Much needed update

My dear dedicated readers,

I apologize for slacking on my blog writing these past few weeks. I'm sure you have seen the pictures from the Eastern region two weekends ago. It was our last CIEE program trip and it was great. The botanical garden and cocoa farm were brief, but beautiful; however my favorite part of the trip was definitely the waterfall/hike. Unfortunately they forgot to mention to us that the hike was going to be something we would have difficulty doing in sandals. Most people did not have proper footwear, but we all survived.

Last weekend I spent around Accra. I splurged and went out to dinner twice (the food here is literally killing people which I'll get to later). The Italian restaurant we went to was great and was some of the best pizza I've ever had! This week was the last full week of classes for me. I still have a few next week, but we get this Friday and Monday off for Easter. Pretty soon I'm going to have to hit the books for the first time here...I'm a little nervous about having all of my grades be decided by a final, but I'm sure it will all work out. There's really only one class besides Twi that will be difficult, and that's mostly because I have to learn all of Ghana's political history. The foreign students are definitely at a disadvantage in this class because it's a lot of stuff the Ghanaian students probably learned in grade school. Last Sunday our program organized Olympics for us. They took us to a beautiful beach and we played soccer, volleyball, tug-of-war, and scrabble for those not so athletically inclined. I was assigned to the red team and we ended up winning the Olympics, so that was fun.

The past few days have been rough for a lot of kids in our program. On Tuesday my friend was taken to the hospital because she had been throwing up about every half hour for the whole night. A few of us visited her and sat with her in the hospital for the past few days, which was an experience in and of itself.

First of all, there is no privacy in hospitals. She was kept in the "Emergency Room" (a small room with two beds) for about 4 or 5 hours until she was finally admitted and put in a room. All the while my friend and I were fighting for her to get her labs back, have her fluid bags changed, and get the basic care she needed. During this time a woman came into our room carrying a convulsing toddler. We were asked to stand outside until they tended to him. After this happened the nurse asked me if I could go get my friend's lab results from the lab since she got the call that they were ready. She was obviously too busy doing her word find to get them herself. I'm not kidding about the word find either. So my friend and I went and got the lab results, tried to make sense of them, but couldn't, so we gave them to the nurse. She told me to put them on her desk and give her a few minutes because of the emergency with the little boy. That would of been fine had she actually been helping the little boy. She wasn't. She just sat down in a chair and watched them tend to him while my friend's lab results (that we had been waiting for 5 hours for) sat on her desk. I wanted to scream. Yesterday I went back and we waited all day for a doctor to see her (which never ended up happening). She had given samples to be tested that morning and never got the results...after a full day. She was feeling a lot better and had kept over three meals down. In my not so expert opinion she probably could have been released after they got the results. She ended up having to stay another night and is coming home today. I'm still not sure what they think it was. I'm guessing either Cholera, a parasite or food poisoning. There has been at least one other person in our program who has gotten Cholera. He actually had malaria simultaneously. What a trooper. Additionally there have been probably at least 15-20 cases of malaria. Three unfortunate people have actually gotten it twice. I don't know what I'm doing right, but I have definitely been fortunate so far.

This weekend I'll probably hang out around the hostel and maybe even start organizing my notes to prepare for the month of finals that lies ahead. I'll try to keep you posted if anything new or exciting happens, but right now I'm just anticipating a whole lot of studying!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Monkeys and Waterfalls

The Volta Region of Ghana was this weekend’s destination. It is by far the most beautiful region and was also my favorite traveling experience so far. We started off by going to Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary. We took a tro-tro for three hours to the main road by the village and then took a motor taxi (motorcycle) three miles to the village itself. Tafi Atome is a village that was developed into a monkey sanctuary with the help of US Peace Corps volunteers and the Ghana Tourism board. It is home to one species of monkey, which before Christianity took over the country, was thought of as a link to the idol the villagers worshipped. 

We arrived in the village in time for dinner and were put up in a guest house. One of the village women cooked white rice and spicy stew for us for dinner. The next morning we woke up for our six am walk through the forest to see the monkeys. Along the way we stopped to feed them bananas. My friend Josh even got some of them to sit on his arm. They were mostly friendly, although one of them did throw a banana at my head! After the walk we packed up and left for Wli falls. We went back to the main road, but due to a large funeral there were no tro-tros available to take us to Hohoe (pronounced like hohoy). We chartered a taxi and all six of us crammed in. I was actually straddling the clutch which was not a fun experience. 

