(no subject)
hi!
yesterday my group returned from kumasi. i had a really good time
considering the trip was long enough to get some sort of feel for the
place. we trailed through that huge market i told you about like a
white ribbon, practically holding hands. we even strolled through the
meat section, which was quite an education. that part of the market is
contained within a building, which i didn't (and still don't) really
understand considering the smell is the sort of thing that should NOT
be so concentrated en mi opinion. and it's not like a roof keeps the
flies out! just makes it dark and adds the to eerie ambiance. outside,
women sell live chickens who are sitting in big bowls balanced on
their heads. i'm guessing their legs were broken and/or wings were
clipped... otherwise idk why they'd just sit there.
we were told to bring gifts to hand out to the kids we'd meet in the
villages where we'd be learning about the making of kente cloth and
adinkra dye. i took pictures of both processes and will try to post
the photos soon. i brought a bunch of arkansas flag pins given to me
by my dad's lovely girlfriend, susan. other other kids in my group
brought stickers or those silly bands (for those of you who haven't
been swept up by this weird sensation: they're colored rubber bands
that are shaped like various objects kids care about). i was informed
by frances, mercy's daughter, that the kids weren't going to want my
pins. also, i hadn't thought about the fact that little kids+small
sharp objects=not good until that point. so i decided i'd only give
them to people old enough to have (maybe) heard of bill clinton and
i'd remind them that he was from arkansas before giving them the pin.
but by the time we started handing out our gifts it was clear that i
would not be having any kind of personal interaction with the people
who'd be wearing the pins. i've never been surrounded and torn at like
that in my life. little kids prying my fingers open while i tried
(before quickly giving up) to give the pins out individually with some
sort of explanation. 20somethings hid their hands behind their backs
after receiving a pin and stuck out their empty one. so it turns out
the pins WERE valuable(!), but probably only because they were being
passed out by an obruni. so strange to have people want and grab so
intensely without even knowing what is being distributed. at first i
thought of this as an african thing, a village thing, a poverty thing,
but after more reflection i think it's just a nasty fact of
capitalistic life (though definitely enhanced by their--and
our--economic and geographic situation). or just life? i dont know,
what do you think? I AM SUCH A DEEP THINKER, OH MY GOSH, SHARE IN THIS
RIVETING INTELLECTUAL DEBATE!
i don't know if i've written to you guys about the trash situation
yet. there is SO MUCH trash on the ground on campus and in accra.
there are very few trash cans on campus (and even in buildings), so
the natural consequence is that people throw their trash on the
ground. when there's too much in a given spot, it is burned. the few
dumpsters i've seen are overflowing, as are the tiny trash cans that
are sprinkled MAYBE every 300 yards, though usually not even that. i
honestly can't even estimate the distance between them because there's
never more than one (and usually none) in sight. so when we toured the
university in kumasi it was absolutely surreal to see the grounds
unlittered. i asked mercy if that university had a much smaller
student body than ours (thinking that might explain less trash) but
she said that the size was comparable. she seemed SO TRANSFIXED on my
observation about the trash (still don't know if she was offended or
not, as an administrator from the "dirty" campus). it came up at
dinner that night and then the night after. we suggested MORE
trashcans and LARGER trashcans, though we'd (or at least i'd) assumed
that the thought had already been considered and that the gap between
idea and actualization was just very difficult to bridge, either for
economic or infrastructural reasons. but mercy said that she'd never
even thought about getting larger trash cans. and she is a very
intelligent and forward-thinking woman. "i've always seen the trash
and thought it was a shame but never thought of bigger trashcans." it
was so clear to me then that we are from completely different places.
from countries dealing with some very different issues. after all,
they were kept in the dark to many technological advances while under
european rule that when they gained their independence from britain
just 53 years ago, they had (and still have) a huge amount of
"catching up" to do in some areas.
SPEAKING OF TECHNOLOGY (and trash): i met this guy the other day who
shook my hand because i didn't throw my empty water sachet on the
ground. he's ghanaian, but has lived and worked in the UK for 13
years. he runs some company that (somehow) sets up computers/internet
on university campuses in ghana IF AND ONLY IF they agree to set up
this enormous cage-looking-contraption for people to throw their trash
in (specifically empty plastic water sachets and black plastic bags
from the markets, which comprise the majority of the trash.) i don't
know what other strings are attached, but it just sounds like a
freaking brilliant program since it ties a more basic (?)
infrastructural issue to the developing world's intense urge to catch
up and keep up/compete with developed world technologies. i don't
really feel like i'm speaking english anymore but whatever, you can
(and probably do) stop reading these altogether when they get
incomprehensible or boring. so i'll just keep going for me, and
whoever else... it made me uncomfortable to talk to him at first
because i felt that he thought i was GOOD and ghanaians who throw
trash on the ground were BAD so i kept talking about habit and how
it's different in the developed world... how we have lots of trash
cans and still some people don't use them... about how we're having
trouble in the US getting recycling to catch on in the way that they
have an issue with proper trash disposal here (is there proper trash
disposal? probably not, we just need to make less trash starting
NOW...omg i'm sooo granola). he told me about this company that will
come and weigh your trash if you call them and give you CASH for
throwing shit away/picking up other people's crap. i wrote down the
number and want to make flyers or something so that maybe people on
campus will start taking advantage of the service--though it does
sound too good to be true--but then i worry that the flyers will just
turn into more trash. any suggestions?
