3 schools, 1 week

So it’s been another day since I’ve written. I hope I don’t make it a habit of skipping days like this, but this week was a bit busier than usual, with me teaching at three schools in addition to going to classes.

Yesterday I had my African Popular Music class, where we learned how to play the televi. I knew the basic, basic way to play (which our teacher taught), but learned a few more elaborate ways of playing it. I am by NO means even proficient at playing the televi, but will have fun teaching Sarah when I get back to the states.

Me and Gillian playing our televi. We matched that day and absolutely didn't plan it. Guess that's what roomies do!

I also taught at my second school, King’s Palace. It was their first day of workshops, and so Leigh and I covered the basic facts about HIV / AIDS and STDs / STIs. The kids at King’s were SO responsive, and knew a lot already. They asked tons of great questions, and were polite and kind to each other when one would ask a potentially embarrassing question. We teach them the ABCD modes of prevention. A is for abstinence, B is for be faithful, C is for condom use, and D is for don’t share sharp objects. They really seem to understand these. Sometimes talking about sex or condom use can be a little awkward with 5th and 6th graders, but these kids didn’t laugh or giggle or anything. I think sex education is SO important in middle schools, and certainly don’t think it’s taught enough in the states. Especially looking at examples of my own education, I was never taught sex education by my schools. I don’t think ignoring the issue changes anything. Even in the Christian community and in church youth group, ignoring talking about proper safe sex practices does not change the fact that most kids will probably have sex. Just because certain groups of people can’t face the reality of what youth in America (and around the world) do doesn’t mean ignoring it will make it go away. Talking about condom use certainly doesn’t “encourage sex” as some adults may argue, but rather teaches kids to be responsible in doing something they’re likely to do anyway. All that being said, we teach the kids here about abstinence, and how it is the only way to 100% prevent yourself from getting HIV. We also promote condom use and being faithful with only one partner if you do choose to have sex. They understand this, and I think they’re well educated and equipped at this point to make their own life choices and are well aware of the potential repercussions of those actions.

Anyway, today I didn’t have any class, so I got to sleep in a little bit. Gillian and I went to Melting Moments for our weekly Mac-N-Cheese, and it was delicious! Afterwards, I went to teach at King’s again, for their second day of workshops. Today we talked about stigma and discrimination, and tried to educate them on types of discrimination against infected people, and why discriminating against someone with HIV / AIDS is wrong. We told them its their job to educate their friends and family who may be ignorant to how it is spread or who may have attitudes of disgust or hate towards people who have the disease. We did some role-playing games of examples of discrimination, and the students knew what to say and how to stop it.

I am very encouraged by the program, and, as I’ve said many times before, think WAAF is doing the country and all of West Africa a great, invaluable service. I would love to start something like this back in the states, but know it’d be a lot harder to just go into a school and teach about HIV for 2 hours. Maybe one day the West will be a little more open minded.
After work we just kind of lounged around, which we do a lot of, and went to dinner. Gillian and I watched a really dumb movie, but it was funny. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but here they sell bootleg DVDs that have like 18 movies on one DVD. One DVD costs about 2 bucks. So I have almost 100 movies now, and it cost me no more than 10 dollars. Pretty great. Watching movies is a pastime here, as the TV in the living room is almost ALWAYS playing a movie with a few people watching. When there’s nothing to do (which is a lot of the time), movie watching is a great option.

I need to wrap this up because tomorrow we’re LEAVING at 5:20 to go to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana. It’s an NYU-sponsored trip, so we’ll spend the night and come back Sunday. Apparently Kumasi is like the fabric capital of Ghana, so I suspect I’ll come back with tons of cloth! STILL WAITING ON THOSE MEASUREMENTS PEOPLE! If you don’t send me what you want, it’s not getting made. Plain and simple. I know, said so lovingly, right? I just don’t want to wait til the last week and have to ask Marjorie to make 10 dresses. So help a sister out.

Time for bed! Hope all is well at home. Miss you so much! I’ll write about my weekend when I get back on Sunday. In the meantime, everyone enjoy themselves this weekend and enjoy precious time with family and friends.

love love love

televi

Hi all! I know, I know, yet another day without updating has gone by. But don’t worry, yesterday wasn’t too eventful. Just had my usual two classes, both of which were really interesting, though both ended extra early. My internship class was only an hour long—hardly enough time to cover anything substantial, so we just spent the majority of the time just talking to our professor about NYU. She has a 12 year old daughter, and is beginning to think about college options, and said she would never even consider sending her kid to a school like NYU, with no campus or gates or anything. I guess we’re really lucky to have parents that trust us ad allowed us to grow up quickly in college. I’m definitely thankful for my NYU experience. Feeling like you live in the City and go to school is totally different than the normal college experience of living and breathing the university. Living in New York has been one of the greatest, most challenging, but most rewarding experiences of my life. Anyway, babbling on…

Today was a great day as well. I slept in and watched movies for a few hours since I didn’t have class or work today. Marykate, Gillian and I went to lunch and then MK and I went to the Art Center (the place I liked with all the cool gifts) to buy little percussion “instruments,” called Televi, for our African Popular Music class tomorrow. I don’t know how to describe them other than they are two balls filled with beans connected to a string. You put one ball in your hand and flip the other ball back and forth with a flip of your wrist to get the two balls to hit each other and create sound. It’s something all the locals use here in Ghana, and was originally a kid toy before it got appropriated and became a musical instrument in West African music. So anyway, we bought those, because our teacher is going to show us how to properly play them tomorrow. (I’ve tried and can do the most basic of motions, but am no where near proficient.) Sarah, I’m brining some home for you because I know you would love them. I bargained for a few other gifts at the Art Center, and let me just say, I’m a PRO bargainer. The seller even commented on how good I was.

Televi

After the Art Center we had recitation, and watched a documentary called Traces of the Trade by a roughly 30 year old woman who lives in Bristol, Rhode Island. She is a 6th or 7th generation decedent of the DeWolf family, one of the most prominent, wealthy families in Rhode Island and one of the leaders in the slave trade. Many of the buildings and monuments erected in Rhode Island were built using money the DeWolf’s made from the business. Anyway, this woman, a Princeton graduate, decided to trace the steps of her ancestors to follow their journey along the slave trade. She invited 200 of her family (clearly, both immediate and distant distant family) to come along, and I think 7 of them went. They went to Ghana and visited the Elmina Slave Castle (the castle we saw) and then went to Cuba where slaves were also held. Her point was to see what her ancestors had done, see the atrocities of the slave trade, make peace with Africans and apologize, and open up a dialogue about slavery and race issues between themselves and Africans and African Americans. It was a really good documentary and really cool to see Ghana and Elmina featured in the documentary.

Dinner was a bit different tonight, as Tante had some function going on at the restaurant, so they brought all the food over to Solomon’s. We managed to fit 45 people in our dining room/living room, which was a sight to behold, but it was fun. Gillian and I just got done talking for what must’ve been close to 2 hours. It’s great to have a roommate who I can talk with about whatever, and who I get along with so well. G, if you’re reading this, holla.

Anyway, tomorrow I have my African Popular Music class, and then I’m teaching the first workshop at a new school with Leigh. Should be great, I can’t wait!

How is everyone doing? Update me please! Miss you all so much!

love love love

TOGO!

Here’s the Togo blog!:

We decided to leave early Saturday morning instead of mid-day Friday, and I think we made the right choice, seeing as from the time we left Ghana to the time we got to our hotel in Togo, it was about 7 hours. Here in Ghana there’s a lot of waiting around, and we did our fair share of that en route to Togo. Anyway, after four hours, several taxi and van transitions, we got to Aflao, the Ghanaian city on the border. Crossing the border was unlike any customs process I’d ever done before, especially since the “border” was a rope tied to poles that men either pulled or let lay on the ground for cars to drive through. Kinda hilarious. Anyway, our van dropped us off on the Ghanaian side. There are very few signs or directions on where to go or how to actually cross the border, but after visiting several different buildings and handing our passports over to several different officials, we walked our way across the Ghanaian border and into Togo! Simple as that. On the Togo side, we were immediately hit with the fact that you can NOT visit Togo if you don’t know French. It’s impossible. Luckily, Marika and Emma spoke a little French, just enough to get us to and from places and make decent small talk. This was a really interesting phenomenon for us to witness: that a border (indicated by a rope nonetheless) was the dividing line between English and French speaking people. Definitely a very apparent exhibit of the Berlin Conference. That someone standing on the other side of the rope 5 feet away from me could know no English, just because of some arbitrary line, is pretty interesting once you witness it firsthand. Anyway, on the Togo side, we went through their version of customs, which isn’t that luxurious either, and got in a cab in Lome, the capital. We took a cab from the border to the bus station, where we caught another tro-tro for our two hour ride to Kpalimé (pronounced polly-may).
Gillian, Me, Tina, and Emma in a tro-tro. Very crammed, and VERY sweaty.

