A fantastic birthday weekend!

Hi friends!

It is now Monday, and I had a fantastic long weekend in Accra with Team Ghana. I am so pleased I got to spent so much time with the rest of the team. Friday July 1^st was not only Canada Day but also Ghana Republic Day which is a national holiday here, so there was much celebrating to be had. Sara and I left for Accra on Thursday, after I returned from Half Assini. Davina met us at the hustle and bustle of Kaneshi market, one of the larger markets in Accra, which also serves as a tro tro station. A tro tro is a mini van that has been customized to fit many people, and people hop in and out both in and between the cities.  We stayed with Davina over the weekend, who has an apartment in Haatcho. We loved becoming familiar with her neighbourhood, cooking for ourselves, and taking tro tros around the city. On Thursday evening, the Canadian Embassy in Accra was hosting all Canadians in Ghana for a barbeque. It was very strange to see so many “obrunis” (white people) in one place! They served burgers, poutine, local beer, and even gave out Tim Hortons coffee as door prizes. I met many Canadians doing interesting things in Ghana- from volunteering, to working, to dancing. I even met a girl from Clinton, a town about 15 minutes from my hometown, and we knew some of the same people.

On Friday all of Team Ghana rose early in the morning a boarded a trotro to Boti falls, which are famous for being the tallest waterfalls in West Africa. It is also the site of umbrella rock and the three headed palm tree, as well as a very very large Ghana Republic Day celebration. To say it was crowded is an understatement. The words mosh pit, mob, and trampling come to mind. We went on a challenging hike to see umbrella work and the three headed palm tree. The landscape was challenging enough, but the real difficulty was that thousands of other Ghanaians were trying to do it as well. We were more pushing than climbing, and it was easily the most chaotic situation I’ve ever been in. That said, the landscapes and views were beautiful, amongst hills and mountains, lush and green. To heighten to challenge, Team Ghana and myself were the only obrunis there, and for the first time, we dealt with significant racism. I’m glad we went to Boti Falls, because we experienced the festivities of Republic Day, but we faced many of the difficulties of being a minority, and learned some important lessons about our own tolerance. In the end, we were unable to see the falls, it was too busy and we were feeling overwhelmed from our hike.  In the busy city life, especially as obrunis, it is always easy to catch a taxi or trotro. Not on Republic Day! We were lucky that a school bus took pity on us, not knowing we should have booked a driver back, and we caught a ride back to the city and enjoyed a relaxing evening.

  

On Saturday, we again rose early to attend a yoga class, but it was cancelled—a blessing in disguise—as we instead spent our morning buying fruits down the street and making our selves a delicious birthday brunch. Davina’s roommate made us her famous delicious French toast  (the secret ingredient is rum) which we topped with fruit and syrup. We then met up with Robin, Heather, and our new friend from France, Chloe, to go to Aburi, a town about an hour from Accra. On a side note, one of my favourite things about tros tros, and driving in general, is the array of products available for sale from women selling things in the station and on the road. They walk right up to the vehicle, products on a tray, basket, or crate on their head, and pass them through the windows. I commonly purchase water, plantain chips, gum, and snacks this way, though you can easily get minutes to top up a phone, toothbrushes, soap, razors, toys, bread, fruit- anything really! Sara was very amused by the inflatable beach toys being sold one day. Once in Aburi we went to a bicycle rental place and made went on a guided tour to a waterfall- we were thrilled that was an option and that we got to see one waterfall on our weekend. I enjoyed the mountain biking the best, but we also had some easier sections through fields and villages. We then parked our bikes and hiked the rest of the way to the falls. Once at the waterfall, we jumped right in and went swimming! We spent an hour or two taking photos, swimming, chatting, and relaxing in the beautiful area. A bike and trotro ride later, we were back in Accra finding the ingredients for Davina’s delicious avocado alfredo at the vendors in Haatcho. I even got birthday cake! We finished our day in  Osu, a trendy part of Accra, having some drinks. It was a wonderful birthday, and I am so thankful to Davina and the rest of the team for preparing it for me!

On Sunday we slept in and took a very long trip back to Takoradi (Back to the Tak! As Sara and I say!) due to long weekend traffic.

I have several photos I'd like to share, and I'll add them as soon as I can, but my internet connection is not the best right now. Stay tuned!

I am hopefully pairing up with some othe interns at Friends of the Nation this week and surveying the ecology of Esei Lagoon. I’ll keep you updated!

I hope all my Canadian friends had a wonderful Canada Day and long weekend. 

