The Door Of No Return

I was all choked up about this that's why I had to write it down.

One of the things I didn't know when I got to Ghana was its rich but sad involvement in the history of slave trade. I can't claim to know enough about it. I knew it was wrong, I knew they had a hard time as a people but being here and seeing first hand made me understand how these people are afraid of the sea.

Before this country was known as Ghana, it came to be called as the Gold Coast. The country was rich in one of the most sought minerals at the time that the Portuguese, one of the first to exploit the country, named their fort after it. The called it the Gold Mine in their language, something the locals couldn't pronounce and later bastardized to Elmina. The castle now named after it used to serve as storage for supplies, gunpowder and whatever they had to barter for gold and spices.

Noticing that the locals were overeager to trade their gold, they exploited them and kept them as slaves. As many as 1,000 of them were kept at the castle (600 men and 400 women) for at least 2 months at a time or until the slave ships got there to pick them up. The conditions they were kept in were inhumane to say the least. In the women's dungeon they contracted disease, were too weak to go to the designated corner where they could relieve themselves and were drenched in their own menstruation. The stench of all that remains in that dungeon to this day as a reminder to those who visit all the inhumanity committed there. Women were raped by the Governor or by soldiers. Those who were lucky enough to conceive bore mulattos who didn't suffer the same fate as their mothers. These children have taken on the names of their white forebears and have passed them on to their children. Their descendants bear these names to this day, some lighter skinned than most, others just as native as the next local.

The sad part about the whole affair was that some slaves were supplied by the Africans themselves at some point. Tribes were warring amongst themselves for supremacy (something true to this day). Those that had enough gold to trade for gunpowder were able to overpower the tribes that didn't have the fire power and were surrendered as slaves. There were such tribes who sided with the Dutch in order to overpower the Portuguese. Alas, the Dutch were no better. No sooner had they taken over the castle did they continue the slave trade. The British came after them but finally ceded in the mid-1800's when slavery was abolished.

One of the things that most people overlook is that Africa is a continent, not a country. Ghanaians would have as much compassion or indifference to Nigerians or Somalians as Filipinos would for Koreans or Indians. Yes, they're black. Yes, they have a painful historical past. No, they're not one country. That was true back then as it is now. Slaves from as far as Liberia were made to walk to the coast of Ghana, a trip that lasts 2 months, only to be imprisoned in such a castle before being transported by sea. The locals have a great fear of the sea. One thing you'll notice is that they love hanging out at the beach but don't swim. They have many a superstition about it. The lesser gods take with them those who swim on Tuesdays or they are not allowed to fish on Thursdays. They can say so many things about the sea without having to tell you that it symbolized the exile of their ancestors to lands unknown and is a great huge doorway, an exit to a place where they would never be able to return from.

They all hope that this door would never have to be used the same way ever again.

When in Ghana...

Just some things I've gotten used to here:

• Cabs aren't metered. You'll have to know the area to estimate how much you'll pay the cab driver and haggle with him for the fare. It's like drama all the time we have to get a ride. They'll give you a price that's 2 or 3 GHC above the rate you know, you'll say THANK YOU and pretend you're walking away to find another cab, they'll call you back and agree to the price you give anyway. Also, there are no airconditioned cabs. Imagine the stench of having to sit in a cab with a driver who's been in it all day. YUM!!!
• Babies are slung on the backs of mothers. I keep forgetting to take pictures of this. They don't usually cradle their babies in their arms when they go around. They have a sheaf of fabric wrapped around the mother and the baby. All the baby can see is the mother's back, unless it's old enough to turn it's head around a lot.
• Women do as much carrying as men. I was told that the TV set we have in the lobby was delivered here by a young woman with the TV on her head.
  Crows and bats are a common sight.
• If we have mayas back home, they got crows back here. They're just everywhere. There's one whole street in the city where hundreds of bats hang from the trees. I was able to take a picture but I don't think you'll see the bats clearly enough because they look just like leaves until you take a real closer look. Vultures are not uncommon either. While I was jogging yesterday, there was one perched up high on the pine tree of a neighbor. Surreal as hell!
• People answer YES PLEASE even if they only mean YES. So if you ask the waiter if they have soda (soft drinks), he'll say YES PLEASE if they have it in stock.
• That gesture we make to tell someone "text text na lang" by moving your thumbs with the rest of your fingers curled is equivalent to the finger. It's supposed to mean FUCK YOUR MOTHER.
• Most of the hair you'll see on women are either hair extensions woven into their natural hair or just plain wigs. Women here don't wear much make-up, but their main vanity is their hair. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has not given them much of it because their natural hair is short & extremely kinky that it would take years to grow it long and have them braided. They resort to the next best thing, weaves and wigs!
• Some of you may know this already but Kwame is as common as Jose or Juan. It's the name of their national hero.

