Nairobi, Kenya and my quaint place in Malindi

I arrived in Kenya before the sun rose on Thursday morning. When I stepped off the plane, I noticed two things. 1. The air was cold 55 degrees! And 2. it smelled crisp and clean. Right off the bat, I found Nairobi to be much more modern than the cities in Ghana. Some parts of Kenya look just like Manhattan.
The TouchAfrica (organization that arranged my volunteer time) penthouse was a nice little place in a middle class neighborhood. The breakfast I had there was a pancake with honey and tea with sugar and milk. I spent the morning going around Nairobi and visiting the elephant sanctuary for orphan baby elephants. (They get separated from their mothers because of poaching and other forms of human interference.) The second place that Joel (the TouchAfrica rep.) took me was the Giraffe center. I got to feed a giraffe. It was amazing to be so close up to these animals in their natural location. Often you only see them in zoo's and you certainly don't get to touch them. So it was a fun experience.

In the afternoon on Thursday, I took a nap because I was extremely jet-lagged. After a rice with lentil stew dinner, I took a taxi to the westlands where I met up with some friends from college. The night life in Nairobi is fantastic the places I went Havannahs and Black Diamond are two restaurant/bar/lounges that had either a DJ mixing or live music and dancing and felt much like an afro caribian club you'd find on the lower east side or in Williamsburg.

On Friday, I took the 8am bus to Malindi stopping in Voi and Mombosa. It was an 11 hour bus ride most of which I slept. I also made friends with a pakistanian man named Iqbal who adopted me as one of his daughters for the day and made sure I ate and drank enough on the bus. If there family ate apples, I ate apples. If they had fanta for lunch, I had fanta. He was very kind.

I arrived in Gede (the area right outside of Malindi where my host family lives) at about 7:30. It was dark and I was phoneless but my host father Tsofa, found me right away. We walked the 20 minutes to his country home by starlight talking about my plans for the week.
After walking up the sandy lane to his house, I met Tsofa's wife Masali. She seems kind has a warm smile and I think likes the idea of having another woman around the house. The family has 4 boys! Sidney a 13 year old. Two ten year old twins, (fanuka and hari) and a 3 year old who loves to push around cars, prince.
The boys were quiet when I met them they were watching TV. We had potatos in sauce and a vegetable medly with rice for dinner.

My favorite part of my stay in Gede so far is my guesthouse! The family has a smal 3 room house that is all my own for the week. It has a bed, a small kitchen and a bathroom with a working shower and flush toilet! It is quaint, lovely, perfect.

Today, I am in Malindi, the beach town near Gede. I went and bought cloth Leso and Koi (both so beautiful), picked up a cell phone (now I have one for all my international travels) and went to the supermarket with my Masali. She loves to shop and have girls day out. I've had to go to the bank twice, I've spent so much money and Kenya is much more expensive than Ghana...the shilling is up compared to the dollar. The only thing that is cheap here is the transport only 50 shillings (75 cents) to go anywhere in Malindi) and the food. Masali and I each got a quarter fried chicken and a plate or rice and fries for 440 shillings or about 6 dollars). The goods on the otherhand, that is where my money has disappeared to. Thank goodness I have Masali, otherwise I'd pay double for most items due to my color. Although white people are not uncommon. I have seen a considerable number of White people in Malindi, even one of the girls I went to college with in Ohio lives here. They say there is a large italian influence here. I noticed the big pasta section in the grocery store. I bought a lot so I can make dinner for my host family later this week.
Before we return home for the day, Masali said she'll show me the beach. My favorite part of Malindi is how it is a mix of African and middle eastern styles. You see so many differnt shades of people. So many different curvy shapes in the artiecture, and there are different types of available cusines. It even has the little two seater taxi mopeds just like in parts of Asia.
It seems I am falling in love with Africa all over again only this time East Africa.

Wrapping up in Ghana

I am currently at the Katoka Airport in Ghana waiting to check-in to my flight to Kenya. I'll briefly walk you through my last two days in Ghana.

