The End.

This is it! It's time to head home

This past weekend, we had our final retreat in Akropong. I'm glad we got to go back because it's one of my favorite places. 

As we pulled away from the Seminary, I had another one of those weird/sad moments when I realized that I would never be able to go back to Akropong. The reality of leaving Ghana makes me sad.

On Sunday, I had the entire day free to do whatever I wanted. Our final farewell dinner was in the evening, so I had to fill the time somehow. I packed. Pretty much completely.

The dinner went really well. So many people showed up! Our dances went pretty well and our matching shirts made us look awesome. It was nice to spend some time with the people from Adenkrebi. Daniel brought his whole family, including Nancy and Ataabah. It was nice to see them one last time.

We had a mini graduation ceremony after our thank-yous. Each of us got our own Kente cloth to wear when we graduate from Calvin! Pretty neat.

Overall, it was a great way to end the semester and say our goodbyes. 

Now it's really time to go. 
I have mixed feelings about leaving. I don’t think I’m ready to leave. I love it here. I’m beginning to feel at home here. It just feels so strange to leave just as I start to feel comfortable. On the other hand, I am so excited to see my family, friends, and my dogs. I also just really love Christmas time and can't wait to see some snow! 

This semester has been the best experience of my life. I’m so glad that I came. Ghana will always have a very special place in my heart.

America, here I come! 

Free Travel Time!

I got back from free travel on Wednesday! I apologize for the lack of pictures. My camera died pretty early on and the places we stayed didn't have power outlets to charge. The pictures from Green Turtle are stolen from Krista's camera. :) If I have time later, I will try to gather more pictures from other people and add them.

Enjoy reading about my vacation!

Nov. 18

This morning, Shannon, Paola, Caitlin, Josh, and I began our free time. So, I had to pack my bags for 10 days of vacation. My only bag that is not a huge suitcase is a bulky duffle bag the size of my body. Using public transportation in Ghana with a bag of that size is not easy, but I made it work. We did a lot of traveling today. We took a tro-tro to a place called La Paz, which is about a half an hour away from campus. From there, we had to walk to find a tro-tro to Keneshi Station. Keneshi Station is incredibly busy. We had to make our way through the masses (I’m carrying my duffle bag in my arms) to find a Ford Fast Car. These are basically just bigger tro-tros that are more expensive because they have one destination and they don’t stop until the get there. Our fast car took us to Cape Coast. From there we had to bargain with a taxi driver to get to Kakum National Park for a decent price.

When we arrived at the park, we had to wait for our guide, Ebenezer. After a while he showed up and made dinner for us. He then informed us that the tree house was a 25-minute hike into the jungle. At this point, I was looking at my duffle and wondering how on earth I was going to carry it through the jungle. I tried to wear it like a backpack for a bit, which looked completely ridiculous, but it worked until I wanted to fall over backwards. Ebenezer ended up carrying it for me. Good thing he did because the hike to the tree house was actually kind of hard.

Ebenezer realized as we got to the tree house that he forgot the keys to the place. So, he had to go back and left us alone in the jungle. It was about 5:00pm at this point, so the sun was beginning to set. It took our guide about an hour to return. The tree house is a large room on stilts complete with foam cots to sleep on.  Some mice had eaten a few of the cots. There is no water, no lights, and a hole with walls around it for a toilet. It was an experience to sleep there, to say the least.

We went on a hike in the jungle at 8:30pm. I was scared out of my mind. It was totally dark except for a few headlamps that we had. Ebenezer was armed with a rusty machete. I’m sure if anything attacked us, we would’ve been doomed. Luckily, the only wildlife we found was a cicada and a tarantula. Other than that, we just heard some animal noises and had a brief moment of panic with some fire ants.

Nov. 19
I slept in my clothes because I didn’t want to be eaten alive by bugs. I slept fairly well considering the circumstances, but jungle animals are loud—especially monkeys.

The group with Eben

We got up at 6am, packed up and hiked back to civilization as fast as we could. Unfortunately, the taxi driver that the park normally has for park guests decided to drive to Cape Coast, so we had to sit around and wait for a tro-tro to drive by. After a half an hour or so, we got one and we headed back to Cape Coast. We made a stop at the Global Mamas volunteer house to shower and eat breakfast before heading to our destination for the day. We ate cereal. I loved every bite.

After breakfast, we got a taxi to Stumble Inn. Usually, you agree on a price with the driver before you get into the car. We did that, but he tried to raise the price on the way because “the roads were bad”. Well, I was just so fed up with taxi drivers at this point that I just told him that he should have thought about that before we left. We gave him the money when we got to Stumble Inn and got out of the car.

Stumble Inn is beautiful. It’s right on the ocean. There are hammocks, beach chairs, a place where you can get food and drinks, a volleyball court, and a ping-pong table. We’re staying in the bunkrooms; so all five of us are sleeping in one place. It’s a huge step up from the tree house. We walked on the beach, swam, slept, and read all afternoon. We had pasta salad for lunch and I ordered pancakes with fruit for dinner. It’s been a great day here. Tomorrow we make the long journey to Cape Three Points. We’re staying a place called Escape Three Points (See what they did there?)

Nov. 20-24

On Tuesday morning we woke up and packed up to be ready for the taxi that was scheduled to pick us up at 7am. To our surprise, he was actually there at 7am. That never happens. We then had a series of tro-tro rides that took us to Cape Three Points. Our final tro-tro ride was on the worst rode I’ve ever been on by far. I got to sit in the front seat and I honestly felt like I was on a weird safari ride at Disney World. We were cruising over huge bumps, into potholes, and through deep puddles of water. I was actually getting wet because there were holes in the floor of the car.

