Thursday, December 10, 2009

Taxi Drivers


I find taxi drivers here so frustrating and irritating, that I am designating a post to them.

Top 5 annoying things taxi drivers do:

1) Honk repeatedly at you, as if you didn’t hear them the first 10 times as they were approaching you.

2) Make hissing/kissing noises to get your attention….or if they are parked, will say "hello?" "hello?" "hello?" about 5 times until you look over and shake your head no.

3) Picture this. It is a busy road, with cars driving in both directions. I am trying to cross the street and am halfway. Then a taxi will be passing and will slow down to see if you want a ride, but really all he is doing is blocking the road for me to cross, loosing the small window of opportunity to cross the road.

4) When I am standing at my house gate, knocking to be let in, and a taxi driver across the street is stopped, honking at you….I AM TRYING TO ENTER MY HOUSE!!

5) When I am standing at a tro tro (bus) station, waiting for a tro tro to get to my destination. There were generally be a few taxis there as well, and many times the driver will approach me, in a crowd of many people and ask where I am going. He then will say something like ‘come, lets go’. I am just standing there, waiting for a tro tro to get home, just like everybody else.

I think about these things way too often, and because all this anger is bottled up it then pisses me off even more. Last night I actually said, ‘fuck you’ to a taxi driver. I couldn’t help it. I was just walking to buy minutes for my phone and the driver was super insistent and obnoxious. He kept saying, ‘come on baby’, which made me furious, and then it just came out. ‘FUCK YOU’.I was shocked with myself. He didn’t seem to care as he started laughing hysterically. So not as satisfying as I would have hoped. I guess this would be categorized as one of those 'ridiculous' (hence the blog title) moments.

Sometimes I forget how much I stand out. Sometimes I just wish I could just walk freely and not have people assume that I need to take a taxi everywhere I go. I think many people think "obrunis" (foreigners) are totally incompetent. Like we aren’t able to take a tro tro, or that we deserve better or something. Many times too, when I am crossing the road (often at busy intersections), someone will stand next to me and when there is a clearing, they will say, "ok now"…as if we don’t have busy roads or traffic from where I am from and have no clue when the right time is to cross.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

My address

Some people have asked for my address, so here it is:

Alison Roadburg
The Center for Gender Studies and Advocacy
University of Ghana
Box 862
Legon, Accra, Ghana

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Song Competition Launch Event

Just a brief update on the popular culture event we had last week. It was great! Just a reminder, CEGENSA (who I work for) in collaboration with a group called Pathways for Women’s Empowerment held a song competition in April, seeking submissions that change the stereotypical role of women in popular music. The idea was to use the music industry as an outlet for change, trying to represent women as key members of society who hold roles outside the domestic sphere and whereby they are not merely sexual objects dancing in the background of videos. Anyways, the winner of the competition was awarded a music video, which our staff were in, but the previewing we had the Friday before the launch event, I was not seen at all…which believe me, I was relieved. I’m not a spotlight kind of girl, so I was quite satisfied to not be seen. The launch itself was great, and there were performances of poetry, the Ghana Dance Ensemble, speeches from various head figures of CEGENSA, Pathways and the VC of the University of Ghana. The three winning artists then performed their songs, and the first place video was shown. Throughout the entire evening, one of my co-worker sons, who is about 8 years old, was sitting with me and was extremely intrigued by my camera. I showed him how to use it, and mistakenly put the strap around his neck, and that was it. I luckily got it back in one piece, but before I knew it, he was walking all around the room, taking pictures of audience members, shoes, people’s watches and the floor…he was short after all. And then his younger brother came over, who was not as gentle. He was grabbing at it, wanting to be like his brother, but there was no way I was going to hand over my camera to this 4 year old. And then the video was shown. So while juggling with these two boys, and trying to glance up at the screen, I see my bright white face alone singing on the massive screen. I knew they were doing some editing from the day before when I had seen it, but I was not expecting to see myself singing along to ‘As Long as You are a Woman.’ So classic. And then the guy next to me says, ‘Oh that’s you!!’, ‘yes, yes, it sure is." When the event came to a close, I was speaking with Ama, my co-worker who I adore, and the mother of these two boys, she approaches me and said, "Oh, they were worrying you weren’t they??" Saying this as if she had been watching me fumble around awkwardly with them the whole time, and secretly loved it!


