Sometimes, bigger IS better!

“Tracy! What is wrong with you? Are you sick?” These are words I have heard a number of times over the last few months, as female friends here in Ghana have noticed I have lost a bit of weight.  Now, I haven’t lost crazy amounts of weight, and I am by no means thin by UK standards (my dress size is still in double figures!), but in Ghana weight loss is approached quite negatively.

You see, having a healthy weight or even being “fat” (let’s approach this with the same attitude as most Ghanaians I have met and not mince our words!) is considered a sign of wealth, a sign that you have plenty to eat. A curvy ‘structure’ is desired by most women I have spoken to, and appreciated by many men.  It is remarkably refreshing to see women embrace a larger body type and not be obsessed with conforming to a Hollywood/celebrity body shape.

Sorry Renee, but being a bag of bones won't cut it in Ghana....I don't think this is such a good look either.  Go and eat a burger!

In the UK, I feel like it is well documented and debated about the ideal body type imposed on girls and women by the media and fashion world, with campaigns such as the Dove Real Beauty campaign trying to change perceptions that thin is beautiful and we must all have a size 6 body to be beautiful and sexy. It is a wonderful lesson in body confidence then, to walk down Sandema high street and see women enjoy their curves, and walk around in well-fitting clothing which display who they are quite naturally.  A few weeks ago, on a visit to the Bolgatanga team, we went to a local night club, Soul Train, where we saw Ghanaian girls showing us how to dance and laughing at us because we didn’t have enough meat on certain parts of our bodies to dance well.  For me, I was overwhelmed with how body confident they were, particularly as I am often quite self-conscious dancing and wearing revealing clothing in nightclubs back home – it was quite the attitude adjustment!

What do you think? Is she trying to hide behind the tree, or is she  enjoying her lunch without a concern for the effect on her hips?

In my opinion, this acceptance of the human form and an appreciation of a “healthy” weight translates to a positive attitude towards other issues, such as breast feeding.  It is not unusual to be on a tro-tro, or even sat in a restaurant or Church and casually glance to the left to see a woman breastfeeding quite openly and with no embarrassment or need to be discrete; it is viewed as a natural and necessary process.  Tolu, one of Team Tamale’s first volunteers, wrote an excellent blog on her reaction to breastfeeding in Ghana, which I urge you to read, and means I won’t dwell on the topic any further, but will use it as an example of how a different approach to the human body has further implications than what clothes look good.  

Aside from the professional work experience I am gaining by being here and working in Ghana, the cultural experience is affecting me in many positive ways too.  Don’t get me wrong, I cannot deny my pleasure at losing a bit of weight (it certainly saves on the Slimming World membership fees!), but I think, more importantly, I will be leaving Ghana not only with a streamlined body, but will have streamlined any negative and anxious thoughts about my appearance and my size.  

Two Team Leaders, 1 week, 10 trotros, and a whole heap of fun....

After the first team bid us adieu at the end of March, myself, Zoe (Tamale team leader), and Sean (Bolga team leader) were granted a week's holiday.  Sean headed up to Burkina Faso to see his lovely lady wife, who is a team leader on an International Service ICS programme there, and me and Zoe began an adventure which would take us half way across the country in the space of a week.

We did too much and had far too much fun to write about it all here....I wouldn't want to make you jealous, but here are 10 Things I did on my Holidays:

1.    Danced on top of a mountain to celebrate Easter (Kwahu Easter festival)

Paragliding at the Kwahu Easter Festival....the dancing came later!

2.   Learned to weave Kente cloth in Kumasi

3. Figured out I was born on a Friday, which means
 I am called Afia in the Ashanti region, and am consequently considered to be a heartbreaker....

4.  Received approximately 5 marriage proposals, and was sold to a man wearing huge, comedy sunglasses for 15 cows (I don’t know if he was wearing the sunglasses as a joke or seriously).  15 cows is actually a very good price.  I think there may have been a problem with the transaction as I believe I am still single.

Fishing boats in Elmina.....
I tried to pick up a smaller version of this and failed, quite miserably!

