Mmmmmmm. More to come, soon.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Ghana Paper
Yes, I know this might be kind of boring to some, but I decided to post my final paper from Ghana. It was really fun to wright and read over. I'm so happy I was able to go to Ghana, and especially to meet the people I did. No offense taken if you don't want to read it :) (PS don't mind any spelling or grammatical errors. I'm not that awesome.)
To put together in words, ‘my experience in Ghana’ is quite a difficult thing for me to do; taken that I was there a total of three months, and had numerous encounters in learning in observation, volunteering, interviews, and just spending time with people. The Ghanaian culture has become a fascinating thing to me. Many of the dynamics cannot be learned except through observation and actual experience. What I mean by that is, you can read all you want in a book, but can never even try to understand without actually being there.
Speaking of this, I felt as though I was not able to ever get an actual realistic account of how the native Ghanaian lives. Yes, though interviews and observing, but as a Caucasian American female, there is absolutely no way for me to be able to experience life as a Ghanaian would. I could never blend in. I could never casually observe or take notes without being watched. That was something I learned right off the back, I cannot have a raw traditional Ghanaian experience, because that is exactly what I am not. So, instead of saying, “this is what I learned while living in Ghana” I must specify in saying, “this is what I learned while living as an Obruni (white person) in Ghana.”
Different Cities:
There was quite a difference in living in Wiamoase, verses traveling in Kumasi or Cape Coast. In Wiamoase, we were recognized as ‘the American students living with Madam Baffour. Everyone was very welcoming and accepting to us. They always would wave, ask us how we were doing and offer a certain level of protection. In cases of nighttime and darkness someone would always be willing to walk us home, to make sure we were safe. If ever we were to run into strange and dangerous animals, someone would come to our air and reassure us that we would be fine, and help us get to where we need to be. Or in some cases, we were protected from the ‘crazy people’ in the village who would follow us around and persistently ask for money or other materials. We had a lady let us hide in her home until the 'crazy person' passed. People living in Wiamoase, would always smile at us and try to help in any way that they could. There was also always a lot of attention on us. People were always watching what we did, and especially what we bought. We would always have to conceal things in our purses, so it didn't look like we were buying loads of things from the small markets. We didn't want to seem very rich, so as no one would come begging us for money. The people were always inviting us to different events like weddings, funerals, parties, futbol games, etc. We really felt loved and appreciated and part of the community.
Kumasi was a very different story, especially being that there were many other foreigners in town. Also, that it is an extremely big and busy city. No one paid any attention to us, unless they wanted us to buy whatever they were selling, which was often. Without them knowing us, the street hockers just assumed we were very rich Americans, and tried to get us to buy everything they had for sale. Despite this fact, it was almost easier to be there, in knowing that nobody really cared or took big notice that you were there. We could walk around and shop without feeling like we were standing out or out of place. It was also nice to be able to take taxis, if needed, and enjoy that small luxury. We also delighted in occasionally going out to eat, and being able to shop at the cultural center.
In Cape Coast, it was more difficult. Even though there were many other foreigners, most were tourists and the street vendors harassed you to buy everything even more so than in Kumasi. Food and other amenities were way overpriced and at least for me, I hated being a tourist. I felt so materialistic and just like I was trying to be 'cool' being in Ghana. Being in Cape Cost was not helping me have a 'real' Ghanaian experience, although I am grateful to have the contrast to the other cities, and being there, really helped me appreciate living in Wiamoase.
The Project:
Back in Wiamoase, my project was a very interesting one to do. I worked on doing oral histories, and only interviewing 3 women about their pregnancy and childbirth experiences. It was, I felt, a very ambiguous project, in meaning there was so much, and so little I could do to finish it. I ended up with 7 interviews, two for two ladies, and three for the third. Looking back, I really wish I had done more interviews, and with more women, but scheduling is something nonexistent in Ghana. I had multiple times where interviews were set up and not able to be followed through with either because of my interviewee, translator, or myself. Other things were always getting in the way such as sickness, vacation, weather, funerals, time of day, holidays, church, other activities, etc.
In the interviews where we talked about birth, there were some really great things I learned, and one of them being, that birth is (obviously) universal. I don’t know what I expected in the beginning, but I was just so amazed to hear that some of the things I already knew about pregnancy were also known to the women I interviewed. Maybe they didn’t use the same vocabulary as I would have, but our bodies are all the same. For example, when I asked how she knew she was in labor, Deborah said it was because she saw a little blood and then she started having “whispings” which I learned later were contractions. Constance said she knew she was in labor when “water was spilled” aka her water broke. It was also comforting to hear that women there also had the same types of emotions felt, the same thoughts, and were conflicted with the same choices as we, women in America are. They felt fear, and pain, and joy, and happiness. It was truly a wonder to me, to hear the stories from these women.