Monday, November 30, 2009

"You're Invited"

I thought I’d skew away from my standard self-indulgent posts to comment on a practice here that I have been taking note of recently. Whenever people are eating, they invite those around them to join in. They will say, ‘you are invited’, and the others will then thankfully nod. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone actually accept this invitation, and dig into the food, but it is a mere formality to be polite. Its kind of like how we say, ‘how are you’, and the other person generally responds with, ‘I’m good, thanks’. No one actually ever says how they really feel. "Oh, I had such a crappy day…"You’d never be able to get anywhere if we actually told people ‘how we were.’

So I totally know this is a practice, and I normally am pretty good about inviting those around me to share my food, but sometimes it slips. The other day at work, being one of those days, I was called out on it. I was told that I should bring this practice back home, so my way of doing that is to post about it. I guess im latching onto this blog more than I had initially thought!
A great example of the necessity of this practice was in a taxi yesterday. After bargaining for the price for about a minute or so, and after having agreed upon a price that was 3 cedis (the currency) lower than his asking price, we were driving along and he invited me to his food. So not only had we just gotten into an argument, had he tried to rip me off big time, and I obviously sneered and rolled my eyes at him for treating me like I just walked off the plane a day earlier, he still invited me to his meal! Another example was at gym the other day. I was listening to music, running away and in my zone, when I was interrupted by Chris (the trainer), to say, "come let’s eat." I graciously declined, and began thinking a lot about this custom. I tried to picture this ever happening at gyms in Canada, and I simply could not. We are so use to an environment where people are always in their ‘zone.’ Campuses, subways, busses, streets and gyms, people are listening to headphones in their zone, and if they are not listening to headphones, they are still in their zone. When we walk around, we have strict places to go, people to meet and things to buy. We have an agenda for every aspect of our lives (or at least I do!) and we work furiously to accomplish this. The pace of life is different here, and although it takes some time to adjust to, you just have to adjust. People walk slower here, even if they have somewhere to be. And then I notice myself, speeding by people on sidewalks, even though I am in no hurry at all. Students on campus here seem way more relaxed and less…manic. Often I see obruni’s (foreigners) walking around campus with their Ipods glued to their ears, and I hate to say it but they look really foolish and out of place. They are walking around alone, madly swiveling their thumb around the dial, and I can’t help but think to myself, we ought to invite people in more often. When I think of McGill’s campus (especially during exam time…), it is the complete opposite. Pretty much everyone has white cords coming out of their heads, speeding from the library to class to get more coffee…myself included. Im not saying this is ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, but when I am so far removed from that kind of environment, its hard to not to think about alternatives. Now, I know this is the standard, ‘no hurry in Africa’ type argument, and I don’t mean to be so cliché, I swear, but the whole idea of inviting those around you to join you, got me thinking.

Alright, im off to the immigration office as i realized that my visa expires today....and i dont really want to be deported just yet.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Hi all,

So I have been getting a ton of pressure to update more. I think many of you think my life is way more exciting than it actually it. But I will try to fill the void. Work is actually great! As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was slow at the beginning, and although I expected as such, it was hard to deal with. I spoke with the professor (head of CEGENSA) about getting more work and she was super responsive. And I am now overloaded! The main thing that I am working on is research for a sexual harassment project. I have been given loads of data to analyze, and I will also be conducting interviews with students on this topic as well. We are also in the midst of planning an event, which is next weekend, which will present the winning song from a contest that presents women from a positive light. The idea is that the majority of songs that are played in Ghana (and around the world…) present women as either sex objects or as wives. CEGENSA is striving to change this image, which is why this contest took place. The winning artist will not only receive an outstanding ovation in their honor by the wonderful CEGENSA and guests, but they are also being awarded a music video to accompany the song. The song is obviously about women, and a major element of it is representing some of the influential African women leaders, both past and present. There is a photo in the office of all the CEGENSA staff, and the video producer wanted to emulate the photo. So last weekend, we all were to dress in white and we stood in a formation similar to the photo ( and I obviously got the spot of the previous white intern…). We all had to learn the chorus, and sing along with the artist. Needless to say, it was hilarious. One girl asked if we were allowed to dance, and the producer replied with a stern ‘no dancing’, but he let us sway and move our hips, phewf! Haha

Earlier this week, I made a visit to the Buduburam Liberian refugee camp where I use to live/work. When I was about to leave last time, there was a beginning push to clear out the camp. The UN had essentially left years prior, yet there were still thousands of Liberians living on the camp, with no assistance. Life was tough for sure, but unfortunately many people had more stability in Ghana than they did in Liberia. So as I was saying, when I was on my last month in the country, the Ghanaian army had a mission to clear out the camp. This involved raiding the space and searching everyone for UN issued ID cards. People fled into the bushes and those found without a card were put into jail. The UNHCR then re-emerged and gave people the option to either repatriate to Liberia or reintegrate into Ghana. For weeks there was a strong UN presence, checking people’s ID cards, and if they had one, they were eligible for the free transportation back to Liberia. Sounds great. I then learned that a very large percentage of people did not have a UN ID card, because the UN was only issuing them when they were still working on the camp – prior to 2005. This being said, way too many people arrived after 2005, meaning they were technically living there illegally, and were therefor not eligible for the free plane ride home. So now what? That’s the question. This whole process is now over, yet there are still so many Liberians living on the camp.