I arrived safely in Accra via tro tro and a friendly girl from the Odumase area helped me get a tro tro to Lepaz and then a taxi to Dakuman where the hotel was that I was supposed to stay in. I say supposed to because when I arrived at the hotel and ask for the price, they tried to charge me 7 cedis more per night then they originally said they charged (probably because I am white and in Ghana most people associate white skin color with money, little do they know I am a teacher on a budget.) So the girl, Mavis stayed with me, helped me hail more taxis, and check-in to a hotel that was within my price range. I tried to pay her for all her help and she refused to take anything. She is a tribute to the kindness and friendliness of the Ghanaian people.

I went to the University of Ghana in Legon to see if anyone was at the SIT office (the group I came to Ghana with 4 years ago). No one was there so I decided to eat at the university. A very kind, friendly, talkative, intellectual Nigerian man accompanied me to my Jolof rice dinner. This man (David) fascinated me because 1. He was from Nigeria and friendly (All Nigerians I've met in Ghana have detested white people). 2. He knew so much history and geography and information about Europe and the U.S. but had never been there, he knows so much about these places because of reading about them. 3. He has no desire to go to the West. He wants to travel and see all of Africa. Fascinating. David and I had great conversations and he showed me around campus as I may need accommodations on campus for when I bring my own students. We walked a few miles to get to the bus stop just chatting like we'd been friends for a long time. It was easy to relate to David being that we're both foreigners in Ghana.

When I finally got back to Dakuman, I went to my friend Barbra's. Her family kindly prepared fu fu and lye soup for me. Barbra came to my hotel and stayed with me both Monday and Tuesday night. On Tuesday morning, I went back to Barbra's house for breakfast, her sisters can cook! I had a fried egg sandwich, sweet milk tea, and wachi(rice and beans) with noodles, gari, and peppe (hot pepper sauce). After breakfast I was sitting with Barbra who was washing her clothes (by hand) and I was holding her little baby niece (3 weeks old), Vida. Vida was almost sleeping in my arms and suddenly I felt warm and wet. She urinated on me. Barbra and her family were apologizing. I was giggling. Barbra gave me a change of clothes, washed mine by hand, hung them to dry and her and I went to the market to get the rest of the gifts and souvenirs I wanted to buy. I was glad to have Barbra with me, she helped to haggle down the prices. When I returned to her house 5 hours later, I was pleased with my bounty. Again Barbra's family prepared dinner and breakfast for me. They so kindly made sure I was well fed while I stayed in Accra.

I fly to Kenya in a few hours. I am excited to experience a country I've never been to before. Ghana feels comfortable, like I've known it forever. I think that is because of my hospitable friends here. I hope in a year I'll return to Ghana, only next time, my students will be with me!

A Very Busy last 4 days in Odumase!

I have failed to update my blog in 4 days. So I will start where I left off with Thursday July 22 -

On Thursday I went to the school and had the chance to observe two teachers. One was for the year 2 class and I saw an English lesson. The students were very respectful and motivated. They would all repeat the word "puppy" after the teacher spoke it and then they would spell it. They had reading time where the children read in pairs following with their fingers as one student stood and read aloud.
I also got to see a junior high science lesson. The teacher talks about the physics behind "work". He engaged the students with a hook on what they know work to be. He gave the physics definition then he did some demonstrations with a tennis ball, pushing on a table, pushing on the wall, and then finally pushing a table across the room. Each time he asked if work was done. And only when the object moved did students respond, "Yes." He showed them the equation that associated with the lesson and gave them practice examples. They did one example in class and went over it, and he assigned one for independent work to be completed at home. I thought it was a very well done lesson. The students seemed fully engaged and at any point if he called on one they were ready with an answer. When I debriefed with teacher after the class, I told him I thought it was a very good lesson. He said the only thing that is lacking is the materials like what we have in the U.S. My response was that materials don't make good students, excellent teachers do!
I spent the afternoon Thursday driving to Ernestine's (Ma), the school mothers, shop near Tema with Ma and Juliana. I bought 200 cedis worth the beads or about $130. I got necklaces, earrings and beautiful bracelets for my students, family, and friends.
I went for another run. It was less enjoyable for me this time since my leg muscles were a bit sore from Tuesday's run and it just seemed that people were more laughing at me than with me this time.


