Saturday, September 17, 2005
Accra, Ghana September 14, 2005
At the fringes of the working class neighborhood of Usher town are three adjacent shops for the deeply misguided. They display magical products imported from India and Nigeria that smell strongly of sugary indelicate incense. Most of the shelf space is given over to soaps, oils and candles with interconnecting purposes. For example, one can purchase the "Rabbi Rafael Herbal Solomon Commanding Do As I Say Soap" which is printed with the following grammatically flawed instructions: "To command someone to do your wish, bath with Rabbi Rafael Commanding Soap, write the name of the person or what you want the person to do on a piece parchment paper, place it beneath a purple candle which you have anointed with Rabbi Rafael commanding oil. Burn for fifteen minutes daily till your wish is done. For wisdom, put some pure honey in a glass cup cover it with looking mirror while going to sleep. In the morning, anoint yourself with oil and drink part of the honey, it will give you clear memory. Bath daily with the soap. Important: It is important to have a clean image of your goal. This can be vital to the success of the spell. If you have fears about a particular spell they may be projected through images in your mind and consequently act as a blocking agent. Movement of the body is very powerful ritual. It will enhance spell in this products. It can also be use to celebrate the success of a spell to maintain its effect. Dance after using any of our products with your favourite music and think of the spell."
Also available are "Return to Sender" soaps and oils for repelling demons, bad dreams and poor luck as well as "Evil Blocker" products to repulse witches. "Crowd Pulling Anointment Oil" is available for those seeking to succeed as public speakers as is a special "Virgin Mary Soap for Virgins" that ensures protection against defilement or temptation. In the long tradition of bogus medicines there is also a "Good Fortune" soap that promises success with love, money, speaking, health, and any other problems. A genuine panacea. Tuuli purchased the Do As I Say Soap with the hopes of holding more sway in debates with me and Sean—disregarding options to secure her great love and happiness.
These objects will fit well with the Sadam Hussein and glorious Imam stickers, Osama Bin Laden paraphernalia and hokey bumper stickers that we have been collecting to remember the mass market ideology trinkets of West Africa. If I can get them for a reasonable price, I'll try to collect the packaging of drugs that are said to cure HIV/AIDS.
Numerous visitors to the markets of developing world countries are reminded of Europe's own past and feel connected to scenes of common medieval life as recalled by writers and painters. Certainly the little circles of people gathered around salesman demonstrating miraculous cleaning products and the overawed consumers of do-it-yourself magical personal hygiene products bring to mind the middle ages before the connection with infomercials and internet scamming becomes apparent. In several Francophone countries the governments has tried to dent the sale of bogus medicines with a print ad campaign fronted by the slogan: "Les Medicines des Rue, Ca Tue" (roughly: Street Medicines Kill). These feature a very sinister street merchant with glowing yellow pills.
On a completely different note, the vast majority of unmarried women in Ghana shave their heads. This took some getting used to after the elaborate hair extensions and imaginative rope arrangements of Francophone females; but I've grown to prefer it. Or, more accurately, I think it's hot. It works well with the shorter and better fed body type that prevails here.
On a second completely unrelated note, I have developed a real taste for grasscutter: the hoisted roadside rodent carcass mentioned in a few of our blogs. At many of the chop shops you can order a chunk of grasscutter for sixty cents that is looped around with string and tossed into your bowl of pepper soup next to the ball of plantain/rice clay. It's a tender white meat that comes apart in layers and there's a shocking lot of it around each of the bones. By comparison, goat, chicken and beef pieces tend to be a rip off. I'm still waiting to find a chop shop with snails and waiting to build the courage to try the flattened, smoked and flayed grasscutters that look like raunchy little throw rugs of rat jerky.
At the fringes of the working class neighborhood of Usher town are three adjacent shops for the deeply misguided. They display magical products imported from India and Nigeria that smell strongly of sugary indelicate incense. Most of the shelf space is given over to soaps, oils and candles with interconnecting purposes. For example, one can purchase the "Rabbi Rafael Herbal Solomon Commanding Do As I Say Soap" which is printed with the following grammatically flawed instructions: "To command someone to do your wish, bath with Rabbi Rafael Commanding Soap, write the name of the person or what you want the person to do on a piece parchment paper, place it beneath a purple candle which you have anointed with Rabbi Rafael commanding oil. Burn for fifteen minutes daily till your wish is done. For wisdom, put some pure honey in a glass cup cover it with looking mirror while going to sleep. In the morning, anoint yourself with oil and drink part of the honey, it will give you clear memory. Bath daily with the soap. Important: It is important to have a clean image of your goal. This can be vital to the success of the spell. If you have fears about a particular spell they may be projected through images in your mind and consequently act as a blocking agent. Movement of the body is very powerful ritual. It will enhance spell in this products. It can also be use to celebrate the success of a spell to maintain its effect. Dance after using any of our products with your favourite music and think of the spell."
Also available are "Return to Sender" soaps and oils for repelling demons, bad dreams and poor luck as well as "Evil Blocker" products to repulse witches. "Crowd Pulling Anointment Oil" is available for those seeking to succeed as public speakers as is a special "Virgin Mary Soap for Virgins" that ensures protection against defilement or temptation. In the long tradition of bogus medicines there is also a "Good Fortune" soap that promises success with love, money, speaking, health, and any other problems. A genuine panacea. Tuuli purchased the Do As I Say Soap with the hopes of holding more sway in debates with me and Sean—disregarding options to secure her great love and happiness.
These objects will fit well with the Sadam Hussein and glorious Imam stickers, Osama Bin Laden paraphernalia and hokey bumper stickers that we have been collecting to remember the mass market ideology trinkets of West Africa. If I can get them for a reasonable price, I'll try to collect the packaging of drugs that are said to cure HIV/AIDS.
Numerous visitors to the markets of developing world countries are reminded of Europe's own past and feel connected to scenes of common medieval life as recalled by writers and painters. Certainly the little circles of people gathered around salesman demonstrating miraculous cleaning products and the overawed consumers of do-it-yourself magical personal hygiene products bring to mind the middle ages before the connection with infomercials and internet scamming becomes apparent. In several Francophone countries the governments has tried to dent the sale of bogus medicines with a print ad campaign fronted by the slogan: "Les Medicines des Rue, Ca Tue" (roughly: Street Medicines Kill). These feature a very sinister street merchant with glowing yellow pills.
On a completely different note, the vast majority of unmarried women in Ghana shave their heads. This took some getting used to after the elaborate hair extensions and imaginative rope arrangements of Francophone females; but I've grown to prefer it. Or, more accurately, I think it's hot. It works well with the shorter and better fed body type that prevails here.
On a second completely unrelated note, I have developed a real taste for grasscutter: the hoisted roadside rodent carcass mentioned in a few of our blogs. At many of the chop shops you can order a chunk of grasscutter for sixty cents that is looped around with string and tossed into your bowl of pepper soup next to the ball of plantain/rice clay. It's a tender white meat that comes apart in layers and there's a shocking lot of it around each of the bones. By comparison, goat, chicken and beef pieces tend to be a rip off. I'm still waiting to find a chop shop with snails and waiting to build the courage to try the flattened, smoked and flayed grasscutters that look like raunchy little throw rugs of rat jerky.
3 Comments:
I Tried to post a comment on the following commentary. HEre's hoping this one gets through. Seeing the world of food through your eyes always makes us hungry. parson a
hey nate,
may be it's the Rabbi Rafael Commanding Soap, I could download all your new blogs this morning. super!
j
Post a Comment
may be it's the Rabbi Rafael Commanding Soap, I could download all your new blogs this morning. super!
j
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