Use Your Head!

I'm back in Seattle for three months at home. Nevertheless, I still have a bunch of photos on my camera just begging to be shared. So, I have a few more Ghana posts. Then, I may have some reverse-culture shock to ramble on about. We'll see.

But, for today, here is an array of photos showing the way Ghanaians use their heads. This had been a constant source of amazement to me, also making me wonder why the practice of carrying things on our heads is not common in my native part of the world. I've tried it and, frankly, I'm a walking hazard, so for awhile, I was convinced it was because my hair was too slippery. I mean, when I get some nice silicone based shine product in there it's like a sliding across the foul line on a well oiled bowling lane. But, then I learned head-carrying was also common in Inda, among Native Americans in times past, and in other parts of the world where hair is straight, smooth, and probably, as slippery as mine. They just roll up a towel, curl it into a circle, and put it on top of the head for cushion, essentially creating a human golf tee, ready for anything. I can do it! I just have to practice.


But in the meantime, I also have to acknowledge that we are not using our heads to their full potential. In Ghana, I've seen so many things on people's heads, it would be easier to list the things not carried that way.

I've seen:

• Water, in 10 liter jugs (22 lbs),20 liter buckets (44 lbs), or sachets for individual consumption
• Plantains, on the stem or in bowls
• Bananas, with ground nuts (peanuts)
• Mobile lunch (roach coach equivalent), including soup in a pot, rice, condiments, and dishes
  
  
  
  
  

• Wood, bundles of sticks or a single large trunk, up to 12" in diameter and up to 10 ft. long
• Bamboo, bundles of small stalks or a single large pole, up to 6" in diameter and up to 25 ft. long
• Palm fronds for basket weaving, in large bundles than hang down on both ends, making the bearer look like a walking shrubbery (cue Monty Python)
  
  

• Wood framed glass boxes containing foods for sale - meat pies, corn meal buns (like large jalepeno hush puppies)
• Large bowls of snack fruit for sale, including pineapple, paw paw (papaya), and oranges
  
  
  
  
  

• Laundry baskets full of celophane bags containing snack-size quantities of plantain chips
• A single machete
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• A single casava yam (up to 8" in diameter and 3 ft. long)
• A book bag or backpack, with the strap slung over the top of the head rather than the shoulders
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Almost anything for sale - sachets of water, toothpaste, stacked in Jenga-like pyramids for optimal display, single serving baggies of pudding/yogurt, flip flops, fabric
• Mattresses and bedding
• The day's shopping
  
  
  
  

So, next time your arms are full, your shoulders ache, and your fingers are cramped in a perma-grip, consider using your head. You, too, can daze and amaze your friends - and gather quite a crowd at the market.

XO