5.  Tried to convince a shipbuilder in Elmina that I was strong enough to work for him…and then failing miserably to pick up the boat which would have secured me the job.

6.  Visited the Word Alive children’s home that my lovely friend Pippa used to work at in Esiama and took them some sweets and let the children speak to her on the phone.

Life above water...Nzeluzu, Ghana

7.  Spent 13 hours travelling in a trotro to visit Nzeluzu for 30minutes; a great community on stilts on the water, only accessible by canoe…worth the 13 hour trip? Hmm.

8. Made friends with the man in charge of Education at Cape Coast castle who let us in for free (Thank you Mr Steven!).

This is Zoe demonstrating how to walk on a rope bridge....
this was something I proved incapable of doing without crying like a baby.

9. Had a panic attack on the Canopy walk in Kakum National Park….who knew you could develop a fear of heights at 29.  Apparently doing 2 skydives and a bungee jump is much less scary than walking across a rope bridge 40 metre high.

10. Had a “crazy” 29^th birthday, dancing at a beach bar in Cape Coast with some lovely friends and a random Rasta man.

Mole, Mole, Mole, Moleeee ahhh-ahhh-haaa

Last Friday we made the mammoth trip to Tamale in preparation for our visit to Mole! Expecting the worst from public transport we were pleasantly surprised with our metro mass bus, and our private trotro/mini bus seemed like absolute luxury! When we finally made it to Tamale and our group was a total of 15, we headed straight to the swimming pool for a quick dip and sunbathe before making the most of the western food available in Tamale – burger and chips!!

With only 4 single beds on offer in the Tamale palace it was always going to be a squeeze and rush for sleeping space, luckily the ‘Bolga Babes’ had bought their trusty foam so there was plenty of room for everyone (or at least there was for me, Jenna and Tracy who all managed to bag a bed – sorry Will). After a hot night we woke to start our trip to Mole, we all piled in to the minibus summer-holiday-style and took off! We arrived at Mole and straight away spotted the pool overlooking two watering holes and booked ourselves on to a jeep safari tour. We were split in to two groups. The jeep tour was incredible, aside from seeing a wide range of animals in their natural habitat we were also able to get very close to the elephant, ‘People’s Friend Number 2’ and see a croc – though this one was not sit able on!! We saw 13 elephants, baboons, antelope, crocodiles and an array of birds. Adam was friendly, funny and incredibly knowledgeable – knowing the scientific name for everything and anything you could point your finger at in the park, another thing you should know about Adam is that he loves his gun, he clicked it into position several times and even offered to let us hear the “noise of his weapon” to which we all squealed excitedly like 12 year old boys (this didn’t happen to our massive disappointment). The jeep safari cost only 10cd and was a fantastic 2 hours well spent, I would recommend to anyone to give it a go! Speak of recommendations…

That night, 11 of us intrepid explorers made our way into the park, in the dark, to what is known as ‘The Treehouse’ (not before filling up on more “burger cheese chip” of course, only just resisting “chicken carbon blue”). The tree house was amazing; it was in the middle of nowhere and had lovely sights and sounds of the local wildlife. We spent the evening playing two truths and a lie, some very exciting stories came to light, although I forget now which was the truth and which was a lie – Tippi’s Uncle IS the President of Korea isn’t he?! The phrase “if you don’t laugh, you cry” springs to mind and boy did we laugh, uncontrollably for some hours, scaring most of the wildlife away probably?

When we finally settled down for a cosy night’s sleep all we found were roll up mats and hard wooden floors/benches. The biggest thing we weren’t expecting however, was the now foreign feeling of cold, I mean freezing! Me and Will valiantly took a roll up mat each and a thin sloping bench and settled in for one of the most ridiculous night’s sleep ever – I say ridiculous because if you don’t laugh about it, you cry, right?! We all could not explain enough how comfy and relaxed we all were (!!!) Having said that, I would 100% visit the treehouse again. If you do go, take a hoody, some socks and a loaf of bread – sharing a granola bar between 11 people was some experience for breakfast. All this said, hearing/seeing baboons and hyenas in the middle of the night is quite spectacular and an experience everyone should try at least once!

