A Final Visit to Sefwi Wiawso... for now

Last weekend was my last opportunity to squeeze in a quick weekend visit to Sefwi Wiawso before my return to Canada. When I called Joseph to make arrangements for my stay, I was delivered the unfortunate news that Joseph will be travelling to attend a funeral for the weekend. I was truly disappointed to hear this as Joseph is one of my favourite things about Sefwi Wiawso!

Joseph is a naturally paternal figure. He's very in tune with people's needs, particularly the needs of his community. It's difficult to explain how I know this about Joseph, but I suppose it's from noticing a lot of little things he does. Like making sure you have a seat in the shade or that you've had time to rest; making sure that everyone is looked after, well fed, healthy and comfortable. In synagogue, when people appear to have zoned out or lost interest, Joseph is the first to notice. He jumps to his feet and tries to liven up the services, engaging people either in a conversation or a song.

He's a natural leader and I can tell that people not only respect him, but they really like him. Every Shabbat I've noticed that people like to gather on his compound, as opposed to anyone else's, to relax and enjoy each other's company and conversation. Even if Joseph isn't involved in the conversation, it seems that people just enjoy his presence.

A few times when I have found myself lost in Dwumasi (pronounced Junasee), when people ask where I am heading, I mention Joseph's name. People immediately react with smiles and tell me that he is a good friend of theirs - a "bosom" friend, is often what they say.

So, needless to say, I was a bit sad that I wouldn't get to see Joseph before leaving Ghana. However, I was happy that at least I would get to see his wife, Gladys and some of his older children - Partick and Anthony, whom I felt close to as well.

Much to my surprise, however, when I arrived at the compound around 4:00pm on a Friday - the place was remarkably empty. As I exited the taxi, I recognized a tiny smiling face - it was Frank, one of the youngest sons on the compound. He smiled, giggled, and ran into the kitchen (a concrete room with a corrugated tin roof, separated from the rest of the compound). I followed him into the kitchen where I found about 12 children all gathered together preparing dinner - pounding fufu, boiling plantain and cooking some stew. I greeted each of them, gave them hugs and asked where all the adults were.

"It is only us children here." Said Joshua, who was crowned the oldest sibling in the absence of his older brothers and sisters.

The situation made me laugh. There wasn't an adult in sight! I felt like I had walked on to the set of Annie... in Africa. I wondered what kind of trouble we could get into. What would Kevin from "Home Alone" do in this situation?

The scenario I imagined in my head was what my brother and I would likely have looked forward to with our parents out of town - a weekend of kraft dinner, pizza, candy, tv and playing games that involved hopping all over the furniture and handling the objects in the house we were advised not to play with like delicate statues and vases. However, that scenario didn't translate too well in Sefwi Wiawso. Especially since the key ingredients, Kraft Dinner and Pizza, were unavailable.

But another idea came to mind. How about a movie? We had about a half an hour left before sundown, the welcoming of Shabbat, so I quickly grabbed Joshua and we went to the main street in town and I had him pick out a movie that everyone would enjoy. Without thinking twice, he grabbed a Jet Li flick called "The Defender." I said I wasn't such a fan of action movies, but our selection of pirated DVDs was limited. So I picked out "You Got Served", a self-titled "dance-drama", in case I found The Defender too unbearable. We would watch the movies on Saturday night, when Shabbat ended.

The weekend went very well. I was amazed at how incredibly self-sufficient and responsible the children were. At the crack of dawn, each of them followed their household duties as they would if their parents were around - meticulously sweeping the compound, washing their clothes, bathing, cooking breakfast by the fire. Other than a minor mishap involving two fighting brothers and a machete, the children were on their best behaviour! (don't worry, no one was hurt...)

Synagogue was quite interesting as well. Services were said to be held at 8 and every showed up about 9:30 as usual. Alex, the community leader, decided to teach the congregation a new prayer. For about an hour and a half, we practiced reciting this prayer - each of us being selected at random to say a line or two as a test. People were encountering significant difficulty in pronouncing the guttural "ch" sound of the Hebrew language and it was pretty amusing to watch Alex and I try to explain how to make this sound.

After Havdalah, the ritual ending of Shabbat, a small audience gathered in my room in front of an old computer to watch "The Defender." The fact that it was an action flick worked out in our favour, as the  audio wasn't working too well.

Whereas I normally find myself ready to pass out around 7:30pm when I visit Sefwi Wiawso, this past Saturday night was different. I didn't want the night to end because I knew it would be a very long time before I see my friends in the community again. After The Defenders ended, I asked the kids to stick around and watch the second movie... but for the first time ever, they were the ones who wanted to go to bed and not me!

Front row seats to Jet Li's "The Defender"

Havdalah services in front of the synagogue.

Havdalah Services in front of the synagogue.

Mr. Samuel, a dear friend from the community.