Constance:
Constance was born in the village of Domeabra, and she had 9 siblings. She is 32 years old, and is not married. She has two daughters, Ophelia who is six, and Adwoa Boatema who was 9 months at the time. She looked like a very strong and powerful woman. She was extremely beautiful and a very confident, with a shining countenance. Although somewhat intimidating, Constance became very warm and kind quickly. She always was very open and honest when I questioned her about her pregnancies and birth, and stretched to give me even more information than I asked for. She also said some very beautiful things about birth and motherhood.
When Constance became pregnant with her first child, she was very happy. She was excited to give birth, and especially because, “that person is going to grow up that she can help the person.” What a wonderful way to describe motherhood. Her entire family was excited, and she prepared by buying all of the things the clinic asked her too. She said that no matter what you do, there is no way to prepare for the pain. Previous to giving birth, she had fears, one of them being that she would die.
I learned that in Ghanaian culture, it is not appropriate to show pain. You are to be strong, and silent, and not let anyone know what you are physically going through. Constance had a different approach. She said when she was in labor, she ate ‘severely,’ so she could have her strength, but even then, the pain was so great and she could not control herself, she had to scream. We all laughed when she told us this, it was very funny to see how uncaring she was about not following ‘cultural norms.’
Comparing her two pregnancies, Constance said the second one was easier. At the first birth, the nurses said she was too small, and had to cut her (an epesiotomy) to help the baby out. They also had to attach her to ‘the drip’ (an IV) the first time. The second went by more smoothly.
Constance was able to give birth to two healthy little girls. Although she feels like giving birth is dangerous, she said, “birth is a treasure” and will give birth again.
Ama:
Ama was the most quiet and least talkative of the three ladies. Her hair stood up all over her head, and was pretty long to do this, and very straight. She is short and tiny and about 23 years old. She also had the most children. She was pregnant as a teenager when she was very young, had another child, was married just two years ago and shortly has given birth to her third. The youngest, Yaa Mary was less than 2 months old when I interviewed Ama. She always wanted me to hold her baby, and I never argued about that one. Yaa Mary was so precious and had long curly afro air that was so soft. She was always sleeping when I held her.
Ama’s interviews were always the shortest, because she usually gave one-word answers and didn’t expound much, even if I asked her to. She was born in Mampong, a larger city north of Wiamoase. When she first discovered she was pregnant, she was not happy because she was still very young, around 15 years old. Her family did not react badly, and they told her to keep the baby.
Ama had her first two babies at home, with a reverend minister there to help her, and the third at the clinic. She reacted to birth as something very normal and to be expected. She was never really surprised or nervous about her pregnancies and births, just very calm about everything.
I learned from Ama, that I sometimes needed to rephrase my questions a little, because some of the answers did not come out like I was expecting. For example, I asked her how she felt after giving birth. I was meaning emotionally, and her answer surprised me. She said she felt ‘very light, because she was talking about how she physically felt. After reading over the interviews, I felt they were sometimes pretty humorous.
Deborah:
Deborah is a very eccentric lady; I didn’t know this until our third interview. She is 25, about 5’6” and very beautiful. Her hair was plaited with these little black, short, dreadlock looking things all over her head. At first, she was very quiet, always spoke in Twi and seemed sort of intimidated by me. Eventually I learned that she had completed college and speaks English very well. She is very educated for being a woman and coming from a small town. After our interviews, she was always helping me with things, and we would hang out sometimes. She helped me take out my plaited hair, find a seamstress to make a dress for me, took me to her church, taught me how to cook, etc. She has a very crude sense of humor and was always trying to embarrass me or make me feel uncomfortable. I’ll just say that she was very good at it.
Deborah was born and raised in Wiamoase. When I asked what her mother told her about pregnancy and birth she said that, “during the pregnancy, that when the baby is still in your womb, is much painful than the actual time that you’re delivering.” Deborah had given birth once, and was pregnant with her second child. She said she agreed with her mother’s words, and seemed to have a mildly difficult time being pregnant. She always was chewing on this particular type of stick. She said, whatever kind it was, that it helped her so she didn’t ‘spat’ (spit or vomit) as much, although she did spit quite frequently.
Deborah talked about how in Ghanaian society, that if you don’t get pregnant within the first year of being married, you are maybe mocked or looked down on, because people will think you are barren. Being barren is a very bad thing in Ghana because you must have something to show for your life, and that is, producing another life to keep on living your legacy. Also, the lines of family inheritance go from uncle to nieces/nephews, not father to child. So to feel like they will eventually inherit something, they must have children.
She taught me a lot about baby naming ceremonies. She said that when a baby is born, the father would consult the family members that the wife has given birth by bringing cloth with blood on it (as proof a child has been born) and money. He will decide the name of the baby, not the mother. She said that her family did not do a baby naming ceremony, because it wastes too much money and is not really necessary.
I learned about bathing a baby from Deborah. She gave step by step instructions, too. She told me you use a pan like this (she pointed to a big metal bowl about 30” across). You use hot water and cold water. You sit in the pan and put the baby in your lap. You use a little towel, and you soak the towel with the hot water, and use that on the forehead of the baby. After that, you bathe the baby and you use some of the hot water and the cold water. Then you wash the private parts and the stomach. She told me about the umbilical chord stub, and said, “when a baby is given birth to, the stomach, they have this very long thing and with hot water, it takes time, it will go away - so that you can get it perfectly smooth.” She has a great way of describing things.
