Soccer and ceremonies

Today was one of the best days so far. We got up early this morning to travel to a village called Agogo. Here we went to the forest area to plant trees to help with a reforestation project. I got to plant five little saplings. Now I am determined to come back in the future to check on my trees. Planting trees really worked up the group’s appetite so afterward we headed to a hostel to grab lunch: fried rice, plantain, and chicken.

Me with my tree. Adinkra symbols Weaving kente cloth

While we were eating our professor asked us if we’d be interested in a game of football against some local schoolchildren. Ten of us volunteered. I have never played soccer in my life but I’ll try anything once. After we finished eating we walked to the football field for the match. However, when I say field I don’t mean a grass field, it was dirt and gravel. The kids we played against were probably 7-12 years old and way better at football than we were. Apparently watching the World Cup doesn’t make me any better at playing football. We ended up sprinting, well some of us, up and down the field chasing the never tiring children. We managed to score one goal which brought the final score to 3-1. There were so many schoolchildren cheering on the sides when their fellow students won. We walked off the field sweaty and scabbed up from falling. Despite the loss playing with the kids was an awesome experience.

The next thing on our agenda was visiting the Agogo chief’s palace to receive an official welcome to the village. We had to dress up, which was awful considering I was covered in sweat. The ceremony was interesting. There was traditional dancing, which surprisingly looked like some hip hop dancing I’ve seen back at home. At the end we got to get up and dance with the dancers in front of the chief and his “cabinet.” After the excursion we traveled back to Kumasi and had a great dinner and birthday cake for Maureen, a fellow student on the maymester.

Kumasi Excursion

We are currently in a city called Kumasi. We traveled 4 ½ hours to get here yesterday. Before arriving in the city we stopped in a village called Patrinsa to implement a library project. Here we were welcomed in an official ceremony by the queen mother and chief of the village. Afterwards we walked to the “library,” which basically was a room with empty shelves. During the spring semester books were collected to help fill the library. We brought 500 books with us to fill the shelves. Putting the books onto the shelves was an amazing feeling. The children were smiling and clapping for us.

Today we visited a kente weaving shop, an adinkra symbol market, and the Kumasi palace. It was a busy day but we got to unwind for about 2 hours at the awesome pool at our hotel.

Until my next adventure

Jack

Implementation week

It has been a week since I last updated my blog. There are a couple of reasons for this: the past week has been super busy and the internet at our new hotel SUCKS!

This past week has been the implementation portion of our sustainable projects aka the whole reason we are in Ghana. Last Monday we started working with 21 girls from SISS. The girls ranged in age from 17-29. I found the age of the girls, or women I should say, intimidating because most were around 21 and older than me. However, the women did not seem to care about my age. Each day my group taught various workshops to the women.

Day 1: Introductions and photojournalism

Day 2: Self-esteem and Beauty

Day 3: Reproductive and Sexual Health

Day 4: Goal setting

Day 5: Teamwork, conflict resolution, and leadership (my day!)

The first two days we were in the actual slums where the women lived, called Agbogbloshie. This was an eye opening experience. After two days, our professor visited the site we were conducting the workshops. She felt uneasy about letting us teach in the surrounding conditions. Because of her concern we worked out a plan to pick up the 21 women everyday and transport them to the SISS headquarters for lessons.

The girls on the bus going to the SISS headquarters.

Fruit stand where we got snacks for the girls.

The girls learning at the various workshop days.

Overall the workshops went smooth. The women were so engaged the entire time. I was quite impressed with their thirst for knowledge. All group discussions were lively and someone always had a question to ask.

First day of the project with SISS

Today was the first day of our community projects. Originally my group and I were supposed to work with a vocational training school called Today’s Choices. This school took in girls that were victims of sex trafficking and taught them skills such as bead making, hair braiding, and sewing. Unfortunately, Today’s Choices was forced to close in the last month due to lack of funding. So today we started our project with a new agency called Self-Help Initiative Support Services (SISS). SISS is very similar to Today’s Choices. The fundamental difference is the girls in the school; most do not have sex trafficking in their background. The girls we are working with are girls that live in extreme poverty, but want to make a better life for themselves and their families.