When we finally arrived at the Wli waterfall lodge, we had almost eaten almost nothing(I couldn’t stomach the porridge for breakfast.) Luckily I had bought some bananas at the village before we got to the lodge, which turned out to be decent fuel for the hike. Seven of us set off on the hike, but only five finished. Two turned back because of how tough it was. It was definitely the most strenuous physical activity that I have ever completed. We started off on relatively flat ground, crossed a few bridges then reached a point where our guide handed us walking sticks. After that we knew it was going to be difficult. I am by no means an experienced hiker, but one of my friends on the trip who has hiked through various parts of the North East said it was the hardest trail (I can barely call it a trail) he had ever hiked. In America a path like the one we were on would have needed to be completely revamped to be considered safe to climb. I started off thinking I was on a hike, but when we finished we realized we had climbed a mountain. It took us just under two hours to get to the waterfall, which was incredible. It was like a tropical paradise. The water was almost too powerful to stand under but was so refreshing after we had just hiked almost straight up a mountain. There were points where we were stepping on rocks, roots, and using trees to pull ourselves up onto the next level spot during our climb. Almost everyone fell at least once, especially on the way back down. Miraculously no one was injured although there were a few close calls. Today I am sorer than I have been in a very long time, but it was worth the pain and more. I wish I could do the waterfall more justice, but it was too beautiful to describe. There will be pictures on facebook as soon as possible! 

On a semi-negative side note the company outside of our group on the hike was pretty terrible. First were the two German men we met at the Monkey Sanctuary. They also came to the falls with us. To be fair, the one was decent, but the other was terrible. He kept telling us that we weren’t close to the falls and we were going too slowly. We left the falls to head back before they did someone said “OK we’ll see you back at the hotel.” The nasty German replied “Well we’ll probably pass you in a few minutes.” What a jerk. Secondly our Ghanaian guide was also terrible. Obviously we were a bunch of Obrunis who had little to no hiking experience. He would get so annoyed when we would ask to stop for breaks or ask him to slow down from the pace he was setting. He said the hike would take 2 hours and we did it in an hour and fifty minutes. There was no need to rush. When we were about twenty minutes from the waterfall he said that we weren’t even half way. When we got there and called him out on his blatant lie he said he was trying to get us to go faster. We told him we could find our own way back down the mountain and let him leave. We made it down the mountain in about 45 minutes to an hour. (I think it was the absence of negative energy.)

After the hike, three of us crawled back in a tro-tro and headed back to Accra. 

This weekend as I said was my favorite in Ghana. I didn’t think that the Safaris at Mole could be topped, but the experience in Volta was so much more rewarding. I realized I am actually in better shape than I thought I was and it also made our group discuss how easy it is to do something difficult when you set your mind to it, have the support of others, and remain positive. The one thing I was surprised about was that the complaints while going up the mountain were so few. It was nice to be a part of a group that was so positive. We knew going into the hike that it was going to be difficult but about half way through we began like everything had been understated. It was so rewarding to push through and see one of the most beautiful things I have ever laid eyes on.

Next weekend we are going to the Eastern Region as a whole program so there will be more updates to come! Also look out for a blog post in the near future about the African brain drain and why it can be so frustrating to “study” and live here for four months!

The soccer experience

The Mole bus and traveling madness of last weekend made me decide to take a weekend off from traveling and stay around Accra. St. Pattie’s day was fun. A bunch of people in my program went to Jerry’s, the local bar that we usually go to. Jake met some interesting characters who used to live in the Bronx, and although my friend Brianna and I tried, we did not succeed in convincing the bartenders that red heads drink for free on St. Pattie’s day. Friday I was lazy all day and watched my bootleg season 1 of The West Wing which I have been making my way through during all of my free time here. Saturday I spent studying for the first time since I’ve been here! Tomorrow I have a midterm in Twi which should be interesting. 

Sunday our program organized a bus for a bunch of people to go watch a soccer game in Accra. The city of Kumasi (Kotoka) played Accra (Phobia). Unfortunately Phobia lost. We were in the hot sun all day and the soccer game experience was an interesting one. Small arguments over which team was going to win would come to blows between Ghanaians and overall the scene was just a little too barbaric for my taste. The real fun began when we were leaving the stadium. First, this crazy guy came up to my friend Dan and started pushing him for no apparent reason. A bunch of people grabbed the guy and took him away and apologized to Dan saying that the guy was actually just crazy. This initially for some reason put me on edge.

