"No Overspeeding"

The title is a saying from a street sign I saw on the way to Cape Coast. Speeding is ok.. but overspeeding.. oh hell no!

Wow, I have been away from the internet for a while, so once again I have a lot to write. Time for another day by day breakdown!

Friday: On this day, we were supposed to go to another school to observe their sanitary practices and form their school health clubs. The school that was scheduled for the visit was 45 minutes away, and since we were going to Cape Coast for the weekend, I could not go because I wouldn’t make it back in time. So instead, I stayed at the office and wrote up a report of what my observations at the prior schools were. Since I work really fast, and am not accustomed to Ghana time (aka, SUPER SLOW PACE. Literally, people come to work when they feel like it. Hah!) I knew that the report would not take all day, so I wrote it very detailed and long. Being the nerd that I am, I was really excited to do something that resembled schoolwork orientated research. That being said, I wrote the positive and negative things I observed at each school, then I did a page of the programs goals, and how the schools are working to achieve them, and what else needs to be done. At the end of that, I did a summary and recommendation for changes in the program. As you may recall from last week, the number one goal of the program is to increase the number of people educated about the causes of the various waterborne illnesses, and limit the number of people infected by them. I suggested this: I said that although we (Pro-Link Org.) want the schools to be self sufficient and be able to progress on their own, the program will not work if the kids are not given access to clean water. That being said, I think that it would be more beneficially in the long run to have the donors provide water jugs with spouts to the schools, along with cups and a towel for hand drying. That to me, seems more logical than paying for prescription medication to help already infected people. Unless, of course, the people who are providing the medicine are greedy drug companies which are experimenting with various drugs…. (Constant Gardener anyone??) But, for now I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I can only fight so many battles at once, right? ☺

Friday after placement myself and four others loaded up in the tro-tro (taxi van) and headed for the coast. It took a total of about nine and a half hours to get there, but it was totally worth it. Two of our group stayed at Coconut Grove, which was an upscale resort in Elmina, while Susan, Alexis and I opted for the cheaper hotel…. It only cost us US $60 for two nights AND free breakfast. Well worth it. Although when we got there, there were these strange bags of powder on our bed and floor. Maybe African Incense? Who knows. We steered clear of that! The place we stayed at was called “One Africa” which coincidentally, was a place that I had learned a lot about in my history of Africa class. It was founded by a African-American couple from New York, who halfway through their lives decided to go back to Ghana where their ancestors were from and start anew as Africans. My professor actually is very good friends with the couple, but unfortunately I could not get in touch with the woman.

Saturday: We got up early and trekked out to Kakum National Forest. We decided to do the canopy walk and a nature tour. We walked into the rainforest with a group of about 45 people, which was a bit crowded. Especially since we had some very loud and rude teenagers from Texas behind us. The canopy walk was amazing nevertheless. I think it is about 350m long and 40m in the air, so we were even with the tops of the trees and could look down on the forest. It was so awesome!

After that the five of us got a personal tour with a man named Samuel. He walked us through the forest, and showed us the different trees, and plants, and told of us all of their uses. It is so cool how genious their ancestors were… able to make rubber from trees just by cutting them, able to make cups out of leaves, asthma medicine out of ground leaves, and the list goes on. That part was really peaceful and educational, and was easily my favorite part.

Next, we headed for Elmina castle, the one that I spoke of earlier, before I came to Ghana. It is a slave castle, that was held first by the Portugese and then the Dutch. We did a tour of the castle that was so surreal. I had learned so much about it, and to actually be there was just beyond my comprehension. I took TONS of pictures, and I hope that when I get back and start showing them off, I can remember what each location is able. We went inside the dungeons, and the holding cells for slaves. Saw the door that the slaves went through to get on the boats, which is called “The Door of No Return.” Ironically, the church is built on the second story of the building… direcetly over the womens dungeon. Pleasant. The view from the top of the castle was breathtaking. On one side is the ocean, and the beach lined with palm trees. Then if you look the other way, the entire harbor is FULL of small, colorful fishing boats. Literally hundreds of them. I loved it.

One negative thing about Elmina is the scammers outside of it. It is a large tourist attraction, so visitors get heckled. To put it in perspective…. These people make the people in Mexico look mild!! When we got out of the car, they say “Welcome to Elmina, I am ______ what is your name??” Then when you come out of the castle, they find you (seriously, one was waiting outside the womens bathroom for us.) and say, “Oh Sasha my friend! I made you something!” and then hand you a shell that says, “to my dearest friend Sasha, from ______. Elmina castle March 15, 2010.” Sounds sweet right? But then comes the part where they ask (DEMAND) you pay them. And the written part is in really cheap/ugly permanent marker. It is totally a scam. And unfortunately one of our fellow volunteers fell prey and paid 10 cedi for it!!!! (that is about 8US dollars). She needs a few lessons from me on how to be abrasive. Our cab driver literally had to push them away, because they were practically inside of our car. It was quite the experience.

At night, Susan, Alexis and I just hung out at our hotel, shared a beer and went to sleep. It was a nice relaxing end to the long day.

Sunday: we got up early and went to Cape Coast Castle. Which apparently is all the rave because that is where Obama went when he was here. Speaking of Obama, they L-O-V-E him here. His posters are everywhere, there are Obama trinkets, posters, biscuits, and even ice cream! It is hilarious.

Anyway, two women did the Cape Coast Castle tour while the rest of us just stayed behind and shopped in the stores. There was a courtyard with about 8 shops, and so we spent a lot of time in each one looking at all the merchandise and talking to the shop owners. It was nice. And I am sure they loved us, since we ended up spending a good chunk of change. So much for not needing and souveneirs! I cant help it though, everything here is so unique and awesome looking. Hope you are ready for some redecorating Robbie! ☺

Monday: Today was back to placement! Nothing really exciting today… I helped make the schedule for next quarter, which will run from April—June. I scheduled the monthly events and then broke it down by day and week, so hopefully that helps them. On Wednesday I am going out to another community to watch a performance. They are having the adults in the community perform as well, that way the children will have a better chance to succeed. I am excited for that. I bought a dress made of traditional African cloth, so I will wear that that day… maybe I will fit in a bit more. Haha!

This afternoon we learned how to make BATIK. It is too hard to explain what it is and how to make it… so just google it. Hah!

Tomorrow we are hiking Afadjadto (sp?) I have heard that it is pretty intense, so hopefully I survive to write another blog post sooner rather than later.

Until next time!