- Poppy

Our introduction to Ghana

Salut! (Good morning in Buli!)

The team leaders arrived in Tamale on January 4^th 2013 after a rather adventurous 15 hour bus journey from Accra (the roads were often non-existant; the bus broke down 3 times; we endured a crazily long wait in a bus depot/petrol station/midnight market).  We three had a couple of days to acclimatise to Tamale and Ghana, get to know the International Service Ghana office staff, and feel settled before the volunteers arrived – we even learned a few phrases of Dagbani….which turned out to be quite pointless for me because they speak Buli in the Builsa district!  The few days we had before the volunteers arrived were spent drinking a lot of Star (beer), and trying a variety of Ghanaian dishes, many of which were delicious.  We, of course, also planned the induction week and began the initial planning process for our projects.  It was a very relaxing, yet productive 3 days, and when the volunteers arrived early on the Tuesday (8^th January) morning, I felt ready to lead them in what I think is a really exciting project!

Induction week was a lot of fun, but more importantly set all three Ghana teams on the road to success.  We began the induction process with a few games I learned whilst working at summer camps, and some that Zoe (Tamale team leader)  had up her sleeve too.  The games really helped break the ice, and help the national volunteers feel part of the team.  More importantly, the games gave me the opportunity to take photos of everybody….I somehow managed to capture some interesting poses and facial expressions…..

Will decide he would audition to be an Abercrombie model instead of playing the game

Festus and Abigail showing us how to dance Sandema style

Not to be outdone by Poppy, Will, and Jenna....the Chicken Dipper is a legitimate dance move......

During induction week we were also lucky enough to visit a local Pito brewery and sample some of this local beer…

Fermented and non-fermented Pito.....tastes a little bit like bile.....

Jenna tasting Pito

After visiting the brewery we then visited a local Diviner, who mixes tenets of religion (mainly Islam) and spirituality to guide, advise, and prescribe his clients.  Many of the group had consultations with the diviner, who remarkably was able to tell them things about themselves and their lives, which perhaps were not obvious facts.  There were some things which any Tom, Dick, or Harry probably could have inferred, such  as  “you have finished school”, “you are well educated”, “you enjoy travelling”.  Most of this information came from our tour guide, Lawrence’s description of the group, and the fact that we were a group of Brits in Ghana.  I had a private consultation with him, and whilst I would like to believe what he says will happen (I will be getting promoted soon, my work is very important and to be taken seriously, and that I will be paid handsomely) I am still a little sceptical.  I also wasn't impressed that he told the tour guide he should take me as his wife……hmm.

Apart from playing games, and going on cultural trips, induction week was also very informative and helped each team prepare for the coming three months.  We had sessions on Health, presented by a UNICEF worker, visits from VSO volunteers working in Tamale, we met with our project partners to do some initial planning and learn more about the objectives of the projects, we had discussions about social media, blogging, and communication, as well as discussions about team work, project management, monitoring and evaluation.

By the end of induction week, everyone appeared to feel comfortable in Ghana and prepared to move onto their project locations.  For my team, we were moving to Sandema, in the Upper East region of Ghana.  It was a two hour drive to Bolgatanga, where we said our final goodbyes to the TradeAid team, and then another 1hr15 drive onto Sandema.  Sandema is slightly more rural than Tamale and Bolgatanga, and the atmosphere in the bus, and facial expressions changed from smiling and excited to slightly more anxious as buildings, cars, tarmacked roads, and city life developed into miles and miles of dusty red roads and fields, spotted with the odd village.  Sandema, however, has proved to be quite a quaint, Ghanaian town and we are constantly been greeted by the locals waving at us as we walk or drive past, shaking our hands, teaching us Buli, or hearing the children shout “Smiley, Smiley” (their name for White people).

Induction week was enormous fun, and an absolute pleasure to share a week in Tamale with 15 wonderful volunteers and the IS Ghana team.  But now it is time to get down to work and see what life in Sandema is like……



- Tracy