A few minutes later I felt someone graze my left side. I looked down into my purse and my wallet was gone. I looked up and a group of three or four guys were quickly walking away from our group so I ran after them and shouted that one of them stole my wallet. David, another guy in my program saw one of them stick something in his pants so he pointed to him and said “THIS ONE”. There happened to be a police officer standing right there. The guy dropped my wallet and I ran to pick it up. I looked up and the police officer was slapping the guy, some people were punching him, a few people from the crowd started kicking him, and then the guy threw up. I was a mess because I had just had my wallet picked then watched the guy be beaten to the point of vomiting. I then was dragged to the police headquarters in the stadium where they wanted me to go and give a statement. I told them that I had my wallet back and didn’t want to go all the way to the police station. Some of the people in the crowd were in disbelief that I would just let the guy go free. Jake was also not crazy about just letting the guy go and had previously given the guy a piece of his mind. It just seemed crazy to me to give a statement when the guy had just been beaten and publically humiliated. My wallet had 15 Cedis in it, so about ten US dollars. There were no credit cards, and my phone and camera were still in my purse. It just seemed that whatever punishment in addition to being beaten that this boy was about to receive did not justify the crime of almost stealing 15 Cedis. 

In Ghana it is common to be publicly beaten if you are caught stealing. Two of my friends witnessed this in the first few weeks that we were here. A man was in someone’s room and was caught about to steal something. Even though they found nothing on him from the room he was beaten and all of his things were stolen from him. I understand that people here don’t have much so stealing is a big deal, but to me it was just not worth it to take the incident any further. I am extremely privileged here. I could have given him the 15 Cedis, never thought about it again, and it probably would have bought his food for two or three days. It was strange that I barely felt wronged in any way by the whole ordeal. If someone would steal my wallet at home I would be furious, but here it just seemed like an inevitable occurrence. I will not soon forget the series of events that happened that and how my impulse to blurt out that someone had stolen my wallet ended up causing such brutality.

Safari adventures and other updates

The past two weeks have been adventure-packed and overall pretty amazing! I apologize for not writing after my Kumasi trip. It was a good weekend, but there really wasn't a lot to tell. We went to a traditional Asante home and celebrated Ghana's Independence Day at a place called "The Sweet Pub" which was pretty amusing. A lot of the girls ran into some trouble with drunken African men. My one friend's face got licked, another's crotch got grabbed, several were pushed, and I was punched in the arm by a large drunken African woman. Overall we were happy to leave the pub and go back to an Obruni filled hotel. We also went to a market which is said to be the largest open air market in West Africa. I got a pair of "Aldo" sandals, which as I'm sure you can guess are fake, but nonetheless cute.

The week after Kumasi was spent mostly in preparation for my trip to Mole National Park. In order to get to Mole you need to buy tickets no more than 24 hours in advance for Tamale, which is the nearest town resembling civilization. Tamale is about three to five hours from Mole. Our group of eight woke at the early hour of 4am to buy bus tickets on Wednesday. Our firs adventure to the STC bus station was a success! We arrived back on campus at 6am and I proceeded to sleep until noon! Thursday we left for Mole at about 6:15. Rush hour in Accra beings around 6am so we knew we needed to leave time before our 8am bus. We were worried about missing it as we arrived at 7:45 in the bus station, but little did we know that a whole day of waiting for this mythical bus was ahead of us. We waited from 7:45 am until about 6pm until the bus FINALLY came. We were informed that during this time it was being repaired, reassuring I know. During the ten hours that we spent waiting at the bus station, we were surprisingly content. Around 4:30 we decided it was time to have a drink because at that point we didn't even know if we were going to get on a bus that day. Six of us finished a fifth of 8pm whiskey in about 45 minutes then decided to buy a second mini bottle to treat our kind waitress. At this point we were all feeling a whole lot better about just having spent a full day waiting for a bus that may never come. It is safe to say that our mantra for the trip was TIA, "This is Africa." You waited for a bus for ten  hours? Well, TIA. When the bus came you had to wait 45 minutes for a police escort? TIA. If you don't have a police escort you will almost surely be robbed at gunpoint. TIA.

After we boarded the bus and all of the women suddenly got off, we knew something was up. People were shouting in Twi so a few group members went to investigate. Some of the women told horror stories of what happened to people traveling to Tamale by night without an escort. Because we were supposed to be traveling by day they hadn't booked one for us, so it took a little while to find a policeman willing to ride a bus over night for 12 hours to get a bunch of people to Tamale safely. Fortunately we were able to find one and our journey continued!

