April 23rd, 2019 by Galit Rudelson

We are currently in the middle of another large storm. This is technically supposed to be the tail end of the dry season, moving into the wet season. That being said, this is probably about my 12th storm since I’ve been here. One of the doctors explained to me that since climate change, there is no longer as clear of a demarcation between the wet season and the dry season. This also means another power outage, since the storm knocked out the power. So I figured might as well write about my previous weekend while we sit in the dark.
This weekend was my touristy weekend. We started by going to the town where Kente was invented. This is a traditional African weaving. The story goes, that two famous hunters years ago went into the forest, and saw an unusual spider. They said they wanted to learn how to weave like the spider. So they watched and learned. The first weaving was black and white. But at some point they started adding dye from the local plants to make brilliant bright colors. The weavers sit and use both their feet and hands to weave. Because they sit for upwards of 12 hours a day, women were traditionally not supposed to weave “because it ruined their hips and made them infertile.” Now, though, if a woman wants to weave, she is welcome to.
The weavings are brilliantly bright, and beautiful. They take 2-4 days to make (depending on how complicated the design is), and they sell for 6 dollars. This made me feel sad, that 4 days of work could go for 6 dollars. But it speaks to how Ghana is developing. They are definitely on the up and up, compared to other African countries. Yet their economy still is fairly week.
After the Kente we drove to Kumasi, the large town about an hour from my village. Specifically we went to the Kumasi mall. This mall is brought up often. Malls are a new concept in the developing Ghana. So they are very exciting, and people enjoy visiting them and talking about them, and showing them to visitors. The mall itself was fairly similar to one we would see in the US. But their child playground are much better. Multiple trampolines, ball pits, fun climbers. It reminded me more of our local Bonkers (but more fun). I also went to a grocery store and was suprirsed to see that most things there cost about how much they would in the US. After buying a fabric made over 4 days for 6 dollars, it was jarring to see a coke bottle being sold for 2 dollars, and chocolate for 3.
We spent the night in Kumasi at Rachel’s fathers house. Her father is the former Bishop of the Ghanian Methodist Church, and currently a pastor. We attended his service the next day. He shared some of his story, and later he and I discussed it together. He had an alcoholic father that was never around. He dropped out of high school to help his mother with funds. Later in life he had to beg on the streets for clothes, food, and money. He realized that he was always considered smart, and knew he was intelligent. He asked his friends who stayed in high school to donate their textbooks to him. He studied on his own, while begging. In Ghana all high school students take the same tests nation-wide. He took these tests and aced them, earning himself a spot at the University. He now has a masters, was the Bishop of the Methodist Church, and has countless accomplishments. During his time as Bishop he organized building a new health clinic, a computer education center, a library, and many other projects. Needless to say, he was a very interesting man to talk to. During our conversation we ate lunch. One of Rachels kids (his grandchild) refused lunch because he did not like what we were having. He pointed this out to me and said “isn’t it interesting what a difference two generations could make? At his age, I never knew when my next meal would be, and would never skip a meal.”
Church itself was fairly similar to what I have experienced in the states. The service I went to was the “chiller” service. The one afterwards had 2 hours of dancing as a part of it! Rachel said that she typically goes to that one, but as the first one is in English and the second one in Twi, she wanted me to attend the English one.
One last comment. Story telling is very big here (as the illiteracy rate is fairly high, story telling is the replacement to reading bedtime stories). Rachels three children constant asked me for stories. I had the brilliant idea to tell them about Harry Potter. My reasoning was that I knew those books by heart, so I would not have to make anything up, and I had an endless supply of stories, so it would last my whole time. This weekend my plan backfired. The children found out there are 7 books, and we were only midway through the 2nd. Therefore they wanted constant story time, to make sure we finished all 7 books by the time I left! They are funny, but I never thought that talking about Harry Potter would get exhausting!