Caro

Millipedes, crabs, lizards, oh my!

Hola amigos!

Sara and I have become accustomed to being greeted by every person that walks by us in smaller communities, being honked at my almost every passing taxi, and chanted exuberantly “obruni” by most children and some adults. Although we were afraid of being treated like walking ATMs, most people welcome us to the country and treat us as automatic friends. We’ve began adventuring in the neighbourhood around our homestay and work place, and have found a few storefronts with owners we particularly enjoy and are becoming regulars at. Near our house, the children on the block have become more excited every time we walk by- they seem to be overcoming their shyness of us. Sara and I enjoy going for walks, but that seems to be a bit foreign to the locals. We wander with no specific end point (though sometimes we’re looking for a store with ice cream to beat the heat), but many people stop us to ask where we’re going or if we need a car. One day a boy was walking behind us with his friends and asked several times if we were sure we didn’t need a car. When we arrived at the closest cross-road he exclaimed, “We are at the junction, NOW do you need a car!?”

There is a path that takes us from our home to a taxi station where we sometimes pick a car to go out. On the side of most roads, there are drains for sewage, which have boards or concrete blocks to walk across from the road to the store fronts (there are no sidewalks). A natural (I think) stream also serve this purpose at times, and on the path to the taxi station there is a little board bridge, quite slippery, to get across. Locals sometimes laugh as we carefully meander across the bridge, and through the path, which is almost always wet, even on a dry day, and flooded on a rainy day. Luckily, some of the people in our communities at home and work are getting used to our little walks and are less shocked to see us two obrunis aimlessly wandering.  Another Cooperant in Botswana has a blog called, “All Who Wander Are Not Lost,” and I think this is a perfect description of my adventures in Ghana thus far. I will find it very hard to leave in two months.

More business names: Jesus Never Fails Fashion, To God Be the Glory Cosmetics, and God Knows Best Canopies.

On Friday night George and his friends took Sara and I to a Karaoke bar that seems to be all the rage for tourists. Sara and I estimated that about 1/5 of the people there were not locals. There were many younger people of Asian descent, and many middle aged white men, and ourselves. We were the first to do karaoke, and stone-cold sober, we drew many stares. We were terrible, of course. As the night drew on, it transformed from a karaoke bar to a dance club, and we met some other youth doing interesting things in the country.

Davina and Heather visited us in Takoradi, and although I was sick in bed on Saturday with some sort of food poisoning, Sara took them out to show them our regular spots. On Sunday we all went to church with the family. We went to a different church this week than last week, much larger, with an impressive blue steeple, and the size of a cathedral on the inside. This church had an organ, as well as drums, and a very large choir, which I really enjoyed.

I am very excited for this weekend, because Team Ghana and myself are going to the Canadian Embassy in Accra for a Canada Day barbeque and celebration for all of the Canadians in the country. Sara and I have met one Canadian so far, a university student from Winnipeg with Journalists for Human Rights, and are looking forward to meeting others. We will also head to Boti Falls for a celebration. Coincidentally, July 1^st is also Ghana Republic Day, a National Holiday, and thousands of people flee to the falls for a celebration on July 1^st, and foreign visitors are welcome. The falls are the tallest in West Africa, and there is a small lake that is safe for swimming.

I am now in Half-Assini, a coastal town in West Ghana. I have come with Kwesi from work and a team from another NGO. I arrived yesterday evening, and am staying until Thursday. The drive here was beautiful and fascinating. We took “the road less travelled” for the most part, going through lush tropics and small villages. On the main road, the towns were similar to what I have seen else where, but on the back roads, they seemed very isolated, with simple mud huts with thatched roofs, no sign of electricity, just fires and people outside. Around Axim, Kwesi said told me that there are more coconut trees in that small area than people in all of Ghana. I never really knew how tall coconut trees were until I came to Ghana. We also passed many kilometres of rubber tree plantations, and the factory as well, which smelled strongly of rubber, of course. I also enjoyed the cattles just chilling in the middle of the road. They don’t move for you, you move for them.

Today I was able to adventure on the coast of Half-Assini, the town I’m staying in. The beach here is natural a beautiful, covered in sea shells and coconut shells. I walked along the sand admiring the palm trees over head and the fishing boats in the distance. There were many crab holes in the sand, and at first I was unable to see any crabs, expecting them to be red or pink, in my coastal inexperience. They turned out to be smaller than I expected, and ran so fast, faster than I can really understand is possible, and were the same colour of the sand, camouflaging well. I finally found one that stopped moving, and took a photo. Can you see it?

