Adenkrebi Home Stay

I just spent the past week living in the village of Adenkrebi. It's a long post, so get comfortable. Enjoy! 

:)

Sept 23

Before leaving for my home stay, I was able to Skype with my family for a bit. It was really nice to talk to them. After that, I cleaned my room and got ready to leave.

Apparently Kentwood, MI is a sister city with Adenkrebi. A student from Adenkrebi went to study abroad in Michigan and found this out and decided that the relationship should be more intentional. Some people at Calvin found out about the relationship and decided to use Adenkrebi as their “home away from home” for Calvin students studying in Ghana. The community agreed and Daniel houses us on behalf of the community because his house can accommodate the most people.

Daniel came and picked us up at our dorm around 4pm. We made it back to his house in Adenkrebi around 5. We went over what we’ll be doing while we’re here and got settled into our rooms. We’re really living quite comfortably here. Daniel and his family live in a really nice house with running water, electricity and several bedrooms. I’m rooming with Krista for the week and we have our own bathroom attached to our room. It’s awesome.

The evening was spent entertaining Daniel’s three daughters, Christabel (8), Dorthea (5), and Dromi (18 months). The two oldest wanted us to tell them stories, so a couple of the others told them some Disney princess stories and then the girls made up some stories for us to hear. They have an unbelievable amount of energy. I have a feeling they are going to wear me out by the end of the week. Good thing they’re cute.

Sept. 24

This morning I woke up at 6:30am to the sound of the rooster crowing outside. Not cool. I slept really well other than that.

Me and my class!

For breakfast we ate eggs with peppers and onions as well as bread and hot chocolate. It was delicious. After breakfast we had a quick lesson in the language of Ga and were told to get ready to go to the school. We visited the same school that I intern at, which was pretty fun. The kids are starting to know me by name. We went around and visited each classroom and even sang a song for one of the classes. After that we were separated into different classrooms to teach. Paola and I taught a lower middle school Religion lesson. We talked about the basics of the Trinity and what it meant to be a Christian. After class, we played games and took pictures with the kids. When it was time for us to leave, a herd of kids insisted on walking us back to Daniel’s house even though they were supposed to be in class.

We ate Red Red for lunch. I think it was my favorite version of Red Red I’ve had here because it wasn’t spicy at all. We also had plantains. After each meal that we get here, we are served bananas—the best bananas ever. We went to greet one of the elders after lunch. It’s customary to do so because they want to know everyone that enters their community. We were given a time to rest when we got back, so well all took naps.  I wish that was something people in the U.S. did. Sometimes, we just need rest! It was a lovely nap.

Pounding FuFu

After we woke up, we were taken around to the different houses in the village to meet people and observe how they prepare dinner. We got to help one women make palm nut soup! We also helped another lady pound FuFu. At one house, we even got to see a chameleon. It changed from green to brown when we put it on the ground in the dirt. We tried to get it to turn purple by setting it on Krista’s skirt, but I think that purple must be a difficult color to change into, so it just stayed a brownish color.

We had yams and stew for dinner. We didn’t get bananas afterwards, which was sad. We each got our own coconuts instead.

I had a lot of fun tonight. I think I’m really going to enjoy this home stay and this village.

Sept. 25

We learned how to farm this morning. After a breakfast of bread and chocolate spread, we were taken to the fields to pick beans and peppers, weed a cassava field, help clear a different field of sticks and then learn how to plant cassava. It was so much fun! It was really hot and sunny today, so we sweat quite a bit, but I still enjoyed it. We got to chop things with machetes.

When we got back to the house, we washed ourselves off right away. We were a well-earned mix of dirt and sweat. Krista and I both took a nap before eating lunch. Lunch today was groundnut soup. Groundnuts are peanuts. Don’t be fooled, this soup does not taste like peanuts. Although they are used to make it, they also add in things like fish and hot peppers. Not my favorite. We ate it with rice and then had fresh pineapple for dessert.

After lunch we had a lot of down time. I slept some more. I don’t know why I’m so tired all the time. I think it might have something to do with the heat. After we all woke up, we went to the living room and found that Hannah Montana was on TV. It was weird to get so excited over that show, but it was nice to see something familiar.

We observed palm wine tapping later on. The original settlers of Adenkrebi were palm tree harvesters. They relied on palm trees for almost everything—building houses, making food, making baskets, etc. We got to see part of the process of making palm wine. The men working were heating the inside of the tree up through a hole they had cut into it using a burning stick and tubes to blow the flames up into the tree. This allows the liquid to flow down and into a jug placed under the tree. It was pretty interesting to watch. I think we get to try it after the entire process is finished.

For dinner we ate fried yams and stew. It sort of like eating French fries but in huge cubes dipped in a tomato and vegetable sauce. After dinner, we played cards for a while. I went to bed early because we have to be up and ready by 5:30am for a hike to catch the sunrise.