Friday July 23rd, 2010

The ants have gotten into my bread. I luckily checked it before trying to eat it (unlike the popcorn.) My main mission for the day was to type up the forms Juliana and I will be using to conduct our video conference discussion via Skype and to test Skype to make sure we could get it working in the school. At noon, my sister called us and I got to see her via Skype and introduce her to Juliana. In the afternoon, we went to the school district office. I was a big hit there, a man ask me to marry him and I said he'd have to wait in line because someone earlier in the day had already said he'd found me a husband. I told the officers there my mission to connect Juliana's school with my own and to hopefully set up an exchange trip program.
Juliana and I spent the evening at Ma's having the best dinner I've had the entire time I've been in Ghana. Since Ma used to live in the UK for over 20 years she makes Ghanaian food with a western touch, just the way I like it. We had "joma" green plantain boiled, with Kontumre stew (a delicious spinach, tomato, onion, garlic, pepper, stew) and she made fried chicken (boiled first) with sage and rosemary. It was so delicious! We drank my favourite, Star beer with Alvaro (like a cream soda) mixed in. We talked until after 8pm about the reason she moved back to Ghana 3 years ago to set up her HIV/AIDs NGO. It flourished at first but is not going as well now because she needs a space/location to see patients and no one will rent to her. The evening finished on a lighter note with Juliana presenting me with a lovely Ghanaian made shirt that I can wear when I teach back in New York. It was a gift from the school for my efforts thus far.

Saturday July 24th, 2010
I took my milk and tea on the balcony this morning. I dipped cream of wheat biscuits in my tea, munched on an apple, and watched a foot-ball (soccer) game occur just out front of the guesthouse. I felt like I had box seats! Today is wash day, so I gathered my clothes and carried them to Juliana's saying my "Good mornings" all along the way. At Juliana’s, Sarah and I washed my clothes together. Since I am so terrible at it, she did all the pants, shirts, dresses, and I did my underwear and socks. At least I know my visible clothes will be clean.
I ran errands in the afternoon. I went to Ma's to pick up the beads and then I stopped by Rosina's to get my Ghana dress she made me. It turned out beautifully. I decided to wear it to the children's party. Yes, that's right; Juliana and I threw the children who live in her families' houses a party. When I showed up in my fancy dress, all the children went to dress too. They were so cute. I gave them Swedish fish and read them a story from a West African children's book. We had Fu Fu and groundnut soup with okra, chicken, and garden egg (MY FAVORITE DISH!) for dinner. After dinner, we sat outside and Juliana and I bought some biscuits (crackers) and gave out Jiff peanut butter and more Swedish fish. By the end of the night, the children were patting their bellies saying "fufu baby." (something I had taught them a few days ago.)
I went over to Rosina and Irene’s after dinner to take some beer and Alvaro to them. (Show them this new mixture I discovered). They had their dinner and I just sat and drank and talked with them. Rosina was right when she said, “You’ll miss us when you're gone." I thought to myself, I most certainly will. They are like my African aunt and grandmother. They always keep me laughing and take such good care of me.

Sunday July 24th, 2010

I woke with a head cold, runny nose, sneezing, stuffy sinuses, etc. I suspect I picked this up from one of the children yesterday. Many of them have been sick with colds for a while. I met Juliana early this morning and her Ma and I took the tro tro to Akosombo Ghana suburbia) where we got on a boat and took a ride across the Lake Volta! There was a live band on board, so of course we danced. We also had a delicious lunch of rice, spaghetti, and BBQ chicken. It was sunny and beautiful so my feet got Teva lines from my sandals. It was a lovely vacation day.
When we returned, I said good-bye to Ma. Because I'm leaving early tomorrow for Accra, it will be the last time I see her. I hugged her good-bye in the tro tro. It seems that I've formed even more friendships during my time here. I can feel my ties to Ghana strengthening. I also stopped by Rosina and Irene’s to say good -bye. Irene dressed finally so she and I could get a picture. (She wouldn't let me take a picture before now because she didn't have her "face" on (a.k.a. wig). As I hugged her and Rosina good-bye I began to cry. I hope to return to Ghana in a year but what if this is the last time I see them. As I waved good-bye tears welling in my eyes, I hope to myself that they know how much they mean to me.

So now I sit in my room, preparing to relocate to Accra for 2 days, then I fly on to Kenya to see a country I've never seen before and to research trees in the forest on the coast. Wish me the best on my travels back to Accra. My only hope is that my arrival into Accra will go more smoothly than my previous departure.

