Integration

I arrived in Bongo with knowledge from experiences in Canada and EWB pre-departure training, but generally I was in a state of “unconscious incompetence” about my host community; I didn’t know what I didn’t know!

For the past month, I’ve been learning about the culture and understanding how to operate efficiently and happily within the boundaries of the new rules and customs I am learning.
This village is a classroom; a place for observing, experiencing, reflecting, drawing conclusions, and applying lessons learned. Through this process I must work hard to keep an open mind, actively participate in learning, and also know how to push myself beyond my comfort zones. Becoming highly integrated into my community is one of the most critical (controllable) factors that can dictate my success.

In the simplest sense integration allows you to assume local methods for communicating. These tools can be right at the surface of daily life such as language, body posture, and word choice. They can also relate to parts of the local culture that are “below the surface” of everyday interactions; these include gender relationships, hierarchies based on age or experience, and religion. These skills will help develop a deeper understanding of the problems the community and its individual members are facing as well as the solutions and coping mechanisms they have employed. It allows you to earn the trust of the community enabling further learning and sharing of ideas.

But it is important to always recognize that I can never fully integrate into my host community; and this is not the goal of integration! I can work hard to understand some of the challenges local people face but just because of who I am I will never truly be able to experience them for myself.


Six degrees of changing your name

My local name is Atipoka Alogré. Ati means tree in Frafra, poka refers to being female, and Alogré is the family name with whom I’m staying. Ghanaians freaking love it! They think it’s hilarious; and I think each farmer, friend, or random person I tell tells all their friends and family, and it’s much easier for them to remember than Megan. Now, everywhere I go: on my way to the latrine, to and from work, through the market, etc., people [who I know and who I don’t] shout ‘Atipokaaaa’ from across fields, small shops, schools, etc. It makes me laugh, and although some times I get irritated by its overuse, I don’t get nearly as irritated as when people holler over and over ‘salaminga welcome’ (white lady, welcome); most importantly, it enables a jovial relationship, builds trust, and allows me to communicate more easily with the people I meet.


Activities

I joined the girls’ soccer/football team not only to get back into shape from all the carbs I’ve been eating (see below), but also to get more involved in the youth community and extracurricular activities. They are really hardcore though – they train every evening! It’s fun though, and I’ve made some friends on the team. They were supposed to have a game last weekend which I was eager to play at; however, it was cancelled, which I was kind of glad about because I’ve been busy working late(r) and meeting farmer groups in distant villages so I haven’t been attending all the trainings, and usually I’m wiped at the end of the day and I honestly don’t think I could keep up. I’m also starting to wonder if it’s worth it for me to be so involved in the team since it takes time away from me spending with my host sister and family, practicing Frafra, meeting other people, or getting involved in other activities. I’d like to be able to train only a couple days a week with the girls, but I feel that my previous enthusiasm has instilled expectations, and I feel bad about letting down the team and the friends I’ve made. But I think it’s gotta be done – this is a once in a life time experience and I want to have as many experiences as possible.

I have attended church the past two Sundays. I’m not religious. Spiritual, maybe. Aware, mostly. Curious, kind of. I think approximately 50% of people in Bongo are Christian, 35% are Muslim, and 15% practice traditional beliefs. I am asked often what religion I practice and they have difficulty understanding why I don’t practice a religion or pray, and that I try to spend time every day meditating, relaxing, and observing the being of things. I think most people in Bongo practice their religion like there’s no tomorrow. Agriculture provides employment, either directly or indirectly, for some 70% of Ghanaians (Source: DFID, Support to Agricultural Sector Harmonisation (SASH) Report, September 2005), probably near 80% in Bongo. My hypothesis was that the irregular weather patterns and high level of poverty influence people in Bongo to seek ‘help’ from/through their religions.
I was invited or rather encouraged by my 3 good friends Aiden, Mary, and my host sister Vanessa who are all Christian to accompany them and I thought I’d take the opportunity to ‘check it out’. I got up at 6am Sunday morning to attend the first [English] service at the Catholic Church with Aiden and Vanessa, the church was crowded, I was the only white person there, the pastor/priest guy spoke about how a man’s house had collapsed because his foundation wasn’t deep enough and related this to a person’s life falling apart because of a poor religious foundation, and although the singing was pleasant, I felt completely uncomfortable and out of place. At the end of the service, everyone gathered outside; I was introduced to community members, and I was recognized and enthusiastically greeted by some farmers I work with.
The following Sunday I attended the early English service at the Pentecost Church with Mary, which was a much smaller gathering of about 10 youth. Interesting thoughts came from them during the discussion on the role of the man in the household: Work hard, paying all the bills, and even if the woman makes the money she should give it to the man to pay bills, not sleep deep, etc., I spoke last and mentioned how I thought the man should spend quality time with his family, encourage learning and questions from the children, and respecting, sharing and being open to ideas with his woman. I don’t know if there is one right answer to my hypothesis, and I don’t think I will attend any more church services; but I do think it was interesting how church brought community members together, and possibly contributed to my integration within the community, to building trust with farmers, and to developing relationships with my friends. It’s so different from my life in Canada!