I did not mean to just give you all a whole rundown of the situation, but once I get going on this, its hard to stop. But where I was going with this is that I went back to the camp this week to visit some of the people I use to work with. I think when I lived there, I was so jaded with the whole situation, that nothing really phased me anymore. But now, I am living in Accra, in a great house, and im working at the University, with the upper crust of society. This being said, traveling back to the camp was a real shock. It seems as though nothing has changed (and I mean how can it? There is no money and hardly any assistance from the outside). Walking around as a foreigner, I scream wealth, luxury and abundance, which is a feeling I hate. My old colleagues are great people, with great intentions, but I just don’t have the time, money or patience to put towards the camp. I went there that day to visit, but I was immediately asked to lead workshops on the weekend and support (financially) their projects. I came back to Ghana for myself. As selfish as that is it’s the truth and I need to stand by that. The work environment that I am in now is so great, and being back on that camp reminded me of that. The staff here treat me as an equal, and never single me out for having money. That being said, they are a very lucky percentage of the population. But it is just so refreshing to be working for a place that actually gets shit done! They have the resources, support, experience and ideas to really generate change. And that is so exciting. Walking through the camp, so many people remembered me. It was nice to see old faces, but at the same time, just walking around brought back some not so great memories. It sounds so awful to vent about how much I hated it there, as it was still my ‘choice’ to be living there. I always had the option to go into town for dinner, shopping etc, yet I am the one complaining. This time around, I think I just need to separate myself from the camp, as there is really nothing that I can do. The problems are so huge in scope, and really the only thing people need is a serious change…which I simply cannot bring. Yes, doing workshops are no doubt beneficial, as the lack of education is a serious problem, but I am not really prepared to spend my weekends on the camp, presenting workshops on topics that I googled the day before.

Sorry this post is so long! I have yet to find a happy medium! So things in general are pretty good! I’m surprisingly busy and at the end of the day I am so exhausted. This is really the first time where I have a 9-5 job everyday. Its great! I love that I can come home at the end of the day and have no work to do! Ahh the joys of no longer being a student. But my life is beginning to reflect one of a 45-year-old. I go to the gym in the morning, go to work, buy groceries, meet friends for a drink, make dinner, and am in bed by 10:00. And do it all over again the next day. I’m only 22! Scary, I know.

Hope your all is swell!


P.S. The power is off right now (‘lights out”, as it is called here), so we are sitting around the office listening to gospel/sappy songs about love and Jesus…so great!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

I’m clapping my hands


So last time I was here, the beginning month was tough. In an e-mail from my parents, I remember they jokingly said, ‘if your happy and you know it, clap your hands,’ and I responded that there was definitely no clapping going on. Slowly I started to get more into the swing of life here, so I replied to them, ‘I’m tapping one hand on my knee.’ And finally the day came when I was positively able to respond that I was yes, ‘clapping my hands.’ So I am now able to say again, that I am clapping my hands. Finally! When I first got here, I think I had written in my post that I felt like I was plopped back into my old life. That was indeed true, but I didn’t feel as generally happy as I knew I use to be. I was nervous that I had a romanticized vision built up in my head that did not pan out to be true. I felt comfortable and settled with life here and things felt totally normal, yet I wasn’t happy with it. I felt like everyone was always staring at me (granted they were, but it made me super uncomfortable, whereas before it didn’t), and I felt like everyone knew I was ‘fresh off the boat.’ I forgot how much common things cost, which made me uncomfortable and I had to re-learn how to get around. Work was slow, even though I expected that, yet it really frustrated me. Walking around the market (a place where I use to love just roaming around and talking to people, totally stressed me out!)But that passed! Phewf! I guess I assumed that since I already dealt with culture shock the first time around, I would be able to avoid it. But that was not the case. I guess it wasn’t really ‘shock’, but more of cultural re-adjustment. So yea, I’m clapping my hands! Maybe even humming along with the clap…

