You will be better

Dear friends, I know it has been a while. I'm sorry - I got ill.

But fear not, I am (mostly) better now. I've been seen by a doctor (that is a story deserving about three blog posts of its own). And I am back at home in Logba now, resting and doing everything I'm told to fully recover.

In case you're curious, here is the officially compiled list, as has been explained to me, of:

Reasons Why Lydia Got Ill

• "You, you don't relax."
  "Yes I do! I make cups of tea and go for walks when I'm studying to take breaks."
  "No. That is not relaxing! You must sit. And enjoy your life. You are working too hard."
• Drinking sachet water
• "The sun is disturbing you."
  I think a variant of this is...
• "Ah, it's the weather."
• Riding a motorbike.*
  This is accompanied with an exasperated, "The roads here are not good!"
  (*I'm sorry, Mom! It was against my will. And luckily, now that it's on the official list of Reasons Lydia Got Ill, I have a support team who will back me up when I say I will not ride a motorbike...)
• Malaria
• Eating peanuts past dinner time (morning and afternoon are apparently fine times to eat them, though)

So, you can pick your favorites.

For those who aren't familiar with sachet water, in Ghana, tap water is generally not considered potable, so you get your drinking water in 0.5L plastic sachets, tear off a corner, and drink it from the bag. Sachet water is really not a bad thing (the alternative is expensive plastic bottles of the exact same water), but it can sometimes be a bit iffy. So now we are only purchasing the ones with the official stamp of approval from Ghana's certification board, even though locally that particular type is considered inferior (most people here drink rain water, aka 'God's blessing,' but nobody will let me).

The sun definitely can disturb me, but as long as I'm left to my own devices my shade-seeking behavior and thick layer of coconut oil is usually enough to prevent any suffering. There have been occasions when well-meaning friends have not quite understood that when I say the sun is too much I'm not joking... After one particularly long day at the university and a late-afternoon of trying to find shade in an utterly shade-free marketplace while shopping for ingredients, a friend laughed that the sun was too much for me and teased me for looking so miserable. The next day he asked why there were bruises on my face. I said, "They're not bruises! It's sunburn." The level of melanin in my skin is not quite up to the task of dealing with West Africa's sun for prolonged periods in the same way as most of (all of) my friends here.

So, next time I see a West African in the UK (or a Californian in Washington...) who looks very unhappy about the weather I will remind myself of this experience and be as supportive as I can, saying, "Oh, my friend. I can see that you are suffering."

And I will definitely not tease them!

For the full story of last week's adventures, stay tuned. I'm still not up to 100% energy levels, and it's a challenging story to write, but I will do what I can to put it into a blog-ready format soon.

In the mean time...

So you can have a better idea of where I am living, here is an evening-time photo of the road going through the Logba Traditional Area:

Logba Alakpeti as seen from the road from Accra looking towards Hohoe in the North.

And, by popular request, here is where I am located on the map (since you won't find it by doing a Google Search):

View Larger Map

How to wash your hair in a bucket bath
Lastly, I'm sorry I left you all hanging about how to wash hair in a bucket bath! Turns out my Grammy spoke the truth all along. Grammy always told us how her mother used to wash Grammy's naturally-curly, red hair (which is now bright snowy white) in rain water when she was a kid growing up in North Dakota. And sure enough, rain water solves the 'can't get the shampoo out of your hair' problem quite well. The tap water here comes from a bore hole and has lots of salt in it, so I'm told. Someone with faster internet and a better understanding of hair chemistry can provide a more detailed explanation, I'm sure. But it works!

The other trick is to use local soap, which is made out of burnt cocoa pods and locally-produced oils of various types (I'm fairly certain palm oil is one of them). My colleague, Cephas, has a nicely transcribed video of some women from the Likpe area further north of here explaining the process in Sekpele, a language closely related to Ikpana. Cephas is from Likpe and doing language documentation work in the area for his PhD now.

alata samina, one type of local soap, wrapped in paper. Apologies for the lack of scale. It's a lump about the size of a grapefruit, and is very soft.

