Lost In Translation

I was asking for an interpretation of a word I did not know yesterday. The conversation ensued;

Dee: “What does this mean?” (pointing to a word)

Z: “oni”

Dee: “Oh. What is that?”

Z: “You don’t know oni?”

Dee: “No. Is it some sort of local drink?”

Z: “Oni”

Dee: “Oni...”

Z: “Oni”

Dee : “Oh…. Ok. Oh. Hunne-y!”

Z: “hmm, yes, oni”

Dee: “hahaha. Oh the accent.”

(no reciprocal laughter)

Yes, a long winded conversation, and me thinking I’ve just learnt about a new food that I could look into, but really we were talking about good old honey. (why not laugh about it? I guess it’s not that funny, to  me it was).

We all speak English here, but the pronunciations are different. People in Ghana are used to the American or European accent, but the Australian is fairly new, and very different to Ghanaian English. I often need my own interpreter. Luckily my colleagues mostly understand me, but more often than not, when I’m in a meeting one of them will have to repeat what I say to everyone. To me, sounding exactly the same, but to people (especially of the north) here, it’s entirely different. I guess take 'oni' and 'hunnee' as two entirely different words.

I mostly have problems with Ghanaians pronouncing words that start with ‘th’. This is not pronounced ‘th’ like we would say ‘theory’ but instead pronounced ‘te-ory’. It has been quite confusing for me. You don’t ‘think’, you ‘tink’. You ‘tank’ someone rather than ‘thanking’ them. 'three' is more like a roll of the tongue, and my colleague had to write 'threat' on a piece of paper for me to understand the word. Whenever I am absolutely stumped by what someone is saying, mostly it’s a ‘th’ word. But knowing that doesn't help!

Other lost in translation fun includes telling a Ghanaian friend he has nice pants. He stared strangely, and as a wave of emotions went over his face, he exclaimed “oh, you mean my trousers?” followed by an explanation of how pants means underwear, and it was in fact an inappropriate comment. Having worn a skirt that day, I made sure I didn’t make the statement that I wasn’t wearing pants...

I just found this image at www.villageaid.org/ghanas-honey-rush.html the honey here is delicious.
Very different to that from home. 

Memoirs of Ghana

Am I too old to have ‘memoirs’ yet? Or reflect? Probably. Maybe i should say 'anecdotes'. But I have definitely had a great time in Ghana, and learnt plenty of life lessons and professional practicalities. Is this where I get all soppy and tell everyone how much I have grown from this experience, and how I’ve really left a mark here and helped change the world? That would be pretty cool, but let’s be honest, I didn’t.

Reflection is funny, because often you reflect and realise everything you were told was actually true. When I was preparing to leave, the program provided a psychologist to talk through the phases that I’d experience when working and living overseas. An impressive graph was provided to show the emotional turmoil (and fun) that I would experience, and I scoffed at the thought that I would be so predictable…

I wouldn't use the term 'culture shock', but this is the general idea

It’s pretty true really.

It’s all go go go from the start, meeting people, familiarizing, getting lost, understanding the culture/language and seeing through the stars in your eyes.

I thought I’d really been lucky because I lasted a long time without a dip, things were on the up and up and I was enjoying everything (and I really showed that psychologist). But things got monotonous and boredom kicks in, you don’t want to do the same thing every week, every weekend. You withdraw from life and just have ‘Dee time’. But once again, good old reflection kicks in and you realise you only get this one experience, so maximize it! Enjoy it! Friends are also really useful for this. Both back at home (thankyou SOOOO much everyone who stayed in touch, Skyped, sent me music suggestions(yes!!), made the effort, it is the little things, SMS’s, thoughts etc that count!) and friends in country. I’ve met a really diverse group of people; it’s strange being thrown together with so many people- you become friends with people you’d never usually be friends with, in a good way.