Once we got to Kpalimé, we checked into a “hotel” (more like a hostel) called Hotel Bafana Bafana. The five of us split up between two rooms. Gillian and I got the “nicer” room—by paying three extra Cedi, we got a shower (which we didn’t use) and a sink! What luxuries. Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, the conditions were less than ideal, and we ended up sleeping on top of our towels on top of the mattress, and used our pillows to cover the cracks at the bottom of the door that would let in mosquitoes at night otherwise. We doubt the sheets/pillows had been washed in a while. After checking in, we made our way to a restaurant the guide book told us about. I don’t remember the name of it, but I have a picture of the sign somewhere. Anyway, we got there about 5:30 but the chef wasn’t due to come until around 7, so we sat outside and drank Flag beers (the Togolese beer, very good) and talked for a few hours. We were shortly joined by a nice guy, about 25, named Gregory, who told us he was a tour guide and loved showing people around the mountain and waterfalls, if we were interested. We told him that’s exactly what we came to Togo to do, and that we’d love to have him show us around. He ended up eating dinner with us, and helped us order our food (since he spoke French, English, Ewe, and a little Twi). The chef finally came and greeted us all as if we were family, trying his best to speak English to us, since we couldn’t speak any French to him. We all ordered spaghetti, which was delicious! After dinner we picked up some bag water/sachet water, which we used to fill our bottles with for the next day’s hike. We don’t have anything like bag water in the states, so I don’t know how to explain it really other than it’s a small plastic bag, sealed on all four sides, that holds 500 mL of water (the equivalent of a normal sized water bottle). You rip off a corner of it with your teeth, and drink the water like that. It’s REALLY cheap. 30 bags cost 1 Cedi (less than one dollar). It was my first time drinking bag water, because sometimes they warn us against using off-brands, but it was fine and I’m fine. J I’ve now found a more economical way to be drinking LOTS of water, constantly. I know that makes you happy, Mom. So we headed home and got to bed fairly early because we were set to meet Gregory at 7:30 at a local breakfast place. Gillian and I didn’t sleep much because it was SO hot, but I woke up refreshed anyway.

We started Sunday morning right at 6:30, getting ready and heading over to breakfast to get a bite to eat before we met Gregory. He showed up at 7:30 right on the dot, and had arranged for a taxi to take us everywhere all day. The taxi took us up the mountain about half way, and we walked up the rest of the way to the top. On the way, we saw this HUGE tree that must’ve been over 100 years old, whose roots were over 15 feet tall. The tree reminded me of the huge trees in Yosemite.
THE tree

Anyway, the mountain is part of a chain of mountains that are all connected. Each mountain houses many different villages, one of which Gregory belongs to. We overlooked the entire city of Kpalimé, and could see Ghana in the far distance.
Togo, Africa

We worked our way back down and around the mountains, walking through various villages, passing schools and churches that were in session. The coolest part of it all was that if Gregory hadn’t have been with us, we wouldn’t have had any idea these tucked-away villages even existed. We stopped along the way for Gregory to point out various plants and animals. I can’t remember the names of any plants, because they were all in French, but there was whose leaf, when rubbed together in your hands, disintegrated and turned into dye. The natives use the dye to dye cloth and paint on their skin, and Gregory painted a butterfly on my arm with the red dye from the leaf (that is what’s on my arm in the waterfall picture). It was the COOLEST thing! There were other plants that did the same sort of thing, and produced green or white colors.

Not blood, but the dye from a tree leaf. Also, if you click on the picture and enlarge it, you can see that the girls are holding bag water in their hands.

There were goats roaming free EVERYWHERE, and we saw chickens and baby chicks that were dyed bright pink. Gregory said this was so they were easy to spot if they got away (I guess they’re valuable commodities and can’t be lost). We saw plants that were low to the ground, and if you touched its leaves, the entire plant closed up and would remain closed for 15 minutes. We saw all sorts of fruit trees- pineapple bushes, banana trees, cassava plants, huge gourd type things, palm trees that had been cut down to make palm wine out of, etc. etc. We were literally walking through the forest and jungle on a tiny tiny trail that was completely unoccupied, except for the occasional local walking to or from his home.

Walking through the jungle, not quite Disneyland

We stopped in Gregory’s village and ate some bananas he picked for us fresh off the tree, and took a break while he visited with some of his friends. Gillian and I had to pee, and not to get too graphic or anything, but we are getting very good at relieving ourselves wherever nature calls us. ANYWAY, I mostly included that last sentence to laugh at later when I re-read this blog 10 years from now.

After wandering around down and through the mountain, we headed back UP to meet our taxi driver (this hike back up was REALLY difficult, as we were hot and tired). The taxi driver drove us a little ways to another mountain, where we hiked DOWN huge, steep steps to get to the base of a waterfall. (We knew that getting back UP the huge, steep steps would be a trip.) The waterfall was GORGEOUS, and refreshing to feel the water mist in our faces after being in the hot sun for a good portion of the day. We sat on a rock directly in front of the waterfall, and just rested and enjoyed the jungle and mountain that were around us. It was really, really cool, in every sense of the word. The hike back up was HARD, as we were on a complete incline, climbing up steps that were 3 feet high. Talk about the most intense Stairmaster ever. BUT, once we got to the top, it was so rewarding, as always. I need more physical activity, for sure. Hiking a mountain really makes you realize how out of shape you really are, ha.

Anyway, we paid and thanked Gregory, who left us to the cab driver, who took us all the way to the border in Kpalimé. We didn’t cross back into Ghana where we came in from (near Lome), but crossed back into a Ghanaian city called Ho. After several marriage proposals from customs officers (who, again, were rarely in uniform, and whose “office” consisted of nothing more than a shack) we were back in Ghana and back on a bus to Accra! There are police stationed at various checkpoints in Ghana, and our bus was stopped once on the way home, and everyone was asked to get out. We all got out, and all the black people (everyone except the five of us) were allowed to get back on, while we were questioned by Ghanaian police (who were wearing flip flops) and asked to show our passports. At this point, we had been through about 7 checkpoints/customs points, so were used to this. It didn’t make sense though, since we were well into Ghana, and had taken a bus that left from a city in Ghana. What if we hadn’t had our passports? Either way, we concluded, based on the fact that the police here don’t get paid well and rely on bribes from those they pull over as their main source of income, that they were trying to find something wrong with our visas in order for us to give them money to let us go instead of take us in. BUT, nothing was wrong with our visas, so we got back in the bus and made it back to Accra safe and sound!

Gillian and I got pizza last night from the only pizza chain in Accra, and I talked to my mom and sister for about an hour on Skype last night! Today was good, but tiring—went in to work for a few hours and then came home and did homework/ran errands/bought groceries/had class at Legon the rest of the day. It’s midnight now, and I need to get some sleep for my 8 a.m. tomorrow!

It was a WONDERFUL trip, and I STRONGLY encourage everyone to make it to Togo, and to Kpalimé. It’s so tropical and beautiful, and someone compared it to Puerto Rico. I haven’t been to PR, but I’d have to agree. Hope everyone’s weekend was good! Miss you all!

love love love

FOR MORE PICTURES- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105842&id=616486619&l=4d1c3
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106165&id=616486619&l=b538b

"this is NOT disneyland"

i'm back from togo!!!

IT WAS INCREDIBLE. i'm working on a blog right now with all the details, but essentially, it was a GREAT 36 hours with 5 girls. so many memories :)

the title of this blog was a quote from gillian while we were hiking through mountainous forests in kpalime. we're literally walking through african forests and jungles, and gillian was like, "this is real life, this is not a disneyland "jungle" ride, this is real." it was just a really good way to put it, the magnitude and amazing-ness (not a word) of it all.

in the mean time, i'll leave you with a picture from the trip, taken at the base of the waterfall, at the base of the mountain, which was a 1 km hike down and 1 km back UP. whew!

love love love

gonna leave ghana and off to go to togo

sorry i didn't update yesterday! i didn't have much to say since i didn't do much (again, thankfully). i had class at 10:30, and afterwards gillian and i went to the post office to do our usual thursday mailings. i really didn't do anything else the rest of the day, except have a great dinner at sunshine. after dinner, we watched hotel rwanda. it was my first time seeing the film, and it was really emotional but also really good. don cheadle did a great job, and seeing on film what we often hear about on paper and pay no attention to was moving. i hope all of you see it if you haven't.

