the four "H"s

So I guess I need to catch everyone up on the last few days. I thought because I had so much free time yesterday, I’d be able to fully update my blog, but turns out, I only uploaded pictures of our house! Anyway, yesterday was nice because I got to sleep in until about 10, when the cleaning people woke me up, and then the guilt of seeping in late kept me up. I really hate that, and wish that when I have the opportunity to sleep in, I just do it. Either way, it was good rest. I don’t remember much about what I did yesterday, probably because I didn’t do much of anything but lounge around the house until Marykate and I decided to go to Marjorie with some of the fabric we already had to have her make a few more things for us. I already have two pretty conservative dresses, and so I decided to get a halter top made from this really pretty batik fabric, and to also get a high-waisted skirt made from this bright orange and yellow fabric. She said she’d have them done by Friday, just in time for our trip! She also sells a lot of fabric, so MK and I took a look through it all, and of course, I bought more fabric! I have four new kinds of fabric, but don’t worry, none of them are for me. I’ve already started brainstorming patterns and designs for my friends and family at home, so I’ve been collecting the fabric for the designs until people start sending me their measurements and what exactly they want (HINT HINT).

Anyway, yesterday we had an “Adjusting to Ghana” workshop, and two American professors that teach at the University of Ghana came and told us about the four stages most people go through when living in a different culture for the first time. The first is the “Honeymoon” phase, which apparently can last the entire time for some people. This phase is pretty self-explanatory, but basically means that you’re enthralled with everything and think everything’s really great and kind of blind to the realities of a lot of things. The second phase is the “Hostility” phase, when the newness has worn off and you’re very homesick and tired and aren’t quite yet adjusted to the new culture. The third phase is the “Humor” phase, and this is when you begin to adapt and begin to recognize cultural differences and adapt accordingly, without making judgment calls or anything. The final phase is the “Home” phase, and this happens about 10 weeks in, when you begin to really feel at ease with everything, and truly call this place “home”. I think right now I’m in between hostility and humor, because I still get frustrated with a lot of things, but also try to take everything in stride and realize that’s just the way things are in Ghana. I don’t know if I ever went through the honeymoon phase to a large extent, but I definitely had my share of “This place is incredible!” moments. Anyway, just found this interesting and thought I’d share.

After dinner we came home and a few of us watched Superbad and made Valentine’s Day cards. Since it takes about 2 weeks (I think longer, actually) for a letter to get to the United States, Gillian and I decided we’d better get our cards out now so that hopefully they’ll be there in time for Valentine’s Day.

Today was pretty relaxed, too. A bunch of us had our African Popular Music class, which was great and went by pretty fast. There are like 15 of us in the class, the largest class we have here, for sure, and our professor is totally an African music genius. I think he’s from London but has lived in Ghana and taught at Legon for over 30 years. After our music class, Gillian and I were on a quest to find Ghanaian chocolate to send home! It’s rare here because Ghana is rich in cocoa resources, but don’t have the structural means to produce chocolate out of the cocoa, so they must export their cocoa, and then import the produced chocolate. It’s kind of sad and twisted, and is a result of British colonialism. We finally found chocolate, and then headed to the post office (not on our bikes, since we didn’t want the chocolate to melt). After the post office, Gillian, Mallory and I went back to Marjorie, since she called me and said my skirt and top were ready!! She works so fast but does a really good job, and I was pleased to have them before our trip to Winneba tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll wear the clothes soon and take pictures to post!

Tomorrow we’re going to Winneba, a town about an hour west of Accra along the coast. Apparently it has really nice beaches (that you can actually swim in, unlike the beaches in Accra), and at night we get to go turtle watching! I think about 15 of us are going by bus, and sleeping four to a hotel room, but it’ll be a really fun road trip. A few of us are also planning a trip to Togo, which we might take on Valentine’s Day weekend, but we’re not entirely sure on the plans for that trip yet! Anyway, I’m excited to get out of Accra for a few days and lie on the beach and get to know more people in our group better! I probably won’t have internet, meaning I probably can’t update this over the weekend, but certainly will update and post pictures when we get back!

Hope all is well at home! I miss you all and love you so so so so so much!

love love love

where i live

This is our dining room/living room area.

(A little dark but) this is only half of our kitchen. Complete with three stovetops, three sinks and three refrigerators.

This is my and Gillian's bedroom. It'd probably be pretty easy to guess which side's mine.

So this are our digs. You wonder why we call it "The Real World" House.

i <3 skype (when it works)

Marykate and I eating FanChoco and FanIce. It's made here in Ghana, and is INCREDIBLE. It's either vanilla, chocolate or strawberry ice cream in plastic packages. You rip off a corner with your teeth and suck the ice cream out. Boys with little trollies are EVERYWHERE selling these on the street for 30 pesewas (cents). It's a staple of our daily diet (especially when we're outside a lot) and SO delicious. This ice cream is incredible- I must find a way to get it back to the states!


Today was pretty relaxing, even with the two classes I had. My first class was at 8 am, and was my internship seminar class. It meets once a week, and is where all the students doing internships for credit come together to discuss what’s going on in each of their internships. Should be a good and productive class. I also had my Society, Culture and Modernization class, which was great! I really am enjoying it so far. This week we learned about kinship in traditional Ghanaian society, and learned the difference between tribes (ethnic groups), clans and lineages, and their roles with each other and with society as a whole. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll add more to exactly what those are.

Afterwards, Gillian and I biked to Apapa to get the remaining ingredients for our Red-Red. Since we’ll be traveling this weekend, we plan on making the Red-Red either Sunday night or Monday, in order to have it for the rest of the week. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

After Apapa, I took a LONG nap, since I had the rest of the day free to do whatever. The nap was so nice and relaxing and good for me. This is one of the main reasons I chose to come to Ghana, as silly as it may seem, it was a pretty legit reason. Not necessarily to nap, specifically, but to just have rest. It is so nice here because when you’re sitting inside, you don’t feel pressure to be outside, to constantly be doing something. This city isn’t conducive to that kind of type-A behavior. New York is the exact opposite—there’s always something that needs to be done, even when there’s nothing that needs to be done. If you’re sitting inside then you’re a loser, so you better find something to do. I needed a break from that and am welcoming it with open arms.

After the nap we went to Sunshine for dinner, which was good as always. Then NYU hosted the first “Movie Night” of the semester, where we watched some footage from filmed by students who were in Ghana when Obama won the election, and then several 10 minute documentaries filmed last semester by a film class here at NYU in Ghana. They were really cool and I’m glad I went. We watched the films on a projector outside the Academic Center, and the cool night breeze was so nice to sit outside to.

Tonight I also got to Skype for a long time with my mom, sister, and Nana and Eric and Charlie, all of which were so refreshing. I love talking with people and friends from home and NY. Reminds me of where I came from and what I’m doing here. Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes you all have been sending my way.

Tomorrow, since I have NO class and NOTHING to do, I’ll try to post pictures of the inside of our house (Aunt Isha).

love love love

WAAF!

God answers prayers, for sure. This morning I had what I thought was going to be the group interview with WAAF. Turns out all three of us already had the positions and Belinda, the director of WAAF, wanted to just meet with us to tell us about the program and its facilities, and to discuss hours of availability. Victor, the community service coordinator, took me, Leigh and Emma (the three interns vying to work at WAAF) to the facilities around 10:30 this morning. We toured the facilities, which were so nice. Keeping in mind that it is Ghana, and buildings aren’t sprawling outwards and upwards, it was very modest but very, very professional. There is a clinic where anyone can come and get tested, along with several counseling rooms for those who get tested to have their pre and post-test meetings. There is a lab where the tests are read, a doctor’s office and a pharmacy, too. I knew the second I walked in there that it was a perfect fit for me, and when I found out I would be working there too, I was just so thankful and excited. I think once I conceded to God that, nope, I’m not in control, and that I’ll be put where I need to be, that’s when trust turns into reward. Anyway, WAAF is incredible and I am soooo excited to start working on Monday!

There are two “jobs,” I guess you could call them, that interns do, and each intern is assigned to a job for the semester. The first is what Emma is doing, which is called their OVC section. OVC stands for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, and is a group of about 15 kids, ranging from newborns to age 13, who have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and who may have the virus themselves. Because elementary and primary education here is not free, these orphans’ caregivers (sometimes grandparents or aunts or uncles) have a hard time paying for school or anti-retrovirals for these kids. WAAF funds these children’s education and medicinal needs, which I think is just incredible. Emma’s job will be to basically do house visits with a counselor all semester long, going to each child’s home and conducting surveys and collecting information and how WAAF’s help is helping (or not), how the children are coping, etc. She’ll also play with the kids, I’m sure. It’s so worthwhile, and she’s perfect for the job.

