Learning Tour Madness

Next came the vacation part of our trip- we traveled to Accra, Krobo Odumase, Volta Region, Cape Coast, and tomorrow we leave for Tamale.

ACCRA

In Accra we returned to our first homestay and Regina came with me! It was so nice to see my homestay family again and going back to East Legon (my neighborhood) gave me a bit of culture shock. Houses in the beginning that I didn't give a second look to I realized were huge and lavish. Going back to the homestay was like coming home and seeing my family again - it made me realize the kind of relationships we had and how close I had gotten with them in such a short period of time. I showed them with excitment all the Twi I had learned and the basket I made. They were so excited and proud that they thought one of the baskets were for them and they thanked me a million times. Granny took the basket that I had made myself and left me with the one I had made with Richard (my teacher). Thus, obviously Regina and I went on a secret mission to find my basket later... GREAT SUCCESS.

We were only in Accra for 3 days and during that time Professors came from other schools in the US to see what SIT was all about and we talked to them, went to lectures, and ate really good food because they were here. It was strange to be showing off Ghana from our perspective but it also gave a lot of us a sense of pride and attachment to Ghana as a whole. We each jumped at the chance to share our favorite stories. Then we left at 545 to get on the road to Krobo.

KROBO ODUMASE

We got to krobo and went straight to the Bead maker! Here we learned the process of bead making and made our own beads from broken glass.

Then we went to a meeting with the Queen Mothers of Krobo and watched the process of Dipo customs - a maturation ceremony for girls in the Krobo community. After lunch we had a meeting with the chiefs and went to our hostel. I broke out the Hammock and relaxed out front, twas perfect.

In the morning we had a short class - we came in our PJs and presented about basket making at 7:30 am becuause thats just how it works here.

In Krobo we had some down time and some time when we went to a shrine. The shrine was one of the most life changing experiences I have had here but I simply cannot put it into words on this blog.

Also, we went to the botanical gardens but it rained and we had to leave early but this just means I will have to come back to Ghana ....

Volta and cape coast will have to be left for a later time love love love

more more more

I am going to quickly sum up the village even though it was a huge part because SO much has happened since then.

During the time in the village we had to do mini independent study projects so I chose basket weaving and what an experience that was... full of ups and downs and confusing conversations. I worked with a student at the JHS who said he was 20 but in reality he was 16 I believe. We started the training by going out into the bush and cutting down branches from the palm trees to make the base for the basket - I used a machete and it was awesome and then carried the materials back on my head. This part consisted of a lot of bush going and knife using which was a lot of fun for me and I didn't even hurt myself! Basket making is much much more difficult than I had imagined but I stuck by it and learned how to make a basket on my own. It was an awesome feeling. I had learned so much from the process of the basket weaving and then in addition so much about Ghana and the culture of the village from working with the basket maker.

Most days in the village there was no electricity and there was never any running water but each and every minute - aside from when I went to the hospital- was filled with enjoying out lives. Walking, talking, relaxing, playing jungle boogie, celebrity, and dancing with the kids from the village. The nights were either filled with intense thunderstoms with pink lightning and bolts that lingered in the sky or the most amazing set of stars I have ever seen.

We went to the market one day and I was wandering by myself down the street and a woman stopped to talk to me, she was so excited by the fact that I spoke twi that she laughed and pulled me into her family's house and handed me the smallest baby I had seen in Ghana. We laughed and talked each using the little of the others language we knew all the while I had a 2 or 3 week old baby in my arms. Needless to say I was thrilled. I left there and sat for a long time helping an old woman sort onions to sell, she smiled and hugged me after I asked to take her picture.

I returned sooner than I thought to the market place because I few days later I had to go to the hospital ... wamp wamp. I had been feeling sick for awhile and explained my symptoms to the Dr. and was treated for malaria. Essentially, I was given a million pills (about 30 I had to take everyday), a shot in the butt, and an IV for a few hours and was ssent home. nothing too exciting or crazy. The funny part was that even though I was feeling sick I still was having the best time.

So much more happened but those were some key highlights!

Leaving the village and saying goodbye to the kids was really sad and a lot of them cried when we hugged them goodbye but hopefully we will be able to go back and visit during our last month!

Village Lyfe

Alright!

So we left Kumasi on 25 Feb and made our way to the villages. The bus ride itself was a journey we passed funerals on the street walking carrying the caskets singing and dancing. The scene changed from city to GREEN mountains, palm trees, and dinosaur territory. The longer we were in the bus the more crazy I got and hyper then suddenly nervous! The group was splitting into three and we wouldn't see each other for 2 weeks - in retrospect not that long but it felt like it. Me, Sam, Aleah, Regina, Jesse, Bri, and Grace went to the Village of benim. We were met on the roadside by a group of kids (little did we know what they would be like!) Our first day we ate lunch and played with the million kids at our headquaters. the HQ is where we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner and were free to come anytime of day to relax and hangout. Then we were shown to our rooms and mine was HUGE and blue with two windows and a cement floor and totally empty with nothing but an egg carton in the corner. I slept on the floor and then went back to HQ for dinner only to find the rest of the group was MEETING THE ELDERS - so I showed up late for that good impression, right?

The nights I wasn't locked out of my house my room was wonderful! The people I lived with were wonderful, they spoke no english and got so excited every time I was in the home complex. There was one guy who spoke english very well, his name was Samson. We spent the first night talking for over two house about America, Ghana, politics, money, culture, and everything else. It was happy and depressing but most of all eyeopening. American's are idolized in the village by many and it is very hard to grasp.

The next morning I woke up to children sticking their hands and faces in my window "hi hi hi ubroni hi!" "how are you imfine" This is when I decided to use my clothes as curtains. Here we explored the village everyday walk around interact with other villagers. After breakfast we spent the morning going to a farm and seeing how people sustain their lifestyles - i ate raw cocoa and IT WAS DELICIOUS. It had the consistency of nothing I can really explain but it was great.

more to come soon!

Internet?

Hello hello hi!

Today I am back from the 2 weeks in the village and woah, did a lot of crazy things happen - split up into a group of 7 - me, Sam, Anna, Jesse, Grace, Regina, Bri, and Aleah. Then began the hospital visits, twi speaking, carrying 16 ft palm branches on my head through the deep bush over a log that crossed a river, got malaria?, and thus took 30 pills a day, listened to goats give birth, made a basket with Richard (many stories to come), played with so many kids, learned how to make palm wine and apateche (sp?), got locked out of my house many times and had to sleep at sams, had children stick their heads in my window at anytime of the day or night just to chat, watched some of the coolest thunderstorms I have ever seen, rarely had electricity and or toilet paper, (used the computer tests of the students in the village), went to the market made friends with old women, held small small babies, went to school, ate yummy food, lived on a mat an inch thick in a room bigger than mine at home but 100% empty, began my mini independent study project, smiled all day everyday all the time SO MANY THINGS and of course the internet is about to run out because I am bad at time management so soon I will explain this mess of a list.

SORRY!
love