they do reuse soda bottles here which is GREAT and totally enchants
that huge part of me that is an indie kid. the soda in glass bottles
is cheaper than soda in cans or plastic bottles, which is GREAT
because it discourages the extra waste. but mercy says that it's sort
of become a status symbol to drink from the can now :( i feel like the
whole bottle thing could totally catch on in the US though! young
people would be excited by it? old school is in, right?? drawback: you
can't leave the establishment where you bought the drink with the
glass bottle. unless you purchase empty bottles and bring an empty
bottle of the drink you want to trade, which is apparently what most
ghanaians do. but i feel like a lot of people (myself included)
wouldn't want to carry around heavy glass bottles....
i cannot BELIEVE how much of this email is about trash and recycling.
i really miss you guys. i've been getting quite homesick lately,
though that might just be because it's "that time of the month" (SORRY
GUYS!!!!)
those of you at haverford, please keep your eyes and ears open for a
place for me to live, preferably in the apartments (though i realize
that having a preference in a situation like this is probably pretty
unrealistic/silly). i now realize that that's just anna and robin. HI
ANNA AND ROBIN! this might be the longest, most ramble-y update yet,
so i'd be surprised if you even made it down to this point in the
email with all the academic shiz you guys are probably doing...
on the way back from kumasi, there was a HUGE rain storm. some of the
roads aren't paved and there are a lot of pot holes so when the rain
started accumulating, tons of cars got stuck in big puddles and we
were just splashing along and then the spare tire fell off the back
and we all had to get out and reattach it in the pouring down rain. at
first we thought it was one of the wheels we were driving on, which
would have been much much worse. we finally reached the end of the
storm. it was so incredible--almost magical--to shift from driving
under dark foreboding clouds to bright blue sky in a matter of
seconds. the fantastical nature of it all was also helped by the fact
that i was listening to really intense music on my ipod, which always
makes life seem more Xtremely Xtreme...
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! feel free (encouraged, even) to write back!
my () and / use has been especially bad in this email. i tried to
switch it up sometimes with a -- but there was only so much i could
do. i am so bored right now! everything in my room smells like sour
milk and mold just keeps accumulating but I DON'T CARE (mostly).
<3 <3 <3 julia
yesterday my group returned from kumasi. i had a really good time
considering the trip was long enough to get some sort of feel for the
place. we trailed through that huge market i told you about like a
white ribbon, practically holding hands. we even strolled through the
meat section, which was quite an education. that part of the market is
contained within a building, which i didn't (and still don't) really
understand considering the smell is the sort of thing that should NOT
be so concentrated en mi opinion. and it's not like a roof keeps the
flies out! just makes it dark and adds the to eerie ambiance. outside,
women sell live chickens who are sitting in big bowls balanced on
their heads. i'm guessing their legs were broken and/or wings were
clipped... otherwise idk why they'd just sit there.
we were told to bring gifts to hand out to the kids we'd meet in the
villages where we'd be learning about the making of kente cloth and
adinkra dye. i took pictures of both processes and will try to post
the photos soon. i brought a bunch of arkansas flag pins given to me
by my dad's lovely girlfriend, susan. other other kids in my group
brought stickers or those silly bands (for those of you who haven't
been swept up by this weird sensation: they're colored rubber bands
that are shaped like various objects kids care about). i was informed
by frances, mercy's daughter, that the kids weren't going to want my
pins. also, i hadn't thought about the fact that little kids+small
sharp objects=not good until that point. so i decided i'd only give
them to people old enough to have (maybe) heard of bill clinton and
i'd remind them that he was from arkansas before giving them the pin.
but by the time we started handing out our gifts it was clear that i
would not be having any kind of personal interaction with the people
who'd be wearing the pins. i've never been surrounded and torn at like
that in my life. little kids prying my fingers open while i tried
(before quickly giving up) to give the pins out individually with some
sort of explanation. 20somethings hid their hands behind their backs
after receiving a pin and stuck out their empty one. so it turns out
the pins WERE valuable(!), but probably only because they were being
passed out by an obruni. so strange to have people want and grab so
intensely without even knowing what is being distributed. at first i
thought of this as an african thing, a village thing, a poverty thing,
but after more reflection i think it's just a nasty fact of
capitalistic life (though definitely enhanced by their--and
our--economic and geographic situation). or just life? i dont know,
what do you think? I AM SUCH A DEEP THINKER, OH MY GOSH, SHARE IN THIS
RIVETING INTELLECTUAL DEBATE!
i don't know if i've written to you guys about the trash situation
yet. there is SO MUCH trash on the ground on campus and in accra.