also, on a totally unrelated note, as i'm sure many of you have heard, a group of about 50 radical nyu students called "take back nyu!" has spent the last two or three days barricaded inside our biggest dining hall which is also in our student center, kimmel. they effectively shut down the entire building, keeping the guards over hours and disrupting much of the business and social activities that happen daily in kimmel. they are protesting and advocating for a number of things-- some of their demands are reasonable, while others are completely insane. they are protesting under "we, the students of nyu" and i just want it to be known that i, for one, do NOT support this extreme and unprofessional/unorganized way of going about negotiating with john sexton and the school. to read the list of their demands, visit: http://www.takebacknyu.com/. to read the coverage about the protest (which ended in multiple arrests and 18 suspensions), visit our school's newspaper online at http://www.nyunews.com/. this is the kind of stuff that gives nyu a "whiny, prissy" reputation in new york, especially, but in the nation also. our press is always bad press because of people who need to be a martyr about something, anything, just for the sake of being a martyr. maybe i shouldn't be writing all this on my blog, but it pisses me off. anyway, please know that whatever you read or hear about on the news is NOT indicative of what 95% of the student body supports. just some crazy radicals trying to protest and make headlines like it's the 1960s.

this editorial, written by the entire washington square news team, sums up my ENTIRE stance on the issue: http://www.nyunews.com/opinion/staff_editorials/tbnyu_is_vocal_but_doesn_t_speak_for_all_students-1.1487680

whew. anyway, today was a good day too! again, did absolutely nothing, and slept in for a long time which was nice. gillian and i stayed in our pajamas most of the day. most of the students in the program went to their optional homestays this weekend, but since we're leaving for togo tomorrow, about 5 of us stayed behind (about 8 of us total stayed behind, the others are just staying in accra). the small group of us went to dinner at tante's and afterwards came home and watched america's sweethearts. gillian made a cake (which is interesting in its own right, since we lack many ingredients and our oven doesn't have a temp. gauge), and it turned out pretty good! we love cake here, and find any reason to eat it.

tomorrow we leave for togo! we plan on just spending one night in kpalime (pronounced polly-may), where we will wake up sunday morning at climb mt. agou. since togo was a french colony, no one speaks any english, and we are lucky we have marika with us, who speaks some french. this is when knowing many languages comes in handy! i've decided my future kids are going to speak at least two languages. they'll learn both english and spanish from a young age, so they can function more easily in foreign worlds.

well, better get to bed. we have an early morning and busy day ahead of us (a 6 hour tro-tro ride!). i will take LOTS of pictures, and will update you all when i'm back on sunday.

have a happy weekend, sending lots of hugs.

love love love

edit: no one who engaged in the sit-in was arrested, just suspended.

art center :)

So today I woke up to a text at 7 am from my boss, Belynda, saying there wasn’t anything at WAAF I needed to come in to do, so I could stay at home today. What a relief! I turned my alarm off and went back to sleep until 10:30! It was really nice to sleep in and have NO responsibilities today. I had a leisurely morning, doing some reading for class and surfing the internet for a little bit. Around 1 MK and I went to Melting Moments (the place that has the really good macaroni and cheese!). Of course, I ordered mac and cheese, and bought some really good cookies for the road. Afterwards, Katie, her mom (who is visiting for a week (so good to have a maternal influence in the house)) invited me to go with them to the Art Center in Accra. I hadn’t been before, so I opted to go, and we had a GREAT time. I was a little worried it’d be like the markets, and therefore was preparing myself for a very, very stressful next for hours. However, when we got there, it was almost empty, and the stalls are a lot more spread out. The Art Center is where people buy a lot of cool, authentic Ghanaian souvenirs, and where you can really put your bartering skills to the test! Katie knew a man who owns one of the stands, so he came and showed us his huge shop. I had a field day in there, picking out lots of gifts for myself and for all of you! I collected all my things and negotiated for them collectively. I got him down from 40 Cedi to 27, total!! I’m getting good at this bartering thing. ;) Anyway, it’s a REALLY cool place. Of course, there’s the usual “Hey, come over here!” “Just look, you don’t have to buy.” “Let me just show you this one thing.” “It’s nice to be nice.” But other than that, it was 100x more peaceful than either Kaneshi or Makola, and I had a really positive experience, AND came home with some souvenirs. It was great to spend time with Katie and her mom, too. We got back around 5, and I just hung out at home until dinner at Tante’s at 7. The evening has been relatively uneventful since, but all in all, it was a really nice day.

Oh! And special shout out to Amanda Rachelle, whose letter I got today! Made me so happy to get a letter from home, and makes me miss her, and all of you, a million times more. Keeping you all in my heart, always always always.

love love love

seun kuti

Alright I don’t know where to start for today!

I had my internship seminar at 8 am. I’m getting used to waking up way earlier than I did in New York, and it’s not so bad, as long as I can get a nap in at some point during the day. Anyway, so internship seminar went well, as usual. Today I led the discussion. We are reading The White Man’s Burden, by William Easterly. It’s a REALLY, REALLY interesting book about development and Western aid. It deals a lot with the issues that I talked about in previous blogs—about how much aid is too much, how aid should be allocated, etc. Easterly makes an argument against “Big Plans” and distinguishes two distinct categories of people the “planners” and the “searchers”. The Planners are those governmental organizations, celebrities, major, famous non-profits, etc. that make bold, sweeping claims about “eradicating poverty or eliminating AIDS”. The searchers are those who go into the countries, starting at the grassroots level, and focus on the small, immediate needs that are specific to that place. For instance, he gives the example of the road on the way to Cape Coast from Accra, and how one village 30 years ago was lacking any source of clean water. Today, this village has pipes that come carry clean water from Winneba. Searchers found an immediate need and met it at a local level. Through these smaller, but more impactful projects, development is tangible and can be seen. Easterly argues that the planners (organizations like the IMF, World Bank, USAID, WHO, UNICEF, celebrities like Bono, big charity fundraises like Live 8, etc) who set lofty goals, and whose bank account receive the checks we haplessly write, are often not executed, or not executed in the most effective way. He says, and I find myself agreeing:

“In foreign aid, Planners announce good intentions but don’t motivate anyone to carry them out; Searchers find things that work and get some reward. Planners raise expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them; Searchers accept responsibility for their actions. Planners determine what to supply; Searchers find out what is in demand. Planners apply global blueprints; Searchers adapt to local conditions. Planners at the top lack knowledge of the bottom; Searchers find out what the reality is at the bottom. Planners never hear whether the planned got what it needed; Searchers find out if the customer is satisfied.”

He continues on about what each is or isn’t, but essentially, I think he makes a very valid argument. The book is very conversational and easy to read, and something I am VERY interested in. I recommend it to EVERYONE (you can find it on Amazon or BN.com). It’s a response to economist Jeffery Sachs’ book The End of Poverty, which I haven’t read. Sachs is a big advocate of the Planner, and so he and Easterly often debate via editorials in the NYT or through their books. Both sides are very interesting, and I plan on reading Sachs’ book when I get home. OH! And Easterly is the top developing economics professor at NYU. I encourage all of you to read this book, so we can all have a dialogue about it when I get back. I’m just enthralled by all this and still don’t know what to make of it all.

ANYWAY, so we talked a lot more about that in the internship seminar. In my Society, Culture and Modernization class we talked about traditional politics, specifically the role of a chief. Ghana’s political system is divided into two parts: A) the democratic, elected officials part, with a parliament, and B) the traditional politics, aka the obeying of chiefs. These two work together, and exist simultaneously though sometimes they’re in conflict with each other. Anyway, the chiefs rule over different tribes in different regions of Ghana, and are revered. The chief does not speak to anyone directly, not even the Queenmother, who is the only person who can publically rebuke the king/chief. The Queenmother doesn’t necessarily have to be the king’s mother, but has to be of the same lineage—so, an aunt, a sister, a niece, etc. The chief’s wife has no formal role. The chief’s main duty is to protect its people, and to be the region’s spiritual leader. There are many other forms and traditions the chief takes on, but they are aplenty, and I have a lot more to write about, so I’ll move on…

TODAY WAS MY FIRST DAY TEACHING AT WAAF!! Leigh and I went to Flagstaff, a school about 15 minutes away. School got out a little later than anticipated, so we were sitting outside waiting for class to be dismissed so we could use the classroom. While we were waiting, some pre-school girls came up to me, and I started teaching them how to play patty-cake. They were so amused, and started playing with each other. One girl, though, was scared of us Obrunis, and wanted nothing to do with us. She stayed a few feet back while her friends came up and played with us. When the bell boy came up ringing a handbell (letting them know school was out), everyone, including the 4 year old preschoolers to the teachers recited Psalm 23. The ENTIRE thing, much like reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. It was a REALLY cool thing to see, and so unexpected. It’s amazing how much religious life is infused in everything, including public education. Anyway, so the class we taught was made up of 10 boys and 10 girls, primarily 4th and 5th grades. Their teachers chose them to be peer educators and be a part of the Passion Squad, so they are the best of the best. Leigh and I went back and forth teaching them basic facts about HIV / AIDS, ways of transmission, modes of prevention, signs and symptoms and basic facts about STIs. It’s a lot for 9 and 10 year olds to take in, especially when it seemed most of them didn’t really know what HIV / AIDS was, or what the acronyms stood for. What I found most surprising was that a lot of them thought you could get HIV from kissing someone. Leigh and I spent a lot of time clarifying this, making sure they understood that kissing someone with HIV could not give you the virus. I think they finally caught on, but because they didn’t know much about the virus to begin with, they didn’t seem to have many questions yet. I think they were soaking it all up and taking thorough notes. Maybe next week they’ll have thought more about what we taught and have more questions. They’re great kids though, and really proactive and want to learn. I am encouraged by today’s work, and encouraged by the kids and their willingness and interest to learn. I know what WAAF is doing is making a difference, and I’m just thankful to be a part of it.

