Red Earth, Blue Skies, Green Trees

Red earth, green trees, blue sky. Damongo is a very beautiful place. And it seems that, like my mom, I brought the rains. Which here is a good thing because now everything is green. Thankfully my office is a little ways outside of town so every day I have a beautiful bike ride through a bit of country. The roads to Damongo are treacherous, and everyday I take my life in my hands by hurtling down this dirt road on a sketchy, but sturdy second-hand bike, pick up trucks and motorcycles occasionally whizzing by kicking up clouds of dust…but I still think its one of my favourite parts of the day. Along the way there are scattered herds of cattle that roam through the trees and green pastures, and women carrying shea nuts, firewood, and milk on their heads into town, children walking to school, and farmers heading out to their fields. There are two horses that I have seen in these fields, sometimes they cross the road just ahead of me…it makes me so happy to see them! Even though they would probably run away if I try to pet them, I am still going to try the next time I see them.

One thing that has struck me is the lack of appreciation for the beauty of nature. People think I am strange when I ask the name of a certain tree, or where a beautiful place to go is, and so on. Perhaps in Canada we are more aware of the dangers of climate change facing our environment (or maybe just because I got the University of Guelph I am used to more appreciation). Perhaps its because people live substantially more simply here then we do in Canada. So if a truck has awful exhaust fumes spewing out the end of the tailpipe, there are so few trucks that it isn’t that noticeable. Garbage is thrown on the ground and incinerated, but again, the environment here appears to be vast and endless, so ‘dilution is the solution to pollution’ subconsciously rules here it seems. Furthermore, there is far much less stuff here, with far less packaging.

I had the opportunity to visit the family farm recently, and it was amazing! We were driving down the road, the sides of the road are covered in trees and tall grass, with ‘bush’, and all of the sudden we pulled over and arrived…it took me a moment to recognize that the area had been manipulated at all. We hiked in a bit, and mounds of dirt in rows became visible. Some trees had been cleared, and the grasses had been somewhat cleared, but for the most part it could have easily been mistaken for the wild. The family is growing yams, which are planted in a mound of dirt, and a stick or tree is nearby which a vine, much like that of a rose, grows up. They also have cashew trees, and are growing groundnuts (peanuts). There were a few sheanut trees and mango trees naturally growing in the area. It was beautiful and wonderful to be out in nature. It smelled so clean and natural. The earth everywhere has the same scent, though it may be accented with pine needles or mangos, it is still the same. (next time I go to the farm I will be sure to take lots of pictures!)

I am learning as much about myself as I am about a Ghanaian culture and development work. One thing that I have now confirmed to be fundamental to who I am is to have time to appreciate nature and its quiet wonders. This has been a hard battle: learning how to adapt to a new place, how to be effective within it, to be different and stick out, all the while missing all that is familiar and dear to me…however, its comforting and so important to realize, as I have mentioned in a previous post, that there are so many similarities, things that are fundamental to us all. Though values, language, context and history may be different, a smile, a laugh, spending time with your family, competition in a card game, worries about money, and enjoying a good meal are the same. Sometimes I panic and feel like I am on a different planet, but others I could just as easily be walking down the Danforth in Toronto, running down the dirt road at camp, or sitting in the lab in Thornborough helping a friend with excel. So even though it’s so hard at times, I think understanding another culture is so important, and identifying the similarities between this one and our own will help those in Canada identify with people and care about those who may seem completely different and foreign.