That's all for now! If you simply can't wait for my next blog post, I invite you to read this one from the last time I was told I had malaria while living in rural Ghana: http://lydia-goes-abroad.blogspot.com/2009/10/tomorrow-or-two-weeks-in-rural-ashanti.html

I'm always happy to hear from any of you, with requests for topics to cover or with stories from your own life adventures. My greetings from Ghana!

Are you feeling cold?

My first week in Alakpeti has gone well. I'm in very good hands with my homestay family here and I am settling in, meeting more people, and slowly learning the language. The paramount ruler has now officially introduced me to the local rulers, elders, and queen mothers and they have officially welcomed me in their midst.

The entrance to my family's compound. The solid wood fufu mortar is next to the blue rain barrel (with an orange dish in it).

With the approval from the top level and the next level down, I will now be traveling to each of the Logba towns and villages (letting each one know when I'll be coming in advance) to meet with the people who have expressed interest in working with me. This will be the start of what is more conventionally considered to be 'language documentation' (of course, all of the preparation leading up to this is also an extremely important part of the work and is not to be dismissed as trivial! Planning, preparation, permissions, and getting to know people to a point of mutual trust and respect are also crucial to the work).

The view from across my family's cassava (and other things) garden to one of the peaks in the mountain range. The large palms are oil palms. I had palm fruit soup today with banku for lunch. The fronds are used for weaving and making hand-held brooms. The sap is tapped for palm wine and then distilled to make a local liquor (akpeteshie).  The fruit and nut are used for soup and oil. The oil can be used in making soap and 'red-red:' fried ripe plantains (which are red) with beans in palm oil (which is also red) - I had this for breakfast this morning. I have read that the husks of the fruit were previously charred and used to flavor water kept in tall ceramic containers with bulging bases and narrow necks (I would venture a guess that this maybe also contributed to purification of the water, but I am not an expert in this). The roots are used medicinally.
These are pretty powerful plants!

Since not (quite) all of my friends are linguists (I swear I have broad interests! Luckily, so do the bulk of my linguist friends), what is language documentation?

-eye stretch break-

Let me just pause for a second to admire the fact that about sixty feet outside my window a very large tree is blooming with triangular tufts of pink flowers. It is absolutely gorgeous!

Okay, language documentation is the documentation of language! This can involve written notes, audio recordings (on wax cylinders, as used to be done, or on SD cards, as is now becoming more common), video recordings (sign language research and gesture research make excellent use of this), and photographs to give context and visual referents. As we learned in the Plants Animals Words 2013 workshop, for plants a voucher specimen and botanical identification are also very important, and identifying animals can involve many things besides careful photographs, for instance information about behavior, flight patterns and wing shape (for birds), coloration, and scat.

Language is a powerful tool and it can be used to describe a diversity of experience in the natural (and supernatural!) world. Linguists are trained in many things, but by celebrating our own expertise and acknowledging our limits, we can benefit greatly from teaming up in a collaborative framework with many other experts, both from within the community in a participatory framework and also across disciplines in an interdisciplinary framework.

-ear break (do ears need to be stretched like eyes?)- 

There is a chorus of at least three completely different types of birds singing outside my window right now! And I think I hear my family preparing fufu...

Language documentation also includes a lot of metadata, which is information about the data, such as the names of those involved, how they were involved, the location, time, date, topic, equipment used, the languages included, and just about anything else you can think of to note that might be relevant either now or in the future. After my job working in the Endangered Languages Archive and going through the MA program in Language Documentation and Description, I now joke that, "I'm really not a fan of labels - but I do like metadata!"

Quick facts:

• Not everyone who does language documentation is working with an endangered language. You can document languages considered stable or dominant, as well.
• Not all languages are spoken. There are also sign languages, many of which are highly endangered. And there some amazing researchers whose focus is on documenting or advocating for these.
• Not everyone who does language documentation is an 'outside researcher.' There are a growing number of people who are speakers (or heritage speakers, whose parents or grandparents may have been speakers even if they themselves are not fluent) of the language they are documenting. 

As for myself, I am definitely in the first camp, and this obviously has implications for the work I am doing. Though I have been invited to do this work by the paramount ruler, have been welcomed by the local rulers, and have been adopted into the royal family by the paramount ruler and his wife (four years ago), I am still an outsider in many many ways. I was not raised in the Logba Traditional Area, let alone in Ghana. I am still learning to speak the language (though as I keep trying, people tease me that I am already an "Akpanadze" or [female] Logba citizen). And my skin color is obviously very different, and with it comes all sorts of connotations. So I acknowledge this as I do my work and am educating myself on critical ways of approaching my research. I welcome critique from those with other perspectives and experiences than my own.

