Akwaba to Ghana - Fried octopus & friendly people

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 – Arrival to Ghana

 

            What comes to mind when you think of Ghana? Is it a lot of negatives ideas? Well, whatever stereotypes you’ve heard of Ghana and even Africa – forget them! Get your shots and visas and visit Ghana NOW! This country is amazing, the people are amazing, and I’m ready to book my next visit! Ghana is a country everyone needs to visit – not because of the sightseeing, beaches, or history, but because of the experience you will have while interacting with the people of this country. You will be changed forever. Akwaba is a phrase I didn’t stop hearing my whole stay in Ghana; it means “welcome”. Everyone is shaking your hand and asking your name everywhere you look. The hospitality is phenomenal and I think we could learn a lot from the Ghanaians from the way they live their lives, despite the hardships they endure.

            To start the morning off, I saw two whales jumping in the ocean while eating breakfast on the deck. Life doesn’t get much better than that! It was definitely a great welcome as we pulled into the port. I had not seen a whale yet and it was the one sea animal I was aching to see. The two whales were jumping and splashing and it was the coolest thing to see!

To begin my adventure in Ghana I had an FDP (Field Directed Program) with my International Business professor, Dr. Aimee Wheaton, to Global Mamas: Micro-lending business. Global Mamas is one of the most amazing organizations I have ever encountered, but I will get to that in a little bit. First and foremost, the bus ride to Accra! We took 1 ½ buses to the city of Accra, Ghana as soon as we were cleared from the ship. We ported in Tema, Ghana which is a ½ hour drive to Accra but with traffic and the road conditions can lead into a 2 hour drive. The highway we rode on was the first highway ever built in Ghana in 1962. You’d be surprised how different Ghanaian highways are from American highways. Their highway looked like it could be one of our back roads. Our tour guide was Samuel and as we drove to Accra he told us all about Ghana and the way of life in the country. All along the way we saw people carrying boxes, bowls of food, water packets, linens, and many other things on their heads! It was so cool! Samuel talked to us about the school system and there are two types: formal and informal education. Within formal education is public and private schools. Public tuition is free but parents are required to pay for the uniform, textbooks, etc. which makes it really difficult for many of the kids to attend school. Private tuition is paid for by the parents and is generally for the wealthier Ghanaians. Each student completes six years of primary school (elementary), three years of junior high school, and three years of secondary/technical school. Not all students continue on to the universities but many do their best to obtain a college degree. The informal style of education is when children learn trades such as weaving, pottery making, and fishing instead of attending school. As we continued our drive we saw so many street vendors coming up to our bus trying to sell us things. They were selling cell phone holders, newspapers, magazines, candy, gum, toilet paper, maps of Ghana, wood carvings, shoes, and anything else you could think of. Many women had clear wooden framed boxes on their heads that contained food. We asked Samuel what one woman was carrying and he said it was fried octopus. He called her up to the bus as it stopped and bought some. He handed everyone a piece and I’m proud to say that I tried street fried octopus. It was actually pretty good and tasted like calamari!!

We finally arrived at Global Mamas to begin our FDP. We were greeted by Renee, the founder of the organization, and then entered the store for a briefing. Global Mamas is a non-profit organization which started from the ground up by Renee (originally from South Dakota). Renee worked for the Peace Corps and volunteered in Ghana. She fell in love with the country and returned to start this amazing business – Global Mamas. The whole idea of this NGO is to allow women of Ghana to sell their products in a global market. There are over 400 producers across Ghana and each item is individually made by the women. Global Mamas gives the women access to the global market through a website and a distribution office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Global Mamas doesn’t provide monetary loans but instead gives the women materials to produce their products; materials include: fabric, beads, dye, etc. 40% of all sales goes directly back to the producers. The women are paid upon completion of their order or within two weeks. The most astonishing part of the organization is that the start-up money came out of Renee’s own bank account and has been continuously growing for 6 ½ years.

After our briefing of the organization we were given time to look around the store and shop!! There were so many things to buy and it was very fairly priced. They had dresses, shirts, baby/toddler clothing, children’s clothing, purses, blankets, ornaments, jewelry, good luck charms, and so much more! Everything was so colorful and unique. I will be bringing some gifts home from Global Mamas everyone! After we shopped we split up into two groups: one group went to the drumming and dance workshop and the other went into the market. My group went to the market first with Selena, an employee of Global Mamas. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen. We almost got run over by a bus on the way because she led us right through the streets. As we walked through the market pathways we passed so many fried fish in huge bowls. I’d never seen so many fish in my life. The smell was horrible! We stopped at a fabric shop, spice and cleansing shop, and m In the market we saw eggshells, fabric makers, spices, shea butter, chalk pregnant women eat to help with sickness, straw like material they use to brush their teeth, and live crabs. We stopped at a music shop and I even bought some Ghanaian music! As we walked by all the little areas selling things, everyone smiled at us and said “Akwaba!” The Ghanaians were so welcoming and friendly. I loved the atmosphere and being able to see where they go to buy their everyday needs.