We arrived in Tamale at 6am on Friday. We had been planning to arrive at 8 or 9pm on Thursday, but at least we saved money by not having to get hotel rooms! It was a rough night on the bus to say the least. I could go on a rant about Ghanaian movies, but I will spare you. The short version is that they are loud, there is a lot of screaming and yelling, they are very dramatic, and the acting is TERRIBLE. Terrible as in I've seen eighth grade homemade movies that have better acting and overall production. Anyway, the movies played the whole way to Tamale, so my ipod was at max volume. When we got in to Tamale (by the way it is not pronounced like the Mexican food) we were lucky enough to be able to hire an un-air conditioned van to Mole. The trip took about three hours and was one of the most hilarious and ridiculous rides in a vehicle I have ever experienced. Because it was un-air conditioned the windows were open the whole time. As we got closer to Mole, the roads got worse and worse therefore more dusty. By the end of the journey our whole group was brown. Those wearing white shirts will definitely have to retire them after this trip. Luckily I had brown pants on. My friend's eyelashes had dust in them and were brown. The shutter on my camera wasn't closing as well because it had dust in it. Everything was covered. It was the dirtiest I have been in my entire life. In addition to the dirt from the roads not being paved, the bumps were almost unbearable. I never get carsick and there were several times both on the way to Tamale and on the way to Mole that I thought I was going to be sick. Somehow all of us made it,with only one person getting sick out of all eight people.

When we finally got to Mole after over 24 hours of bus station waiting and traveling, our rooms weren't even ready. The icing on the cake! We immediately set our stuff down changed in the bathroom into our bathing suits and jumped into the pool. It was the most refreshing swim I've ever taken. Finally after our rooms were ready and we finally ate some food we went on our first safari! Four people rode in the jeep and four rode on top then we switched half way. It was so incredible. You had to hold on tight and it was definitely an adrenaline rush at some points. We managed to see two elephants, tons of bushbok and other deer-like animals, warthogs (which also roam around the hotel like dogs), baboons, and green monkeys. I was about 50 yards away from an elephant at one point!It was definitely my favorite of all the safaris.

The next morning we woke up for a 7am hiking safari to the watering hole that the hotel overlooked. It took around 3 hours and while we didn't see any elephants, we did see more bushbok and green monkeys. The scenery was beautiful and there were a lot of interesting plants as well. At one point we stopped at a pool of water that our guide told us we could drink from. We did and no one got sick, although I was extremely hesitant at first. The water even tasted good! When we got back to the hotel we had breakfast, which was amusing. As we were eating my friend got up to ask for something and a baboon hopped onto her seat beside me out of no where and stole the toast from her plate! I let out a little scream along with almost everyone else at the table, then we burst into laughter. My friend Brianna and I ran after the baboon to take pictures. It was so cute, and had a baby hanging onto its belly! At one point it even looked like it was posing for us! After the baboon breakfast we rested up for our afternoon canoe safari. We were driven to a village which I believe was still technically inside the park, but I'm not too sure. Some of the men from the village were our guides. We got into the little canoe boats and were paddled for an hour down a little river, which was more like a creek because it isn't the rainy season. We saw a few exotic birds, but no other animals. It was still really cool to be on the water, and was probably my second favorite safari. That night we ate traditional Ghanaian food as a warthog watched us enviously. The next morning we woke again at 4am to catch the bus from Mole to Tamale.

This time, the bus took about six hours because it was bigger and couldn't go as fast over all the bumps and rocks. Also it stopped at a bunch of villages along the way. I did sleep for a few hours on this bus which was lucky because the rest of the journey back to Accra was too bumpy for me to sleep at all. when we arrived in Tamale around 10am we were extremely fortunate to catch a bus within 30 minutes. We weren't even at a bus station we just found a bus to take us, which is really rare. We waited for it to fill up and then we were off to Accra. This bus ride was about ten hours, but I was able to get a lot of reading done despite the terrible Ghanaian movies once again. The bus rides were quite interesting and I basically had to forget the concept of personal space for about 16 hours. My first seat partner was a little to anxious to look out the window, which I was sitting by. I probably just should have given up the window seat because for the first hour of the ride he was leaning across my body basically pushing me into the wall beside the window in order to look out of it. My next bus partner from Tamale to Accra was a mother, who so modestly nursed her son for the better part of the ride. I guess that she just needed something to keep him from crying, because the kid was fed hourly, but not once did he cry during the whole 10 hours. Ghanaian babies are amazing. There was another little baby girl on the bus and the only noise she made were squeals of happiness when the obrunis looked at her and made faces. She was so cute! The babies were on either side of me but it turned out to be more entertaining than anything else. My third bus partner after the woman switched seats when some became open, was a larger man who kept falling asleep an almost leaning on me but jolting awake at the  last second before he actually put his head on my shoulder. He kept me on my toes for sure. I was happy though to not have had to push him awkwardly off of me during his peaceful slumber. I don't even know how it was humanly  possible to fall asleep on that bus in the first place!

