Since when am I a minority?!

Entry #2 18/10/2013

Running in Ghana:  The only thing worse than going on a run in the hot, humid, African sun, is doing so and then coming home to the water turned off.

Jogging for pleasure is practically unheard of in Ghana, at least in the Central Region where I am living.  My first morning here, we woke up at 5am and went on a quick half hour run.  Being the athletic enthusiast I am, and in relatively good shape, I was utterly unprepared for the difficulty caused by the altitude, heat, and humidity! It felt as if I was running through sand while smoking a cigarette (I would imagine). Luckily the running gets easier once you’re acclimated.  One thing that doesn’t go away however, is the gaping stares from children and the elderly alike as you run past.  Many of the kids will wave and yell Obruni (white person), because they are excited to see foreigners (we’re rare and fun!).  All of the attention can be great though, when you’re tired and running back home, as many of the people along the road will cheer you on and give high fives and you feel like Oprah finishing her marathon!

Health in Ghana: All of the children are enamored with modern western medicine.  For anything from a bruise to ringworm the kids will ask for a “plaster” (their word for band-aid).  Kids, both our own and those from neighboring compounds, will come asking for a plaster multiple times per day, enough so that we now require the child to be actively bleeding to receive a bandage.  They also love to get cough medicine, fever reducer, and any of the ointments, creams, or gels that the average American would find in their medicine cabinet.  Often times, the kids are just dehydrated because they don’t drink nearly enough water,  (Mom, dad, sound familiar?) or their stomach pains them because they haven’t defecated in a couple of days.  If a child is actually sick though, (usually with Malaria or a stomach bug) we can only give them half the dose of medicine that would be given to an American child, because their systems aren’t used to it. 

           

God in Ghana:  While typing this, I can hear a preacher in the background yelling at the top of his lungs in Fante (local language) to many eager listeners.  Bear in mind that it’s midday on a Friday and I live in the middle of nowhere.  Religion is a major part of life here in Ghana, people are predominantly Christian and Muslim, and it shows.   At all of the rest stops for our bus trips, there were make-shift mosques (which I was tempted to enter as they were the only shaded areas around), and everywhere businesses are named things like “Jesus is Coming” burger joint, and "Blessed by God" taxi services. Religion here is as much of a marketing tactic as it is a way of life.

            Even today, while helping to entertain kids in the nursery at school (ages 2-6) the only children’s songs I could think of were the catchy tunes I had heard at Echo Ranch Bible Camp. At first I assumed those were off limits, but low and behold, chanting about being protected by our Lord is fine, even encouraged, here with Separation of Church and State being a foreign concept.  As a public school child through and through, I kept thinking the board of directors would come in and shut down my make-shift choir, but the kids gave up before that could happen and we moved on to coloring pictures of the sun. 

            Being in a foreign country, I had expected to be surprised by day to day life, but that doesn’t make all of this any less novel! Love from Ghana, everybody!