The New Normal

Street children at JayNii, a community center for street children run by Jay and Nii on the beach below the lighthouse in Accra. I'm squeezed in the back there -- it was a great night of African drumming and dancing to support the organization.

I am acclimated to Accra now, after driving over, through, and around this large city for the past five days. I am no longer surprised by the women carrying heavy loads of sandals/peanuts/water/mangoes/clothing on the tops of their heads, or by the various shacks -- some with religious names like "3 Kings of Kebab" or "Jesus Saves Snack Shop" -- that seem to pop up along every major roadside.

There is a new normal here that I am embracing. With the new normal, children jump in front of every camera they see, as happened at the JayNii organization on Wednesday night, shown above. With the new normal, travel time fluctuates wildly, from 10 minutes to an hour for the same stretch of road. Cars use their horns as a way of speaking to each other -- constantly. Food orders take at least 45 minutes to get to the table, if not longer, but it is always worth it. Greetings are required for everyone, and everyone is related to each other as sister, brother, auntie, and uncle. The rains come as quickly as they go, the frogs sound as blaring as security alarms at night, and the humidity never ceases. This is the new normal, and I am loving it.

Palm nuts for sale at the Kaneshie Market in Accra.

The past few days have been so busy, and so intense. We are learning hands-on about agriculture, food security, and nutrition in Ghana by visiting regional, national, and international organizations who are doing passionate work to increase productivity of farmers, give access to nutritious food, and decrease poverty. We have visited many offices, some air conditioned and some not, with many PowerPoint presentations. These are informing our field visits -- yesterday we visited the Kaneshi Market to study a commodity chain. My group is looking at palm oil, a local reddish oil used for cooking, that begins with palm nuts shown above. Interviewing market sellers and understanding the value chain was a great anthropological and sociological study, I really loved meeting all of the friendly (and not so friendly) market sellers and exploring the market. I am gaining direct experience with international policies and programs in international development that is really inspiring -- all informed by the new normal of being in West Africa. Next stop -- Cape Coast and Kumasi! Goodbye, Accra!