Sept. 26

It was an early morning! We had to be up and ready by 5:30am, which wasn’t much of an issue because the rooster (we named him Rodger) started crowing outside my window around 3:50am. We hiked for about a half an hour to a place that overlooked Accra. It was pretty cloudy, so we didn’t get to really watch the sunrise, but it was still really pretty.

I slept for another hour after we got back and then we ate breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to go on yet another hike. We hiked to a waterfall and then climbed down it. It was crazy. I’ve never rock climbed before, but I got to do it today without any rope or anything! It was hard at times, but I had fun. The big rocks and the waterfall at the end were beautiful. Most of the climbing was through the forest/jungle, which was another really awesome part about it. The trees here are amazing. After the hike I showered immediately because I was really sweaty and hot. The cold shower felt really good.

Since our before lunch activities were pretty draining, we got to have the afternoon to ourselves. We ate lunch and then took naps. After that we sort of just hung out until dinner and after dinner, we watched a movie. Oh yeah, we also tried palm wine last night. The other girls thought it tasted like sausage, which is weird. I just thought it tasted bad.

Sept. 27

We got up early this morning to go fetch water and then carry it on our heads back to the village. What an adventure! It’s a good 20-25 minute walk to the river down a pretty steep road. We had to go down into the river and fill our containers and then walk it back to the village up hill...on our heads. It was so much fun, but also really hard. I did okay (I attribute that my several years of doing showmanship back when I showed horses), but I certainly wasn’t able to keep all of the water in the container. The people here go and fetch water 4 times every day. I can’t even imagine.

After we came back and recuperated for a minute, we had to leave to go greet the chief of the village. We sat in this meeting room that had his stool and everything in it. Stools are a big deal here. Chiefs are “stooled” in the same way that people are sworn into an office. They symbolize power or something like that. In order to greet the chief, you must shake his hand with your right while grasping your right wrist with your left hand. I’m glad they told us that ahead of time. Anyways, we had to tell him our names and he told us we were welcome and then we left. It was a rather short visit.

Later, Daniel took us to a research center that specializes in herbal medicine. They research plants and things like that. It was pretty interesting. After that we went to a university near Adenkrebi. It was called Ashesi University. It sort of made me homesick because it looked so much like a university in the U.S. The campus was beautiful.

We ate a late lunch and then all took naps afterwards. I felt like I had been awake for forever. In the evening, we tried to go find some FanChoco, but failed. I think I’m going through some withdrawals.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you! I’m sad that there is no phone or Internet service here. Know that I’m thinking of you today!L

Sept. 28

I fell asleep to the sound of rain last night. Not just any rain…it was more of a torrential downpour, but it was wonderful. We were told to be ready by 5:30am to go for another walk, but it was still raining when we got up, so Atabba (our guide for the week) didn’t come to the house, but we decided to go for a walk anyways.

I slept for another hour when we finished our walk and then ate breakfast. After breakfast we went to the school to participate in game day. Luckily, the rain cleared and the sun came out. I’ve never played so many rounds of Duck, Duck, Goose in my life. I also spent quite a bit of my time trying to break up a fight between two little girls.

After spending about 3 hours at game day, we came back to Daniel’s for lunch. It was then that we were informed that we were going crab hunting immediately after lunch. Atabba took us into the bush near the place we got water yesterday. Before he showed us where the crabs were, he wanted to show us the flowers around the place. They were so pretty. There were several different kinds, but I was only able to get decent pictures of a few of them. I kept thinking of my how much my grandparents would have loved to see them, so here are a few pictures.

After looking at the flowers, we got down to business. Atabba showed us how to hunt for a crab first. Basically, you find a crab hole and then you use a machete to make the hole a bit bigger so you can stick your entire arm into the hole and fish the crab out. Sounds easy enough, right?

I was feeling a bit brave, so I volunteered to go first. Atabba found the hole for me and dug with the machete to make sure a crab was actually down there and then he let me take things from there. Once I got down by the hole, I realized how scared I was. It’s kind of unsettling because you go into it blind. You can’t see what you’re doing, so you just hope that the crab doesn’t decide to get mad and assault you with its pinchers.  It took me awhile to actually get the courage to submerge my entire right arm into the hole to get this crab. Once I found him, I grabbed him and basically threw him out of the hole and then picked him up and threw him in the bucket. I’ve never had so much fun in my life. I wish my family had been there to see it. I was so proud of our group. We all successfully hunted our own crab. On our way back, it started to rain again. We really didn’t care because we were covered in mud anyways and we were pretty pleased with ourselves. 

It’s a really good thing Daniel’s house has running water, because we were all really dirty and needed showers right away. After we were all cleaned up, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean together and then ate dinner. We had non-spicy stir-fry. Best meal we’ve had here. It tasted like something my family would make at home.

After dinner, Atabba took us snail hunting! We went around 8:30pm with a bunch of his friends. The sun sets around 6:30 here, so it was really dark. Snail hunting isn’t quite as exciting as crab hunting (as you can probably imagine—they’re not very exciting animals), but it was a fun experience. In order to hunt a snail, you must walk around in the bush with a flashlight until you find one. When you find a snail, you pick it up and put in a bag. I wasn’t very good at spotting them, so I only managed to find 2. One of which was a baby snail that you can’t really use for food. The other one was big, so I was proud of myself. They’re pretty cool looking, but I’m not so sure how I feel about eating them.

