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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Exams
The school portion of my trip is DONE. Which I am SO excited about. Why am I so excited about this? Because now I have time and energy to focus on other things than the massive pile of readings that made me want to cry every day (but were also super interesting). For example: Tomorrow I am going to travel way way out west and spend time on a beach and explore a village built entirely on water and spin under the stars at night because I don't have to go to bed at 10 and wake up at 5 to study. Also I can paint and have tea with Grandma with no time limits and have rap beat battles with my younger brother Larry. Also I have a biography on Mother Teressa which I'm super excited to read and I can put all my mental energy into thinking and reflecting on all the things that God has given me and the beauty and the tragedy of this world. Also I can walk home slow and stop and talk to children and kick around soccer balls in the mud and pick up kids with fofo on their face and twirl them smiling and tell them You are special: Jesus loves you.
Friday, October 23, 2009
It was a day of a million questions. I always try to get the low-down on the streets whenever I go to a new place, as poverty is the first and most pressing thing I notice about any city.
“What do you think about the disabled men on the street begging for money? Do you give them any? What is their situation?”
“Most of them seem to enjoy their situation. We’ve tried to offer them micro-credit loans and get them training in our programs but they always just want the money right away”
“What about the women that sit on blankets with their children? Is it the same or do you think they really need the money?”
“Yes, I think they really need it”
“What about the women that are just resting on the street? They don’t appear to be begging...”
“Some of the women don’t have work, so they carry things on their head for people long distances to make money, like commuters. A lot of the women we have trained used to do this and now have other professions”
I had a lot more questions like this. I was taking a tro from Madina to the slums at Ablogbloshie with my friend Selina, who works for an organization that tries to empower people in the slums by giving them training or micro-credit loans to lift them out of poverty. The slums are one of the things I am most interested in, because I find them so desperately sad and incomprehensible. I was really grateful for the opportunity to check out her work .
In the newspapers, the slums have been talked about a lot. They call them “Sodom and Gomorrah” because of their hellish condition, and the government wants to relocate them. The slum areas are huge. Selina had this satellite mapping system from all the location research they had done trying to track people and areas to address need- they are always changing and expanding. There doesn’t appear to be any plan of relocation or compensation for the thousands of people living there, but the government wants to move them anyway. This, to me, seemed so unfeasible.
“Do you think the government has even been here?” I asked
“Hahaha... I doubt it.”
We transferred tros at Tema station. The only cars that go to Agblogbloshie are really run down rickety things. We got in a big lime green one didn’t look too bad. Walking through the slums was like being in run down, messy market, except it was a tight knit community-- the inner-workings of which worked perfectly together. It wasn’t as dirty or horrible as I thought- I’d always pictured slums as being really scary and inhumane. This one was crowded and smokey and made up of little shanty shacks that burn down all the time, but the people didn’t treat you bad and there wasn’t any obvious or dire poverty. They had schools and bathhouses and places you could cook and do other things- although run down, they were functional. Life was hard but it had a system- people learned to live off one another.
Many people move to the cities to ‘seek greener pastures’ from the increasingly harder life in the country. Often, they end up in places like this. The slums are the end-of-the line places where people go when their dreams have been dashed.
We got to the place where her NGO worked- it was a little cleared area at the back of a half built church which had a table and some benches and enough room for the women to work. On the table there was cloth spread out that they were dying, while the rest of the women were hunched over their jewellery, twisting wires around beads and making all kinds of beautiful things. It was really wonderful to meet them- They greeted me with smiles and laughter and blessings. I made some earrings with this girl named Julie and we taught each other English and Twi and French as we worked. Julie struck me instantly because she was such a larger than life character. Often women in Ghana are pretty shy- but this one had a fire cracker in her. I instantly wanted to take her on a plane and travel around. She seemed like she would be the most fun person to travel with, the kind that was constantly pointing out the window in delight and excitement, laughing and asking questions. The other fire-cracker woman I know is the one that runs my internet cafe. Today she’s wearing a t-shirt that says “GIFT FROM GOD”, sings gospel music all day, and beats the internet-box with a stick to get it working.