I’m Big on Food (and getting bigger?!)

Eating is a really meaningful part of culture and integration. Whenever you eat, you are expected to invite those around you to join. And enjoying and finishing a meal means a lot to your host.

I’m generally enjoying the food in Ghana, and it’s been quite easy to continue being vegan.

Most evenings I help my host sister cook [vegan] soup while she stirs the ‘stuff’ to dip in the soup, which we eat leftovers of for breakfast when I can stomach it otherwise I’ll have bread and groundnut (similar to peanut) paste, mangoes, and ginger cookies. Probably 6 days/wk the ‘stuff’ is TZ (Tuo Zafi) which is a soft, sticky, sour, solid dish of millet flour. I’ve also had banku and kenke which are similar to TZ but have been fermented and are sourer. When I’m really hungry TZ, banku, or kenke is great, but if I’m not so, or if it’s too sour, I get somewhat repulsed. Other ‘stuff’ that we’ve had occasionally to dip in the soup include rice balls and fufu which is pounded yams and plantains – my favorite ‘stuff’ but a lot of effort.

There are 4 soups that we regularly make: fresh or dry [slimy] okra, [slimy] baobab tree leaf, and groundnut which are all very light, simple, salty, and spicy and consist of a base of tomato, onions, and hot peppers (‘pepé’); then there’s my favorite soup called bito, which is really wholesome – it has more groundnut and is my only source of leafy greens which are called caniff. Usually soups have ground dried fish, MSG-packed flavoring, and sometimes meat, but we prepare the soup without it, put my serving aside, then my host sister adds those ingredients if they’re available.
This is how it has been going since the first night I was here when she was eager to prepare something for me and I explained that I am vegan, but the other night there was small fish in my soup! Maybe it was a mistake, but I have the feeling that because I’ve been busy lately and slacking off with helping around the house, fetching water, and helping to cook, my host sister thought she could slack off and slip in the fish. I told her why I hadn’t eaten, she was confused and moderately apologetic. Anyway, the next day I swept the compound and fetched water twice, but skipped dinner to meet with my tutor. The next night there was fish in my soup again! The following day, I made sure to help out with dinner and supervise the soup... and Vanessa and I discovered the grandmother had been putting the fish in! I'm helping out more, and there have been no more fishy dishes ;)

For lunch, I always buy street food for about 40cents, either waache (beans and rice – my favorite Ghanaian dish) or yoko gari (beans, cassava, palm oil, and pepé all mixed together and served with fried yams and plantains – my 2nd fave). I’ve made friends with the waache woman and the yoko gari girl and they know not to add any meat or fish stew/sauce to my food, but if it’s someone different, it’s important to tell them “no shito, small pepé” and watch carefully since it’s highly likely they didn’t understand.

Cleanliness of food is always questionable – on the street, food is often served with the same hand that money is exchanged with; and at home, my host sister doesn’t always wash her hands properly. Besides that, there are flies that are constantly landing on everything (especially meat), and who knows whether they’ve just been snacking on that pile of shit. Oh and food is always eaten with your hands – it’s part of the culture. Nevertheless, I’ve only had one bout of sickness…for a week.

Packaged 500ml plastic sachets of water are available for 5cents from street vendors and small shops everywhere, but the lack of an adequate waste management system or means of disposal really disturbs me (which is a whole other topic for discussion), so I’m filling up my Nalgene bottle from the borehole and purifying it with Pristine more often. A tall beer is only 1GHC (1$) and for those who don’t drink alcohol, pops which they call minerals (i.e. Fanta, Coke, and Sprite) are available for about 40cents.

Clothes!
Ghanaians love my new Ghanaian clothes, and so do I!

Dancing with my fire fighting women "sisters".