We spent a while in the market talking to various shop owners – if you can call them shops; it was more like small open areas filled with products. After leaving the market we went to the beach! Outside the entrance there was a small shop of wood carvings where I bought a wooden unity globe. One man that worked there taught us the Ghanaian handshake - I'll be showing everyone on my return home! There was a small restaurant at the bottom of the stairs leading to the beach where we bought drinks. The scenery was beautiful; huge rocks lined the backside of the beach and the waves just crashed against them like a scene from a movie! It was a nice relaxing afternoon before we headed back to Global Mamas for the second half of our day. We arrived at Global Mamas and, after exchanging addresses, said goodbye to Selena (amazing tour guide). Valerie, another Global Mamas employee, boarded the bus and took us to our Drumming and Dancing Workshop. The workshop took place right in the city but behind a few buildings with a patio and chairs set up along the edge. We were actually right behind the W.E.B Dubois School which was pretty cool! Our instructors were a husband and wife who are a professional drummer and dancer. There was also a little band of three drummers that helped with the workshop. Gifdy (dancer) showed us dancing styles from four different regions in Ghana. She was amazing and could really move! After she performed she brought our group up to learn the dance with her. It wasn’t too hard to learn and I have something to bring back to the U.S. now J Maybe I’ll even put it into our dance routines at Naz! Lauren and I really got into it and were doing our African dance the rest of the trip! After the dancing we sat back down and everyone had a drum in front of them. Knee (drummer) began teaching us different rhythms and it was a lot harder than we thought. Try putting a group of college students together and make them be in sync – doesn’t sound too good! We eventually got it and I absolutely loved the drumming!!!

When the workshop ended we boarded the bus to go to the gas station (meeting point for shuttles to and from the port). On the way, we passed the U.S. Embassy which has crazy security. We were warned not to take pictures (illegal) and an SAS student did. The bus was pulled over and the student got taken into the embassy. It’s a serious penalty and he had to sign so many forms to get out of it. He’s lucky his camera wasn’t confiscated; they did delete the picture though. Anyway, Lauren and I, along with quite a few others, were going to the Welcome Reception. We had to wait for the bus at the gas station, so we were mingling with the street vendors in the mean time. Whether we wanted to buy something or not, they were so friendly and wanted to make friends with us. It wasn’t the typical pushy street vendors we were dealing with either; the people just wanted to meet us and learn about our culture. I ended up talking to a guy selling bracelets, Divvy, and I told him I didn’t want one. We kept talking and I ended up exchanging e-mails with him so we could keep in touch. This short conversation opened my eyes to the meaning of making connections worldwide, which would normally seem trivial to us at home. The bus finally came and we arrived at Asheshi University.

The Welcome Reception was put on by the university administrators and students to welcome SAS to Ghana. There was a large courtyard set up with an open space under a tent. We arrived early so had a bit to mingle with each other and exchanged stories of our day’s adventures. After dousing myself in 98.2% DEET bug spray, the reception began. We set up lawn chairs under the tent and the event began. We were honored with a dance show by the Asheshi dance troupe which was awesome! There were three guys and three girls and they could dance! It was the ultimate form of Ghanaian dance. The girls’ dresses were beautiful! The Deputy Minister of Education spoke to our group to welcome us – it was a huge honor for him to be there. The Dean of the school and student government president, Romeo, also welcomed us with a speech. After the introductions, we were able to grab some finger food and mingle with the Ghanaian students. The food included delicious, spicy beef kebobs (great flavor), pepper hummus and pitas, plantain chips (my new favorite snack!). At first everyone was a little timid to talk to the students but Kristin and I went right up to two boys named, Edwin and Nassau. Turns out there’s only three majors at Asheshi: Computer Information Systems, Management Information Systems, and Economics/Finance. They were so friendly and we talked business for a bit (Kristin is International Business so we all had a lot in common). I made my over to some of the other girls and we met Rasheed. He was awesome and we learned about the fun things to do in Accra. He recommended the beaches but we wouldn’t be able to make it because our trip was packed full. We told him about SAS and how he should look into being an inter-port student for the next voyage! He seemed to love hearing about our voyage and all that we do! We gave him our names so he can look us up on Facebook! The last person we talked to was Diana who was so sweet and so funny. She does karate on her free time and the school’s dean teaches it! She taught us our partial African names (day we were born). I’m Monday so my name is Adzoa – pronounce A-jo. We exchanged e-mails to keep in touch in case we ever come to Ghana or she comes to the U.S. She was so great and it wasn’t much different than meeting someone from the U.S. The students are very much like us except the majors are more restricted than at our own universities. We all found things we had in common and it was very easy to talk with them and get to know them. Hopefully we will remain in contact after we leave Ghana!

We caught the second bus back to the ship and I sat with Katie. She’s from Portland, Oregon but goes to school at Colorado State University. We get along so well and she’s becoming one of my great friends. We talked the whole hour and a half trip back to the ship about SAS trips, people on the ship, and making lifelong friends! We got back to the ship and Lauren, Katie, Kristin, Rosario, Jennifer, and I all got ice cream on the 7^th deck before bed. It was a great way to end the night by reflecting on everything that happened. I turned my phone on and it FINALLY worked so I got to BBM mom!!! It was SO good to talk to her and I couldn’t type fast enough to tell her everything that had been going on. It definitely made my night and I only had more to look forward to; the Cultural Immersion trip starts tomorrow! Until tomorrow…