Work is really starting to pick up. The first two weeks were very slow. As I mentioned, I decided to be apart of the popular culture event. I thought this would be way more time consuming than it actually was. The few tasks that I had to do took me a total of an hour. So I managed to read a novel, sleep, catch up on phone calls and e-mails all from my desk! I wanted to meet with the professor to get some more work, but she was so busy that we were only able to meet this past Monday. So I have gotten on board with the sexual harassment unit, and as soon as I meet with the others who work with this section of CEGENSA, I will begin to work on the current research project. We had a colloquium on Friday for students at the University with the theme of ‘sex, sexuality and harassment.’ The University of Ghana does not yet have a policy against sexual harassment on campus, so CEGENSA has spearheaded a draft policy that is currently under revision. Obviously a policy like this is long overdue, but better late than never, I guess. In conjunction with this policy work, the sexual harassment unit is working on a research project to understand what students know about sexual harassment. The colloquium on Friday was in response to this, where we had various speakers from the University to address the issue - a med. School prof., a woman from the law institute to address the legal side, the student council reps, and members from a counseling center on campus. Some other staff and I had to write a report yesterday (12 pages!!) on the event. I am not at all a fan of group work, so working with 6 others to compile our scrap notes and write this report was a serious test on my nerves and patience! We (the royal ‘we’…I) began writing the document by hand and as I knew we (again the royal ‘we’…I) would be typing it after, I decided to scrap the pen and paper idea after about 3 pages, and go right to the computer. Much better! Although there was a moment that my co-worker sitting next to me, was leaning over my shoulder and was literally reading every word out loud as I was typing. I almost lost it. No joke.

This past weekend was my friend Jen’s (picture) wedding! I met Jen when I was here last time, and this was too when she met her now husband. They went to the registrar’s office on Friday, where the legal ceremony was performed. Myself along with one of the grooms friend were the witnesses. The man who performed the ceremony was not the nicest of people, as he was pretty snarky to Zein (jen’s husband), and in the middle of the ceremony, his phone rang and he said “oh its my sister from the UK”…only in Ghana! Saturday evening was a party at a beach hotel, which was really nice and a lot of fun! My friend Andrea is coming in this weekend, so that’s exciting! I keep trying to convince her to move to Accra!

So that’s that!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

getting going

Sorry its been a while since the last post. I am new to the blogging world, so I’m not to sure what the normal protocols are for how often one should write. But I have been getting e-mails from people asking me when the next entry is coming, so I am beginning to feel the pressure.

I spent last weekend in the eastern region of Ghana in a small town called Ho. The eastern region is very beautiful, with lush green mountains and a waterfall that is considered the largest in West Africa. I explored these tourist destinations last time I was here, and my time in Ho this past weekend was pretty relaxing. My friend Andrea works and lives in Ho, so we spent the weekend at her place relaxing, watching movies, reading and drinking a lot of wine! The water and electricity were intermittent throughout the weekend, so we decided not to venture into the heat all that much…in case there was neither necessities upon our return. It was great to hang with Andrea and escape the busy life of Accra for a few days.

I returned on Monday, and the next day I met with the professor/director of CEGENSA to discuss my experience and role with the organization. She explained to me the 3 research projects that are currently being worked on as well as other initiatives that I may be interested in getting involved in. A short-term project that I have decided to join is called the popular culture event. This event is co-producced by CEGENSA and the department of performing arts at the University. The idea is to present the winning 3 songs from an earlier contest, with the mandated in mind to change the traditional roles women play in music. This event will take place at the end of November, with the performance of the 3 winning songs, plus a music video awarded to the first place song (sponsored by CEGENSA and the dept. of perf. Arts), and some dances performed by students.

I expressed interest in getting involved with this initiative, so I later attended a board meeting to go over the winning 3 songs (previously chosen) and to discuss other details. The meeting was great and I am really looking forward to begin.

Other than that, not too much is new. The lock on my room door is broken, so if I close the door, I cannot get back in. So the past few days I have left it open, as the only other solution is for the “small boy” (the boy who helps out around the house) to go into another tenants room, climb over his bathroom, push out a wooden plank which is connected to my bathroom and then let me in (I guess thats where 'small boy' comes in handy??). Not the most convenient of options! I think today the carpenter is coming to replace the lock…I hope!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Finally here

So this is it. My first blog entry from Ghana. Its pretty crazy to be here, sitting in the same internet cafe that I use to come to all the time 2 years ago. That's pretty much been the theme of my last few days. Re-living all the things that were so normal to me. I am surprised how adjusted I am to everything. I mean I knew exacty what to expect, but I have not really experieced any culture shock, and I feel as though I am just plopped back into my old life. As I am writing this, I have been interruped multiple times by both the woman who runs the cafe, Harriet, to ask me when we are going to Church, and this small girl who use to always run to me when I baught banannas from her mother in the morning. She gets soo excited to see me, and then when I talk to her, she just stares. I ask her question, and every answer is "fine." Is prety cute!