The Mayor, the market, pencils, and ants!

Wednesday July 21, 2010

I have finally become self sufficient in terms of breakfast. Yesterday, I bought bananas, apples, bread, tea, powder milk, peanuts, crackers, and popcorn. I put these in my guestroom with the hopes of consuming them in the mornings before I leave to go to the school. This morning I had some tea bread and the guesthouse owner brought me a thermos of hot water at 6:45am (sure enough, I ask him from a deep sleep, to leave it outside the door and I brought it in around 8:15). With the hot water I made tea with powdered milk. Here in Ghana, everyone takes their tea with milk and sugar. I also had two bananas for breakfast. The bananas here are small only the length of a finger.

I went to the school but I wasn't there long. Juliana took me to meet the Mayor of the district. He was excited to hear of the exchange program that Juliana and I have been planning. He said that if we need district support he will provide it. Upon leaving the office, one of Juliana's old students was there. Juliana was happy to see her but sad to hear her story. The girl was very smart and good in school but had recently been dropped from her secondary school because she could not pay her fees. Her father died a week ago and he was the main provider for her family. Juliana ask the girl to come see her on Friday. She said she would help her if she could. Juliana's big heart for the welfare of the children in her village became apparent to me again.

On our way back to the school, Juliana and I stopped in the market and I bought cloth for my aunt and grandmother in Ohio who are seamstresses. It was very busy. People everywhere carrying their goods on their heads, wooden shop stands set up sporadically everywhere with a variety of items hanging from the doors, girls yelling "pure water"as they try to get rid of the satchels of water from the bowls they are carrying, and all the tro tros were in a traffic jam. I got many pieces of cloth: some with eye-lets, some batik, some wax print, and some with a Kente pattern. I wanted to get all of my cloth shopping done so that I would not have to return to the busy market. It is like the times-square of Odumase.

I dropped my bags of cloth at the guesthouse and ate the red red (fried plantains and beans) I bought from the market. When I returned to the school, Juliana and I gave out the Williamsburg Prep pencils that my high school had donated. I had a box of 275. We only got through year 1,2,and 3 before we ran out. I will have to send 3 more boxes for grades 4, 5, 6, the junior high, and kindergarten. Every student said thank you as Juliana and I handed out the neon colored pencils. They all cheered and waved as I left each classroom.

At the end of the school day, Juliana and I went over to the school mother, Ernestine (Ma)'s house to sit and relax before taking the tro tro home. Ernestine gave us beer with Alvaro mixed in (a sparkling pear flavored malt drink, kind of like a cream soda). We shared a plate of ground nuts as the 3 of us talked about Ernestine's website for the Krobo bead festival and exchange programs. Upon leaving I told Juliana I would just go back to my guesthouse without dinner tonight. My stomach was full and bulging still from the red red, peanuts, and beer.

I've spent the past 3 hours reading a few different books and I tried to go to sleep but I'm not tired. So finally, I got up and thought maybe I should eat some of that popcorn, brush my teeth and try to go to sleep again. I am half way through eating my small bag of popcorn I got from a street side shop and I notice these minuscule-sized ants on my bed next to where I'm sitting. (They are nothing new, they are all over my room but I have been spraying bug spray daily to get rid of them...According to locals they are common during the rainy season which we are in now.) I brush the ants of the bed. I eat another bite of popcorn. And sure enough on the bed next to me are 3 more ants. I brush them off. I chew the popcorn that is still in my mouth, I look down again, more ants...and then I look at the bag in my hand and there are 10 ants frantically crawling all over my hand. and sure enough there are many in the bottom of the bag crawling all over my popcorn. Disappointed I throw the bag of popcorn away and spray bug spray in the trash. I am disappointed not by the fact that I probably just consumed a few ants, but disappointed because the popcorn tasted so good. Way better than the movie theater stuff we have in the states.
Anyway, I am going to school early tomorrow to observe some teachers teaching. I'll try again to go to bed.