We were dropped off at the end of the Escape Three Points driveways. I didn’t really know what to expect. A Rastafarian greeted us and assured us that we would have a relaxing time. The driveway ended. The natural surroundings were basically left alone aside from a few bungalows and a bar/sitting area. I felt like I had stepped onto the set of Gilligan’s Island. Other people felt like we could be on Survivor. Our sleeping area was called The Hive. It was a bunkhouse that had about 12 beds in it. A urinal sat just behind our bunkhouse along with an outdoor shower area. (Complete with a bamboo fence for privacy and a large trash can to hold the water) Further away were self-composting toilets. If you hadn’t guessed already, Escape Three Points is an eco-lodge. They take it pretty seriously.

The beach was beautiful. We had the place completely to ourselves. I loved it! I would get up in the morning, eat breakfast, put my suit on and then walk straight to the beach and stay there all day. Sometimes I would take a nap or something, but most of my time was spent reading on the beach.

The owner of the place was incredible. His name was Akwesi. He is a Ghanaian/Canadian who is married to a French woman. He was always around and super friendly. We decided that he would make a really cool uncle. There was also JB. He is a French guy that is living at Escape, helping build new bungalows and improving the menu for the kitchen. So he gets to do that during the day, and surf at night. Not a bad job. They made our time at Escape a lot of fun. It was really nice to get to know some new people.

On Thanksgiving, JB wanted to make sure that we had a nice meal. He arranged to have people catch lobster for us! I spent my Thanksgiving relaxing on a beach and later I feasted on freshly caught lobster and mashed potatoes. Not too bad, eh? I missed my family, but the group I was with made for a pretty good substitute.

On Saturday, Jeff organized an actual Survivor competition. He was the “host” and the rest of us were split up into tribes that competed against each other. The prize was $8.00 and the ability to switch seats with whomever you choose on the plane ride back to the States.

Our first challenge was an obstacle course. The next was a game where we had to see who could get a ball into a trashcan three times the fastest. We also did a crazy game of scrabble, a challenge in which we had to balance on a chair, and a rock-tower building challenge.
After each challenge, we were given some time to make alliances. Then, we had actual tribal councils where we voted people out. It was so much fun. It made the day go by a lot faster.

We left Escape on Sunday morning. Akwesi drove us in his truck. We all piled into the bed and rode standing up on the crazy, bumpy road all way to Old Town. We had to walk through Old Town, over a bridge into New Town and then walk about a mile down the beach to get to the Green Turtle Lodge.

Nov. 25-28

Our bunkhouse

The Green Turtle Lodge is a less intense eco-lodge. It is completely solar powered and has self-composting toilets. It did have showers with showerheads, which was great.

The days we spent there were devoted solely to the beach and the waves. I finished my book on the beach. I read J.K. Rowling’s new book, The Casual Vacancy. It’s interesting—nothing like Harry Potter. ;) I would recommend it. There was a boogie board available that we used quite a bit as well.

I think I am the most tan I’ve ever been in my life. That’s not saying a whole lot—I don’t tan super easily. I just hope it stays until I get home so I can be tanner than my friends for the first time ever.

The food was really good. The French toast was incredible. I usually ate a cheese and tomato Panini for lunch and dinner was different all three nights. After dinner, we usually spent time chatting with each other or with the manager of the place. He was English, which was cool.

We traveled back to campus on Wednesday. It took about seven hours total. Traveling in Ghana using the public transportation is just a hassle and it’s not that fun, especially when you have a really long trip to make. Campus was a welcomed site after traveling all day in hot, sweaty tro-tros.

:)

I spent Wednesday afternoon catching up on Facebook and emails. It was kind of nice to be out of touch with reality for a while. This vacation time has been perfect. Who wouldn’t love sitting on a sunny beach in Ghana while everyone back home is freezing in the snow?

This weekend, we head to Akropong for our final retreat. I’m glad we’re going back there because that has become one of my favorite places. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that they always have running water and good food, but the community is really nice, too.

On Sunday, we have our farewell dinner. We have invited all of our professors, internship point-persons, and friends we’ve made. At this dinner, we will be performing one of the dances we learned. Roland even got us matching shirts made for the occasion. The dinner is also an opportunity to thank all of the people that have contributed to our time here in a major way. It should be nice.

The End of School

Wow. My last two weeks have been a whirlwind. I haven’t kept up with my journal because I’ve just been too busy.

I had my last week of classes. I spent the majority of my spare time writing final papers and studying for final exams. I chose to dedicate most of my study time to political science because it is by far my hardest class. I had a final paper to write for African literature, Peoples & Culture, as well as Culture & Ethnography. Those took up a really huge chunk of my time.

That week, my hair was still gross from swimming in the pool at Mole. Anna suggested I try washing it with vinegar, so I did. What a horrible decision. It got in my eyes, my mouth, and my nose in the process. My hair didn’t even come completely clean either. Anyways, Anna says that I did it wrong or something, but I will never do that again. Ever.

I went to Adenkrebi for the last time, too. We finished our painting project in the Kindergarten room! It felt good to get something done.  I played a few games with the kids and actually won one of them. That never happens. I’m going to miss those kids. It was so strange leaving the school knowing that I would probably never go back.