Up next, my rantings and ravings about a nosy housemate...

PBB Ghana Edition

It's only been a week and a half and I've witnessed so much drama here at the staff house. I suppose I should introduce the Dramatis Personae along with
whatever dirt I can dish. Hahah. Here goes:

Senior HR & Training Manager. House Mother. Bitch in sheep's clothing if you ask me but someone I've kind of clung to right from the start. She
has outbursts during meetings, especially when people are ganging up on her on when her ideas are being struck down.

Program Manager. Mataray na bading. During my 1st morning here, all I ever heard from him was expletives every other word. Kind of reminds me of me
but has gay friends I don't like. He drinks almost every night and is somewhat the Alpha (Gay) Male in the house. I heard he's known Liana 15 years now and
was that she was his GF at some point. Ewww.

Training Supervisor, A's friend from Davao. Not much to say about her except that she reminds me a lot of Virgie the way she talks and jokes around
with a little less bitchiness as Virgie. She's just as diminutive and quirky as her.

QA Supervisor, a former officemate of Oliver (a closet case from Perot). She's the only person in the house who had the guts to ask me straight out
if I were gay. Typical OC QA person, quiet but deadly.

Operations Manager. Typical Call Center Bitch, hahah. She has a sharp tongue and the metabolism of someone who either has alligators in her
intestine or has hyperthyroidism. Thin as a reed with an appetite of a karpintero. I find it strange that Nick dotes on her a lot. No one's said it out
loud but she's on her way out and has no plans of coming back here when she comes home to Manila this December. She seems amiable enough to me, something
she doesn't display enough to anyone who's position is lower than hers.

Finance Director. Old-school gay and the epitome of what I think is wrong with Pinoys. He wants everyone to be friends. He wants everything to be
harmonious at work AND at home. He finds a lot to complain about and it just irritates the hell out of me. He's old school gay because he's sponsoring a
lot of poor straight guys at work who are just after his money. It's a disgrace not just to gays but to Filipinos in general.

IT Manager. Ringleader of the IT boys. He's chinese and I think there's something wrong with one of his eyes (something like Randy Santiago's) but
he's sharp as hell with all women at work. Being light-skinned here does wonders I tell you.

IT Analyst. Cute as hell but taken. He's the all-around good guy but isn't around the house much cos he has a GF who works somewhere here in Ghana
and hangs around with her a lot.

IT Analyst and yes-man to Kati. He follows her like her shadow. Goes to work same time as she does. Comes home same time as she does. Does
groceries with her. Of course he sleeps in the same room as she does.

Supervisor, reports to me. I just found out today that she's Louie's mistress cos the guy has a wife back at home. Both her and Louie have 2 kids
each from their respective spouses. She's estranged from her husband though. Typical Call Center Industry marital arrangement if you ask me. Hahah.

Supervisor, reports to me, too. For reasons he can't remember, he also knows Oliver. Another good guy, seems to have the patience of Job and a
wholesome attitude you'll find in people who always sees the glass as half-full. You'll always see him smiling and epitomizes the phrase "walang masamang
tinapay."

Only Liana and Donna have added me in Facebook so far but you can see them here on our Sunday night out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43267&l=69cbe&id=657487053

I've learned only recently that most of the people here at home have been speculating about sexuality. It was only Myra who was gutsy enough to ask me up front, I simply said I'M GAY. People here have been bugging her since because they were the ones who asked her to confront me to begin with. It's so funny the everyone's been dropping hints when I'm around and talking about homosexuality and hotdogs and being out even if it's not part of the conversation. Hay, mga Pinoy talaga...

More to come soon.

Ghanaian Ghouls

Myra and I are the latest additions to the staff house. We have a common friend so you'd see us talking a lot and we ended up being taxi-mates, riding to & from work at the same time to share taxi fares.

Last night we went home later than usual an the ride home was uneventful. soon as we got home, we saw that the dining room was dark. Seems that everyone who went home early retired early & those who stayed are still at work or went out for dinner elsewhere. I wasn't hungry but Myra still wanted to eat. She asked me to hang out with her while she ate and I said I'll just change into my slippers cos I needed for my feet to breathe.