Crab camouflaged at Half Assini

Kwesi said it was okay to go up to the fishing community where all the boats were, so I was able to get many beautiful photographs of the boats, the ocean, the communities, and the palm trees overhead. Child were playing about, and were so excited by my presence, asking for photos exuberantly, then very excited to see them on my camera afterwards. I introduced myself to each of them, asking their names and telling them mine, then shaking their hands, which some didn’t really seem to understand. We saw some men taking their fish out of the nets, and I liked to look at the boats to see the fishing techniques I’ve been reading about at work.

Kwesi showing me shark fin on the beach

A new friends, Solomon, showing me how to remove fish from the nets

Overall, a beautiful walk. :) 

Also in Half-Assini- lizards everywhere! I have seen many in Takoradi, but nothing like this! I have literally seen hundreds today, some small a green, some much larger (the size of squirrels!) with orange heads and black bodies and big thick tails. I attended a meeting at the District Assembly for Jomoro today on Development Plans, and lizards just came in and out at their ease.  I have also seen several millipedes, which are fat and curl up sometimes, and a few cockroaches.

Hope the sunshine is treating everyone well where ever you are!

Caro

You can call me Caro!

Hello again,

Well, another Friday is here and I have had an interesting week at Friends of the Nation.  The week was a little slow to get started, with the office electricity out and missing staff stunting how work could be done. Sara and I were able to attend some meetings, and learn more about the FoN partnership with CHF, with whom they implement projects in the Ngyeresia region I wrote about a couple of blog posts ago. Sara has started work at a health clinic in a neighbouring town called Shama, doing some nursing and finding ways to implement FoN’s Population, Health, Environment (PHE) Project, which is about how population and family planning effects the strain on natural resources. PHE is so important in Takoradi and surrounding coastal communities because of the high demand on fish, which are depleting very quickly. As for myself, I am currently writing a proposal about the next steps to take in Ngyeresia. I described the situation in Ngyeresia two blogs ago if you’re interested. In 2009, FoN and CHF implemented a project there called SCALE-UP which, among many other things, built toilets, a new water kiosk, and did much awareness and community capacity building (committees, volunteers, etc.) to help improve situations. I have been looking at this project and seeing where the shortcomings have been. We started last week by interviewing community members about the success of the new toilets, and I am now discovering some other gaps in the goals of the projects. The proposal is taking some time, because I have decided to go back into the community to do some interviewing about the success water kiosk, and do some research on waste management practices. The waste management part of the original project was scrapped, because the topography is so rough that collecting household waste door-to-door is impossible for a vehicle or cart. The problem seems impossible to overcome, but I’m looking forward to doing some research and learning more.

It’s rainy season here in Ghana, and it rains every day or two. When it comes to rain here, it’s go big or go home! Either heavy downpours or sunny skies. The infrastructure can’t always support the heavy rainfall. I have become accustomed to walking in water up to my ankles during the rain. Most of the roads are dirt and have no drains, so it gets messy! It’s very refreshing walking through cold water on a hot day, and the rain cools things down a bit. Yesterday morning rains were very heavy, so I followed Sally from the office around the city to see how the rains affect the city. Nearby they have built a school in a wetland, so it experiences annual flooding in and around the building. Unfortunately, it’s a technical school, so there are many computers and electronics which must be moved to avoid being damaged. The furniture must suffer hugely though. Sally took photos and I watched students going in and out of the school in water up to their knees. As Sally says, “who builds a school in a wetland in the first place?” Wetlands are such sensitive ecosystems, and neither the wetland nor the school have survived!

Next week I am heading to Jomoro for a few days, which is the most Western region of Ghana, bordering the Ivory Coast. I am going with Kwesi and a team from another NGO to take data on fishing communities. I don’t know much more specific than that; Kwesi said “we will be taking data on everything.” I assume he means both environmental fishing aspects as well as the effects on the communities- poverty, sanitation, etc. I am learning here to not expect the same amount of preparation as I would with a job at home. It’s a very ‘go with the flow’ mentality.

Sara and I got to try another local dish here, Banku. Banku is similar to Fufu in that it is a ball of dough immersed in soup. However, the soup is stew, and tastes strongly of something sort of like vinegar and is thick with fish, and the dough is made from corn, not cassava, and also is strong in taste. I didn’t enjoy it, the flavours were overpowering and totally foreign to me. I ate as much as I could, but told Hilda I prefer Fufu. (I LOVE Fufu!)

