Kumasi
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Kumasi,
Ghana
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
I am in Kumasi now, which is the home of the Ashantis, one of the major kingdoms in West Africa from the 1500s. This is by far the most chaotic and crowded African city I have ever been in. In Accra, there is order in the taxi ranks and in the middle of town. The city center of Jo'burg is pretty bad (not a place I would want to hang around in), but Kumasi is even worse. I feel totally safe, but the amount of people and cars going in every direction is insane. Kumasi is the 2nd biggest city in Ghana. The market here is the biggest market in all of West Africa...I would be curious to know where the biggest one is, maybe Nairobi, because I have never seen anything like this market in southern Africa. Kumasi has more people than all of Lesotho, which I find difficult to comprehend. But the greatest thing about Ghana, which I would not say about South Africa, is that in a big city where it is obvious that I am a foreigner, I can ask anybody for help and I do not feel unsafe and I do not worry about becoming a target. In Lesotho, if I need help, I will almost always ask a woman for help. It is rare that I will ask a man just because there is a good chance that the women will be honest and the most helpful. But here, I can ask anyone and I have always gotten help for what I needed plus pure friendliness.
I left Accra Monday morning. I didn't get on a bus until 12:30. It took 5.5 hours to get up here. It is supposed to take only four. I was on an air-conditioned bus with a bathroom, something that is quite rare in my experience. I was actually cold with the air conditioning. When we stopped at a rest stop, I was relieved to go outside into the humidity. I have forgotten how tired humidity can make you. I keep having to remind myself to take it easy; otherwise if I don't, I get really exhausted. Anyways, I arrived here at 6:30 Monday night, took a taxi to where I was staying, ate and went to bed. Tuesday morning, I had to run some errands....then in the afternoon, I went to the national cultural center. As soon as I arrived, a man came up to me and put his arm through my arm. I think most American women would push a man away who did that to him, but I am used to men pushing physical boundaries with me in Lesotho, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him talk to me. His name is Frimpong. He is a musician and was at the Kumasi branch of the musician's union. We started talking and he took me around the cultural center. I went to a museum where they have relics of the Ashanti kingdom and where they display objects that are used in the everyday life of the kings so visitors can see all of the customs and rituals that the kings go thru. The cultural center has many artisans who make their crafts right there so you can see how they do it. I watched a man making Kente cloth, which is the traditional cloth that most people associate with Ghana, men making wood carvings, and women doing their traditional batiks. I ended up going to a late lunch with Frimpong and a couple of other people. Finding apples is quite difficult in Ghana. All of the apples are imported from South Africa and they are expensive. During lunch, we kept trying to find apples...Frimpong and Peter started composing various songs about looking for apples in different styles of Ghanian music...I don't think I will ever think of apples the same. I should have recorded their renditions of songs dedicated to me and apples. Anyways, I left them in the evening, went to dinner, and watched the world cup game.
Tonight France is playing. Everyone in Ghana is cheering for France because they are so happy that they defeated Brazil who had defeated Ghana. This morning, Frimpong picked me up and we went to three villages where they make traditional crafts. The first village, Bonwire, is the home of Kente, and it ironically is Frimpong's home. He took me into his family's homes, so I got to see traditional ghanaian villages homes. There is one entrance, but all of the rooms are centered around a courtyard. We also went to several places where they were weaving the cloth. It is only men who do the actual weaving. The women collect the cotton for the thread and dye it. The women also sets up the particular pattern of the design on the loom, but the actual weaving is done by men. On a side note, in the market today, I was in the seamstress section. About half of the 'seamstresses' were men. I have noticed that there are not strict gender roles in this country in the way that you normally think of and witness in other African countries. I see men carrying things on their heads all the time...only women do that in S Africa and Lesotho. Men are often carrying young children, which you never see in Lesotho. Anyways, the patterns are absolutly gorgeous, but the kente is very expensive. I bought some in Accra, but it is not the high quality stuff they make here. We then went to the next village, Ntonso, where they make another type of cloth that is traditionally worn at funerals. There weren't many artisans out, so I didn't see much of the actual process. The third village, Ahwiaa, is where they make wood carvings. We walked around there, watched the men carve various things, and I bought some jewelry. My mother would have been proud of my bargaining skills with this man!! It was so nice to have a local going around with me. I wasn't nearly as bored and plus I got insight into things that I would not have gotten if I was on my own. I don't know why it is so easy to trust people here. Maybe it is truly because they are good people. I would not feel nearly as free and open with strangers in Lesotho or South Africa they way that I feel with them here.
I was reflecting on how I am enjoying this trip and the satisfaction I am getting from it. I know I mentioned this in an email I wrote when I was in Vietnam, but the longer I live abroad and get to know a culture, the less satisfied I am when I do traditional touring. I want to understand the lives of the people of the country I am visiting and you don't get that by going from city to city. Africa, especially Africa, is about the people. Except for viewing game, there is not a lot of history in terms of architecture and museums to see...you go to Africa to understand the lives of the people that live here, at least in my opinion. So going to cities, such as Kumasi, is not fulfilling my needs to get to know Ghana. I am glad that I spent some time with Frimpong. I am glad that I have Saeed's sisters and their families in Accra to get to know about family life. But people in African cities are not representative of people in the villages, which is most people in this country. That was why visiting Amanda in Togo was so fulfilling. I got to see how locals live in a village and could get the perspective of an American on that life. I am enjoying my trip here. I didn't have any expectations for Ghana. I just wanted to experience West Africa, which I am. I just think I am becoming a picky traveller because I have had so many unique travelling experiences.
I am off to the beach tomorrow (which is not at all about Ghanian people!!) I have another six hour bus ride, but then I will sit on the beach for several days doing nothing, which is what I want right now. I don't think I will have email access there so it might be awhile before I post something new. But don't worry...I will be enjoying myself immensely.