I went to my room and took my time cos I knew she'd still be getting her food ready. Soon as I was done I went back to the dining room. Myra looked pale when I walked in and she was sitting down. She looked at me then moved her eyes to a drinking glass in the middle of the dining table and told me that it wasn't there while she was preparing food. I could feel goose bumps from my legs up to my arms. In the short time that she had her back turned to get her food from the stove to the time she sat down to eat and probably seconds before I walked in the door, that drinking glass appeared on the table from out of nowhere. There's a stack of unused glasses somewhere on the kitchen counter and Myra swore that there was only one glass there earlier. This was the one she used to fill with water and which was on the table already. This other glass was clean, appeared to be unused and I could've sworn that when we got in the kitchen right after getting home, was not there.

Of course all manner of rationalization happened afterwards. It was a long time before anyone else actually walked into the kitchen to see us. I felt relieved when Arbee got there, but then he came scampering back to his room soon as he found out our story. Myra texted another housemate to please come home already cos we wanted to tell her all about it. Myra set her phone down on the table and we talked some more about supernatural phenomena and how it kind of played up in our lives. While we were talking, her phone suddenly tipped over, while I was nervously drumming my fingers on the table. She asked me how could that have happened. I said, simple, then started drumming my fingers on the table again. It didn't tip over. And dammit I tried shaking the table real hard but the phone wouldn't tip over the way it did just about a minute ago.

That's when we were creeped out the most. A few minutes later, the people who left the office late got home. Myra told them our story and they were smiling right after hearing it. Then Liana said "Akwabe!" (Welcom to Ghana!). Fuck it. They've been experiencing a lot of creepy stuff in the house all this time. However, they did say that this was the most blatant display of ghoulishness that our house guest has ever made. More stories were shared and Liana and Myra went back to their rooms. Kathy was the most sensitive to feeling any supernatural presence. She's given some tips on how to ward them off or at least keep them at bay. Suddenly she said, everyone go back to their rooms. She said that "it" was back there in the kitchen with us. That was it!!! I went back to my room, feeling creeped out more than ever. I had a hard time getting cleaned up but I had to cos I was so tired and sleepy. I put on some music using my laptop and left it on for the rest of the night.

It wasn't comforting to think that earlier that morning I had a bangungot. I tried to get back to sleep around 5:45 AM having woken up at 4:00 earlier. The sun was starting to shine so I put a hanky over my eyes to keep out the light. By the time I felt like getting up already, I tried to get the hanky out of my eyes. It felt like it was still there. I tried taking of using my left hand. It felt like it was still there cos I could only see darkness. Just like in the movies I tried taking it off and it felt like I wasn't running out of hankies covering my eyes. Right about then I felt something rest on my left arm and I felt like I was floating and that I was being pushed THROUGH the wall. I started praying and it took several prayers for me to wake up. While I was praying I could feel that this presence was kind of laughing at me. UGH.

So much for getting enough sleep.

Hello Africa Tell Me How You Doin!

OK, so here it is finally, the blog that'll be your eyes and ears to my Ghanaian experience. Sure I'll post pics in Facebook but I'm expecting officemates from here to add me there so I'll have to censor all my entries, I FUCKING HATE THAT. Not much I can do except post all my rants and raves here.

Anyway, I'll try to recall how it was like for from the time I had to fly out up until today, Saturday morning 8:07 AM GMT. No, that's not Ghanaian Mean Time, that really is Greenwich Mean Time. We're right smack in the middle of the equator so we're 8 hours behind from all of you there in Manila (di ba Paan kaya nga GMT+8 kayo!!! Ikekwento ko yan kay Zhai para batukan ka nya, hahah).

My last day in Manila was still as hectic as the whole week before that when there was so much paperwork and legwork and goodbyes that needed to be taken care of. I had to move my remaining stuff up to Adele's unit, surrender the mailbox key to Cityland 8 Admin, surrender the unit's keys to the broker's assistant, borrow a couple hundred dollars from Cecille just in case I get charged for excess baggage, wash up, get dressed, have lunch and make it on time when the gates open so I can check in my bags. Lester picked me up and dropped me off at the airport and we joked about all those teary goodbyes you see in the airport but that really didn't happen, thankfully. You'd think that when I get to the airport all the stress from leaving would've been over and done with already. I really did exceed the new maximum baggage limit of 20KG but didn't think I'd have to move stuff from my handcarry to my check-in bag TWICE while in the middle of the line. In between having to move my shit from one bag to the other, I was told I had to pay travel taxes and they'd hold my boarding pass til that was paid. Did all that and waited for my flight and was surprised to find out my phone's batt was running low. I wanted to text and call as many friends before flying out but I wasn't able to.