While we were out and about at night, we went to a spot that overlooked Accra. We got some pictures and then headed back to Daniel’s to go to bed.

I’m pretty sure we’ll be eating our crabs and snails tomorrow at some point. Here’s to being adventurous!  

Sept. 29

We were allowed to sleep in today! We ate breakfast at 8am and were supposed to go learn how to uproot cassava, but it’s pouring again, so we didn’t go. We were hoping that the weather would clear up so that we could go and get the cassava, but it never did. But Atabba, being the great person that he is, went and got it in the rain for us because today is the day we learned how to make FuFu.

First, we peeled the cassava and washed it. When we finished that, we peeled some plantains and chopped them up. We put the cassava and plantains together and then boiled them.

While we waited for those things to boil, we ate a snack. Nancy (the nanny/cook at the house) gave us Gari. It’s like a ground up maize that you mix with sugar, water, and peanuts. I liked it, but no one else really did.

After our snack, we went back into the kitchen to start pounding the cassava and plantains. Cassava is naturally super starchy. It’s kind of sticky when you eat it by itself. So, when you pound it, it turns really doughy/gooey/sticky/slimy. After we pounded, we ate our lunch. FuFu is usually eaten with a stew as a dip. Our stew was groundnut stew with fish and a crab. Yes, each bowl of FuFu came with one of the crabs we caught yesterday. They still looked very much like themselves, just not alive. Here, you eat the entire crab. You are not given handi-wipes, garlic butter, and a tool to crack open the crab legs. (I think they’re too small to successfully be cracked open anyways.). You just take off a leg and eat it—shell and all.  The only thing you leave behind is it’s head. I was able to eat the legs. I couldn’t eat the pinchers or the body. I opened it up and then saw the crab’s innards and decided that was enough. I will say, once you get over the crunchiness, the legs aren’t that bad. I do have a problem eating FuFu. The texture is just weird to me, but every Ghanaian I’ve ever talked to raves about it. It’s Atabba’s favorite thing to eat. The groundnut stew was okay. It was spicy, but so is everything you eat here. Ghanaians love their hot peppers.

We had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. Krista napped while I picked up where I left off in my quest to read through the Bible. For dinner, we ate fried sweet potatoes and fish stew.

A few of my dance partners.
Notice the MSU T-shirt in the middle!

The village got together later in the evening for drumming and dance, so we joined in. The kids from the school were there and they showed us a bunch of dancing and clapping games. Most of these games are played by standing in a circle, clapping your hands while one person at a time goes into the middle to show off your best moves.

Here, you are given a couple names. When you are born you are given the name that represents the day you were born. Later, you are given your “actual” name. In one of the games we played, each day of the week was called out and when your day was mentioned, you went to the middle and danced. I was born on a Friday, so my day name is Afia. 

After dancing, Daniel surprised us with FanIce—the vanilla version of FanChoco. It’s really good. I would like it better if it was chocolate, but I will say that the texture of FanIce is better. It’s more like soft serve ice cream rather than a fudgecicle.

Sept. 30

It was our last day in Adenkrebi! We went to the Methodist church that’s about a 10-minute walk from Daniel’s house. It was a cement slab that had a tin roof, but no walls. It was quite nice. The first part of the service was a bible study followed by some hymns. After the hymns, the party started. People hauled out the drums and started dancing and singing like crazy. We were pulled to the front to join in on the dancing. After the party died down, a guest pastor gave a sermon. It was spoken in Ga, but she paraphrased it in English for us once in a while. After the sermon, the offering was taken. The offering plate is at the front and when you want to put money in it, you must dance your way there.

After church, we ate lunch. We ate chicken and rice, but after we finished Atabba brought us our snails. He cooked them and put them on kabobs with green peppers and onions. When cooked and sliced, snails look a lot like mushrooms. Their texture is about what I had expected—pretty chewy/rubbery. They weren’t bad. I just had to not think about what I was eating and I was fine.

When we finished eating we had to go and say goodbye to the chief. So we went. We sat in his meeting room again and he served us some sodas. We talked about the things we did during the week and he asked us some questions about what we thought. When we were done, we went back to Daniel’s to load up the car with our luggage and headed back to campus.

Upon my arrival, I received a package, 5 cards, and two notices telling me that I have packages to pick up at the post office. What a nice thing to come back to! I seriously made my day. I was homesick quite a bit while in Adenkrebi, so this was just what I needed. J I got some Jif peanut butter, granola bars, the best gummy bears, fluoride rinse (thanks, Mom), clothes, and pictures of my family to put in my dorm room. I can’t wait to go and get the other packages tomorrow.

I can’t believe we’re getting into October. I only have 5 more weeks of classes before my final exams!