Leigh and I are doing the Education part of WAAF, which I am SO excited about! Basically over the course of the next four months, Leigh and I will be going to 5 elementary schools throughout Accra, all of which have after-school HIV/AIDS Awareness clubs. Leigh and I will run a series of workshops which teach kids in each of the following 7 topics: Basic Facts about HIV/AIDS; Basic Facts about STIs/STDs; Stigma and Discrimination; Living Positively; Adolescence: Basic Sexual Health; Assertive Skills in Sexuality; and Peer Education. These children are self-appointed peer educators for their student body, and the goal is to get them to go out and spread the word about AIDS to their fellow students. We’ll start next week with creating an assessment which we will hand out the first time we visit the schools to 10 students in the club and 10 students not in the club, to note how much they know about HIV/AIDS. At the end of the semester we’ll administer the same survey again, and hopefully, as previous years have shown, the numbers will increase dramatically for both groups of students. We will also be responsible for creating a report at the end of the semester about the success of our workshops, and the outreach WAAF is doing as a whole. I am thrilled beyond belief to actually get to go into schools and work with young children, which I love doing, and spread this very important message to them. I am also coming up with new ideas on how to get other kids who aren’t in these clubs involved, and hopefully I can contribute them and help make the program even better.

One last, really cool, thing about WAAF is they have a store right next to it called The Acorn Tree, named after the tree they have in the front of the facility. Here, women who have come through WAAF before, and who have lost their jobs because they are living with HIV and the stigma that comes along with it, sell their handmade batik bags, clothing, and jewelry. These things are beautiful, too. Each item has a unique tag on it describing the premise of the store, and at the bottom, the woman who made the item signs her name, and every cent of that sale goes to that specific woman to help pay for her medicine. It’s an incredible idea. Be expecting gifts from here!

So I guess you could call the first few hours of my morning a great success! After I got back from WAAF, Gillian, Marykate and I went to Ashesi for lunch. They have really cheap lunch there, and it’s always WAY too much and so good! Afterwards we walked over the vegetable stand and I bought some apples and some tomatoes and such. Gillian and I then biked to the post office where I picked up my package from Mom! I had collected the other package earlier this morning, and was so happy to have gotten both today, along with a letter from Nana! Getting stuff from home makes me so happy and makes me feel a little bit closer! Mom, I have already eaten some peanut butter crackers and a slice of banana bread—thank you! Nana, your note was so sweet. Anyway, the bike ride to the post office was definitely better than the walk Gillian and I took a few weeks ago (wow! Can’t believe it’s been that long), but it was still really strenuous, especially because the entire road there is uphill then downhill then uphill, so there’s really no direction, there or back, that’s easier. It was still a good work out, though, and we are putting our bikes to good use. When we got back from the post office a few of us went to Koala, the third big supermarket here, and I got some more jelly (I’m eating toast and jelly like it’s my job), and some stuff to make Red-Red! I don’t remember if I wrote about it in my last blog, but if not, I’ll write more about it when I actually make it. Basically, it’s a delicious bean stewy dish that’s great and I can’t wait to make it.

Marykate and I had our Legon class today—Media and Society—and it was really good. The professor is great, and seems to know what he’s talking about. The students, however, were really immature, it seemed. It was like being in a 9th grade on-level class with all the interruptions and uproarious laughter when the professor said anything that could even in the tiniest way be turned into some sexual comment (Sarah!). It was so unexpected for MK and me, especially because we were told that the Legon classes were very strict and that we should behave even more appropriately than we do at NYU. On the way up there, we talked with our bus driver, Sammy, about how the employee/employer relationship works here. It makes so much sense and is so pain-free, and I don’t know why it’s so hard for Americans to just be nice to each other, to calm down, to take a deep breath and relax and little, and show respect to one another. Sammy told us in the Ghanaian culture, everything is about having one another’s respect and maintaining a solid reputation—it’s the most important thing you have. He said he cleans his van on Saturdays on his day off because Christa, our director, wants it to look nice for us. I asked why he would do that, and he said because he respects Christa and has to show her that, and in return, he has Christa’s respect. Everything is mutual and everyone is happy. It’s such simplistic logic, to do something just because someone else asked you to, and to be kind because he or she is your superior, but it’s lost in translation in America. Everyone’s too busy to be friendly. It’s a real shame. Life would be a lot more joyful if everyone would just be patient with and nice to each other, like they are here.

Essentially, it was a fantastic day. I am truly blessed and am feeling more and more at home here everyday. I’m thankful we are getting into the swing of actually living here. I no longer feel like a strange visitor, which is good. This will be a good semester, I can feel it.

love love love

church and tro-tros

I’m exhausted but had a wonderful day! Our day began at 6:30, when Gillian and I woke up to go to church with Naa. The services start super early here, though they tend to run long and run into the next service’s beginning time. But hey, that’s Ghana. Being late or over time doesn’t affect me anymore at all. It’s just the way of life here. In that vein, we were late to church by almost an hour, but they were still doing their opening hymns, so I think we were okay. No one seemed to notice we were late. The service wasn’t exactly what I thought it’d be (you know, lots of hooping and hollering and “amens!” and such, though maybe that’s more of a black American thing), but it was still really good! It lasted about two and a half hours. They begin with opening hymns out of their Methodist Hymnal Book. There are like 4 or 5 hymns they sing before the preacher preaches. The preacher preaches for about 30 minutes or so, and then begins the long part—collecting the offering(s), doing announcements, etc. The offering collection is so cool because it’s not like at home where a tray is a passed around and people put money in. Here, everyone gets up row by row (kind of like you do for communion) and walks to the front, putting money in one of 7 buckets, each bucket labeled with a day of the week. Each day represents the day you were born (just like your Ghanaian name does), and you put your donation in the appropriate bin. When you walk back up the aisle, everyone dances to the music and seems to be filled with joy. Every week they tell the congregation how much each day of the week raised the previous week, kind of like a little competition. The day of the week which raised the most money goes wild and claps and such. Kinda a smart idea if you ask me, they seemed to get a lot of donations that way. They also do announcements, which no joke, took like 45 minutes or so. They announce stuff like upcoming marriages and stuff—they announce a marriage for three weeks before the wedding, and do the whole “If anyone has any reason for these two to not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace” type of thing. Kinda funny because I’ve never seen that in person before. After all the announcements there is a second round of singing, this time not hymnals but more upbeat songs, lead by a 6 person singing group. It was a lot of fun to try to figure out the songs, and there was one in particular I really, really liked. I asked Naa what it meant (because it was sung in Twi) and she said it means “God is bigger than everything”. I’ll try to find the song online at some point and post a link. Afterwards we went to Naa’s house for a few minutes and met her brother and friend, and had some of her mom’s fresh squeezed pineapple juice, it was sooo good.

When we got back, we decided to go to Makola Market, so a few of us (including one Ghanaian neighbor) got on our first Tro-Tro!! I don’t think I’ve explained what these are yet. They’re these privately owned mini-van type things that are basically falling apart, but they go to a central location, much like the shared taxis yesterday. Tro-tros are kinda like the bus system-equivalent here, though they’re private and there are public buses here. The tro-tros are by far the cheapest way to get around, as our trip to Makola was about a 15 minute ride and cost us 30 pesewas (cents) each. Ha, but you definitely get what you pay for—the vans interior is practically in shambles, and is overcrowded. But it’s an experience in its own right. NYU doesn’t really recommend taking them, though former students say that’s how they got around all the time, they just never took them at night. It was a little nerve racking, but knowing we had a Ghanaian guy with us made us feel a little more at ease about taking one for the first time. The inside of the tro-tro.

Anyway, we got to the market and low and behold, it was closed. Several people told me it’d be open on Sunday, but I guess they were wrong. There was an open gate and so we walked in to find all the stands completely closed up. We tried to walk back out of the gates and there was a man locking the gates up, which scared us because we thought we were gonna get stuck inside! We were so tired already and exhausted from the heat, and were frustrated it was closed. But we finally got out of the gates with some pleading and eye-batting to the guard, and visited some stands right outside the market. I bought some more fabric, which we’re going to take to another tailor sometime this week. I think I’ll get a skirt made. I have been looking online and finding pictures of outfits I like, so I’m excited! Anyway, some of us bought fabric, and Gillian and I bought some much needed Tupperware and water jugs to store our boiled water in. We came home exhausted, but very happy, because we’d gotten a lot of the stuff we’ve been needing for a while.
Gillian and I riding VERY close together in the tro-tro.

