travel journal

keep up with me while I'm traveling! ( I am currently in... Holland)

[whereislaura]

Z is for Zoo

When I went to Kumasi with Atta, we also went to Kumasi Zoo! we've seen a lot of animals, but the monkeys were without doubt our favorites! 

[whereislaura]

Y is for Youth

As I spend most of my time among them, I got particularly fascinated by Ghanaian youth. You could say that, even though we live in completely different worlds, deep down we’re all the same. Banko teens are, just like us, interested in music and put effort in what they wear. Girls like to make their hair look absurdly pretty, with all kinds of special braids and fake hair pieces, and they all love lipstick and nail polish.  But as our environments differ, there are also some things about our way of thinking that are different. For example, we will complain about school, whilst Ghanaian youth gladly goes to school every day. But that’s not the only thing, in Holland, most children aren’t very concerned with religion. Even if their parents are religious and they, occasionally, go to church, they won’t be thinking of the Lord all day. This is was I felt the children and I differed in most. I myself am not religious and felt a bit sceptical about some of the things they claimed as God’s will. 

But despite our differences, we’re all still teenagers and I learnt that it doesn’t matter if you grew up in Africa or Europe, as a teen you will have similar interests!

[whereislaura]

X is for XXX I’LL MISS YOU

My last evening in Ghana was spent in the Children's Home, where they had thrown a party for me! We all knew that goodbye was coming soon, but it didn't hurt the fun! We've had a great time, doing quizzes and dancing competitions, and of course there was a lot of music and dancing involved! :) 

[whereislaura]

W is for Waste

One of the things that really shocked me about Ghana is that everyone throws their waste into the beautiful nature! A thing I noticed was the lack of trash cans, and apparently it is normal to throw your waste out in the nature or on the streets. The photo's above are taken during my hike on the Holy Mountain, where I noticed the excessive amount of waste for the first time.

[whereislaura]

V is for Visa and Vaccinations

But my trip to Ghana wasn't all fun and games. Especially before my trip, a lot of serious stuff had to be arranged. First of all, I had to apply for a visa, and because it would be too much of a hassle to apply for a volunteers visa, I had to get a simple holidays visa. Contrary to the people in Banko, the employees at the embassy were rather rude. I noticed the same at the airport in Accra, and Pat later told me it’s all one big act, even the people who have nothing to say like to boss you around! So, without much problems I did get my visa. But even before you can apply for your visa, you have to get your vaccinations. Since my DTP and hepatitis A vaccinations were still valid, I only had to get  yellow fever and hepatitis B shots. 

[whereislaura]

U is for Umbrella

During my stay in Ghana it was rain season, and so I have encountered a few big rainstorms. Usually the rain would come in the evening and during the night, but on a few occasions, it has also rained during the day.

It was very weird to see how quickly the weather could turn around completely, from nice and sunny to pitch black, cloud filled skies which would result in massive rain showers. Often, evening rain would mean light outs, which gave it all a sort of creepy vibe, but on the other hand, playing games to candle light and just sitting all together made the evenings feel cosy and family-like!

So after all, the rain wasn’t so bad and like I’ve often said: I’m Dutch, and we Dutch can handle water! But the Ghanaians on the other hand.. I was very surprised to learn that when it rains in the morning on a school day, the teacher will stay home until it has stopped raining!

[whereislaura]

T is for Twi

Beside Ghanaian English, which differs slightly from British English, the people of Ghana also speak Twi. Twi is an African language, most frequently spoken in the Ashanti region. The Twi language has only about 3000 words and thus, nowadays, Twi has a lot of loanwords from English. During my stay I was able to pick up a few Twi words and expressions, and the kids gladly thought me how to greet people. Because learning new languages is a lot of fun, I have decided to make a small overview of some of the most common phrases! 

Akwaaba: welcome

Maakye: Good morning

Maaha: Good afternoon

Maadwo: Good evening

Etesen?: How are you? 

Me ho ye: I am well

Wo Firi Hene = Where are you from?

Wo din de sen? =  What’s your name?

