Home Sweet Home

I give you: our house!


It is just wonedrful to have A Room of One's Own! Especially when it has a heart ornamented gate, a sunny verandah, a spacious living room and a tiny pool. And room for visitors! Welcome!

IKEA fluttering south?

Just when I was starting to feel a bit sad I do not have access to IKEA when starting my home here in Ghana, I found this ad. Quality furniture!
Somehow, I however doubt that Swedish furniture magnat Mr Ingvar Kamprad would sidestep his successful concept of selling packaged products in big warehouses of his own. It just doesn't seem like the Ingvar I know liaising with "Yellow Butterfly" when expanding his business into Africa.

On Pan-Africaism

The African Union is meeting this weekend in Accra. The way I know for sure it is happening right here is:
1. There is a huge billboard at road from the airport with President Kufuor welcoming the delegates.
2. All hotel rooms in Accra are booked, I am very aware of this because I have today tried to squeeze one more in…
3. Cars with police escorts with their sirens on are everywhere, and rumor says that Khadaffi is coming from Libya with a caravan of 150 cars through the desert…

Today and tomorrow the executive council is convening and the summit itself takes place on the 1st to 3rd July. All African states, except for Marocco who opposes the membership of West Sahara, meet to discuss. The meeting will for sure have symbolic meaning, since the initiative for an African union came from Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah and because Ghana, as the first sub-Saharan country to gain its independence, this year celebrates 50 years. I hope to get back to you also with substance on the united Africa's future.

In the photo, Kufuor is shaking hands at a different meeting.
Photo:K. Hallberg

No place like home

Last week we signed the contract. So now I have my wonderful, quirky, spacious and private HOME! Over the upcoming three-day weekend, (Monday is a holiday since the Republic day falls on Sunday..and Ghanaians want their day off!) we will be moving in and I am starting to make plans that include paint, furniture, a fridge and a stove. In Ghana, you rent a house for an in advance decided period, often two or three years. And you pay all before you move in. Lighting is included, but no kitchen appliances or anything else therefore I see some hefty spending ahead.

Since I was brought up in a family with a constant “project” going on around the house involving a quality stapler, wallpaper and building blocks, I think I could do wonders with this place we have rented. It is a big house with a small garden, painted all white on the inside. With some cloth there and paint here, some tile covers in the kitchen and some pots for herbs at the verandah… Then again, while surfing the web and seeing way too many theme-styled living rooms, smart storage solutions, bright kitchens with fresh flowers I wonder if this decorating-frenzy really is what I want to get myself into.

Finding the right balance when nesting isn’t easy. I’ll keep you posted. And I'll get one of those staplers.

In the photo a view of my new home, the verandah and an African pinetree.

Lazarol

After having posted a very long text yesterday, today I have just a picture to share with you. In the picture you see the wonder-cream FUNBACT-A that at the same time is antifungal, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory (how fun it really is to have fungus in one's scalp after having braided away air-circulation, is still an open question for the manufacturers). Also, this picture serves as a tribute to my dad, who taught me the song about Lazarol, the medication for all illnesses, who is today NOT celebrating his birthday.

My last week as a millionaire

The value of the Ghanaian currency the Cedi (pronounced like “CD”) is as of now about USD 1 to 10 000 cedis. This means that if I go to change 100 dollar, I will get about 1 000 000 cedis, and voila, I’m a millionaire! That’s the nice part. However, when the biggest note is the yellowish 20 000 cedi note, it means that even if it is nice to be a millionaire is is extremely impractical. Buying groceries for 200 000, means counting (at least) ten notes. Or when changing money I cannot double check I have the right amount, because I don’t have time to count hundreds of notes! Since the coins in use are only worth a pittance, even the smallest purchase involve notes, which has made the notes wear out. Buying things becomes a hassle, since you have to carry big stacks of money. I couldn’t imagine buying a car, for instance!

Due to an instable economy, the cedi has been inflated over the years. I estimate the value of it to have almost halved since I last was in Ghana 2,5 years ago (based on a beer-taxi homemade index :-) and today everything you buy, more or less is ‘thousend something.

Therefore it is welcomed that on Sunday, 1st of July the currency in Ghana will undergo a redomination. 10 000 cedis will next week be 1 Ghana cedi, or 100 pesewas. A huge campaign attached to it is aired on radio and TV with a really happy high-life tune in which they sing “the value is the same”. In a country where still a big chunk of the population do not know how to read or write, explaining that is not easy. Probably the reason for knocking 4 zeros off, and not what seems easier to me - take out three, is that it is nice to have a currency that is equal to or even worth more than the US dollar. Regardless, the campaign has been well received, and “the value is the same” is a slogan that is now used jokingly in almost every situation (“But that is not your lunchbox!”, “Nah, but the value is the same”.)

Bank of Ghana launched the new currency at a press conference some time ago which show similarities to the old one, for instance “the big six” or the Ghanaian freedom-fighters from independence in 1957 are portrayed on all the bills. On the other sides there are famous buildings like the University of Ghana and the Bank of Ghana. Only the 50 Ghana pesewas coin shows a woman. Then it is not a named historic person, but an unknown trades-woman.

Because of the depreciation of the cedi, I have come to see “money burning in the pocket” with my own eyes… it is a common thing to have a heat rash on the thigh/butt from carrying a heap of money in your pocket not allowing air to pass through...But, after this week, and the 6 month period in which both currencies can be used, my time as a millionaire, with rashes, is over.