We boarded the bus this morning to go to the agency. Three hours later we finally arrive, except that we weren’t anywhere near the agency, the bus dropped us off right outside of the worst slum in all of Accra. In fact, the slum is appropriately titled “Sodom & Gomorrah.” We were informed that to meet the girls we would have to walk 20 minutes into the slum. This was an intense experience. We drove through a slum earlier in the trip, but it was still nothing like I was seeing: stagnate water, people sleeping in the mud, children half clothed. My eyes couldn’t take in everything that was going on because I had to concentrate so much on where I was stepping.

Once we got to the building were the girls were waiting for us things got better. The girls were timid at first but warmed up to us quickly. Today we mainly focused on getting to know the girls and passing out journals and cameras. With the cameras we want the girls to show us life through their eyes and the journals will help them reflect on what we are teaching them. I was impressed with the questions the girls asked. They were curious about life in the US.

Also today we got the news that we would be moving hostels; the main reason being that there is no hot water. One of the girls here was admitted to the hospital for four days because she got Typhoid and many others have been getting sick. Our Professor believes that the lack of hot water could be causing some of the illnesses. So tomorrow I have to re-pack my bags to relocate. I’m a little sad about leaving because the people that work here have been great.

Relaxation

Today was a chill day. I finally got to sleep in past 7! In the afternoon a group of us traveled to Tema, a nearby town to see where one of our professors grew up. This “city” was quite industrialized because of an effort by the former president Kwame Nkrumah. It was interesting to see this part of Ghana because I haven’t seen factoring buildings here before. I think it is a sign of Ghana’s development. After we got back a few of us found a movie theater to see Sex in the City 2. The movie was not good. I actually thought it was pretty bad.

Venturing outside Accra

Things have been awesome. Wednesday through Friday we were at Cape Coast, which is another town about 3 hours away from Accra. The place we were staying was beautiful; it was called Coconut Grove Resort. I had so much fun. I spent most of my time at the resort on their private beach and at their pool trying to get darker. The tides here are crazy strong, there was not ever a low tide. The waves and undertow are so strong that I could stand far up were the waves barely covered my feet, and they would still suck six inches of sand out from under my feet. It was a lot of fun to play in; everyone just had to be careful. Also like the name implies, Coconut Grove had a million coconut trees. I, despite the fact that I like coconut, was determined to open one on my own. The last day we were there, after 25 minutes of throwing and prying, I succeeded at opening my very own coconut. Also, to my pleasant surprise the taste wasn’t bad. It tasted nothing like the coconut flavoring I’ve had before; it was really nutty tasting.

One of the nightly performances at Coconut Grove

Ghanaian peers walking along the beach after a long day of ultimate frisbee

Trying to play the drums. Heads up its way harder than they make it seem!

Also while we were in Cape Coast we went to two slave fortresses, Elmina and Cape Coast Castle. This experience was intense. We walked through the female and male slave dungeons, the solider living corridors, the governor’s living space, and the door of no return. The tours were eye opening. The dungeons were dark, dirty, and small. Each chamber in the dungeons was about the size of my living room and they housed up to 400 slaves at once. The details the guide gave were pretty graphic, so I won’t disclose the rest on my blog, it’ll be much easier to describe in person. After the tour of the Elmina castle we did a walking tour of the town of Cape Coast. It was great to walk around among the people.

Fisherman at Cape Coast

Cape Coast Slave Fortress

Elmina Slave Fortress

Food for Thought

Today we had lectures. Thankfully, the first one was not boring. It was all about African history and the Pan-African Movement. I learned a lot from the lecture. I was horrified to learn the details of how inhumanly captured slaves were treated. Also, I had never known about the theory of Africa being the cradle of civilization. Archeologists have actually found the oldest human remains in Ethiopia and scientific studies of female mitochondria have traced backed to African origins. I was just about the only person in the room that had never heard that before. Everything the lecturer talked about was fascinating. Toward the end of lecture I look at my phone to see the time only to realize that he had been talking for two hours! I did not mind though because I was engrossed in what he was saying. I wish I could say that for the second lecturer; he flat out put me to sleep. Tomorrow we are traveling to Cape Coast to see the El Mina castle, which housed the slave dungeons. I’m excited.

Until my next adventure,

Jack