And Make That a Three Places to Call Home in Ghana

I know this is extremely belated but now that I had my rural homestay and posted about that, I might as well post a contrasting experience from my urban home stay in Dansoman, an area in Accra, Ghana (about thirty minutes away from Labone--the part of Accra I live in full time).

The weekend started off looking like a disaster. We were all anxiously waiting to get picked up at the home stay office by our families. After almost an hour of waiting only two people from our group had been picked up but then a bus came to take a group of people (including myself) to our homes, which were farther away or more of an inconvenience than some of the other families. We had been given a list of our family's names, phone numbers and suburbs so I knew I was staying in Dansoman and I knew my friend Sarah (Hood) was staying there too. The bus dropped her off on in a beautiful neighborhood and I was so excited, hoping my home would be near by. We got stuck in horrible traffic and an hour later hadn't gotten very far. A couple hours later, we'd dropped off people who were staying in other cities and were much farther away at this point. As it began to get dark, I began to realize I was not in the right place. The bus driver didn't speak great English and we had difficulty communicating but I got a call from Sarah saying she'd been dropped off at the AFS (the program we did the homestay through) director's house and that was where I was supposed to be too. I called one of the advisors in my program and she tried to help sort out the problem. Essentially, though, I was lost and unsure of where to go or how to get there. But, after 6 or 7 hours on the bus, I made it to my home at about 10 or 10:30 PM.
My host mother's brother met me at the bus and took my stuff for me. It was dark so I couldn't see much but I knew from earlier how beautiful of a road it was. My mother welcomed me into her house happily and her three daughters were asleep by the T.V. in the living room. She brought me into the kitchen and made me some food (I still hadn't eaten at this point). She and her brother were SO nice and fun to talk to. I felt really happy and secure. I was exhausted and knew they had waited up for me, so after I ate, I went to bed. They had a whole room for me with a huge bed and an AC which was so unbelievably generous. Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the right really needing to go to the bathroom but when I tried to open my door, I realized I was locked in. I guess I made a lot of noise cause my host mom came out and asked if I was okay. I felt really bad for waking her and tried to go back to sleep but was pretty uncomfortable and waiting for morning--although still unsure of how to get out of my room.
The next morning, I heard girls' voices whispering "is she awake?!" and their mother telling them to leave me alone. I got up (my host mom opened the door for me) and met my little sisters for the weekend; there were 11 year old twins and a 10 year old, who were all super sweet and fun. We ate breakfast together and then Joe (my host mom's brother) and I took the girls to their abacus class and drove around running errands. His cousin was getting married that day so we went over to his family's house for a little while. I had really been hoping to get to experience a funeral or wedding that weekend (which are both big celebrations here) and although I initially thought we were just running errands, he ended up asking if I wanted to go to the wedding!
The wedding itself was beautiful, there were roses and balloons decorating the church, everyone was dressed so unbelievably beautifully and colorfully and the entire audience was dancing and singing. There's always so much energy at these Ghanaian events and this wedding, especially before I'd experienced anything else like it, was so full of life and celebration. After the ceremony, we went outside for a small reception with refreshments and more dancing. Joe and I left early to meet one of his friends and then we went to the beach which was really pretty and relaxing. I felt guilty for not being home or with the rest of my host family, though so I was looking forward to going home for dinner.
My host mom, unfortunately, felt the opposite and felt guilty for not having more for me to do and told Joe to take me out that night. We went out to a local bar which was pretty fun, but nothing too out of the ordinary. We had to get up really early for church the next morning so we didn't stay out late.
Church was, yet again, incredible. I went with my host mom and little sisters and it was very apparent (as in most situations) that I was the only white person in the crowd. There was a little girl in the pew in front of me who just sat around staring and everyone joked that she loved the "Obruni" (foreigner--typically white person). The service itself was surprisingly moving. Being Jewish, I wasn't expecting much but again, the whole ceremony was so outstandingly gorgeous and fluid. Everyone was dancing and full of life, joy and color. It was such a welcoming and exciting environment to be in. Even the sermon was moving and full of insight, something I wasn't expecting to be able to relate to. One of the most interesting parts of church services here to me, at least, is the "offering" where everyone lines up and dances in two single file lines to the front and drops money in the offering box and then continues back to their seats.
After the service, we went to my host mom's mother's house where she was pounding fufu (boiled cassava). With a huge stick-like pounding tool, the fufu gets pounded with one hand and flipped with another. Some times the tasks are divided by two people, with one flipping the fufu and the other pounding. It happens so quickly that with the slight error in rhythm and pattern, some one's hand could be broken. I'd never seen fufu being made before but I'd eaten it many times so that was great to see and just as good to eat after! It also just amazes me how much of the culture here falls into rhythm like this. Dancing is an essential part to life here, adding beauty and obviously rhythm everywhere. My documentary in my film class is about the transportation here and how although there really isn't a public transportation system, the buses do essentially have rhythm and add a great depth to culture. I really love these unexpected patterns in daily life.
Anyway, the girls were angry that I'd spent the entire day Saturday with Joe and I really wanted to get to know them better so Sunday we spent around the house and they showed me all their favorite music videos and we just relaxed and I had a really terrific time.
Perhaps less moving in an obvious sense than my rural homestay, but still a really incredible experience. I definitely learned a lot and felt more immersed in the culture than I had at this point really getting to know my family. And although I was just with them for two nights, I really felt as though I belonged. They were so welcoming and I've continued to stay in contact with them and truly hope that lasts because they were all some of the kindest and most hospitable people I've ever met.