juxtaposition

this morning i read a photo essay from nytimes about documenting haiti from the time the earthquake hit to the present day. i was particularly struck by this photo:

because it reminded me of a photo i took whilst in paris:

an interesting juxtaposition. in the top photograph, the man is in a situation which leads him to throw stones to voice his political opinion. in the bottom, the man has the luxury and freedom to play boules during the day. his country also had an influence on why the boy feels the need to throw stones. there's my deep thought for the day.

*top photo courtesy of nytimes.com

...

huzzah! i have a camera. one of my supervisors from SLC is here for a week so he brought it with him. thanks jules! i'm excited to finally start documenting some of the sights here. and dang, are there a lot of them. how bout a man carrying a huge bowl on his head full of.... live chickens. that's talent right there. here's an recap of the week:

we taught our first workshop on tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. we started with 13 participants, but about 15 minutes into the first class, one left to go to the bathroom (we thought) and didn't come back. guess he wasn't interested. it felt GREAT to finally start doing what i came here to do. we got a lot more exposure to the culture as well, especially as it pertains to education and businesses. for example, there are basically no intellectual property right here (the laws are there, they're just not enforced) so people are very wary to be creative because some joe schmoe off the street can steal their idea and market it for cheaper. rude! but really, it makes me grateful to live in america were innovation is for the most part encouraged and protected. one of our most promising participants from the group was nawal, a lebanese/ghanaian who joined the church about a year ago. she wants to start a business doing personal grocery shopping for people. i love her enthusiasm and energy, so hopefully she'll follow through with her business plan. so yes, it was definitely a rewarding week and i'm excited to keep teaching!

on saturday we went with elder and sister maughn (he is the church's doctor for west africa) to the MTC in Tema, a city about 20 km from accra. random fact: tema is the closest city to 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude, so ghanaians like to say that they're at the center of the earth. this is of course assuming that they know what latitude and longitude are... ghanaians are completely directionally oblivious. if you ask someone for directions, it'll most likely involve turning right or left at the tree with the low-hanging limb, or something of that sort. addresses usually include the business across the street as a reference point. example:

the lord's supermarket (an actual store)
across from __________
accra, ghana

it doesn't help that 90% of the streets aren't named. so, you learn to just roll with it and laugh along the way. if you're uptight, you just won't survive here.

i was officially called as a primary teacher and i already have my favorite student. is that terrible or what? but his name is kelvin. and he is 5 and adorable. and closes his eyes in order to hit the high notes during singing time. i'm going to like this calling, i can tell.

7,000 miles...

... seems a lot further right now. miss you grandpa.

Arthur Francis Smith 1926 ~ 2011 Arthur Francis Smith, our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, peacefully passed away on January 27, 2011 surrounded by his wife and children. He was 84 years of age. He struggled for over two years with pulmonary fibrosis, finally succumbing to respiratory failure during a short stay at UVRMC in Provo, Utah. He was born October 17, 1926 in Pocatello, Idaho to Francis Edmund and Geraldine Fife Smith but grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Arthur loved to go camping and fishing as a boy, and was active in sports all through high school. During World War II, he served his country by enlisting in the Navy - serving as a Fire Controlman Third Class on the USS Vulcan in the Pacific theater. In 1954, he retired from the Naval Reserves as an Ensign. After the War and with the help of the GI Bill, he attended the University of Montana in Missoula. It was during college that he met Lois Elaine Dye. They were married December 28, 1948 in Kalispell, Montana and were sealed June 23, 1967 in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple. Arthur graduated with degrees in Economics and History/Political Science. Employment with Montgomery Ward as an Industrial Engineer took him and his family to Denver, Colorado, St. Paul, Minnesota, Chicago, Illinois, and Kansas City, Kansas. In 1962, he began working for Red Owl and then National Tea Supermarkets in the Midwest - moving with his family to Minnetonka, Minnesota, Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. He retired with his wife to Orem, Utah in 1996 to live near their children and grandchildren. Arthur loved all the places he lived - embracing the culture and heritage of each region of the country. Professionally, he pioneered Cryovac packaging, centralized meat distribution plants, and streamlined warehousing. He was respected by all who worked with him. Active in community, he served for many years in the PTA and as a member of the School Board for the Hopkins Minnesota School District. He also enjoyed gardening, fishing, beekeeping, bird watching, being outdoors, cooking and reading. An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Arthur found great joy in serving as the Ward Mission Leader and Gospel Essentials teacher wherever he lived. He served in many other capacities and loved being a home teacher. He is survived by his wife and five children: Deborah (Alan) Glenn, Dr. Marshall Smith, Julie (James) Siebach, Therese (Reid) Miller, and Cameron (Stephanie) Smith; his brother Dr. G. Bruce (Traci) Smith; 28 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents, his sister Marilyn, and daughter-in-law, Ann Marie Smith. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, February 2, 2011, at 11 a.m. at the Orem Heatheridge Stake Center located at 450 East 2000 North in Orem, Utah. Last respects may be given during a viewing at the Walker Sanderson funeral Home, 646 East 800 North in Orem, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 1, 2011. Friends may also pay their respects from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. prior to the funeral services. Interment will be held at the Orem City Cemetery. The family expresses sincere gratitude to all the care givers at American Fork Hospital, Orem Nursing and Rehab, and UVRMC for their skilled and compassionate care. Condolences may be sent to the family at: www.walkerfamilymortuary.com