Midsummer update

Since today is an ordinary office day in Ghana, I will have to wait until tomorrow to meet up with the Swedish community (of four) here in Ghana and celebrate midsummer. You don't know midsummer? It is a tradition when Swedish people gather to celebrate the ferility of the soil by making a giant fallos from flowers and dance like frogs while drink hard liquor and watery beer. This is how we'll do it tomorrow, Ghana-style.

GHANAIAN MIDSUMMER
farsk potatis(day fresh potato)=potato
sill (herring)= Salmon from Koala supermarket
graddfil(sour cream)= yoghurt?
graslok (leek)=garlic sprouts
jordgubbar (strawberries)= mango?
pripps bla (Swedish beer)= Ghanaian Star beer
knackebrod (hard bread)= German hard bread
Snaps (traditional shots taken with song)= Absolut Vodka

Also, this weekend, I will inspect the house my bf and I have rented, already next week we'll be moving in! I will post pics soon.

In the photo me and my bf's mother celebrating something else.

Gold coast

It is all over the news, OIL FOUND IN GHANA! The “black gold” was found just off shore Ghana by UK-based firm Tullow Oil and according to the bbc the finding is one of Africa’s biggest with 600m barrels (which tells me nothing, but news papers also state it is “of commercial value” so it is quite a lot, I guess). Even though it will take years before the oil can be accessed, everybody is discussing the news, many with the critical question “will this commodity really come to benefit the Ghanaian people?” However, the Ghanaian politicians are already celebrating. President Kufuor has stated:

"My joy is that I'll go down in history as the president under whose watch oil was found to turn the economy of Ghana around for the better"

The politicians sure need some good news. Yesterday, I went to the donor partners Consultative Group meeting in Accra where development partners come together with the Ghanaian government discussing how the aid available can give best value for money. President Kufuor came to the meeting for the closing ceremony. We all rose to the occasion, a respectful silence spread, and the president marched into the conference room with his entourage. He stopped at the podium and Ghana’s national anthem came on. About half way into the anthem, all lights went off, the AC stopped, the anthem was interrupted and we were all, president and ministers included, standing in the dark. It was a not so subtle reminder of the energy crisis here in Ghana.

Globalizurprise

After a few days in the bed feeling less then well, I woke up, rested and fresh to one of globalization’s mysteries: How has a page from the Spanish newspaper Heraldo de Aragon from 4th of March last year ended up as a wrapper to my morning bread? The paper is distributed in Zaragoza, some 4000 kilometres from here. I mean, I understand if the lady who bakes bread around the corner uses the Ghanaian paper Daily Graphic from last week as a cheap package for the items she sells, but the fact that she uses a square of the Heraldo de Aragon seems to indicate that old newspapers from Europe are shipped to Africa. And sold here?

Well, it isn’t impossible - on the Ghanaian roads I everyday see used cars with foreign stickers, and people wearing used clothes from Europe they bought here. I even heard someone saying that used tires are shipped to Africa to be used until they burst, as an explanation to the many accidents.

I shouldn’t be surprised that Europe ships its garbage to Africa, but I find myself, just that, surprised. And wonder, who is making money out of this?

Distance calculated with mapcrow.

Perspective

If I was a rich girl, I sometimes say, I'd buy...I'd have...I'd go to...Today I found a site that lets me know how rich I already am. It sure offers a perspective.

The Goat Approach

Here's a brief report from my workshop outside Accra which involved power point presentations, networking, hotel breakfasts and discussions with NGO's working with trafficked children. Sometimes, the talks would be so outright practical that it made my eyes tear.

For instance, when we discussed how to make sure the returned formally trafficked children did not starve. Do we give their families money? No, by experience the NGO people knew it will be spent on other things than food for the kids. Do we give the families foodstuffs like bags of rice? No, then food will be given away to others or run out before the kids will get it. Do we give money to the teachers so they can give to the malnourished kids to buy school lunch? No, then the teachers will steal the money!

To really understand what poverty does to people, how vast the problem is, that children really starve and will most likely do so tomorrow too...to understand I guess the discussion was a useful exercise, however, it wasn't only me around the conference table who felt both discouraged and sad.

Suddenly one man raised his hand and introduced an idea - why don't we provide each child with a she-goat? The goat can live with the family and is to be return to the project as soon as her baby goats are big enough, and then the she-goat can be lent out again.

Smiles started to show around the room, yes, this could work. Or maybe some chicken, guinea fowls, or sheep? The child could maybe choose their animal of preference? We cheerily named the idea "The Goat Approach", and I believe that even if it doesn't materialize it reminded us all that where there is a will, there is a way.

Business pleasures

Tonight, I will join my co-workers for a workshop in Koforidua so I will not be posting again until next week. Koforidua or “Ko-Town” is situated about 2 hours drive from Accra into the “Eastern region” which really lies north of Accra and in the middle of the country. Koforidua is the home of the bead market, which takes place every Thursday morning and maybe, just maybe I can sneak away to see it…
Beads have been manufactured in Ghana for more than 500 years and apparently it is big business, when I made a search for “beads” and “Ghana” I got 609 000 hits.

Once in a blue moon...

..one hears about something very interesting. Yesterday I wrote about my lack of access to tampons, a few hours later I receive an email from a friend suggesting I should try something else- the Mooncup. Women friends, there's an alternative to the tampon that is cheaper and friendlier both to our bodies and to the nature. Spread the word!
I have already ordered one. Thanks for the tip, Em.

Needs

After 1,5 months away from my native Sweden, some embarrassing needs have popped up. When in Sweden, I never thought I even have any special needs. Also with globalization, I figured almost anything could be found anywhere (unfortunately also at any price).

