Ghana: Part 2

Hey everyone!

I hope I still have some readers out there. I should have been more on top of finishing my blog when I got back, but it's been hard to admit that the voyage is actually over. This isn't a blog that I wanted to have to end! However, here is a summary of the last three days of Ghana.

The ship traveled from Takoradi to Tema (Accra) overnight, so I woke up bright and early to catch the shuttle bus into the city. The drive is usually at least one hour, but it can take up to three hours depending on traffic. Our ride there took about an hour and a half.

There wasn't much to do right where the shuttle dropped us off. None of us had very much Ghanaian Cedi left, so we wanted to catch a taxi and go to the Accra mall, where we knew there would be some trustworthy ATM's, before heading out to the market and doing some more exploring. After locating a restroom, which was an adventure of its own, we found a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the mall. None of the taxis in Ghana are metered, so it's important to set a price with them before you get in. It can be hard to find a driver that won't try and rip you off if are a tourist, but we ended up finding a very nice guy!

The ride to the mall took about 25 minutes. Unexpectedly, the mall was actually similar to a mall that you would find in America. After walking around for a bit and grabbing some lunch, we found the ATM's.

Alexa. :) This is actually the only picture I took the entire day.

That didn't go as planned. For some reason, my card wasn't working. Alexa's card also didn't work, and Corrie had left hers back on the ship. We were in the middle of Ghana, about 2 hours away from the ship, with almost no cash and no way to contact our banks or parents. We had no phone service and there was no WiFi anywhere to be found. We didn't have enough money to pay a taxi to take us anywhere. It was one of those moments that you pray is never going to happen. We desperately kept trying to find a place in or around the mall that had WiFi. All of sudden, we heard a voice behind us... "Leave it to you guys to find the mall."

We turned around and TOM JELKE, our Executive Dean, was standing right there! He could tell right away that something was wrong, and we explained the situation to him. Without even giving it a second thought, he pulled the ship phone out of his pocket and told us to use it to call our parents. He is amazing. I still can't believe he was there right at that moment. I was able to get in touch with my parents, and they said they would call the bank right away. Tom then gave us some cash to hold us over until our cards started to work again. Luckily, 20 minutes later, they worked!

After taking a few moments to catch our breath, we grabbed a taxi to the local Makola Market. It was very crowded, busy, smelly and loud, but it was an amazing experience! I'd never seen anything like it before! We spent about 45 minutes looking around, and then grabbed a taxi to a store called Global Mama's.

Global Mama's is a "non-profit and fair trade organization assisting women in Africa to become economically independent." The products they sell are made by the women, and all proceeds go directly to them. If you're interested in learning more, visit their website. I bought a few postcards, a pair of pants and a couple of headbands. It felt great to support this organization!

After Global Mama's, we started to head back to the shuttle bus. On our way back, I ran into the exact same guys that had given me such a hard time back in Takoradi. A lot of the vendors followed the ship. I honestly had a moment of panic when I saw them. Luckily, we were far enough from them to start walking quickly away, but they followed us and yelled the entire way back to the shuttle. I got on that bus very quickly!

It was about dinner time when we arrived back at the ship. We ate dinner on the ship and then went outside to look at all of the vendor's stalls that were set up right outside. I was able to find some gifts for my family! After that, we found Tom, payed him back and thanked him again before heading to bed.

I decided to spend the next day on the ship. I really needed it! I wrote in my journal, did some homework, worked out, slept and watched a movie in bed. :)

On our last day in Ghana, I went on a field program to the City of Refuge. It is a faith-based, grass-roots organization started in 2007 that rescues children in Ghana that have been trafficked, orphaned or abandoned and gives them a safe place to live, learn and grow in their faith. They particularly focus their rescue efforts on the children out on Lake Volta. Thousands of children are sold, often by their mothers, to fishermen out on the lake. They are forced to work 14-hour days with only one meal provided to them. Many of the children are physically and mentally abused, and they often can't swim. If they aren't rescued by the time they are in their early teens, it is very likely that the children themselves will grow up to be fishermen and buy children to work for them. It's all they know. It's a vicious cycle, and it is very important to City of Refuge to be very careful about how they approach the issue. They go into the fishing villages to negotiate for the children to be able to bring them to the home. This is sometimes easy, and sometimes not. Right now, they are working on educating both the sending and receiving communities about child trafficking.

They are in the process of building a church!

City of Refuge is such an incredible place. I had an absolutely wonderful and eye-opening experience volunteering there. Recently, they opened a school on their grounds as well! They had many projects that we could sign up to assist them with. I chose to help in the library with entering grades into their electronic computer system. It actually took quite awhile, but I loved helping out. We also had free time to play with the children, which was, of course, the best part. :) If you're interested in learning more, please visit their website! They are always looking for support and volunteers.

Hallway of the school!

This little cutie stole my glasses. :)

:)

We made it back to the ship in time for dinner, and I had a great time catching up and hearing about the experiences that my friends had in Ghana. Then the ship set sail for Morocco! It was also starting to near finals time, so I spent part of my evening studying before heading to bed.

Thanks!!!

Let's Rewind Back to Ghana for Awhile... :)

Hey everyone! Here is a post about Ghana!

We arrived in Takoradi, Ghana on the morning of April 7. We spent our first two days in Ghana there, and the ship traveled overnight to Accra for the last three days. This post will be about my two days in Takoradi, and I'll do another one about Accra!

