Twi Proverbs

There is a book of Twi proverbs in my homestay house and here are some that stuck out to me:

"However beautiful a woman, if she is often divorced she loses the respect of men."

"The beautiful woman owes her beauty to her husband."

"Even if a woman possesses a talking drum, she keeps it in a room belonging to a man. However great a woman, she is dependent on a man."

"All women are alike."

"There is none among men who can be called small. No male person should be despised. (The Twis think that the man, however small, is superior to the woman)."

"The animal dies under the tree it likes best.  Man's favoite pleasure is often the cause of his death."

"If one tree daces the storn alone, it collapses. Strength is in numbers and unity."


Here is an attempt at a poem I wrote after reflecting coming back from being on a long tro-tro ride sitting at a window seat trying to get some air. I feel like Ghana has become my home, I'm more situated in this place, and am not just a visitor anymore. I am not a newborn observing everything with new eyes and I feel like I've been running through my days desensitized from everything I see so that is it less painful. I had some thoughts that I was trying to sort through, and ended up feeling depressed sorting through these thoughts and decided to journal about it.....here's an excerpt of some of the rambling.

It's strange, this contradiciton.
Dancing hunched over, closer to the earth.
We all come from this earth.
We are all connected.
Connected to this rust colored soil,
a soil littered with rubbish.
Crumpled plastic sachets of water.
Water intended for white people's lips.
Africa is too dirty for Westerners.
Unclean. Contaminated.
Ponds are landfills here.
The white woman drinking from the sachet of water;
She's drinking the same water form the landfill ponds.
It's strange, this contradiction.


Shoeless children play in this wasteland
Shoeless children kick strips of plastic bags and dust with their soccer balls.
Shoeless children grab hold of your arm and don't let go.
What about these shoeless children?
The girls selling water instead of going to school?
The parents who make thier children beg?
Our waste is shipped here.
Our techno trash
Our old TVs
Our cell phones
Our donated clothes.
Our excess is luxury.


The heartbreaking reality that the familiy and place you are born into determines so much of your life is painstakingly consuming my thoughts. I do not know why some people have so much why most have so little. I don't know why so many inequities persist and how to make this any better?

I'll end with some funny stories to lighten the mood from gender issues with the Twi proverbs, and observations on water and waste. Since, OK, there are infinite things wrong in the world but really all we can do sometimes is the best we can, and when that's not enough; we can laugh. Laugh long and hard. And laughter in this heat when we all feel loopy at all times of the day----is the absolute best.

So in regard to the last blog entry, about my mom surprising me with this elaborate 'moo-moo' dress; remember how I was served 'dinner' at like 3:30? well, that was only my FIRST dinner. Yes, I stomached 2 dinners that night, THANKS, MOM. The second one was served at 6:00 after I'd surprised my neighbors in the dress and came back home. I really think this competitive eating training is going to help my carreer in the future; I'm almost able to finish an entire plate of food now--so that's pretty cool.

I decided to get some more clothes made and got batik fabric from one of my teachers, Co Cro Co's shop about an hour away. I explained to my home stay mom that I wanted a tank top and a skirt made so that I would be able to have more outfits with the few clothes I brought. We met with her tailor and everything seemed great.

When I went to pick up what I thought would be my new articles of clothing (much anticipated articles of clothing) it turned out that the seamstress hadn't listened, or my mom put in her opinion in Twi to the seamstress and I ended up with two dresses identical to the one I'd gotten made at Izzie's mom's shop. V-neck T shirt dresses with puffed sleeves and an A-line cut. All I wanted was some variation. I guess I got greedy with the clothing and got what I deserved...but when you only have 4 outfits for 3.5 months that are incredibly stretched out from hand washing and too much sweating; I was really looking forward to some new stuff. And that's when all you can do is laugh about how funny some situations become.