However, there are some things I just have to have that cannot be found here. I shrug at the memory of an earlier long absence from Sweden when I almost cried of happiness when somebody gave me some gingerbread (pepparkakor). Why cry for a cookie you normally anyway only eat at christmas?

Without further excuses, here's the list:

Books, please any fiction will do! I have not come across any book in a Ghanaian bookstore to this date I would like to read.

Moskito repellent, strangely in one of the most malaria infected areas in the world finding the kind of repellent you put on your skin is impossible.

Tampons. Cannot be found. If any exporter reads this, do the Ghanaian women a favor and start sending them in bulk!

Mint seeds, so that I can grow green mint and make proper Mojitos. Very important. I have the sugar, the rhum and the ice, now I just need the mint.

Fibers. A bag of kruska-kli, will do. Bread in Ghana is good, but as white as snow.

Send to Kajsa Hallberg, c/o Adu, P.O. Box CS 8884, Tema GHANA and you will be rewarded promptly in Ghanaian chocolates.

Looking for a house

The last week, I have been happliy exploring a new world - the real estate business. My bf and I would like to rent a house in our town, preferrably on the northern side close both to his job and to the motorway to Accra and my job. We would like to have at least three bedrooms (this is how you measure house size in Ghana, number of bedrooms)to accomodate 1. ourselves, 2. a couple of visitors, and 3.a relative that is to live with us and help out in the house alongside his studies which we would be paying for (Ghanaian CSN...). I would like a garden in which I'd grow papaya, banana(!) and maybe mint for Mojitos and he would like a safe spot to park. He would like a kitchen that is clean and a walk-in storeroom, I would like to be close to a main road so that I can catch a taxi and go to town myself.

When shopping for a house one is sadly apt to follow one's feelings instead of one's reason. I have seen all kinds of houses: small, huge, dirty, pink, non-completed, attatched, cute, dull, and even one with a tiny indoor pool! We have talked about preferences and budget. Still, what one remembers when trying to make an informed descision is how the light fell into that one livingroom, how that next-neighbor seemed so friendly, the idea of that I could do morning yoga on that rooftop (ok, lets for now disregard from that I am a late sleeper), the nice floor tiles in the master bedroom, and how a table on that verandah could be the perfect place to eat dinner.

Today, we have an appointment to see a house in community 11 (perfect location) with four bedrooms. I'll keep you posted.

When? Why? Where?

One of the most difficult things to get used to here in far away Ghana is the apparently different approach to time.

It is not as simple as many Europeans think, “that Africans are always late”, instead it is something closer to “Africans are always flexible”. They deal with non-complete or vague information, waiting, delays, contingency and the likes a hell of a lot better than the average Swede…
I have three examples from work.
1. The most common thing people tell you is “I am coming, eh!” meaning that they came to your office to tell you that sooner or later they will be returning (When? Why? Where?).
2. Like when I ask my co-worker about when people will be getting days off for going on a weekend retreat next Saturday and he cheerfully(!) replies: “we’ll come back Sunday evening and then we go to work on Monday again, no days off!” (What? I work on a weekend and there’s no compensation?)
3. When I got to work today around 8.30 am three people are sitting in the lunch room enjoying a meal that to me looks like lunch (damn, what time is it? You break after 30 minutes of work? And it’s not even time for coffee break!)

And, sadly, when I get to the lunch room around 10 (coffee) and later at 12.30 (lunch), I now expect to sit there alone.

Update: Just came back from a two hour lunch with a hilarious and nice collegue...so, here's a work example of that flexible is also nice, it does allow for two hour breaks when the moment is right.

Photo: Isaac Kweku Adu

Confident Conference Crashing

Why do people want to crash parties, when it is CONFERENCES that have it all? Useful information, coffe and cake, beautiful people, drinks and give-aways, fun power-point presentations given by Americans, as well as those contacts you need to move forward in life?
Next time a cool conference is in town, here's what you do:

• Go to the venue on day 2 of the conference, or after lunch on day 1, then security and staff is more relaxed.
• Be dressed up, but conservatively, don’t wear anything that attracts special attention.
• Wear a big scarf around your neck. It could be hiding the conference badge you..ehrm.. do not have. If someone still should ask for your non-existing badge, maybe in order to let you in to the lunch buffet, you have accidentally left your badge in your office. So typical. Sigh.
• If possible, follow the crowd. If crowd is unavailable, walk confidently to the information desk; ask of the room for the 'morning/afternoon plenary session'.
• Network as much as you can, but don’t give business cards - take cards and promise to email or call (then you can do the screening).
• Ask a question when the floor is being opened for Q&A, no one will think an intruder does that.
• Always use your real name and organization, otherwise future contacts will be difficult.
• If an important person, like say the Vice President of Ghana, comes by, be sure to shake hands. Maybe even smile.

For more daring people:

• Thank the organizers for a wonderful event using their first name (look at their badge). “Dear Margret, I’m Kajsa Hallberg, thank you for a great couple of days!”

For less daring people or people who plan ahead:

• Call or email the organizers in advance explaining that you are interested in the conference, but you/your organization cannot afford it. Do they let NGO’s in for free? Do they need help preparing the venue/the conference folders/the coffe breaks?

And remember, it is easier to be forgiven than allowed.

When will power crisis be solved?

In Ghana, as I have reported earlier, there is a power crisis. It is very appearant in the everyday lives of Ghanaians because of the power sharing exercise in place - every third day the power is turned off for 12 hours. Yesterday however, a governmnet representative had some reassuring news to the Ghanaian public:

The deadline for complete stoppage of the load shedding is September 31. Now what we are hoping, and there are no guarantees yet, is that as indicators put in place come up, we will be able to review the load shedding and change the schedule before the complete end of the load shedding.

