effort, like saying medasi (thank you) is often enough to impress people and help you to make friends.  I think Ghanaians feel that speaking even a few words in their language shows that you have respect for their culture, and this taught me a valuable lesson -- making just a little effort with people can sometimes mean a lot to them.

2.  Reality is usually very different than what I imagine.  I read and was told a lot about Ghana before coming here, but my experience was still completely different than what I had expected.  I often try and imagine what a place will be like before I go there, and I always find that I'm wrong.  So I've learned that I need to stop forming preconceptions about parts of the world I haven't visited.  And this ties closely into #1, which is...

1.  Parts of Africa are much more developed than many people in the West realize (including me).  I knew Accra was a major city, but I was still surprised when I got here and found most of the comforts of home -- like satellite TV, nachos with salsa, Gillette shaving cream and four-star hotels.  While not all of Ghana has such comforts, I've been surprised by just how often I find them as I travel throughout the country.  In fact, I found that my lifestyle here in Accra really hasn't been all that different from my lifestyle in the West, except for the fu-fu.  If I every decide to come back to live in Ghana, and if I have a healthy savings account, I know I could live much more comfortably than I can ever afford to at home.

So that's my first top five.  Next,I'll talk about the top five things I've learned about myself since coming to Ghana -- a couple of which really surprised me.

Independence Day

Yesterday was Ghana's 49th Independence Day, a celebration of Ghana's independence from British rule.

I spent the day with a Ghanaian friend, who gave me a lot of insight into the history and significance of the day.  In the morning we went to Independence Square, where they were holding an Independence Day celebration and march, and sat among several thousand Ghanaians to watch the festivities.  The event started with the lighting of the Eternal Flame of African Liberation, followed by a military inspection by President J. A. Kufour.

Then the march began, and hundreds if not thousands of soldiers, police and students marched in formation around Independence Square.  It was quite an impressive sight to see so many Ghanaians marching in synchronization, proudly wearing their dress uniforms in vivid colours of red, blue, white and green.

The more experienced marching groups did a perfectly timed hard step as they turned each corner, which brought cheers and applause from the audience.  But the biggest cheers were given for the group of school children who are developmentally disabled -- it made me very happy to hear how loudly the crowd showed their appreciation for them as they marched around the square.

After the marching was finished, a helicopter carrying a large Ghanaian flag flew overhead, and then the Ghanaian navy did a (rather loud) gun salute from the ocean near the square.  The event finished with an address by the President, and although I couldn't really hear his words from where we were sitting, I have a lot of respect for him and the work that he's doing in Ghana and so it was great just to be there as he addressed his country.

I've been to the Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa once or twice, but I found yesterday's event to be much more memorable.  I could only imagine the pride that some of the Ghanaians must have felt, remembering the time when Ghana was still under colonial rule and how far they've come since gaining their independence.  And I could only imagine how hot the soldiers and school children must have been, standing at attention in the hot Ghanaian sun for three hours.  If I had been one of them, they would have had to scrape me up of off the square with a spatula by the time the President's speech was over.

I really enjoyed being a witness to Ghana's Independence Day celebrations, and can only imagine what kind of show they'll put on for their 50th anniversary.  I hope I'll be able to come back and see it for myself.

It's so unfair

As I type this, Adwoa is asleep on my lap, her head cradled against my arm.  I can't help but think of my nieces, Fayth and Ella, and how they can be so energetic and rambunctious one moment and then sleeping peacefully the next.

Adwoa has really blossomed in her short time here at the clinic.  It's amazing how quickly she's gone from being shy and withdrawn to a friendly, active five-year-old.  She comes to visit me at least twice a day -- sometimes to share some of my water or food, sometimes to take a nap beside me and sometimes just to say hello.  I've tried to teach her my name, but the closest we've gotten so far is "obruni".  Oh well -- close enough. 

Sometimes I have to remind myself that Adwoa has HIV.  She seems so happy and healthy, and if it wasn't for her distended stomach you wouldn't think she was any different from any other five-year-old you've met.  But running through her body is a virus which will eventually kill her.  Why does this have to happen -- especially to children?  If I saw a lion attacking a child, I would fight it until my last breath.  But how do you fight off HIV?

A few minutes ago I finished writing an article about Adwoa, which I'll soon be putting on WAAF's website.  At the end of the article is an appeal for donations, to help pay for anti-retro viral treatments and other medication that Adwoa needs. Adwoa can live a very long and happy life, if she's given the medication she needs to stay healthy.  But to do this, WAAF desperately needs financial support.

Please, if you've been reading this blog, make a small donation to help support WAAF and the work that they're doing.  A donation of $10-$20 can go a very long way in Ghana, and could make all the difference in the world for Adwoa.

Mail your cheque payable to the West Africa AIDS Foundation and send it to:

WAAF Orphanage Trust Fund
P.O. Box KD 130
Kanda, Accra
Ghana

Medasi/Thank you.

The people on my street

I had read in my trusty Brady guide that people in Ghana can be very friendly, and I've definitely found this to be true. I often have people call out "obruni" ("white man") and "Akwaaba" ("Welcome") to me as I walk down the street, and I get a lot of people asking me what my name is and where I'm from. I think some of the interest stems from the fact that I'm obviously not a local, but I've also noticed a lot of friendliness in the interactions between Ghanaians (although much less frequent use of the word "obruni").

