Flashback-Flash Me!

Have you ever taken for granted being able to verbally communicate with someone?  As a social work student I have had experiences where I had clients that I was unable to communicate with through words.  It was a challenge, but I found creative ways to express myself and receive the child’s expressions as well without using verbal language.  Sometimes we would use pictures, drawings, or objects to communicate.  Other times a simple smile or hand gesture would be enough to build an understanding. 

I suppose I had considered the idea that I would be traveling to a part of the world where others may not speak the same language as me.  I realized long before I left that I would have to make a good faith effort to speak the language of the region that I was living in to gain the respect and trust of people living there.  At times it felt uncomfortable to not be able to share in the language that others were speaking.  At other times it was frustrating to not be able to quickly and easily soothe someone’s concerns as I stumbled through explaining it half in Ewe and half in English and an extra 1/3^rd in hand gestures or pictures.  I was mainly frustrated with my own self perceived incompetence in using all of my resources to communicate effectively.  After a few weeks though, I began to see the humor in it.  It is quite funny how even small phrases or words can take on so many different meanings in different cultures.  Some of my favorite stories to share with friends and family at home were these “simple miscommunications”

• Woman of the Night:  One day a gentleman in the community had called me a woman of the night.  Initially I was quite put off by this comment as in the United States this implies somewhat illegal and less than mainstream behaviors.  After a few moments and questioning him some more I found that, he simply intended to tell me that he had seen me walking out after dark with some friends.  I chuckled with this realization that a miscommunication had occurred especially in light of the fact that it got dark around 6:30pm where we lived.
• Food Poisoning:  A handful of us living in the house became ill one week.  I assumed it was likely something that I ate that my stomach simply didn’t agree with.  It was nothing that I hadn’t experienced before.  Others became much more ill than I was and we all became concerned.  One person had mentioned that the illnesses may be caused by food poisoning.  This alarmed a lot of people as they began to run through their heads why someone would want to poison and harm volunteers.   Food poisoning for us meant that we may have eaten some spoiled food…another simple miscommunication and an opportunity to share a laugh.
• Flash Me:  This was one of the first miscommunications that I encountered.  I was at a local hang out and spending time with some newly made friends when one gentleman said to me… “Just flash me!”  I was completely caught off guard by this.  In the United States someone would likely take this to mean that they were asking you to expose body parts to them.  Red faced I asked , “What?!? I’m not sure I just heard you right.”  To which I got the reply, you know flash me with your phone…it all began to make sense now!  Flash me meant ring me or call me on my phone. 

Here are a few other brief tidbits to keep in mind:

Washroom = bathroom or where you would use the toilet

Fine = if someone says they are fine this is a good thing and they are often doing well

Chips = French fries

Rubber = plastic bag

You are Welcome = more often used as a sign of greeting.  It is a respectful way to welcome someone who has come to see you and is much more often used than Hello or Hi

FLASHBACK...My Flashbacks

To be honest I have been titling my posts since I have been home FLASHBACK with a line afterwards explaining some characteristic that had stuck in my mind from my trip to Ghana.  Most of the time though I seek out a story to remember or think of fondly and begin to describe it as I remember it.  There are times however, when there is a sense of a flashback washing over me.  A true flashback in a sense.  For a moment it feels like the flashback has sought me out.  I was in class yesterday and one of the students next to me pulled out of her backpack...a small thin black bag with handles.  Inside was a smaller clear bag filled with pastries and snacks.  I immediately focused in on this little bag of tasty treats and it was as if I had been transported back to Ghana for a short moment.  In the city that we lived in it was common for everything you bought to be wrapped up neatly in a black "rubber" (the word they often use to refer to a plastic bag).  Some of my favorite things to discover wrapped up neatly in one of these bags were the snacks from local vendors.  All piping hot and wrapped in a small clear bag inside the black bag.  Deliciously fried yams smothered in hot chili pepper sauce, boiled peanuts, and more!  Don't be fooled though...not all black bags are created equal.  There was one instance where a treat of "oily fish" had been wrapped up tightly in newspaper and given to me in the very same type of black bag.  Needless to say, this did not come to mind as my favorite snack of all during my flashback.  They are small, salty, whole fish that are cured in oil-not my kind of snack.  None-the-less the foods that we were able to get out in town and at the resorts were delicious!  From this fond flashback I went directly to remembering the delicious fish that we had out at a cafe in Ho, and the mouthwatering Singapore noodles we had at Volta Hotel overlooking Lake Volta.  What mouthwatering treats!

Spicy Tilapia

Singapore Noodles

FLASHBACK - Moved by the Sounds of the Drums

Have you ever been called to follow the beat of a drum?  Have you heard the booming sounds of music and followed them to see where they are coming from?  In the first week of living in Hohoe for the summer the staff arranged a wonderful drumming and traditional dancing session.  It started off with a group of dancers and drummers from a local village and before we knew it they had welcomed us into a circle to dance with them.  It was a beautiful experience, but imagine this...as we were focusing intently on figuring out these unfamiliar moves, what we didn't notice is, that groups of children from our neighborhood had come to peer in through the wall, the front gate of the house, and even come into the yard to watch.  At the sounds of the drums they too began to stomp their feet, move their arms and dance gracefully to the sound of the music.  Can you imagine?  We all wondered how even the smallest children could be so connected to the culture and music as to have such fluid and well timed dance moves.  What an amazing experience!