Tuesday July 20th - Giving out the pen pal letters

On Tuesday afternoon, Juliana and I passed out my students pen pal letters to the Ghana students. We gave 6 letters out to the year 4 students, 6 letters out to the year 5 students and 8 letters out to the year 6 students. Many students smiled upon receiving their letter and I took each child's picture so that we can do a picture exchange as well. When classes ended for the day, 5 or 6 students with letters came and sat with me and asked me to translate some of my student's letters. I read the letters with them and we'd discuss how they would respond. Some of the questions my students asked included, "Do you live far from school? Do you take the bus or walk? What is net-ball? and How is the weather in Ghana now?" The Ghanaian students are supposed to have their response letters back by Thursday so their teachers can edit and then they will rewrite them before I take them with me this weekend. (I am going to require my students to put the same amount of effort into their letters next time.)
Before leaving the school, Sarah, a girl that helps at Juliana's house worked with me on my Krobo language. She was very patient with me and slowly pronounced the words for me so that I could write down the English phonics as she spoke. Her and I rode the tro tro back to Odumase and I then went to my guesthouse. I put on my running clothes and went for my first jog in Ghana. I heard a lot of people yelling, giggling, and pointing in my direction as I ran by. I apparently was rather entertaining. I ran around the town for 22 minutes then I returned to the soccer pitch in front of my guesthouse and ran with the fut-ball team for a few laps. They said they wanted me to train with them every day. I said, I didn't want to embarrass them too much by out-running them. They got a big kick out of that.
After my run, I took a shower then went back to Juliana's for dinner. I had yams and Kontumre stew which is a spinach-tomato stew. I had two boiled eggs in it as well. After such a filling meal, Juliana walked me back to the guesthouse talking of education and child psychology all along the way.

The internet in Kodjonya Millinium school is up and running!

This is a picture of the me and the adminstrators with our flower rings we made at Kodjonya Millinium Presby school in Odumase, Ghana.

I had a very busy day on Monday July 19, 2010, but Juliana and I got much accomplished.
I arrived at the school at 9:00am and started by taking tea then showing Juliana the pencils, prizes (calculators, erasers, highlighters, etc.), and the computer I have brought for the school. I also showed her the pipe-cleaners I brought to show the children how to make flower rings just like my students in high school in Brooklyn love to do. Juliana called many of her staff members, administrators and teachers to come and I taught them all to make the rings. They loved the craft and we will teach students later this week to make the rings during art class. Juliana suggested that the students make the rings and sell them as a fund raiser so students can start to save to do a travel exchange to the United States. It is a very good idea!

I spent a good part of the day brainstorming ideas with the School Mother, Ernestine ("Ma") for projects for my students and the Ghana students to collaborate on. It is sort of meta-cognitive but we thought it might be good to have the Ghana students create project assignments for the U.S. students and vice versa. So the students get to be the teachers and plan and grade each other on projects! We also discussed the opportunity of watching video clips of documentaries and then our students discussing it on skype or through e-mail exchanges. I was so excited to hear of these wonderful ideas. I can't wait to implement them in my Globalization and the Environment class in the fall.

After the brainstorming session, we went to the MTN store in Atimpoku near lake Volta and got the internet USB stick for the laptop that FUND FOR TEACHERS has supplied for Juliana's school so that our students may be well connected. The school, Juliana, numerous teachers, and myself are so appreciative of this new tool. I will be testing skype with one of my colleagues from Williamsburg Prep later this week.

While in Atimpoku, Juliana, Ma, and I had lunch at a restaurant. Juliana bought me snails which I have never had before but for the most part agree with me. On the other hand, I accidentally ate a HOT HOT pepper. I was sweating, crying, my face was red, and my nose ran. I payed for that one this morning when my stool was not so solid. I've decided no more hot peppers for me. For lunch, I had rice, tomato gravy (sauce), fried chicken (they make it best in Ghana!), noodles and cream (may0) salad. The three of us sat around and spoke of far away lands such as Denmark, the U.S., the UK, and Italy. We drank beer and malta and felt like queens. I am certainly enjoying my time here in Odumase!

For dinner, I sat and ate with my Ghana grandma Dido Irene and Rosina from the house I stayed in 4 years ago. I love those ladies too because I always laugh and laugh when I am with them. We had fu fu and groundnut stew with Okra and Chicken just the way I like it. Of course Irene refused to be in pictures because she said I'd show everyone back home a witch (referring to herself) but the funny thing is she is probably one of the most poised, savvy, women I know in Ghana, I guess she just doesn't like photos in her "house" clothes. Rosina and I would laughed about how on Friday I will bring the "strong-hot drink" a.k.a. beer. She stammered around saying that Irene would be falling over if I brought that drink. I just patted my belly which I kept calling my FUFU baby. We laughed and laughed into the night. I can not imagine another community as friendly and welcoming as the one I have found here in Odumase.

