Kumasi, Ghana

Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana

I have lost my mobile phone (Sony Ericsson K800i)! It happened four days ago in a taxi, and I don’t know if it was someone sitting next to me who took it or if it fell out of my pocket. Anyway, it was very annoying, because you can’t work professionally without a mobile phone. Even if a mobile phone is a material thing and easily replaceable, it’s still irritating losing all phone numbers and information which I use everyday. I want to continue using the same Ghana number that I have, so I went to the Areeba regional office in Kumasi and blocked the chip. I went back the following day (15 Nov) to the Areeba office and bought a new chip and went into Adum and bought a new mobile phone; a Nokia 2600. It’s a very basic phone compared to the one I used to have, but I didn’t want to spend too much money on a phone. My new Nokia 2600 has a color screen (hehe, my brother will laugh reading this).

The same day I bought a new mobile phone, I also interviewed a disabled girl together with Mr Abu. After the interview we both definitely realised that material things are just material things. The interview contained me giving her (Sarah, 20) questions in English and Mr Abu translating them for her. She told us she’s attending a vocational rehabilitation center at the moment. Sarah has difficulties with walking properly and she is almost completely blind on one of her eyes and has trouble seeing with the other one. Both her parents are dead and she used to live with her grandmother, who was her sole caretaker, but the grandmother died last year, so now Sarah is living on her own. During the weekends it’s very difficult for her to get food, because she doesn’t have any money, so if she’s lucky she eats one meal a day (dinner) during weekends. I could see that Mr Abu almost fell into tears when she described that she has to wash other people’s clothes to be able to buy her own soap, before she can wash her own clothes and whenever she is sick there is never anyone asking her about how she is feeling. Mr Abu told me that the majority of Ghanaians look at a disabled person as she will be a burden to their life. I told Mr Abu when we left that Sarah is definitely the worst case I have interviewed since I got here and he agreed (he also told me about almost falling into tears when you listen to a person who doesn’t feel any happiness at all). I also said to Mr Abu that if you don’t feel for a person like Sarah, then you definitely don’t have a heart.

I, Paul, Mohammed and Issah (Mr Abu’s younger brothers, 27 and 19) visited a Chinese restaurant called Chopsticks last Sunday and afterwards we walked to Rose’s Guesthouse to watch Arsenal-Liverpool (3-0). We had a great time and that day the heat was really pressuring the body so we even slept at midday for awhile before we went for lunch.

I know my brother will laugh when he reads this; a guy in a chemist store in Kumasi told me: “hehe, you won’t find anyone selling sun block protection in Kumasi, because there are too few white people here”. But I have found a couple of places where they sell lotions with SPF 15 and SPF 45.

The past week at work has included office work, teaching men and women in the evenings, meetings with orphans, attending a graduation celebration for hairdresser students etc. There is usually work everyday, meaning even if it’s only 2 hours or so on a Saturday and the same thing on a Sunday, there might still be work. We try not to work on Sundays so that we can “forget” about work for at least one day a week. Work starts at different time everyday, but usually not before 10:00, because we have evening lessons and I never get home until after 22:00. I have said it before; I really enjoy my work and the different assignments all the time. Before I end, I would like to say something about the hairdresser students’ graduation that I and Mr Abu attended yesterday. The attendance was around 200-250 people and Mr Abu and I were invited by the Chief Executive of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. He wanted us, SYDD, to give the students and the rest of the audience some common sense advice, so Mr Abu told me that I should hold the speech, I wasn’t prepared at all but I did well and I talked for roughly 5 minutes about the importance of having a good self-confidence being a Ghanaian, otherwise it could easily happen that you end up as a criminal, street child etc. I also talked about the importance of thinking about the environment and sanitation in Ghana, because the majority of the Ghanaian population just throws trash everywhere and there are practically no trash cans anywhere. I showed them an example of how most Ghanaians act by throwing a piece of paper on the ground, because that’s how they do no matter if it’s a piece of paper, food, batteries and so on. I told the audience that their way of not caring about sanitation will definitely affect the nature and it will affect their health and the future of their children. What needs to be changed is the mentality, it will take a long time, but it’s necessary for better future lives for Ghanaians.

Click here for photos

Permalink | November 18th, 2006

4 Responses to “Kumasi, Ghana”

  1. Lillebror Says:
    November 18th, 2006 at 2:26 pm

    Tjena!
    Det va ju lite trist det där med din mobiltelefon men jag är glad att du förstod att du va tvungen att köpa en ny så att man kan hålla kontakten med dig! Skrattade faktiskt när jag läste att du poängterade att du köpte en mobiltelefon med färgskärm. Mitt liv i Lund är väl minst sagt lite annorlunda.

    Har ett tag känt mig avundsjuk på värmen du har där nere så den 13 dec så åker jag, Henrik och hans kompis Patrik till Kanarieöarna en vecka. Det ska bli väldigt skönt. Har du bara en adress man kan skriva till så ska du få ett vykort av mig också!

    Hoppas allt är fortsatt bra där nere och ta hand om dig
    Kramar Anders

  2. Sopan Viktor Says:
    November 18th, 2006 at 11:32 pm

    Tjena Rovdjuret!

    Trist med telefonen, den är ju väldigt fin, men men det finns värre saker som kan hända en :) Du köpte en ny fet lur direkt så.

    Det är kul att läsa om hur du har det och vad som händer, tyckte synd om tjejen som du intervjuade.

    Hoppas allt e bra med dig iaf, använd solskyddet så du slipper se ut som peter jönsson på cypern.

    Take care
    /fläskberget

  3. Kusin Niclas Says:
    November 22nd, 2006 at 8:46 am

    Tjeeenare kusin!
    Attans det där med telefonen, o värst är ju det med numren. Men som sagt, så finns det ju värre saker i din omgivning som händer.

    Himla kul att läsa om Dig, så fortsätt gärna skriva. Jag skulle också vilja ha din adress så vi kan skicka ett julkort till Dig.

    Även jag blev sugen att åka till varmare land, så igår beställde vi en resa till Fuerteventura med familjen. Avresa nu på måndag.

    Kämpa på o många kramar!!
    Kusin Niclas med familj

  4. Faster Birgitta Says:
    November 23rd, 2006 at 9:37 pm

    Hej Per,
    Birgitta har just skrivit en kommentar till Dig, men den försvann nog. Hon blev sur och gick sin väg. Hon berättade bl a att vi ska besöka Oves och kommer att träffa en stor del av de äldre släktingarna.
    I övrift bakar hon lussekattor, men hon kan inte skicka några till Dig i år. Hon har även svårt för att vara så snäll som man ska vara till Jul. Hon vill inte ha några julklappar och det ska jag ta fasta på. Troligtvis blir hon sur då.
    Vi har inget vinterväder än. Det är nog hantverkarna som reparerar Ert hus glada över.
    Hälsningar farbror René

Leave a Reply