It's December?!

So Today is December 16th.;
It hardly feels like December, first let me say that.

If i was asked to say what month did it feel like, I wouldn't be able to answer that one either..
i think because it doesn't really feel like anything right now.
you get used to, as you're growing up, to judge the month by the weather
but in Ghana, its just frickin hot, frickin hot and frickin hot some more.
its the rain that you use to pinpoint the time of year.
i love the rain.

i have a favourite saying here. people say it all the time. and it makes sense, no matter who you are, as long as you're living in Ghana. That is, enye easy. I love the mixture of twi and english. If you really want to hammer the point home, its enye easy kraaaa. its not easy in the least bit.
as obroni, enye easy, as obibini, enye easy. its not easy for any of us. the sun is merciless...

december is a month of hope for me. it's the closing month of the year, so with great hope, you look forward to the new year, giving thanks that the trials and tribulations of the current yr haven't broken you, but have made you stronger. and you come out as a crystal, looking ahead for more to come.

i am looking forward to what the new year brings. i hope it brings work for me so i can support the people who have brought me through it all. everyday angels. slowly i am sinking into life here as if i was slipping on an old shoe. i love that. because that tells me im adapting. life is becoming normalized for me. change is such an exciting phenomenon. i heard a saying once, and that's that the only constant in life is CHANGE itself.

i am hoping to go visit my "hometown" of toh-kpalime. the place i got my name.
i want to go visit for xmas like everyone else is doing. a break from accra will be good. everyday i have been coming and going to the market, enduring varying disturbances very patiently. but peace is really found once you leave the city. accra is a hustler's town. people can be very aggressive, i find in the city. but i am so lucky to have a cool place to live. actually, the place i live at is called "COOL RUNNING". i love that. i get to see a gorgeous swaying palm tree everytime i pop my head out of my porch in the morning. i get to eat amazing local food at the chop bar right outside of my door.
i get all my kids in the house greeting me as i come in the door, "auntie esenam! auntie esenam!" it warms my heart. and i can help them with their homework or just plainly sit with them.

i was fetching my water this morning and i got quite disturbed. something that's hard for me to face is when people speak the language to me and i tell them i only hear small but they keep on truckin through sentence after sentence. that's what this one guy was doing. and believe me, im not quite in the right mood to be spitting out ewe before 7 am. I told him, menyehsegomo (i don't understand) and he kept on going, and he was sitting with this other guy who i have repeatedly tried to tell that i don't want him disturbing me anymore by coming to my place and trying to speak french with me. anyways. that was frustrating. im trying to learn 2 languages and adding french in there, im getting 3 different languages spoken at me and im expected to know each one!! what?? am i a machine or a human being??

but i don't mind. i don't mind certain people anymore. i find my paths to take where i will have the least amount of disturbances and frustrations. sometimes that means taking the long route somewhere, but i have no problem with that.

on the up side, this morning i lifted my bucket to my head to carry it, might i mention, they were doing the national identity cards near my house, so there was a huge cue of ghanaians watching me fetch my water to the house,which made me spill more, just knowing a thousand eyes were on my back.... so as im struggling to carry my bucket to my head, but towel to cushion the bucket fell and no one noticed so im kind of shifting my weight from one foot to another wondering how i can use my psychic powers to command it to return from where it fell when someone saw and called a guy to pick it off the ground. both my hands were busy, so he graciously took it from the ground, dusted it off and placed it under my bucket. that was a rose moment.

as i was on my way here to the market, i was thinking: the big things are the small things and the small things are the big things. think about it. and have yourself a nice day.

Well, hello world!
I have been traveling in Eastern/Volta Region for the past week or so doing some community development planning in Toh-Kpalime, the village of the birth of my name: Esenam! The beginning of all my heart's attachments in Ghana....
I traveled with Afiyoo's culture dance and drumming group where they were to perform at a Festival at Labo-Labo, for the Queen Mother. The group was planning to stay at Sarah's uncle Cudjoe's Farm at Dodi, a major hike from Boso, a few villages away from Toh-Kpalime.
The farm is truly a miracle of nature. Situated right on the Great Volta Lake, you can get up in the morning and swim out into the lake and catch a wonderful glimpse of the lush vegetation around you.
The farm is an "eco-village". An operation aimed at empowering the local youth to come together and recognize that they are stewards of the nature around them. What's ironic is that the Volta Dam, created in the 70s was made to generate hydroelectricity, yet the irony is that the communities around the lake live in the darkness and are suffering the most. Because there is no hydroelectricity, it is difficult to get teachers, doctors and other vital people out there. The area is isolated, no lights, no city, no closeby market... no health clinic.
I experienced the devastation this reality creates when I had a surprising little encounter with a scorpion this past Friday morning.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon, so I had only slept there in the tent, near the water's side for one night, apparently not long enough to know the dangerous little creatures lurking around waiting for me to do something stupid.
So somehow! Only God knows how, this thing got into a cloth I use to bath. So while I was dressing after bathing on Friday morning, I shook out my cloth to put it away and BAMM-WINGITY-WAM right on my hand, on the very palm of my hand, it was like a little pin-jab.
Let me tell you, if that was more painful than labour, I'm waiting for my award!!!
See, when scorpions sting you, they inject a poison into you, which if not taken care of before it spreads too far, can make its way into your blood system and pose very serious threats to your ability to live!!
So as I watched the poison creeping up my arm from my palm, my friends were crowding around trying to figure out how to calm me as I was hysterical from the ever-increasing pain. Some were saying they should perform traditional medicine and cut my flesh to let the poison seep out, others were rubbing juice from plants on my palm, I popped 4 paracitimol tablets, but nothing was seeming to subside the pain!
We called a taxi, but no taxi wanted to come and venture out on the rain-washed road, which is terrible on their cars so they like to charge a wafty fee.
I was there for one hour, hoarse from crying. So weak I could barely walk. They were going to take my by boat to the nearest community when finally the taxi came. I went to the hospital, was given an injection to neutralize the poison in my hand and after I collapsed, I was given 2 IV sessions, which were not very pleasurable at all.
But I'm alive. I have lived to tell the tale of the scorpion bite. A little Africa-welcome, as my local peeps like to say with a laugh.
So I'm really meant to be out here.
Give thanks.

