lost in africa and other adventures by leah moriarty

While waiting in line at the U.S. embassy, a preacher named Johnson starts up a conversation with me, like most Ghanaians would, being the friendly people they are. He asks the regular questions, what are you doing in Ghana, do you like Obama, what church do you go to? I told him I didn’t go to church and he asked me what religion I am. Now, I have learned from experiences here, that being any religion is better than being nothing here, so I told him I am Jewish. He got so excited, I was the first Jew he has ever met! He told me he is going to talk about me in church on Sunday. Great.

Then he went on to ask me all about what Jews think about Jesus Christ, I told him we think he was a cool Jewish man. Johnson also thanked me for giving him Jesus Christ, I said you’re welcome. Then he asked me if any Jews think he’s the savior, and I explained that some do, and some don’t think there is a savior, and some think that the savior is coming. He asked me what I thought. Well this conversation was becoming too deep for 8am. I told him I didn’t know, then he went on to explain to me that Jesus is coming back and that all the Jews will regret rejecting this whole time because he will save all of us. Then I laughed awkwardly and my name was called and I could not be happier.

Today, I had to trek to the U.S. embassy, which is of course out of reach by tro tro, to get new pages sewn into my passport (yeah, I do feel pretty cool that I have to get more pages). The embassy is a large edifice lined with armed guards of course.

I walk in, hand all my electronics to the guards, go through the metal detector and pass through these doors to a gorgeous oasis of green, freshly cut grass and flowers. I walk into the main building, where the air conditioning is blasting. This is probably why the power goes out in my dorm every other day.

In this large room, there are about 200 Ghanaian men and women of all ages, many about my age, in their nicest clothes (and when Ghanaians dress up, they dress up I’ll tell you…), looking really nervous. This blonde American guy in a tie comes out to everyone and just says “Hey, welcome to the visa interview process! You guys nervous?” Obviously, he got no reply. Of course these people are nervous, you are only giving two out of 200 of them visas today, even if they are accepted into the best schools in the States or just want to visit their family. I wanted to punch him and give a Ghanaian my passport, but I don’t think that would work out nicely for anybody.

The first rainy season, not even the “real” rainy season has begun in Ghana.  This means that ever couple of days it rains.  Sometimes it is just 10 min of regular rain; sometimes it rains so hard I feel like I am standing under a waterfall; sometimes it drizzles for long periods of time, and sometimes it feels like the apocalypse is coming with the amount and distance of the rain, thunder and lightening to my head.

The other night, I experienced one of these apocalypses when I was alone in my room, sleeping.  I was awoken by a huge thunder strike that shook my bed.  Sometimes lightening strikes right next to my building, or it strikes the electricity box.  The lights flickered and my fan started spinning out of control.  I was sure it would spin off the ceiling and chop off my head.  This apocalyptic thunderstorm mixed with the lucid dreams I have with my malaria medication did not mix well.  That same night as the lightening was flashing out my window, I had a dream that someone was under my roomate’s bed, waiting for me to fall asleep so they could kill me.  It was not a pleasant night.

The rainy season also creates lots, and lots of mud.  At the market every day while doing my research, I must hop around rocks, on boards of wood, an obstacle course to avoid stepping and sinking into 6 ft of mud.  The other day, a green substance in the mud was all over my feet.  I did not wish to guess what it came from.

Slippery mud and gutters also do not mix.  The other day, while walking to class, I slipped in some mud next to a gutter that came out of nowhere, and I fell into it.  I have a gash on my leg that my roomate told me draws attention, as if my skin color and gender do not attract enough attention in this country already.

So that is the rainy season.  There is also a lot more stagnant water around, breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes.  So we’ll see what happens there.

Our last CIEE trip was a big one to Kumasi- in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The Ashanti people are the most powerful people in Ghana, it is where they speak Twi, has a King that is in charge and is also where the largest open air market in West Africa is. We went in this market, and it was like Madina Market on crack. Ladies with bowls of live chickens on their heads, everything from machetes to fabric to who knows what. The aisles were so thin you had to walk sideways to go through them. I even lifted my arm once and hit a policewoman in the head by accident, oops.

Then we went to the palace, or the part of the palace that is a museum. Our tour guide was the most emphatic man I have ever encountered in my life. He said everything like he had never said it before, and like it was the craziest thing anyone will ever here. I kind of loved him. The king also has many chairs that only he can sit in and nobody else. Wow.

We went to a lake that was created by a meteorite that was so peaceful and scenic, palm trees all around and a lack of trash in and around the water. But going in the water was not so refreshing- the water felt like bathwater it unless you find the sporadic spots of cool, and the bottom was quite mushy. We took a boat ride around the water, the motor almost died in the middle, which would have been cute because not everyone in our group knows how to swim. But alas, we made it home safe and dry.