Katie made dinner for a few of us tonight- spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and meat balls. It was SO good! Marykate made a Ghanaian dish called Red-Red and it was also DELICIOUS. I’m gonna learn how to make it. It makes a huge pot of stew, and can be saved for MANY leftover meals throughout the week.

Oh! I forgot to mention the Harmattan winds—they are the winds that happen from January to April(ish) that bring sand down from the Sahara. The air is often muggy and our eyes get dry pretty easily because of these winds. It was especially evident this morning when we were driving to church—the sky was all hazy and yellowish. Gillian pointed out the sky here is never blue, which is really true. Maybe once Harmattan season is over the sky will clear up.

I’m excited for tomorrow! Our group interview at WAAF is tomorrow morning at 10 am, so be praying for that! I also have my first Media and Society class with Marykate tomorrow, which I’m really looking forward to. Time for me to go to sleep now!

love love love

MaxMart

Another full day! We woke up this morning and decided to hit the pool with some of the people from the other dorm. We went to this hotel called The Wangara. One of our friends, Gabby, got us a group rate so we only had to pay three Cedi each to use the pool for the entire day. We got there about 12 and stayed til around 2. The pool was pretty funny—only half way full and in the deep end there was a fully submerged shade umbrella turned upside down. The hotel worker that showed us to the pool told one of the guys, “If any of you get in, get that umbrella out for us.” So amusing how all this works here. I didn’t swim but I did lay out, and it was really nice to get some sun and talk with friends. About 13 of us decided we’re going to take a trip to another beach about an hour away next weekend. I already forgot the name of the beach, but tomorrow we’re booking our hotel rooms and figuring out all the travel arrangements. I think to take a bus it’s only 1 Cedi, and the hotel room, split between 2 people, is like 20 Cedi. Not bad for a weekend trip! We’re really excited to finally go off on our own and plan this trip for ourselves.
Me, Gillian and Mallory at the pool

After the pool, Gillian and I decided we needed to go to the grocery store to buy some more things we couldn’t buy at the market. We went to the other major supermarket they have here—MaxMart. We took what’s called a “shared taxi” there, which you pick up at a set location and which takes all of its passengers to a set destination. Luckily, the destination our taxi was going to drops off right outside the grocery store. The taxi only cost 50 pesewas (cents) for each person, so we got a really good deal. MaxMart had everything familiar—Frosted Flakes and Prego Pasta Sauce, and stuff like that, but everything was SO expensive. Like, a box of Frosted Flakes was 15 Cedi (equivalent to 15 dollars). I don’t know who has the money to buy all this stuff! We Obronis can’t even afford that!! I know it’s expensive because it’s imported, but they’d only import it and charge that much if there was a demand for it and people were willing to pay that much! It boggles my mind. So needless to say, we only bought a few select things, including some Stir Fry sauce for our dinner! Right next to MaxMart is a HUGE vegetable stand, so we stopped by there and got a few vegetables for our stir fry. We got 6 onions, 6 carrots, and 3 bell peppers for 5 Cedi. Not bad!!

We had basically the same group from the pool over for dinner, and Gillian, Mallory and I cooked stir fry and chicken and rice. Everything was delicious, and the chicken was awesome. Very easy, and something I think I could easily make at home (mostly thanks to the sauce, but whatever). We had a lovely dinner and made cookies for dessert. The cookies didn’t turn out as planned, but it was instant mix from a box, and the only extra needed ingredients were water and butter, soooo I think they turned out the best they could. Afterward we watched Spanglish and ate more cookies.

Tomorrow, Gillian, Marykate and I are going to church with Naa. We’re very excited, especially because we hear church is so different here! After church we plan on going to the other market, to check it out and hopefully buy some stuff we still need (Tupperware, cereal, fruits, etc.).

Our bikes are doing so well! The Waffle is a trouper and Gillian’s bike is great, too. We’ve already ridden them many places and I really like having them. Riding them brings me back to a very nostalgic place and makes me happy.
our bikes!

I know this weekend has been very busy for many of my family and friends—please keep each other sane and happy and healthy. I miss you all and love you so much!

love love love

elizabeth

quest for cake

The house is quiet tonight as some of the girls left for a trip to a beach a few hours away. I enjoy the peace and quiet because it gives me peace of mind and solace. A lot of times I am overwhelmed by people always doing something, or there being people all around me. A former student who did the NYU in Ghana program mentioned that students have to get used to not having much, if any, alone time here—because you can’t travel at night by yourself (and not really in the day either) and there is always someone in the house or outside or around. It’s very true, and I’m remembering how much alone time means to me, and how important it is for me to have time and space to sit in my bed and watch TV. That’s why I used to stay up late at home or in NY, because it’s a time when everyone else is asleep and I can finally process and be. I’ve really enjoyed reading outside on the couch.

Anyway, today was really fun. I didn’t have any classes or anything, so Gillian and I woke up about 10 and hung around the house for a few hours. We decided a few days ago that our top priority this week was to get bikes in order to be able to ride around easier and maybe allow us to go places we wouldn’t otherwise go on foot (like the Post Office). One of the CRAs, Chris, took me, Gillian and Eric to this area of Accra called Nima (if you asked me to point to it on a map I’d have no idea what to do). We decided that it was only reasonable to spend between 60 and 65 Cedi on a bike, so we went up and down this main road going from bike shop to bike shop bargaining for bikes. One place went down to 60 for us, but didn’t have the bikes we wanted. Gillian and my main concern was getting a bike with a basket on the front. So girly but so essential. Anyway, Eric found a bike we wanted at one shop, and was bargaining with the guy with Chris, so G and I decided to just go ahead up to the next shop where we found the two cutest bikes—with baskets! They’re the very old fashioned kind of bikes, with the big wheel covers and high handle bars, and so adorable. Mine’s pink and Gillian’s is orange, and I’ve decided to name mine Waffle. Gillian named hers Sunnyside Up. But I digress. Anyway so these two bikes were perfect and just what we were looking for, but they were asking 95 Cedi for each. Long story short, after bargaining for literally an hour, and getting doted upon by this one guy who wanted to marry me and go to America, we got the price down to 65 Cedi for each bike! We were really proud of ourselves. Our blessed driver, Uncle Sammy, took us to and from Nima, and helped us load all three of our bikes in the van. Everyone here, especially all the NYU staff, is such a saint. When we got home, we rode our bikes to the corner store to get bread, and I’d forgotten how liberating it is to bike ride. I absolutely love it and love that it takes me back to my Arizona days. Seriously, I am flooded with joy.

After was had some fun riding around, Marika, Marykate, Gillian and I decided to get a cake for our CRA, Naa, who just got her driver’s license today. Here in Ghana it’s a big deal to get your license, and it’s a long process, so she was very very excited. We called several restaurants we knew of, and visited two of them, and none of them had a cake ready for pickup today. We finally found this place down the road called ChurCheese—the Ghanaian version of Chuck E Cheese—and bought 15 pieces of cake they were selling individually. They wanted to charge 3 Cedi a piece, so 45 Cedi total, and I negotiated it down to 40. I’m getting the hang of it and really having no shame calling bull on someone’s prices. When we got home from dinner we called an impromptu house meeting and surprised Naa. She was so excited and honored. Afterward we played a few rounds of Spoons, the card game, with her, and we had some good housemate bonding time. A few of us headed over to Church Crescent to hang out with them and watch the Alli G Show. Had lots of fun and are now back home. We’re gonna wake up and go to the pool all day tomorrow, then the market on Sunday. I could get used to this three day weekend thing.

Please continue to pray for Eric and his family—he lost his grandfather yesterday and they could use all the love and prayers you can offer.