My mission in Africa

Before coming to Ghana for the first time 4 years ago, I had a skewed perspective about Africa. I thought it was all savannas and elephants like the lion king. I thought everyone lived in huts or were parts of nomadic tribes. While this is the case in some parts of Africa (East Africa particularly) my view of Africa in its entirity being extremely primitive is for the most part a false perception. But I would never have learned about how incorrect my perceptions were if I had not had a first-hand experience in Africa. It is one thing to read from a textbook about another country's culture and ecological problems, or to have a teacher tell you that all the rain forests in Africa are disappearing. It is an entirely different - and more powerful- experience to see a desolate field bare of trees with your own eyes, or to read about polluted water in a village of our sister school from a child living there. It makes the problems in the world more real when we can see them first-hand, or through the pictures and letters of our friends or teachers. Interacting with Africa completely changed my view of what Africa is. I want the same eye-opening experience for my students.

I would like to thank FUND FOR TEACHERS for making my first trip to Odumase, Ghana possible. It is with the funds that they have given me that I will lay the foundation for a strong connection between my Brooklyn high school and our sister school, Kodjonya Millinium Presby School here in Ghana.

Meeting the elders of Odumase - evening July 18, 2010

Because the Konor (King of Krobo) is in the United states right now. I was unable to meet with him to recieve his blessing. I had to meet with the elders instead. I first met with Uncle Charles a 96 year old elder on the royal council. He said that I was welcome here in Odumase. I next met with Nano Mettah Koli (86). He poured libation for me and asked the spirit/protectors to bless my time in Odumase and help me accomplish my mission. When he poured libation, he used Jamican rum. He offerend me some after the libation and since it is impolite to refuse, I took some. We then went to see Uncle Mensah Sakite. He poured a Gin libation and gave me his blessings. I had some gin as well.
By the time I had dinner with Juliana (the headmistress of the school and my host) and her husband Samuel. I was a bit typsy. We had Banku and Palmnut soup with boiled eggs. Juliana and Samuel have been such gracious hosts, they have ensured that I have been very well fed. Juliana walked me back to my guesthouse and I invited her up to my balcony where we drank Fantas and discussed education, how you can see the stars here vs. in NYC, and I showed her a picture album of my family. By the end of the album, Juliana was able to identify my brothers, sister, and parents. She makes me feel very welcome in Ghana. It is as if she has become my Ghana mother and I her U.S. daughter.

The first day of sunshine

Today I woke to Sunshine pouring into my guest room at the guesthouse. I dressed in my traditional Ghana outfit (it is tye-dyed) and I went to meet Juliana to go to Children's church. When we arrived I watched Juliana a headmistress, teach the children. There were some 200 but they were on their best behavior. When Juliana spoke they listened. They learned a song about taking one step at a time and the lord will lead you. The instructor in the front would sing the words and point to them as she sang them. The students followed along. Next, they practiced. One side of the room would sing the song, then the other side. Finally, individual children sang and represented their side of the room. A girl on one side struggled, and some other children giggled and snickered, all the adults reprimanded those children. The little girl continud and finished successfully. I thought the adults maintained a very encouraging environment. In Ghana, often children are threatenend, abused, and made to fear adults, they are timid and rebellious because of this. But I could see tha Juliana and her teaching staff during children's church take a different approach they encourage the children and try to empower them by making them feel worth. At the end of the church, Juliana gave out candy to every child and gave piles of candy to each of her teachers. I think she is a very good leader.