Here are some pictures of the final product that Hayley took:

I painted the balloons and the giraffe

The front of the room

The weekend before finals, I stayed on campus to study. I spent most of the time at the Institute. On Monday, Roland came in and started talking about some left over cake that he had at his house. A few of us had the same idea to acquire the cake somehow. It was raining that day and Roland’s house is a decently long walk from the Institute. When I asked Roland about what we should do, he told me that I could take his car to his house. That’s right, everyone. I got to drive in Ghana and I got to eat chocolate cake. Best day ever.

Tuesday, I had my Political Science final. I did my best, but as usual, I was the first one done. I never know how to feel about that.
Wednesday, I had my Twi exam. That did not go well. There was so much vocabulary that I didn’t know. Oh well, it’s over now and I’m happy about that. After Twi, we had Drumming and Dance for the last time. We had our final “exams” in drumming. We had to perform a song in groups of two or three. I went with Margot and we nailed it!

In dance class, we just practiced for our performance that we are having on December 2^nd.

Thursday, I gave a presentation on my time at Adenkrebi School. After that, I spent the rest of the day finishing my final paper for Peoples and Culture. Finishing that was the best feeling.
Friday, I had to sit through everyone else’s presentations. The semester was officially over after those were done. We went out to dinner as a group to an Indian restaurant to celebrate the end of school.

I honestly can’t believe the semester is over. It went so fast. Now, I get to sleep in a tree house in the jungle for a night and then relax on the beach for the next 12 days or so. I’m looking forward to sitting on the beach and reading. I love that I’m able to sit on the beach at the end of November. 

To the North!

I just spent an amazing ten days in the Northern Region. It was awesome. Really hot, but really good. So, enjoy my journal entries from the trip! :)

Oct. 26

I woke up at 4am so I could take advantage of the Internet. It works so much faster in the middle of the night/really early morning. I had to get one last Facebook check in before I left for the 10-day excursion.

We left at 7am from our dorm. Our goal for the day was to make it to Kumasi, which is a huge market town kind of on the way to the Northern Region. The roads were crazy. Some were paved, but others were dirt and covered with the biggest potholes I’ve ever encountered. We made 3 stops on the way up. The first was to a village that makes Kente cloth. Kente cloth is a fabric that has been woven for over 400 years (according to our guide) and there are 3 different types of weaves and all sorts of different patterns. Each pattern has a different meaning. It was pretty interesting stuff. We watched some people weave it and then were given time to buy some cloth if we wanted some.

The second stop was really similar. It was a village that made ink and then used it to stamp Adenkra symbols onto fabric like Kente cloth. The ink begins with tree bark that gets soaked in water for 24 hours. After that it is pounded into finer pieces and then the juice is drained from the bark. The juice is then boiled. It has to boil for about a week before it can be used. We were able try our hand at stamping. Now we have our very own Adenkra symbol cloth. Neato.

Our next stop was a strip of stands that sold wooden carvings. The sellers were extremely eager to have us visit their shops. I walked into one and when I turned around to exit, there were 6 men lined up saying variations of, “My sister, please come to my stall. I have something I want to show you. Free looking.” It was a little overwhelming, but I had fun trying to bargain with some of them.

We were in the bus for a long time, so naturally we had to make some stops for the restroom. My original thought was that we would just be using bushes at the side of the road. I was wrong—that comes later on in the trip apparently. Today, we stopped at the nicest restroom I’ve encountered in Ghana. We had to pay to get inside, but it was totally worth it. It was even nicer than most rest stops in the States. It was super clean, had a restaurant, and people selling all kinds of things outside. It was impressive.

Anyways, we made it to our hotel in Kumasi at around 4pm. The city is really big and really busy. The hotel we stayed at is really nice. I roomed with Krista and Kristi. We had running water (even an option for hot water!), a fan, and a TV. I think I was the most excited about the fan. We don’t have those in our dorm rooms. It just felt really good to sleep with a fan on.

We had pizza for dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. It was delicious. I was really tired from being in the bus all day, so I went to bed super early.

Oct. 27

Today I woke up at 6am…as usual. I really have a hard time sleeping past then. Breakfast was served at 7:30. We had fried eggs, toast, and a choice of tea or coffee. It was good. We didn’t have to leave the hotel until 10am, giving us some time to hang out.

Once we departed, the rest of our day was spent in the bus. 8 hours of riding. It really wasn’t that bad. It was cool to see the scenery change from hilly to flat land. The houses also changed from cement structures with tin roofs to circular mud huts with thatch roofs.

Our rest stop experience was slightly different today. We only stopped once and it was in the random village that happened to have restrooms. The restrooms were more like trenches. They did have walls and separate male and female sides, but it was essentially like going to the bathroom in a nice gutter. I found it pretty amusing, especially because we had to pay for it. Watching everyone’s face as they walked out of the bathroom was also the best.

By the end of the trip we were all getting pretty restless. When I start feeling restless, I start to think that everything is funny and then I start laughing and then I start crying because I’m laughing so hard. Once that happens, I have a hard time stopping. It gets to the point where I’m basically weeping from laugher when nothing is actually funny. Luckily I started feeling this way just a few minutes before arriving at our destination where I was able to compose myself. 

The place we’re staying in Tamale is not a glamorous as the last place, but it works. We have a fan again, which is really awesome because it is HOT here. Accra has nothing on the North when it comes to heat. Our toilet and sink work, but our shower does not. Good thing we’re used to this sort of thing. There is an outdoor faucet just a short walk away from our room where we can fill our buckets for showers.

