woe was so much fun! just what i needed/wanted! we spent most of saturday just touring around our professor's hometown (not village, as he reprimanded gaby for). apparently, a town is anything that has more than 5,000 inhabitants, and woe has 7,000, so it's doing pretty well.
we got to woe around 11 and visited our prof's house, which is definitely one of the nicest in woe. that's to say, it's actually got a foundation and is painted on the outside. most of the homes in way are either made with cinder blocks or mud, and many resemble the mud huts you'd suspect to find in an "african" town.
woe is a huge fishing community, as it has the atlantic ocean on one side of it, and a large, knee-deep lagoon on the other side. fresh catch is sold in baskets on the side of the road, and if you slow down too much on these roads, your car will be bombarded on all sides with fishermen selling fish they probably caught 30 minutes prior. so cool! if you check out my entire album from the trip (link below) you will see what i'm talking about.
saturday is funeral day in woe, and we saw our fair share of funeral processions and mourners. traditional funeral clothing can be one of three colors: red, white, or black. surprisingly enough, red and white are worn exclusively for people who have passed in old age. it is actually disrespectful to wear black to an elder's funeral. black is reserved for funerals of young people. this is true of all of ghana, though in woe, specifically, we saw many people wearing black (we found out later that one funeral was for a 33 year old man who died in a car accident).
we went to the beach, saw fishermen pulling in nets that are literally miles out in the ocean (again, photos in my full album). we also visited a beach location were about 200 years ago, after the abolition of the slave trade (not slavery), british soldiers tricked 100 ghanaian musicians to come on board the ship to "entertain them" while they were docked, only for the ship to take off with all 100 ghanaians on board. they were taken to cuba and sold in the illegal slave trade, never to be seen again. kind of ironic when you're standing in one of the most beautiful places you've ever been.
mallory, emma, prof, chris (an RA), me, and gabymy favorite part of the trip was getting to see a performance our professor organized! he is the "owner" of a children's cultural group in woe. the kids range from 9 to about 15 years old, and they are AMAZING and music and dancing. there were probably 15 kids playing different times of percussion--drums, various bells, etc.-- and probably 10 (5 girls, 5 boys) kids doing traditional ewe dances to the music. they were SO SO great. i think africans just have this natural rhythm and ability to move their body in completely rhythmic, flexible ways that us obrunis just do not have. at one point they brought us up and tried to teach us to dance, but we were terrible. still, it was SO much fun, and i don't know if i've laughed at myself that hard in a while.
the kid playing the big drum, standing up, was incredible
a traditional ewe dance
and then the obrunis gave it a shot. not quite as synchronized, eh?needless to say, the trip was a great success. there were only four of us who went because three of the other students in the class (including gillian) were sick. but us girls had a great time, and it was good to be in a new environment. the dance/cultural group last night really reminded me of why i love ghana. it was quite refreshing and really really fun.
hope your weekends were good, too! i don't have a busy week ahead of me, which is nice. gillian should get out of the hospital tomorrow, fingers crossed, though they're still waiting on results of some of her tests. her mom is coming on sunday for about 10 days, so we're really looking forward to having a mom around, and for her to bring us lots of american goodies!
love love love!
*so i think i figured out what i was doing wrong in the other links i would post to the full albums online. this one should work. to view the rest of the pictures, click here:
for my morocco albums, click:
and
3 comments:
My darling daughter, This is one of the most joyful blog entries you've crafted yet - both in the photos you've shared and in your rich descriptions. You and your fellow Woe visitors are visibly fillec with joy, energy, sparkle and beauty -- I am so glad that you had this unique opportunity to visit your professor's home and hometown and got to enjoy the delight of the darling and energetic children with their dance and pure hearts! Thank you for sharing this experience so visually and eloquently. And I am so glad that you reposted the photos of Morocco and the full album of your Woe photos. Your expressions in the cold of Morocco are priceless! I understand why, after seeing all you did and saw and experienced that week, it was the best week of your life. So many treasured memories. You have a wonderful and healthy and safe week ahead, Angel. I love you so, Momma
Hi Ej,
I was so happy to read that you had a wonderful time in Woe. I enjoyed all the photos, especially the one of you laughing at yourself dancing. Such a joy it was to see you having so much ridiculous fun. I also loved the photo of you standing in front of the mural, a sublime blending of you, the animals, and color. I think the most impressive thing in your photos is all the brilliant colors captured. The town seems awash in color! The faces of the people were also amazing. Something to be learned there from people who have so little materially, yet have such richness in their everyday lives. Isn't it delightful that God lead you to Woe to help you find your joy in the midst of your woe? God is truly awesome and has quite the sense of humor, don't you think?
I hope you have a terrific Monday EJ. You and G are being prayed for mightily. I love you Sweetpea. Isha
P.S. The Springsteen concert was amazing. I had crazy fun and felt your Dad rockin' along side me.
Just happened upon your delightful blog - thanks for sharing these unique experiences of yours :)
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