Early the next morning, Alex, Joshua and Mata's oldest son, Kwame, escorted me to the junction to catch a taxi to the bus stop. I would catch the 5:30am bus to Kumasi and then make my way back to Accra. As promised, I left Joshua about 15 self-addressed envelopes and money to buy stamps so we could write each other while I'm in Canada.

As the bus took off for Kumasi, I watched as the sun rise poured its pink and orange hue over the gorgeous green mountains that harbour some of the tallest trees I have ever seen. The site is absolutely beautiful and I remember thinking to myself: this better not be my last time seeing it.

And We're Back! Theatre Review: Terms of Divorce

My apologies for the blogging hiatus... I know my absence has thoroughly disappointed millions.

And November has been such an eventful month! So I will slowly catch everyone up on the action packed Accra adventures, or “accraventures” as I like to call them... or rather, as I will call them from this point on.

Alas, the accraventures have been carried out at an increasingly slower pace this month as the heat and the sun become much more intense. The HEAT - it’s all expats can talk about these days. I hardly have anything else to say to people other than “geeze, it’s getting a lot hotter these days, huh?” To which they eagerly agree and we then enter our awkward quest for something else to talk about. If the conversation turns to sports, I plan my escape route - “is that an injured goat I hear in the distance?” - Otherwise, I generally welcome any other topic quite happily.

Commentary about the heat is not limited to expats, though. Ghanaians share their two cents about the weather. 

Example 1: “This African sun, it is too hot! How can we do anything? Ah!”

- My host mother on a scorcher of a day during a blackout.

Example 2: “It is raaiiiining today! Can you imagine what it will be like during the rainy season?!"

- My soaked coworker, upon entering the office during a rain storm that caused floods all over Accra.

So those may be the only two interesting comments that come to mind right now but I swear I hear more complaints! It’s the equivalent of hearing Canadians complain about the winter year after year after year as though every time November rolls around we’re surprised that fall still turns into winter. Every year. Leaves to snow... I don’t understand.  

Okay, enough about the cold, I can delay having to think about it for another month. Back to our eventful November!

Well the most important event of November was of course, my birthday. Birthday celebrations were slightly muted by the impending deadlines for the funding proposals I was working on. However, I did manage to celebrate the occasion with a visit to the theatre... which I choose to pronounce “TheATAH” for no particular reason other than it simply feels right.

I was accompanied by two lovely gents - one Neil, from England, and one Hafen, from the US. We stopped briefly at Koala, one of the few grocery stores where westerns can pay insulting prices for their comfort foods. We dished out the equivalent of the mean household income of an American middle class family for a bag of Doritos and a can of Pringles. What a steal!

We hopped in a taxi and made our way to the National Theatre to watch the hit theatrical romantic comedy “Terms of Divorce” by renowned Ghanaian playwright James Ebo Whyte. 

The house was packed! This was pretty shocking as the play wasn’t cheap... 25 Cedis a ticket. However, after having seen a few Ghanaian plays, I knew that the audience reactions alone are worth the price of admission. The best part about the audiences? No dirty looks whilst rustling our chip bags and crunching away on our snacks.

Terms of Divorce tells the story of Ralph and Ethel, a couple in the final stages of a messy divorce. At the opening of the play, we learn that Ralph and Ethel have been in a vicious tug-of-war over the divorce settlement for close to two years now. The process has been made that much more difficult because the couple have enlisted lawyers Michael and Baaba, who are themselves, bitter divorcees! 

We quickly learn that a court date is soon approaching where Ralph and Ethel will be able to sign off a final agreement, once and for all - authorizing their divorce before a judge. But before they do this, they must visit some kind of marriage counsellor who will rubber stamp the agreement.

The counsellor is an older, cheerful man married to a mad woman whom he adores passionately. He warns Ralph, Ethel and their lawyers that his wife will frequently interrupt their proceedings with odd hallucinations. He tells them that his wife becomes very upset at the mere suggestion that she is mad, so if everyone could be so kind as to accommodate her hallucinations and play along with her madness, that would be greatly appreciated. So as the counseling proceeds, we are met with bizarre and often hilarious intervals where the counsellor’s cooky wife serves invisible tea and snacks or alerts everyone about murderers surrounding the house. In an effort to appease both the counsellor and his wife, the group plays along and drinks from their make believe tea cups and kills the murderers with their pretend guns.

The counsellor’s devotion and love for his wife, who proves to be quite a handful, eventually inspires Ralph to re-consider the divorce with Ethel. And after about 10 more argument scenes between the couple. they finally decide that they shouldn’t throw away their 20 year relationship over a couple of mishaps. I must say it was a bit of a shock to hear the couple had been married 20 years as the actors looked like they were in their early thirties... but who am I to deny two 12 year olds from making a lifelong commitment to each other?

Eventually, Baaba and Michael, follow suit, clarify the misunderstanding that let to their marriage’s dissolution and decide to re-marry.

The moral of the story: divorce is for quitters. 