I have yet to try a coconut, but I have made eating mango, pineapple, watermelon or banana a daily routine. I also enjoy red fish, which Hilda or Emmanuel often makes us for dinner. A past vegetarian, I have surprisingly become very adequate at tearing chicken and fish meat off the bone. It is very common to eat goat here as well, and although I’m unsure that I’ve had it, Sara and I have had a few mysterious meats served to us…

Emmanuel is Hilda’s brother, whom Sara and I adore. We call him “Mr. Mom” because he is always cooking, cleaning, and ironing for us. He also is a regular attendee of Bible Study and Choir and has a beautiful singing voice. He has very much become our father figure at our host family.

Sara and I have also begun to walk in the community surrounding the office on our breaks. As per usual, the people are welcoming, chatty, and generous and we’ve made a few friends on our daily walks. I have yet to befriend a baby goat. Hmm.

Another shop name for the list: God is One teashop!

This weekend the rest of Team Ghana in Accra is coming to visit, and our brother George is apparently taking us to Karaoke tonight. We’re excited to spend some more time in Market Circle, which is a bustling and exciting place, and perhaps dip in the ocean again.

One last note, Caroline is a fairly common name here, but is always shortened to Caro! There’s even another Caro at FoN. I have adopted this easily, and am even introducing myself that way sometimes.

Until next time!

Caro 

Our first weekend

Maadwo! (Good evening!)

Sara and I had a fun weekend, and have seen a bit more of life and culture in Takoradi. On Friday night we stayed in, and the family made us fufu. We watched as Hilda cut up the cassava into slice and placed them in a pot on the floor. Although they have a stove, the family does most of their cooking on the floor in the kitchen or backyard, on what I can best describe as a small charcoal barbeque with a pot on top for the soup or meat or whatever is being cooked. One of the kids, Nub, had a long club which he pounded the sliced cassava with. More cassava is added until it is the texture of dough. We sometimes see women doing this outside their homes. I think it may be sweetened as well, but I am unsure. A large ball of the cassava is served in a bowl beside a chicken drumstick and immersed in spicy tomato soup. You are given a second bowl of water to wash your right hand with, because you eat the fufu with your right hand (but never your left!). To eat it, you take the cassava in your hand and make a cup with it to scoop the soup into your mouth. When you’re done, you eat the chicken. It is very filling, and the combination of the sweet cassava and the spicy soup is delicious! We got very messy though and felt a little childish, though fun. Ghanaians, of course, are much more graceful when they eat it, and don’t look nearly as childish or messy as Sara and I. 

Alice, Nub, Hilda and Hilda Jr. making Fufu!

Sara with the finished product

On Saturday Sara and I were able to sleep in, which was really nice since we’ve been getting up at 6:30 every morning for work. After lunch, Hilda and her friend Peter took us to the beach to swim. We stopped for Chinese food on the way- Ghanaians love their fast Chinese food! The ocean was both fun and frustrating. Sara and I felt the pressures of being a minority increasingly as the day went on. Although we’ve become accustomed to being called “ubruni” (the white person) by children as we walk by, and being stared or waved at, we have been used to it being in a friendly manner, curiosity from children, and have rarely faced difficulty. Our colleagues, people at church, family, and friends of the family have welcomed us with open arms and astounding generosity. Strangers on the street often ask us how we are, offer to help us find our way, shake our hands, and introduce themselves. We discovered at the beach that women generally stay on land fully dressed, while the men strip down to their shorts and swim. Sara and I fearlessly joined the other people in the water, and found the men to be very aggressive. After we escaped from the swarming, we found a more private beach to swim at. I loved the ocean! The waves are quite large, and you only have to go in a few feet for the full effect, especially during high tide. We bobbed around in the waves, trying not to get the salt water in our eyes and throat (it burns!). Afterwards, Hilda and Peter showed us around the harbour.

The Gulf of Guinea

Loving the water!