I took a nap when I got home, and after dinner at Sunshine Salads, a bunch of us went to a concert by a man named Seun Kuti. He is a famous Nigerian musician, whose father was the founder of Afrobeat, a popular form of African music (which we learned about in our African Popular Music class). Seun is really revered here in Ghana and all over Africa, and for good reason. His concert was outside in a mini-amphitheatre type place. He sang and played the sax, while his band was comprised of several drummers (the bongo kind), a few more sax players, a cowbell-type person, and backup singers (men and women). His music is infectious, and we all were dancing along to the songs for hours. If you want to listen to some of his music, his Myspace website is:
www.myspace.com/seunkuti. You can sample his songs on there. I plan on buying his CD and making multiple copies for everyone!

Marykate, Gillian and me at Kuti's concert.
A bad picture, but the man in the white stripped outfit is Kuti.

Well, this blog is long enough and my wrists HURT! I’m going to take a shower and hop in bed. Gotta be up by 8 to be at WAAF by 9:30! Shouldn’t be a long day tomorrow, though, so I’m excited. Blessings!

love love love

isaiah 54:10

Today began at 6:30 am. Leigh and I had appointments to visit with two schools’ patrons to verify when we would have our first workshops. We arrived at the first school at 8 am sharp, and got there just in time to see something really cool. Most schools in Accra are multi-leveled, fairly open, and are centered around a courtyard type area. When we arrived at Burma Camp, which is a military school, there were hundreds of students in the courtyard, all lined up. There were about four students playing a simple drum beat, and all the other students were somewhat sloppily, but on beat, marching in place and singing some sort of chant in Twi. They were lined up by classroom, and a teacher would dismiss each line one at a time. The students of that line would march single file, while singing, to their classroom, and the line would immediately crumble once they got out of their teacher’s eyesight. It was really fun to watch and see these kids behaving so well. It reminded me a lot of my elementary school days at Lagos, when we’d meet in our class lines underneath the ramada before school started. Though, we didn’t march or sing songs while waiting. Anyway, we met with the patron of Burma Camp and confirmed a date. Then, we went to the second school and met with the patron of that school and confirmed two dates for workshops in the future. Leigh and I were done by 9:00, and called Belynda who said we didn’t need to come into the office for anything, so we were free to go home. It was nice to have all our work done by 9 am and have the rest of the day to ourselves. As much as I HATE waking up early, I do appreciate the feeling of having an entire day to do with what I please.

After getting home, I finished up all the reading I have to do for tomorrow’s two classes, and wrote in my internship journal. For our internship seminar, we have to keep a journal each week of our feelings on the internship or the class, what we’re learning, etc. I find myself repeating a lot of what I say in these blogs and also a lot of the conversations I have with my friends here. Since tomorrow’s Tuesday, aka, learning day, I’m sure tomorrow’s blog will be full of new information and questions that arise from my class tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll also recommend a book that I think everyone should read, which relates to the blog entry I wrote last Tuesday about foreign aid and if it’s good or bad.

Marykate and I went to Legon around 4:00. We got there a little early, so we just sat outside under the shade and talked. The weather wasn’t too bad, actually, and there was a nice breeze that made sitting outside bearable. Our Media and Society class was good, and we made a new Ghanaian friend! Her name is Felicia, and she befriended us. We heard that at Legon especially, it’s hard for Obruni girls to make friends with Ghanaian girls, because the Ghanaians are often rude or short with us. So we were pleasantly surprised when Felicia turned around and started talking to us! We hope to keep sitting by her and maybe even hang out with her a few times.

Gillian brought home dinner from Tante’s for me, and MK and I had a really good talk about family, friends, adventures, being away from home, etc. I’m thankful for the friendships I’m making here, and for the unique people I’m meeting. I really do feel a sense of community, and know that I’m not alone in any of my feelings.

Hope everyone had a good Monday! Stay safe and be happy!

PS- I teach at my first school tomorrow!! Wish me luck, as Leigh and I visit Flagstaff to teach the first workshop at the school! Can’t wait!

love love love

isaiah 54:10:
"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you."
This verse is where my heart is right now.

happy valentine's day weekend!

Sorry for not updating in a few days! It’s been a good weekend, and by the end of Friday and Saturday night I was just exhausted. So I’ll pick up from Friday. Gillian and I had nothing to do on Friday, so we tried to sleep in, which really only meant sleeping til 9:30 or 10. We both usually can’t sleep any later even if we want to. Oftentimes at night I find myself waking up once every hour or so, checking my phone in a panic, thinking I’m late for something. Either way, we spent most of Friday at a hotel pool with some of our friends. This wasn’t the same pool we went to last time (the one with the umbrella in the bottom), but a hotel much closer to us and much nicer. The pool temperature was the PERFECT pool temperature, especially for a really hot day (every day). We just laid out, swam, and even watched about 5 local middle school boys have swim practice with their teacher for about an hour in the pool (we were tanning at the time, which was kinda awkward/funny, but really fun to watch). Friday night we made popcorn and watched Ocean’s Eleven. Someone in the house has Ocean’s Twelve, so we plan on watching that one soon! That’s pretty much all for Friday—nothing too extraordinary happened, but we definitely relaxed and had a good time with friends.

Saturday was VALENTINE’S DAY! Aside from the fact that my Eric wasn’t here to share the day with, us girls had a great day celebrating each other! MK, Gillian and I first got pedicures and manicures at a place our director, Christa, recommended. This place was so nice, and we felt like we were back in NY. Even better, a mani/pedi was 13.5 Cedi total!! I got my toes painted neon pink, and my fingers bright red, in honor of the holiday! It was really nice to be pampered and get our feet all smooth and fixed up, after being a little worn from walking in flip flops and on dirt roads for 5 weeks. It was a really great morning, and the day had just begun.

Afterwards Gillian, MK and I went to the Accra Mall, which I talked about in an earlier post. It’s the crazy shopping mall that reminds me so much of malls in America. Anyway, they have a cinema, so we went there and watched Bride Wars (the chic flick starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson)! It was SOO cute, but even if it wasn’t, we still would’ve probably loved it just because it was a movie, at a movie theatre, in a mall that reminded us of home. We all left the theatre completely thinking we were gonna step outside onto the New York streets. Ha, alas, that was not the case, but it was a really nice escape and a great girly movie to see with my girls. After the movie we came home and got ready for dinner at Mamma Mia’s! A bunch of us went, and picked up the cake on the way. We sat outside, but shortly after getting our wine, it started to lightning and rain, which was totally unexpected, since it’s the dry/draught season. BUT, we moved inside to a big table and drank wine, ate cake, and listened to the heavy rain outside. It was a great dinner with lots of laughs and celebrating of just being together. We came home and just read and talked. I watched almost 6 episodes of Entourage and fell asleep to the sound of the rain rather early. (Totally irrelevant side-note: Speaking of Entourage—I’ve seen all the seasons and am bummed season 5 isn’t out on DVD yet. I’m in love with Ari Gold.)

The girls at our Valentine's Day dinner at Mamma Mia's!

Today we had a really lazy morning. I got a lot of reading done for my classes this week (it’s gonna be a BUSY week), and did some homework I needed to do. At 2:30 we started making dinner with our RA, Julia, and didn’t finish until 6!! It takes a LOT of time to prepare a typical Ghanaian dish, and I guess I learned to appreciate it (and cooking in general) a lot more. We made red-red (different than mine, not sure which I like better), fried plantains, chicken sauce stew, and coconut rice. The coconut rice was SOOO good, and I think everyone I know would love it (and that’s saying something, since I know a lot of picky eaters). It’s just got a hint of coconut flavor. It’s boiled/steamed/whatever in a pot just like normal white rice is cooked. But instead of water, it’s cooked in coconut milk. I guess in the states we’d use an artificial or packaged kind, but here we used straight up real coconuts that we milked and shredded. Really cool and really good! We had a great dinner with a lot of the house, and have TONS of leftovers for the rest of the week.

I got to talk with my mom and sister on Skype tonight, which has become our Sunday tradition. I love talking to them and catching up on all the Houston news. Good to hear Nana’s doing well and walking around! Hope everyone else at home is well. I have a busy week ahead of me, as I’m sure we all do, but let’s try to be stress-free and happy. I get to go to Togo next weekend with my friends--we're really excited!!

