Mepa wo kyew...I've been busy!

Greetings all,

Sorry for the long delay in posting!
Since my last post I've been super busy finishing up classes, I went on a peace march, and Andy has been visiting since Nov. 16th and we've attended a wedding ceremony, church, etc. and I've had three exams since Wednesday. Basically, it's been a little crazy here!

Jessalyn and I participated in a peace march with our internship at SISS on Nov. 15th. It was a march with our past and current trainees through Agbogbloshie, Jamestown, and into Accra...a 3 hour march in the hot Ghanaian afternoon sun. Luckily, it was really fun and worth the ridiculous sunburn I got. Once again my family questioned whether or not I enjoy getting sunburned haha...not really...I'm just too white..
The march was fun and filled with laughs and dancing with many of our trainees. It was great to see the trainees proudly going through their communities and encouraging a peaceful time throughout the upcoming elections.

This is one of my favorite students, Matilda. She reminds me a lot of myself  which can be good or bad depending on the circumstances...look out world!

This is a pic of some of the trainees and the signs we carried.

Then Andy flew into Ghana on Nov. 16th. Chairman and I picked him up from the airport after a long day of family harassing Tera time haha...luckily just enough to keep my family at home satisfied. He had a dinner of rice and stew and of course a beer with my parents. The girls in the house were giddy with excitement. The first full day he was here we immersed him into the Ghanaian culture by going to a traditional wedding ceremony for my cousin. The groom was oburoni so my family represented his and we had to fully participate in the ceremonies..unfortunately we were two hours late so the  bride's family decided to fine us. There's also a lot of bargaining between the two families and of course some dancing, as to be expected. The girls in my family represented well as we danced our butts off and are probably featured quite prominently in the wedding videos haha

Here's a pic of the bride and groom. They met in the UK when he worked as an IT  guy and he had to fix her computer. Because his family is in the UK and my family stepped in for the ceremony which was video recorded for his family back home.

To signify the traditional joining of the two families, the oldest married woman from each  family shares a bottle of wine to seal the deal..not too shabby.

My four-year-old niece, Nuna, is staying with us and keeps us on our toes.. at one point at the wedding she stole my camera..this is what happened:

Oh, hi Nuna..
also, I think this may be one of my favorite pictures ever..

That night we went out with a few of my friends and brother, Remi, barhopping in the area. We found a bar that now has an air hockey table and the motorcycle video game thing.

Anna and I

Here's a pic of Remi and Andrew battling it out...Remi has never played before..

Tuesday, we decided to make tacos for my family...a very expensive and lengthy venture in Ghana. However, the family loved that we cooked for them and really loved the guacamole...my host dad wasn't too sure about the taco and actually unrolled it when I handed it to him because he didn't understand the point of the shell haha but overall it went well. Benedicta even acted as our advertising person by making a sign for Andrew and Tera's Special and walked around the house letting everyone know what was on the special menu for the evening. Drinks were poured and laughs were had over dinner until I was forced to go and study for my two exams and paper that was due on Wednesday and Thursday...boo for school!

Tera and Andrew's Special with our taco meat...haha Andy said my tastebuds must have changed because I insisted that we keep adding more seasoning and peppers because it didn't taste like anything haha..also don't mind the lovely shine from a hard day's work..

Thursday, CIEE had a Thanksgiving dinner for us. Unfortunately, Andy was sick and couldn't join us but it was still a good time. There was turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, spaghetti, salad, rice, and of course guacamole (?). On the way home our program director gave the homestays a ride home. Unfortunately, we were pulled over by the police at the police barrier on my road for having an "overloaded" car...there were four small American girls in the backseat of his huge SUV. We tried to solve the situation but the officer just wanted a bribe..surprise..since there were white people in a nice SUV he must be rich! Overall, it was a fun evening with friends and I brought Andy back some apple crisp so he didn't totally miss out on one of the U.S.'s best holidays.

Most of the homestay group in our Ghanaian garb on Thanksgiving :)

These are just a few of the many things that have been happening in the last week or so and Andy and I are leaving to travel to the Volta Region for a few days starting tomorrow since he leaves on Friday. I can't believe I only have 3.5 weeks left!! I can't even imagine what the snow feels like even though my mom showed some newly fallen snow on our deck this morning! 

Till next time!

Only 6 weeks??

Since our trip to Cape Coast I've been reflecting a lot on how much time I have left here in Ghana. Only about 6 weeks!! It's unbelievable! I remember my mom asking me the first week I was here what Africa was like and I told her "I have no idea" because it took me so long to believe that I was really here. Now it is getting harder each day to imagine leaving.