She taught me about the dangers of pregnancy and birth. I asked her if she considered birth to be dangerous. She said yes, because lots of women bleed before they give birth, and they can die from that. Also some women can be in labor for a week, and it is so painful. For others, the baby will be so big in the womb, it will be so hard for the mother to get the baby out, that after she gives birth, she will die because she was just so tired.
She told me about Malaria when you are pregnant and how it is a very scary thing, and usually much worse. If you have malaria when you are pregnant, you are more likely to give birth early when the baby is not ready. This will affect the skin color of the child, so they have to put the baby in the sun that is rising in the morning so the baby can receive vitamin D. She did get malaria with her first pregnancy, but not with the second.
Deborah gave birth in the Asamang Hospital. She was transferred there after a difficult labor, and they had to perform an emergency cesarean section. Even though she had this struggle, and her baby was born a few weeks early, she gave birth to Perpetual, who was very healthy, and very fat.
I definitely grew closest with Deborah. She was about 6 1/2 months along in her second pregnancy when we met. She was always so kind and generous to me. Our three interviews were spaced apart by quite some time, during which I only spoke to her with my translator Grace. It wasn’t until we were done doing interviews, when I learned she had very good English, and we were able to communicate without a translator. After that, and for the last 2 weeks in Ghana, I went over to her home almost every day to spend time with her. I learned she was a graduate of secondary school (quite a rare thing) and emphasized in culinary arts, thus making her a very good cook. One day we had a feast day and bought many ingredients to make tons of different kinds of foods. She taught me to speak Twi better and also has given me quite the honor of naming her new baby girl Kayla, who was born on September 24th 2009. We have spoken since then, and she misses me a lot, as I miss her. I truly think I would go back to Ghana, just to hang out with her all day. Meeting and spending time with her definitely made my experience worthwhile.
Articles:
I read dozen’s of articles and book chapters to help me learn and think more about my study. I found great things in them all that helped me become curious and ask more questions, and also learn more about Ghana through an academic perspective. There were many that I really enjoyed and that really helped me that I wanted to touch on.
One was called Men, Women and the Fertility Question in Sub-Sahara Africa: An Example from Ghana by F. Nii-Amoo Dodoo and Poem Van Landemjk. This article talked about contraception and family planning in Ghana. It was something that I ran into not only in my interviews, but also at the clinic. I saw the population there, and know that it has grown immensely than what it used to be. I would see hundreds of children every day. There were at least 6 elementary to Jr. High School aged kids just in our small town. The article stated that women have an average of 6.5 children, which is an extremely large number compared to other places around the world. A lot of times I would also see a mother bringing in two children; a newborn and one about a year old. It was easy to see that many times they did not do much family planning. I was able to attend two family planning meetings with women at the clinic. The nurses taught the women how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and prepare for wanted ones. The article gave me a lot of information that it might have been more difficult to ask women.
Another very helpful article was from the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women’s Issues Worldwide, Sub-Saharan Africa: GHANA by Kathleen Maria Fallon. The author gave an incredible background and basic history of Ghana and the many issues women face. She covered all areas including education, employment, family and sexuality, health, politics and law, religion and violence. Again, these were all great things for me to know, without having to ask people. The area that was most helpful for my study, was the section on family and sexuality. I learned a lot about marriage rites and rituals, reproduction, sex education, contraception, abortions, teen pregnancy, etc. The article mentioned several times about the low birth control use, the emphasis to have many children, and the high birth rate. I definitely noticed many of those things as I stated in the paragraph above. It also talked about spousal rape, and plural marriages, which helped me to be more aware if I ran into anything of that kind, but fortunately I did not directly.
A different article was from the book called A World Full of Women by Martha Ward, Chapter 3 entitled Blood and Milk. It covered a wide variety of subjects that were very applicable to my project, and some of the things that I had already discussed with Deborah in my interviewing process. Again, it talked about birth control and family planning, which when I asked the women if they planned their next child, they always said no. It also mentioned abortions, where in Ghana, it is very looked down upon, but legal. We heard a story of the head nurse trying to talk a woman out of getting an abortion. Luckily, the clinic does not do surgeries, so she would have had to go to another hospital anyways. It talked about social births, which I discussed with Deborah, specifically baby naming ceremonies. It also talked about breastfeeding. Deborah once asked me if women in American breastfed and for how long. I told her yes, and said usually until about 6 to 18 months is when they stop. She told me that I should breastfeed my children until they are two years old. Most women breastfeed, especially because formula is expensive. But Constance said her children would not breastfeed and they would only take formula.
This is just a small sample of the different articles I read, but they were truly all very helpful in every part of my project. I was always excited when I found something and realized I had just already learned that from someone, or found something new I could ask a question about.