I don’t even begin to think that this world’s problems can be solved by human innovation. It’s because we’re always out for our own interests, I don’t think many would argue that. Whenever we have tried to come up with solutions for our problems usually more people end up dying, or hungry, or in poverty. I think it’s somewhat audacious to think that we can come up with some type of magnificent solution to these problems- people just like me and including me created them. Even with globalization and the input of the whole world. The millennium development goals are just as painfully unmet as any other strategy. Often I think we are so caught up in trying to find a solution that we just don’t really understand what the problem is.
I read this really amazing story about Mother Teresa. She pulled this woman out of a pile of trash who was dying, burning with fever. All this woman could say was ‘My son did this to me! I am like this because of him,’ When I read this I thought then that she was going to do something real heroic, like clean her up and lift her out of her situation, like set her up in a hospital or a house with some food and clean water, or pray for her and all her calamity be healed. Instead she just said something simple “you must forgive your son. You must forgive him”. She begged the woman this until she finally did, “with a real forgiveness”. Then she held her in her arms and loved her as she passed away.
I think the problem in this world is not always of poverty, but of forgiveness. It’s not a lack of wealth but a lack of love. A lot of people think heaven is just some place where you go when you die, but Jesus said “repent and be baptized, because the kingdom of heaven is near.” He said this after some crazy looking guy named John the Baptist was declaring the days of the Lords coming. The people must have thought “whatever that means”. They thought this until they met Jesus, until he started teaching strange and beautiful things, like “blessed are the poor in spirit, and blessed are those who morn, and blessed are the meek, because theirs is the kingdom of God”.
Did we forgive each-other? Did we give of ourselves to the poor and needy? (did we give them the time of day?) I think that Jesus made it very clear that when we gave a cup of water to the poor, we gave it to Him, when we welcomed the little children, we welcomed Him. Did we love each-other? Our enemies? Did we love Him? It doesn’t take long for me to get into His teachings to realize how much of a mess I’ve made of myself, and the world of that matter. But I think the point of the gospel is that we can’t do this alone. That even the righteousness of the most righteous is nothing in comparison to the righteousness of God. I think the beauty of the gospel is that that’s okay- that Jesus did it for us. He forgave us, He loved us, He gave everything for us, even as we couldn’t; that we could love him too.
There’s a promise at the end of the bible in the book of Revelations that say that “He’ll wipe every tear from our eyes.” There is a phrase in the book of Psalms that says “He knows every hair on our head.” Isaiah says that “He has done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” Ecclesiastes says “he makes all things beautiful in their time.” Surely if these things are true than when it comes to these unfathomable questions of slums and growing poverty, and hunger, and death and disease- surely if he knows us, if he loved us that much, if he saved us...surely if we love him to, and love each-other (and this is the greatest command), then we can see walls crumble down and mountains move by His hand.
I have seen beauty and love unfold in this world like a spring tree blossoming pale and vibrant petals in the middle of the winter frost. Like a lush stream flowing through a desert. Like a pearl buried in the middle of a dirty field. I believe this is the kingdom of heaven, and that this is a part of what Jesus saw when he called us to “Repent and be baptized, for the kingdom and heaven is near.” This is where my hope lies; Because there is nothing more beautiful, nothing more pure, than this.
“What do you think about the disabled men on the street begging for money? Do you give them any? What is their situation?”
“Most of them seem to enjoy their situation. We’ve tried to offer them micro-credit loans and get them training in our programs but they always just want the money right away”
“What about the women that sit on blankets with their children? Is it the same or do you think they really need the money?”
“Yes, I think they really need it”
“What about the women that are just resting on the street? They don’t appear to be begging...”
“Some of the women don’t have work, so they carry things on their head for people long distances to make money, like commuters. A lot of the women we have trained used to do this and now have other professions”
I had a lot more questions like this. I was taking a tro from Madina to the slums at Ablogbloshie with my friend Selina, who works for an organization that tries to empower people in the slums by giving them training or micro-credit loans to lift them out of poverty. The slums are one of the things I am most interested in, because I find them so desperately sad and incomprehensible. I was really grateful for the opportunity to check out her work .
In the newspapers, the slums have been talked about a lot. They call them “Sodom and Gomorrah” because of their hellish condition, and the government wants to relocate them. The slum areas are huge. Selina had this satellite mapping system from all the location research they had done trying to track people and areas to address need- they are always changing and expanding. There doesn’t appear to be any plan of relocation or compensation for the thousands of people living there, but the government wants to move them anyway. This, to me, seemed so unfeasible.
