Wed. May 27th, 2009:
I gave Rose my comb. She needed to comb her Tina Turner hairdo. I say, "What? A hairdresser with no comb?". She's heading to Mankranso for a conference of local hairstylists, an association. She shows me her membership book, 100 beauticians from around the area will be there. Nana and I drink tea, Auntie Bea and Mr. Atta are back and have tea. Mr Atta is heading back to the cocoa farm for a week. It's still and quiet now. Nana makes fried plantains that are tasty. Yesterday, Rose gave me a pineapple and today a mango. I have rice today with 2 hardboiled eggs, some beans and pepper stew, 1 cedi, 10 pesewas worth. Yaw Sarpong and Kwaku Baah draw for awhile. I finish reading "Waiting for Godot" today. Yaw Sarpong draws flags of the world. Now, Yaw Gyamfi and Sadick are drawing. The match between Barcelona and Manchester will be on in one hour.
Sunday, May 31st, 2009:
Walked to Potrikrom with Kwaku Baah, Yaw Bimpe, Sadick. Also to the little village after, very small with old clay bldgs held together with wood boarded frames. Saw a couple of beautiful birds, one long billed like hornbill, slender. Yaw said people eat it, doesn't look like much meat. Many nests along side of road, weavers' nests, A field with large cut-down trees, Bea's maize farm, Orange citrus farms, a boy holding a long stalk of sugar cane, photos of ant hills, redbrown, medieval-like castles, other worldly. When we returned, sounds of many boys chanting, we go outside, see them holding a cardboard trophy cup. Vincent had made it. Took photos of the boys and then Vincent holding the cup in celebration of Barcelona's victory.
Thursday, May 28th, 2009:
Walked to Alliance Fancaise in Kumasi, lots of plantains, vegetation, lowlands, old railroad, green plots within the city, sellers of pottery, furniture makers using cane and wicker, police station, big fancy hotels, banks, nightclubs, lots of traffic, taxis beep always asking me do I want a lift, I'm a walker.
At Alliance, Dorothy Amenuke's Reception. Dorothy greets me. She's all dressed up in nice batik. Her show is sculptures primarily made of various fabrics. The show's title is "Fluid flow through woven screens" Titles of some of her works are: "Weaving the Woven", "Security 1", Transparency, In the Nest 1. It's a great turn out. Many artists are there and I talk to them. I meet Bernard Akoi Jackson from Nubuke Foundation, Atta Kwame, Pemela Clarkson. Pamela Clark introduces me to Amara Hark, Mary Hark's daughter, also from Minnesota. She's here for SaNsA.
Sunday, June 7th:
Sandra under the table, Yaw drawing from the bldgs book, Kenny Roger's at the Spot, loud music on Sunday mornings, "you've got toknow when to hold'em, know when tofold'em", hwe-behold, akyiri-beyond, anoma-bird, looking up Twi words, Margaritaville is playing now. Yesterday, at Lincoln School. Young men hanging onto cars and vans, driving fast, shouting, raucous, packed vans, like a college football game. Ghana plays in Mali tomorrow and think is related. I find out it's for a funeral in Manhyia. We pass by and it's a wild party with young people in the streets and acting crazy, lots of drinking. The guy next to me explains a little bit. This is for a young person's funeral. A send off. Like an Irish wake.
Electricity out, can't watch Ghana vs. Mali. Read Joyce's play, "Exiles".
Monday, June 8th:
Waoke up 6:40am, painted backs of paintings, doing collaged dirt pieces. Made tea, no bread at the little neighborhood store, reading Neruda's Tyranny from 1st Residence. Alittle boy looks at me throught the screen, Richmond? Auntie Bea stops by, says she's going to the farm. Rose took Sandra to school. Nana's at the farm. Neruda: "...a wound as confused as a new being/encompassthe stubborn root of my soul/biting the center of my security."
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009:
4:30 call to prayer, azzan from two different mosques. Then, right away, another loud speaker starts blarring. I hear, "halleluah", "halleluah". The loud, harsh non-stop talking goes on for a long time in the wee hours of the morning. I asked Yaw what was that about. He said it's the "Romans". The Catholics in the village have a loud speaker and were preaching. The Radio news in Twi is also played over the loud speaker during the day. I read Andrew, the Peace Corps volunteers old Smithsonians, May 2006. Copernicus Publishing "Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, 1543, sun at center of picture, "The scorn which I had to fear on account of the newness and absurdity of my opinion almost drove me to abandon a work already taken. The Catholic Church censored in 1616. The church saw the fork as an evil instrument, the devil's instrument. The fork has only been commonly used in the past 200 years or so. Mount Rushmore's 1st American Indian Superintendent, Gerald Baker. Defender's of the Black Hills, environmental group, Charmaine White Face, Lakota, "We all hate Mt. Rushmore. It's a sacred mountain that has been desecrated." "It's like a slap in the face to us--salt in the wounds--as if a statue of Adolf Hitler was put in the middle of Jerusalem." Late 1930s, Chief Henry Standing bear conceived Crazy Horse's Monument. DADA: WW1 "Hugo Ball wanted to shock anyone who regarded 'all this civilized carnage as a triumph of European intelligence', collapse of culture of rationality that prevailed in Europe."
