_ Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Looking at antenatal care stats for health facilities in Ghana always puts my problems into perspective (OMG my avocado is not ripe!!).  Some highlights from the records I looked at today:

Birth years of women attending ANC:  The oldest was born in 1970, the youngest in 1999.

Educational attainment of women attending ANC: Most have no school; only one had been to high school.

How women attending ANC got to the clinic: Women come by walking, tro tros, bicycle, riding on the back of motos, and canoe.  In today’s data, the extreme athletics award goes to a woman, 8 months pregnant, who walked 180 minutes to get to the clinic.

I spent about 10 days in the United States over the holidays. One day, I took a bus through Columbia Heights to downtown DC. Bus trips in Ghana tend to be eventful, and the less you pay for your ticket, the more eventful they will be. But I used to take the bus regularly in DC, so I was expecting a quiet trip.

It was not to be. A lady in leopard tights and a shiny black purse boarded the bus without paying and took the seat next to me. Passengers sometimes board, sit down, find their metro cards, and then pay, but after a couple of stops it became apparent she had no intention of paying. The driver quietly told her she needed to pay before he could continue. The woman responded with an impressive string of profanity. I waited for the tongue-clicks, exclamations, and chiding that she would be sure to receive from the rest of the passengers.

Silence.

I looked back and not a single passenger was even looking at the woman, although they all must have been aware of the situation. I wondered if I should say something. After a moment's thought, I decided not to. When I first arrived in Ghana, I stayed out of public altercations, as I knew that I did not have the cultural context to react appropriately. I realized that my situation, in my home country, in a city I knew well, was now analogous. The bus driver had likely been trained in how to handle non-paying customers.

Sure enough, after blowing off a little more steam, the woman got off the bus, although she continued to verbally abuse the side view mirror after the bus doors had closed behind her.

Americans in Ghana spend a lot of time being asked for stuff. Plenty of the things we are asked for are ridiculous (sums of money equal to half our monthly salaries, our hands in marriage).  But honestly, we Americans, who worship individualism and self-sufficiency, aren't really the givey-receivey types anyway.

The fact is, the average Ghanaian is just as likely to give to an American generously as he or she is to ask for a generous gift. Unfortunately, Americans who only frequent ex-pat establishments often don't get to see this, as the ex-pat scene often attracts those people looking only for a rich source from which to ask. When you get out into Ghanaian communities, you see the other side of things. In my first week back from the states, I was given more things for free than I was asked for:

• I was given free water sachets by the restaurant next door, because the girl insisted they didn't sell sachets; they only gave them free to customers.
• After I accidentally pulled my door knob off my door, I was given a free bag of screws at a shop selling door knobs. The man insisted they were left over from old model door knobs no longer sold, but they looked pretty generic to me.
  

The fact is, giving and receiving is a large part of Ghanaian life. Owing others creates ties that bring communities together.  Requests for gifts are often more about wanting a link to someone than wanting the gift itself.

Receiving gifts can be more uncomfortable than being asked for them, especially when the person you are receiving the gift from appears to be poor compared with you. The things I have been offered have always been things that the giver could give without noticeably hurting their own well-being, even if the price I would have been willing to pay for the item would have improved it. The truly valuable thing I think I get from receiving gifts are lessons in being humble enough to accept a gift, open enough to permit the social tie the gift creates, and savvy enough to know when a gift is appropriate.