Back in Accra

Well, for the last stint of this trip I am staying about 15 minutes from the University of Ghana campus in a neighborhood that is probably the equivalent of Hinsdale, IL back in the States. If it weren't for the dirt roads and high gates with barbed wire it would almost be home. Five other SIT gals and I are living in the west wing of a two story "mansion" dubbed the Italian House, in an area called Christan Center. I love the neighborhood. The walk from the taxi stop at the "FUUD SHAK" to Italian House is always amusing. Of course there are the ever present Abruni calls. Yesterday, one guy yelled out his second story window, "Abruni, I love you!" (No worries G, you've no reason to be jealous.) It's all a game in their eyes, so I've discovered it's easier if you just play it off. There are usually kids in the street playing "football" and the other night there were even a couple of guys playing guitar, which they let me play for a bit. It has been far too long since I had my hands on a guitar. It was wonderful, however poorly it sounded.
Just down the street from us there is a "large" shopping mall, with an international grocery store. Definitely Abruni central. I'm discovering living here is a very good thing, since it will help me slowly re-affiliate myself with Western culture. We've even gone to a couple of movies at "The Living Room", a place where, for $10.00 you can rent out a room for six and watch the DVD of your choosing on a wide-screen TV.
Contrary to how it may sound, I'm not spending all my time at movie theaters and grocery stores (though I did spend at least 10 minutes staring through the glass at the greatly over-priced Ben and Jerry's in the freezer section). We still walk 3 blocks carrying gigantic bags filled of satchels of pure water on our heads, and we still buy much of our food from the street vendors, most of which know us by name. Oh, and there is also that independent research project I'm working on.
It's actually incredibly exciting. I've had a few interviews (complete with hand-held camera!) with individuals practicing Islam or Christianity here in Ghana. I traveled to a mosque, on Good Friday ironically. On the way there a couple of guys handed me "The Passion of Christ" saying I should watch it and repent. They continued the conversation with "Are you a Christian?" and later, "Can we take you to the beach sometime?" The final question was, "where was I headed?" and it would have been great to respond "to the mosque", but I just told them I was meeting my friend. Unfortunately, I couldn't go inside the mosque because it was so crowded (people were even praying outside) but I got a chance to do a few interviews. One of the SIT friends is a Muslim and has been unbelievably helpful through all of this. Her name is Amama, I absolutely love her, every time time I call her, I get greeted with a "Lisa, Darling!" She's scheduled interviews with a prominent Imam who runs the Islamic television programming in Ghana and another who has written several books. Yesterday, we were walking back to the tro-tro stop hand in hand and I felt like we were a sort of walking dialogue not only inter-racially, but also of Christianity and Islam: me quite white, in tee-shirt and Tevas, and her quite black in a long sleeve, light weight dress and veil. I was happy to walk back past the Passion of Christ booth, where the smiles of the vendors took on a new meaning.
I'll keep you all updated as research progresses. Only one more month until I'm home! I can't believe it; how is that possible? Time does fly. For now, I wish you all a very happy Easter, and many many blessings.

Volta Region

Okay, it's been a while. A lot has happened so I guess I'll start from where I left off. After Cape Coast my group of 12 supreme performing artists took a tro to the Volta Region in the East. We arrived in the small village of Dagbamente, which was to be our home for the next 10 days. Here we learned the Ewe traditional war dance, Astiaobekor. Picture me with a long stick, i.e. sword, in the shade of the "black berry" tree (produces a "berry" very unlike anything I'd ever considered a fruit) dancing to the rhythm's of my friends' attempts at drumming. It was pretty exciting. The dance and the drumming patterns are immensely complex, especially to my foreign ear. Again, at least four different rhythms going on at one time, and somewhere in there are the master drum calls, which the dancers are supposed to respond to. In Ghana, dance is not only a matter of memorizing movement, it is a matter of memorizing the different drum calls as well, which when played cue the choreography. Luckily, if you're me you are in the second row, observing which moves the front row uses in response to the calls.
Dagbemente, was quite a village. There was a very large shrine here, where on Sundays people come to make sacrifices to the deity. A few of my group members got the honor of witnessing this. We alternated days of visiting other villages in the area and their respective shrines (because these are usually connected to various dancing and drumming traditions) and performing on our own. One very crazy day, on such an excursion we witnessed a complete solar eclipse in the morning. This was the same day that I unfortunately was struggling from stomach pain, due to some questionable yams eaten the previous evening. While viewing a women's group in one of the nearby villages I felt so nauseous I had to leave the group and sat down on what I thought was the crumbling wall surrounding some one's yard. I was very confused when a young girl came and started yelling at me in Ga. Too bad the only word I know in this language is "Thank you". Well, sparing the details, I ended up puking twice in the privacy of this walled off portion of the square, later to be told by my dance instructor, Leggie, it is the local shrine considered to be holy ground, and no one is allowed inside unless they have the proper attire, which actually is no attire at all. Oh well. That said, I have not touched yams, or shrines for that matter, since. I'm currently in Accra starting my independent study on Christian/Muslim relations in Ghana. Should be pretty fascinating :) Figured it was best to give traditional religion a rest for a while. There is much more to say about Accra, but I'll have to save it for another day. I wish you all the best. Bye-byeyo!