“Do you think the government has even been here?” I asked
“Hahaha... I doubt it.”
We transferred tros at Tema station. The only cars that go to Agblogbloshie are really run down rickety things. We got in a big lime green one didn’t look too bad. Walking through the slums was like being in run down, messy market, except it was a tight knit community-- the inner-workings of which worked perfectly together. It wasn’t as dirty or horrible as I thought- I’d always pictured slums as being really scary and inhumane. This one was crowded and smokey and made up of little shanty shacks that burn down all the time, but the people didn’t treat you bad and there wasn’t any obvious or dire poverty. They had schools and bathhouses and places you could cook and do other things- although run down, they were functional. Life was hard but it had a system- people learned to live off one another.
Many people move to the cities to ‘seek greener pastures’ from the increasingly harder life in the country. Often, they end up in places like this. The slums are the end-of-the line places where people go when their dreams have been dashed.
We got to the place where her NGO worked- it was a little cleared area at the back of a half built church which had a table and some benches and enough room for the women to work. On the table there was cloth spread out that they were dying, while the rest of the women were hunched over their jewellery, twisting wires around beads and making all kinds of beautiful things. It was really wonderful to meet them- They greeted me with smiles and laughter and blessings. I made some earrings with this girl named Julie and we taught each other English and Twi and French as we worked. Julie struck me instantly because she was such a larger than life character. Often women in Ghana are pretty shy- but this one had a fire cracker in her. I instantly wanted to take her on a plane and travel around. She seemed like she would be the most fun person to travel with, the kind that was constantly pointing out the window in delight and excitement, laughing and asking questions. The other fire-cracker woman I know is the one that runs my internet cafe. Today she’s wearing a t-shirt that says “GIFT FROM GOD”, sings gospel music all day, and beats the internet-box with a stick to get it working.
I don’t even begin to think that this world’s problems can be solved by human innovation. It’s because we’re always out for our own interests, I don’t think many would argue that. Whenever we have tried to come up with solutions for our problems usually more people end up dying, or hungry, or in poverty. I think it’s somewhat audacious to think that we can come up with some type of magnificent solution to these problems- people just like me and including me created them. Even with globalization and the input of the whole world. The millennium development goals are just as painfully unmet as any other strategy. Often I think we are so caught up in trying to find a solution that we just don’t really understand what the problem is.
I read this really amazing story about Mother Teresa. She pulled this woman out of a pile of trash who was dying, burning with fever. All this woman could say was ‘My son did this to me! I am like this because of him,’ When I read this I thought then that she was going to do something real heroic, like clean her up and lift her out of her situation, like set her up in a hospital or a house with some food and clean water, or pray for her and all her calamity be healed. Instead she just said something simple “you must forgive your son. You must forgive him”. She begged the woman this until she finally did, “with a real forgiveness”. Then she held her in her arms and loved her as she passed away.
I think the problem in this world is not always of poverty, but of forgiveness. It’s not a lack of wealth but a lack of love. A lot of people think heaven is just some place where you go when you die, but Jesus said “repent and be baptized, because the kingdom of heaven is near.” He said this after some crazy looking guy named John the Baptist was declaring the days of the Lords coming. The people must have thought “whatever that means”. They thought this until they met Jesus, until he started teaching strange and beautiful things, like “blessed are the poor in spirit, and blessed are those who morn, and blessed are the meek, because theirs is the kingdom of God”.
Did we forgive each-other? Did we give of ourselves to the poor and needy? (did we give them the time of day?) I think that Jesus made it very clear that when we gave a cup of water to the poor, we gave it to Him, when we welcomed the little children, we welcomed Him. Did we love each-other? Our enemies? Did we love Him? It doesn’t take long for me to get into His teachings to realize how much of a mess I’ve made of myself, and the world of that matter. But I think the point of the gospel is that we can’t do this alone. That even the righteousness of the most righteous is nothing in comparison to the righteousness of God. I think the beauty of the gospel is that that’s okay- that Jesus did it for us. He forgave us, He loved us, He gave everything for us, even as we couldn’t; that we could love him too.