there are very few trash cans on campus (and even in buildings), so
the natural consequence is that people throw their trash on the
ground. when there's too much in a given spot, it is burned. the few
dumpsters i've seen are overflowing, as are the tiny trash cans that
are sprinkled MAYBE every 300 yards, though usually not even that. i
honestly can't even estimate the distance between them because there's
never more than one (and usually none) in sight. so when we toured the
university in kumasi it was absolutely surreal to see the grounds
unlittered. i asked mercy if that university had a much smaller
student body than ours (thinking that might explain less trash) but
she said that the size was comparable. she seemed SO TRANSFIXED on my
observation about the trash (still don't know if she was offended or
not, as an administrator from the "dirty" campus). it came up at
dinner that night and then the night after. we suggested MORE
trashcans and LARGER trashcans, though we'd (or at least i'd) assumed
that the thought had already been considered and that the gap between
idea and actualization was just very difficult to bridge, either for
economic or infrastructural reasons. but mercy said that she'd never
even thought about getting larger trash cans. and she is a very
intelligent and forward-thinking woman. "i've always seen the trash
and thought it was a shame but never thought of bigger trashcans." it
was so clear to me then that we are from completely different places.
from countries dealing with some very different issues. after all,
they were kept in the dark to many technological advances while under
european rule that when they gained their independence from britain
just 53 years ago, they had (and still have) a huge amount of
"catching up" to do in some areas.
SPEAKING OF TECHNOLOGY (and trash): i met this guy the other day who
shook my hand because i didn't throw my empty water sachet on the
ground. he's ghanaian, but has lived and worked in the UK for 13
years. he runs some company that (somehow) sets up computers/internet
on university campuses in ghana IF AND ONLY IF they agree to set up
this enormous cage-looking-contraption for people to throw their trash
in (specifically empty plastic water sachets and black plastic bags
from the markets, which comprise the majority of the trash.) i don't
know what other strings are attached, but it just sounds like a
freaking brilliant program since it ties a more basic (?)
infrastructural issue to the developing world's intense urge to catch
up and keep up/compete with developed world technologies. i don't
really feel like i'm speaking english anymore but whatever, you can
(and probably do) stop reading these altogether when they get
incomprehensible or boring. so i'll just keep going for me, and
whoever else... it made me uncomfortable to talk to him at first
because i felt that he thought i was GOOD and ghanaians who throw
trash on the ground were BAD so i kept talking about habit and how
it's different in the developed world... how we have lots of trash
cans and still some people don't use them... about how we're having
trouble in the US getting recycling to catch on in the way that they
have an issue with proper trash disposal here (is there proper trash
disposal? probably not, we just need to make less trash starting
NOW...omg i'm sooo granola). he told me about this company that will
come and weigh your trash if you call them and give you CASH for
throwing shit away/picking up other people's crap. i wrote down the
number and want to make flyers or something so that maybe people on
campus will start taking advantage of the service--though it does
sound too good to be true--but then i worry that the flyers will just
turn into more trash. any suggestions?
they do reuse soda bottles here which is GREAT and totally enchants
that huge part of me that is an indie kid. the soda in glass bottles
is cheaper than soda in cans or plastic bottles, which is GREAT
because it discourages the extra waste. but mercy says that it's sort
of become a status symbol to drink from the can now :( i feel like the
whole bottle thing could totally catch on in the US though! young
people would be excited by it? old school is in, right?? drawback: you
can't leave the establishment where you bought the drink with the
glass bottle. unless you purchase empty bottles and bring an empty
bottle of the drink you want to trade, which is apparently what most
ghanaians do. but i feel like a lot of people (myself included)
wouldn't want to carry around heavy glass bottles....
i cannot BELIEVE how much of this email is about trash and recycling.
i really miss you guys. i've been getting quite homesick lately,
though that might just be because it's "that time of the month" (SORRY
GUYS!!!!)
those of you at haverford, please keep your eyes and ears open for a
place for me to live, preferably in the apartments (though i realize
that having a preference in a situation like this is probably pretty
unrealistic/silly). i now realize that that's just anna and robin. HI
ANNA AND ROBIN! this might be the longest, most ramble-y update yet,
so i'd be surprised if you even made it down to this point in the
email with all the academic shiz you guys are probably doing...
on the way back from kumasi, there was a HUGE rain storm. some of the
roads aren't paved and there are a lot of pot holes so when the rain
started accumulating, tons of cars got stuck in big puddles and we
were just splashing along and then the spare tire fell off the back
and we all had to get out and reattach it in the pouring down rain. at
first we thought it was one of the wheels we were driving on, which
would have been much much worse. we finally reached the end of the
storm. it was so incredible--almost magical--to shift from driving
under dark foreboding clouds to bright blue sky in a matter of
seconds. the fantastical nature of it all was also helped by the fact
that i was listening to really intense music on my ipod, which always
makes life seem more Xtremely Xtreme...
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! feel free (encouraged, even) to write back!
my () and / use has been especially bad in this email. i tried to
switch it up sometimes with a -- but there was only so much i could
do. i am so bored right now! everything in my room smells like sour
milk and mold just keeps accumulating but I DON'T CARE (mostly).
<3 <3 <3 julia