Building supplies

Hello family and friends! :)

Yay, it’s letter/blog writing time again! Things that have been going on:

Classes are proceeding as usual… it’s about mid-semester, so there are quizzes happening and assignments to be turned in. I was surprised, though I perhaps should have expected, that our assignments are turned into the department offices. Also, apparently every time I turn something in, I’m supposed to write my number on top of it, and then put my name next to my number on the sign-in sheet. Bizarre ;) though understandable. I’m just not used to it. Also, I’m not used to such pomp surrounding 1-2 page assignments. It boggles my mind.

There’s a series of plays happening at UCC which I’ve been attending with Nana (good family friend/ Oceanview internet café person) and Katie. I think they’ve mostly been Ghanaian plays so far, though a Nigerian one is playing this Friday and Saturday. One from last weekend was done in conjunction with the National Theater in Accra, which is a big deal. And I’ll happily admit, that one was great. It was called “The Other Independence Story”, and was about four prisoners who had been released from prison, and then proceeded to discuss their options for living out in the world, with freedom. These were generally grim. In the process, they discussed a lot of other national issues and disparities, embroiling them further as metaphors for the nation after “Independence”. In the end, 3/4 decided to go back to prison, convincing themselves that it was a reasonable place, so that they could get food and shelter. The fourth one decided to start up a business in casket-making: since so many people were dying of AIDS, there would be a growing market for caskets. Yep, it was a sad play, but as I was telling Nana, really, there’s still plenty of hope in Ghana, and surely it means something that this sort of theatrical commentary can exist and come from the National Theater and a State University.

Today is a very busy day at my house, and Mother is rather stressed, because the (Anglican) bishops of Secundi & Tamale are here. Both of these are cities in Ghana. There’s also a bishop of Cape Coast, whom I’ve met. They’re all very nice. I think they’ve just come to meet and talk; I’m not aware of any specific purpose. But the house is all a-fluster. I imagine they’ll be talking to the Seminarians a good bit, who are having a heavy week of meeting people, since I think they also met an Anglican priest from England who’s doing research at UCC. People from all over seem to converge here to communicate quite a bit.

Another interesting, if alarming tidbit of my life from the last week: so I was sitting below the building that houses half of the Arts faculty, and a friend who was sitting nearby suddenly peered at the tree next to me and told me to move to another bench. There was a worm climbing the tree, and it looked to me rather like a slug that had attached bits of bark and leaf debris all over it’s body. “One bite from that bug, and you’re dead” he said. Isn’t that interesting? ;) I wasn’t ever in particular danger, though, as the tree was at least two feet from me, the bench never touches the tree, and the worm was climbing the opposite side of it. But anyway, he said that people also can extract medicine from the worm, but never gave me its name, though I asked.

And finally, I got more mail! Just one more piece. It was from Keith Nash, who works at the Senior Center in Albemarle and is one of my favorite people in the world. It was wonderful to receive mail, especially from him. I know, though, that more mail has been sent that I just haven’t received. Thank you so much to everyone who has been sending anyway! The thought is very much appreciated. I will try to write more letters back soon, and we can hope that those arrive. Just to reiterate in the meantime, though, my address here is: Rachel Rose Randall, St Nicholas Anglican Seminary, PO Box A162, Cape Coast, Ghana. A neat thing that someone said to me this week: “And what was St. Nicholas known for? He was known for surprises!” What a daring notion upon which to build a seminary ;)

On to other topics of interest (to me, and I hope to you):

Construction in the southern part of Ghana. So, I had guessed that most of the buildings here were made out of concrete, and I was right. Everything from houses to businesses to University buildings are made from concrete, and you can see buildings under construction in various places. Looking at one, I became very confused to see what looked like bamboo and other slim & sturdy but somewhat bent trees used as framing in a big building. I thought: why would you do that, unless perhaps you had no other wood? Because they were hardly uniform, and it would be difficult to nail anything to them because they’re round and are not perfectly straight. Akwasi has explained things to me now, though, and this makes plenty of sense: wood like that is only used to prop up the concrete as it’s setting. Once the concrete’s finished, they can remove the wood and simply build around the concrete. Also, concrete blocks are often used for walls (not just poured concrete or anything, though I have seen rebar sticking up in some places. Not sure of the full implications. I wish I understood construction better) but unlike in the US, you never see it because they cover it first with a layer of mortar, and then paint it. So it all looks smooth and uniform. Interesting, no?

Of course, poorer people continue to live in homes of wood, with thatching and walls woven from leaves, but in many ways these homes can keep you much cooler than concrete ones. Stands for vegetables and fruit along the road are constructed from wood of various kinds, and sometimes their shelter is woven leaves, but more often it’s a piece of tin roofing. Tin roofing seems to be used for most buildings in general, though sometimes I don’t think it’s nailed in because you can see big rocks sitting on top of them. Finally, some stands/stores are sort of free-standing sheds, similar to what you might be able to get in the US… picture a storage building maybe 7’x7’, with two big doors across the front. Generally there’s also a little roof overhand. People just lock the doors shut when they’re done for the night, and they can sell all kinds of things from there; it’s usually a mix of related products. The key to this situation is that the sun may scorch, but so long as you can find a little shade, there’s enough breeze to keep you comfortable. So, everyone builds shade into their endeavor, whether a bit of overhang or an umbrella or whatever. Also, people at stands along the road and in town are not ashamed of sleeping at any time of day at their businesses. It’s very interesting.

Another issue I’ve been coming to terms with this past week: the word “Master” in Ghana. It’s generally used as an equivalent to “Sir”, so you might call out “Sir!” “Master!” or “Madame!” to someone here to get their attention (The emphasis on Madame is on the second syllable, and no one says “Ma’am”). But to me it’s still such a strong word. A friend of mine beat me in many games of cards, and said that I should call him “Sir” or “Master” from now on, and I just don’t think he understood that I *can’t*, though he eventually understood that I wouldn’t ;) He was sort of joking. But anyway, it appears in the vocabulary somewhat jarringly, for me. For example, the common term for “colonialists” is “Colonial Masters”. There are currently a few people at the University who are trying to change it to “Colonial Oppressors”, but it’s a slow, strange battle, because a) some Ghanaians have mixed feelings about colonization, and b) the word simply isn’t as strong in Ghanaian English. But Ghanaian English is weird because it’s definitely not the language of Ghanaians- they don’t own it like they own their other languages, they simply use it as best as they can.

Anyway ;) those are my meandering thoughts for this week. It’s been busy, but hopefully I’ll be able to write more later.

Be thinking of me as I figure out seminary things!

And thank you so much for caring :)

Love,

Rachel Rose