There’s a promise at the end of the bible in the book of Revelations that say that “He’ll wipe every tear from our eyes.” There is a phrase in the book of Psalms that says “He knows every hair on our head.” Isaiah says that “He has done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” Ecclesiastes says “he makes all things beautiful in their time.” Surely if these things are true than when it comes to these unfathomable questions of slums and growing poverty, and hunger, and death and disease- surely if he knows us, if he loved us that much, if he saved us...surely if we love him to, and love each-other (and this is the greatest command), then we can see walls crumble down and mountains move by His hand.
I have seen beauty and love unfold in this world like a spring tree blossoming pale and vibrant petals in the middle of the winter frost. Like a lush stream flowing through a desert. Like a pearl buried in the middle of a dirty field. I believe this is the kingdom of heaven, and that this is a part of what Jesus saw when he called us to “Repent and be baptized, for the kingdom and heaven is near.” This is where my hope lies; Because there is nothing more beautiful, nothing more pure, than this.
Count your blessing.
Some things that I am grateful for...
1. The morning sun coming through my window
2. Little kids screaming their heads off and running after me just to say good morning or hold my hand walking down the street
3. That even when its boiling hot and a million degrees, Grandma still makes me coffee every morning.
4. A strong and able body
5. A beautiful (and attractive!) loving family
6. The local Church
7. Staying up late and watching the stars come out; thinking of wondering exciting things as I watch them. Sunsets and sunrises too.
8. That the ocean has waves to play in.
9. Journaling. Coffee-shop talks and long, late night conversations.
10. That I have been given eyes to see so many things that are so beautiful in this world.
11. Every single breath I breathe.
12. Chocolate. And Chocolate cake. And Chocolate Ice cream. And Coco beans.
13. Clean and fresh flowing water
14. That I can be crammed all sweaty in the back of a car with 20 other people in a congested city and still get where I’m going relatively on time
15. Education.
16. That I know 4 seasons and have seen the snow. Tobogganing (it’s freeing)
17. That I can stand on the top of a mountain and look over all creation and know that God is good.
18. That my Grandparents are still alive, and love me
19. Having adventures. That the world can be a play ground.
20. That I have amazing friends who do beautiful things. I have awesome Christian fellowship. I have people to love, people to pray for, and people to pray for me.
1. The morning sun coming through my window
2. Little kids screaming their heads off and running after me just to say good morning or hold my hand walking down the street
3. That even when its boiling hot and a million degrees, Grandma still makes me coffee every morning.
4. A strong and able body
5. A beautiful (and attractive!) loving family
6. The local Church
7. Staying up late and watching the stars come out; thinking of wondering exciting things as I watch them. Sunsets and sunrises too.
8. That the ocean has waves to play in.
9. Journaling. Coffee-shop talks and long, late night conversations.
10. That I have been given eyes to see so many things that are so beautiful in this world.
11. Every single breath I breathe.
12. Chocolate. And Chocolate cake. And Chocolate Ice cream. And Coco beans.
13. Clean and fresh flowing water
14. That I can be crammed all sweaty in the back of a car with 20 other people in a congested city and still get where I’m going relatively on time
15. Education.
16. That I know 4 seasons and have seen the snow. Tobogganing (it’s freeing)
17. That I can stand on the top of a mountain and look over all creation and know that God is good.
18. That my Grandparents are still alive, and love me
19. Having adventures. That the world can be a play ground.
20. That I have amazing friends who do beautiful things. I have awesome Christian fellowship. I have people to love, people to pray for, and people to pray for me.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Contact Information!!!
In Accra (Until November 3rd)
Jennifer Knight
Institute of African Studies
University Of Ghana PO. Box LG 73
Legon, Accra, Ghana
West Africa
In Tamale (November-December)
Jennifer Knight
PO. Box 59
New line
Education/Ridge
New Life, Tamale
Ghana, West Africa
Email: sunnfyre@hotmail.com
Stay in Touch! :)
Jennifer Knight
Institute of African Studies
University Of Ghana PO. Box LG 73
Legon, Accra, Ghana
West Africa
In Tamale (November-December)
Jennifer Knight
PO. Box 59
New line
Education/Ridge
New Life, Tamale
Ghana, West Africa
Email: sunnfyre@hotmail.com
Stay in Touch! :)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Life so far.