We had a typical meal of rice and chicken for dinner. After dinner, I filled up my bucket and took a shower and then the group just hung out and played games for the remainder of the evening. The power went on and off several times due to an incoming storm. It rained for a while, which was awesome because it cooled the temperature down quite a bit.

Tomorrow we are taking a 3-hour drive to Yendi—the witch village.

Oct. 28

What an incredible day. We left Tamale at around 8:30am and arrived in Yendi at about 11am. When we arrived, there were chairs under a tree for us. A man from the village then told us about his NGO that he started. I’m not sure what it’s called, but the acronym is BIRDS. It started up after some ethnic conflict in the 80s or 90s (I can’t remember which) and has since stayed in the town as a peacekeeping organization. It was actually extremely hard to hear him talk in the outdoor setting, so I’m not sure how they are connected with the witch village, but one of his coworkers accompanied us there.

When we got to the village we were swarmed by a mass of children. I’m not sure that there are many things in this world that are cuter than African children. My heart melts into a puddle when they hold my hand. Anyways, these kids crowded around our bus and grabbed our hands and walked us into the village. We arrived at a large tree where benches were set out for us to sit at. People from the village were also sitting under the tree with us.

 

The village is made up of mostly women (most of them look older) and a few men. We were given the chance to ask them questions and they could then ask us questions. We worked through 3 different translators, which was crazy but that’s just what had to happen. We learned that most people arrive at the witch village under very similar circumstances.

When someone dies in a community and the cause of the death can’t easily be explained or understood, it is then believed that some sort of witchcraft was involved. Usually (but not always), the blame falls on a woman and she is then accused of murder through witchcraft. Because of this, she is no longer accepted in her village and has to find somewhere to go. The witch village in Yendi is a place they can escape to.

Because they are so ostracized, they are extremely poor. They farm for their livelihoods, but it often is not enough to feed themselves and their kids. (When a woman leaves her village, apparently she is allowed to bring her children or if the woman is older, she can bring a grandchild). They explained to us that it is hard to be happy where they are because their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter are barely met. My heart broke for them. They are beautiful people forced to live in extreme poverty for something they didn’t really do.

The woman in the middle is Sana

After our meeting, we were able to distribute some soap to the people. It was horrible because there wasn’t enough for everyone. I felt really bad. I did however meet the most wonderful woman. Her name is Sana and she was the only one that spoke English. I don’t know how I even managed to start talking with her, but I instantly loved her. She greeted me with “AYY, My Sista!” She showed me her house and I got to meet her son. I really hated leaving because I wanted to talk with her more. I did manage to get a picture with her. I couldn’t help but feel like there was a reason that I met her. I’ll be praying for her everyday. I hope that the Gospel reaches that village because I think Christ is the only one who can bring them the hope they’re looking for. 

We got back on the bus and went back to our first stop of the day. The people of the village gathered in a huge circle and performed for us. A group of men played fiddles and shakers and sang. A woman started dancing in the middle. After she was done, each person from our Calvin group was asked to dance individually in the middle of the circle. What an experience. Most of us just busted out our best (or worst) moves and others tried their hand at imitating the woman that danced earlier. I’m a horrible dancer, so when I got up to dance, I decided to go for the "I’m obviously not from Ghana” approach. It seemed to work. When the dancing was over, I got to try playing the fiddle! I couldn’t do it. It was too hard, but it was really fun trying.

When we got back to Tamale, we ate dinner and had a group bible study. I went to bed shortly after that because I was exhausted from the day. It was a really eye opening day for me. I’m really grateful for the experience.

Oct. 29

This morning was one of the only times that I actually slept solidly until my alarm when off. I probably could have slept for about 5 more hours, but we had to get up for breakfast and be on the bus by 8:30am. Our first stop today was at the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church for Northern Ghana. An NGO called Presby Agric works out of the headquarters. They help communities develop their agricultural businesses. They also help women get involved in agriculture, which I thought was awesome. We went to a village about 20 minutes away and got to talk with them about their community, what they grow, and how Prsby Agric has been involved. Our translator was amazing. He did a great job at making the conversation flow really well. The community received us really well. They especially loved Nick from our group because he’s a farmer. We had a lot of questions for them and they even had a lot of questions for us. Afterwards, I went around and shook a bunch of people’s hands. I ran across this mom with the most adorable child, so I asked if I could take a picture.

We got back on the bus and went to a chicken farm next. We were off the bus for about 5 minutes and then we returned back to Tamale for lunch. Lunch was really late today, but that happens. After lunch we went to the location of a youth development organization. They primarily help young women gain vocational skills so that they can later create a living for themselves. Currently, they teach sewing and hairdressing. The women are usual from the area, but sometimes they come from far away.

Often, young women from the North will move south to do whatever it takes to make a living. This sometimes ends up with them living on the streets or just in really poor conditions. This organization tries to minimize that phenomenon by training them in a vocation so that they don’t have to move south and endanger themselves. It seems like a really cool organization.

After our visit with them, we came back to our guesthouse and ate dinner. I tried to do some research for my Literature paper, but didn’t make a whole lot of progress. Oh well. After playing a game with the group, I went to bed.

Oct. 30

Breakfast at 6am! We had to leave Tamale by 7am in order to be in Bolgatonga on time. It took us about two hours to get there. We met up with a lady by the name of Doris who runs an organization called TAWODEP. It’s an organization that helps women in the area expand their businesses. They make jewelry out of recycled newspaper and magazines and they make their own Shea butter. Doris decided that we needed to see all kinds of aspects of the community. First, she took us to a rural school. It was actually a lot nicer than the school I work at in Adenkrebi. We got to go to each classroom and exchange songs. One class even danced for us, which was really impressive.