We finally arrived on campus around 8:30-9:00pm exhausted, yet happy to have survived the adventure of a lifetime.

I promise to post pictures as soon as I can. Sorry for all of the spelling and grammatical errors this post probably contains, as I am too tired to go back and correct them before I pass out. I think it will take me a few days to recover from this trip! Until next time, TIA.

Kokrobite Beach and Community Service

This weekend a couple friends and I took a trip to Kokrobite, a beach about two hours from campus. It was a great trip, though it did result in my FIRST sunburn since I’ve been here. I know, it’s hard to believe! We stayed at this place right on the beach called Big Millie’s Back Yard. Although we were not fortunate enough to meet Big Millie, we did find out that she’s an English Woman turned Ghanaian after living here for 17 years! The beach was beautiful; white sand, blue water that was just the right temperature, and women walking around selling fresh pineapple! We got to watch men pulling their fishing boats to shore which was pretty cool too. They sing and make noises the whole time that they work so it was pretty entertaining. 

The first night at the beach we ate at this amazing Italian restaurant. The man who owned it was from Italy and had Italian wine and real food too. It was probably the best meal I’ve had since I’ve been here, and the wine was some of the best I’ve ever had! 

The children at the beach were definitely an experience. First of all, most of them run around naked so you would just be lying on your towel and a little naked boy would run by and dive into the water. These aren’t toddlers either; some of them were probably as old as six or seven! There were a few other children who we came into contact with while at the beach. My roommate Meg and I were laying on our towels while our three other friends were on a walk when about eight kids came up to us and started demanding things from us like water, food, money, earrings  and they  were even touching our hair. It was ridiculous! I made the huge mistake of giving them Jelly beans. They almost trampled each other fighting for each one. It was really sad. I felt bad, but we learned quickly that you have to be firm with them to get the, to go away. I know they were plotting to steal my back pack. They kept speaking in Twi and pointing at it. When they started to move closer I grabbed it. 

The tro-tro ride back to Accra I sat next to a man who told me that his name was Adolf Hitler. That was a treat. I also had to get feisty at the tro-tro station with a man who grabbed my arm to try to get me and the group to go into his tro-tro. I smacked his arm off of mine and yelled at him not to touch me. The men here don’t have any concept of personal space most of the time but they back off if you let them know you won’t take it. 

Saturday we had a program wide community service day at Echoing Hills Group home. The home is mostly for people who are mentally and physically handicapped, but a local orphanage also brought some kids to the home for the day. We painted, swept, weed wacked and played with the kids and people in the home. It was a really rewarding day. There are some great pictures I’m about to post so check them out! The kids were so cute. This little girl named Yvonne was particularly attached to me because I picked her up and gave her my necklace when she was crying because another girl had pushed her down. It was kind of a free for all for the Obruni’s attention! I carried her around on my shoulders for a while and she kept making me run and chase other people. It was a blast and I was exhausted by the end of the day. We also got to play soccer with the kids, and helped them paint a mural on the front of the home. It was definitely an amazing experience.

Next weekend I’ll be going on a trip to Kumasi, a city a little bit north of Accra. We’ll also be going to some villages around that general area. More updates from that trip to come!

Cape Coast weekend trip

This week has been one of the most eventful over all since I have arrived in Ghana!! I apologize for not writing sooner! Last Wednesday was my first day volunteering with an NGO called S AID – Street Aid for girls. Basically the organization takes teen girls off of the streets, most of whom were former prostitutes and have small children, and give them a place to stay and  a basic education. The organization is funded by goods the girls make out of plastic water sachets which we drink out of and typically pollute the streets of Accra. All of the funds that the girls save while staying at the facility are matched when they leave. The girls sew the sachets together and add fabric swatches to create aprons, bags, and they also use beads to make necklaces. The goods they make are sold through a partner organization in the US. Check out http://www.said-ghana.com/ for more details.

