Akwaaba

This post is long overdue… the internet has been a bit spotty, so I have had to be patient ☺

Apparently the size of Africa is misrepresented on maps. In actuality, Europe, North America, and China can all fit into this massive continent. I am trying to make the point that Africa is vast and diverse- I don’t know any other continent that is referred to as definitively (referring to 'Africa' instead of Ghana or Kenya or South Africa etc.) I am hoping to do a documentary project on the American perception of Africa, as many of the Ghanaians have been offended by the misconceptions that are so prevalent about their lovely country.

    This past weekend was devoted to taking in some fun sites with our RAs. All four of our RAs (actually called “CRAs- community residence assistants or something like that) have graduated from various universities around Ghana and are now doing their year of national service. Because the Ghanaian government subsidizes university, students are expected to work for the government for one year upon graduation. Our RAs are AMAZING. Very sweet, and incredibly helpful. Not to mention that they are impossibly beautiful.
    We went to the market on Saturday, which was quite the endeavor. It was crowded with women carrying baskets on their heads and stalls with vendors attempting to entice us. The girls in our group (our group is 44 people total and 40 of them are women) were on a mission to buy fabric in order to get dresses made. I ended up getting three different prints. The fabric ‘culture’ is fairly significant here- there are different types that are popular, some are dyed, and the most expensive are hand-woven. Most of my fabrics were called “woodin” which is a specific brand and somewhat more expensive than other prints (about 6 cedi/ yard [which translates to about $4.00 per yard)).
    Pretty much anything you need to buy, you can get from the market- cosmetics, household appliances, jewelry… and of course food. There was a ton of fresh produce, as well as buckets of snails and other meats. The snails were pretty huge and freaked me out a bit, but they are considered a delicacy and I am trying to be open-minded about their culture. I would try them if necessary... I think...
    After the first market, we went to a craft fair. I should’ve known that it would be hazardous when the RAs didn’t get off the bus with us and said, “Remember your bartering skills!” Um, yeah. The craft fair was chalk full of the most aggressive sales people I have ever encountered. Their prices were ten times that of the market, and they would NOT take no for an answer. I felt that I held my own bartering- I got two paintings for 30 cedi when they told me 55- but it was an intimidating process. People literally pulled you into their stalls! It is a great exercise in learning how to say NO. way. Once we were finished and entering the bus, salespeople swarmed around the bus and continued trying to sell us stuff. By then they had learned our names, so it was awkward. Thankfully our RAs and bus driver are much better at handling such situations, and shooed the people away.

   On Sunday, we had a New York-style brunch with the NYU Ghana staff, which was much needed at that point. The coffee wasn’t instant (finally!) and tasted like heaven. After brunch, we went to the beach. It was different from the beach I’d visited earlier in the week, which was more of a private restaurant/ lounge type beach-front. This beach was happening, and tons of people were surfing and swimming. I body surfed for a good long while, and it was great. The rip tide is pretty strong in these waters, though, so we had to pay careful attention to the lifeguards on duty as they directed us to where the safe zones were. At the beach we met a group of students from UC schools, who are also on a study abroad program. We’ve seen them around some.
   
    Monday was the first day of classes. I had African Women Speak, a class about the empowerment of women that focuses on female African writers. We began the class by discussing gender and its role in American society, and everyone had a lot to say! This class is going to be great. Apparently our professor is famous in Ghana, so she said we might have the opportunity to accompany her to a press conference. Next, I had Twi, which is the local language of the Ghanaians- Wo din de sen? I am excited to learn some Twi, I feel like it’s something I can carry back with me after my stay in Ghana is complete. 
    Tuesday I had Documenting the African City, in which I am going to make my documentary. It is a popular class and I am definitely looking forward to filming. My Community Psychology class today was cancelled due to the fact that my prof is in the hospital.

    I visited a local orphanage with a friend from the program who had some things he needed to drop off for the children. It was small, maybe 12  children total, and many of them are going to be adopted soon! One of the adoptive families was there visiting (they still have four months of paperwork to get through before they can take their son home), and it was great to see. The children were incredibly sweet. One in particular stole my heart, his name is Noah and his grandmother abandoned him at the orphanage about 4 days ago. He is around 4 or 5 years old, but he would not speak to anyone. Eventually he cuddled with me, thank goodness- I was dying to comfort him. We are planning on visiting this orphanage again soon. Meanwhile, if anyone is looking to adopt, I have some children for you!

Tomorrow I am meeting with the Special Educational Needs, Counseling and Drama Therapy Center (SENCDRAC). The title is pretty self-explanatory, I will be doing drama therapy and counseling with special needs children as a volunteer. The other place where I want to volunteer, City of Refuge, is about an hour outside of Ghana and helps to rehabilitate trafficked children. I will likely be doing drama and play therapy with those children as well.

    I am excited to get started!


1/23/2011

    Yesterday we left for a beach called Kokrobite, about an hour or so away from where we live in Accra. It is in a more rural area of Ghana, but the specific beach we visited had a resort called Big Millie’s. It was amazing! We ended up deciding to stay the night- it was around 9 cedi each (about $6), in one of the smaller cabins. The beaches are so warm here, swimming and trying (operative word being trying) to body surf is awesome. There were tons of souvineers to buy and fruit shakes to drink, we all felt like we were in paradise. Saturday night is Reggae Night at the resort, so once again I got to see a live reggae band and do some dancing. This morning most of us chose to leave right away, and due to cab complications (ideally price-wise we should fit 4 people into each cab, but everyone was already heading out in groups) Kelsey and I fended for ourselves. It is much more difficult to catch a cab in a rural setting, as we found out, and after walking down the street for a while with no luck a local man warned us that we would be robbed if we continued walking towards the next town. He said we could wait at his shop for a cab, and then he flagged down a man for us who was heading to the airport. Kels and I hitched a ride with him back to Accra, and then took a taxi to our dorm in Lebone. What should have cost us 20 cedi, maybe more, took 3! We were lucky, that was literally all the cash we had between the two of us.
    Before anyone gets worried about the fact that Kelsey and I were hitchhiking in Ghana with no money. let me remind you that the culture here is vastly different from the US. I would never hitchhike in America, but violent crimes here are very uncommon- petty theft is it. Additionally, people generally have a very helpful attitude.
  
   Hopefully I'll be able to get some homework done for this next week...