And then you realize you are on the home stretch and really need to make the most of things. That’s where I am at now. I’ve been busy busy just doing everything I want to do before I leave. Eating all the food I can get, seeing all the people here I probably won’t spend time with again. Getting fit. Having that final stab at the language (I still can’t really get past ‘hello’, but in my defence I do know how to say it in at least 5 languages!). Trying to figure out what’s been going on in Australia for the past year. and job hunting! Argh! The worst! The thought of going back to real work is quite scary (as I sit here at work typing this out….).

For those of you I contacted in an indecisive freak out (how unusual of me?!?), I didn’t take the South Sudan job. Well actually I did. For a good week I was bound for Bentio in South Sudan for a year as a Nutrition and Food Security Officer working with UNHCR. But after it was bombed and evacuated and I talked to colleagues about the lifestyle there I decided that really wasn’t for me yet.  It was hard because it was the ideal job, being handed to me on a platter. But it felt a bit too isolated and not really the way of life I’m looking for right now. So with sadness I turned it down. Que sera sera.

I still have 6 weeks to go. It’ll fly, and I’ll keep writing (suggestions are welcome), and keep reflecting. I’m no Ghana expert, or nutrition expert now, but I have some pretty good stories to keep me going for a while. I should stop now because 1) I’m not quite finished here yet, and 2) we don’t want this to turn into a novel (albeit an award winning one).

To help myself and you, dear reader to become Ghana experts, here are some do-not-miss Ghana highlights so far;

• ·         Witnessing the full circle of the seasons; the rainy, the dry, the Harmattan, the HOT, the rainy
• ·         Travelling to all parts of the country, it is so diverse each region you travel into
• ·         Learning some of the languages. It gives your tongue good exercise, ensures you embarrass yourself, but also helps to understand the diversity of this small country
• ·         Eating big, eating messy, and eating anything. Granted, I’m a vegetarian, so I couldn’t always eat everything, but it is such a fun experience. To (once again) step out of your comfort zone and go nuts on a big bowl of food you don’t really know anything about can be really amusing
• ·         Enjoying the wildlife. There is not much left, but the wandering goats  and sheep are fun to have around. The elephants at Mole are impressive – I was once driving back from Wa to work and 8 elephants crossed the road in front of me. So free!
• ·         Travelling on the local bus-taxis (called Tro-Tros). Squashed in, no ventilation, many stops, confusion…. But it’s a whole lot of fun, cheap, busy and friendly.

It's a tough life here...... (??)

Women of the West

During a field trip last week I was at a 'Work for Food' community project in the Upper West Region. The community was de-silting a dam so when the rains come the water can be collected and last a long time. In my experience people in Ghana, particularly women, aren't too excited about getting their photo taken, and you need to work on trust, rapport etc because you can get a shot. I was taking overall shots of the work scene, as time was too tight to disturb the workers and interrupt. But these ladies came asking for photos, each lady lined up for a photo, and on viewing it laughed all day! They would come up to me with great smiles and ask for a photo, and when I pointed the lense they quickly became serious and stopped smiling.  Unlike other communities I had been to, they spoke great English and I was able to interact, however they soon had to be told to get back to work by the elder after a frenzy of photographs. They were such fun and really made my day, the children too were so keen on getting themselves photographed.

Just Dozing Myself Small

I LOVE Ghanaian turn of phrase (when I can understand it), and I hope that I pick up on how to communicate in stories the way my colleagues and acquaintances do. The other morning I caught my guard sleeping, the day guard had arrived. They conversed in their language, maybe something along the lines of 'what are you doing? You aren't supposed to be sleeping?' (or maybe it was more like 'oh! you got to sleep longer than I did last week!') and the guard exclaimed;
"Oh! I was just dozing myself small"
I love it. Everything is 'small small'. I am trying to incorporate it into my general conversation, it is definitely a quirk I'd like to take back with me.

Admittedly this is not the guard that I quoted, but the one who arrived to find the guard sleeping. Catching his own forty winks.