Wandering in Kumasi

Obroni= White person, but used for all foreigners, most foreigners here are white though, including my phenotypical self.

Etesen= How are you?

Bebeni= Black person

Imagine chaos. Then colors, all of the colors you’ve ever seen, all the ones you have imagined and even those you never thought of. Then there are hips swaying and penetrating glances, bags, bowls boxes balancing over women’s heads and not as often, over men’s heads. There are hands that want to touch, appropriately and not, sometimes to call attention, others out of curiosity, and others for a grab. Howls of “Obroni!” and stolen smiles for when I say “Etesen”, laughs when I say “Bebeni”. –that was Kejetia market and to a lesser extent, everywhere in Adoum, the city center.

Kejetia or Central market reminds me a lot of the Monday market in my hometown- el Mercado Mayorista but the variety goes to some greater extent, covering more contextual needs like machetes and wigs. It is also supposed to be largest market in West Africa, so it is beyond a magnitude I am able to grasp.

This weekend I went twice. On Saturday I went with Doris, my classmate at Mailman-Columbia who is from Kumasi and is currently working in Kintampo. She taught me a bit about fabrics, it is a big deal here. We went to get her some woodin fabric –different from waxed or tye-dye- because she was getting a new dress done. The variety and colors were beautiful! We went for lunch at Sambrah and I got some banku – a mixture of corn and cassava- and tilapia. It was edee (delicious)! Especially the tilapia. Doris was making fun of me because she says that obroni have small stomachs! That’s probably right because on Friday Wilson took Jay, Allison and I to eat fufu –this dough type of food made out of plantains and cassava- the texture reminded me of eating pad see ew. Anyways, I could not even eat a third of the fufu or half of the banku so for now I have to agree with Doris, especially about my stomach.

My culinary experiences here keep on reminding me of the creative mornings presentation on food design and eating being a performance by Emilie Baltz; for me it especially is because most local dishes are eaten with hands and for me, this means, I get to play with my food! –No worries, you get to wash your hands in a bowl the waiter brings accompanied by soap, as hygienic as it can get!

Sunday was my first big exploration day, I woke up to the news of the Trevor Martin case so I was really upset, I needed a walk. In the morning I went around the neighborhood, following people who were dressed up for church.

Doris and Salumei (my soon to be seamstress)

Going to Church!

Playing around!

Before it was noon I left for Kejetia. I wanted to get to the cultural center where the Prempreh II Museum is. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures but here is a recap of the most interesting things for me:

1.     Outside of the palace there is a wisdom tree planted, it is called adwenu. This is so no nonsense is spoken in front of the king. We need more of this planted worldwide.

2.     Every family of the Akan people, this includes the Ashanti, has a family animal, there are 8, for the king it is the seagull, for my tour guide it was the crow –all crows here have a white collar of its feathers, I wonder how/why that was selected for-.

3.     There are different types of drums for announcing festivities, the king/queen are coming and my favorite, the war drum, not for what it announces but what it is. The top of the drum is made out of leopard skin. Instead of smacking it, you use a fine stick to rasp on it. It sounds like a leopard is around! I was allowed to play it!

I went around the center looking at paintings, jewelry and other artwork. I met Haruna who taught me a bit about the beads he was using, some from Accra, some from Kumasi and other places. I bought two bracelets, one with beads from Togo, the other with beads from Botoko, Guinea. He sells beads in wholesale too and was telling me that he has a Colombian person come every year to take beads! I hope I will get to see him; another Latin-American around would be great!

Going around I run into a wedding, I was not dressed up for it so I just looked from afar. Such beautiful Kente cloth dresses and there was drumming!!

He was going to the wedding! I said: Sri! Which means smile

As I was walking back I met Christian. 

He is an artist painting at the cultural center. He walked me all the way down to Kejetia, to see the armed forces museum and all of the different corners in Adoum. We talked some politics, he was very upset about the current political situation in the country, based on the trial that is going on to determine the legitimacy of the past election. We talked about the sanitation issues of the country and he complained about government; I was a bit pushy about grassroots organizing, it felt like he was convinced, he is already doing work in his neighborhood trying to do his part. He reminded me a lot of Heshi, my best friend. I miss her. (Heshiiiii te extraño!)

Later that night I went to a barbecue at Jay’s friends’ house. Some really great people from Germany and the US doing awesome, tropical medicine->global health work. The highlight of the night was meeting Abigail and Dorcas, both students at KNUST, we talked for a while and after some convincing with my broken Twi –their English is as good as mine if not better- they taught me how to dance Azonto. Thrilling! I cannot wait to get to dance floor with these new skills next weekend!

These past 2 days have been very busy, wake up at the crack of dawn and work both in the lab and at the site. I am very happy because everything I came here to do is happening!! I could not do it without the help of my coworkers though. I love the cohesiveness of the Kumasi team. My favorite part: the capacity building portion of my agreement, which really means sharing everything I know on the technical/tools side of public health/modeling/statistics with my colleagues who are becoming my friends!

I wrote a long rant about sanitation in Kumasi but will save it for another post. So many more musical and culinary experiences I have to write about too! I will soon! Work keeps me super busy but that is how I like it best!

Nanti ye!

Wilson, one of my coworkers modeling for the camera during lunch yesterday! We had red red, his favorite dish!