The opposition was not late to note that there is only 30 days in the month of September…

Poetry and rain

I am reading the wonderful vivid stories compiled in the book by the Danish baroness Karen Blixen who came to live in Kenya in 1913 and stayed for almost 20 years. In the book, beautiful insights of life at a coffee plantation, masai people and the politics of first world war are interspersed with shockingly racist accounts by a baroness who was not only a writer, artist and safari hunter, but also a slave owner.
In this section she tell her kikuyu slaves about rhymes and poetry and they ask her to continue. The chapter is very typically named "Negros and verse".

One night out on the corn fields, when we had harvested the corn...I started for my own amusement to speak to my workers, most of them very young, in verse in Swahili. There was no meaning to the verses, they were made up for the sake of the rhyme:
Ngumbe
Na penda chumbe (The bulls like salt)

It soon attracted the interest of my workers, they gathered around me...

-Speak again, speak about rain.
Why they thought that poetry sounded like rain, I do not know. It must have been an expression for approval, because rain is in Africa always longed for and welcomed.

-Karen Blixen in Out of Africa

Steven Kofi Ferguson

 

I thought I’d introduce you to some of my new friends. First out is Steven Kofi Ferguson – a handsome guy of 27 years who drive me to and from work every day in his taxi. He is related to my boyfriend in a complicated way that makes my boyfriend Steven’s “son” (don’t ask). He has a good sense of humor, order and time. He is a religious man with patience that is as vast as the desert. Every morning he picks me up at my house around 8. We greet in Fante
- “EwuraAma – wo ho te sen den?”
- “ Boko, wo ntso Steven, wo e?”
And he asks me (still in Fante) what I have eaten the day before and chuckles at my attempts to reply. Then off we go. The ride to my workplace takes about 25 minutes, a little more on the way back due to traffic, and most of the time is spent on the motorway that connects the harbor town of Tema in which I and Steven live and Accra, Ghana’s capital where I work.

The ride on the motorway is smooth, I have gotten used to both that running people cross almost everywhere on the two-laned motorway and that some cars leave behind smoke that could kill you if you inhaled at that moment. So, it’s a smooth ride, perfect for conversations. We talk about music, Steven likes country, international gospel, reggae and hip-life, which is a development of Ghanaian high-life music that bloomed in the 60ies mixed with hip-hop and electronical instruments. We talk about religion, Steven goes to church twice a week and like many other Ghanaians express his religion through banners, idioms and invitations to his church. Today, he asked me “So EwuraAma, what do you do on Sundays?”

In Ghana, taxis are highly personalized by the driver since he (never a woman) often owns the car. Many of the cars have a message, more often religious than not, written across the back window. We discuss what would be a good choice for Steven to write across his window. He is torn between “By His grace” and “Time is money”. Steven drives his car 6 days a week, from around 7 am until the sun sets at 6pm.

We also talk about family, we both have three siblings and we live with large families. And we talk a lot about relationships and try to find answers to the eternal questions. Are men or women more jealous, why do many white women like rastafari men, how to best ask someone out, why girls in all countries sometimes give out fake numbers, why men in all countries should respect women. Yesterday we together explored the fine art of writing love letters (you there, write one today!)

I feel very fortunate to have a private driver - I feel like a princess! Or ambassador! But it is an even greater joy to have made a new friend.

Tranzizzel this!

What a white girl can do by using gizoogle. Kudos to Petite Anglaise who discovered it first.

A child returns

 
So yesterday I went to the beautiful village of Ekumpoano together with 25 trafficked children for a reunification ceremony with their parents. It wasn't only kids, parents and me there but IOM staff, journalists from TV3 and Joy FM, policemen, the Minister of Women and Childrens affairs,local MPs and municipal politicians, the Chief of Ekumpoano ( a surprisingly young,goodlooking guy)and probably over 1000 villagers.

The returning children, many smallish due to malnutrition and hard work, had been sold by their poor parents to work in the fishing industry in Ghana and were three months ago rescued by IOM and sent to rehabilitation. Now they were to be returned to their communities.

It was a hot day and we were late. The white bus with the kids stopped in an alley and kids, blue bags and bottles of water filled the village square. The ceremony started with an opening prayer 3 hours later than it said on paper (and probably only I believed). I thought it was a very good idea to have an acctual ceremony to mark this 'second chance' event in these 25 childrens lives. Through the rescue program, the kids will recieve free schooling and supplies which will make them more likely to finish primary school than their peers in the village.

Still, the ceremony made me think about central problems with aid. Where do we start? By giving some children a second start? What about the 500 children watching the event living with equally poor parents (read:mothers - since the fathers often are absent)? What did the villagers think of the ceremony (half in English, half in local language Fante) - educational on human trafficking and childrens rights or that it was a fun day when some big cars came to the village? Is it fair to raise these issues and not come with an alternative?

After the ceremony the invited guests and IOM staff were given something to eat and drink. When I walked back to the car, kids and old women asked me for money saying they were hungry.

Here's an article from an earlier reunification ceremony.

Finally rain

Naming this blog Rain in Africa was of course a bit silly, even though it in my ears sounded good,but silly since it adds to the common misunderstanding of that "there-s-nothing-in-Africa-not-even-rain". But then again, when the anticipated rain (Ghana normally goes in to the rain period in the beginning of April) finally fell this weekend I just felt it nevertheless was a good decision to mention the rain in the title. Because of the scent of rain. Because of its promises. And because there is acctually A LOT of rain in Africa.