Be blessed.

love love love

thursday 2/12/09

So I’m keeping this one short (don’t I always say that?). No but really, I’m tired and don’t have a ton to say or ramble about.

Today was very productive! First I had my African Popular Music class, which was interesting as always, but is kind of frustrating because my teacher is VERY scatter-brained and jumps from topic to topic or style of music to style of music. And, since we’re covering the entire CONTINENT of Africa, which has over 30 countries, it’s difficult to retain types of music or fads or instruments, even when broken down into countries or regions. But, it’s a good class. Afterwards, Gillian and I were on a hunt to find postcards to send to our boyfriends’ parents. We biked to the post office (such a HARD but physically rewarding bike ride, once it’s over) and found post cards at a store right next to it. I got to mail a few letters home, so be looking within the next 2 weeks. After, we went to the supermarket and bought some groceries and fruit and such. We also went by this Italian restaurant called Mamma Mia!, which apparently has really good pizza. We didn’t eat, but we did make reservations for Saturday night for a few of us girls to celebrate Valentine’s Day together! It’s a shame none of us will be with our boyfriends, so we decided to just throw each other a dinner in celebration. Also, Gillian and I ordered a cake for the occasion. What the heck, we’re going all out on this one! The rest of the day I spent resting and napping and reading (I’m on my third book since being here!). I really enjoy all the free time I have. I’ve rekindled my enjoyment of reading, and find myself looking forward to reading my book. I only have 2 left, but a lot of girls in the house brought books, so we’re doing kind of a book exchange thing.

Anyway, tomorrow I don’t have anything to do, so a few of us girls are going to the pool or the beach. I think on Saturday Marykate and I are getting pedicures to spoil ourselves some more—can’t wait!

Miss everyone and love you all a lot!

love love love

forgotten anecdotes

I’m going to begin this blog entry with some random anecdotes, information, or stories that I’ve forgotten to share with you. As I remembered them, I wrote them down, and now I think I have a long enough list to make a blog entry out of it. Most of these things are completely unrelated to one another:

-Many women here carry their babies on their backs. But, unlike in America with those Baby Bjorn things, these women just use cloth that they literally tie around their waists, with the babies sandwiched in between the fabric and the mothers’ backs. I’ve always wondered how these women actually go about getting the baby on their backs, because logistically, the process of getting the baby on the back and tying it seems incredibly difficult. Well, I was walking in the market a while ago, and finally saw how they do it! The woman bends over so her back is parallel to the ground and literally sets/rests the baby prostrate on her back. While still bending over, puts the cloth over the baby’s back, then stands up straight and ties the cloth around her waist. I guess they do it so many times that it just works, but to me, a simple knot doesn’t seem like enough security! These babies are so funny to see, because their necks have no support, so their heads literally just flop around from side to side. Their legs stick out from either side of the mom’s waist. (See below)

-Country music is strangely a big deal here. Like, Kenny-Chesney-ish-American country music. I was in the car today with some people from WAAF, and we were listening to a country radio station. This isn’t the first time country music has come on a taxi radio and I always get freaked out because a) I get confused as to where I am (Africa? Or Texas?), and b) because it reminds me of home and I know the songs! While we were in the car I asked a coworker if Ghanaians really liked country music or something, and he said yeah! So strange which American trends/cultural things make it over here and which don’t.

-Last week, Belynda and I visited one of the schools we’re working at. We visited the Director of Education at his office. When we arrived, there was a woman in his office who sat in on our meeting. We explained we were from WAAF, and proposed what we wanted to do in the school. At one point, the education director said how great this program was because it’s necessary to educate young people. The woman said “That’s funny, I haven’t seen someone with AIDS in years.” This comment struck me as totally indicative of the way most ignorant people (Africans and Americans) view this epidemic. I can’t imagine how someone could say they hadn’t seen someone with AIDS in years, as if it’s something that can be seen by looking at person. Whether or not she had had any interaction with a person with AIDS, I cannot say, but most likely, she had. However, for a well-educated woman working at a school to say she hadn’t “seen” one in years really irked me, and made me wonder if this kind of ignorance is part of the perpetuation of this disease.

-Speaking of schools, on Monday, Leigh, Ashley and I visited another school, and as we were walking through the courtyard, we saw a group of about 20 3-5 year old students, all dressed in uniform, doing some sort of chant led by their teacher. The second they saw us, the all stopped chanting and started grinning from ear-to-ear. They began chanting “brofonyo”, which is the Ga equivalent of Twi’s “Obruni” (which we hear more often). I’m used to being called out as a foreigner now, but there was something about these precious, smiling children who were fascinated with us. I think it’s common that for a lot of young children, we are the first, or one of the few, Obrunis or brofonyos they’ve ever seen. It’s really great when they react positively and try to play with us by making faces or giggling.

-Finally, I am recommending a book to everyone. It’s called The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinksi. Marykate is reading it for her journalism class, and they’re currently passing the book around for the rest of the class to read. I have NOT read it yet, but plan to as soon as the entire journalism class has read it. It’s a collection of a journalist’s personal journal as he spent one year traveling around the perimeter of Africa. Each section is about a different country he went to, and all his experiences in that country. I think the first place he begins is Ghana! Anyway, Marykate said it’s a WONDERUFL book, and has recommended it to her family, so I thought I’d spread it along. Try to read it if you can, I know I’m going to!


So that’s all the random notes/things I had forgotten to mention in previous posts. I think it was a good way to break up the monotony of the play-by-play style blog entries I’ve been writing lately. Anyway, as far as today goes, I went to one of the schools to deliver the last letter to the headmistress, then went in to WAAF. Belynda and I worked out the entire schedule of which 2 interns go to which schools on which days to conduct the workshops. There are 15 workshops we’re doing, and 3 interns’ schedules, and 5 schools’ schedules to coordinate, and I got it all figured out! I was actually really proud of myself for pulling it off. I had to call and confirm with the club patrons the dates, and let me just say, talking to a Ghanaian on the phone is HARD. I know sometimes talking in person with a Ghanaian can be hard because English isn’t their first language, so sometimes the way I phrase something or the way they phrase something just doesn’t translate. But, even some who do speak English well have very heavy accents, which I’ve gotten used to deciphering. BUT, combine the two and add communicating over the phone to the mix, and boy is it tough. Anyway, it was a good day at WAAF and we got a lot done! Spent the rest of the day napping, and had recitation with our Academic Director for one of my classes. Had a good dinner, and a good after-dinner snack (popcorn!). It’s been a good, but tiring day, and I look forward to tomorrow after 1:30, when my class and work responsibilities are done for the week! No huge plans this weekend, which I like. Some of us girls want to go out to a nice restaurant and buy a cake on Valentine’s Day night, and I think Marykate and I are going to get pedicures to spoil ourselves since our boyfriends aren’t here :(. But it should be fun!

Hope all is well at home. Nana—I know you won’t read this for a while—but I’m glad the surgery went well and everything’s okay! Praying for everyone, always.

love love love

macaroni and cheese, development, and ancestor worship

So I think I’ve decided I love Tuesdays.


I have to get up at 7 a.m. for 8 a.m. class, but I don’t mind at all, because the classes are so worthwhile and I’m learning SO much from them. Tuesdays I have my internship seminar first, and then right after that I have my Society, Culture and Modernization class. Both are really, really great classes, and I’m surprised at how much I’ve learned through my internship seminar. Because all of us in the internship program are interning at NGOs, NGOs and their functions and roles in developing Ghana are what the readings primarily focus on. Today, we talked a lot about how many people and societies (both in the African and in the West) view outside developmental aid as merely an extension of the colonial agendas established over a hundred years ago in Africa. Essentially, some argue that NGOs funded, implemented, or directed by the West are self-serving in that the goal is not necessarily to “develop” the country but to make it more western. As Westerners trying to come develop a developing world, we often see these countries as way far behind in infrastructure (both physical, social, political, etc.). However, the West fails to recognize that the state of Ghana (the first African country to gain independence from colonial rule in 1957) is only 50 years old (and every other country is much younger), and that America didn’t just become the progressive, developed country it is today in a matter of 50 years. We most certainly didn’t even face equal amounts of oppression and pressure and influence from other countries like Africans did. So to call these countries “underdeveloped” or behind is true, but only because they haven’t had the time to catch up. Additionally, this raises the question of whether our help is wanted. At least this is something I’ve been looking at and thinking a lot about. I think it’s great that the West is trying to advance Ghana and Africa, but it should be doing so for the sake of Ghana and Africa, not for its own sake (as is sadly the case). I wonder if Africans are resistant to our help because they are reminded of the colonial agendas, or if these programs are seen as valuable to their success and growth. A trite, but true, saying goes “Give a man to fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.” I think the same motto should be applied for any truly effective development. The West cannot come in and put a band-aid on Africa’s problems, giving it a quick fix and moving on. In fact, we shouldn’t be solving any of Africa’s problems, but instead teaching them, and providing them with the resources and the education and the means to better themselves. We cannot continue to think we have to do the work for them—it only fosters a lack of motivation to change and grow in Africans, and a completely self-serving mentality in Westerners. Additionally, and briefly, the World Bank and the IMF lend so much money on loan to African countries, only to charge them high interest rates and include so many strings attached that by the time the funds have been exhausted, they owe more than they borrowed, and have to take out more and more loans. It’s a vicious cycle which isn’t assuaged by the fact that Africans will intentionally and often over-bid the budget for funding of roads, for instance, and then use only a small portion of the funding (the necessary portion) to pay for the development, and distribute the rest in both corrupt and uncorrupt (but still against the terms of their loans) ways. Therefore, the money we keep shipping on over to Africa isn’t getting distributed as it should be, and funds, time and efforts aren’t allocated as well as they could be. Ultimately, we need to teach them how to fish: how to be self-sufficient and how to develop in their own way. On the same token, we cannot assume that as a “developed nation” we know what development should look like for the whole world. Oftentimes, our way of doing things in America/Europe JUST DOESN’T WORK here. The culture is different, the attitudes are different, and changing some of these things means ultimately changing the fiber of these countries, and that is an injustice. So, I am stuck wondering, how much help is too much help? How little help is too little? Are the programs in effect right now actually doing good, or just disguised Western-agenda pushing? Do Africans even want our Western ways of doing things implemented here? (Who’s to say our way is the right way? Maybe they just want to be left alone to live and develop as they are doing on their own time and in their own way). It’s all very confusing and interesting, and I have a million more sentences to say about it all, but this is just the tip of the iceberg, and I know I’m rambling. Anyway, I’ll leave this topic alone for now, and leave you with a quote from the reading we had to do regarding this issue:

