Lelemi, Twi, and Ewe

Bodada-Buem in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region.  That's where I am now.  This town is actually on the map that Shannon and my dad bought for me, so those of you playing along at home can find it by going north from Hohoe, which is north of Ho. Bodada, meaning "Ancient Stone,"  is a small town (1500 people) in a gorgeous part of Volta.  There are mountains (the ancient stone for which the town is named) to the east and west of the town, but they aren't mountains like the Rockies, more like the coulees near the Mississippi River around LaCrosse or Prarie du Chien.  The scenery honestly reminds me a lot of that area, except for the fact that I am surrounded by rainforest and tropical trees.  I really will try to take some pictures soon.  There is kind of a problem with being busy and having a large camera: I can't just take pictures whenever I see something cool.  It's bulky so I don't carry it with me, which is dumb, because it's not going to make me stick out any more than I already do...I'm the only white person within 40km.

So here in Bodada they speak Lelemi, then Twi is the second most common language, and finally Ewe is the third.  Most people know some English, but everyone is better with all 3 of those other languages than English.  Lelemi is a language of the Buem people who came to this area from the Ashanti region.  I haven't been able to figure out if the Ashanti forced them to leave, or if they were Ashanti who left the rest of their people for whatever reason.  I'll have to ask some of the elders or maybe the chief.  Anyway, when I found out that Ewe was the 3rd language I wanted to switch to learning more Twi, but Ewe will be more useful since Ewe is much more widely spoken.  So when I return to Anyinasin in a week, I'll continue to learn Ewe.  However, I will be able to spend some time learning Lelemi because Justin Akpanja, one of the Peace Corps drivers, is actually from Bodada (and his uncle is the chief!)  Justin was very excited to learn that I was going to Bodada, and I am happy to know that I have already have a friend who is family to the chief.

I met my counterpart teacher on Monday, and he seems quite nice.  His name is Godwin Agbobi (the "gb" sounds mostly like a "b" in Ewe), and he graduated from a college of education five years ago.  He helped me move all of my stuff from Kumasi to Bodada, and thank goodness for that because I probably have about 120lbs of stuff spread between 4 bags.  Did I mention the trip took us about 10 hours?!  And that's not counting the hour and a half we spent waiting for the bus to load in Kumasi.  One of the biggest problems that Ghana has with infrastructure (besides not having enough money to build stuff) is that they don't have highways or interstates or bypasses.  The main highway will take you right through the middle of every town you pass, so you can't just cruise...ever.  And the roads are full of potholes, but still...10 hours to drive halfway across a country the size of Oregon seems ridiculous.  No nevermind, it's just the way things are outside of first-world countries.  Anyway, Godwin is the school's math, science, and ICT (internet and computer technology) teacher, so he's very happy to have me to help share the workload.  He's a bright guy, he speaks English very well, and we've gotten along well so far.

I arrived in town last night around dinner time, and a welcome committee of Evangelical Presbyterians and teachers from EP JHS (Evangelical Presbyterian Junior High School) greeted me upon arrival.  They had been expecting me all day, but they weren't upset at all that I kept them waiting; they were just happy that I was finally here.  I'm staying at the pastor's house, Jean-Paul Agidi, and he's a pretty young man for a pastor.  I'm guessing that he's only in his 30s.  He was joined by the headmaster of my school Headmaster Gyamebi (sounds like "Jah-meh-bee"), most of the teachers from EP JHS (there are only 8 total), and some church elders known as Presbyters.  They already had dinner ready for me, and I was starved after hardly eating all day.  But as tradition demands, we went around and did the formal introductions first.  This is the Ghanaian way, and it was not annoying, I just want people in The States to know that tradition and formal greetings are a big deal.

I only have one room to myself right now, but Pastor Agidi has told me they are going to put up a wall around the outdoor walkway to make a little sitting area and kitchen for me.  The rest of the house is very nice for Ghanaian standards: they have electricity, a tv, satellite dish, refrigerator with freezer, and even a water faucet outside (but no running water inside).

I haven't done much in town yet.  I got a tour in the dark last night, and got a more extensive one today.  It's pretty small, but not tiny.  They have four small JHS's and one senior high school.  My school is one of the smaller ones, and it doesn't have electricity.  When I visited this morning everyone was very excited, and the students especially liked it when I spoke some Twi and Ewe.  They also loved the fact I've eaten fufu and had some apeteshi (distilled palm wine).  The school itself is in a state of disrepair although you can tell that it used to be gorgeous.  It's just a big rectangle with 3 large classrooms and a teachers' lounge/office, but the walkways around the outside are nice and wide.  The school sits atop a bit hill and the roof is supported by cement columns.  It kind of reminds me of a big antebellum mansion in the South of the USA.

I'll let you know more about Bodada as I learn it,  and the food blog will come once I return to Anyinasin.  Also, Bodada has an MTN tower in town so I have excellent 3G coverage! Hoorah! I'll have internet when I come back here in August.