Proofs:
There were many different activities I did to also help me with my project, and learn about Ghanaian culture. I will note some of them below.
The Clinic:
Many, many hours we spent volunteering at the clinic. There, I was able to do lots of observations and try to understand the people better. One vital and very interesting part of the day was prayer meetings. The clinic was owned and run by the Salvation Army and each morning, they had prayers, songs, scriptures and thoughts. It was very insightful each day and helped us get better acquainted with the employees there. You could really see how much care and concern they put in for their patients and what sort of treatment plans they carry out.
Most of the time I spent volunteering the in the Antenatal clinic. In this area, the women would come in on designated days according to their age (i.e. Tuesdays: ages 16-30 Wednesdays: 30+) to make them feel more comfortable with others around them. We would sit at the desk and record their information in a large staff book that asked for weight and blood pressure (which we would measure there). We would also collect their fees for coming into the clinic (I believe it was 1 Ghana cedi) and give out their vitamins. It was also interesting to see from their personal chart, how many children they had. It would say whether they gave birth to a boy or girl, and whether the baby lived or died. It was sometimes very sad.
When there were no more women left, we would usually sort vitamins or sweep and clean the area.
On other days, we could help in the postnatal clinic, where women would bring in their children ages newborn to about 3 or 4, to get them weighed. They have a scale hanging from a rope from the rafters, where the baby will sit in a canvas bag with holes cut out for the legs, and we check and measure their weights. It’s charted on a growth chart and if a baby isn’t growing at a regular pace, they are sent to one of the nurses to teach them about proper nutrition. The tiny kids were so precious and cute. Some of them were terrified of us because we were white, some just hated that scale, so they would scream and wail, and it was quite a riot. Others would just happily sit there and smile at us.
Every time a baby was getting very fat, very fast, the mother would cheer and be so happy that they were growing healthy. If a woman’s child was not growing three check-ups in row, they were to stay at the malnutrition area of the clinic until the baby became healthy again. In this area of the clinic, they also did immunizations for the children.
Malaria:
Another vital experience I had, was when I got malaria. It was something I will never forget. I got it at the end of June. I thought I had it for a while, but it wasn’t too terrible, just like a small flu bug. I went to the clinic anyways and they gave me the medication I needed to help me feel better. I was pretty stagnant for a few days, until one day after exerting myself more than I should have, I nearly collapsed and passed out. I felt like I had no control over my body, and I was going to pass out, throw, and wet myself all at the same time. Luckily, I was already at the clinic where they took good care of me. They wheeled me off into some back room, where I was given some medication through and IV (I don't even know what it was), and then slept for about 48 hours. Something they gave me made me have an awful twitch in my legs while I was trying to sleep.
I came home after about 12 hours, ate some, and then threw up everything, and really thought I was going to die again. I went back to sleep for a long time. When I got up, I was feeling all right, I just couldn’t use any of my muscles, especially my leg ones, for maybe a week or so. It was interesting to me, that everyone in my group who got malaria, had a different form of illness that came with it. Someone had severe migraines, another was constantly vomiting, and other was severe diarrhea. I was lucky that I just couldn’t walk, but truly felt fine.
Because of this experience, I was able to get a better understanding to how the Ghanaians feel when them get malaria. Most of them get it at least once a year, and it is pretty much unpreventable. I am grateful to have had that experience, even though I truly hated it.
Hair Plaited:
Another interesting thing I went through twice was getting my hair plaited. African people have very different hair than Americans. Their hair is usually very rough and thick, kinky, and sometimes unmanageable. That is why the men cut their hair very short, and the women get their hair plaited or weaved. Weaved is when they braid your hair to your head (it looks like a basket) then actually sew on fake hair to the braids. Plaiting is when they take the fake hair, and braid it into the hair you already have. A few of us girls decided to do it, for fun and for the experience. The first time, I had some ladies named Jenna and Comfort do it. They used fake blond hair, which is pretty much just plastic hair (like a Barbie dolls) and they took sections of hair from my scalp and tied the fake hair in a small knot at the top, and then braided with the rest of my hair. It was about mid-back length and very heavy. It took about 2 hours to finish because the braids were pretty thick. When they finished, they took a flame and burned all the spare ends sticking out everywhere, then dipped the ends in boiling water to keep them from unraveling. My head felt huge and heavy, but surprisingly very cool because the wind was able to reach my scalp. I kept those braids in for about a month.
The second time I did this, I had my friend Grace do it. This time, I used fire engine red, and blond that she mixed together. This time, she did tiny braids and the roots, and then did a sort of twisted style for the rest, so they looked like little ropes. It took about 10 hours to finish my entire head because the braids were so tiny. Again, they were about mid-back length and I absolutely loved it. Grace didn’t use a flame, she just went with scissors and individually cut all the spare ends from each strand. I liked the second do better, and was happy I was able to feel what it was like to get my hair done like the women in Ghana do.