Also, some other "rain" or good news: UN reports that Ghana is one of the first sub-Saharan African countries to reach the first Millenium Development Goal, halving hunger, well in time ahead of deadline which is set to 2015.

Click!

Those of you who know me well have maybe come to know I love taking pictures. I also love showing them to people...unfortunately everyone seems to be really tired after like 10 pictures. Why is that? Anyways, there are a few exceptions to the rule. The most prominent exeption being that when you are travelling people have more patience for watching my pics. That is also why I now have decided to again share with you (ungrateful) people.
The collage was made with picasa and the pictures are also presented - side by side - on my homepage. Click on "photos" and "Tema".

Mama Obruni

The African saying "It takes a village to raise a child" is well-known even in Sweden, but the effects of it were not known to me. Every adult about the same age as the parent is regarded as a parent, hence to the children in my house and in the neighboring houses I am "Mama Obruni" or mother-white person.

It is heart-warming to be called Mama by a child you have just come to know. But I have decided to enjoy the moment and be the generous kind of parent so "Children, who wants candy?"

In the picture I am standing in an alley next to our house and neighbor girl Nana is hiding behind me.

Flash me!

A big difference in the Ghanaian everyday life since I last was here 2,5 years ago is that now a lot more people are in possession of a mobile phone. The development is much like what I remember from Sweden in the mid 1990ies, in a very short period of time a cell phone went to being extremely costly and a unique accessory to an ordinary must-have. The Ghanaian phone company Areeba let’s you buy credits from as little as 3000 cedis (25 cents, or 3 SEK) and that amount is valid for 3 minutes in Ghana and 2 minutes outside Ghana. Affordable. International rates that are a lot better than in any other country I have visited.

However the phones themselves are as costly as in Sweden. Still people in urban Ghana carry cellphones very similar to those in urban Sweden or many times even nicer ones than in Sweden.

Since still half of the population lives on less than $2 a day, the use of very nice phones leads to stealing and articles like these can be read daily in the Ghanaian news.


The phone revolution in Africa also translates into possibilities, specifically in banking. Most people in Africa does not have a bank account, therefore remittances sent from relatives abroad must go through expensive services that often cost more than 10% of the amount being sent. If money can be sent straight to a phone that means less transaction costs and (hopefully) more money for development. More on this here.
Already, there are some banking that can be done, for instance can you get a "sikatext", or money text message on your current balance in your account (if you have one). Banking over cell phone is already big in South Africa and japan and can maybe become so in Ghana too.

Oh, and in case you wonder… “flash me” means “call me so that I get your number”.

In the picture Josephine is using her new phone while doing laundry.

You've got mail!

Today I recieved some mail from Sweden. Not that I do not love the Internet and all it's possibilities, I do.

But still. Real mail. It feels really sweet. Let me share with you what the package from my friend E contained. There was some folders on fair trade(my friend E never misses an opportunity to share her views on this topic), then there was two wrapped gifts. On one it said - "to open when you feel sad" and on the other one "to open when the patriarchy gets to you". So super nice.

Today, I will find something to send straight back to you, E.

H5N1

The avian flu has arrived in Ghana. The first cases, none affecting humans, were discovered in a chicken farm in my hometown of Tema. According to BBC what one has to do now is avoid contact with domesticated chicken."Humans catch the disease through close contact with live infected birds. Birds excrete the virus in their faeces, which dry and become pulverised, and are then inhaled." However, I was surprised to read I can continue to eat chicken. "Experts say avian flu is not a food-borne virus, so eating chicken is safe."

Some days ago we were discussing this topic in my house.
Me: So last time I was here a rooster woke me up every day. Now, I see no chicken in your henhouse. Do you have any chicken nowadays?
Mother-in-law: No, my daughter says because of the flu we shouldn't have chickens. So I only have one.

Maybe I have to talk my mother-in-law into letting that hen go.

Indoors news

Today I started my interning position with IOM which meant 8 hours in an air-conditioned environment, aaaaah how lovely it was. I realized I really like Ghana, but the tropical climate can really be too much. It was just wonderful to be a bit cold, my mind works better. I was given a huge pile of materials to go through and tomorrow my first assignment will be further described and started! Judging from what I have experienced so far, my work will be very interesting. And performed in 21 degrees celcius.

When researching the web on the projects of IOM Accra, I discovered Oprah beat me to it, see her work on child trafficking in Ghana here.

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200702/tows_past_20070209.jhtml

Nostalgia

What is it I really miss from home? The climate, some of the foods, my friends and family and being able to walk down the street and not wanting to capture at least 3 things on camera. Yesterday, I went to the capital with my boyfriend. Apart from one evening in an Accra restaurant this was my first visit in the capital since I came. We shared a taxi there, which took no more than 30 minutes still we ended up in a different world. We found ourselves in the hip Osu district of Accra. A place where big cars and obrunis (white people) are as common as yellow-and-blue taxis and bibinis (black people) in all other corners of Ghana. At the popular spot “Osu Food Court” I had an opportunity to choose not only between goat soup and different types of yam, but also hamburgers, pizza, coffee and cake (!) and other western/American dishes.

So what did I choose to eat? After some two weeks of local specialities I have come to really appriciate like spicy soups and stews, fish and chicken, carbohydrats in sticky balls and fruits new to me I went with…Pepperoni Pizza. Why? I don’t even eat pizza all that often in Sweden. Later that day, I had the opportunity to discuss this phenomenon with a Swedish newfound friend. We agreed that even though we came to experience new things it is just too much novelties at the same time. The heat, the smells, the early mornings, the animals running about, the new sounds, the different ways of buying a fruit/taking a taxi/shaking hands and the fact that it is impossible to blend in…all this make us inclined to once in a while look for the well-known. Even if it is a sad Pepperoni Pizza.

