March 14 - Cape Coast
After a quick bus ride (in air Conditioned luxury!) we arrived at Cape Coast which is 2-3 hours along the coast from Accra. We met our trusty taxi drivers for the next few days and one of them promptly fell in love with Muriel. We went to our hotel and settled into our big dorm room, yay for giant sleepovers! Just steps from our room is a lake full of crocodiles (dont worry parents, there's a fence) and there is a pool right outside of our door. Perfection with the exception of some precarious rickety fans spinning over our heads. Did we mention yet the heat wave that hit us the minute we stepped off the bus, goodbye air conditioning...
After settling in we headed back into town to visit the beach and the Cape Coast slave castle. We were all so excited to see the ocean and play around in the waves, but it was weird to be in the shadow of the castle.
After lunch we headed into the castle.
There are no words to describe the emotions and sights we saw and the terrible things that happened there. You can read about it, but standing on the same ground is totally different. Even though the slave trade ended in the 1800s, there was still a presence in the castle. It's impossible to imagine yourself in the situation, even when standing in the same room. We were dripping with sweat while in the "condemned room" where up to 50 strong willed slaves would be locked behind 3 doors without windows and left to die of suffocation or starvation. To try to make sense of the system and atrocities that happened there is not possible. The closing message was on a plaque outside of the entrance into the male dungeon - "... May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity. We the living, vow to uphold this."
Friday, March 22, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Accra Adventure
March 13, 2013 - Accra
Our day started off in true Ghanaian style, with us leaving 45 minutes after planned. Sinbad had graciously agreed to act as our tour guide in Accra.
Because buying bus tickets here has to be done in person, the day before, and as Muriel and Sinbad are both better at navigating the system, they went off to buy our bus tickets. The first item on our agenda was to go see the cultural market. In the daylight, the hustle and bustle of the city was even more pronounced. Cabs and tro-tros are 12 passenger vans that are used for cheaper transportation than taxis - although we soon learned that the 12 passenger part is more of a guideline :). It seems that the general theory behind driving is to drive as fast as you can (which is never very fast as there are so many cars) and then brake quickly, swerve from side to side to avoid potholes, and yell or honk for many reasons. Once arriving at the cultural market, we were greeted enthusiastically by the many local vendors. Lets just say it is a lot different than shopping in Canada, as prices are not absolute and people were very excited about the possibility of us buying their treasures. A group of girls got the opportunity to have a drumming session which was fun and refreshing. The Ghanaian people are very gracious and helpful. We ate fried chicken at a restaurant in the market and then we walked through a small neighbourhood towards the ocean. Seeing the ocean was almost teasing as it is very hot here and the water was not safe to swim in. Nevertheless, it was beautiful and offered nice breeze.
Afterwards, Sinbad lead us throughout the vibrant and busy streets of Accra! Our walk was filled with us counting our group multiple times to make sure we didn't lose anybody. We eventually made our way to one of the poorest areas of Accra where many people have traveled far from the north to find opportunity for themselves or their family. Many of them are alone with no one to care for them during times of illness. Children were seen playing in less than sanitary conditions and very little ones were walking far from their homes to stay with us. It was fun to take pictures of the kids and show them their photo, hold hands with them and say hello. The houses were mainly constructed of scrap wood and metal, with cooking happening in the front of the house, and open sewers running throughout. Despite the condition of these people's homes, they were very excited to see us with many hellos and waves from them; never once did we feel anything but welcome. It is encouraging to see how strong the human spirit can be and we saw so much beauty there. This was inspiring and reminded us to appreciate all the luxuries we take for granted back home and even here as we enjoy many privileges as travelers. One image that has stuck in all of our minds is the view of a large river or garbage and waste flowing through the city in which there were two small children happily playing. Who needs x-boxes? We all felt small and humbled after this experience, but it was priceless to witness these places first hand. So thankful we had Sinbad to guide us through that days adventures! Safe to say all of us have had our world views expanded.