I am doing well here—getting acclimated to my immediate environment, and beginning to understand how the people here work. I’m trying my best to participate in every custom they have here, and feeling good about the fact that this time will fly by. Gillian and I were talking about how we think it’ll be the perfect amount of time once it’s over. I’m not hoping for it to go by fast, but when it’s time to go home I think I’ll be ready. I miss home more and more everyday but know right here right now is where I need to be. Please don’t hesitate to write me letters or anything J

love love love

elizabeth

ps- I’ll post pictures of Waffle and Sunnyside Up tomorrow!

cheeseburgers, fries and fanmilk

sorry i didn't post last night- we fell asleep watching wedding crashers at like 11 pm. so lame, but sooo much fun. anyway, yesterday was a good day!

a few of us went up to Legon for our African Popular Music class (which is actually an NYU class, but was just held at the UG campus this week). our professor is awesome- he is british but has lived in ghana for something like 30 years or something, and knows everything about everything about music in sub-saharan africa and ghana. he was in several bands here in ghana in the 70s, and is just a cool guy. there are like 15 of us in the class though, the biggest he's ever had, so he's thinking about moving the class to the nyu academic center- which would be great for all of us because it means an hour more of sleep and not a long bus ride! also, while we were there we FINALLY found out the date and time for our media and society class. i had resolved to not take the class if they didn't have the date/times posted by thursday, and they did, so marykate and i are all set. it's on monday evening, which leaves monday during the day, all wednesday and all friday free! i can work on two of those days and have the third as a day off.

after legon we all came home and made lunch and just hung out. i played this new game called bananagrams with katie and some others. it's basically a way cooler scrabble. mom- we must invest in it when i get home. gillian and i talked for a few hours, which was so refreshing- she and i are much more alike than we ever thought, and it was nice to get to bounce ideas and such off each other.

for dinner we went to sunshine salads, where they prepared a full-on american meal for us! chesseburger, fries, and vanilla ice cream! IT WAS SO GOOD! the cheeseburger was a tad spicy, but the fries were literally the best french fries i've ever had, and the ice cream (the brand here is called FanMilk) was delicious. during desert, we were serenaded by two men- one playing a guitar and one playing a drum- and of course, we got the bob marley "no woman no cry" song, as well as some other classics. it was really fun and festive, and made for a really good dinner.

we came back and decided to watch a movie, and we all fell asleep to it. it was good to sleep in this morning- we have a free day to do whatever we want, so i think gillian and i are gonna get bikes at some point, and there was talk of going to a local hotel pool and laying out all day. we'll see what happens!

also, i forgot to mention in my last post, we experienced our first power outage here in the dorms! it lasted for only like 2 minutes, but everything seriously went pitch black. guess the surge was too strong for our generators, even. it was cool though.

hope all is well at home. i love you all so!

elizabeth

no woman no cry

Today was good for my soul. Let me back up though and start with yesterday- Obama’s inauguration! Despite any personal politics, one cannot deny it was a momentous occasion and an important moment in history. I was overjoyed that I got experience the swearing in of the first African American president in Africa. It was incredible seeing everyone gathered young and old, black and white, American and African, rallying together for the same cause- hope. I was almost moved to tears at one point in the program because the hope that Obama has instilled in his African brothers and sisters is incomparable to any hope he may have instilled in his American people. They admire him, perhaps because they identify racially with him, but also because he is a leader, and no one can argue with that. They trust that he will bring issues of third world countries to the forefront, and will not neglect them. Let’s hope they’re right. Anyway, spending inauguration evening at the W.B. DuBois center was incredible, and the pictures I posted yesterday should prove it. Lots of live music, vendors selling Obama stuff, and tons and tons of people. The moment he was sworn in everyone was hooping and hollering, and throughout his entire speech people were clapping as if they were really there. Such joy and hope he has instilled in these people.

Yesterday I also had my first Society, Culture and Modernization in Ghana class, which was great. Gillian and several of my friends are in the class and the professor has been teaching at the University of Ghana for over 40 years. The book he wrote on Ghana is what we’ll use as our textbook, and he seems very well versed in anything and everything Ghana. Each week we will cover a different topic of Ghanaian culture- past and present. This week we learned about the different ethnic groups of Ghana, and in the future we’ll learn about marriage practices, religious practices, politics, etc. At some point during the semester we’ll even get to go to his hometown in a very rural part along the coast and spend the weekend there! He says that’s the “real Ghana experience.”

Today was a very relaxing day- no classes! It was so nice to be able to sleep in, though I was woken by a phone call from Jennifer, my professor for my internship seminar. She said she sent my resume to WAAF and they want to interview the three of us together on Monday morning. I guess they’ll decide from there which two (or three) of us they want. I’m very happy that I’ll at least be given the chance to interview with them! So anyway, I slept in and lounged around the house all day while everyone was gone. When Marykate and Marika got back we went to a street in our neighborhood called Apapa, where lots of vegetables and household goods are sold. It’s very dirty and smells horrendous, and even though Marika went with the intention of buying food, she quickly opted not to. There were chickens running around in the streets, pecking at the trash in the gutters, and it was just fowl all around (ha ha). But, it’s a nice walk from our dorm and if a good street to walk down if you just want to walk (something that’s hard to do here, at least alone).
Apapa
After I got back I laid outside on one of our couches and read and dozed off. The weather was perfect and the shade was good and the sounds of bicycle vendors honking their little horns (the ones that sound like a child’s tricycle horn) were enough to put me right to sleep. It was so wonderful getting to rest my body and soul.

We went to Tante Marie’s for dinner, and everything was really good but super spicy, so I didn’t eat too much. Afterwards, pretty much the entire program went to Labadi beach for Reggae night, where a band plays live reggae music on the beach and everyone drinks and dances and is merry! Little fire pits all over the beach light up the night for dancing, and it’s a really good time. I think we’ll all be going there many Wednesday nights because it’s a good place and time to unwind and just dance with friends. Here's a link to a very popular Bob Marley song here, "No Woman, No Cry". I've heard it at both Reggae night and at that other bar/club we went to last week and it's one of the essentials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg2n039txnk

We have to get up early for a class at 10:30 at Legon- African Popular Music. I’m really excited about this class, and hope at some point we can learn how to play drums or something!

Hope all is well at home. Please keep each other safe and love love love.

PS- a very beautiful collaboration called "Yes, We Can" was played a lot last night, and I really like the way the artsits did it. Click here to listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

president obama

Vendors at the W.E.B. DuBoise Center selling Obama shirts, hats, and bags made out of recycled goods from Ghana.

A Ghanaian waving an American flag. Unity.

As Obama was being sworn in

Sunset in Ghana. Beautiful moment this day and in history.

My friend Marykate and I in our dresses!

first day of "classes"

Today was the first day of classes here at the NYU Academic Center! My class wasn’t until 2 but I didn’t get to sleep in because we had to, yet again, trek to Legon to see if class times were posted for the class Marykate and I want to take. Guess what? They weren’t. “Come back tomorrow” is the token response, and I’m beginning to wonder if classes EVER start here. Ha. Markyate is checking tomorrow to see if the times will be posted, though we highly doubt it.

I had my internship seminar today, which was really good. There are about ten of us doing it, so the class is really small and meets once a week to discuss our internships, problems we’re having within them, interesting developmental issues, assigned readings pertaining to development, etc. Today, specifically, we discussed our expectations and fears with this internship, and I think we got reassured about a lot of worries we had as a collective group (will our employers take us seriously, will there be a communication gap/issue, will we be assigned menial or overwhelming tasks, etc.). Jennifer, our professor, told everyone where she sent our resumes off to, and she didn’t send mine to WAAF. Two other girls also wanted to work there, and apparently they only had two spots for interns, so Jennifer only sent two resumes for them to look at. I’m a bit frustrated because I feel I’m well qualified and perhaps Jennifer should have sent all three for WAAF to look at and decide which two they wanted. Either way, she sent my resume to SHARP, a Ghana-specific HIV/AIDS awareness organization. Their website is http://ghanasharp.org/ I haven’t done too much research on it, but from what I have seen, they do good work. And I know I’ll be useful wherever I’m placed, and that’s ultimately all that matters. I know I should be flexible and not picky, but I had my heart set on WAAF since I applied to study abroad in Ghana in early September. My biggest frustration is just having my heart set on something and my direction being completely changed not by my doing. I guess I need to trust God more and stop thinking I get to make my own plans. This is all for good, no matter where I work, and SHARP seems to be a very good organization. Just not the one I had set out to work at. We’ll see. I may talk to Jennifer if tomorrow I’m still feeling as bummed as I do now. But all is well and God works and I’m not in control. This is not about me. And if this is my biggest problem right now, I am truly, truly blessed.