Volunteering was an amazing experience, and I will definitely continue to go back each Wednesday. The girls speak little english, and most have small children under a year old. What volunteers do is make sure the babies are less of a distraction to the girls as they learn basic english and math skills. I also got to teach the girls a few sentences and subtraction last Wednesday. It is interesting because they get frustrated when they can’t do the problems or write sentences for themselves, but then get so excited when they get the correct answer. They like whoever is teaching to write “very good” or “great job” on their papers after they are checked. It is a little depressing to see 16-19 year old girls who have infants and cannot read, write, or do basic math.  Despite this it is extremely rewarding to be able to teach girls how to function in society. This week I was with the elementary level girls, but when those girls improve, they move to an upper level curriculum where they are also taught basic business and entrepreneural skills so that they can start their own craft or food business when they leave S AID.  I’m sure there will be a lot more stories to tell throughout my experience volunteering with the girls.

Friday night a few of us went to an upscale bar in Accra called Citizen Kofi. It was crazy to go from such an African atmosphere to such a Western/American one. It was a nice break and after the happy hour at the bar, we got food at a restaurant called Frankie’s which has the biggest menue I’ve seen since I’ve arrived! I got hummus and pita which was a welcome break from rice and eggs!!!

This weekend was definitely my favorite so far! We went to Cape Coast to see the slave castles and to Kakum national park to do a canopy walk. Check out the pictures on Facebook they are amazing!!! My group went to the Elmina Slave Castle, which was the older and larger of the two. It was built over 500 years ago and was run at various points by the Dutch, Portuguese, and British. The castle was eerily beautiful and was set on the beach, so the view from the towers was phenominal. It was hard to imagine hundreds of slaves being crammed into the small dungeon rooms our guide showed us. The female dungeon disturbed me the most. When we walked in there was a strange smell, which the guide told us was because the women had nowhere to relieve themselves and had no way of dealing with menstruation. The lived in feces etc. over a foot high at points. The fact that a hint of the smell still remains after 500 years is a testament to how terrible the dungeon actually was. 

While our first day at Cape Coast was a bit depressing, the second was amazing! We woke up and journeyed an hour to Kakum National Park. The park is home to the largest canopy walk way in West Africa. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done. We hiked to a tree house type things where the canopy walk began and were basically walking on a rickety wooden plank attached to trees with ropes. There were posts around the trees that connected the walkways where you could stop to look down at the rainforest below. It was definitely an adrenaline rush! Jake faced his fear of heights, along with a few others and everyone braved the walkway. After the park, we went to a restaurant called Han’s Botel, which was built up on stilts over a lagoon famous for crocodiles. This was where I faced my fear. The crocodiles come up on the land around the buildings where the restaurant is and you can even pet them. They told us that they are very tame and no one ever gets bitten, but I was still terrified at first to touch the crocodile! I felt like at any point it could just turn and snap my head off. One girl touched one and it moved a little and everyone screamed! Jake just bent right down and touched it, but I had to convince myself for a while that it was safe! Overall it was an amazing day. 

We came back to our  hostel to unfortunately find that the water was out in the building, which meant I got to take my first bucket bath. Luckily the water came back on this morning so I can finally wash my hair after two days. Pleasant I know. 

Check out my Facebook for a visual of what I just described! Happy reading!

A note on gender in Ghana

During our second, but essentially first week of classes (Professors don't show up for the real first week), I have been particularly attuned to gender issues and relations on campus between students, and also off campus within Accra. To those of you who know me well this should come as no surprise. Part of this attention stems from a few of my classes here in the Social Work department which I am taking in pursuit of a Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies Minor back at AU.

My Monday started off with the Social Work course called Family Welfare. Because the professor didn't show up the first week,  he just went over a basic course outline during this lecture. While we didn't cover much, some of the students' reactions to what was covered were interesting. For example, the professor said we would be covering relationships between spouses in Ghanaian marriages and families. Specifically the belief and tradition of the male as the head of the household. He said that many Ghanaian men are viewed or view themselves as weak if they consult their wives at all while making family decisions. At this comment, the males in the classroom cheered. It took all that I had not to turn around and glare at them all. A girl beside from Denmark looked at me and said "This is going to be difficult."