Me din de Laura = My name is Laura

Me ko fie = I'm going home

Yen co = we're going/ we're leaving

But  it is not just Twi I have learnt, I've also become familiar with Ghanaian English. In Ghanaian English, some words have a slightly different meaning. Spoiled, for example, means that something is broken (e.g. my radio spoiled yesterday, now i have to get a new one). I'm coming doesn't mean that someone is on their way to you, it means that they are going away, but will be back. If a Ghanaian tells you the food is finished, they're not done cooking, they've run out of food! While speaking English, Ghanaians tend to leave out some words, if you're asked to turn on the lamps, they will ask you to on the light and if you are going to take someone from the airport to the hotel, you"re going to have to pick them first ( instead of pick them up). But my favorites are plenty and small, these can be used for pretty much everything. "Would you like some more food?" "No, I've had plenty!"  "Did you sleep long?" "No, I slept small"

So for an untrained Ghanaian English speaker, some of the phrases can cause some confusion, but after a few days you will get used to it!

[whereislaura]

S is for SELFIE!!

[whereislaura]

R is for Religion

Besides being very nationalistic, I have found the Ghanaians to be rather religious. The daily life is drenched with religion. The Ghanaians like to thank god for everything and even the taxis have religious messages on their windows! 

On my first day, when we were in the bus from Accra to Banko, one woman stood up from her seat and as soon as the bus started driving, she started preaching. This “bus preaching” is not uncommon. It happens fairly often, especially on long journeys, that a person starts to preach. But not all preaching is done in busses, on Sunday I’ve been to church, and even as a non-religious person, I absolutely loved it! Ghanaian church is very happy and involves a lot of singing and dancing! Christianity is not the only religion in Ghana, there are also a significant amount of Muslims. Pat told me that one of the things that still surprises her about Ghana, is how good the different religions get along. Muslims and Christians don’t get mad at each other for not believing in each other’s god, they simply say: “You have a god and you pray to him? Good, it doesn't matter to who you pray, as long as you pray.”

[whereislaura]

Q is  for questions

Like any person who has spent more than two hours around little kids, I have had to come up with answers to some of the strangest and funniest questions I’ve ever heard. My favorite question however, was asked by Christopher, the lovely boy in the picture. As my arms were covered in mosquito bites, which the locals don’t develop, the kids were asking me what these weird spots were. But Christopher wasn’t satisfied with just knowing what the mosquito bites were, he also pointed out some of the little birthmarks on my arm. He looked at me in great confusion and asked me: “Laula, what are these?” So I explained to him that they were birthmarks and that I was born with them, but some people also get them if they are in the sun a lot. He nodded in understanding, but he had one last question for me: “Why don’t I have them?” 

[whereislaura]

P is for People

One of the things that, I  think, really added to the value of my stay in Ghana, is that I spend so much time among the locals. I got to meet a lot of lovely people and I was surprised by how easily they accepted me into their community. Yet as an outsider, I found it interesting to try and make observations about the general character of the Ghanaian people. After some time I realized that the differences between the Netherlands and Ghana are not just limited to landscape or wealth, but also the importance of religion and political views. That last one was very, very remarkable. The people of Ghana are very proud and nationalistic. Each and every one of them is “proud to be a Ghanaian citizen”. I believe that this has to do with the fact that from a very young age onwards, the children are obligated to follow the subject Ghana studies in school. They will learn all about Ghana, the beliefs and political system. When an older boy told me he would have rather been born in the Netherlands, everyone was shocked and one girl even hit him. Their strong sense of nationalism surprised me in a positive way, whatever they will face, they will face it together, after all they are all brothers and sisters.

[whereislaura]

O is for Oburoni

In Ghana, at least for me, being a white girl felt like being famous. A lot of children have never seen, or almost never seen, a white person before and so thy are very excited to see one. “Oburoni, how are you?” is something I have heard over a million times in just 2,5 weeks. Oburoni, literally translated, means “white person”. At first I didn't quite know what to answer, except “I am fine, how are you?”. But Pat told me that it is seen as polite if you answer them “obibini”, which means “black person”! In the beginning it felt kind of strange that everyone calls you the same name, but after a few days you start to react to it as if it is your own name, and so I became “Laula the Oburoni”.

But it wasn't just the oburoni which made me feel like some sort of celebrity. Everywhere I would go, people would come to me and asked if I could  go on a picture with them, young girls would tell me they want to be like me when they grow up and teenage boys stuttered awkward “I love you’s”. The adults seemed a bit more secure about this, and I've even had several grown man propose to me. Taxi drivers, shop keepers and friends of Atta, they all wanted me to become their wife. One guy even proposed to me on the street, in front of all of the Children’s Home! And as if that wasn't crazy enough for one day, only a few minutes later a second man asked me to marry him, in front of his own children! But the thing that made me feel like a famous person most must have been when a friend of Atta asked me if I wanted to take a photo with her, and not even an hour later she had changed her What’s app profile photo to our photo!