After class I came home and did what I always do when frustrated- take a nap. It always, always helps for me to just go to sleep and not think about anything. The nap was wonderful and after I woke up I called Eric, we talked for a bit, and hearing his voice makes everything better. Please pray for him and his family; they’re going through a hard time as his grandfather is very, very ill.

After the nap we went to dinner at Tante Marie’s, then a few of us went over to Church (the other dorm) to watch Planet Earth with some of the girls over there. Umm Planet Earth is SO cool. Anyone who hasn’t seen it, see it. It’s on Discovery Channel and is truly amazing. The bonding time with the other girls was nice, and it was nice to get out of our dorm and hang in theirs for a while.

Off to bed now- I have one class tomorrow at 10, and then I’m free the rest of the day to read and write and do whatever else I choose!

Hope all is well at home.

love love love

this is Solomon's Lodge, where 15 of us girls live. we all call it "the real world house".

week one is done!

At the market yesterday...pigs feet in the foreground. mmm.

Can’t believe it’s been ONE WEEK since we’ve been here. Time is so weird here because it feels like the days drag on and fly by all at the same time. We’ve been here a week and it feels like it’s been a month and a day all at the same time. Pretty crazy. So today’s post today probably. I realize I’ve gotten pretty wordy in my previous posts, though it helps me process the day as much as it helps you know what I’m doing, so everyone wins! But we didn’t do a whole whole lot today, and I have to get to bed early.

We started the day with brunch at Headlines Hospitality- the very first restaurant we ate at (the picture of the food in one of my first blogs was taken there). They served us all sorts of brunchy foods and it was SO good! We had bacon, omelets, sausage, croissants, toast, and fruit! Once again, we had fresh squeezed pineapple juice that literally tastes like pineapples. Fruit here is served as a dessert, and fresh pineapple at the end of a meal is typical and oh so delicious. They even made us a huge sheet cake decorated like the Ghanaian flag that said “Welcome to Ghana NYU!” and that was really good. Everything was so good and a great reminder of home.

After the brunch we headed to the Labadi Beach- right near where the art gallery is. We heard it was going to be crowded and kind of dirty, but it wasn’t too bad! We found a nice spot kind of to ourselves, and just sunbathed, read, and some played Frisbee and went for walks. Once we settled vendors would come up to us trying to sell stuff, but they eventually got the hint we were not interested and wanted to be left alone. There were a few people selling fruit and fried plantain chips which were delicious. I bought 3 bananas and a pineapple for ONE Cedi (that's ONE dollar, folks). Also, I bought 2 bags of plantain chips for a Cedi. Ah I could eat fruit all day long because it's sooo cheap. The beach wasn’t gorgeous, but it was very nice and a good way to rest for a few hours.

After the beach we went to the Accra Mall, which is seriously like a regular shopping mall. So strange to see in the middle of Accra, since huge complexes like shopping malls just don’t exist here. It was like stepping back into America or something. The mall had a supermarket with everything we needed. The prices were more expensive than in the markets, but they had packaged meat and certain foods the market just doesn’t sell. We came back with tons of groceries and Gillian, Marika, Marykate and I made dinner! Gillian and I were in charge of the rice while Marika and Marykate made the vegetables and chicken- it was all delicious, though Gillian and I need to perfect the rice. Hopefully by the end of the semester we’ll be rice geniuses. Marika, Marykate and I at the beach!

Tomorrow is the first day of classes! I only have my internship seminar tomorrow, so we’ll see how everything works out with that!

I hope all is well at home and that everyone is safe, happy, and healthy. I think about everyone often and see things that remind me of all of you everywhere I go.


love love love

peeing in gutters (ah ghana!)

Boy did I have experiences today. Gillian and I slept through the University of Ghana orientation, because we figured it’d be more of the same we’ve heard from everyone- no drinking the water, take your malaria meds, wear bug spray, etc. And from what I heard from those who went, that’s exactly what it was. So I’m not to bummed that I got to sleep in until 10 to miss that. Gillian and I then encountered our first bit of bartering as we hailed a taxi to take us to the post office in Cantonments, the next neighborhood over. In Ghana, taxi fares aren’t like in the states. You tell the driver where you’re going and then barter for the price before you even get in. He said it’d cost two Cedi, and we said, no, 1 Cedi and 50 pesewas (cents). He said no he can’t do that, so we said okay, and moves on our merry way. He called beckoned us back and said that he’d take us for 1.50! So it works! The key to bartering, according to my CRA, Naa, is to just walk away if they won’t take your deal or won’t even cooperate with you, and most of the time they’ll call you back to haggle. So we made it to the post office which is like a 5 minute drive away. It costs $1.50 to mail a letter to the U.S. and 90 cents to mail a postcard. You put the letters in a bag labeled “United States” that just kinda hangs off the side of a counter. Again, I have full faith that my letters will get to where they need to be, but only because this is how to country operates. In America, forget it, I’d never just drop my mail in a sack and expect it to get anywhere. We decided to walk back to our dorm from the post office because we didn’t figure it’d be that far. Well, it took us about 30 minutes in the heat, but we didn’t get lost and we made it! We each had a 1.5 liter water bottle and we each drank almost all of ours on the walk, so we stayed hydrated and healthy. On the way home I bought another phone card for my cell phone, and when I said thank you to her in Twi, she got so excited and started clapping and hollering. They get SO excited here when you know even a phrase in their language. It again makes you see how stubborn us Westerners are. If a Ghanaian, Mexican, German, whoever, came to our country, it’s expected that they will know your language. Them getting “hello” or “good morning” right in English doesn’t impress us at all. These people are so gracious and so excited when you try to relate to them on their native level. We also stopped into a drug store to buy some mosquito repellent cream that our director, Christa, recommended, and the guy laughed at us when we tried to buy it. Maybe it’s for black skin or something, but he seemed amused that we wanted some.

After we got back we went to Kaneshi market which was incredible but entirely too overwhelming. I can only go there like once a month, otherwise I’d pull my hair out. Before we got there though, we waited for the other vans at this school playground. Their playgrounds consists mainly of dirt and soccer nets (they LOVE soccer here and are SO good), but outside the playground were men cooking pigs. Like stick an entire pig on a metal spoke and turn over hot coals it kind of cooking. It was kinda creepy at first but Leigh and I got out and talked to the man who cooks the pigs. He said he cooks these pigs for one of the 5 star restaurants here in Accra. He said they serve the pig as is (head, tongue, eyes, feet, everything except the intestines, which some people do eat) and put it on a platter. I guess some places like Hawaii do this, but it was really foreign to me. While we were waiting for the other vans, I realllly had to pee, and there weren’t any bathrooms around. So one of the CRAs directed me to this alley way where there are two stalls, one for girls and one for boys. These stalls are LITERALLY just walls in an alley way. No toilet, no nothing. Just a slanted ground that drains all the urine into a little gutter. So needless to say I practically peed, squatting, in the street, but it was really funny and I guess what these school children do. By the way, there’s not toilet paper in any of the UG bathrooms, I guess they just don’t believe in it.
The locals roasting pigs

So then we went to the market. It is three levels, indoors and outdoors. The outdoor portion surrounds the perimeter of a large, three story warehouse, and is where all the vegetables and meat is sold. The ground floor is all food, too. Mostly vegetables and sauces and spices and such. The second floor is where all the household goods are sold. Everyone has a little stand and sits outside their stand, waiting for people to walk by. They sell everything from crackers to toilet paper to pots and pans to kitchen knives to trashcans. I tried bartering with a woman for some rice, but she wouldn’t even begin to bargain with me. Naa said that at the markets, bargaining is the name of the game, but this one woman would not budge, so I just walked away. The third floor was AMAZING- Mom, you would’ve died. There are stands set up much like on the second floor, but it’s only full of fabrics. Every color and design you could imagine, and most of it is printed here in Ghana. Mallory and I walked around that floor for an hour or so, and each bought three different fabrics to have dresses made from. Marjorie, the dress maker, is coming to our dorm tonight, so I can give her the fabric I bought and hopefully soon I’ll have a Ghanaian dress or two! ***IF ANYONE WANTS A DRESS/SKIRT/TOP MADE, PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR MEASUREMENTS AND WHAT COLOR FABRIC YOU’D LIKE!*** Browsing through fabric

All the women here wear these authentic dresses with these very distinct patterns, and I’m so excited to have a few to wear here! We went then went back downstairs to the first floor where all the food is. It is customary here to ask someone if you can take their picture before you take it. This being said, I’d asked everyone I’d taken pictures of if I could take their picture, and everyone had obliged. As I was walking down the stairs to the first floor, I had a perfect view of part of the market, and decided since there was no one in particular to ask for a picture, it wouldn’t be a problem. I took a picture without flash and Mallory took one after with flash, and all of a sudden an old man came up to me with a closed fist, shaking it at me and screaming at me asking me why I would take a picture. All these women at their stands, and even some men, got between me and him and pulled him away from me. I was so rattled and frightened and just overwhelmed.