Although times were sometimes fun, sweaty, rough, hilarious, educational, terrifying and emotional, I really am glad that I was able to go to Ghana and experience the things that I did. It definitely was not what I ever would have expected, but it was truly worth it. Any advice I would be giving to future students would be to honestly not have any expectations. You will truly be surprised.
And that's a wrap!
To put together in words, ‘my experience in Ghana’ is quite a difficult thing for me to do; taken that I was there a total of three months, and had numerous encounters in learning in observation, volunteering, interviews, and just spending time with people. The Ghanaian culture has become a fascinating thing to me. Many of the dynamics cannot be learned except through observation and actual experience. What I mean by that is, you can read all you want in a book, but can never even try to understand without actually being there.
Speaking of this, I felt as though I was not able to ever get an actual realistic account of how the native Ghanaian lives. Yes, though interviews and observing, but as a Caucasian American female, there is absolutely no way for me to be able to experience life as a Ghanaian would. I could never blend in. I could never casually observe or take notes without being watched. That was something I learned right off the back, I cannot have a raw traditional Ghanaian experience, because that is exactly what I am not. So, instead of saying, “this is what I learned while living in Ghana” I must specify in saying, “this is what I learned while living as an Obruni (white person) in Ghana.”
Different Cities:
There was quite a difference in living in Wiamoase, verses traveling in Kumasi or Cape Coast. In Wiamoase, we were recognized as ‘the American students living with Madam Baffour. Everyone was very welcoming and accepting to us. They always would wave, ask us how we were doing and offer a certain level of protection. In cases of nighttime and darkness someone would always be willing to walk us home, to make sure we were safe. If ever we were to run into strange and dangerous animals, someone would come to our air and reassure us that we would be fine, and help us get to where we need to be. Or in some cases, we were protected from the ‘crazy people’ in the village who would follow us around and persistently ask for money or other materials. We had a lady let us hide in her home until the 'crazy person' passed. People living in Wiamoase, would always smile at us and try to help in any way that they could. There was also always a lot of attention on us. People were always watching what we did, and especially what we bought. We would always have to conceal things in our purses, so it didn't look like we were buying loads of things from the small markets. We didn't want to seem very rich, so as no one would come begging us for money. The people were always inviting us to different events like weddings, funerals, parties, futbol games, etc. We really felt loved and appreciated and part of the community.
Kumasi was a very different story, especially being that there were many other foreigners in town. Also, that it is an extremely big and busy city. No one paid any attention to us, unless they wanted us to buy whatever they were selling, which was often. Without them knowing us, the street hockers just assumed we were very rich Americans, and tried to get us to buy everything they had for sale. Despite this fact, it was almost easier to be there, in knowing that nobody really cared or took big notice that you were there. We could walk around and shop without feeling like we were standing out or out of place. It was also nice to be able to take taxis, if needed, and enjoy that small luxury. We also delighted in occasionally going out to eat, and being able to shop at the cultural center.
In Cape Coast, it was more difficult. Even though there were many other foreigners, most were tourists and the street vendors harassed you to buy everything even more so than in Kumasi. Food and other amenities were way overpriced and at least for me, I hated being a tourist. I felt so materialistic and just like I was trying to be 'cool' being in Ghana. Being in Cape Cost was not helping me have a 'real' Ghanaian experience, although I am grateful to have the contrast to the other cities, and being there, really helped me appreciate living in Wiamoase.
The Project:
Back in Wiamoase, my project was a very interesting one to do. I worked on doing oral histories, and only interviewing 3 women about their pregnancy and childbirth experiences. It was, I felt, a very ambiguous project, in meaning there was so much, and so little I could do to finish it. I ended up with 7 interviews, two for two ladies, and three for the third. Looking back, I really wish I had done more interviews, and with more women, but scheduling is something nonexistent in Ghana. I had multiple times where interviews were set up and not able to be followed through with either because of my interviewee, translator, or myself. Other things were always getting in the way such as sickness, vacation, weather, funerals, time of day, holidays, church, other activities, etc.
In the interviews where we talked about birth, there were some really great things I learned, and one of them being, that birth is (obviously) universal. I don’t know what I expected in the beginning, but I was just so amazed to hear that some of the things I already knew about pregnancy were also known to the women I interviewed. Maybe they didn’t use the same vocabulary as I would have, but our bodies are all the same. For example, when I asked how she knew she was in labor, Deborah said it was because she saw a little blood and then she started having “whispings” which I learned later were contractions. Constance said she knew she was in labor when “water was spilled” aka her water broke. It was also comforting to hear that women there also had the same types of emotions felt, the same thoughts, and were conflicted with the same choices as we, women in America are. They felt fear, and pain, and joy, and happiness. It was truly a wonder to me, to hear the stories from these women.
Constance:
Constance was born in the village of Domeabra, and she had 9 siblings. She is 32 years old, and is not married. She has two daughters, Ophelia who is six, and Adwoa Boatema who was 9 months at the time. She looked like a very strong and powerful woman. She was extremely beautiful and a very confident, with a shining countenance. Although somewhat intimidating, Constance became very warm and kind quickly. She always was very open and honest when I questioned her about her pregnancies and birth, and stretched to give me even more information than I asked for. She also said some very beautiful things about birth and motherhood.
