Every place has it’s own small nuances to it that pervade everyday life. People who are local to that culture are able to navigate these nuances with no thought paid to them; that is just the way things are.
But when you come as an outsider to a new place, particularly a new country, these small nuances are things that you pick up on immediately and adopt, in order to make life go just a little bit smoother. I’ve been in Ghana for less than a week, and here are the things that I have picked up.
Watch Your Step on Ghana’s Streets
Gone are the days of confident strides through a paved area, each foot landing surely, propelling you toward your destination. Here, the streets, if they are paved, are lined with deep, trench-like gutters that fill with the detritus of life.
Most of the time, these gutters are open, which makes it quite easy to avoid stepping in them. However, there are times that they are barely covered with stones and wood planks, which are not always secured. Tread carefully, or you may find your foot landing on the end of a board, sending your foot through to the gutter and the other end of the board see-sawing up to meet you as you plunge.
Other things to look out for when out strolling are sudden drop-offs from the pavement, giant divots and potholes in dirt roads, excrement, trash and water run-offs.
Obruni Means Foreigner
Spending significant time abroad, particularly living abroad, means becoming comfortable in being immediately recognized as an outsider. The differences between you and the people of where you are traveling to are always commented on.
In many places, this means people will call out at you whatever word they have to mean someone from another place. For Thailand, that word was fa-rang. In Ghana, the word is obruni.
No matter where I go, I hear this shouted at me, usually from children, sometimes from young men (as a young woman) and occasionally by adults. It becomes the background music for any thing that I do here, and I am learning to live with it.
Greetings are Very Important
Everywhere you go, the first thing you will hear when encountering a new person is a greeting. “Hello!” “Good morning! “Afternoon!” “Good evening!”
Everyone everywhere will greet. Getting into a taxi, you should greet everyone. Wanting to order something from a restaurant, you should greet the people before you order. Arriving at the office, stop by and greet people as you pass them.
This is something that I picked up and noticed during my time in Cameroon, and I am glad to see the custom here as well. It makes the whole place seem extremely friendly, even after having OBRUNI shouted at you.
Flexibility is Key to Happiness
Life in Ghana requires flexibility. Stated times are rough guesstimates. Electricity, water and WiFi are often unstable. Expect that there will be detours in your daily proceedings.
There was a football (soccer) match this past weekend, which was a part of a month-long tournament. It was officially scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. surprisingly, kick-off happened about 3:30. I say surprisingly, because that is in all actuality very close to the stated time. I joked that it’s “Africa Time” with my co-workers, and they laughed and said, “But Ghana Time is even worse, usually.”
And this is not something that just applies to things on the weekends, this can also apply to work meetings and events. In my research before coming to Ghana, I had read about the word dumsor, which is a made up portmanteau from two words from a local Ghanaian language. It literally means “off-on,” and is used to refer to the frequent loss of electricity, and can happen at any time, for any amount of time.
However, because this year is an election year, I have been told that the dumsors will be less frequent. And while the loss of electricity or water or WiFi may cause a hiccup in your day, there are also just random asides that happen here. Such as when you are in the car with some people, the driver will stop to run an errand for someone else, maybe without telling you before you stopped.
You just have to roll with it and know that wherever you are going or whoever you are meeting will understand that you are on Ghana Time.
What are some of the things in your locality that a visitor would pick up on immediately?