After church she took me to her house to have breakfast. I had 7 small bananas and some pinapple juice. We then went to see a girl from her school, Sarah. Sarah was at Juliana's house last night and helped to make my fu fu. Juliana said that Sarah has lost both her parents and her older sister is all she has left but that her older sister is now pregant and wants Sarah to go to Accra and earn money via prostitution. Juliana didn't want this for Sarah. She wants her to stay in school. So she hired Sarah as cooking and cleaning help in the evenings and pays her so she makes some money. Part of the agreement between Juliana and Sarah is that Juliana must know her family, so Juliana, her husband, and I called on Sarah's family today. Her sister was not home, she had left for
Accra for the day. But while we were at Sarah's house, she practiced my Krobo language with me. I am learning to say, "My name is..." and "How are you?" in Krobo. I am excited to get to know Sarah more. She is one of the students who writes letters to my students.
After we left Sarah's, I went back to Juliana's and her Samuel and I had coconut juice and of course we ate the meat inside. I love the fresh foods here in Ghana. I love the friendly people and what a big heart Juliana has for the children. I can't wait to go to her school tomorrow and see what I can do to help her school. I can't wait to see what projects my students and I can work on this fall to give back to Krobo all the it has given me in kindness and insight thus far.
I must go now to meet the elders in the town. The Kono(king), my old advisor from my research days is in the U.S., so I must call on the elders to tell them I am here and my mission in Odumase for the next week. According to my old translator, Juliana's husband, Samuel, I'll need 3 bottles of schapps and 30 cedis to do this. It is going to be an interesting evening.

Trip to Odumase

I woke on Saturday with the mission of leaving Accra and getting to Odumase Krobo. I had breakfast at the hotel. I had a large breakfast, fried eggs, toast, oats with sugar and Milo (a powder protein supplement) and of course tea. It was pricey but worth it. The man from the hotel called a taxi for me to take me to the STC bus station ( I guess these are the fancy buses). In Ghana, the taxis are differnt than the U.S. You negotiate the price first. We settled on 5 cedis. Once we arrived at the STC bus station the people there told us that the buses do not go to Odumase. So my driver was insistent that if we went to Circle station I'd get a tro tro to Odumase. I had to pay a fee for the taxi to get into the station and as soon as were in, people say, there is no bus to Odumase here, we must go to Accra main station. So we leave and go to Accra main station. The taxi driver gets my things out of the car and two men are carrying my stuff away and I am about to get on the wrong tro tro and I ask if the tro tro is going to Odumase, and they say NO. There is no tro tro to Odumase at that station. I was beginning to think that I was not going to get to Odumase before night fall. But I got back in my taxi and he tried one more station, Tema station. And finally, I found the tro tro that goes to Odumase.
It only took a two hour taxi ride, 15 cedis, and one stall in the middle of the road with people honking. I think the problem is that everyone wants to help, but they don't always know the answer, and they tell you what they think the answer is rather than saying, " I don't know." If the people at the stations would of said, " I don't know if there is a bus here to Odumase, we would of never went in the stations in the first place. (It is an interesting culture difference I have come across.) Anyway, I got on the tro tro and took the 2 and half hour ride and finally made it to Odumase and I am so glad I did!
When I arrived, the first place I went was my old house and my family, Rosina, and Irene were so suprised to see me. They smiled and wore faces and shock and disbelief that I had returned. We joked and recalled some old memories. I told them I would come again for dinner later in the week. It was so nice to see people I knew since Accra is like New york a big city where people are inpersonal and focused on their own business. In Odumase, it feels like a community where everyone says Hello to you on the street and looks out for one another.
I went onto the Headmistress Juliana's house. I found her and she was suprised by my arrival ( a day early). She took me to the new guesthouse in town. My accomodations are nice. I have air conditioning (which I do not use because it is cool in Ghana (75 degrees and rains almost every day, as a matter of fact it is almost always cloudy.I am starting to think that Ghana has turned into an African Forks--wink wink twilight fans.) I have a toilet off of my room and a shower. (No hot water but I can't complain, running water beats the scoop water shower. I did some of those 4 years ago.) Juliana invited me back to her place for dinner. We had fu fu and palm nut soup with chicken. (Chicken is the only meat I will eat, the fish usually has all the bones in it still and the beef/pork has a skin on it that I don't prefer, not to mention, chicken is just healthier for you anyway.)
I returned to my guesthouse and went to bed at about 10pm.