When Constance became pregnant with her first child, she was very happy. She was excited to give birth, and especially because, “that person is going to grow up that she can help the person.” What a wonderful way to describe motherhood. Her entire family was excited, and she prepared by buying all of the things the clinic asked her too. She said that no matter what you do, there is no way to prepare for the pain. Previous to giving birth, she had fears, one of them being that she would die.
I learned that in Ghanaian culture, it is not appropriate to show pain. You are to be strong, and silent, and not let anyone know what you are physically going through. Constance had a different approach. She said when she was in labor, she ate ‘severely,’ so she could have her strength, but even then, the pain was so great and she could not control herself, she had to scream. We all laughed when she told us this, it was very funny to see how uncaring she was about not following ‘cultural norms.’
Comparing her two pregnancies, Constance said the second one was easier. At the first birth, the nurses said she was too small, and had to cut her (an epesiotomy) to help the baby out. They also had to attach her to ‘the drip’ (an IV) the first time. The second went by more smoothly.
Constance was able to give birth to two healthy little girls. Although she feels like giving birth is dangerous, she said, “birth is a treasure” and will give birth again.
Ama:
Ama was the most quiet and least talkative of the three ladies. Her hair stood up all over her head, and was pretty long to do this, and very straight. She is short and tiny and about 23 years old. She also had the most children. She was pregnant as a teenager when she was very young, had another child, was married just two years ago and shortly has given birth to her third. The youngest, Yaa Mary was less than 2 months old when I interviewed Ama. She always wanted me to hold her baby, and I never argued about that one. Yaa Mary was so precious and had long curly afro air that was so soft. She was always sleeping when I held her.
Ama’s interviews were always the shortest, because she usually gave one-word answers and didn’t expound much, even if I asked her to. She was born in Mampong, a larger city north of Wiamoase. When she first discovered she was pregnant, she was not happy because she was still very young, around 15 years old. Her family did not react badly, and they told her to keep the baby.
Ama had her first two babies at home, with a reverend minister there to help her, and the third at the clinic. She reacted to birth as something very normal and to be expected. She was never really surprised or nervous about her pregnancies and births, just very calm about everything.
I learned from Ama, that I sometimes needed to rephrase my questions a little, because some of the answers did not come out like I was expecting. For example, I asked her how she felt after giving birth. I was meaning emotionally, and her answer surprised me. She said she felt ‘very light, because she was talking about how she physically felt. After reading over the interviews, I felt they were sometimes pretty humorous.
Deborah:
Deborah is a very eccentric lady; I didn’t know this until our third interview. She is 25, about 5’6” and very beautiful. Her hair was plaited with these little black, short, dreadlock looking things all over her head. At first, she was very quiet, always spoke in Twi and seemed sort of intimidated by me. Eventually I learned that she had completed college and speaks English very well. She is very educated for being a woman and coming from a small town. After our interviews, she was always helping me with things, and we would hang out sometimes. She helped me take out my plaited hair, find a seamstress to make a dress for me, took me to her church, taught me how to cook, etc. She has a very crude sense of humor and was always trying to embarrass me or make me feel uncomfortable. I’ll just say that she was very good at it.
Deborah was born and raised in Wiamoase. When I asked what her mother told her about pregnancy and birth she said that, “during the pregnancy, that when the baby is still in your womb, is much painful than the actual time that you’re delivering.” Deborah had given birth once, and was pregnant with her second child. She said she agreed with her mother’s words, and seemed to have a mildly difficult time being pregnant. She always was chewing on this particular type of stick. She said, whatever kind it was, that it helped her so she didn’t ‘spat’ (spit or vomit) as much, although she did spit quite frequently.
Deborah talked about how in Ghanaian society, that if you don’t get pregnant within the first year of being married, you are maybe mocked or looked down on, because people will think you are barren. Being barren is a very bad thing in Ghana because you must have something to show for your life, and that is, producing another life to keep on living your legacy. Also, the lines of family inheritance go from uncle to nieces/nephews, not father to child. So to feel like they will eventually inherit something, they must have children.
She taught me a lot about baby naming ceremonies. She said that when a baby is born, the father would consult the family members that the wife has given birth by bringing cloth with blood on it (as proof a child has been born) and money. He will decide the name of the baby, not the mother. She said that her family did not do a baby naming ceremony, because it wastes too much money and is not really necessary.
I learned about bathing a baby from Deborah. She gave step by step instructions, too. She told me you use a pan like this (she pointed to a big metal bowl about 30” across). You use hot water and cold water. You sit in the pan and put the baby in your lap. You use a little towel, and you soak the towel with the hot water, and use that on the forehead of the baby. After that, you bathe the baby and you use some of the hot water and the cold water. Then you wash the private parts and the stomach. She told me about the umbilical chord stub, and said, “when a baby is given birth to, the stomach, they have this very long thing and with hot water, it takes time, it will go away - so that you can get it perfectly smooth.” She has a great way of describing things.
