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.