I recently moved across town, but my host home up until last week was only a short walk from WAAF. I walked the same path to and from work each weekday for five months, and I made a few friends along the way.

One of my friends is Joe, a young boy around 14 or so who works at a container shop just up the street from WAAF. Container shops are large metal containers which line the streets of Accra, which are used as shops for selling everything from pottery to electrical equipment. The shop that Joe works at is a variety store, and it was where I stopped to buy my 1.5L of Voltic bottled mineral water each morning (what can I say? I'm a creature of habit).

Joe is a great kid, and is very friendly. His English is limited so our conversations are never very long or indepth, but he always greets me with a smile and every now and then he'll teach me a new word or phrase in Twi (like "nsuo keseh", which means "large water").

The neighbourhood that I lived in consists mostly of housing for government workers, and there have been a couple of break-ins in the past year. Alvin, another friend of mine, is a security guard that keeps watch over the neighbourhood while people are away at work. I also used to pass Alvin each day going to and from WAAF, and soon we started talking. I found out that he used to be a teacher, and he began teaching me a new word in Twi every day. Although I had trouble remembering everything he taught me (learning languages is definitely not my strong suit), he has helped me to increase my Twi vocabulary considerably.

Even though I'm living in a new part of town now, I will still stop by occasionally to visit my friends after work. And I'm starting to make some friends in my new neighbourhood as well, and they are just as friendly as Joe and Alvin. I definitely enjoy the friendliness of Ghanaians, and it's one of the things I'm going to miss most when I go back home.

Quiz Night

Every Thursday, a local sports bar and Tex-Mex restaurant called Champs holds a momentous event called 'Quiz Night'.

Champs is owned by Patrick, a former Canadian volunteer who decided to stay and Ghana and open the first (and still only, to my knowledge) sports bar in Accra.  Champs has a very western feel to it, with typical western bar music playing over the sound system and sports memorabilia from Canada, the U.S. and Europe lining the walls and rafters.  Champs holds Quiz Night every Thursday, Karaoke Night every Friday, Movie Night every Sunday and televised sporting events via satellite throughout the week.

Champs is a get-away of sorts for obrunis -- a place that reminds them of home, where you can forget that you're in another country for a few hours.  I don't go very often, because I get my fill of sports bars in Canada, but I was there last night helping to host Quiz Night.

The quiz consists of five or six rounds of ten questions, on a variety of topics chosen by the hosts.  There's usually a current events round, a literature round and of course the music round, which is my favourite.

But I decided to do something a little different for my round, and played audio clips from famous movies that had been sped up to sound like The Chipmunks.  The teams then had to name the movie the clip was from, and the actor(s) saying the lines.  I used clips from a few classics, like Casablanca ("Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine"), and some popular comedies like  Ghostbusters ("human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together -- mass hysteria!").

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But I made the mistake of assuming that, because the movies and clips were well known to me, they would be well known to everyone else.  And we had a technical problem that made the clips play too fast, to the point where some of them were almost indecipherable.

It was a painful round, and by the end the crowd was getting a little surly.  It was even suggested that it may have been the worse Quiz Night round ever.  But one of the teams managed to score 12 out of 20 points, and all but one of the clips was correctly identified by one team or another, so the idea wasn't a complete write-off (despite what last night's crowd suggested).

Champs is a nice place to take a break from life as an obruni in Ghana, and I'll probably go back for Quiz Night once more before heading home.  And I've got a great idea if we end up hosting again -- lines from famous movies... played backwards!  What could possibly go wrong?

Bob Marley's birthday

February 6th would have been Bob Marley's 61st birthday, and to help celebrate Bob and his contributions to music and African culture, the Bob Marley Foundation and Rita Marley Foundation organized a five-day event in Accra called Africa Unite.

The main attraction, which I was lucky enough to attend, was a concert featuring members of Bob's family and other reggae artists from Africa and Jamaica.  Bob Marley's music is still very popular here in Ghana, and it was amazing to be at a concert where the crowd was so strongly into the music and the message.

For those who don't know, Bob's wife Rita Marley was a member of the I Threes, the backup singers for Bob's band.  Rita lives in Ghana, in a beautiful house/recording studio near the town of Aburi.  She is the founder of the Rita Marley Foundation, which assists with community development efforts throughout Ghana.

I really enjoyed the music, and there was a nice mix of old and new reggae styles.  The I Threes reunited to play a few songs, and a couple of Bob's sons performed as well.  And there was a saxophonist, Drew... something (I wish I could remember!), who was the most amazing saxophonist I've ever heard.  I could have listened to him for hours.  I left shortly after midnight, after Rita led the crowd in singing 'Happy Birthday' to Bob, but I heard the concert went on until four or five in the morning.

As you may have guessed, there was a lot (and I mean A LOT) of marijuana at the concert.  The air was filled with smoke, and half of it was coming from some guy with a bong in the V.I.P. section.  Marijuana is illegal in Ghana -- the punishment for possession is ten years imprisonment -- but I guess the police chose to turn a blind eye that night.  I didn't partake of any, but I have to admit I was feeling pretty light-headed when I left the concert that night.  And I had a strange craving for Doritos, chocolate milk and strawberry ice cream.