She taught me about the dangers of pregnancy and birth. I asked her if she considered birth to be dangerous. She said yes, because lots of women bleed before they give birth, and they can die from that. Also some women can be in labor for a week, and it is so painful. For others, the baby will be so big in the womb, it will be so hard for the mother to get the baby out, that after she gives birth, she will die because she was just so tired.
She told me about Malaria when you are pregnant and how it is a very scary thing, and usually much worse. If you have malaria when you are pregnant, you are more likely to give birth early when the baby is not ready. This will affect the skin color of the child, so they have to put the baby in the sun that is rising in the morning so the baby can receive vitamin D. She did get malaria with her first pregnancy, but not with the second.
Deborah gave birth in the Asamang Hospital. She was transferred there after a difficult labor, and they had to perform an emergency cesarean section. Even though she had this struggle, and her baby was born a few weeks early, she gave birth to Perpetual, who was very healthy, and very fat.
I definitely grew closest with Deborah. She was about 6 1/2 months along in her second pregnancy when we met. She was always so kind and generous to me. Our three interviews were spaced apart by quite some time, during which I only spoke to her with my translator Grace. It wasn’t until we were done doing interviews, when I learned she had very good English, and we were able to communicate without a translator. After that, and for the last 2 weeks in Ghana, I went over to her home almost every day to spend time with her. I learned she was a graduate of secondary school (quite a rare thing) and emphasized in culinary arts, thus making her a very good cook. One day we had a feast day and bought many ingredients to make tons of different kinds of foods. She taught me to speak Twi better and also has given me quite the honor of naming her new baby girl Kayla, who was born on September 24th 2009. We have spoken since then, and she misses me a lot, as I miss her. I truly think I would go back to Ghana, just to hang out with her all day. Meeting and spending time with her definitely made my experience worthwhile.
Articles:
I read dozen’s of articles and book chapters to help me learn and think more about my study. I found great things in them all that helped me become curious and ask more questions, and also learn more about Ghana through an academic perspective. There were many that I really enjoyed and that really helped me that I wanted to touch on.
One was called Men, Women and the Fertility Question in Sub-Sahara Africa: An Example from Ghana by F. Nii-Amoo Dodoo and Poem Van Landemjk. This article talked about contraception and family planning in Ghana. It was something that I ran into not only in my interviews, but also at the clinic. I saw the population there, and know that it has grown immensely than what it used to be. I would see hundreds of children every day. There were at least 6 elementary to Jr. High School aged kids just in our small town. The article stated that women have an average of 6.5 children, which is an extremely large number compared to other places around the world. A lot of times I would also see a mother bringing in two children; a newborn and one about a year old. It was easy to see that many times they did not do much family planning. I was able to attend two family planning meetings with women at the clinic. The nurses taught the women how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and prepare for wanted ones. The article gave me a lot of information that it might have been more difficult to ask women.
Another very helpful article was from the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women’s Issues Worldwide, Sub-Saharan Africa: GHANA by Kathleen Maria Fallon. The author gave an incredible background and basic history of Ghana and the many issues women face. She covered all areas including education, employment, family and sexuality, health, politics and law, religion and violence. Again, these were all great things for me to know, without having to ask people. The area that was most helpful for my study, was the section on family and sexuality. I learned a lot about marriage rites and rituals, reproduction, sex education, contraception, abortions, teen pregnancy, etc. The article mentioned several times about the low birth control use, the emphasis to have many children, and the high birth rate. I definitely noticed many of those things as I stated in the paragraph above. It also talked about spousal rape, and plural marriages, which helped me to be more aware if I ran into anything of that kind, but fortunately I did not directly.
A different article was from the book called A World Full of Women by Martha Ward, Chapter 3 entitled Blood and Milk. It covered a wide variety of subjects that were very applicable to my project, and some of the things that I had already discussed with Deborah in my interviewing process. Again, it talked about birth control and family planning, which when I asked the women if they planned their next child, they always said no. It also mentioned abortions, where in Ghana, it is very looked down upon, but legal. We heard a story of the head nurse trying to talk a woman out of getting an abortion. Luckily, the clinic does not do surgeries, so she would have had to go to another hospital anyways. It talked about social births, which I discussed with Deborah, specifically baby naming ceremonies. It also talked about breastfeeding. Deborah once asked me if women in American breastfed and for how long. I told her yes, and said usually until about 6 to 18 months is when they stop. She told me that I should breastfeed my children until they are two years old. Most women breastfeed, especially because formula is expensive. But Constance said her children would not breastfeed and they would only take formula.
This is just a small sample of the different articles I read, but they were truly all very helpful in every part of my project. I was always excited when I found something and realized I had just already learned that from someone, or found something new I could ask a question about.
Proofs:
There were many different activities I did to also help me with my project, and learn about Ghanaian culture. I will note some of them below.