“As with the racist ideologies of the past, the discourse of development continued to define non-Western people in terms of their perceived divergence from the cultural standards of the West, and it reproduced the social hierarchies that had prevailed between both groups under colonialism. On this basis, the so-called ‘developing world’ and its inhabitants were (and still are) described only in terms of what they are not. They are chaotic not ordered, traditional not modern, corrupt not honest, underdeveloped not developed, irrational not rational, lacking in all of those things the West resumes itself to be” (“The missionary position: NGOs and development in Africa,” Manji and O’Coill). ß A very interesting read if you have the time.

Just something to chew on (I’m definitely still chewing).

Switching gears, though, my second class, “Society, Culture and Modernization,” was really great. Today we learned about religion in Ghana. I talked in an earlier post about their belief in a Supreme God (High God) and the lower gods (low gods). In addition to the belief in these, their religious practices involve ancestor worship, witchcraft, magic, and oracles/divination. Aside from the worship of the low gods, ancestor worship is the most prominent form of religious expression in Ghana. It is believed that if you live a good life, have children, AND die a good death, you will become an ancestor. If you die a bad death (which includes death from ailments, disease, suicide, accidents, execution or ulcers), or do not bear children, you will not become an ancestor and your legacy will not be remembered. Upon death, these ancestors are buried with things they’ll need for their adventure into the “land of spirits”. It is the Ghanaian belief that whatever the ancestor was (occupationally) in the physical life, he/she will be in the land of the spirits. Therefore, a king will be a king, and oftentimes, his servants would commit suicide, as a form of honor, just to be buried with the king to accompany him to the land of the spirits. Ancestors are also buried with money to pay they ferryman, as it is believed that the land of the spirits are somewhere across a river in Nigeria. (The knowledge that most people are buried with money is cause for a lot of grave-robbing.) Additionally, they believe that you are a reincarnation of an ancestor. Our professor said he was a reincarnation of his great grandfather. We asked him how he knew this, and he said he visited a diviner. Ancestor worship is also a form of social control, because if you do not lead a good, positive life on earth, you will not move on to the land of spirits after death or become an ancestor, yourself.

Divination is another tenant of religion here, and diviners are essentially psychics. They can tell you about your past (like who you are a reincarnation of) or can tell you about the future, all for a small fee. Anyone can become a diviner by taking a class on how to become one. Diviners can also use “juju,” a form of black magic, to manipulate certain events (a student could visit a diviner before a test to use juju to make the teacher give him/her an “A”).

Witchcraft is also very common, though not like we think of it in America. Almost all mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws are witches, which I found very funny, since one could argue the same thing in America! They are said to be witches because they cause a strain between the man’s relationship with either woman. Being called a witch is common in Ghana, and can be ascribed to anyone, man or woman, with unusual behavior (Even if this person is an outcast or just socially awkward). People believe being a witch is inherited, and often call people witches when they feel someone has slighted them.

All this was very interesting to me, and I love learning about Ghanaian culture through this class! Our reading for that class comes from our professor’s, book, entitled “Tradition and Change in Ghana: An Introduction to Sociology,” by G. K. Nukunya. It’s very comprehensive, and covers all major topics of Ghanaian society and culture. I will bring the book home with me and can lend it out to anyone who’s interested in reading it (I highly recommend it!).

After class, Gillian and I went to Melting Moments, a cute little restaurant down the street from us. We hadn’t been there before, but heard great things about it. I got a huge bowl of baked macaroni and cheese, which might’ve been just about the best thing I’ve eaten since I’ve been here. AND it was only 3 Cedi 80 pesewas! I left feeling so satisfied and FULL for once. We spent the rest of the day really doing nothing, though I did figure out some visa stuff for our upcoming spring break trip to Morocco, and booked the hotel rooms for Gillian’s birthday weekend trip we’re planning in early March! All in all, it’s been a WONDERUFL day, and I am happy.

Also, I got to Skype with Jon for almost an hour and a half, which truly warmed my heart, since I hadn’t talked to my dear friend in so long. Rebecca joined us for a little of the conversation, and it was great to hear from her too! I had a long talk with Eric, too, about all this development stuff, and where my heart is with all of it. It was a great day of communication and love.

love love love

the long post from cape coast!

So I promised you a longer update of my Cape Coast/Elmina weekend, and if I keep putting it off, it’ll never get done and I’ll start to forget things! Before I start, though, this has been a very busy day, and I have lots of homework, so feel blessed that I am writing this, haha.

Anyway, our trip began EARLY Saturday morning. The bus came for us at 6:20, so we had to be up by 5:45. Mostly my own fault, I got little sleep the night before, so I conked out on the bus ride to Cape Coast. Cape Coast/Elmina is about 2 ½ hours west of Accra. The reason the two towns are always joined together with a “/” is because they are so close, and there are two big slave castles there, one in each town. Each castle is named after its respective town, but they are only about 10 minutes apart. Anyway, we pulled up to the Coconut Grove Hotel around 8 am and immediately checked in and had breakfast. Because this was an NYU-sponsored trip, we were randomly assigned roommates, and my roommate was Leah, a girl I hadn’t gotten to know very well before this weekend, but who is very nice. Our breakfast was an outdoor buffet, complete with all kinds of great American breakfast-y foods, including omelets, croissants (Sarah!), sausage links, cereal and fresh fruit. Of course, they had fresh pineapple juice, which was delicious! It was so nice to have a full, complete breakfast. Usually at home in Accra my breakfast consists of two pieces of buttered toast and jelly. But anyway, we had breakfast outside under some gazebo/hut type things right on the beach. After breakfast, we played on the beach for a while, and the water was the perfect temperature. It’s a shame I didn’t have a chance to swim all weekend, because I really would’ve liked to! BUT, we had a jam-packed weekend, learned a lot and had some sobering moments, but also had SO much fun!
Gabby, Marykate, Gillian, Mallory and I at the beach!

After breakfast we went to the Elmina Slave Castle, which is really called St. George’s Castle. A man named Atto was our guide, and was so knowledgeable. His family had passed down the oral history for generations, and so he literally knew the castle inside and out. We learned that the castle was constructed in 1482 by the Portuguese, who originally built the castle for gold-trading purposes. Over the course of hundreds of years, several different European empires occupied the castle, including the Dutch. We learned that any part of the castle that had red brick was constructed and occupied by the Portuguese, and any yellow brick indicated the Dutch’s presence. Throughout the course of the commodity trading going on in the castle, the Portuguese governors would bring back 20 Ghanaians at a time back to Europe, to “help educate them” and teach them how to be Western, so that they could go back to Ghana and be of use to their own people. However, when they arrived in Portugal, the king would use them as servants, cleaning the castles, and not providing them with any of the education they were promised. This idea of using these Ghanaians, who were already readily available near the economic hub of the city, for menial tasks was then exploited (quite an understatement), and the Europeans began paying off different African tribes to capture other tribes and bring them to the castle, where they would be kept in horrible conditions and eventually used as a commodity, which led to the great Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Many wouldn’t even make it to the boats because the living conditions were so terrible.

