today i….

-taught a class

-fixed a teacher’s computer

-went to market and made it rain

-continued painting my world map mural

-cooked kontomire stew

(sometimes in Peace Corps you gotta remind yourself of what you’ve accomplished…)

A couple of things…

I find it interesting that after having lived in Ghana for 11 months and the travel within the country that I’ve done, there are still new and fascinating aspects of the culture that I am learning about within my own region (Eastern Region).

1. Dipo

On my way to the Volta region it was necessary for us to pass through Odumase, a town situated in the Krobo area of the Eastern Region. From the bus window I was lucky enough to see several lines of young girls dressed in traditional batik fabric balancing calabash bowls on their heads filled with water.

(Not my picture but this is exactly what I was seeing)

What was occurring is the Dipo Festival, one of Ghana’s richest cultural festivals celebrating a girl’s passage into womanhood. Puberty right festivals such as Dipo have died out across Ghana, but the Krobo area has retained this festival and continues to celebrate it yearly. The water that the girls (or, I suppose, women) were carrying was from the nearby river; they would use the water to bathe signifying purity. The ceremony encompasses several different ceremonies, including drumming and dancing, a visit to the “sacred stone”, and an exciting event when the girls are carried from the bush to the village on the back of a man. The festival also includes lessons for the girls about certain female-related issues: hygiene, birth control methods, and retaining a respectable reputation and position in society as a female.

Many human rights organizations have attempted, and continue in their efforts, to end this tradition that is so strongly tied to Ghana’s rich cultural history, much of which has been lost over the past few decades. My opinion on the matter: no matter how hard you try to understand a new culture, everything you see and learn and understand is through eyes that have been subliminally influenced by your culture. To try to put an end to the Dipo Festival because you don’t agree with some of the practices that occur is nonsensical. Some things (like the half-naked procession of the girls) may appear to be crude because your own society does not practice it; however, the significance of the ceremony is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Dipo is one of the only ceremonies left in Ghana that truly celebrates what it means to be a woman, which is something that a patriarchal society should try to hold onto.

2. One Man Thousand

When we were about to pass over Ghana’s only suspension bridge into the Volta Region, many of the women were selling foods from the top of their heads that I’d never seen before. One of these foods is a fried-fish snack sold in clear plastic baggies called “one man thousand” due to the size of the fish; very, very small.

One man thousand is DELICIOUS. The fish is small enough that the texture is something like the pieces left over at the bottom of a bag of potato chips. It is salty and very flavorful from the spices that are added to the fish. I’m going to have to take a trip back there simply to stock up on this new food that I love!

3. Abolo

SO when I first heard the ladies yelling what foods they were selling, I could’ve sworn the ladies were yelling “OBOLO! OOOOO-BOOOLOOOO!” Which in Twi means a “fat” or “overweight” person. But, they weren’t saying that… they were saying Abolo.

Typically eaten alongside one man thousand, abolo is considered a “maize cake”; the maize is boiled down and mashed and combined with sugar to form a flat cake. It is then wrapped in banana leaves and sold. I also found this to be uniquely delicious; the texture was somewhat spongy, but like most foods in Ghana I am unable to compare it to any other food I’ve ever had.

Hitting the road at 3 AM to climb Mount Afadjato in the Volta Region. I’m leaving my home in Abetifi, considered the highest “habitable” point in Ghana, to go to the actual highest point in Ghana.

As of tomorrow I will have officially been in all 10 regions of Ghana! yipppeeeeeee