WTG #1

So I think I'm going to do a series of WTG posts-- sights, sounds, sayings, and/or experiences that make me say: Wow. Welcome to Ghana (WTG). So here's #1:

On Thursday Lizzy and I needed some food so we went from the Temple complex towards immigration where we heard there was a place to grab cheap food. Along the way, we saw a van pulled off the side of the road that seemed to be a pretty well-established business (meaning their van wasn't rusting and had advertising on the side) so we thought we would just go there and get some grub. Now, I try not to eat a lot of chicken/red meat, so when the worker asked me if I wanted chicken or fish with my rice, I immediately said fish. The second I said it, I knew I'd regret it... and yup. I did. After returning to the office to eat, I opened up my box and there it was: a whole fried fish- scales, head, bones and all-- on top of my rice. The insides were all there too... Of course, I had to try a bite (only one, I assure you). But note to self: always go for the chicken.

One week down...

eleven more to go? But who's counting... I'm definitely not. This past week has been one of the longest of my life, but the days themselves go by really quickly. Weird. This past week, we've been going through our "orientation" with our assistant manager, Alex, our other assistant manager Fred, and one of the volunteers at the Employment Resource Center, Rebecca. I'll give a summary of the past few days:

Monday: Met Alex, had a Ghana culture/history lesson, met a lot of people in the area office. Took a taxi up to the Accra Mall to go to the grocery store.

Tuesday: In the morning, we went into the ERC to observe the Career Workshop that was being taught this past week. We learned a lot about Ghanaian classroom culture and got a better idea of how we want to do things. In the afternoon, we finally got out to see Accra a little bit! Rebecca took us to Osu, a neighborhood in Accra that has a lot of shops and such. A lot of abrunis (white people) are around here, so the street vendors are very persistent. I had my first coconut from a road-side cart. They are green here and the vendor chopped off the top so we could drink the juice. A lot of people don't like it because they say it tastes fermented, but I loved it. I've got the actual coconut flesh in the fridge. Actually... I should probably check on that. We had our first real Ghanaian meal: red-red. It consists of fried ripe plantains and beans with a red sauce and a piece of fried chicken (fried chicken is EVERYWHERE!). Ghanaian food is pretty spicy, much to my surprise and delight!

Red-red!

Lizzy, Rebecca, and me. And no, I'm not a sister missionary.

Wednesday: Went back to the Accra Mall with Rebecca, but this time in a tro-tro! Tro-tros are the main method of public transportation here. Think old van with 15-20 people in it and you'll get the picture. There are no tro-tro routes posted, but there is a guy who will just yell out the window where the tro-tro is going. Apparently there's also some sort of hand-signal system that goes with it. But it's a lot cheaper than a taxi, so we'll probably end up taking it a lot.

Thursday: Our day "off" but we still went into the office to help with some mock interviews of people taking the Career Workshop. In the afternoon we found the Osu Children's Library. It's maybe a 15 minute walk from the temple. A Canadian, Kathy Knowles, set up these free libraries all around Africa, but the library in Osu was her first one. She converted an old freight car into a place where Ghanaian children can come and read (and have people read to them), get help with their homework, and today there's even a small computer lab (hoping to get the internet soon). They also teach adult literacy classes. We talked the lady in charge Joanna and she said we could come back and volunteer whenever we wanted, so we definitely will. The children... I love them.

Friday: Went into Accra Central. Saw a LOT of monuments and got a feel of the city. Accra is not particularly beautiful (I'm just being honest here). It's mostly just a lot of people trying to sell things. Being white, you are a big target and I don't really like that but it's really the nature of the beast. There are people. Everywhere.