Barbra's sisters outdooring

On my second day in Ghana, I told Barbra that I would travel to Dakuma - Fadama Junction ( a neighborhood in Accra near my old neighborhood of Kwashimon) and attend her sisters outdooring. I was going to just take a taxi to get there (3 cedis about $2.20) but Barbra insisted that I see how far she lived from Labadi and the airport part of Accra. So I took 3 tro tros (these are mini-buses similar to the subway in New York, they can take you anywhere but it is a van with 12 people crammed in it and you jump in and out according to where you are going. They are very cheap 20- 50 cents a ride.) I took 3 different tro tros and got off at Fadama Junction and called Barbra to come and meet me. Apparently there are two Fadama Junctions, and I was at the wrong one. An old woman, Theresa, said I should come and sit with her, so I did. We sat by the busy intersection and watched for Barbra but she did not come. Theresa was very friendly she wants to start a second hand clothing business with me. Finally, I decided it was time to take a taxi to the other fadama Junction. Theresa was insistent upon coming with me, so I took her with me and we found Barbra and we went to Barbra's sisters's baby's outdooring. An outdooring is a ceremony where everyone dresses in white and sits under a tent and the host family serves them food and drink and people give money that is put into a large pot at the front of the tent. There is music and it is very loud. Some people dance. I mostly just ate and drank a lot . I had banku (corn and plantain dough ball) with Okra stew, I had pear malt drinks, fanta's ,sprites, and then fu fu (plantain and casavva(like a potato)) and groundnut (peanutbutter) stew with chicken in it. It is my favorite.
I finally left the outdooring around 6pm to go to Kwashimon to call on my old host mama and papa. They did not know I was coming but they were very happy to see me. We spoke of all that has happenend in their lives since I was there 4 years ago. They do not host students anymore because my papa has been traveling to America and my mama has been babysitting her grandson. (All her children are now married). I told them I will come back and visit again before I leave Accra and Ghana for good.
Upon leaving we tried to find me a tro tro to take me to 37 station which is close to Labadi. While a cab would of been faster, it is not safe to take them at night, because as my host parents said, "They can take you to places you don't know and take your things." So Barbra and I and I mean mostly Barbra asked every tro tro that passed on that busy street if they were going to 37 station. None of them were, it appeared I was stranded in Kwashimon. Barbra faithfully stood next to me and even offered to go with me to the main station and see me onto a tro tro to 37 station. Just as we were loading a bus, one for 37 station came and I got on it and made friends with a Liberian girl who was also going to Labadi. She showed me the way to my guesthouse junction and I got home safely.

Day 1 in Ghana

I arrived in Ghana on Thursday at 7:30 Ghana time. My friend Barbra was not at the airport as I expected, so I waited for a while and finally decided that I should book a guesthouse. I found one within my budget in Labadi, a part of Accra I am not familiar with. The woman who owns the guesthouse was named Gloria, she was very friendly and kind. She drove me to the bank so I could exchange my money.
By the time I came back from the bank, I called my friend barbra from a street phone (Children keep phones by the side of the road and you can use them to call Ghana numbers it is 20 Peswas a minute or about 13 cents. When I called Barbra, she told me that she was at my guesthouse, she had arrived at the airport after I left and asked everyone if they had seen a white woman with short hair named "Jessica" they gave her Gloria's guesthouse number and she found the guesthouse much easier than I did. I joked with her later that she is a good detective.
After giving Barbra some gifts for her family and smoothing over her anger that I didn't wait for her at the airport we went out to a chop stand ( Local eatery) and I got Two rice balls and some ground nut stew (peanutbutter soup) it was so good. I went to bed at 4pm the first day I was there a little Jet lagged.

Nerves

In 24 hours, I'll be sitting on a plane on my way to Ghana for the second time. So why am I so nervous but also more at ease then my previous trip 4 years ago?

I think I'm more at ease because I have an idea of what to expect. While I'm sure this trip will be an adventure with twists and turns and unknowns, I've at least spent some time in Accra and Krobo before and I remember the streets, neighborhoods, cultural kirks, and incredibly friendly, helpful people.

So why am I nervous? Well, last time when I went to Ghana I went with SIT (an American study abroad organization.) This time I'm going with...well...myself. So I don't have any other American friends to commiserate with when cultural confusion sets in. But what I do have is some good Ghanaian friends who are very enthusiastic about taking care of me while I'm there.

Anxious, at-ease, nervous, relaxed...I think I'm excited more than anything else!