[whereislaura]

N is for New Friends! 

[whereislaura]

M is for mosquitoes and Malaria

After lizards, mosquitoes make a good second! There were loads and loads of mosquitoes! During the night my little spray bottle of Deet and my mosquito net were my best friends, and even though they accompanied me, my feet have been bitten about a thousand times.. Not only will your mosquito bites grow waaaay larger than the ones you will get from Dutch mosquitoes, you’re also at constant risk of getting diseases as Malaria. As you could read in my earlier updates, Pat had been diagnosed with Malaria on my first day. As I am not pregnant, I was allowed to take the preventative pills and thanks to them, so far I haven’t had any symptoms of Malaria, so let’s hope I won’t still develop them 

What surprised me actually is that, except for the children in the Children’s Home, I haven’t seen any of the locals use nets to protect themselves for the mosquitoes. And I was even more surprised about  it when Pat told me that last year, they had handed out free nets to everyone in Banko!

On the other hand the locals are used to the mosquitoes and they do not get the enormous bites like I did, which is nice for them of course!

[whereislaura]

L is for Lizards

 Of the many animals I have seen during my trip to Ghana, lizards must be the ones I have spotted most! Sadly the lizards in Banko run aways as soon as you get close, Atta told me this is because the children like to throw stones at them.. But on the Holy Mountain, the lizards weren’t as scared and so I could make a nice close-up photo! 

Furthermore, every morning the walls of the house would be crowded with lizards and that created some nice photo opportunities! 

[whereislaura]

K is for Kumasi and Kente

Beside the Holy Mountain, I also went on some other day trips to see some of Ghana! 

On the 9th of May, Atta and I went to Kumasi for the day. Kumasi is one of the big cities closest to Banko, and so we went there to do a bit of shopping. After taking the taxi to Effeduasi, followed by a bus ride we arrive in Kumasi, where we walked to the city centre. I thought I had gotten used to most of the poverty in Ghana, but Kumasi still surprised, and even scared, me. Even in this huge city I was one of the only white people, and so I drew a lot of attention of the locals. People came up to me trying to sell me some of their food or merchandise and, what shocked me most, children came to me and asked me for money. There was even one little girl, and she ran up to me and grabbed my hand. She looked at me with her big puppy eyes and asked me if I had some food for her. After a negative answer she asked for pens and money. Pat and Atta had told me not to give anything to beggars on the streets because you would never get rid of them if you did, so with pain in my heart I had to tell the girl no. But even though my visit to Kumasi caused my second great culture shock, I have had a great time! Atta and I also went to the zoo, where there was the cutest little monkey, which tried to hold my hand through the cage!  I have bought a lot of presents for my friends and family there, and I chose the fabric to get a custom made skirt and top

On my last Monday in Banko, Atta and I took the motor bike and went to a small village where they specialised in Kente weaving. Kente is the traditional weaving of Ghana, and some other African countries as well.

The patterns and colours of the Kente cloth have various meanings and are worn at applicable times. Kente is often worn to church, weddings, funerals and also festivals! To see how the Ghanaians do Kente weaving was very impressive, because the patterns looks very difficult and they are incredibly fast weavers!   At the end of the Kente tour, I even got to wear traditional Kente and I was allowed to weave a little! 

[whereislaura]

J is for Jobs

One of my personal goals for my trip to Ghana was to get information about a charity project, which we could use for ScalaMUN ( a debating conference I am helping to organize at my school).

The children in Ghana can’t take a job beside their school, like we have. The reason for this is not just that there simply are no jobs, but also that they have to help their family and go to the farm in order to get food. Pat told me a story about a boy, who could only go to school for 3 days a week because the other 2 days he was busy making baskets, which he could sell in order to pay for this school fees. And this boy is considered “lucky” because there are children who can’t even attend school. For a country as Ghana school and education are vital and the children would be lost without an education. Unlike in Holland, if you don’t have a proper education you won’t be able to make a living. And that is why it is so important that the children can go to school! Together with Pat is discussed this issue for hours and we came to the conclusion that “General Scholarships” are the best option for a charity. This means that instead of sponsoring one child, we will be "putting money in the saving jar" from which they will be able to pay school fees of multiple children. General scholarships also means that we won't just be sponsoring the excellent students who are very smart, but also the ones who have a harder time learning, by e.g. paying for vocational school or even their training for a specific job, like a hair dresser.

I am happy with the idea for our charity and that we will be helping all kinds of children!