Stirring the Shea butter

After the school, we got to hike up a hill for about 20 minutes to a village that is the home of Shea butter making. We were able to observe the entire process and even got to participate. I got to crush Shea nuts and then got to help with a later step by mixing/beating the blend until it looked like brownie batter. I really enjoyed myself.

After the Shea butter demonstration was finished, we got to see inside one of the family homes. It was a mud and thatch house. I just think they are so pretty. I wish everyone had a thatch roof.

Our next stop was to a village that brews some sort of beer from millet. We all got to try some. It was pretty good. Not my favorite, but it was good to try. After we finished drinking what was given to us (which was quite a bit I might add), a dancing circle broke out. There was a lot of stomping and some of the Calvin people got involved. It’s hilarious because we really just can’t dance the way they do, but they like it when we try. 

Charles with our Guinea Fowl.

The village gave us a guinea fowl as a token of their gratitude for our visit. That’s right. A live bird is now traveling with us in our bus. We offered it to one of Doris’ coworkers, but we’re all staying at a retreat center for the next two nights, so I think it’s just going to be hanging out on our bus until we leave Bolgatonga. So that’s pretty weird, I guess.

The place we are staying at is called the Social Center. We arrived around 3pm and ate a late lunch. It’s a pretty nice place. We have fans again, so that’s a plus. I’m staying in a room with six other girls. It feels a lot like being at summer camp.

The last activity for the day was a visit to the Bolgatonga Craft Village. It was a really nice place to walk around. I really enjoy shopping and bargaining, so it was a nice way to end the day.

I tried to do some homework when we got back to the Social Center. I made some progress but not much. We were given a snack to eat at 7pm in the dining area and then some of us went out to find FanIce. After that, we tried watching a movie but we’re so tired that we called it quits and turned in for an early night.

Oct. 31

Doris had another full day of activities planned for us today. We got on the bus in the morning and went to a pottery village. We watched a few women paint on traditional cloth. They paint using mainly black, red, and white because those were the colors that their ancestors used originally. All of the pictures have meaning. For instance, a crocodile in that area is the symbol for savior. Legend has is that their original chief had to flee his initial village because his brother was plotting to kill him. While he was running he came across a river he couldn’t cross. A crocodile then appeared and the chief was able to ride it across the river, becoming his savior.

After watching the women paint, we were able to shop. I swear I can’t go anywhere without buying anything. Everything was super cheap though, so I don’t feel too bad. I’m just hoping that I can fit everything in my suitcases when I go back home. 

Doris took us to a really small market after we left the potter place. I liked this market a lot. I like smaller markets because they aren’t as overwhelming as the bigger ones. Markets are really cool because they make buying and eating food a really relational thing. You get to know the people that sell and eventually price doesn’t always matter because you have a relationship with the seller. I think it’s a pretty nice concept. Also, prices aren’t set in stone. You can bargain for anything and it’s awesome.

While we were at this particular market, Doris really wanted us to try bean cake. It tastes a lot like a less crunchy elephant ear without any powdered sugar. I liked it.

The group in Burkina Faso.

After that, we decided that we wanted to cross the boarder into Burkina Faso. So we did. We were able to convince the boarder security people to let us go across without passports. We walked around, took some pictures and then left.

We got back on the bus and went to Chief’s Pond. It’s a crocodile pond. It’s a taboo to kill a crocodile because of the legend I mentioned earlier. If you don’t recall, a crocodile helped the chief cross the river and is not considered a savior. If you kill a crocodile, your punishment is the same as murdering a person. It’s a big deal.

Anyways, we went to a crocodile pond. We walked to a smaller pond where our guide offered a live chicken to a huge crocodile. It came out of the water, sat on the shore about 4 feet in front of us. We were then told that we could basically sit on the thing. He was a big dude and his mouth was wide open. I touched it. I felt like Steve Irwin. The crocodile was really well behaved. He responded to some commands. I think they are just so used to people that they just don’t care. They also get a chicken for their services. So it’s really not a bad gig for them I guess.

After the small pond, we went to a really big pond that was home to a larger number of crocodiles. No fences, no nothing. We ate lunch on the platform on the edge of the water. I fed my left over chicken to a crocodile that was hanging out close by. SO COOL.

There was also a man with a horse offering rides for 1 cedi. I just went up to him and asked if I could pet him. I ended up spending more time paying attention to the horse than the crocodiles. Typical.

Across the road there was a “museum” that was free to walk through so we did. It really wasn’t super exciting. We saw what was supposed to be the original huts of the village and some old sculptures and other artifacts. I think it would have been more enjoyable if it hadn’t been so hot, but we’re in Northern Ghana and it’s supposed to be really hot here.

We opted out of going to our next planned stop and went to a really old Catholic basilica in a different village. Apparently, German missionaries built the church in 1906. It looks a lot like a traditional Catholic church, but it was painted with traditional colors (black, red, white) on the inside with several different designs. It was also surprisingly large. The guy that was showing us around told us that although it was large, it wasn’t’ big enough to accommodate the number of members, so they built another church nearby. That church looks a lot like a modern church in the States.

Thankfully, we went back to the retreat center after the church visit. After dinner, we all piled into a room, listened to Shannon’s testimony and then shared scary stories—it is Halloween after all. My Grandma Cavanaugh sent me a package that arrived right before coming on the Northern trip. So, I had everyone trick or treat at my door and handed out pieces of pull n’ peel licorice to everyone. Shannon also had mints to hand out. It wasn’t much, but it would have felt weird not to do anything at all. I can’t imagine what Thanksgiving is going to be like.