So I thought today I would take a break from writing pages of sentiment and talk a little about what I am actually doing here- apart from the challenging and testing of my faith and long and wonderful discoveries of life and self.
I am taking two courses on African history and development at the University of Legon, in Accra. This is the first place Stephen Lewis came in Africa- he lived on campus and fell in love with country and was here in the exhillerating aftermath of decolonization- when Kwame Nkruma's presidency highlighted the struggle for national liberation and freedom from colonial rule. I am here the year after the successful re-election in Ghana's fourth republic. It is the summer after Barrack Obama (who just won the Nobel Peace Prize) visited Ghana at an attempts to re-afirm American-African relations in the 21st Century, when bad aid and courruption, structural adjustment and desease and poverty has ransaked such promising future prospects. I get to see his smiling face everywhere I drive partnered with Ghana's recently and successfully elected democratic leader, Prez. Mills over the slogan "partners for change" or "Akwaaba!" which means welcome in Akan.
Life in Accra has been paterned by the going and comming to school, markets, trying to navigate my way around the bustling city and avoid being pegged as a walking ATM or a marriage proposal. It's also gotten its wonder though- I love watching the strength of the people, esspecially the women, and they joy in the children. The culture is so deep, yet so intermingled with this new thing called development that everyone, it seems, is trying to understand. So much colour and vibrancy amidst the poverty and the noise creates a culture of contrast. But still things seem oddly familiar- people are not that different, you know.
This weekend I got a chance to explore more of the city. We went in search of guitars and some local arts- and when I was walking past the stinky, open gutters I saw a man walking past me and thought "of course the best way of transporting a table is to carry it on your head".
I don't have running water. I do my laundry by hand. I eat boiled eggs and plantain and yams on the road side. I score through markets for traditional fabrics. I am learning that the world is much bigger than I thought. In Canada Autumn is turning everything to cool colour- but here the sun is still blazing hot. After a week of forgiving overcast weather though I'm set to enjoy some more scorching.
Im not sure what else to tell you- I think of you often and thank God for the love he has given me for all of you. Truely, it is remarkable. I hope to talk to you soon, but, until next time, dear friends, Nyame a shro wo.
Love Jenn
I am taking two courses on African history and development at the University of Legon, in Accra. This is the first place Stephen Lewis came in Africa- he lived on campus and fell in love with country and was here in the exhillerating aftermath of decolonization- when Kwame Nkruma's presidency highlighted the struggle for national liberation and freedom from colonial rule. I am here the year after the successful re-election in Ghana's fourth republic. It is the summer after Barrack Obama (who just won the Nobel Peace Prize) visited Ghana at an attempts to re-afirm American-African relations in the 21st Century, when bad aid and courruption, structural adjustment and desease and poverty has ransaked such promising future prospects. I get to see his smiling face everywhere I drive partnered with Ghana's recently and successfully elected democratic leader, Prez. Mills over the slogan "partners for change" or "Akwaaba!" which means welcome in Akan.
Life in Accra has been paterned by the going and comming to school, markets, trying to navigate my way around the bustling city and avoid being pegged as a walking ATM or a marriage proposal. It's also gotten its wonder though- I love watching the strength of the people, esspecially the women, and they joy in the children. The culture is so deep, yet so intermingled with this new thing called development that everyone, it seems, is trying to understand. So much colour and vibrancy amidst the poverty and the noise creates a culture of contrast. But still things seem oddly familiar- people are not that different, you know.
This weekend I got a chance to explore more of the city. We went in search of guitars and some local arts- and when I was walking past the stinky, open gutters I saw a man walking past me and thought "of course the best way of transporting a table is to carry it on your head".
I don't have running water. I do my laundry by hand. I eat boiled eggs and plantain and yams on the road side. I score through markets for traditional fabrics. I am learning that the world is much bigger than I thought. In Canada Autumn is turning everything to cool colour- but here the sun is still blazing hot. After a week of forgiving overcast weather though I'm set to enjoy some more scorching.
Im not sure what else to tell you- I think of you often and thank God for the love he has given me for all of you. Truely, it is remarkable. I hope to talk to you soon, but, until next time, dear friends, Nyame a shro wo.
