Night Market

Well, it’s officially reaching the end of my trip here in Ghana and man it’s been a dream!

24 days and continually flying by …

Last Friday was the last actual lecture I will have here. The university gives you a week off and then exams start the 26th through May 16th. I have one the 29th, … and last one is the 11th. I am fairly nervous about my exams. They are on the entire semester and we haven’t even so much as had a quiz on any material. Thus, this leaves the exam very broad and open-ended. Also, for my African Literature class we are supposed to complete three exam essays within an allotted time limit of three hours. I hate writing essays and the questions we will have to answer are going to be ones that I could answer in a paragraph and be done in ten minutes. So overall, it should be an interesting experience.

However, today I am going to write about the “Night-market.” I should’ve explained this within the first week I have been here. So the “Night-market” is the place I go to get food every day that is a block from my dorm. It runs all day long so it being called a “night” market is just its name. It is open until 10pm on the weekdays and midnight on the weekends. There are about 15-20 stalls that sell a variety of food and supplies. There are the stalls that sell buckets, locks, packaged cookies & crackers, sandals … you name it. These same stalls also normally sell bread and egg-sandwiches. The egg-sandwiches were good at first but now are quite OLD. But they are convenient to grab on your way to class and are more catered to the international crowd.

Then there are the “whatever-you-want-thrown-in-a-bowl” stands. You start off ordering rice and you order it in the amount of how much you want to pay, not by scoops. The lowest you can go is 50 pesawas (change) and I normally can never finish that amount. Then you proceed to add, either, noodles, salad, coleslaw, plantain, meat, sausage, chicken, or gari (a powder-like filler) on top of your rice. It’s finished off with spicy sauce on top. When I first got here I thought the sauce was the hottest I have ever had. Now, I find myself asking for more and more sauce.

Behind the stands are numerous tables that you can sit at. There is water and towels for you to clean your hands with before you eat. I actually never do that because I always eat with a spoon. There are certain food items and certain times people just eat with their hands. When you go to the market at night the stands with the food are lit up but the places behind that you eat at only have the glimmer of light radiating from the stands. Basically, you eat your bowl of random things in the dark. For the first month I was here I would always use a flashlight to see what I was eating to make-sure no bugs were in my food. I have since gotten over my fears.

Then there are the more traditional stands that sell either Fufu or Banku. This type of food is a ball of dough placed in the center of a bowl that is surrounded by soup. They are many choices in soups that you can order. Both of these foods are eaten solely with your fingers.

The Fufu is a doughy substance that traditionally is supposed to be swallowed and not chewed. I however can NOT manage this task and continually have a gag-reflex every time I swallow a small bit of dough. I have only had Fufu once and never cared to try it again. The dough itself had no flavor and was a smooth texture like pizza-dough. A local Ghanaian was enjoying watching me try to rip pieces of this slimy dough apart. He was trying to show me the proper way to eat it, as I was failing miserably. I couldn’t manage to rip pieces off accurately. When I ate it, it was served in pepper soup. The pepper soup was sooo hot my eyes instantly teared-up. Thus,I left quite a bit behind. There are other types of soups you can order.

Groundnut soup is by far my most favorite. Groundnut is the same thing as peanuts, so groundnut soup is peanut-butter like soup. Banku is served in the same fashion as Fufu. However, Banku actually has a sweet taste to the dough and is a different kind of consistency, more like cookie-dough.

These stands that sell Fufu and Banku make the food that very day and can be watched. It is amazing to see the strong men with their huge biceps take a very long piece of wood and mash up the casava to create these dishes. At the same time a woman is using her hands in between lifting the “masher” to gather and condense the dough. They call it pounding Fufu or Banku. In some of the villages/towns we have visited locals will invite you to help pound the Fufu.

Also, on a quick side note … A common phrase here is “You’re invited!” This means that the locals are telling you that you are more than welcome to come and eat their food with them. Normally, this means from the same bowl that they are eating with their hands from. I have never once taken up on their offers. However, it has become a joke between local ISEP friends and I because the concept of sharing the same sandwich you took a bite out of, seems a bit crazy. They also often ask to be invited to your food. However, they ask and we say yes but no one I have met has been serious enough to sit down.

Outside of these stands there are other random ones. Some serve yam chips that are served with a hot sauce. The yam chips just taste like large fried potatoes. There is a kabob stand that serves, chicken, beef or veggie kabobs. My most favorite stand is one that serves my favorite food called Red-Red. This type of food is beans served in a thick stew with Gari ( a powder like filler) that is accompanied with fried plantains. I practically eat this EVERY day. Not that there is much variety here.

Other stands sell vegetables, and the best tasting and cheapest fruit you will ever find. I love the pineapples and mangos. In American prices, it is like 0.75 cents for a whole fresh pineapple that is cut-up in front of you. It’s like heaven!

The sad part of this booming community is that the people who work in these stands live, breathe, and eat in their same four-by four stall. They sleep overnight on the cement ground in their stalls only to wake-up early every morning and meet the demanding needs of others. I personally have become good friends with a few of the vendors. I am sure that they never get close to any of the international students who come and leave constantly every semester. But they get a large flow and good business from them considering that their stalls are right outside the “International Student Dorms.”

The vendors who I have got to know each have their own story. It is Linda who is the pineapple lady that works with her older mother selling fruit but gives the best prices. It is the Laruba sisters (one who is delightful, and other who has had better days) who try to charge ridiculous prices to the foreigners. It is Henry who is always smiling, telling me I am his faithful customer when I buy bread. Then there is most delightful always smiling Vivian. She is the most commonly known to all, for her fast and delicious egg/veggie sandwiches. Her dilemma involves not only her arthritis in her back but, trying to send her 18 year old daughter to college when she only manages to sell egg sandwiches at a set standard of 0.65 pesawas a day (about 45 American cents). Also, she attends to her two other children, adorable little Lisa and her timid middle son. My heart goes out to these people who day after day scrape together the smallest amount of change in hopes for a better tomorrow, a better future.

So my thoughts are left here … We complain about the increasing prices of food that are still by far affordable for most. BUT do we ever stop to think about those who go all day living off 5 dollars a day to feed their whole family. Not to mention, all the other necessities that go into daily living especially the chance in rising above this poverty that lives in educating their children. Unfortunately, only to end a long days work, by closing their eyes and resting their heads on the dirty, cement pavement hoping and praying for a miracle of a few more cents tomorrow.

~Stacie~