On the first morning in Takoradi, I had a field lab with my Music Cultures course. We traveled about five minutes by bus to the beach where we attended an outdoor, traditional drumming and dance workshop led by local instructor Fred Tay. This field lab was actually one of the main reasons that I signed up for the course. To say that I was excited is an understatement! The drums we used were handmade by Fred himself. They were intricately, beautifully designed. We were told beforehand that we would have an opportunity to purchase a drum if we wanted to. I knew going into the day that I wanted to get one to bring home for my brother. :) I felt better about supporting Fred and getting a traditional one-of-a-kind drum instead of buying a mass-produced tourist drum from a souvenir shop.

My lovely friends Ethan and Megan. :)

We started off by first learning how to play the gankogui, which is the bell that sets the basic rhythm for percussion music. The drums we learned how to play were called Kpanlogo drums. Kpanlogo music is frequently used during times of recreation and celebration, such as weddings. There are many different techniques of playing the drum, such as the "slap," "bass" and "mute" hits. It was actually pretty difficult to play them correctly and make all of the different hits sound the way the should. Soon, we started to learn different rhythms and then played along with Fred and his assistants. My favorite part of the day came when they started adding vocal components to the music. I love both instruments and vocals and enjoy listening to them both separately, but I feel like music truly comes alive and gets taken to a whole different level when the two are put together.

A close-up of Fred's handmade drums.

We had such a beautiful, scenic view throughout the day.

Fred Tay!

After taking a break for lunch at great local restaurant, we got right back to it. This time, they introduced the dancing components. Everyone had such an incredible time! We did a little more of sitting in a circle and playing the drums before we had a chance to walk around the beach and choose a drum to purchase if we were interested. I think I did a pretty good job of picking one for my brother. After that, we headed back to the ship! I had such a great day and feel blessed to have had the opportunity to learn about and participate in such an important aspect of Ghanaian culture. It was one of the highlights of the semester for me!

Me and Fred! He was such a nice guy. :)

Since it was still early evening after returning to the ship, me and my friends Ethan and Megan decided to go out and find an ATM so that we could get some Ghanaian cedi. Our ship was docked in a very large port, and it was quite a walk into the town from where we were. As soon as we stepped out of the port gate, we were swarmed by vendors and taxi drivers. I had this problem in previous countries on the voyage, but it was nothing like this.

We had originally planned on taking a taxi into town, but then we decided we would just walk to get away from everyone. However, a group of about five men decided to follow us the entire way. They wouldn't leave us alone and actually started to get very aggressive. One of them forced some of the bracelets he was attempting to sell on my arms and wouldn't take them back. They started to make very rude and even violent comments towards us. It was just a very uncomfortable and slightly frightening situation. We eventually had to pay them off to leave us alone. Ghana is an amazing country filled with incredible and beautiful people, but was hard to not let these experiences slightly influence my opinions. It didn't sit well with me, and I was glad when we finally found an ATM and went back to the ship for the night. 

On our second day in Takoradi, I went on the field program "Castles and Slave Dungeons" where we got to tour, learn about and visit two of the castles and slave dungeons on the east coast of Ghana used during the Atlantic slave trade. The first was Elmina Castle, also known as St. George's Castle, and it was built in 1482 by the Portuguese. The second was Cape Coast Castle. Built in 1653 by the Swedish, it was later taken over by the British.

It is hard to describe the eerie, solemn atmosphere inside the slave dungeons. Although the slave trade occurred hundreds of years ago, what happened there is still very much present. It is hard to believe that something this horrible happened in a such a beautiful place. The view of the ocean and the city from the top of the castles was an absolutely breathtaking. 

We were first taken to the "Room of No Return." This is a small, stone room with no windows for light and no ventilation. Slaves taken into that room were taken there to die. They were not given any food or water, and most died within a few days of being forced in there. We were also shown the men's and women's dungeons. Groups of up to 150 women and 200 men were kept chained together in underground, stone rooms that honestly could have not possibly have fit that many people inside. I cannot even imagine. The dungeons had a sour smell unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I don't think I truly started to understand the horror of what happened during the slave trade until seeing all of this for myself. Here are some pictures from the day.

It was still early evening after taking the two hour bus ride back to the ship, but "on-ship time" for those that signed up to travel on the ship (and not overland) between the two ports in Ghana was in about two hours. So I just decided to stay on board. I worked out, wrote in my journal and had dinner with some friends. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

I've been looking back at my journal to help me write this blog post, and one thing that I wrote really stuck out to me:

"I feel like I should be slightly more in awe of the fact that I am in Ghana right now. It's like I have just gotten used to waking up and getting off of the ship in a new country. It's become normal. And this is definitely NOT normal. Why am I not appreciating it more than I am? I have talked to some of my friends about this and they have started to feel the same way too, so I'm glad to know that it's not just me. I feel like it's not really going to hit me until I get home and start to process everything. I'm not really sure what my emotional state is going to be when I get home. I guess we'll see."

Wow. If only I knew what I was going to actually feel like when I got home. I have so many thoughts and emotions, some that I don't even understand. But, that's for a different post. :) I'll end with this for now, and I'll have my second Ghana post up soon. 

Thank you!!

Home, Sweet Home!

Hey everyone!

I returned home from Barcelona a week from yesterday. It has been great to see my family and reconnect with friends, but I've also had a rough time transitioning and re-adjusting to being home again for many different reasons. I have literally just traveled around the world. I've met incredible people and made amazing friends that are going to last a lifetime, my outlook and perspectives on life and the world have greatly altered, and I also feel as if I have personally changed a lot because of this experience. I have a lot to process and there are many things I'd like to share with all of you! However, I realize that I still have not made posts about Ghana and Morocco. Those will be my first priority. :) You can expect to see one about my time in Ghana within the next couple of days! Thank you for being patient!