8/2 – Madina Market

So we finally (I say that like I’ve been trapped here for two months) got to leave the campus and see some of the surrounding area, which was cool since by time we left the airport it was dark and we couldn’t see much on the ride over. The weather took a turn for the worse and it basically rained straight through from around 3am Wedsnesday morning (when it woke me up) till of this writing, Thursday morning. No end in sight. The frogs had taken a break the last few nights but the rain is apparently what sets them off. Great. The rain also made us push off a trip to Aburi, which is an area north of the university that has some really nice botanical gardens and stuff. We’ll probably be going next week.

The lectures have been pretty good so far, more useful then I thought they would be, and I might actually take one of the speakers’ courses if fits into my schedule. We also had a “panel” on residential life on campus from our trio of student guides, Albert, Steven, and Gertrude (all of whom are featured in today’s pics. The University of Ghana (UG from now on) operates on the British tutorial system, and so their dorms play a pretty prominent role in student life. The dorms here, called halls (there are 6), organize Hall Weeks, which seem range from what one would call ‘normal’ entertainment on any college campus to one’s that culminate in the ‘enstoolment’ of, in one Hall’s case a ‘Chief Farmer’, and in the other a ‘Chief Vandal.’ They’re kind of the equivalent of Homecoming Kings, but taken to a whole new level and then Africanized.

‘Chief Vandal’ is a title held by a student (whose identity is usually kept secret to all those but his inner circle) that is resident of Commonwealth Hall, the notoriously rowdy all-male dorm at the top of the Legon hill. Him and his henchmen seem to command quite a lot of respect on campus, and among a crapload of other privileges, he has the authority to order people ‘ponded.’ Public humiliation is about as bad a punishment as someone can get here, and ponding involves a very public procession down the hill from Commonwealth Hall to whichever watering hole the Chief Vandal orders on campus. The most serious of offenders get sent to the pond in front of Balme Library, the campus library and the biggest one in West Africa. They’re then dumped, in their boxers, into the lily-pad filled, nasty-ass water while being laughed and pointed at by as much of the campus as can fit on the pavilion to watch. Even better, they’re forced to sign their consent to the whole procedure. I can’t wait to see one.

We also got to go to Madina market, not quite the biggest one around but a worthy introduction to markets here nonetheless. Basically anything you could imagine (and some stuff you probably can’t) was either on sale or piled high on the head of a passing teenage girl. The women here really do carry EVERYTHING on their heads. I’ve seen platters that have to be at least 3 feet wide piled at least 2 feet high with oranges and bananas. My friend saw a girl carrying an entire sewing machine. It’s pretty freakin’ crazy. I needed to get a pillow, which was my first (and failed) bargaining experience, but on my second try I was able to talk a lady down C500 (about a nickel) on a yard and a half of fabric, and I’ve only been getting better since. And I got called ‘obruni’ for the first time, which was exciting, but will probably get annoying as time goes on. Not yet though. Obruni is Twi (the local language mainly spoken here) for white person or foreigner. A girl that must have been around 12 yelled “hello obruni byebye” as if it was one word when I walked by. After that I got followed by a bunch of kids who’s “hi obruni how are you” I actually answered. Best of all, before we got back into our vans, a 2 year old in a diaper did the WWF “suck it” sign at my friend while yelling “Obruniobruniobruniobruni.” That just might have been the highlight of my day. That or being told by the former chief of security of the university that girls should try to have a guy with them when they’re walking so that if something happens he can “use his macho.” Priceless.