A thousand men, women and children would live in the castle at one time, along with the governor and the European soldiers. The castle’s structure is interesting, as it is divided into many different levels. The slaves were kept in the bottom level, the soldiers in the middle levels, and the governor and his quarters occupied most of the top level. The men and women were separated, and oftentimes entire families would be captured at one time, and therefore split up. Husbands and wives would rarely, if ever, see their spouses again, and if they happened to see them as they were being boarded onto the boat, it was only for a few seconds. The children had no separate living quarters, so they stayed with the adults of their appropriate gender. The women and men each shared a large, communal cell, where they would literally remain for their entire stay in the castle. Many died in the cells from disease, lack of nutrition, heat exhaustion, etc. There were two buckets in each cell, one for feces and one for urine. Atto said that many became too weak to even make it to the buckets to relieve themselves, and therefore, the floors of the cells were constantly soiled with human excrement. These are the same floors the men and women would sleep on, eat on and live on. They were never cleaned, and the heat combined with the stench made living unbearable. Because the governor was away from his wife back in Europe, he would rape the women (who he chose by standing over a balcony, having all the women come out of the cell and stand outside in the courtyard, choose a woman, who would then be stripped naked, humiliated, and washed publicly in the courtyard for everyone to see before making her way up to the top floor where the governor would have his way with her). Best case scenario, she would become pregnant and get to leave the castle, establishing a home in Elmina. These mulatto children then served as almost liaisons between Africa and Europe, as they were both black and white, and became very valuable to the Europeans.
Part of the castle

There are several cells, men and women, and then the “room of no return,” which is where those still living would be held while waiting for an incoming ship. The doorway that leads to stairs which lead to the ship is incredibly narrow, and Atto informed us that this is so the men and women (whose feet are shackled together, so they stand and walk in a single file line) can file through one at a time. Additionally, he said that it didn’t need to be any wider, because even those who were “fat” when they entered the castle, were usually always so malnourished that they were frail by the time they left.

I was thankful to get to experience all of this, though it was very sobering and difficult to deal with. There are several African Americans on our trip, and one of them was crying when we reached the point of no return. I was telling one of my friends this: that in America we know about slavery, and the struggles African Americans faced in achieving equality in America, but the beginning of the story for Americans is that “there were slaves”. Experiencing the slave castle opened up my eyes to the “prequel” of the story, if you will, of where these slaves came from, how they were literally ripped from their homes for NO reason (most of the time by other Africans, their brothers and sisters), and put into these horrible living conditions. If they survived, that was just the beginning of the journey, though most didn’t even make it to the ships. It was a powerful experience and the historical education I gained from it is something I wish we were taught in schools when talking about slavery, because these people came from somewhere, they had a history that shouldn’t be ignored.
Standing at the top of the slave castle, overlooking Elmina, a fishing village

But anyway, after the slave castle we made our way to Kakum National Forest, where we were to do our canopy walk!! We had to climb a mountain to get to the top of the trees, which was so cool! Once we were at the top of the mountain, there was a little platform where a few of us at a time stood and waited to walk across the first of seven bridges. The bridges are seriously no bigger than 2 feet wide, and I couldn’t put both my feet side by side on the bridge, it was that narrow. There was netting up to about my shoulders, and the bridge swung back and forth. The bridges are strung about 150 feet up in the air (though it feels like MUCH higher, sooo cool!!), and are literally nestled in the forest. Every direction you looked, 360 degrees around, was forest. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life, especially because the slight anxiety caused by the boards creaking beneath us was enough to just give me a jolt of adrenaline that made the whole thing a billion times cooler. Everyone did the walk, even those who were afraid of heights, but lots of those people were freaking out the whole time. I, however, don’t mind heights at all, and LOVED every second of it. God is so good, and I had to stop midway on the bridge and just say to myself “LOOK AT WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW! In Africa, in a forest, walking through the tops of the trees!” I am truly, truly blessed. I thought about how much my dad and Eric would love doing something like this. I hope one day Eric and I can go back to Cape Coast and do all of these things together. Anyway, as soon as the last person crossed the last bridge, it began to ran, which was really cool and refreshing (and what perfect timing!).
Me and Gillian high above the ground!

We headed back to the hotel, showered, and had dinner, which was again served outside on the beach, and which was, again, delicious. After dinner we had a bonfire and a few of us played elementary school games on the beach like freeze tag and red rover. It was a lot of fun just to play and be barefoot at night, on the beach, next to a bonfire.

Sunday morning, about half of our group of 40 went to make our very own batik!!! A woman who knows Christa, our director, has an NGO here (I forgot the name) which enables local women to use their crafts in a very directed way to make their own livings. The woman who runs the NGO is American, and this was the first batik-making workshop she’s doing, so essentially, we were her guinea pigs! Fortunately, everything was FREE, and we got to take home 2 yards of our own batik. There were three local Ghanaian women teaching us the whole process, and their ultimate goal through this NGO is to establish future workshops for these women to be able to conduct on their own, for a profit, for visitors. I’m going to steal an excerpt from Gillian’s blog describing what exactly we did:

1) We cut out designs to stamp on our cloth using foam blocks
2) We dipped our “stamps” in melted wax and applied it to the white cloth
3) We soaked our cloth (once completely covered in our design) in a bucket of cool water
4) We dyed our cloth
5) The cloth is hung to dry
6) Once dry the cloth is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax and seal the cloth
7) The cloth is hung up to dry againWe get our cloth!!

The cloth wasn’t dried by the time we had to leave for home, so the woman brought the cloth into Accra today, and I got mine tonight! It’s great! I wanted to dye it bright orange, but (unfortunately), it turned kind of, almost exactly burnt orange, t.u.’s colors. Oh well, it’s still really pretty and I love it!
Stamping my batik!

All in all, this weekend was incredible, and I’m still processing everything we did and learned!

Today was exciting and very jam-packed. I went to WAAF at 8:30 this morning, and ran around to the 5 different schools until around 2. We had to hand-deliver new letters, confirming our presence in their schools. This wouldn’t be so bad, or take so long, if getting from school to school didn’t take about 30 minutes each. BUT, I am really getting a kick out of all this, and loving every second of it, even when I’m hot, sweaty, smelly and gross (which is 90% of the time). The kids at the schools are so respectful to us when we walk in their classrooms to talk with their teachers, and I think they’ll be great to work with. I’m really, really excited to start teaching. At 4:40 Marykate and I headed to Legon for our Media and Society class, which, surprisingly, was WONDERFUL! The teacher must have put some sort of spell over the students or something, because there were NO uproars or interruptions, and the students were incredibly well-behaved. The lesson was really interesting, too, which was great! Oh! And Marykate (who is also a communications major) and I found out, after communicating with our advisor and department chair back at NYU, that this class counts towards our major, which is a double plus! When I got home, I had a care package from my mom and FIVE letters waiting for me (from mom and Nana), which totally brightened my day! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

I am going to bed tired but extremely satisfied and content. I am so glad everyone is doing well at home, and I am praying for you, Nana, for Wednesday. I miss you all so so so much and think about you all the time!

love love love

**Again, for more pictures from my trip with detailed captions, go to:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102876&l=d1a86&id=616486619

short post about cape coast!

So this will be a short blog tonight. I am going to post a longer, more detailed blog tomorrow. We got back from Cape Coast/Elmina tonight around 6, and since then I’ve been doing homework, catching up on emails, talking to my mom and sister, and getting ready for the week.

Short version: WE VISITED A SLAVE CASTLE, WALKED THROUGH THE FOREST 200 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND (VIA 7 DIFFERENT BRIDGES), ATE DINNER ON THE BEACH AND HAD A BONFIRE, ATE LOTS OF CAKE, AND MADE OUR VERY OWN BATIK!

Long version: will come tomorrow!

In the mean time, I hope everyone had a great, great weekend. I certainly did! To see ALL of my pictures from this weekend, visit this link:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102876&l=d1a86&id=616486619

It’ll be a lot faster than uploading pictures to the blog, AND you get to see 60 of them instead of just 5 or 6!

love love love

elizabeth the grouch

Warning: I had a tired, exhausting day. Therefore, this post may be a tad negative. Just a warning. But hey, I've not nothing but great days since I've been here, I'm entitled to one grouchy one.

Today was an exhausting! Those who are taking class(es) at Legon, including me, had recitation this morning. It’s interesting how this works with almost each of us taking a different class at Legon. Because this is the case, our Academic Director, Aunti Akosua, is just teaching us topics about Ghana, which is great. Since we are visiting the Elmina Slave Castle tomorrow at Cape Coast, we talked a little bit about slave castles and were each given a topic to study while at the castle tomorrow. I got art, so it’ll be interesting to look at the castle from an “art” point of view. Next week we’ll all share our topics and how they relate to slave trade/the castle. Should be really interesting.