On Sunday we got up bright and early for church, which starts at 7:30. Georgina made us traditional African dresses to wear to the service. We enjoyed the dresses, and were amused that she made them from matching fabrics. Our family attends a Catholic service, which had lively music and djembe drum music, rather than organ. There were many children, some of which sat in the row in front of us. We arrived a few minutes late, and one of the children in the pew ahead of us noticed, and a line of whispering went down the aisle as one by one, the children turned around to see us, quite hilariously. We find this behaviour from children everywhere, they have seen seldom few “ubrunis,” and are quite curious about us. Their whispers are almost always paired with waves and smiles. One little boy this weekend reached out to grab my hand and stared intently at my skin. The church service was lively, and the program was very similar to that of my own Anglican church at home, so I was able to respond appropriately wit the rest of the congregation. I recognized one hymn, though it was sang in Twi, and the Lord’s Prayer was partly English, partly Twi. My favourite part was offering and communion, because many danced up the front of the church and danced back to their seats. Communion is done with the same round bread chips, white wine, and the minister dips it for you in the wine, and puts it right in your mouth! After church Sara and I went with the family to a birthday party of two cousins, twin girls, Joyce and Joycelynn. Joyce and Joycelynn are identical, with matching hair- cornrows on the side, and afro on top- and matching outfits too. They have quite the clothing style, and I enjoy them a lot. There were many kids at the party, and we all danced. As the twin's Mom said, "If you don't dance, you don't eat!" After the party, George took us to Vienna City, which is the bar on the beach we went to last Sunday as well. We met up with the usual croud of friends and taught them drinking games from home, such as King’s Cup and Never Have I Ever. It was a very fun evening!

These boys had serious moves

Our dresses for church

Sara and I have been keeping an eye out for funny religious business names. Christ in You Chemicals has officially been beaten by Blood of Jesus Barbering Salon. See the irony? Other notables, God is Able Enterprise, Good Sheppard  Building Supplies, and Divine Right Hair Salon.

I’ve been spending more time with Chichi, the cat. She walks a bit better on her hind legs now, though they don’t bend properly and are always quite of splayed out to the sides, and her body twists up. She’s the skinniest cat I’ve ever met, I’m quite sure she’s starving, and Emmanuel says she refuses to eat. She likes to be carried around and rubbed behind her ears and under her neck, and has a good strong purr, so I try to give her lots of TLC.

Chichi, my new best friend. 

My favourite thing about Ghana so far? THE FRUIT! Mangoes, bananas, pineapple, oh my! Some women sell bananas on the trays they carry on their head. They are small, but sweeter, richer, and thicker in texture. It’s like a whole different fruit, and I love them! Mangoes though are really the best. Much bigger than at home, they are also juicier and richer tasting. They are our new favourite snack. You can buy all these things on stands on the road, as well as coconuts, tangerines, etc. I can’t wait to try my first coconut! The craziest thing is the cucumbers! They are GIGANTIC- a diameter of five inches! The middle, where the seeds meet and you generally see a little triangle, is opened up, so there’s a hole in the middle of the cucumber big enough to fit a hot dog in. They cut the cucumber for salads in big chunks that are all white- no green or seeds, because they are that big. Amazing!

Today Kwesi took us for ice cream, because the electricity is still out at work, so work is limited. Juliette offered to take us to a live music thing this week as well. I really adore the people we work with. I’m now at home relaxing before dinner. Tonight’s menu: Fufu! I can hear Emmanuel pounding the cassava outside my bedroom window!

Keep Smiling! :)


P.S. Pictures of baby goats soon. <3 

TGIF!

Hola amigos,

TGIF! The end of my first week at work here, and it’s been quite interesting. Things have picked up a bit since the Monday and Tuesday all-day reading, but the real work will start next week. On Wednesday we had a long staff meeting where Kwesi and Kyei talked to all the new interns (there’s five) about the background and mandates of FoN.  He described some recent projects, including one in the Ngyeresia slum community in Takoradi implementing new latrines, and the recent purchase of 5000 mangrove trees that will be transplanted along a lagoon to help with soil erosion, water shortage, etc. Us interns will be doing the planting. I’m looking forward to this- we’ll probably start planting in the next week or two. I hear it’s very hard work, but it’ll great to be outside, get some exercise, and learn a new skill. We then all climbed into the company van to see the lagoon-, which is quite littered, by plastic and human waste. From the lagoon you can see both the fishery canoes and the oil rig. There’s a lot going on on the Takoradi shoreline, that’s for sure. We then headed to Ngyeresia, where 10 new toilets have been placed. This community is almost completely dependent of the fishing season, and has poor living conditions. We walked around and asked people living near the new toilets if they liked them, how they were being used, if they would like more, and etc. Some of the answers were shocking, and I don’t feel comfortable posting some of the private things women said on my blog, but I found the experience quite humbling. The slum has 4700 people, mostly children, living in an area 2.5 miles square. Previous to getting the new toilets (which are concrete blocks with a hole, in an outhouse sized shed), has one public bathroom, which over 4000 people use a day, is 67 years old with no repairs, and costs 10 pesewas (about 6 cents CAD) each time to use. It doesn’t sound like much, but considering family sizes are large and each family lives on less than 2 cedis a day, during a good fishing season, and much less in the off season, this is clearly unaffordable. So people use the beach, the one drain the community has, which is completely clogged with solid waste, or walk to bushes. People have dug their own drains between the homes, which have open waste. So cholera, typhoid, malaria, and therefore high infant mortality and low life expectancy are all thriving. I saw a couple of children with the large bellies, caused by vitamin deficiencies. Although it doesn’t seem that people are starving, because they have the fish, malnutrition is a huge issue. The saddest thing is that some of the toilets still aren’t being used, for various reasons.  I think this is where education is important, and I hope to get involved here. After interviewing people we headed back to the office to type reports on what the interviewees said and read more about the economics of the area.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this project will progress while I’m here.