Love Jenn
Monday, October 5, 2009
History
I have been working on a pile of assigments lately so have spent a lot more time on the computer then I would like, but also it gives me the privilage to communicate with all of you, so for that I am happy.
Today I was walking across campus- it is beautiful, and thinking of how many people had walked here before me. Legon used to have 600 students. Now it has thousands. They say now knowlege is power. They say that educating the margenalized is going to change this world. I went to the library and walked through shelves and shelves of dusty books, marking the history of this great continent, its struggles for freedom, its opressions. In them are the stories of so many voices we never get to hear in our industrialized countries. In them are voices of violence and pain, liberation hope and peace. When I look around campus there are so many young people bennefiting from the fruits of these struggles, as we do in the industrialized west. Only thier scars are more recent, only 40 years ago there was still colonialism in Africa. But in this bustling city people are still the same- trying to make a living, trying to love their families, surviving in this whirrlwind; and life goes on, God is still good.
This weekend we traveled to cape coast and visited Elmina Castle. It is the largest castle in subsaharan Africa to have partaken in the transatlantic slave trade. The walls were quiet, I felt like if I spoke too loud they would echo the voices of all those who had been there before me. We walked through dungions- where slaves (if they survived) would stay for three months in captivity- bound in Iron and sleeping on eachother, in their own human waste and pain. I stood at the place they call the "room of no return". Looking out onto that sea I wonder what it looked like, years ago, when those captives bound for slavery looked out, did they see freedom? did they see death? But now the sea's resided and there are the reminents of resent industrialization littering the profound view of this raging sea.
Later I walked up to the top of the battiments, and looked out over the villiage. The town of Elmina is colourful, vibrant and full of the hustle and bustle of every day life. Hawkers surrounded the entrance of the castle, waiting for me, and children played to the sounds of drums and pounding fufu as the sun set crimson on the sea. It seemed striking, and the people walking up and down that beach were named "Smith" and "Brown"- with caramal coloured skin from this colonial legacy. And yet life still goes on, God is still good.
Today I was walking across campus- it is beautiful, and thinking of how many people had walked here before me. Legon used to have 600 students. Now it has thousands. They say now knowlege is power. They say that educating the margenalized is going to change this world. I went to the library and walked through shelves and shelves of dusty books, marking the history of this great continent, its struggles for freedom, its opressions. In them are the stories of so many voices we never get to hear in our industrialized countries. In them are voices of violence and pain, liberation hope and peace. When I look around campus there are so many young people bennefiting from the fruits of these struggles, as we do in the industrialized west. Only thier scars are more recent, only 40 years ago there was still colonialism in Africa. But in this bustling city people are still the same- trying to make a living, trying to love their families, surviving in this whirrlwind; and life goes on, God is still good.
This weekend we traveled to cape coast and visited Elmina Castle. It is the largest castle in subsaharan Africa to have partaken in the transatlantic slave trade. The walls were quiet, I felt like if I spoke too loud they would echo the voices of all those who had been there before me. We walked through dungions- where slaves (if they survived) would stay for three months in captivity- bound in Iron and sleeping on eachother, in their own human waste and pain. I stood at the place they call the "room of no return". Looking out onto that sea I wonder what it looked like, years ago, when those captives bound for slavery looked out, did they see freedom? did they see death? But now the sea's resided and there are the reminents of resent industrialization littering the profound view of this raging sea.
Later I walked up to the top of the battiments, and looked out over the villiage. The town of Elmina is colourful, vibrant and full of the hustle and bustle of every day life. Hawkers surrounded the entrance of the castle, waiting for me, and children played to the sounds of drums and pounding fufu as the sun set crimson on the sea. It seemed striking, and the people walking up and down that beach were named "Smith" and "Brown"- with caramal coloured skin from this colonial legacy. And yet life still goes on, God is still good.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Pictures
I want to blog picturesss :( But it is sooo difficult to get done in these internet cafes.
Sorry. Wish I had better news!
Tomorrow I am headed to Elmina Castle, where the slave trade trade boats came through for 500 years during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Will stay in touch. :)
Sorry. Wish I had better news!
Tomorrow I am headed to Elmina Castle, where the slave trade trade boats came through for 500 years during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
Will stay in touch. :)
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