June 10, 2009:
This morning at Star Oil, I met a Ghanaian from Coon Rapids, MN, James. He's lived there for 10 yrs. He's a realtor. He gave me his number and said call him anytime. His fiance, Comfort, works at Star Oil. They will be married in July and then she will go to Minnesota in the winter. I will probably see them Minneapolis.
Thurs, June 11, 2009:
I just me t Harry from Belgium, owner of the Smooth Jazz Spot in Bantama in Kumasi. He has been here since 95, runs a gas company, married to a Ghanaian with 2 kids. He said to call him if I need anything. Irene and Daniel work at the sopot. I'm drinking Castle Milk stout and eating Goat Pepper Soup, nice and hot and spicy. 2 pieces of goat, 50 pesewas a piece, thick skin, bones, sinus clearing soup, good with beer. I just bought Daraprim, a malarial preventative, taken once a week, 50 pesewas a pill, nice breezes, colors and signs everywhere, I'll go back to the Ashanti Gold Hotel this evening for a SaNsA talk. A tree wraps around a post of the bar, a lower limb has been cut, American Idol is on the T.V., then FIFA Confederation Cup Chanpionship. Thurs. night, intense rain storm. After Smooth Jazz, went back to Culture Center and met Fiona. She's doing her PH.D from Britain, researching the first Brits account his encounter with the Ashantis.
Sunday, June 14th, 2009:
Watched the boy's soccer match. Five children gathered around me, Abena with her soft, musical voice, Rita, Abena's 2 yr. old bro Ebenezer, and a couple other's. Adwoa was walking by and limping. She stepped on a nail. Her nephew, Clemont, was helping her. She had a tetanus shot and medicine.
Sat., June 20th, 2009:
At Spot, south of the STC bus station. Crowd of Ghanaians in back area drinking Apeteshi, the local brew, watching the Ghana, Sudan match. I'm in front and get some skewers of goat with onions and pepper seasonings, and then I head back to watch the match. Milky white Apeteshi, the local brew, 65 pesewas, in a little glass. My neighbor say's to me, "You are invited". I already had my Castle Milk Stout and thank him. Everyone standing up and shouting when Ghana scores. Ghana wins 2-0.
Sun, June 21, 2009:
Ji, an artist from South Korea, comes up to the village. Everyone's happy to meet her. We have tea and cookies and she looks at the children's art. She plans on coming back on Thursday and drawing portraits of some of the people. She gives me blank postcards for people to draw on which she will collect later. We walk around the village, teak leaves, bamboo in the distance by the fish pond, Nzongo, the old part of town, the brown and yellow govt. school, lines of teak trees.
Monday, June 21, 2009:
Laundry this morning, chickens walk by, cloudy overcast, people walking by, greet me, amused by the obruni. Nana helps me. I make tea and sit down to write. Yaw Sarpong stops by and draws and then Nsiah Kwame stops by. I show them the postcards for Ji and they draw on those. A little black and white bird lands out front. It has a long, black, forked tail. It just fluttered by again.
transplan, migratory, rooster crows, echoes,
calls, chants, prayers, soft sounds of cars
on the Sunyani Rd. with radio voices, radio beats
in between the crows, the scratching of pens and
colored pencils, aroma of Chelsea tea, the brown table,
ripped screens, Andrew's big leafy plants, hot water,
hazy sky, wet red ground, soil.
Mr. Addo said one day that during rain storms,
children will be out looking for gold specks
in the streams and they will pick up little gold
flakes and pebbles. He talked about the Japanese
being here working on rice projects but also
looking for gold. Two Americans as well were
looking for gold. The Japanese were concerned
Andrew the peace corps volunteer was looking for
gold and had a device to watch him.
Auntie Bea said last night that for Sunday funerals,
people wear black and white; for Saturday funerals,
they wear black adinkra cloths.
Yaw Owusu stops by, draws his palm line on a
postcard for Ji and also another drawing for her.
Two of my paint brushes I find in the corner of
my room. Both were used to apply vegetable oil.