-smelling break! (don't 'break' your nose)- 

Outside my family's compound there are several sweet smelling trees, including Frangipani (Plumeria spp.) and also this one, which I believe is Ylang Ylang (Cananga odorata). In the evenings when there is a breeze its lovely scent wafts throughout the compound. I keep a few crushed up flowers by my bed.

Ylang Ylang tree (Cananga odorata) just outside my family's compound. In the evenings we often sit in chairs out here to enjoy the cool breeze and visit with neighbors who pass by.

Fruit of Cananga odorata. 

Flower of Cananga odorata.

I leave you now with a few more observations:

Women in transportation

In Accra just before I left, I rode for the first time in a trotro which had a female 'mate!' (Well, aside from the time in Kumasi when the mate was taken away by the police [both smiling and joking with each other] for trying to steal passengers from another trotro at a busy stop and my classmate, Rachel, happily took on the role of mate for the rest of the journey.) The mate is the person who calls out the destination of the trotro, collects money, and tells the driver when to 'bus stop' and then 'yenko!' ('Let's go!'). I also recently was beeped at by a female taxi driver - again, the first I'd seen in Ghana. Beeping at someone with your horn is usually a question, accompanied by a questioning hand gesture, meaning, 'Need a lift?' It is most frequently directed at those who look like the can afford a taxi, such as anyone in a suit or anyone who looks foreign (or exhausted by the heat!).

The cold

Up until recently I had never heard a Ghanaian in Ghana swear (at least not in English). What caused this sudden need for expletives? I was being told of the person's trip to London and how cold it had been! So cold that it made your hair stand on end. So cold that you had to wear thick socks under your shoes. So cold that you had to wear a warm hat with only your eyes and nose sticking out, and three layers of shirts with a jacket! -expletive expletive-

In contrast:

I was recently asked one evening, "Are you feeling cold?" (I was wearing shorts, a tank top, and sandals, and quite enjoyed the breeze!)

I couldn't help but laugh and laugh, then managed to reply, "I've just come from London!" Everyone joined me in laughter. They insist that if I wake up at 4:30am and go outside it will feel "cold like London!" but I've not yet tested this.

Okay my dears, that's all for now!

A fortnight in Accra, onward to the mountains!

Hello my dears, it has been a long time!

Just over four years ago I left Ghana with an invitation to return. Since then I have been working towards that aim, while also caring for myself, spending time with my loved ones, learning many new things, and doing what I can to enjoy my life!

But at last, I am here again. Akwaaba-oo!

Where am I and what am I doing, you may ask?

After two weeks in Accra, I am now in Logba Alakpeti, which is located in the mountains in the Volta Region. While Accra was too hot and dusty for my poor unacclimated self, Alakpeti is marvelously comfortable with lush greenery. It is not too hot, not too cold, and the humidity is just lovely. The family I am staying with are wonderful and I have a nice room with everything I need (bed, table, chair, and a fan). I'm very happy to be here!

I am here to continue a research project I started four years ago documenting plant names in Ikpána, this time for my PhD, as requested by the Unansanango (Paramount Ruler) of the Logba Traditional Area. The language, people and area are all called Logba by most people, but the autonymous terms are Ikpána for the language and Akpanawò for the people.

Since it is difficult to keep track of what I have told to whom, I will use my blog to try to update as many people as possible with occasional stories from my time here. Please feel free to make requests for anything you would like me to write about in more detail!

As a disclaimer, these stories are only my own observations and opinions and are not meant to reflect anything deeper or more insightful than that. I have only been to Ghana once before and am still a "baby to the system," as my friend Kofi puts it.

For this post, I will start with a few of the challenges I've faced and then move on to some of the exciting and fun things I have experienced in order to end on a positive note. I am grateful for both the challenges and the opportunities that have arisen during my time here so far.