The picture that caused great havoc.

Mallory and I then proceeded to get separated from our group and couldn’t find them when it was time for us all to meet back up, which was also overwhelming. We finally got Chris, one of the CRAs, and he led us back to the bus where I could finally breathe again. I don’t know how often I can go to that market, it’s so intense and crazy. But very fun and I am sooo glad I got fabric BECAUSE…

Marjorie, the dress maker, came by our dorm tonight and took our measurements and our dress designs and is making our dresses for us! Each dress/outfit costs 5 Cedi!!! That’s it. I’m having two dresses made right now, but know I will get MANY more made in the coming months. She’s incredible and so inexpensive, I almost feel bad for giving her so little money. Again, if anyone wants anything made, send me your measurements! Oh, and she said she’d have our dresses made by TUESDAY! It’s Saturday night! A bunch of us are hopefully volunteering at the Obama inauguration festival here, and we will get to wear our dresses to that! I am SO excited!

Now Gillian and I are resting and just got off Skype with Charlie!! So good to see him- he brought much laughter to the dorm room. I’m heading to bed relatively soon- another exhausting day. Tomorrow we’re having brunch made for us at a restaurant, then going to the beach!!! Hope all is well!

love love love

in love with african art

Today was one of the busiest days we’ve had, and I got the least amount of sleep I’ve gotten this entire trip last night, but strangely enough, I felt very rested and not too tired or exhausted today. We spent a lot of the day in the shade, and didn’t do too much walking around. We started off at the Artist Alliance Gallery right by Labadi Beach (the beach we will visit on Sunday afternoon). The Gallery is beautiful and has beautiful work from artists all over Africa. I even found two paintings that I LOVE. Sometimes I wish I had endless amounts of money so I could collect art from all the places I’ve been/will go. Mom- if you’re looking for new art to decorate the house, let me know ;) I’d be happy to purchase. The owner of the gallery, Professor Glover, showed us around and talked to us about the traditional and contemporary African art. Traditional art, he said, always served a function. It “performed” as he calls it. He pointed out that museums in America that display African Kente clothe in by hanging it on the walls have it all wrong. The finely woven cloth was meant to perform by being worn—they were not made to sit as table cloths or hang on walls as décor. He had some paintings hanging in the gallery and they were all really beautiful.
We couldn't take pictures inside the gallery, but the doors were decorated with these metal sculptrues! :)

I forgot to mention that yesterday we went to the U.S. Embassy and the Ambassador gave us a little speech, welcoming us to Ghana, telling us about the customs, etc. etc. They really tried to recruit people to join the Foreign Service. I thought it was an interesting time to be giving a recruiting pitch, but I guess they had their target audience sitting in front of them.

But, back to today. After the museum we went to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. Kwame was the first president of Ghana, and before he became president in 1960, was active in gaining Ghanaian independence from Britain. He married an Egyptian I order to further his main goal was to bring Africa together for the sake of Africa. He’s a revered figure here in Ghana, and many dedications, festivals and special events are still given in his name and honor.
Standing next to the Mausoleum

My friends Gillian and Mallory

We went to the University of Ghana again. The whole registering process is getting kinda old, especially when all we did today was get our ID cards and it took 3 hours. Honestly. I don’t even know what took that long, because from the time we turned in paperwork to put ourselves in the computer, til the time we were called in to take our picture, we were waiting around for 3 hours. Nothing is speedy here and when it’s hot outside, it tries your patience. Anyway, now I have a new ID card! I’m officially a University of Ghana student. :)

We also met with representatives from various NGOs and non-profits, and I met two of the recruiters from the West African AIDS Foundation. They were very kind and I think I’ll enjoy working with them a lot. Hopefully I will have an interview with them sometime next week- I’ll keep you posted on how all that goes.

Then it was time for dinner at Tante Marie’s- Our Monday, Wednesday, Friday dive. Good food and good company as always.

Now I’m catching up on all my emails and registration for classes, etc. Tomorrow Gillian and I are skipping the Univ. of Ghana orientation to sleep in. We’re going to pretend we don’t feel well. Most people at this point actually haven’t been feeling well at least for a little bit. Diarrhea is common among students here throughout the entire semester as we get acclimated to the new food, water, environment, etc. I haven’t been too sick, but there have been some students who stay home the entire day because they’re so dehydrated and sick. I’m grateful my stomach is tough and that I’m feeling alright so far.

Tomorrow we’re going to the Univ. of Ghana after the orientation to finish registering for classes or something. I’m actually not sure what we’re doing tomorrow, but apparently something. At this point we’re just going with the flow and doing what they tell us.

Some random things: I don’t miss any food from home, yet. It’s been exactly a week since we began our journey here from JFK. There are really good European cookies called Digestives stocked in our pantry (gross name, delicious taste). That’s all for now.

love love love

hey jude

Another full day! We started with a lecture on religion in Ghana. Ghana is primarily a Christian nation. The last census was taken in 2000, and showed at 69% of the Ghanaians are Christian. However, because religion is a public affair in Ghana, the number of “churched” Christians (devout Christians) is around 15%. One of the most interesting thigns I learned about African Christianity is that while they believe in one sovereign God (big “G”) they also believe in many gods (small “g”), but they don’t consider themselves polytheistic. This is because the smaller gods are intermediaries and helpers of the God. The gods are just messengers for the big God, and gods and Gods are never equal. There are shrines set up for the gods, but ultimately, the praises of these gods are a reflection of the praises of and gratitude towards the big God. Islam was introduced uninentioally when traders from the Middle East came through Ghana and began setlling and intermarrying within the Ghanaian population in the 15th century. The rhetoric of Ghana is very religious—many of the taxi cabs’ back windows have religious stickers on the back. Even in the recent Ghanaian election, church songs were appropriated as the candidates theme songs, interchanging the word “God” with the candidates’ name.

Today we also met the NYU Faculty, which was really interesting. All of them are wonderful and every class sounds great, so I’m doing some shuffling around still trying to decide exactly what I want to take this semester. I want to be productive enough to make a lasting impact on my surroundings, but to rest enough to find peace for my soul at the same time.

I made a list during one of our sessions today about things I have forgotten to mention in the blog, so here they are:

The song that was playing on the van coming from the airport was called “Barack Obama” by Blakk Rasta- a Ghanaian rapper. Do yourself a favor and watch the video/listen to the song- it’s great and will get stuck in your head all day, I promise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L85YF0pyPH0

Also, some of you may want to write me.

My address for letters and USPS packages is:

Elizabeth Shelby
PMB CT 84
Cantonments, Accra
Ghana

Any other form of post (FedEx, DHL), please email me and I’ll send you another address to mail to.

Tonight we went to an outdoor bar/dance club with a live Ghanaian band playing tons of drums and beads and moroccas and the like. It was SO much fun to be outside and dancing! However, it was incredibly hot and crowded, and having already been out in the sun all day, we smelled disgusting. That’s just how it goes here, and you just get used to always being dirty and looking kind of awful. With all the dirt, sweat, layers of sunscreen and bugspray our bodies accumulate throughout the day, a nice shower beckons us before bed. But anyway, it was so much fun and all the girls just danced together to local Ghanaian music while couples danced all around us. The band played Ghanaian music, but also played covers of very Western songs like Hey Jude. It was sooo funny to hear them singing that song and playing it really well on their drums and other crazy instruments. I guess music is the unviersal language. The club/bar/dance place apparently also has a lot of older, European gentlemen with young, Ghanaian women, and put two and two together, it’s very apparent that these women are these men’s escorts for the evening. Very strange to see so out in the open. “Women of the night,” as they’re called here, would dance on the floor near us, and grab guys and drag them on the floor too. Very interesting and fun experience.