Maybe the mice dragged them there to lick them off.
Yaw Owusu explains that about one week after death,
people gather to hear when the funeral will be. It could
be one month after or four months after. Forty days is usual.
One week after the death, there's mineral water, coke, fanta
but no alcohol, only the family. Can bury the person one or
two weeks later. Don't touch person's things for 40 days.
Sitting outside with little Sandra on my lap,
breezy, sunny, Becky, Mary, Sandra, Kwaku Baah playing
jump rope with tied bark strings. A young man walks
by with a rooster in his grasp, the two wings pinched
together. The rooster is quiet, staring. Little Sandra
repeating words after me, "1,2,3, A, B, C, Kwaku Baah"
Two young women by little store to the east, one doing
the other's hair.
Friday morning, June 26th, 2009:
A man and a little girl walk to the neighbors house.
The man goes into the gate. There are two lizards
on the wall. The little girl looks like she is
trying to catch a lizard. Then, I see a hen with
seven chicks come out. The hen and chicks walk to the
the corn shed and the man in red sports pants and girl
shepherds them. The hen and chicks hide under the
corn shed while the man and girl walk around the
corn shed trying to get them out.
Ama cleans her room. Auntie Bea and Nana are talking.
Two school girls stop by and ask me, "How are you?"
Kwame and Adwoa stop by to draw, Kwame 6yrs?, Adwoa
4 yrs? Adwoa's using the side of her colored pencil,
filling in a large area with red. Pat comes by and
draws. Brazil beat South Africa last night. Ama
tells me Michael Jackson died.
Thurs, July 2nd, 2009:
Doing laundry today, Rose helping me, Adwoa and Clement
stop by. Rose tells them Nana Boakye, the chief moved
her from in front of his place to Nzongo, the old part
of town. I eat rice, an egg, beans and stew this afternoon,
one cedi. The woman preparing my food has two vertical scars
on each side of her face. The Ashanti have one horizontal scar
on the left cheek. A girl helps her interpret what I want.
Little Sandra walked over this morning by herself, so I picked
her up. She was wet. I carried her back to her mother. Kofi
and Cece came over to draw today. Cece draws houses, almost
circus-like tent structures/shapes. Kofi's had jagged lines,
interesting abstractions. I read magazines this afternoon,
Peace Corps mags, Newsweeks from 2005-2006. It's about 5pm
now. Screams from Mary. Her friend swinging her, playing around.
The sheep are heading back to their house. They stop to eat
some of the greass. Yaw Owusu stops to visit. Mary
and her friend are now drawing.
Friday, July 3rd, 2009:
I saw my first female tro-tro mate(conductor)in Abuakwa today.
Her head and shoulder were sticking out of the side window.
Her arm gesturing the "Where are you going?" sign; open hand
facing upward and rotating. She was shouting out the names
of the towns and villages auctioneer-like that the tro-tro
was heading to.
Sunday, July 5th, 2009:
Moringa and Lipton tea, tea bread, reading Rilke,
Agya and Kwaku drawing, now another boy comes
by and draws a house. Across the way, Mary is
washing naked sandr's butt, dipping her hand
into a black bucket of water. Another boy
comes into draw.
obontain-to town
went to the market, bought kwadu (bananas,
looked around in the market, saw Yaw Owusu next to
Kontua tree (Calabash tree, took photos, talked to
people, visited Yaw's two places, one room at his
family's shares with junior brother, sleeps at
another room that he rents, big furniture, curtain
dividing room, bed area, t.v. in living area,
also his mediation room,
bought rice, stew, egg, fish for 1 cedi
walked around trails after stopping by Meleama's.
Walked down to the fish pond through rice paddies,
palms, flowering teak trees, Eleven boys with me.
They swam in the river, jumping around and having fun.
Monday, July 6th, 2009:
Walked across the Dunyani River, high water,
wooded planked foot bridge, bamboo forest,
hundred nests, round nests, weavers?, yellow
birds. Walked along the washed-out gravel road,
rice and maize along the way, palm, cocoa,
farmers going to and fro, baskets, bags on their heads,
machetes, Wallentig (rubber) boots.
Walked back to town and bought fish by Yaw
Owusu's house. His nieces and nephews under
the tree at the house playing a board game they
called "Lood", similar to Shoots and Ladders.
Met Yaw's mother, peeling cocao yams. We bought
dried Tilapia fish for 2 cedis, a good amount.
Stopped by his sister's, pregnant with second
child. She sells bread, on Mondays and Fridays
in the afternoon is the freshest, tea bread,
sugar bread, butter bread.