To be clear it's not that I don't miss home or my family or friends in the U.S. But instead that I have gained so much while being here. In this short period of time I have become part of an amazing family that I will always call my own and refuse to acknowledge that I'm oburoni when I'm with them. I have made so many friends from all over the world. I have had a ridiculous amount of "firsts" happen here: first time I've been on a plane alone (my only other flight was with my family junior year of high school!), first time leaving the U.S., first taxi ride, first time in the hospital, first time I've been proposed to, first time I've had consistent weather patterns (thanks Wisconsin for deciding to have all four seasons during one week at times), first time I've climbed a mountain, first time I've been in a car accident (tro tro accident where I lost my phone)...I think you get the point. Overall, I would not trade a single crazy or amazing thing that has happened to me here for anything. (Don't worry mom, I'm still coming home haha)

I'm predicting that the day I fly out is going to be one crazy mix of emotions due to the sadness of leaving those I have come to love in Ghana and the excitement and anticipation of what awaits me at home-friends and family, cheese, my last semester as an undergrad at UW, the scariness of starting my job search, more cheese, all dairy products really, etc.

Things are starting to slow down a bit because my last week of classes is this week, next week is a study week and then exams begin and go through our last day here. Andy will be here next Friday so we'll be travelling a bit after my exams are over and I might make a few more beach trips but otherwise my time here is coming to an end faster than you can imagine.

I'm trying to stay busy at my internship so I can fulfill my required number of hours and it has been going pretty well. In addition to personal development classes for the whole class we are teaching Sisters in Support for just the girls. My class for that only has 5 girls so sometimes getting the conversation is tough but last week they really impressed me with their goals of making change happen in Ghana and the ways that they plan to do it. The women in my group may be a bit young but they have amazing ideas for pushing their country forward.

Last night NYU hosted an election night party on their campus (which to me seems like a bubble of luxury that just happens to be in Ghana). It was pretty fun being able to see part of it but I went home before polls closed in Wisconsin since it was 2 am here and would've had to get back home alone. It was fun while I was there though and it's just an amazing experience to watch your election from a different country.

I don't really have any new pictures to share from this past week but I'll share another beauty taken by my friend Erika...Neither Jessalyn nor I can recall what led us to these particular faces..maybe it was the altitude from the canopy hike? If nothing else it is helpful if you're looking for a good laugh haha

Today a multi-story shopping mall collapsed in a neighborhood called Achimoto, not too far from where we live/go to school-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20237230

Till next time..

Braverisms and such

Sorry for the delayed post! This past week had some interesting moments but overall I just haven't known what to write about...hint hint-suggestions are welcome! :)

Last weekend we had our last organized trip with CIEE to the Central Region and the city of Cape Coast. For those who don't know, Cape Coast was the first capital of Ghana and was a main stop on in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The castles at Cape Coast and Elmina were used to store slaves for about 3 months while they were waiting to be shipped abroad. I don't think that you can prepare yourself for an experience where you are walking through the dungeons where so many people suffered either to their death in the castle, on the ship crossing the ocean, or wherever they may have ended up in the US or Europe. There are two castles to visit in the area, one in Cape Coast and one in Elmina (the oldest castle). I chose to go to Cape Coast and plan to visit Elmina when Andy visits in a couple weeks.

Cape Coast was built to hold about 1,300 slaves-1,000 men and 300 women. When the slaves arrived at the castle they were auctioned off and then branded to make it easier to keep track of who they belonged to (since they were seen as property) and then they were sent to the dungeons where they would wait 3 months before being shipped away. The dungeons that they were held in were less than sanitary and had little to no light to prevent them from rebelling (if you could see daylight wouldn't you want to get out of there?). In fact, archaeologists excavated the floor in the men's dungeons to demonstrate the inches upon inches of human waste that had accumulated over the years thanks to the lack of bathrooms or anything. Needless to say even to this day the dungeons have a certain stench to them that just makes the experience even more impactful. The women had a separate room that was used for public shaming when they refused to sleep with the British soldiers so that the other women could see what would happen to them if they also refused.

View of the castle from within the courtyard.

The room that impacted me the most was a room called the cell which was used for punishment. It had no windows or air holes at all and was closed by not one but three doors to completely block air flow. The hardest part was seeing marks on the floor that were left by the slaves struggling with their chains. They were locked in this tiny cell and still chained up! The fact that marks in the floor from these chains are still visible today is incredible.

