totally worth it

there might be some very civilized, very polite way to eat a mango, but i have not discovered it. 

whenever i bite into the wonderful, juicy sweetness of the mango, right away my teeth fill with the fibrous pulp.  as i try to pick the bright yellow vampire-like fangs of mango threads from between my teeth, the juice starts dripping into my hand from the piece i'm still holding.  then it starts dripping down my arm.  if i'm lucky, i can catch it before it gets to my elbow, and i lick the juice back all the way to my hand.  then, when i've eaten through the peel, the insides get so slippery that it slides all over and i almost drop it several times, all the while picking at my teeth and licking to my elbow. 

i know every time that this will happen, but i just can't resist the mango.  i need to start hiding in my house when i eat them, i think.

i have good news for you

thanks to the massive rainstorm last week, the field i burned down a few months ago is now starting to sprout new grass!
i'll try not to burn it down again this time.

yum

there is just nothing better than a mango freshly picked from the tree in your backyard.

seriously?

this term, for my jhs classes we studied calabash art. calabash art is using decorative gourds for different purposes. we focused mostly on the theory end of it for the term, taking a lot of notes and doing a lot of reading.
so after an entire term of calabash everything, notes every week, quizzes almost every week, i finally gave my exams this week.
and one boy called me over and pointed to the word calabash on his paper and asked me what it meant.

something to think about

i was recently reading a document discussing poverty in ghana. some of the statistics in it really shocked me. i mean, i live here, and i see "poor" people, but i had no idea even that what i see is as extreme as it is.
poverty in ghana is defined as having less than 90Ghc (about $60) per year. Extreme poverty is defined as having less than 70Ghc (about $45) per year. PER YEAR.
when i read those numbers, i thought maybe they are just being extreme in their definitions, but then i read on.
the prevalence of poverty in my region is the highest in ghana, which i knew, as i am in a very rural, very poor area of the country. but this article defined the prevalence as 88%.
that means 88% of the people in the upper west here earn less than $60 a year.
wow.

juluis

p2 is one of my favorite classes to teach, both because it is my last class of the week, and because the kids are well-behaved and so darn cute. it is a small class, so i am able to get the know the kids better than p1 and p3, which are huge classes.
one of my first weeks teaching p2, i came early and observed the classroom teacher for a while before my class began. they were working on spelling, simple words like "dog" and "ball." students were taking turns coming to the blackboard to spell the words. one little boy named julius had an especially hard time, repeatedly spelling "bog" and "dall." as much as he tried, he just could not understand the difference between "b" and "d". the teacher made him stay at the front of the class, over and over making him rewrite the words, but little julius could not get it right. the teacher grew frustrated, but julius just kept trying and trying and never gave up.
and that's just how this little guy is. he's deaf and also has vision trouble. one eye is clouded, so he probably can't see out of it at all. since his only method of communication is visual, and he probably only has half vision at best, he obviously has a lot to overcome. plus, it seems that he has a learning disability.
but he never gives up. he spends at least twice as long on every assignment as the other kids do, but he keeps trying.
i noticed that he tends to misspell his name on a lot of assignments. he transposes the "u" and "i." i corrected him a couple times, but then i figured out why he was getting it wrong. he can't remember how to spell his name, so when he went to write his name on is paper, he flipped the hem of his shorts up, and stitched upside-down on the hem so he could read it right side-up was "JULUIS."
so that's just what he writes on every paper.
juluis.

long time

i just realized that it has been almost a month since i last posted here, and i do apologize to all my loyal readers for that.
i don't have much new to say right now, except it is hot. that's the only news over here.
for the recipe i posted last time, there were a couple questions. on the ginger, get a couple pieces of the root. they should be the size of a couple fingers maybe. also, i think i overestimated the rice amount, so cut back on that.
please let me know if you make it; i am so curious what americans will think of this dish!

a recipe

most of the foods we eat here cannot easily be made in america because it would be difficult to find things like yams and cassava and such. but my favorite dish is rice balls with groundnut soup, and i realized that every ingredient in it is available at your local kroger store.
i wrote out the recipe american-style, since ghanaians never use recipes. you should make this. it is DELICIOUS.