We’re going back to Tamale tomorrow to spend the day with World Vision. I’m excited.

Shoutout to Jacquline Englund. Hope you had a great birthday!

  

Nov. 1

Happy November! We spent the entire day with World Vision. They took us around to a couple different communities to show us the different projects that they have in the area.

Mother-to-Mother support group

The first community that we went to had a few different groups that had started. They have a mother-to-mother support group, a financial savings group, and a group that’s in charge of water sanitation. I got to sit and talk with the women in the mother-to-mother support group. I had so much fun, and learned quite a bit as well. They talked about how the group has helped them to learn about proper breast-feeding and childcare. They also gave us some advice. To quote one lady, “Breasts are not for advertisement, they are for children.” I think they believe that American women are too concerned with their body image and that they should instead be using their bodies to care for their children. There’s a lot of truth to that.

After our chat with the women, we went to visit the chief’s house. A bunch of kids followed us there. While we were standing there, we started dancing with them. After a while, we decided to show them the Macarena—it was fantastic.

We left that village and then went to a drip irrigation project in a different village. 40 farmers benefit from this land. The water comes from the dam nearby and goes into 2 huge tanks that feed the tubes that drip over the crops 24 hours a day. It can drip like that for up to 10 days before the tanks have to be refilled. It was pretty interesting, but it was extremely hot. I guess it’s good to experience it, though.

When the tour was over, we got back in the bus and made a lengthy bus ride to eat dinner. We didn’t have a place to stay for a while, so we ate somewhere different from where we ended up sleeping. Eventually, we got things figured out and we stayed at a guesthouse nearby.

Nov. 2

We headed to Mole National Park today. It was about a 3-hour drive from where we stayed in Tamale. We were on a crazy dirt road for 2 of those hours. The nice thing about this was that we had originally thought it was going to take 6 hours to get there—some really bad calculating on someone’s part. We ended up getting to Mole early.

When we got there, we found out that there was a pool. It wasn’t long before we were all swimming. It was just wonderful. We played pool games for a few hours and then had to get ready to go on our first safari walk. The pool water did something crazy to our hair. I’m not sure what they put in the water to treat it, but I felt like I had dread locks. Even after washing my hair, I couldn’t brush through it.

 

The afternoon safari walk started at 3:30pm. We saw lots of wildlife. There were warthogs, antelope, baboons, a huge lizard thing, a water bull, several types of herons, and lots of bugs and plants. Our guide was trying to track the elephants, but it turns out we missed them by a few hours. It was fun trying to track them. I felt like I was on Animal Planet or something.

I tried washing my hair again after the walk and it still felt weird after that. Oh well.

We ate a dinner of chicken kabobs and French fries and then Caitlin shared her testimony. After that, I chatted with a few girls for a while before going to bed.

Nov. 3

We went on a morning safari walk at 6:30am. We had the same guide and we were on a mission to find the elephants. We walked for 2 hours in complete silence. We didn’t want to scare off the animals. Personally I think our clumsy and loud footsteps were enough to scare any creature away. We found nothing other than what we saw yesterday. We did see a crocodile, but those are less exciting now since we got to touch those the other day at the crocodile pond.

Breakfast was waiting for us after our walk. I had some hot cocoa, eggs, and toast. It was good. I then attempted to wash my hair again. It still feels gross. I think it’s going to be a few days before it feels normal again. It’s okay. I don’t regret swimming in the pool because it was fun.

By 10: 30am, we were back on the road. We made a stop at an old mosque on our way to Kumasi. It was built in the 1400s and is still being kept up and used today.

 We made it to Kumasi at around 7:30pm. It was a long day of riding on the bus, but it wasn’t too bad. We ate pizza at the hotel and then I worked on some homework. I did my very last journal assignment for my Peoples & Cultures class. Now I just have to write the final paper. That’s all I have left for most of my classes. So the next week is going to be filled with writing.

Anyways, we head back to campus tomorrow. I’m going to miss having a fan to turn on at night. I currently have an air conditioner in my hotel room. If only that could come with me to my dorm room.

Nov. 4

It was a long day of driving. We made one stop at a bead making village, but other than that we just drove all day.

We got back to campus around 4pm, but since it was Josh’s birthday, we all left to go out for sushi. It was delicious.

I went to get a smoothie afterwards and then headed back to my dorm.

I did some laundry, unpacked, and did some homework before going to bed.

It’s my last week of class this week! Can’t believe it.

A Little Bit of Class and a lot of Osu

Oct. 15

My first class of the day was cancelled today because my professor was sick. So that was kind of nice.

The Internet hit an all time low today. The few pictures I put on my Volta Region post took 6 hours to load. I just let it load all day during class. The Internet in my room has been horrible lately too. I will never complain about the speed of Calvin’s Internet again.

After class I spent the majority of my afternoon and evening trying to find sources for my political science paper that’s due in a week. I’m writing on health care in Africa. It was actually really difficult due to my horrible Internet connection. I have to give a presentation tomorrow as well, so I spent time finishing up my power point and wrote my notes. I also tried skyping with my Dad, which ended up not working. I just had a really frustrating Internet experience today.

This week, there is a week-long celebration going on right outside my dorm. The good news is that there is a stand that sells ice cream—real-ish ice cream in waffle cones! The bad news is that they play really long music all night long. But, because I was so frustrated with my Internet, I went and bought myself an ice cream cone.