Later on that evening in a sociology course I am auditing called Culture and Reproductive Health, the lecturer was discussing methods of population control used by various countries. We got onto the topic of birth control and womens' health in general. The lecturer is a very strong-willed Ghanaian women who doesn't let the men rule the classroom, which is what seems to typically happen  in the classes I've attended so far. We were discussing the birth control pill Depo Provera, which did a lot of damage to Ghanaian women in the '60s and '70s thanks to a US scientist who didn't quite have all of his data straight, yet decided it was ok to release the drug to third world countries for a test run. This discussion led to a discussion about a woman's right to her own body, and to making her own health care decisions. At this point, a lovely young gentleman raised his hand and asked "Well, what if the woman can't make her own health care decisions." A bunch of boys in the class made sounds of agreement, and the teacher asked if he meant that she was physically or mentally unable to, because of a medical condition, or because her husband thought she wasn't able to make decisions for herself without him. It was established that the boy meant the latter, which prompted the teacher to ask him how he would feel about someone of another gender making decisions about his body and well being. He had no response. On a separate occasion in that same class, a friend in my program told me that she raised her hand and countered an ignorant male, and the female portion of the class cheered for her and nodded their heads, yet it seemed none of them felt comfortable enough to counter the males themselves.

Later on in the week Jake and my roommate and I went to visit a friend in the hospital who had malaria. When we were in the taxi on the way back we were stuck in traffic and were in the lane closest to the side of the road. In Accra, there are people that come around to cars when they are stopped at red lights and stuck in traffic, to try to sell them things. I was looking out the window at some of these people and noticed a heated argument happening between a man and a woman along the side of the road. I knew the woman was selling things to passers by because she was carrying a large basket on her head, as most of the women here who sell things do. The argument escalated and the man started to whip her across the face with a small rag he was holding in his hand. The woman motioned like she was going to fight back, so the man advanced at her with his fist and she instantly cowered away. It was one of the most awful things I've witnessed since I've been here. The woman put  her basket back on her head and walked out to the cars to continue selling her goods. The man resumed talking with  another man and I continued to glare at them. The other man who had not been beating the woman noticed I was staring and started to point at me. Then both men started pointing and laughing at me. They both knew I had witnessed what had just happened, and could do nothing about it. I glared at them until traffic moved and we drove away.

I can't say that I'm looking forward to what is to come as far as my observations go on this topic, but it will be a learning experience. I know that Ghana has domestic violence laws, as does the US, but it takes more than laws to empower women to stand up for themselves. Interestingly enough it is the Christian tradition that has made Ghanaian society so male-centric. Before Christianity became heavily popular here, the Uncles, or brothers of women were closer to being father figures to children than the children's actual fathers. There were often multiple men in charge rather than just one holding all the power. When Christianity became popular, the society switched to a more western family structure with the father as the head of household.

I am currently looking into a volunteer opportunity which involves looking after the children of young and teen mothers so that they can be educated. Hopefully this will allow me the opportunity to give back to the women of this country and help them to not be the victims of cruel treatment and male dominance.

Weekend Fun

This weekend was our first weekend without any orientation programs. We did have a Welcome Durbar on Saturday which was fun. They served some American food, and I got to have salad for the first time. I miss vegetables, oh and olives. Oh and just about anything that isn't rice or chicken or eggs. My diet consists of starch, meat, fruit and carbs. I have to admit that I'm getting a little tired of the food selection here or lack there of. Today for example, the only available options were the night market aaaand the night market. I had an egg sandwich for breakfast and rice for lunch. For dinner I'm holding out to eat at the bar/hotel where we are watching the Super Bowl! I'm hoping for some pizza. Jake and I are going to check out some nicer restaurants in the near future and splurge every once in a while to maintain our sanity. Enough about food, it's making me hungry!

The Durbar was really interesting! They had a live African band with drummers and cowbells and also African dancers. The dancers were really cool. For their second number the three women danced around with pots of fire on their heads! It was crazy. The women here are so talented. They carry around EVERYTHING on their heads. It's really impressive. Some of the men do too but it's mostly women. The first day we were here I tried to carry a bag of little sachets of water on my head and made it three steps. The next morning my neck hurt.

The Durbar was at the Great Hall, which is the highest point on campus (is it sounding like Harry Potter yet?) The view from outside the building was incredible! There is a stretch that overlooks the whole city of Accra. They call it Accra by night. It's like a sea of a million little lights. I tried to take a picture but it didn't do it justice.