rice balls and groundnut soup
rice balls: cook 4c rice with extra water until very soft and mushy. when cooked, mash rice so it loses the rice texture and looks more like mashed potatoes. place a handful in a bowl and shake/roll the bowl around until rice forms a ball, baseball/softball size. continue with all the rice.
groundnut soup:
2 fish or 2 chicken breasts
6 medium tomatoes
2 pieces ginger root
2 c water
1 1/2 c peanut butter (all natural: no sugar or oil)
2 bunches spinach
spices to taste: curry, nutmeg, salt, red pepper, etc
in a blender, puree the tomatoes until smooth. set aside. puree the ginger with the water, set aside. steam the fish or chicken in large pot until thoroughly cooked. remove from pot and set aside. cook the peanut butter in the pot until it thickens and starts turning darker brown. add the pureed tomatoes, mix completely. add the ginger/water, mix completely. boil for 10-15 minutes. clean spinach and cut into small pieces. add the spinach, fish or chicken, and desired spices to soup. boil five more minutes.
to serve: place one rice ball in bowl; spoon soup over the top. do not use a spoon to eat; pick up bits of rice with your fingers and use that to scoop up the soup.
makes 4-6 servings
YUM!

under the mango tree

yesterday was cultural dancing class for the kids. so for the afternoon, we all gathered around the mango tree. several teachers drummed, and a few led the way teaching the kids the dances. their ability to follow the rhythms varied, based mostly on feeling the drums through the ground and watching the others move.
all in all, it was a very entertaining time.

the girls bench

the boys bench. notice the difference in behavior/excitement. specifically notice the boy in the bottom, with the random foot sticking up. he saw my camera and LEAPT into the picture just in time, and he cracked up when he saw the picture.
this is one of my favorite little boys. his sign name is a W on the side of his face, but no one can tell me his english name, so i think of him as william. he's the smallest boy at school, a nursery student, and he was so scared when he arrived but is now confident and playful and CUTE.
two more nursery boys. the one on the left always wears that jacket, and it always makes me smile.
and just to show you some things are universal, this is the big boys, preparing for their turn to dance. teachers had to grab them and pull them up there, they were all so self-conscious about it.

religion in ghana

religion in ghana
i thought it would be interesting to tell you all a little about the religious beliefs in ghana.  i feel like before i start though, i should give a little disclaimer.  these are just my observations based on people i've met.  i don't think all ghanaians believe these ways, and of course my observations may not be quite accurate. 
ghanaians are very religious.  the two main religions in ghana are christianity and islam.  in southern ghana, people tend to be more christian; in the north, there are more muslims.  the town where i live is probably a 50-50 split. 
in ghana, there is no separation between church and state.  there is no subtlety or political correctness regarding religious beliefs.  it is perfectly acceptable to ask a stranger: are you muslim or christian?  and it is generally assumed that you will answer one of those two.  often pick-up football (soccer) matches are divided into teams, christians vs. muslims.  it's very casual. 
in a recent conversation with some teachers at my school, one of them described ghanaians as very tolerant.  while there are definitely some things they are not tolerant about, the statement is absolutely true about religion.  i think a huge reason that christians and muslims coexist so well here is they don't see any reason for tension or competition.  i've heard both muslims and christians tell me that they all believe in the same god; they just worship him in different ways.
as far as the ways that they do worship god, those are quite different.  for the muslims, when the call to prayer comes, shops close down for those few minutes.  if you are in town, you'll see rows of men bent kneeling in prayer right in front of the shop where they are. 
for christians, worship is on sunday mornings, and you'll see women in beautiful colorful dresses walking or riding to church.  there is a variety of denominations of churches here.  some of them are quite charismatic, some a bit calmer.  church services can last anywhere from probably two to six hours. 
the church i have attended a few times is a catholic church that meets in the lecture hall on my school's campus.  it lasts about two hours, the shortest among ghanaian churches i have attended.  while the service is a mass, it is quite different than any american mass i've seen.  for one, this particular service is in three languages.  there is the english, then the dagaare, and then sign language for the deaf students who attend.  music is accompanied by drums and xylophones, with a choir of women singing.  the music is loud, fast, and often accompanied with shrieks and screams.  it is quite beautiful.  when it comes time for the offering, people bring forward their usual monies, but then there is usually some group that presents the church with a gift.  so a couple times, a line of people have brought in offerings of tea, soap, toilet paper, fruit, onions, yams, etc.  it is all arranged neatly on trays and set carefully at the front of the church. 
i have to admit, my favorite part of the ghanaian catholic mass is the dance-off.  yep, that's right!  this is a time when the priest (usually an old, white, european man, though sometimes a younger ghanaian man) sits down for a while and lets the women do their thing.  the music gets louder, and one brave woman starts by geting up and dancing her way to the front.  as others are moved, they go and join her, shrieking and screaming and laughing and having a wonderful time.  children start rushing forward to join in, and the front of the church is filled with laughter and exuberant dancing.  the priest and all the rest of us who remain seated just watch, laugh, and enjoy.  i've only ever seen two men join in the dancing, but they received cheers and laughter the entire time. 
so there you have it.  religion in ghana.  quite different than religion in america!