I just can't stay in one place!

Hey friends!

This summer is flying by… Midsummer retreat is over already! We are officially half way through our internships, and although I’m having some challenges at the workplace, my cultural experience, sense of adventure, and relationships with Ghanaians are getting more exciting every day. At FoN, I am continuing to learn about NGO operation and coastal issues. As I alluded, I have been facing some trying occurrences as well. FoN is mostly funded by USAID, (United States Agency for International Development), and as is common amongst any NGO funding is sometimes unstable. The funding assigned for the Hen Mpoano Initiative has been shifted in focus from biodiversity to food security, meaning the original project I was assigned has been cancelled. That, in addition to a high number of interns  (ten!) admittedly mistakenly taken on by FoN, means that finding enough work to keep busy can be challenging. Although I sometimes feel discouraged by this, it is an important lesson in Development and NGO work- money is tight and things don’t always go as planned. I have, however, found some holes in the Ngyeresia project, and in organization and communication in the office, and am writing proposals to help fill these gaps and improve some of the organization situations in the office.  Although this means I do a lot less of the hands-on fisheries work than I had previously planned, I am adding a dimension to my resume on workplace organization, writing, and initiative that I previously lacked.

Sara and I have been growing closer to our host family. We play football with the boys and Hilda Jr. (the younger of the two girls), cook with Mo (the older of the two girls) and the adults, spend a lot of time with George, who is our age, and are often invited to watch TV with the whole family.  Our relationships with our neighbours are growing as well, and as we learn more of the social norms we more easily interact with everyone we meet.

Playing football with the fam

This weekend we chatted about a lot of these challenges and enjoyments at our Midsummer Retreat. All of Team Ghana met in Cape Coast for a long weekend of interesting conversation, adventure, and fun. We stayed at Oasis Beach Resort, a hostel style resort with many other foreigners. We met some really cool people. Cape Coast has many more obrunis than anywhere else I’ve been so far. It’s the hub of tourism in Ghana. The location of the resort was perfect, we were right on the beach, within a two minute walk to the Cape Coast Castle, which was practically next door when lying on the beach.

On Friday Sara, Davina, and I met with the director of an NGO called Hoops Care International for Project ID. Project ID is how QPID meets with other organizations to find new partnerships for future summers. Since FoN can be slow I'll be taking on more Project ID as the summer continues. I was greatly intrigued by the work Hoops Care does interfaith work through sports, specifically, basketball. They believe interfaith hostilities among kids can be improved through sport. They also teach, have after school clubs, and provide mosquito nets to families and schools, as well as do other Malaria prevention work.  Ghana is about 70% Christian, 27% Muslim, and 3% traditionalists, though almost everyone in the south is Christian.

On Friday we also did a tour of Cape Coast Castle. Cape Coast Castle is one of the castles along the Coast of Ghana, or “slave coast,” where Europeans enslaved Ghanaians before putting them on the ship to be sent to the Americas. On one hand we experienced a beautiful and historic building with stunning ocean scenery, on the other, we were explained the torture, disease, and injustices Ghanaians faced before boarding the ships, which were many more weeks of these brutalities. The tour was interesting, and the tour guide spoke of the gruesome details which I think was good to help us understand as much as possible something so outside our realm of imagination. He showed us the dungeons, which are about half the size of typical elementary North American classroom, where about 300 were squeezed. The slaves were left in pitch dark, and the tour guide showed us with chalk on the wall how the human waste they lived in grew about a metre high in their 3 month stay in the dungeon. Of course, many people died while in captivity and males and female were separated.  Then he showed us a “cell” which was an even smaller room where people who fought the Europeans were kept. Men and women were left in here, in shackles and chains, again in the dark, with no food and water, to die.  He showed us the marks from people who scratched at the walls with their shackles and chains. He also showed us where women who were incompliant to men’s sexual wishes were kept and raped as an example to the other women to obey. They were often then put in the dungeon pregnant. I felt very lucky, as a white person, to be allowed to visit the castle and learn about its history.  I also found the experience very thought provoking.

Cape Coast Castle

On Saturday we got up early to beat the crowd at Kakum National Park and do the canopy walk! We arrived had an excellent tour guide who gave us an informative walk around the rainforest, explaining the medicinal uses of different plants and pointed out unique trees. The canopy walk is 40 m high and 300 m long, making for a frightening walk.  It’s a little shaky, but there is tall mesh on either side, making it impossible to fall off. Luckily, the 300 m are separated into 7 different lengths with lookouts in between to look at the rainforest beneath you. After a while you get used to it and it becomes easy to walk along the bridge.

Canopy walk at Kakum

We also checked out the markets at Cape Coast. Many artists were selling their painting, sculptures, masks, jewellery, beads, dishware, and other products. It is very typical in Ghanaian market places for people to make these bracelets that can be personalized with your name out of the Ghanaian colours, red, yellow and green. I had one done that says ‘Caro,’ since that’s what everyone, even the rest of Team Ghana, calls me now. I made a few other purchases, including a gift for parental type people I bet are reading this!  I enjoyed chatting to the artists who were genuine and not forceful in their sales.

A chatty artist who makes dish ware out of coconut shells, making a coffee jug

This week I'm in Half-Assini doing some research on a project I will write for FoN on community participation in the Medium Term Development Planning in this district. Today I started by interviewing different stakeholders in Development Planning and I am learning a lot from the different perspectives I hear. I'm looking forward to getting back out tomorrow and I'll update at the end of the week how my research went! So far I've heard some intriguing opinions, sad stories, and am looking forward to compiling the information. 

Until next time,

Caro 


P.S. If you're a facebooker and want to see more photos, I upload regularly on my facebook page!