Today: Got brave a decided to go running around the neighborhood. Luckily, Elder and Sister Maughn were walking so I walked with them for a while and they gave me the lay of the land. There are a lot of really nice houses around our apartment because there are a lot of embassies around, and they say it's pretty safe to run. A lot of abrunis do, so I feel better about that. We then hit up Ruth's fruit and vegetable stand and will DEFINITELY be going back. We got a TON of produce for about $13. Mangoes, papaya, tomatoes, avacado, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, onions... We had Elder Maughn cut up the mango for us (after it went through its bleach bath of course) and.... wow. I know I will be a mango snob when I get back home because it was so. damn. delicious.

So there you have it! My whirlwind week. I'm doing well and have yet to get sick (pray for me) but I'm finding Ghanaians to be quite pleasant people and pretty much always welcoming. It's time to get teaching!

P.S. One cool thing: in Ghana, everyone is given a nickname depending on what day of the week they are born. My name is Afia cause I was born on a Friday. Cool!

Akwaaba! (Welcome!)

A summary of the last 2 days:

• Arrived in Ghana yesterday morning. Our flight was delayed because of the haze in the sky that wouldn't allow us to land. Turns out it's the Harmattan wind from the Sahara has just started up and it's sand filling the sky. Our manager Atorbora picked us up from the airport and took us to our apartment. The temperature is a balmy 85 with a lot of humidity... reminds me of the grandparents farm in PA. Mango season just started :)
  
• Our apartment is a lot nicer than expected! AC, internet, washer, hot water, filtered water... can't get much better than that! We live in a complex with a few other members of the church. The area doctor lives upstairs and they have been very helpful already. They taught us how to wash everything in a bleach solution (including our fruits, vegetables, and eggs) so that we don't get sick. I'm finding out that you can get sick from a lot of things in Africa...
  
• Church today was pretty great. I love going to the church outside of America. The members were very welcoming and hopefully I'll get a calling in the ward sooner rather than later. The children here are BEAUTIFUL!!! I want one. As soon as I get a camera, I'll post some pictures.
• Tomorrow we go into the office (which is in the same compound as the temple and church) for our orientation. I'm excited to start teaching! Hopefully we'll be able to explore the city a bit more too. As of right now, we've just been between our apartment and the church. Time to explore!
  

mid-air

right now i'm blogging from about 30,000 feet. i'm enroute to jfk airport, where i will then catch my flight to accra, ghana. from this past sunday to yesterday evening, i've been in salt lake for training on my internship and despite the 8+ hours sitting on my big fat each day while learning the workshop i'm going to be teaching, it was surprisingly enjoyable. i met some great people-- too bad i probably won't see them again as we all leave to various parts of the world. there are 7 companionships going to peru, the dominican republic, mexico (2 companionships going here), brazil, bolivia, and ghana and we will all be teaching the self-employment workshop to mostly members of the LDS church, but it is open to everyone who wants to come. i still don't really know what to expect once i get there. i am surprisingly calm right now... intermixed with that calm is the occasional freak-out moment where i say to myself "holy s**** i'm going to africa!" but my study abroad experience did a decent job of prepping me for prepping me for the travel part. as for the living in africa part... i think i'll just have to figure it out during the next 3 months. i'm crossing my fingers for internet in our apartment so hopefully i'll be able to keep you all update on the goings. oh, and just to make you all jealous: current temperature in accra ghana is 86 degrees. no more winter for me!

my mom asked me last night what i was most excited about in the upcoming months... i am most excited to teach people. to stretch myself in the service of others. i am excited to have my world rocked by a different culture and to gain another perspective on the world. i'm excited for the opportunities to help and to grow. and i'm also excited to find out whether i want to do this sort of thing for the rest of my life. oh, and i'm excited to do stuff like surfing, watching monkeys and elephants, and taking a walk through the rainforest canopy on a wooden bridge. let the fun begin!!!

...

this is the fourth draft of this post. trying to transfer my emtions into words is proving rather difficult today.

i consider myself a rather independent person. over the years, i've decided that my happiness depends on me and only me and as such, i have real difficulty investing much in other people. this is of course attributed to experiences i've had with other people. control is my safety net and its maintenance depends on my ability to maintain a safe emtional distance from just about everyone. so today when my friend l. gave me a photo album of some of my experiences from the past 5 years, i began to think about how grateful i am for the people i've encountered in my 23 years. for those 5 minutes i flipped through the pictures, looking at each of the faces of friends and teammates and remembering the moments we shared, the cage around my heart lifted momentarily. i received a reaffirmation that life has been pretty damn good to me and it has been enriched by the people in it.

i've been supported throughout my adventures by steadfast friends and family. as my next adventure begins in (gulp) 6 days, i feel incredibly blessed to have good. decent people around me-- even though i may not let them get too close.

resolutions

in 2011, i will accomplish the following:

1. run a marathon
2. go to tennessee

africa in 12 days. (!)