The people of Ghana love to laugh, smile, and as you know, dance. Even in the most remote locations, where we are so clearly out of place, a smile is almost always quickly returned, and we are made to feel welcome. Ghanaians enjoy talking and learning about visitors — after a proper introduction. Sharing your name, where you are from, and that you are delighted to be visiting, followed by polite questions, such as “what is your name?”, or “please tell me about your family?” can be a fun way to make some friends.
Ghanaians also value politeness, and liberally apply “thank you” and “please” and “you are welcome” in conversation. While I admit to a little anxiety at some police checkpoints along the road, the officials are always polite.
As I have been doing the driving, I stop, roll down my window with a large smile, and answer the standard queries — who are you?, where are you coming from? and where are you going? Those questions are actually quite helpful for all of us. Often, an official can begin somewhat sternly before agreeing that my passport and visa are correct. The interaction ends when they convert the furrowed brow and stiff lips into a welcoming smile.
However, sometimes more than a smile is needed to break the ice.
Making Friends
I just love the photo above. While Clement was expertly recording one of the pastors, I put on my sun hat, slung my camera over my shoulder, and went outside. Carefully avoiding the equatorial sun, I stayed in the shade and rounded the corner of our building to find a young family getting water from the tap.
Immediately, two of the three adorable kids, who had been standing on the hot cement floor as their mother filled a large bucket with water, burst into tears and a frightening wail.
Mom looks up at me, returned my enormous smile. I apologized for frightening the kids while she scooped them up into her arm.
Two or three minutes elapsed before the older daughter had stopped sobbing sufficiently to uncover her eyes and peek at me again.
What I love about the photo is how the mother gently, with confidence and love, smiles and holds the children. She was not shusshing them, or telling them to stop their crying. She understood. Her children had good reason to be frightened — I look very very different, and do not speak Konkomba. She just held them tightly. What a beautiful picture of love.
The older brother, however, was not so much frightened —- as curious. What kind of man was looking at him? So while his younger sisters were getting some extra attention, he was turning on the curiosity.
After several minutes, he started sneaking peaks at me from around the corner. I looked up, feigning surprise each time, and returned his gaze with a large smile. Finally, he was fist-bumping me and waiting patiently for me to peek over the four-foot wall and stare down at him. Fear conquered.
Finishing the Audio Recordings
Cyrus and Clement were working efficiently in parallel. Clement finished up all the Bible stories and pastor’s materials from the dining room, while Cyrus worked from a room in the guest house. Cyrus recorded a local doctor and nurse as they made it through 12 community health lectures. WOW!!!
Yes, a guest house room can also be a studio.
No, you can’t record there
While searching for a particularly pleasant place to record video of the choirs, I spied a Baobab tree ringed with smaller trees enjoying the shade.
“No no no, you can not go there!”
I wondered if the massive tree was on someone else’s property, or there was a custom that I didn’t know.
“Many, many bees live there, they could attack,” explained the pastor.
The thought of on African bee swarm attacking the choir in 106 degree weather had me sharing exaggerated nods and agreeing.
So, naturally, I snuck back later to take some photos. I could see at least 5 massive hives, each 3 to 4 feet in diameter, in the small area I went to explore. There were probably 5 to 10 more. I decided to retreat.
A little internet sleuthing later and I understood the immense caution — “sudden movement and loud noises” can cause the bees to swarm. I’m pretty certain most American choirs would be completely safe under a Baobab full of African bee hives — -but a dancing, drumming, singing Ghanian choir? “No no no, you can not go there”! Good advice.
Wrapping Up the Audio
On this trip we completed recording the Sissala language of the Tumu region and the Konkomba language of the Saboba region. While Beth helped organize, I did none of the microphone or video setup — it was 100% Cyrus and Clement. Fifteen months after receiving the “recording backpacks” that we constructed, they have mastered the basic skills needed to record good audio in a variety of difficult situations.
In the evening, we discussed lessons learned and encouraged C&C to take on even larger projects with their new training. Once Beth and I get home, we will do final processing of all of the digital files and produce master copies of the audio and video and start ordering more solar players and microSD cards for mobile phones. So Cool!
One more break, three more friends
A smile can help, but sometimes it is not enough. Three young ladies were walking down the road to get water. I got big smiles from 66% :-)
Motorcycle Canoe Ferry
Saboba, the small town where we stayed to record Konkomba is just a few miles from the Togo border. As we finished the final day of recording and the sun began to set, the pastors led us down to the river.
We expected to see young ladies, children, and mothers fetching water and washing clothes. Maybe we would once again catch a group of boisterous kids cooling off in the muddy river. Instead, we found a ferry crossing between Ghana and Togo.
Saying Goodbye to the North
Some photos from the drive back to Accra… followed by Giggles…
Giggles
While driving back from the river, Beth spotted this wonderful scene. Five giggling children who had climbed up onto a small wooden structure used to keep goats and sheep from nibbling food. Below, one of the children is in shock at seeing the bald, sweaty white guy driving a truck — but the rest find it just wonderfully entertaining. Each with a heartwarming smile. I should have stopped the car and spent 10 minute photographing them all — but we were racing against the sunset, and so only a quick iPhone photo was possible. Below the photo is a 6 second video. I recommend playing it several times to simply enjoy the giggles.
We are back in Accra. Tomorrow I’ll be teaching at the OneWay offices and Beth and I will try and wrap up all the technical work before heading home. Wow, a full, full trip.
Postscript: My skin issues have resolved greatly, thanks for the prayers. Between the blister beetle blisters, the heat rash, and what seems like a significant bite/sting that turned into a somewhat unfriendly reaction, and 106 degree heat, this trip was physically demanding. But we have smiles and joy — the work is good, the Lord is good, and we are being stretched.