Yesterday work was much less eventful. The power is currently not working, so Sara and I went for walks in the area with Kwesi, read newspapers (I’m so up to date with Ghana current events!), and I am currently trekking my way through a book about fiscal decentralization in Ghana, which is quite interesting, though includes a lot of legislature- never easy to read. Today we headed to one Mark’s house – Mark is a man who works here- for the monthly technical meeting. I learned a lot about the logistics and operational things about Hen Mpoano and FoN and got to know more of the staff. I also got assigned some more editing. I fell in love with Mark’s dog. I’m sure she has a name, but I named it Doe, because she looks like a deer. She’s the same colour and has white speckles on her nose. All of the dogs here, mostly street dogs, are similar in stature. They are lean and small and have pointed ears and snouts- kind of foxy- with various colour of brown and often splotchy. After the meeting, as we were driving back to the office, we passed by the waterfront where there were a bunch of men building a fishing canoe, without power tools and stuff. Don’t be mislead by “canoe”, they’re the size of a yacht. Kwesi says next week Sara and I will both be spending 3 days out of the office. Sara will be working in a maternal health clinic and myself at the fisheries working on Hen Mpoano (I think). Kwesi says he has some proposal writing for me to do. Very exciting! As for now, we have loads of plans for the weekend. The girls at work and our host siblings want to take us out in the evening, we want to explore the city, and there’s church on Sunday, so we should keep busy!

In other news, I’ve discovered a few new creatures- cockroaches and lizards. The lizards are super cool, and the cockroaches mind their own business, so I don’t mind them either. I have become friends with a kitten with two broken legs that hangs around the house. The kids have named her Chichi, and she’s quite sweet, though she must be in pain. There’s a cat at the office as well, who I have appropriately named “Orange Cat.”

Our evenings at the house are quiet. The kids are still quite shy of us, so we’ve been watching TV and hanging out with our host brothers, Emmanuel and George. TV here is more dramatic than the most dramatic American soap. It’s quite fun to watch.  Sara and I are addicted to this game on our cell phones called F1 racing. I’m currently at a high score of 84.

Keep Smiling! :) 

First few days in Ghana

Hey friends!

My flight from Rabat to Accra was long. Mostly because I had layovers in Paris and Amsterdam, a bit of a detour. My layovers were rushed and hectic, and I nearly missed my connecting flight to Accra. I flew KLM from Amsterdam to Accra, which is easily the most wonderful flight I’ve ever had. Big seats, loads of leg room, comfy headrests, good TV, great food, excellent service, and large bathrooms. I arrived in Accra exactly on time, though my luggage did not. It was still in Amsterdam.  I arrived at 7pm, and was surprised to see it was already dark. Turns out sun sets at about 6:30pm, year round. Another surprise was the sign at customs declaring that all paedophiles and “sexual deviants” (homosexuality is illegal in Ghana) must leave for their own good and the good of others, for penalties are harsh. I met Heather, Davina, Robin, and Sara in the airport, and Joha, a Ghanaian man who has connections to Queens, chaperoned for us. He drove us to our hotel. My first day in Ghana I spent in Accra driving around with the team and Joha seeing the city and running errands. The heat was unbearable, but I’ve gotten used to it now, sort of. We got set up with cell phones, money, ate at restaurants, and eventually got to pick up my luggage. In Ghana, it is illegal to take photographs of government building, so many of the attractions, such as Independence square, I was unable to take photographs of. The traffic in Accra is crazy. On a normal day, it takes about 2 hours to get out of the city, and it took us all day to do just a few things, as we were perpetually stuck in traffic jams. When we finally got back to our hotel we went to the outdoor bar and had a couple of drinks with Soloman, the bartender, who played guitar and sang for us. He even made up songs which each of our names, which was quite sweet. The next morning we took the bus to Takoradi, where Sara and I are staying. Again, traffic was crazy, so we didn’t arrive in Takoradi until late. Hilda, my host sister, picked us up at the bus station to take us to our home. We were welcomed very warmly, especially by Georgina who is a neighbour who was at the house when we arrived. 