In the picture new friends Annie and Johnny visiting in my mother-in-law's house.

weekend

So, weekend is coming to Ghana as well. It will probably be a calm time with a trip to the nearby capital, hopefully for some salsa dancing. Or maybe a stop at the beach. I feel good today after getting my hair re-braided and yesterday speaking Swedish with some newfound Swedish friends. It's something special with Swedes abroad...they so often impress me. So courageous, cool and cosmopolitan.

Next week, I will upload some of my own photos here. Stay tuned!

On being a good elder

Since my big move to Ghana, I have not only moved from being a single gal in a student room in Uppsala, Sweden to being a "sambo" with my boyfriend as of 4,5 years - no, I am now also an elder in an African household. This leaves me with a number of advantages...and of course responding responsibilities.

One of them is that I never have to do my own dishes, that is being done by a child in my household -"Abena, bra!" (- "Abena, come here!") But in order for this system to work smoothly, I must remember to leave some of my food on the plate as a small reward for the dishwashing person. This must be the exact opposite of what parents said to kids in the Swedn of the past "think of the kids in AFRICA and finish your food". Now I have to leave some for a kid in Tema.

Yesterday, I was watching soccer and drinking a soda, thirsty from a hot day I gulped it all up and was consequently accused of being a "bad elder" because there was nothing left for the child who came to collect the bottle...

Life is indeed a learning process.

On beauty

Coming to a new place, there are always things that stand out making you reevaluate your own home. Here in Ghana, there are many such things. Today, I will tell you about one.

Ghanaian women. They are really beautiful and they come in all sizes, I mean ALL sizes, there are the extremely thin ones, the medium sized, the short, the tall - but above all, the voluminous women. They are many, they are everywhere. It is clear they are viewed as very good looking. They sport their selves in nice curve-hugging outfits and do not seem at all self conscious about being too big. In music videos when girls come by the cool rappers' house, yes, they are all plus sized.

This makes the think of my own country. How has it affected me to constantly be confronted with the message of "thin is beautiful"? In an article on Ghanaweb.com today, the story of how Ghanaian models wanting to make it abroad are turned down because of being "fat" was featured. Is this how we want it?

Since I came here, I have not once held my breath to look thinner. I have not stood on a scale. And I am telling you it feels good.

In the picture Akosia and her baby girl dressed in Swedish colors.

Intercultural hurrays!

This weekend SWEA (Swedish Women's Educational Association) on their annual meeting decided to award me with the Agneta and Gunnar Nilsson's Scholarship for studies of Intercultural Relations!

This scholarship permits me to fulfill a dream of mine, start doctoral studies in the important field of migration issues. I plan to attend University of Ghana just 30 minutes away from my current location. My local newspaper on Gotland published an article on this on Saturday. Below SWEA's motivation letter in Swedish.

AGNETA OCH GUNNAR NILSSONS STIPENDIUM 2007


Juryn för

Agneta och Gunnar Nilssons stipendium för studier av interkulturella

relationer har enhälligt utsett

KAJSA HALLBERG

till arets stipendiat.

Hon har i sin ansökan om stipendium för doktorandstudier vid Institute of African Studies vid University of Ghana för avsikt att skriva en avhandling om hallbar migrationspolitik, en fraga som berör de flesta länder idag pa grund av de olika situationer och villkor som uppstar i samband med att människor flyttar. Hon vill ocksa bland annat belysa problematiken brain-drain och brain-gain samt visa att migration även är en genderfraga, det vill säga innebär en risk för kvinnor genom splittring av familjer och trafficking.

Kajsa vill genom sitt arbete bidra till att uppmuntra svenska studenter att söka sig till studiemiljöer i Afrika och fa till stand hallbara samarbetsprogram med Afrika i framtiden.

Imponerade av en ansökan präglad av intellektuell mognad och djupt samhällsansvar vill vi i Juryn gratulera Kajsa Hallberg till stipendiet samt önska henne lycka och framgang inom detta viktiga forskningsomrade.

I am of course very happy to get this chance and I must say I could not have imagined a better start to my stay in Ghana!

Who am I?

Few things make your feel of identity shake as much as when I child begin to cry from the mere sight of you. This happened to me here in Tema, Ghana he other day. I had been out all day expanding my horizons and testing my own limits (can I eat this? do I dare to go in here? Can I find my way home from here?) As I step in to the house that is now my zone of comfort and where my mother-in-law resides as well as the place were I take in breakfast (coffe, bread and fruits) and often dinner, an old friend is there to greet me. Her daughter who as only a baby last time I was in Ghana is running around with her cousin. UNTIL...SHE SEES ME...HER EYES WIDEN..HER MOUTH OPENS...BIG TEARS FALL DOWN HER CHEEKS. At first she is very quiet but then
- UAAAAAAAAA!

We all laugh. But the child cannot be comforted. I try and talk to her. Her mother reassures I'm not dangerous. She can sit in her grandmothers lap. Still shaking from upset she now and then dares to take a peek at me.

Who is this fair creature with strange hair and a funny sounding language? What do my mother really know of her intentions?

Historically, the girl is indeed right to cry. What has the white person's missions in Black Africa been?

By the end of the visit, the small girl has stopped crying, but still makes sure she is at all times at a security distance from myself. Her mother ties the child to her back and we follow them out - in Ghana every visitor is followed out, crying or not - but after a few steps mother and child return.