Accra was difficult for me, as I generally don't find myself feeling very comfortable in cities. It was hotter than I remembered (harmattan winds!), which made it hard for me to sleep well at night, and I was usually covered in a thick coating of red dust from the minute I stepped out of my door. My long hair has been a new experience for me, because I had very short hair (and no hair!) when I was here last time, and washing long hair in a cold bucket bath is a skill I had not yet acquired (any tips are welcome).

My room in Accra and my badly set-up mosquito net! I miss the pop-up one I used to have, but thanks, Allanah, for giving me this one.

I had forgotten just how exhausting it is to be the only obruni (foreigner) in a market place, being shouted at, grabbed at, and stared at non-stop. I have learned that I much prefer being called to with "Sistah!" than "Obruni!" My Twi has declined rapidly in the four years I've been away and I felt very out of place, needing to rely almost entirely on the goodwill of other people to get around. Thankfully, the goodwill of people has turned out to be very strong!

From the moment I made it out of customs in the airport I have been in good hands as my Ghanaian friends have come to support me. Dear Joyce (and your family!), Clement, Nana Ama, Kofi, Ishmael, Ishmael's mum, Loretta, Rita, Mabel, Auntie Abigail and all the others, your kindness and generosity have meant so so much to me, so thank you!

As my supervisor reminded me, trusting in and even depending on others is something to embrace, rather than to fear. And as my dear friend, Angel, also reminded me, "These are rare moments in our lives and we would do well to cherish every moment however hot or uncomfortable." They are right, and it is with a good heart and an open mind that I come here.

On to some of the fun things!

My neighbors near Ritz Junction in Accra quickly became very dear friends of mine. In exchange for me teaching them to make pizza, they have been teaching me Twi (mostly be teasing me in it) and also how to prepare Ghanaian dishes.

Thanks to their family, I have now accomplished one of my life goals: I have learned to prepare kenkey!

Also, banku. Both are cooked doughs - kenkey (specifically, Ga kenkey) is made from fermented corn dough, balled up and wrapped in corn husks and banku is made from cassava dough mixed with fermented corn dough. Both are delicious! Banku must be swallowed, not chewed, and there seems to be some debate about whether kenkey is chewed or swallowed, but I think there was general agreement that it can be chewed. I have not tried pounding fufu yet as my neighbors think that it will make my hands rough and won't let me. I will try again...And Aunt Sylvia, I am working on getting you a video of some experts demonstrating how to pound fufu with great skill!

I am really enjoying fresh coconuts, sweet juicy mangoes, pineapple, and even some new fruits I haven't been able to look up yet because the internet is a bit slow. I drink Ghanaian cocoa every day (on its own). I'm only a bit pink from the sun after several long days being out in it for too long (thanks, coconut oil!) and am in good health, so I'm very grateful!

Sitting in the shade of a neem tree (azadirachta indica) with a gentle breeze, and sometimes the company of a friend, is a lovely way to study, it turns out. And I've been making new friends at the department of botany and the herbarium at the university, including a PhD student studying mycology (he says the university is hoping to create a microbiology department so he can go there rather than be studying fungi while lumped in with botany). There are some very kind people there who study ethnobotany and are documenting the usages of plants throughout Ghana (but have not yet worked in the Volta Region) and an expert in plant identification has agreed to come with me for part of my research to assist me with voucher specimen collection and identification of plants while I do my language documentation work. Hurray for collaboration in practice!

(Yes, Plants Animals Words 2013 friends, I am wearing my green hat with pride!)

drumming with new friends in Accra
(photo by Cat Hockings)

Mottos and advertising
As many of you know, shops and vehicles in Ghana often have a motto or a name reflecting something which the owner would like to share with the world.

A taxi on the way home from seeing Unansanango proclaimed:

Be fluent!

A passport photo business had a large sign by the road advertising themselves as "Gye Nyame ('accept God' though usually translated as 'except God') Passport Photos" with four photos of Obama smiling happily for his passport picture.

Today on my journey in a trotro (Ghana's convenient and affordable, privately-operated public transportation) to the Volta Region I passed by a shop which was named:

He is alive

fresh goat and cow meat

Okay my friends, that is a small update from me. I am doing well, learning a lot, and experiencing many new things. I hope that all of you are enjoying life and I'm always happy to hear from you!