Inside the cell.

Another hard thing to deal with is the fact that there was a church placed right over top of the male dungeons. So while the people below were suffering and given just enough food to keep them alive, the British were praising their God in the room above. That's something really hard to swallow.

There was a door called the "Door of No Return" that was the last doorway that the slaves went through on their way to the ships. Once through this door they were never to return again. However, in recent years the door has added a sign on the back saying the "Door of Return" so that when descendants of former slaves from the African Diaspora come to Ghana they can walk through and return to where their ancestors came through.

Door of Return

Something else that we all noted was the insane beauty that surrounds the castle. The ocean, coastal view that we saw isn't something new. It is the same view that the British had back then. It's hard to imagine such beauty shining on such a horrible place.

View from the castle overlooking the ocean..

Overall, this was a really interesting and impactful experience for everyone involved. After the tours and dinner we had a reflection session with the entire group (almost 50 students either originally from America or at least studying there, from all walks of life, ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds). It was really interesting hearing other people talk about their experience because it helped me to reflect more on mine. In Ghana, people don't really talk or learn about the slave trade. It is seen as something that happened in the past but we shouldn't dwell on it. For some of my peers it is hard to understand why they're not angry at the white man. Others may agree in part or in whole with the Ghanaian view. I believe that it is not something that should be forgotten but also something that we need to move past. Just like any tragedy, I believe we must teach ourselves and everyone else about it in order to prevent it from happening again. However, I don't believe that anyone should be angry about it anymore. If we dwell on it now and play the blame game we are just recreating the problem. During the discussion we discussed some race issues in the states that still occur today. For example how at lunch in some schools the black kids sit on one side and the whites on the other. A few people said things like, "the white people need to go over to the other side and make friends with the black kids". While I agree that we shouldn't be segregated by saying that the white people have to do it in order to integrate with the black people is recreating the cycle. Why should the white kids or black kids HAVE to do anything? Then it is a white vs. black problem. The issue is that it should be a human problem, everyone should make an effort to sit, or work, or study, or whatever with everyone not because they're black, white or purple, but because they're a fellow human being.

Sorry for the rant but those are some of the thoughts I left this experience with.

On Sunday we went to Kakum National Park and walked the canopy walk on bridges above the forest. I'm usually the one crying in my dad's tree stand because I'm too afraid of heights that I can't get down but for some reason this REALLY high, REALLY rocky bridge didn't scare me that much. Maybe it was because I was singing a bit (I did that on the mountains too so maybe it's a coping mechanism) or maybe because I just kept telling the people ahead of me who stopped for 10 minute photo shoots to keep walking. But in the end I was slightly disappointed with the walk..oh well, it was cool nonetheless! Then we had lunch at a restaurant with a crocodile pond and some other cool birds, etc. Then we just made our way back to East Legon. I'm not sure if I can really express how much I love getting back home from a trip, but I always want to rush in the door and hug EVERYONE. (it may also be because my host-mom's cooking beats any food you can get at a restaurant and I enjoyed light soup and rice with the family for dinner! YUM!

Channeling my inner model on this crazy high bridge with my friends Erika and Jessalyn.

A view looking down.

The only other exciting thing we did recently was a community service project at Balweshie School near my house. We went there Wednesday as part of our Developmental Studies class to paint the outside of their school. Unfortunately, the project was slightly hampered by some really crappy attitudes of my peers. Some were complaining about how we were disrupting class and the kids would never be able to pay attention that day (even though they were making the children late to class by playing with them and taking the typical pictures of a wealthy American with small African children..not distracting at all!). Then they also complained to the point where they were considering pretending to be sick just to be able to leave...it was two hours out of their day that we would have otherwise been in class for anyways..and we were helping a school. Maybe I'm just crazy but that doesn't seem like a bad deal. I have heard that some people don't like volunteering here because they believe that it's like they're just here helping the poor black people...once again I don't understand this. We are helping people during these projects who tell us what they want done but don't have enough time or hands to do themselves. I'm not doing it because they are poor black people, I'm doing it just as I would do community service in the U.S. not for people because they are black, white, or orange but because they are people who may be less privileged than I and I have the time or resources to help. It was a bit frustrating but in the end those of us who were working made the best of it and did some good work and had fun.

Apparently, I had more to say than I thought...sorry it's so long and may seem a bit like I'm complaining or ranting.

Thanks to all who have donated to Jessalyn and my Queensland fundraiser! We really appreciate it!!