I’m exhausted and we have to wake up again early tomorrow (will this ever end?!). Tomorrow we’re going to the largest art gallery in West Africa, so I’m excited!

love love love

elizabeth (see pictures below)

ps- Aunt Isha, left-handed people can still use their left hand to write, but all Ghanaians are taught from the time they're born that all activity should be done with the right hand, so many learn to write with their left hand and end up ambidextrous!

A heart shape I found in the dirt at the University of Ghana. I think the heart was made from old tire rubber or something, and it was just laying in the dirt in that exact shape. This is my desktop now. :)

This is what registration looks like- a mob scene! I bet you could guess who I was with?

Dancing tonight at the club (whose name escapes me right now). The sheen on my face is PURE sweat- I was literally dripping.

the internet sucks

Some interesting facts about Ghana:

The flag is red, yellow and green with a black star in the middle. It was designed by a woman who is still alive and living in Accra today. She is in her 80s. There was a contest after Ghana gained independence from Great Britain in 1957 to design the new flag, and she won. The color red represents the blood of the people who fought for independence, the yellow is for the gold found on the Gold Coast of Ghana, and the green is for its natural resources (it is a country rich in resources, though it has little means of manufacturing and processing its own resources). The black star in the middle of the flag represents the black people of Ghana.

It feels like we’ve been here for months and it’s funny when we remind ourselves we’ve only been here for three full days. I can’t believe I’ll be living here for four months. I often wonder if it will go by fast or slow, but I’m sure I’ll have a better idea once school gets started. I’m actually really looking forward to school, especially the classes I (hope to) have at the University of Ghana! We went there today to see the campus and register for classes, and it was a totally new experience. Definitely something I will cherish forever. First of all, they register for all their classes by going to each department, selecting a class, and registering on paper. They do almost nothing on the computer, much like the “olden days” when our parents went to college (sorry Mom!). It was so fun though because The University of Ghana is a sprawling campus that reminds me a lot of A&M, except no football team, and dirt roads everywhere. But it’s beautiful and very austere. A girl who lives in Solomon’s, Marykate, and I walked around trying to find where to register for a Media and Society class, and ended up being referred to, no lie, like 5 different building because no one knew where exactly to send us. I was smiling the whole time because it was so funny to see how (to Westerners) unorganized it is. I told Marykate that if this was our system in America, I would have no faith that my registration requests would ever even go through, because in some cases, you literally register on a loose piece of notebook paper. But it works and I have faith in their system!

So, speaking of classes, I hope to take the Media and Society class I was talking about, which should be really interesting since I’m a Communications major, and we take classes much like that in New York (some even have that exact title!). It’ll be interesting to note the differences between the way they see media and society and the way we do in New York. I also want to take a 2 credit Traditional African Dance class at the University of Ghana, which I think Gillian and our new friend Mallory are taking, too. J It should be really fun! At the NYU Academic Center I plan on taking Pan-Africanism, African Popular Music, Society, Culture, and Modernization in Ghana, and my Internship with the West African AIDS Foundation, which counts as four credits. So this semester I plan on taking 18 credits, all of which will end up being electives at NYU. Marykate and I are trying to get the Media and Society class to count as a requirement for our program at NYU, but we’ll see how the department handles it.

Today we visited the two universities here in Accra- Ashesi University and the Univ. of Ghana. Ashesi is the private university that has only about 300 students enrolled, and the Univ. of Ghana has 33,000 students! Suffice it to say, since I’ve been looking for the “real” college experience since I’ve been in college, taking classes at the University of Ghana is a dream. I’ve heard many people say Ashesi is much like NYU- full of only those students who can afford (or had the grades to get a scholarship) for school. And as I mentioned earlier, public university is paid for by the government in Ghana. We also learned some cultural do’s and don’t’s in one of our lectures today. You are NOT supposed to use your left hand for anything, and extending it, waving it or eating with it is the ultimate sign of disrespect. Also, unlike in America, you must knock anytime you enter someone’s office, and before you begin asking someone (your director for instance) you must say “Hi! How are you doing today?” and genuinely be interested and be willing to spend a few minutes inquiring about the other person before you even begin to request something.

Patience is a virtue here. Our meetings almost always start at least 10 minutes late, and when the director or professors come in to teach, they don’t apologize or even act like they know they’re late.

I also learned my Ghanaian name today! First names are determined by the day you were born. So for each day of the week there’s a girls name and a guy’s name. And then your last name is given to you by lineage. Since I was born on a Friday, my name is Afia (pronounced Ah-FEE-ah).

I think that’s all I’ll write for tonight. I’m exhausted!!! It’s usually around 90 degrees here, with 90% humidity, and it wears you out!! I forgot what it’s like to live in a place as hot as this. Reminds me of my Arizona days, but with humidity.

love love love,

Afia

tuesday 1/13

Today was a great day. I finally got to see the village or town that I was hoping for. As I mentioned before, the last few days have felt like we’ve been operating tunnel-vision through a maze. We live in a neighborhood called Lebone, which is one of the nicer neighborhoods in Accra. It’s primarily made up of homes and a few restaurants, but there are lots of people on the sides of the roads selling everything from toilet paper to calling cards to bananas. The area of the city to the west of us is called Osu, and that is where “Circle” is. It’s kinda the Times Square of Accra, if that makes any sense. It’s much more open and there are driving circles like in Europe with cars traveling down both sides of the street driving much like they do in NY- kinda crazy and without following too many rules. Lined on the side of the road from end to end are vendors who will yell “Hello!” to you in order to draw you in to see their goods. Street vendors here are much more aggressive here than they are even in NY. They will come up to you and follow you and walk with you, handing you bracelets and wooden carved paddles and Obama T-shirts. No I’m not joking. Speaking of, everyone is really pro-Obama here, clearly, and have a lot of pride. In a letter I wrote to Eric I even mentioned that in the van coming from the airport they played this song (on repeat) about Obama. It sounded like local Ghanaians singing it’s pretty incredible to see the pride they have for him here. There’s a festival happening on inauguration day that I think we’re all going to. How cool to be here in Africa when the first African-American president is sworn in. Anyway, lined down the streets are people selling t-shirts, jerseys, beaded jewelry, Ghanaian flags, trashcans and other household appliances, fabrics and any other knickknack you can think of. That’s what makes me thing it’s a lot like Time Square- everything is overpriced and very touristy, except for maybe the fabrics. When we visit actual markets though I think we’ll begin to see some more fruit stands and handmade fabric stands and such. I’m just guessing though. There’s a grocery store in town called Koala, which has a lot of American brands and more specialty foods like Barilla pasta and stuff. We’re visiting that tomorrow.

The Circle in Osu

We ate at this place called Freddie’s, whose menu was very familiar (finally!). They serve all sorts of American food, and I ordered a chicken and cheese sandwhch. Mmmm it was good to give my mouth a break from all the spiciness. During lunch the power would go out for a few minutes and no one reacts or seems to notice at all. Christa, our associate director, says that in this part of the continent there are power fluctuations and power goes on and off all the time. It makes me laugh when I think about how we would (and do) react in America if the lights went out for even a few seconds. We have to turn the lights off and the AC off every time we’re not using them, because electricity is very expensive here and there’s not enough of it to use wastefully. Often Gillian and I use our computers in the dark just because we realize how unnecessary most additional lighting is.

Momma, these are some of the many fabrics! :)

Anyway, switching gears, today we also spent a lot of time at the Academic Center, which is NYU’s facility where we have our NYU classes. As I think I’ve mentioned, we can also take classes at University of Ghana, Legon (the public university) and Ashesi University (the small, private university of about 300 students). Did you know the government fully pays for all public university education? In return, upon graduation students spend a year doing “Federal Service,” which basically is a way to thank and repay your country for your education. It’s not the military or anything, but basically a year of full-time volunteer work. You receive a small stipend but no salary. In fact, our CRAs (Community Residential Advisors) are all doing their Federal Service now, and were assigned to the NYU Ghana campus. Anyway, at our Academic Center we had a few lectures on the history of Ghana, health safety (we know, it’s dangerous here, take your pills, wear sunscreen), and then took a Twi class taught by our Director, Auntie Anyidoh. I’ll practice my Twi below. There are over 40 languages spoken in Ghana, but Akan is spoken by about 40% of the population. Twi is a dialect of Akan, and is what most people in Accra speak, in addition to English and most likely several other dialects.

Maakye (pronounced mah-chey) is Good Morning

Wo de sen? (pronounced Woah-day-sin) is What is your name?

Me de Elizabeth (meh-day) is My name’s Elizabeth.