Switched off my phone, got on board and tried to enjoy my 8-hour flight to Dubai. I couldn't sleep!!! Either I was too tired or excited or distracted by the in-flight entertainment or it was just too much to have the lights on and off when it's time to eat or when you had to put your seatbelt back on or had to pee. From inside the airport, Dubai looked like The Fort. There weren't that many skyscrapers but the place looked real cosmopolitan yet clean, a lot like Singapore. The airport itself was just like Singapore's except for one thing...people were sleeping on the floor. My layover there was for 8 hours. There I was, real sleepy and tired and a wee bit cranky and I was doing time and a half before I even get to my final destination. I actually gave in and tried sleeping on the floor just like everyone else but didn't even last 2 minutes even if I was real sleepy. I ended up going around and let my instincts take over...so 2 things happened. First, I took a dump in one of the washrooms. Hahah. The water flowing from the bidet was warm, mmmmmmm...hahah. Second, I went to the record bar of the duty free shopping mall. I ended up buying limited editions of Brotherhood by the Chemical Brothers and Enigma's new album Seven Lives Many Faces. I LOVE IT. Wahahah!!! The place is just teeming with pinoys. No matter how much of an accent I put on when asking for information they always speak to me in tagalog. Wherever you went to they were there: those who just got arrived in Dubai to work, those who were working there already as cashiers or stewardesses or maintenance people and finally, those who are on their way home. WE'RE EVERYWHERE.

Tired and cranky and surrounded by Asians, smelly East Asians, blacks and all manner of caucasians, I finally got on board my plane. I remember seeing a black guy and finding myself real surprised because dammit he was HOT. Hahah. I was STILL up all throughout that final 8-hour flight. I wouldn't say it was horrible but geez, I need my sleep. The only highlight from that trip was the rough descent right before landing. I remember feeling that there was a lot of tension in the air because the descent was really shaky and you could see the overhead stowage bins shaking. You can feel that the passengers were on edge and right in the thick of it came a really loud and piercing shriek that sounded a lot like a woman's voice. If we weren't restrained by our belts I can imagine people jumping off their seats from sheer surprise or panic thinking the plane would explode or such. A nanosecond later there was a collective sigh of relief when everyone realized it was just one of the many annoying babies on board. We ended up landing smoothly and uneventfully.

Accra, Ghana. Finally. It was fucking hot outside, in stark contrast to the freezing temperature inside the plane. The airport looked a litte bit better than the one in Chennai, India but it's a far cry from Dubai's. I've read about it myself and I've been forewarned by my boss that the bureaucracy here is just as bad as any 3rd world country. My bags were checked at least twice before I was finally let out. I was met at the gates by our HR Manager Liana and by, surprise surprise, Kwame (our Executive Director). On the way to the car with luggage in tow, I was being greeted left and right NI HAO by porters who wanted a fast buck. It seemed the only asians they knew of were chinese! They were told no but still asked me for a cigar. I was later told here that us Filipinos were held with just as much regard as caucasians were. I tried to make as much small talk on the drive home. It's funny and I've told a number of you on YM that the place didn't feel alien. Just go the province and replace the population with blacks, that's it. My head was spinning and I couldn't think straight but I remember seeing all manner of goods were being sold in the streets (like Mentos) and the models for Coke in the billboards were black. I finally arrived at the staff house, which looked like a small villa and was showed my room. Liana and Kwame had to go back to work and even if I wanted to explore the place, I would've tipped over from having been awake for at least 24 hours now. I drank like a fish and flopped on the bed. They said they'd have dinner with me but I didn't really wake up until 2:00 AM local time when everyone else was asleep. I remember waking up several times before that because it was raining real hard and I could hear some shrieking from some people who sounded like they were getting soaked. I felt dehydrated and wanted more water, at first I didn't know how to get the hang of the door locks here. You can double lock them using just one key, not sure if we got something like that back there. I drifted back to sleep and was half asleep when Liana texted me if I was ready for breakfast. I met a few of the other pinoys over breakfast and we left for work around 9:00 AM.

To be continued muna dahil nakakapagod na magtype at mag-esep!!!