My home in Takoradi is quite large, though simple. Although there are facilities for running water: sinks, toilets, and showers, there is no running water, so we wash and flush with buckets of water.  Sara and I share a room, but both have our own double bed, and we share a bathroom between the two of us. The family is quite large, and I haven’t quite gotten a grip on the family tree yet. There is Alice, the mother, Uncle Tony, another woman, six children, who are Hilda’s cousins, and Emmanuel and George, who are her brothers, and like Hilda, are both in their twenties. The children are very shy of Sara and I, though we managed to get a couple of the boys to play cards with us, and the girls often smile back. Hilda cooks for us, and cooks a lot for us. I am never able to finish what she makes. So far we have eaten a lot of rice with spicy sauce and eggs, as well as pasta, various meats, beans, and pancakes. The food is much spicier than at home, so I drink a lot of juice and water, or tea at breakfast. We are excited to make and try Fufu! Once Uncle Tony ate with us, and tried to teach us Twi. I have learned that Twi is a very tonal language, so if you don’t say a word with the right tone, it doesn’t really make sense. Luckily, all the adults speak English (and I’m not sure if the children can’t, or just won’t, because at times they seem to understand us), especially Emmanuel and George. George is closest to our age it seems, so he took us out our second day here to meet his friends and go to some bars. Luckily for me, I didn’t pay for a thing, men are very insistent that women do not pay. The bars are all outdoors, and seem to operate and are lively all times of the day. The first pub we went to was called “Queen’s Pub,” which is also a popular pub at Queen’s University, so Sara and I really enjoyed that. We then went to a bar and club on the beach, which was not only beautiful, but very fun. They played mostly hip hop and rap hits from about ten years ago, as well as some Justin Bieber. George’s friends were very sweet, and very welcoming, as we’re planning on hanging out with them again next weekend.

On Monday we started at Friends of the Nation. The office is about a 30 minute drive from our home, so we take a taxi each way. We have negotiated a pretty good price with a taxi driver, David, who will drive us every day. He is quite sweet, and has already taken us on some errands. The office is surrounded by gardens, and behind the building is a road that goes up a steep hill to a secondary school. Sara and I adventured out for a bit, but got stuck in the red clay before too long. Sara and I have our own office, which is large and sunny. The people at work are incredibly friendly and sweet. They go out of their way to do stuff for us. So far, it’s unclear exactly what we’ll be doing, but it seems that I’ll be working with Kyei (pronounced Chay) in Natural Resources, and Sara will be with Kwesi in Population, Health, and Environment, perhaps doing some work in reproduction and maternal health. We have mostly been reading so far, and I have learned a tonne, and I mean A TONNE, about fisheries in Ghana.  I especially love that as I read I recognize concepts and organizations I have studied at school. I feel so in my element, and I am both applying my degree and learning new material about natural resources in Ghana and fishery issues. Kwesi also had be edit a proposal for a program on Child Labour, as everyone in the office has English as a second language, which I really enjoyed as it kept me busy and I learned about the issues as well. Lunch at work is awesome. A woman comes with buckets of rice, salad, pasta, hard boiled eggs, and so far either chicken or fish. For only 1 cedi (66 cents) I get a large plate of rice, salad, and an egg. 

After work today, David took us to Georgina’s business downtown, which is a small hut at the end of an alleyway. She works as a seamstress and has offered to make us traditional African dresses for church. She took our measurements. Sara and I are so excited, because we’ve noticed many women wearing the dresses, and they are both well-fitted and beautiful! I’m excited to be part of an African-Christian church service, especially since my outfit will match the others!

Random observations so far about Ghana: 

The dirt is red and often the consistency of clay. It’s beautiful, especially when the roads are all red dirt. But there are an awful lot of potholes. So many that one wheel of the car is always in a pothole, and you can only drive about walking speed.  It is very bumpy. This is only on smaller residential roads where most people walk or bike, bigger roads are always paved.

There are a lot of foul here. On the streets, in the yard, and roosters always wake us up around 6:00am. There are also a lot of goats. The baby ones are really cute and they jump over the sewage ducts at the sides of the streets with a bit of struggle and sometimes trip.  They also play and fight. I want to keep one as a pet.

Names of businesses are often religious, as the people here are quite Christian. Examples are “Christ in You Chemical Storage,” “Seek Jesus Computers,” and “Bless You Realty.” 