Thank you is “Medaase” (pronounced meh-dah-say)- we use this word a lot!

Yes is “Aane” (ah-nay) No is “Daabi” (Dehhh-bee)

The numbers to 5 are: Baako, Mmienu, Mmiensa, Enan, Enum

That’s all I’ll practice for now. Time for dinner at Sunshine Salads, the other place we have a meal plan to. It’s supposed to serve more American type foods. I’ll update later!

love love love

i'm here!

these thoughts are sporadic as i am copying and pasting various parts of my email to my mom for brevity's sake. however, I AM HERE IN GHANA! and it is fabulous. i miss everyone at home, but am making a new family here which is wonderful.



We still haven't been to what they call "Circle," or the center of town, and haven't gone to any markets or anything yet. I keep forgetting that it's only the first full day here and that I have four months to see and experience everything but I am just itching to go walking around the local markets. We may do that on Saturday, I think. The trip we had planned on Saturday to go to a Torgome Village got cancelled because the chief's mother died a few days ago and they are throwing a funeral this weekend. In Ghana funerals are huge celebrations and parties, much like birthdays are celebrated. We were going to see a naming eremony, visit with local cheifs, learn kentle weaving and pottery making etc. I think the trip will get rescheduled at some point, hopefully! Sunday we may go to the beach. The girl, Katie, who's been here two semesters already said that there's an incredible beach about an hour away where you can learn how to surf and rent a tent for like $3 and hang out all day. Sounds amazing! She said she'd take us soon.



Gillian and I waiting outside an exchange Bureau to exchange money. (Great exchange rate btw!). It was about a billion degrees outside so we're looking good.

everyone is SO nice! We are all getting along so well. There are two dorms or "houses"- Solomon's Lodge and Church Crescent. I'm in Solomon's Lodge which is the newer house- they've only had it for two semesters now. It's SO nice- nicer than the dorms at NYU. It kinda feels like what I think a sorority house feels like. There's one HUGE kitchen with many stovetops and refrigerators, a living room, two breakfast tables, and then like 10 or so bedrooms, each which house either singles or doubles. There are 15 girls living in my house, and we are all starting to become like a little family. There are 5 guys on the trip, but they're all in Church Crescent. We've had some amazing food and some very spicy food too! Ghanaian food is very spicy and I do not like spicy, but it's pretty good. Tonight we went to Tante Marie's for dinner, which is one of the places we have a meal plan to on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. We had chicken and rice, yams and ice cream with peanuts in it for dessert. They LOVE fruit- like pineapple and papaya and have it for dessert.

This is what I ate for lunch- a bunch of traditional Ghanaian dishes. White rice, gelled rice, two types of meat which have Ghanaian names that I can't remember, yams, fried plantains, and some pasty thing on the right hand side which tasted awful. But I'm proud of myself for trying all of it and eating most of it! On the top left corner you'll see a water bottle and FRESH pineapple juice made literally of pineapples only. Delicious.



We basically spent the majority of the day going through basic orientation type things. We went to lunch at a restaurant that served the really spicy food. It was an outdoor restaurant under this big canopy- so beautiful! What I've seen of Accra isn't what I pictured, visually, about what Ghana/Africa would look like, though I don't really know what I imagined. Perhaps it's because we haven't gone to town yet, and we've just been in our neighborhood (Lebone- pronounced Leh-Bone-A). All the houses are surrounded by high walls and so it kinda feels like I'm in a tunnel vision maze almost. Like I don't know my way around and the streets are all kinda walled in from these walls guarding the houses that it's not open or anything. But we're going to take many weekend trips all around Ghana, so hopefully we will see different parts of the country in different ways. I'm excited! Did you know we can get clothes for us made for us in any pattern or design we want (or can create!) for only $5??? We just buy the fabrics from the markets and take it to this tailor in town. How incredible!


I haven't started my internship yet. I think I meet with my director on Thursday to discuss how that all works. But I'm really excited to get started. Gillian is considering doing it with me, which would be so great to get to go to work together. She's a great roommate and we're getting along so well. Thanks for everyone who has sent their prayers to heaven. I truly feel blessed to be here in such an oftentimes uncomfortable environment, because I know I will be stretched and grown in ways unimaginable.

For the worried family members- I am taking my malaria meds every single day- Gillian and I wake up and the first thing we do the second we get out of bed is take our pills. Using lots of bug spray and keeping our room cool. We boiled the water we'll use to brush our teeth tonight. Staying healthy and safe. :)



Sending love to all!!!

LOVELOVELOVE

ghana, morocco and beyond

1/10/09
Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you know, I am heading to Ghana for the spring semester! I am currently a sophomore studying at NYU, majoring in communications. In addition to its primary campus in the heart of Manhattan, NYU has 10 study abroad campuses around the world, and urges all of its students to spend a semester abroad. I have chosen to spend the second semester of my sophomore year in Ghana, a country located in West Africa. I chose to study in Accra, Ghana to continue the HIV/AIDS prevention and education work I began this past semester in New York City. In August 2008, I began an internship at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS. LIFEbeat’s mission is to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention education to America’s youth by teaming up with the music industry to reach America’s most infected population. (For more information about this wonderful organization, please visit www.lifebeat.org.) My time at LIFEbeat and my taking several classes about historic and contemporary Africa continued to nurture in me a growing, global awareness of the destruction caused by this epidemic. During my four month stay in Ghana, I will be interning with the West African AIDS Foundation, which is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) aimed at providing awareness and education to those who, heartbreakingly, may otherwise be ignorant to the simple prevention techniques. (For more information about the West African AIDS Foundation, please visit www.waafweb.org.)

In addition to studying and working in Ghana, I plan on traveling all around Africa during my four month stay. During spring break, I will spend a week in Morocco with the NYU Navigators (or Navs), the Christian ministry I belong to at NYU. Navs has become my family away from home, and through Navs, I have met most of my dearest friends. Navs is a nationwide ministry with many college branches, and it fosters love and community among its members with a greater goal of helping those in need around us. Living in New York City for 8 months of the year has certainly taught me how many needs are unmet in the poor and hurting community, and as a family, the Navigators and I work diligently to love, like Jesus, those whom the world dismisses.

In Morocco, about 20 of us will be working for a week at the Village of Hope in Ain Leuh. The Village of Hope is committed to establishing permanent homes for orphaned or unwanted children up to the age of 18. The Village of Hope places 10 children each in 10 housing units, where a married couple essentially adopts and provides for their 10 children. These couples have promised to dedicate their lives to raising, nurturing, and educating these children until the reach the age of 18. Because there are 10 children per house and 10 houses, there are 100 children whose lives will forever be changed by these couples’ selflessness! As a team, the Navs will travel to Ain Leuh to help the Village of Hope in the construction of more homes, as well as help with upkeep jobs. We will also participating in sports activities with the children.

As a group, our mission is to:

Serve the poor, forgotten and oppressed
To explore the holistic nature of the Gospel
To explore ministry in a limited access country


For more information on the Village of Hope, please visit www.voh-ainleuh.org.

I am so excited to be part of such a wonderful, important project, and feel called to invite you to join us in helping to make it happen! Some of you share my Christian faith, and I respect that others don’t. But regardless of our faith backgrounds, I strongly believe serving these children is a crucial role we, the very materially blessed, need to take on.

In order to serve in Morocco, I must raise $1,700, which includes the cost of the trip itself (the supplies we will purchase and use, my housing, meals, etc.) and airfare. Ideally, I need to raise $750 of the cost by January 22nd. I am humbly asking you to consider donating whatever you can to help me make my way to Morocco to help these beautiful children. Every little bit helps! If you don’t feel comfortable supporting this particular project, or can’t at this time, I totally understand and please don’t feel uncomfortable! But, I do still encourage you to reach out to the world’s poor and oppressed in other new and significant ways in 2009!

I am keeping a blog to document not only my Moroccan trip, which will take place the week of March 13th-March 20th, 2009, but also my entire journey through Africa. The blog is at:

www.ghanaelizabeth.blogspot.com.

I will be updating it (hopefully!) daily with stories and pictures of my wonderful adventures. I invite you to read it and join me in my journey!

I thank you for taking the time to read this, and for considering a contribution. May you and your family have a blessed and thankful 2009.

Excited,

Elizabeth Shelby


“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

*If you want to donate funds for my Morocco trip, please contact me! :) But prayers are always welcome!