Get Used to it

Traveling to Africa, you know that you are not going to have all of the comforts of home. Beyond not having your friends and family around, there are some major lifestyle changes I’ve had to make. It’s not all bad - some things have actually enhanced my life and my well-being. Other things less so.

The first thing is showers. A lot of places do not have running hot water or if they do, it is more expensive or doesn’t work regularly. For someone who enjoys showers so hot that my skin turns red, I’m impressed with how little a cold shower at the end of every day bothers me. You learn to shower very quickly and not to waste water. I am lucky that my building is equipped with showers that actually work - some people have no choice but to use buckets to shower. If you are capable of having a bucket shower (I have yet to attempt this feat), you can have hot water if you boil some in advance. Another bothersome thing is when the water in the building gets shut off. Going to bed dirty and sweaty when I have to work the next morning just plain sucks. When there are well over 250 people living in your building with communal bathrooms, you can imagine the state of things when the water isn’t running. Did I mention I live on the University of Ghana campus?

Staying clean once you get clean is a challenge. Even if you get a shower and put on clean clothes, you are going to be sweaty and dirty within 10 minutes of going outside. Unlike the locals who wear suits or jeans, I am still getting used to the heat and wearing pants to work is very hot. To be fair, 9 times out of 10 I really don’t care how I look when I go out; it’s hot, I want to be comfortable, and doing my hair or makeup is futile because it won’t look good in an hour.

The second biggest thing is laundry. The overwhelming majority of the population still does their laundry by hand in buckets. I could take my laundry to another residence on campus and pay for my clothes to be laundered however I have come to enjoy doing laundry by hand. I love doing laundry at home as it is an easy and relaxing task so I have added doing laundry to my daily routine here. Because of the heat and dust, I’m washing my clothes very regularly. Another incentive to do laundry frequently is that ants love dirty clothes and seeing as leaving any food lying around will prompt an ant invasion, its best for me to wash my clothes often. It’s amazing how well the laundry powder works! I’m pretty good at using both the laundry soap bar and the powder to get my clothes as clean as possible.

Another big difference between Ghana and Canada is that it is impolite not to greet people that you meet on the street. While it’s just about impossible to greet every single person on the street, I make sure to greet the people I see regularly. It does take longer to get anywhere but it really makes my day when people take the time to stop and speak to me.

The internet. What we know to be the internet in Canada is NOT what the internet is here in Ghana. I’m very lucky because I bought a BlackBerry and it has fantastic internet. Frequently it’s quicker and more reliable than wireless or my modem. But generally, I’m getting used to infrequent and slower internet. At work (where the internet is pretty darn good), I will look things up while reading the newspaper because it does take longer. It doesn’t bother me, I just work slower.

The final thing is getting used to buying food on the street. Normally, I wouldn’t be so quick to purchase food from people on the street but in Ghana, restaurants are very slow and expensive. Most people instead will purchase food in the market or from a stand by the side of the road. Sometimes you get some not so good food, even the same stall will have great food one day and bad food the next. It is impressive that I get dinner for less than a dollar. I couldn’t cook for myself for a dollar. 

This is just a few things that I thought of off the top of my head about life in Ghana. Depending on the day, I am much better equipped to deal with the potential problems (like lack of water, getting hassled by taxis on the street, finding something to eat etc.), that I face. A positive attitude and no expectations makes it easier to deal with.