The mother explains:
- She said she wants to hug Obroni (white person). I am quite surprised by the flip side to the situation. However, as i hug the little girl on her mother's back she starts crying again.
- UAAAAAAAAA!

New favorite

The yellow mango
You bite into the sunwarm peel and the sweet thick juice comes out. Theady flesh, small so you keep wanting more!

Weekend fun

I have landed!

Right from the moment I touched African soil I have been enjoying myself and greeted people. We have been lunching, dining and drinking with various friends and relatives - all of them seem very happy to have me here. Coming back is a whole different thing. Just knowing a little bit of what to expect has helped a lot. Although the heat, guessing humid and around 30 degrees has been hard on me. Coming back to stay is also a wholly new experience. Knowing I will have time on my side to do and meet and greet demands a different attitude. I do not have to do everything today.

Ongoing is also an energy crisis and all of today, parts of Saturday and Sunday there was no electricity. That is if you do not have your own generator. Power is being rationed every 6th day, but in between rationing power also goes out. The power situation is right now the most pressing political issue in Ghana and articles like this one are printed every day. Since my boyfriend is one of the engineers working with building a new power plant, I have some interesting information and will come back to this topic.

Ma yenko Ghana!

Let's go to Ghana!

Here it is, the first day of my new life. I feel concentrated and a bit nervous. But well. Hell, I even slept a few hours last night. Once I woke up from the bed shaking and thought "they have a laundry room downstairs?" Soon I realized it was me doing the shake and noone doing laundry at 2 am...

6.10 pm Ghana time (20.10 in Sweden), my long trip is over.

Day before xmas

It isn't really xmas tomorrow, but this is the feeling I now have. Tomorrow, I get to open the great gift of reuniting with my man and breathing the dump, warm air of Ghana. Starting a new life...

Yesterday a heartfelt goodbye with the friends here in Uppsala. We started with a drink and continued with dinner in one of the student clubs. That time of my life is now behind me. It feels sad, a lot sadder than I had imagined even though the customer service at the student place as usual was LOL bad. "you need drinks WITH the starter?"

Talked to one of my friends about how its possible to even become closer to some friends when far away. P told me about a friendship that even wasn't that great in reallife, but over longdistance it was a kindered soul meet. Technology of today has a way of breaking down distances. But still, it won't be the same.

Fever

Here we go! I'm opening up the shop again to share my life with you invisibles out there in the virtual world. Once again, the reason is travellning outside of Sweden. This time I go to West Africa and Ghana and the town of Tema, close to the capital Accra. I'll be working and moving in with my boyfriend. To keep you all coming back here, I will tell you some interesting facts that form the background of my experience:

1. We will be living with my boyfriend's mother
2. There is an energy crisis in Ghana with much limited power (hope the Internet cafés work!)
3.This is my first expericence of living in a developing country, and I am moving there indefinetely...

...and right now my traveler's fever is haunting me. Did I remember to go to the bank? Send that form? Invite my friend Kerstin over? Did I pack my books? Send that email to Mr Rispoli?

I know what I did remember. Starting up my blog.

On books

I was challenged to answer to this survey by blogger/friend Marta. So here we go:

I. A book that changed my life.
My diary.

II. A book I read more than once.
Love in the time of cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He is making it ALL UP, it is SO obvious that NO love story can EVER unfold like this. At the same time it’s touching and somehow believable.

III. A book I would like to bring to a deserted island.
Probably 100 love sonnets by Pablo Neruda, the pink edition with beautiful and sentimental love poetry in Spanish translated into English on the facing page. Then on my island, I’d learn the Spanish versions daytime by heart, later cry them out into the lonely and very black night and at the same time understand what I was screaming.

IV. A book that made me laugh.
A Rough Guide to Sweden. Jeez, it really gives a person some perspective to read travel books on her own country. This handy guide states that Sweden really just needs two days, one in Stockholm and one in Gothenburg…

V. A book that made me cry.
All the thick ones, ’cos I have separation anxiety (GWTW/Mitchell, Diva/Fagerholm, Anne of Green Gables/Montgomery, A little love song/Magorian)

VI. A book I wish had been written.
A coming of age story taking place in the echoing halls of Uppsala University, some romance at the student clubs called ”nations” and a strong heroine taking her own high road…

VII. A book I wish had not.
Little Birds by Anaïs Nin, a sequel to the wonderful and erotic Delta of Venus that has the quality of a, well, sequel.

VIII. A book I am reading now.
The American Girl by Monika Fagerholm, a Finnish-Swedish writer who makes up a new language for every book she writes, takes some getting used to, but I think the effects of when you just don’t read a persons story, but read their language is powerful (Ett Öga Rött by Hassan Khemiri had a similar effect).

IX. A book I plan to read.
Late in November by Tove Jansson. Aron said it was great and I trust his literary taste.

X. Pass the survey on to other bloggers...
I think that Mamma and Nadja should get it once they start their blogs.

AND SOME EXTRA FOR THE CHEAP SEATS IN THE BACK: A book I give to a friend any day.
The Daughters of Egalia by Gerd Brantenberg. This is how equal rights should be pursued; in a crazy-witty-fantastic literary description of what life would be like if everything was different. I’m just saying - the scene when Rut gives birth in the spotlight on a stage in the Birth Temple before she leaves to go out to celebrate with her friends! I believe in visualizing the absurd. So does Gerd.

Remembering Anna Lindh

Three years ago, right before the referendum on joining the Euro zone, Sweden's foreign minister Anna Lindh was stabbed to death in a Stockholm department store. I remember Anna Lindh as a fabulous speaker and a political role model and her unnecessary and brutal death as a push to join party politics.