It seems that panelling and plywood for homes and businesses are sponsored by corporations. A lot of shacks and umbrellas are logoed with MTN, vodaphone, and glo, which are all local telecommunications companies.

Women carry things on their heads, and do it very very well. You’ll see just about anything on women’s heads, the most impressive so far have been piles watermelons and eggs on trays. Some have big wooden boxes with mesh sides with bread or fruit inside. They can walk quickly like this, and do not need to hold on with their hands, and some of them sell their products on the sides of the road. In traffic jams, snacks and water are quite handy.

Keep Smiling!

Morocco: Ouzoud Falls - Rabat

Hola!  

I boarded a van early in the morning to take a van out to Ouzoud Falls. This time the trip was only about 3 hours. The falls were in a small community, and when we got there a tour was offered for 40dh, which really exceeded my expectations. The tour guide, a young man, spoke many languages and said everything in Spanish, French, Arabic, and English to accommodate the group.  He was also very flirtatious with me, and boosted my ego quite a bit by the end of the day. There was only two English speakers, myself and an Irish man, named Patty (how Irish!) so we spent most of the day together. We started at the top of the falls, then went for about a 2 hour guided hike through the olive trees and carob trees. I learned a surprising about. For example, olive oil is like wine, and gets better as it gets older. So extra virgin olive oil is the oldest. Carob trees grow what look like green beans, and the skin is used to make dark chocolate. The peas inside weight .2 grams, and the tour guide told us that no matter where in the world a carob tree is, the peas always weigh the same, so they became what we know as a “carat,” for measuring gold and diamonds. We then walked down the cliff to the waterfalls where he pointed out some caves that the natives originally lived in. The waterfalls were quite beautiful from the bottom, and we crossed the water, took some photos, and walked back up the other side. From the other side, on a sunny day, you can see a rainbow that forms in the mist of the falls. Also, we were lucky enough to see monkeys in the trees! There was a family of four of them, and one came quite close when someone took out bananas and mangos. It was a wonderful day, and we managed to get back to Marrakesh by dinner time, at which point I had a Hamam at the spa that Abdul worked in at the day time.

This olive tree is 900 years old

Ouzoud Falls

Monkeys!

A Hamam is a typical Moroccan scrub, bath, and massage in a large steam room. Women of all ages and shapes sit in the team room, completely naked, bathing, and a trained hamam artist covered me in oils, clay, and scrubbed my whole body with an exfoliating glove. Some people find the hamam “invasive,” which I suppose it could be to some, but most find it refreshing and relaxing, and a way to really immerse yourself in an aspect of Islam culture. Hamams are done once a week by many women, and are largely a social activity. The hamam artist then poured warm water on me in buckets, while washing my hair and face.  Afterwards, you dry off and get a massage. My skin was the softest it’s ever been, and I really enjoyed the experience. I then intended to head back to my hostel, as it was getting dark, but the spa was right in the middle of the Souks, which is a maze of markets quite famous in Marrakesh. I got quite lost, but I felt safe enough and decided to just wander the Souks and do some shopping and take advantage of being lost in the middle of the most famous part of the city. I found some great buys, including a shop that sold mosaic tiles saved from buildings that had been torn down, and some cool fossils. I then purchased some cherries and nuts to eat for dinner, and got directions back to the main square. When I arrived at my hostel the Spanish girls had left my room and two American girls, Anny and Rachael, had moved in. They had just finished two years in the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan, and were doing a bit of travelling. We feasted on the food from the market and shared stories from our travels on the rooftop balcony before going to bed. My day was practically perfect.

Common items sold in the Souks:

Spices

Slippers

Dishware

Nuts

The next day I slept in, as I was feeling a bit under the weather (I think I was mistaken to wash the cherries with tap water), ran a couple of errands, then headed to the train station.  The train from Marrakesh to Rabat was rather unpleasant, as I was definitely dealing with food poisoning and the train bathroom was mostly dysfunctional. However, I was sitting nearby a lovely English couple who were on their honeymoon and were quite chatty. I arrived in Rabat in the evening, and was excited to discover the train station, the royal palace, the parliament, the protests, and my hotel were all central. Due to the protests I was unable to take many photos, as it seemed to annoy the cops, and foreigners are forbidden inside the royal palace. So I mostly enjoyed a long stroll around wealthy Rabat, observed the protests, and ate some pizza. My hotel had fantastic internet, so I used my night to Skype with friends and rest for my long flight the next day.

The protests

More on Ghana soon!