Oct. 16

Gave my presentation this morning in Political Science. It feels really good to have that over with. The rest of the day really just seemed to go by pretty quickly. Between my last class and eating dinner at Roland’s house, I stayed at the Institute to try and find more sources for my paper. I like to use the Internet at the Institute as much as possible because it’s free. Also, the Internet is usually more reliable there, but it had another bad day.

Dinner at Roland’s was really good. The girls that cooked made rice with fajita style chicken, refried beans, salsa, and guacamole. After the main course, we had dirt dessert—one of my favorites!

Oct. 17

Happy Wednesday, everyone. The day seemed to drag, as most Wednesdays do. By the time Twi class rolls around, I’ve kind of checked out for the day. The good news is that our dance instructor let us out early. We’re learning a new dance that I actually don’t mind…meaning I don’t feel like a complete fool doing it because it’s not that hard.

Wednesday nights are really nice. I feel like a champion for having made it through the day. I also love getting to take a bucket shower after dance. The cold water always feels really nice. It’s also just nice to feel clean, even if it’s just for a little while before you start to sweat again. It’s getting hotter here because we’re entering the dry season. Bring it on.

After we take “showers”, we usually all eat dinner together at Tickles. Tonight was no different. After dinner I looked for more sources for my paper and then went to bed. I don’t have to go to Adenkrebi tomorrow because we can’t paint while they’re in class, so I get the day off.

Oct. 18

Today has been one of the most productive days of my life. I woke up this morning, got dressed right away and went to the Institute for free Internet. I wrote my entire political science paper in one sitting. WIN. I got there at about 9am and left around 3pm. I grabbed lunch on my way back to my dorm and when I got to my dorm I read the literature assignment and did the response for it. I am so relieved to have that paper out of the way.

I took a break after that to just relax for a while. The Internet really didn’t work in my room, but it was nice to just chill. At around 6:30, the power went out. Krista, Halyley and I ate dinner in the dark.

Tomorrow, Cassie, Hayley and I head to Adenkrebi to hopefully finish painting the kindergarten classroom.

Oct. 19

The room is starting to look really cute! Daniel had done most of the sketching on the walls, so we just had to fill in with color. It was a lot of fun. The alphabet, numbers, days of the week, shapes and most of the mural on the back wall are finished. While we were finishing up for the day, it started raining harder than I’ve ever seen before. It actually felt cold—weird.

We only have one more Thursday and Friday at Adenkrebi. I can’t believe it. It hit me today as I was playing with some of the kids that I probably won’t see them again after I leave. I got a little bit emotional.  There is a girl named Rosina that has taken quite a liking to me. She likes holding my hand and laughing at the way I say things. I’m going to have a hard time saying goodbye to her.

Daniel was extremely kind and drove us all the way back to campus himself so that we didn’t have to stand in the rain waiting for a tro-tro. When we got back to our room, we had water! It was chilly, but welcome. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get home and have an unlimited water supply. That might be a bit overwhelming.

I took a nap after my shower. I didn’t really realize how tired I was until I laid down. I slept longer than I had intended, but I think I needed the rest. The rest of the evening was spent reading and relaxing. Since I finished my Political Science paper on Friday, I feel like a champion and I’m not motivated to do anything else as far as schoolwork goes.

Oct. 20

The water was on again this morning. The best.

Delicious, right? 

After a long and exhausting week, I needed a day of fun. So Josh and I went to Osu and spent the entire day shopping. Our first stop was to the coffee shop/bakery. It’s really similar to a small coffee shop you would find in the States. I got a chocolate pastry and cappuccino. After that, we went to Global Mamas where I went a little nuts buying things, but I did get quite a few more presents for people back home. I also bought a dress for myself. I couldn’t help it. I’ve been eyeing the dress for weeks.

This was a really great moment for me.

After Global Mamas, we wandered the streets, visited a few stands with various souvenir items. We also went to the westernized grocery store and I got a Diet Coke. I don’t think I can accurately describe in words how happy I was to drink that.

The sun was really intense today, so when we got too hot to be outside, we went to the smoothie place to cool off.

After smoothies, we walked around some more and found an Italian restaurant where we got some really good pizza.

When we finished eating, we walked some more. Krista, Anna, and Kristi were on their way to Osu, so we decided to wait up for them so we could hang out for a bit. When they arrived, we went back to the coffee shop and I got another cappuccino.

The last tro-tro we were in on the way back to campus had air conditioning. I don’t know if I’ve ever encountered that before. It was amazing.

I walked into my room all sweaty from the walk from the tro-tro stop. All I wanted was to take a shower. Well guess what? The water was STILL on. I got to take a nice long cold shower. I’m not sure that this day could’ve been any better.

But it did. I got to skype with my parents. Skype worked the best it has in a long time in my room, so I was able to talk with them for quite a while. I loved it.

Oct. 21

Krista and I decided to go back to Osu to the smoothie place to do homework. It’s nice to sit in the air conditioning, drinking a cold smoothie. When we decided that we had done enough work, we walked to Global Mamas. Unfortunately, it was closed. We settled on going to the grocery store to enjoy some more air conditioning.

Because there is never a bad time to get dessert and coffee, we went to the coffee shop. I got a chocolate muffin with chocolate chips and cappuccino. Yum. We then walked some more and when we got hungry, we got lunch (cheese burgers!) and then went back to campus.

We came back to a power outage that didn’t end until after 11pm. I think it was out for a total of about 12 hours. I was already sleeping by the time it came back on. When there is no power, there is no Internet. So, we had to find things to that didn’t require power outlets. Luckily, my computer had some battery life, so a group of us watched a movie. We also had Bible study as a group.