– A human being can be murdered, but ideas can't. Our thanks to you will be to carry your message on, Anna Lindh said at Olof Palme's funeral in 1986.

Today, I am remembering Anna Lindh and on Sunday, I hope people in Sweden remember the ideas of democracy and vote. I will.

Back on track

Yesterday, I sat my foot down on the Uppsala soil and walked the 59 steps to my door (location, location, location!)

Summer is over. It feels kind of nice. Posts from now on will involve job searching and texts on breaking up with student life.

The slight out of focus picture is taken from the information page of Harvard's summer program 2006 in Uppsala. Had no idea the prestigious US university drag their students to Sweden summertime. Well, their summer is over too.

Summer break

Not a cloud
as long as the eye can see
not a drop of rain
in several days

with an ice-cream in my mouth
and sandals of plastic
I am walking in the sun
thinking of you

Home sweet home

I stepped off the plane and filled my lungs with the summery air of Arlanda airport, Sweden. I was back in my homeland and the feeling was sweet. The crowded streets in Paris seemed far away and as I got my luggage and slowly walked out towards a waiting car I had a moment: I had perfect spring in Paris behind me and a possible lovely summer in Sweden ahead.

good weather

This is just a post to show im still around. I haven't forgot you my dear and oh-so-dedicated readers. I'll be back soon, maybe already tomorrow after my visit to the Monet gardens in Giverny.

Update:

Sunday - a day for rest?

When a young girl in Sweden, I remember that all stores closed in the early afternoon on Saturdays. Errends had to be taken care of during the week or in the morning hours of that day. Now all that has changed, most stores are open late on Saturdays and on Sundays and with the malls one can do shopping also in the evenings.

Here in France, shops are still closed on Sundays and it has an interesting effect on the French way of life. A sense of tranquility spreads. Sundays are for pure joy and relaxing, going to the park or visiting friends.

Normally, I am not the person advocating for time to be tuned back (nor using biblical headings). But is it really a good idea to have access to shoppning every day? What weekday is for relaxing and going to the park in Sweden?

Magnifique!

I need no more. I'm done, I'm well, je suis contente!

I fell upon the most magic evening. A friend and I went to Belleville to watch the open ateliers - once a year the artists of Belleville open their homes and ateliers for the public. Suddenly, we were in a crowded room, free kir (white wine and flavour, the classic is cassis/blackcurrent), colorful people, kids, paintings and a sound installation with chanting birds. Someone made a "cling-cling" with a glass and wished us welcome to the concert next door. We went into a church room, beautifully decorated in all white with white candles everywhere. Over the stage it said in gold "Dieu est amour" - God is love. A goodlooking guitar player with an even better looking guitar came in, sat down and started to play. A redhaired singer came in, put on her guitar and started singing French chansons lika an angel, the texts were funny (I could understand quite a lot!), I befriended the older man next to me, and when people sang along...

It was a moment which is hard to explain in the blogformat.

*******Vive l'Europe!*******

What is up in rest of Europe? France is in celebration mood after the somber rememberance of the victims of the second world war yesterday...8th of May and 61 years since the war ended. Here in France it is of course a national holiday. That the day following the 8th of May has been named "Fête l'Europe" just seems self-explanatory. First there was a war, then EU was created to never have war again! (The Schuman declaration was signed on the 9th of May 1950 and was the beginning of the coal and steel union) Let's have a day for Europe!

- How the French celebrate it? They light up the Eiffeltower and the Arch de Triomphe in blue!

Get inspired by George W. Bush

Bush is often critizised for being a stupid guy. This week, he didn't try to prove anyone wrong, he just went with the flow. Do as Bush, embrace what is you. Do as Bush, love your shortcomings. Do as Bush, laugh at yourself.

Um, yeah, and follow this link so you know what I am talking about… http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2006/bush-bridges-p1.php

Routines

These little hang-ups that form a life. When you go to live somewhere new it is like blowing your routines up with a big bang. But the funny part is that when the dust settles, new, fresh, little greenish, habits are beautifully framing your life, once again.

After a few months in Paris the dust has settled and I wake up every morning to my sister's voice. She is saying "Tjolahopp" (not possible to translate) in a recording on my cell phone. Then I turn it off about three times before I get up. I shower in the most despicable shower with small flies on the walls – I endure them by singing ANC-songs from the Apartheid times. That makes the flies seem like a tiny problem. Then I get dressed – nowadays fancy office wear – and drink a yoghurt on my way to the Metro. This is a good way of "eating" breakfast even though you have slept away the time to do so. In the Metro, I grab the free paper 20 minutes. It is a competitor to the Swedish success Metro and has won me over because of the simple fact that it is half the size and thereby possible to read in the crowded Metro. I always make sure to look up to when the Metro pass the Eiffel tower, that’s a view I can never get tired of…When the weather is good I get off a station before mine and walk past fruit shops, mailmen, school kids, dog owners and everybody else on the lively 16th arrondissement street. Turning round the corner, I stop at the quartier boulangerie and buy a croissant (I promise, I do) which I eat in front of the computer when checking my emails.

I work. That is also a routine now.

On the way home my routine is not to have a routine. I always try to find a new way home. Today it will be taking Metro 6 to station Franklin D. Roosevelt, changing to M2 which will take me to Place de la Bastille. Ok, this isn't really a straight track home, but rather to a rendez-vous with other OECD interns and with a glass of white wine.

My lovely routines which I will soon blow up.

When chestnuts are blossoming...

...I'll be far away.