So yea, things like that are super normal, and since I am living in the same area as last time, many peeople here remember me, which is nice. There is a intersection (junction as they call it here) right near my house where I use the internet, buy food etc., and I have somehow become friends with all of the women who work there. So when I walk to the tro tro (bus) in the morning to go anywhere, it takes me an extra 15 minutes to greet everyone. And if I try to hide, I am obviously spotted and my name is called.


The one thing that I do need to get readjusted to is the pace of life here...and the heat! I have had some minor frusterations getting started with my internship - which has yet to happen. The professor I am working with is super busy and she wants to meet with me formally to understand what kind of work I want to do. I briefly met with her today, and she seems like such a smart and powerful woman. She was pretty intimidating actually. But hopefully I will meet with her soon and thigs will get going. And the heat. Oh the heat! All I am going is i shower 3 tims a day.


Other than that things are great! My friend Andrea (who I met last time I was here, who is from the US) is also back in Ghana but she lives 3 hours away. She is so awesome and came into Accra for the weekend to get me from the airport and help me get settled in. I am going to go stay with her this coming weekend, and im pretty excited to get out of the city. The past few days have been good. I have been seeing old friends, which has been really nice, as well as getting settled and putting my room together. I was pretty jetlagged the first few days, but was busy that by Tuesday I crashed! And thats pretty much it! Nothing so exciting to report, but just wanted to touch base!


I will update once my work starts.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Come one, come all...

Welcome to my first blog post! I guess this better be a good one...

Obviously I do not have much to say yet, as I am still at home, in Thornhill, trying to organize my life together (into 2 bags!) for my time in Ghana. Just as a briefing, I am leaving for Ghana tomorrow, for about a year. I will be working as a research assistant at the university where I studied 2 years ago, the University of Ghana. I will be working for a research center, called the Center for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA) - I will probably be referring to that quite a bit this year! If you are interested, the website for CEGENSA is: http://cegensa.ug.edu.gh/

I am really excited about this opportunity, and the organization seems very professional, and well orchestrated. I am super excited to finally get there, meet the staff whom I have been in contact with for the past year and begin. Something that I also want to emphasize is that I have no training in the field of gender studies, but it has been something I wanted to pursue and learn about for a while. As a social work student at McGill, we did not have the opportunity to choose a 'minor' subject of interest, whereby making it difficult to group the courses of my choice into a category. I am taking this year to explore some options for my future as a professional - whatever capacity that may be. Gender studies and feminist thought and analysis have been a major component of my thought process for quite some time now, so I am really looking forward to learning from and working along side the staff of CEGENSA to see if this is indeed a direction I can see myself in in the future....the future! So ambiguous, i know.

My time in Ghana two years ago was so unbelievably spectacular, and upon my graduation this past Spring, I knew I had to go back. To me, Ghana is a place of such warmth (both the people and the climate!), generosity, lure, culture, stress, frustration, activity and beauty. When I left last time, I felt like I was just getting settled with all of this and it was time to go. It was easy to get caught up with the heat, traffic and cultural differences, but once one learns to cope, the rest is simple. The people are amazing and will go above and beyond to help. If you are lost, they will go out of their way to walk you where you need to go. As cheesy as it is, I learned so much about myself, patience, respect, resourcefulness, common courtesy, and the simple kindness of saying 'good morning' to strangers, things that I hope I will never forget. And these are the reasons I am going back.

Many people have asked me why I am going back to Ghana? Why not go somewhere else? And truthfully, I decided to go back the day after my arrival back to Canada. There are defenately moments where I question if this is the right decision. Should I have decided to stay home and work? Or why am I not going to India, somewhere I do really want to go? But the more I think about it, the more I know I made the right decision. I feel as if I made so many connections in Ghana, I (on my own level, to a certain degree) understand the culture, am familiar with common practices and traditions, have learned how to interact with people, feel safe, learned (after many many trials and tribulations!) to get around on my own and to basically just live. So these are the reasons I am going back. I feel lucky that there is this small country, 17 hours away from home, with a culture and religion so different from my own that i feel so comfortable in. It took a year to get to that point, so the thought of doing it all over again, somewhere else, sounds downright exhausting! So these are the reasons why I am going back to Ghana. I'm not going to 'help Africa', or 'save Africa', i'm going because I love the country, am not ready to go to grad school yet, and have an internship that I am super stoked about!


Sorry that this entry has a journal vibe, but i'm new to the blog world! I will try not to spill my guts for the next entry!