My weekends will actually be starting on Fridays, since I have no class! This Friday some girls and I decided to go to the Arts Center which is essentially another market. I ended up getting a Ghanaian dress to wear to the Durbar, beaded sandals, and some gifts to take home for people. To get to the market, we took a transit bus which was my first experience using city run public transportation. It was a double decker bus which was amusing. Inside it had a picture depicting the double decker bus dominating a little tro-tro (a van which is not city run) in an accident basically saying that buses are safer than tro-tros because they win in a collision. I think I've mentioned before that the advertising strategies here are blunt and often graphic! It's really entertaining. The trip to the Arts Center went smoothly, it was the return trip that was a bit more interesting.

Thursday is the day that I take my malaria medicine, as I described in my last post. This means that Fridays are also kind of rough with various medicine-related stomach and other issues. While we were waiting for a tro-tro on the way home I started to feel faint. I had warned some of the girls earlier in the trip that I'm a fainter. It's a lovely curse that goes along with being strawberry blond. (Thanks mom) So when I told them I was feeling light headed and a little nauseous we all decided it was best for a few of us to just get in a cab. It's a lot more expensive than a tro-tro, but I wasn't about to put a price on passing out on the side of the street at Tema Station. We got in a cab around 4:30pm so pretty close to rush hour. It took us an hour and forty five minutes to get back to campus, when it only took us about 45 to get to the market. Part of this delay had to do with the fact that our first cab broke down about half way home. We were sitting in traffic and the driver turned off the car. When he went to re-start it, the car wouldn't start. Luckily he flagged down a cab for us and negotiated with the driver to split what we had originally agreed to pay him. At least my initial Ghanaian car trouble experience is out of the way. I kind of have a feeling it won't be the last though!

Overall the first weekend was pretty good, all malaria-medication symptoms aside. On the subject of malaria, there are three girls who have already gotten it. Luckily they all are fine, though the first girl had quite a scare and was told if she waited one more day to go to the hospital she may not have made it. It's been a good lesson to the rest of the program that at the first sign of fever, aches or chills we need to force the person to get to the hospital. The problem with the first girl was that her fever kept going up and down so she was lulled into to thinking she was getting better.

Well I hate to end this post on such a somber note, but it's time for me to go eat some pizza! **I mean watch the Super Bowl...

Until my next adventure, happy reading!
 

Mefloquine Day

Today is Mefloquine Day. I hate Mefloquine day!!! Taking my malaria medicine is pretty rough, but has inspired me to begin a Mefloquine dream diary. One side effect of the medication (aside from "feelings of mistrust towards others" as the box describes) is crazy vivid dreams. So here is the start of my Mefloquine Dream diary:

1. I had a dream that I got back to the States and forgot everything about Ghana, didn't bring anything back, no pictures, nothing! I freaked out because people started to not even believe that I went....then after that there was a shipwreck where my friends from Ghana washed up in the US. Crazy.

2. One night last week I had a dream that Jake told me he was gay.

3. Before I left for Ghana I had to take the medicine a few times. One night I had a dream that I was being robbed...there were other ridiculous aspects to this but I forget most of them.

The dreams are pretty crazy!! I have woken up with my heart racing and once almost in tears! It's funny to hear everyone else's crazy dreams too. My one friend had a dream that he was holding this baby but he kept dropping it. He couldn't hold onto the baby, it just kept rolling out of his hands!

I guess if the dreams are the worst side effect of preventing malaria it's pretty worth it.

Last night we went to Reggae night again. There were these little kids who did gymnastic/acrobatics! It was so cool. This one little boy could  bend over backwards, grab his feet and roll himself around like a tire. Check out the pictures on FB they should be posted soon.

So far classes have been alright, though I couldn't really understand my teacher in the one I had today. My schedule is pretty sweet. My classes are on Mondays and Tuesdays mostly, but there is one Thursdays. So I have Wednesdays and Fridays completely free!  Yesterday I layed by the pool for the better part of the afternoon (I know, be jealous). It's been kind of funny because most professors don't show up for the first week of classes so I've only had 2 out of the 5 I'm taking. My social work class about children's rights in Ghana seems pretty interesting though so I'm excited! I'm also going to audit a sociology course that I can't take for credit because of a time conflict, but it's about culture and reproductive health. It basically covers all of the taboo issues in Ghana relating to sex and gender. The teacher is a woman who gave us a lecture during orientation about gender issues in Ghana and she was really good so I'm excited to audit a full course of hers!

Well that's all for now, Jake and I are off to check out the bookstore..maybe they will have UGH t-shirts!