After recitation, Gillian, Anika and I decided to go to Makola—bad idea! I don’t know why I keep submitting myself to this kind of anxiety. I know it’s going to be stressful and drive me crazy, and yet, I still go. All in the name of fabric, I guess. That’s the only reason I’d ever go to the market—because that’s where all the fabric is. Anyway, long story short, it took us about two hours of walking around the perimeter of the market to find the actual entrance to the market, and once we found it, we (I) were so hot/tired/exhausted that we weren’t even in the buying mood anymore, so we left shortly after looking at 2 fabric stands. I didn’t get anything, but that’s okay. The market put me in a pretty bad mood the rest of the day. I think the solution to this problem is to just stay away from the markets as much as possible. They’re great, and I think everyone should experience both at least once, but they put New York Times Square to absolute shame as far as business and crowded people go.

After the market a bunch of us went to the grocery store and I bought some popcorn kernels, chocolate, tea biscuits, and snacks for the road tomorrow—essentially all junk food that’s not easily available anywhere else. The groceries were worth the money I paid for them and the chocolate helped ease my grouchiness a little.

So we went to dinner at Tante Marie’s tonight, which (perhaps it was just my bad mood), was fairly disappointing. They never, ever have enough food, and so those who eat last (we’re dismissed by tables to get our food buffet-style) always get the crappy stuff that everyone else rejected. Of course, our table was second to last, and therefore I had a little bit of pasta, and that was it.

We got home and made cookies, drank wine, and watched Across the Universe—my favorite movie. I think I need a reminder of home, and that movie definitely helped. I’m definitely in the “hostile” stage of living in a new place, or maybe I’m just having a “hostile” day, but I just wasn’t feeling it today. Anyway, I need to go to sleep before I start ranting. AND! We’re going to Cape Coast/Elmina tomorrow with the entire NYU group (all 40 of us) and are spending the night. We’re going to tour the slave castle, AND do a canopy walk through the tops of tress in a forest. This is what I’ve been looking forward to my entire trip, so I’m excited we finally get to do it! Sunday we’re taking a batik-making class, which should be great as well! I should be back sometime Sunday afternoon.

Have a wonderful weekend and take care of yourselves! Miss you all SO much.

love love love

lazy thursday

this post will be short and sweet since i'm still waiting on those 25 things from you all! i think i've shared enough of my life and heart for all to see, now it's my turn to do the vicarious living! (thanks, ish, for responding so quickly!)

anyway, today i had my african popular music class, which is different than i expected, though i don't know what i expected. it's a lot of history about all different regions of africa and the musical history of those regions, and there are a lot of names and time periods and places to remember. but the class is interesting and it's the biggest one nyu has here, so it must be good.

after class i rode my bike to SDA school, where i met up with belynda and leigh who had been going to schools while i was in class, meeting with them to verify that we were doing our education programs with them this semester. leigh and i have to go back to all 5 schools on monday and hand-deliver letters to each of the headmasters/headmistresses confirming our doing workshops there, and providing dates of availability. it's just interesting how business and official matters are conducted here. very bureaucratic, very formal. there's not much emailing or phone calling, but a lot of sitting outside offices, waiting to speak with someone for maybe 2 minutes. but it's fun and i'm SOO excited about actually getting to start the workshops!

i had the rest of the day off and spent most of it watching season 4 of entourage. i'm gonna be done pretty soon, and we've gone through almost all the DVDs i brought, so i don't know what i'll be watching a few weeks from now! we find ourselves watching a movie almost every night, and since i brought the biggest collection, they're mostly movies i like (good for me!).

all is well here. tomorrow gillian and i are going to venture to makola, the other market we still haven't been to. pray for me as i re-experience this very hectic situation (i don't think markets, at least ghanaian markets, are for me, but we'll see how this goes).

i really want to start skyping more with people! so if you have a skype name, let me know.

miss you all and love you lots!

elizabeth

25 things

Hello family and friends! So many of you who are in the Facebook world know of what the following 25 things are. There's a chain letter type of thing going around on Facebook, where people post 25 random things about themselves. Basically, you just write whatever comes to mind about yourself--things everyone may know or things people would be surprised to know. Lots of people are doing it (peer pressure, people!) and it's actually really cool. I've learned a lot about my friends and found things in common with them that I didn't even know about. ANYWAY, my point is, I'm reposting the list I made for Facebook on my blog, for you all to see. ADDITIONALLY, I'm asking YOU, yes YOU, to post a list of 25 random facts about you. That means you Nana, Isha, Mom, Sarah, Anita, and all the others who I know read this all the time. Just leave me a comment back with 25 things. You may be surprised by what you find out about me, and maybe even by what you say about yourself. It's a fun exercise.

1. I absolutely love the color teal, in any form or fashion.
2. As per above, also have a ridiculous fascination with blue doors on houses/shacks/gates/etc. Whenever I see one I particularly like, I take a picture. Who knows what I’ll eventually do with the photo collection.
3. I think naps are the biggest luxury in the entire world, and become really hostile (can’t help it!) when someone wakes me up from one.
4. I have always been torn between going to A&M and NYU. I honestly think about this every single day.
5. On the same note, I am beyond grateful for the education NYU has given me, and the experiences and friends I have made in New York. As do most NYU students, I have a love/hate relationship with the school, and always miss it/love it when I’m not there.
6. I’m much more of “let’s stay home, eat pizza, and watch a movie” type person than a “let’s go out person”.
7. Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken is my favorite food. I am not ashamed to say the hands down best fettuccini alfredo in the ENTIRE world is found at Fazoli’s Drive Thru (along with the best bread sticks in the entire world).
8. I hate taking baths. I much prefer showering.
9. I try not to sweat the small stuff and not to worry. I know people who spend their whole lives worrying about (what I think are) insignificant things, and it’s a waste of time and energy. I’m a very “go with the flow” kind of person.
10. I had the absolute best dad in the entire world, and wish he could’ve seen me grow into adulthood—we would’ve had some fun together during those late teenage years.
11. Likewise, I have the best family in the entire world. My mom, sister and I are so close, and I don’t like going a day without hearing from them. My mom is the most selfless, loving, kind soul in the history of man, and is someone who truly deserves all the happiness in the world.
12. I’m not particularly a HUGE animal person, and have often found our various dogs more annoying than anything else. That’s not to say I don’t like dogs. In fact, I much prefer them to cats. I do have a soft spot in my heart for our dog, Dakota, and Eric’s dog, Sammy, though.
13. I love my car and miss driving whenever I’m in NY or away from home.
14. I have a strange fascination with the postal system and the post office in general. Eric can attest to this, much to his frustration. Additionally, receiving letters in the mail is one of my greatest joys. It shows you took time and is one of the greatest ways to show you care about me. I also love writing and sending handwritten letters.
15. I LOVE all things wedding related. I will look at strangers’ wedding albums and websites for hours. I love a good love story, especially when they happen in real life. I have also told my best friends that they have to get married if for no other reason so that I can be in their wedding party. I have almost no clue what I would want my own wedding to be like (as far as the details go), but have had multiple hour-long conversations with my roommates entertaining every possibility.
16. Similarly, the most important and treasured goal I have set for myself is that I can one day be a good wife and a good mother. I would love work in TV Production one day, but that is not my ultimate aspiration. I’m much more maternal than I think most people realize.
17. My best friends and Eric are some of the most incredible, crazy people I have ever met. Not like “Woo! Let’s get drunk!!” crazy, but like “I enjoy fewer things more than can’t believe how much fun I have with these people when we’re just sitting on the couch watching Will and Grace, eating cookie dough” kind of crazy.
18. I recently went brunette, and think I still prefer myself as a blonde.
19. My favorite book is Catcher in the Rye. Sounds cliché, but this book has had a tremendous impact on my life, and is a fiber of my being for many different reasons.
20. I love music, but don’t listen to it nearly as much as I wish I did. I know people who have soundtracks to their whole lives, and live and breathe music. I wish I was that person, but I usually find one good band and listen to its entire album(s) on repeat for months. My all-time favorite artist is Kate Nash.
21. The final scene in Across the Universe, when “All You Need is Love” is playing, is by far the most perfect scene in any movie ever.
22. Here in Ghana, and in NY, I miss many foods from home, though most of them are restaurants. They include but are not limited to: Willie’s chips and queso, Del Pueblo, Freebirds, Fazolis, Olive Garden (don’t judge me), Mi Cocina, and more. I also miss my mom’s and my Nana’s cooking.
23. I think a life without fulfillment (in whatever form) is pointless. I always need to be doing something, going somewhere, exploring something new, discovering myself, helping others. I get incredibly frustrated with people who waste away their precious time staying stagnant, never evolving or improving or learning.
24. I wear the same two rings religiously. I never, ever take them off. In fact, I dare you to look through my pictures and find one within the last three years where I’m not wearing both rings.
25. I am proud of who I am and what I’ve accomplished in the last 19 years.

a good website

so i was just surfing the internet, looking up information about ghana and its neighboring countries, and ran across this site about ghana by the CIA. it has tons of facts and answers pretty much any questions you may have about the country's structure.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html

very interesting. it's worth a look!