The Clinic:
Many, many hours we spent volunteering at the clinic. There, I was able to do lots of observations and try to understand the people better. One vital and very interesting part of the day was prayer meetings. The clinic was owned and run by the Salvation Army and each morning, they had prayers, songs, scriptures and thoughts. It was very insightful each day and helped us get better acquainted with the employees there. You could really see how much care and concern they put in for their patients and what sort of treatment plans they carry out.
Most of the time I spent volunteering the in the Antenatal clinic. In this area, the women would come in on designated days according to their age (i.e. Tuesdays: ages 16-30 Wednesdays: 30+) to make them feel more comfortable with others around them. We would sit at the desk and record their information in a large staff book that asked for weight and blood pressure (which we would measure there). We would also collect their fees for coming into the clinic (I believe it was 1 Ghana cedi) and give out their vitamins. It was also interesting to see from their personal chart, how many children they had. It would say whether they gave birth to a boy or girl, and whether the baby lived or died. It was sometimes very sad.
When there were no more women left, we would usually sort vitamins or sweep and clean the area.
On other days, we could help in the postnatal clinic, where women would bring in their children ages newborn to about 3 or 4, to get them weighed. They have a scale hanging from a rope from the rafters, where the baby will sit in a canvas bag with holes cut out for the legs, and we check and measure their weights. It’s charted on a growth chart and if a baby isn’t growing at a regular pace, they are sent to one of the nurses to teach them about proper nutrition. The tiny kids were so precious and cute. Some of them were terrified of us because we were white, some just hated that scale, so they would scream and wail, and it was quite a riot. Others would just happily sit there and smile at us.
Every time a baby was getting very fat, very fast, the mother would cheer and be so happy that they were growing healthy. If a woman’s child was not growing three check-ups in row, they were to stay at the malnutrition area of the clinic until the baby became healthy again. In this area of the clinic, they also did immunizations for the children.
Malaria:
Another vital experience I had, was when I got malaria. It was something I will never forget. I got it at the end of June. I thought I had it for a while, but it wasn’t too terrible, just like a small flu bug. I went to the clinic anyways and they gave me the medication I needed to help me feel better. I was pretty stagnant for a few days, until one day after exerting myself more than I should have, I nearly collapsed and passed out. I felt like I had no control over my body, and I was going to pass out, throw, and wet myself all at the same time. Luckily, I was already at the clinic where they took good care of me. They wheeled me off into some back room, where I was given some medication through and IV (I don't even know what it was), and then slept for about 48 hours. Something they gave me made me have an awful twitch in my legs while I was trying to sleep.
I came home after about 12 hours, ate some, and then threw up everything, and really thought I was going to die again. I went back to sleep for a long time. When I got up, I was feeling all right, I just couldn’t use any of my muscles, especially my leg ones, for maybe a week or so. It was interesting to me, that everyone in my group who got malaria, had a different form of illness that came with it. Someone had severe migraines, another was constantly vomiting, and other was severe diarrhea. I was lucky that I just couldn’t walk, but truly felt fine.
Because of this experience, I was able to get a better understanding to how the Ghanaians feel when them get malaria. Most of them get it at least once a year, and it is pretty much unpreventable. I am grateful to have had that experience, even though I truly hated it.
Hair Plaited:
Another interesting thing I went through twice was getting my hair plaited. African people have very different hair than Americans. Their hair is usually very rough and thick, kinky, and sometimes unmanageable. That is why the men cut their hair very short, and the women get their hair plaited or weaved. Weaved is when they braid your hair to your head (it looks like a basket) then actually sew on fake hair to the braids. Plaiting is when they take the fake hair, and braid it into the hair you already have. A few of us girls decided to do it, for fun and for the experience. The first time, I had some ladies named Jenna and Comfort do it. They used fake blond hair, which is pretty much just plastic hair (like a Barbie dolls) and they took sections of hair from my scalp and tied the fake hair in a small knot at the top, and then braided with the rest of my hair. It was about mid-back length and very heavy. It took about 2 hours to finish because the braids were pretty thick. When they finished, they took a flame and burned all the spare ends sticking out everywhere, then dipped the ends in boiling water to keep them from unraveling. My head felt huge and heavy, but surprisingly very cool because the wind was able to reach my scalp. I kept those braids in for about a month.
The second time I did this, I had my friend Grace do it. This time, I used fire engine red, and blond that she mixed together. This time, she did tiny braids and the roots, and then did a sort of twisted style for the rest, so they looked like little ropes. It took about 10 hours to finish my entire head because the braids were so tiny. Again, they were about mid-back length and I absolutely loved it. Grace didn’t use a flame, she just went with scissors and individually cut all the spare ends from each strand. I liked the second do better, and was happy I was able to feel what it was like to get my hair done like the women in Ghana do.
Although times were sometimes fun, sweaty, rough, hilarious, educational, terrifying and emotional, I really am glad that I was able to go to Ghana and experience the things that I did. It definitely was not what I ever would have expected, but it was truly worth it. Any advice I would be giving to future students would be to honestly not have any expectations. You will truly be surprised.
And that's a wrap!
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