The play was definitely entertaining but went in some strange directions. For example, about two-thirds of the way through, the play suddenly turned into musical and introduced fantastical theatrical elements like smoke machines and angels (who doubled as backup dancers). Some of the numbers performed would be familiar to anyone who has seen a movie trailer for a romantic comedy in the last century like James Blunt’s “Goodbye My Lover” or Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One I Want.” Just a WEEE bit cliché.

Another drawback, and a complaint I have about most Ghanaian theatre I’ve seen thus far, is the length of the play - nearly 3 hours. I mean, if I were watching a staged rendition of War and Peace translated into Twi, this length might be acceptable. But the play was marred with repetition and redundancies that lengthened scenes unnecessarily. The pace of the play also could have been tightened by eliminating actions and dialogue that detracted from the narrative train. 

Other than these details, (oh, and the audio levels for the mics... let’s refrain from using max volume when your actors are screaming at each other for the majority of the play, thanks)  I was quite pleased with the show! And as expected, the audience played their role just as well as the actors - contributing their “oh!”s and “ah!”s with conviction and enthusiasm. One moment in particular sparked roaring laughter and heckling from the audience. Ralph and Ethel, now googly-eyed and lusting after each other, are dressed in their “make-up sex” costumes - towels. They flirt with each other, indicating that they are ready for another round in the bedroom and eagerly ascend the stairs to their love chamber. Just as they reach the final step, Ralph’s towel falls off!! Fortunately for Ralph, he was wearing boxers under his towel. But believe me, the presence of underpants did not hinder the audience’s riotous reaction.

The best part about that moment? I GOT IT ON VIDEO!! Too bad the internet just ain't strong enough for me to upload it.

All in all, a great night at the theATAH topped off by pizza and wine at my favourite joint. Yay birthday in Ghana! 

Move over Julie Andrews! "The Sound of Music" at Ghana's National Theatre.

Holy Rogers and Hammerstein, Captain! It's an all-Ghanaian cast of The Sound of Music! Amazing. I spotted the poster while on the Tro Tro and knew I needed to see this!

The show was produced at the Ghana National Theatre, one of Accra's finest architechtural sites, designed and built by the Republic of China (well, not the whole Republic of China... surely they had other things to do, but they commissioned the building). The architecture reflects the Chinese influence. I attended the show with another CCI volunteer and his housemate.

Here are a few of my favourite (and not so favourite) things about the production. I'll say straight off the bat that the actress who played Maria (I will update this entry with her name tomorrow), carried the entire show. Her voice was great, she hit every note and her acting had that "musical-theatre-student-I-need-some-ritalin" energy and snap. She was absolutely great.

Other notable performances included Liesl and Rolph (Sixteen Going on Seventeen was adorable). Liesl had a great voice but wasn't miked so we didn't get to hear her all that well. Max seemed to play the audience well, hamming it up to the audience's enjoyment... ah yes, the audience, now there's a character in the show that played a huge role! The audience was very interactive, often singing along or shouting comments back at the characters (one teenage girl's voice was heard during the Captain's solo: "Sing to ME!"). Whenever there was a slip up, the audience would crack up, but warmly applaud and cheer when the actor/actress would get back on the right track (or in the case of the Mother Abbess, getting back on the right note(s)... Climb Every Mountain was a little rough). They also booed the Nazis when they marched on stage.

So what were the bee stings and the dog bites of the production? Well, the show was over THREE HOURS long with no intermission which made me feel very VON TRAPPED! Not to mention Von Thirsty and Von Hungry... Am I over Von Doing it? There were plenty of moments of dead air they could have cut and scenes they could have tightened to make the play run smoother and faster.

The most noticeable shortcoming of The Sound of Music was the audio production. Microphone glitches, audio levels and the balance of background sound with vocals were an unfortunate occurrence. They also didn't have a mic for everyone in the cast, which is fine, but they made a funny choice hooking Gretl up with her very own mic. Now although Gretl was super-duper-Olson Twins-circa-first-season-of-Full-House-cute, she barely had any lines, didn't sing along with the others all the time and her head was too small for the headset - thus employing the mic as a necklace rather than an audio device.

The Captain was pretty good but fell flat a wee bit too much and took the "conservative stiff" personality a little too literally with a strut reminiscent of Gumby.

One really funny choice that I'm sure Rogers and Hammerstein wouldn't have thought up on their own but I really liked was playing the Baroness as a very scantily-clad gold-digger with a nasty attitude. With every entrance, the Baroness played it up as the audience would hoot and holler disapprovingly at her scandalous outfit and 6 inch heels.

All in all, it was a lovely performance and a great experience. The theatre is beautiful and it was fun to hear all the familiar Sound of Music tunes (for you die-hard Sound of Music fans out there, I am happy to report that Kurt hit his high note during "So Long, Farewell"... not an easy task for a twelve-year-old boy!).

I really hope this production company puts on another musical! According to the program they are planning to put on Grease and Joseph and the Technicolour Dream Coat! I am seriously considering auditioning if they'll have me!

Note: I tried to post video of the show but again the internet connection doesn't seem to be strong enough to handle it. I'll try again another day. Hrmph.