That's what it is.Whatchu know bout that.

Today I am re-naming my blog. It's not about me at ALL. It's about what I learn, and can hopefully express through this blog. I'm the engine, but not the machine! I'm just passing on what I see around me- nothing more and nothing less.

Humble-Africa: it's about the attitude. It's about humbling yourself: leaving preconceived ideas about Africa behind you when you come. You need to shed your own ideas about what the continent has and what it lacks (but mostly what it lacks) and make yourself ready to learn the lessons that you encounter everyday. It's about taking something positive from your frustrations and moving forward more enlightened and ready for the next challenge that, by all means, is on its way coming. Humility is a very reputable trait. It should not be taken for granted as an attitude to have. I've learned especially from a newcomer's point of view that as a stranger, you must humble yourself. So that's that!

Someone I want to focus on today is my dear first, friend; now, sister, Sarah-Afiyoo. Today is Friday so it's her birth week-day. Friday-born: Afiyoo. I want to honour her by talking about one amazing thing she has shown me this past week...

Afiyoo has a heart for her people. She told me something incredible yesterday that I will never forget as long as I live. It was one of the wisest, most wonderful things I have ever heard. We were having a conversation about travel, and how it can bring more knowledge and more perspective about the country you are from, as well as the country you’re visiting. She expressed to me that if she really wanted to travel, the opportunity would be there, but first she has a responsibility to help people in her own country, before she travels outside to do something. This is Mama-Africa right here. My Ghanaian Mother-Theresa.

Afiyoo dances traditional style dance with a drumming and dancing group here in Madina, Accra. The group travels around the city performing at funerals and other important events, gracing their audiences with traditional dances from different regions in Ghana. The drums will get you a-poppin’ and a-stompin’, trust me!!!

Afiyoo has a heart for children. In Afiyoo's spare time and on her OWN dollar, she visits an orphanage in Teshie, a slightly battered community near a terribly beautiful but littered shoreline. The kids know her there as "Sister-Sarah", the one who comes to see them as often as she can to teach them some traditional dances with one or two of the drummers.

I went along with her and Baan, the leader of the group last time they visited and took pictures, documenting this humble, wonderful event. The kids were crazy-happy to be gathered under a shaded tent, shaking their booties to the rhythm of the drum, and Afiyoo is smiling ear-to-ear like she's just won the lottery! This is what a heart made of gold looks like. Traveling all the way out there to the beachside to teach the kids for a few hours. Time out of her day, money out of her own pocket. Who sees it? Who's watching? Nobody. But this is how she lives. This is everyday in the life of Afiyoo.
This is the sister that is taking me along with her, allowing me to share in the work she does out of the kindness of her heart. Her spirit is free and her heart is open. This is the work she chooses to engage in, these are the souls she wants to invest in.

I want to add some pictures of our time at the orphanage, but they aren't ready to upload, so for now I will tag this post with a shot of Afiyoo in her costume, dancing at a funeral a few weeks ago. See the face. Hear her name. Today, mad respect to Afiyoo, my guide. From the way she lives her life, I have learned a great many things. Much more to come. Today, blessings should reign onto Afiyoo. It's Friday, y'all.

"Those in the crevice are thirsty..."

This is the first house-warming entry of my finalized blog to track my continuing adventures in Ghana~!
I'm back and on track. This blog is going to be a culmination of a lot of things. It will be my way to communicate with you: my friends and family and those who may not know me but are interested in what I'm up to over here in Mama Africa.

Through this blog you will meet some amazing people who have given me their permission to tell their stories...you will get to see pictures and hear about the hilarious and hellish moments that make up my life in Ghana. This is Ghana. Life is movement. Movement is life.

These are my "Esenam-movements".