Also, when we got back to campus, the water was STILL on. I took another shower. I am overwhelmed by the abundance of water we have had this weekend. It has been so nice.

I spent a lot of money on food and gifts this weekend. But, it was totally worth it. I had a great weekend.

Oct. 23

Our power situation has been shoty recently. After class today, we had power until about 6pm and then it shut off. It stayed off for about an hour and it came back on.  We were at Tickles eating dinner when it shut off. I was glad that my order of fries wasn’t affected by the outage. They were delicious. When the power came back on, the Internet was so slow that it was basically worthless. I settled on reading on my Kindle for a little bit and then went to bed early out of boredom. I love that I finished my politics paper so early. I have had time to do quite a bit of leisure reading.

Oct. 24

Today started off beautifully. The water was on when I woke up, so I was able to take a shower. Then, I walked to the breakfast place. The wonderful about this particular walk was that it was cloudy and breezy. I hardly sweat at all the entire way there. That never happens. The oatmeal was wonderful, as usual.

I was thankful for such a good morning before class because political science always puts me in a bad mood. I did turn in my paper, so I am relieved to have that behind me. The rest of my classes were long, but not horrible.

We had grilled chicken sandwiches as Roland’s tonight—with barbeque and everything. Then, we had ice cream with chocolate fudge and pound cake. The ice cream really made me feel like I was back home. We Cavanaughs love our ice cream.

The power was out when I got back to my room. I’m currently writing in the dark. We’ll see how long it takes to turn back on this time.

I’m supposed to register for my next semester classes at 2am. Hopefully the power is back on by then.

Oct. 25

I ended up calling my parents and asking them to register for me so I didn’t have to worry about the Internet. I still woke up at 2am to see if it worked and then I was able to Skype my parents. The connection was really awesome since hardly anyone else in the dorm was on. I should Skype at that time more often.

The walk to class this morning was crazy. It rained really hard over night, so everything was muddy. There aren’t many sidewalks on my route to class, so my legs were covered in red mud by the time I got to class.

We had drumming and dance this evening, and I actually had a lot of fun in both. Weird. The dance we’re learning right now is a lot easier. It’s more fun when you can actually do it versus pretending that you can.

After dance, I filled my buckets up in the kitchen and took a “shower”. And then met everyone at Tickles for dinner. I tried to watch a movie afterwards, but I was so tired that I ended up stopping it early and going to sleep.

Oct. 26

No Adenkrebi for me again today. We leave bright and early tomorrow for the Northern Region!

Osu was rather busy today.

This morning I went to Osu again with Hayley, Nathan, and Josh. I really wanted another cup of cappuccino. I also went to Global Mamas again just to browse. It’s just too cute of a store not to visit when you’re in the vicinity. I didn’t stay long because I wanted to be back on campus in time to Skype with some friends. J I also wanted to update this blog before our excursion.

I’ll be gone for a whole ten days in the Northern Region. We’ll be visiting a few craft villages, a witch village (yep, you read that correctly), spending a day with World Vision, visiting an ancient mosque, and going to a national park that has elephants and monkeys. I’m really excited.  When I get back, I only have 3 days of class and then exams!

The Volta Region

Two posts in a row! You're welcome. Here are some entries from this weekend. 

Oct. 13

We got up early this morning to head to the Volta Region for the rest of the weekend. We were in the bus for most of the day. The Volta Region is the eastern part of Ghana. It is home of the Volta Lake, The Akosombo Dam, the largest waterfall in West Africa, and really cool mountains. Our first stop was the dam, which is on the Volta Lake. The Volta Lake is the largest man-made water reservoir in the world, I believe. The dam provides 60% of Ghana’s electricity. It’s pretty impressive. Unfortunately, the building of the dam made it so some communities had to be displaced. After we saw the dam, we went to a village call Djemeni. The town is made up of a group of people who were displaced by the dam. It’s a fishing town, so they’re right on the lake, just north of Akosombo.

We got back in the bus after our tour and took a crazy ride up the mountains to our hotel. It was a quaint little place. We arrived in the dark, so we couldn’t see the view, but when I woke up in the morning, I found out we had an incredible view of the mountains.

Happy Birthday, Nana Parker! Hope you had a great day! J

Photo Credit: Hayley

Oct. 14
After breakfast, we got back into the bus to head to Wli Falls. It took forever to get there, but it was worth it. It has rained a lot recently, so there was a lot of water coming down the falls—So much that you could feel the mist while standing about a football field away. The rocks around the falls are also home to thousands of fruit bats. We saw them flying around the top of the waterfall. Roland let me borrow his binoculars to get a better look. Those things are huge!

We hiked back from the falls, ate lunch and got back onto the bus to travel a few more hours to a monkey sanctuary. I forgot the name of the village, but it is the home of about 500 Mona monkeys. The town believes them to be sacred animals because they represent a deity that they worship. We saw a small group of the monkeys and were able to feed them! They sat on our laps and shoulders—one even gave Josh a back scratch! I couldn’t help but think of my mom. She would have loved it.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay with the monkeys forever, so we boarded the bus made the long trip back to campus. We were welcomed back by a power outage and no water. Typical. Oh well, the power came back about 45 minutes after we arrived and I was able to Skype with my Dad briefly.

This week is going to be crazy. I'm giving a presentation on Tuesday and I have a sizable paper due next week that I need to get to work on. Hope all is well back at home!  :)