- Ghana Gals
(Lisa, Tori, Robyn, Marisa, Rose, Megan, Kirsten, Kristen, Crystal, and Jess)
Our day started off in true Ghanaian style, with us leaving 45 minutes after planned. Sinbad had graciously agreed to act as our tour guide in Accra.
Because buying bus tickets here has to be done in person, the day before, and as Muriel and Sinbad are both better at navigating the system, they went off to buy our bus tickets. The first item on our agenda was to go see the cultural market. In the daylight, the hustle and bustle of the city was even more pronounced. Cabs and tro-tros are 12 passenger vans that are used for cheaper transportation than taxis - although we soon learned that the 12 passenger part is more of a guideline :). It seems that the general theory behind driving is to drive as fast as you can (which is never very fast as there are so many cars) and then brake quickly, swerve from side to side to avoid potholes, and yell or honk for many reasons. Once arriving at the cultural market, we were greeted enthusiastically by the many local vendors. Lets just say it is a lot different than shopping in Canada, as prices are not absolute and people were very excited about the possibility of us buying their treasures. A group of girls got the opportunity to have a drumming session which was fun and refreshing. The Ghanaian people are very gracious and helpful. We ate fried chicken at a restaurant in the market and then we walked through a small neighbourhood towards the ocean. Seeing the ocean was almost teasing as it is very hot here and the water was not safe to swim in. Nevertheless, it was beautiful and offered nice breeze.
Afterwards, Sinbad lead us throughout the vibrant and busy streets of Accra! Our walk was filled with us counting our group multiple times to make sure we didn't lose anybody. We eventually made our way to one of the poorest areas of Accra where many people have traveled far from the north to find opportunity for themselves or their family. Many of them are alone with no one to care for them during times of illness. Children were seen playing in less than sanitary conditions and very little ones were walking far from their homes to stay with us. It was fun to take pictures of the kids and show them their photo, hold hands with them and say hello. The houses were mainly constructed of scrap wood and metal, with cooking happening in the front of the house, and open sewers running throughout. Despite the condition of these people's homes, they were very excited to see us with many hellos and waves from them; never once did we feel anything but welcome. It is encouraging to see how strong the human spirit can be and we saw so much beauty there. This was inspiring and reminded us to appreciate all the luxuries we take for granted back home and even here as we enjoy many privileges as travelers. One image that has stuck in all of our minds is the view of a large river or garbage and waste flowing through the city in which there were two small children happily playing. Who needs x-boxes? We all felt small and humbled after this experience, but it was priceless to witness these places first hand. So thankful we had Sinbad to guide us through that days adventures! Safe to say all of us have had our world views expanded.
- Ghana Gals
(Lisa, Tori, Robyn, Marisa, Rose, Megan, Kirsten, Kristen, Crystal, and Jess)
Friday, March 15, 2013
Akwaaba (Welcome!)
March 12, 2013 - Accra
We don't know if it was our imaginations or not, but our flight from London to Accra seemed warmer than normal. Maybe it was a subtle way to prepare us for the wall of heat that greeted us the moment we walked off the plane. We then went through customs, where we all got our fingerprints scanned and luckily there were no problems :) We were greeted at the airport by Muriel's sponsored Ghanaian son, Sinbad, who traveled down from a northern city to meet us. We were extremely grateful for this, as our first real Ghanaian experience was organizing cabs to get us and all of our bags(2 or 3 a person!) to our hotel. Let's just say it was pretty overwhelming to have more people loading bags than there were of us! Everyone was super friendly, wanting to know our names and welcoming us to Ghana Akwaaba! ('welcome' in the local language) To add to the confusion, as Canadians, we are unaccustomed to the prices of everything being up for debate! Luckily Sinbad was a pro and got everything organized:) Once we were all packed (literally) into our 4 van cabs, we were off to our first hotel. Our first experience with Ghanaian traffic involved a lot more honking, dodging, and swerving than were used to! Once safely arrived we were glad to find our first hotel had air conditioning which was a nice way to ease us unaccustomed folk into the heat. The AC brought the air temperature down to a cool 27 for sleeping!
We don't know if it was our imaginations or not, but our flight from London to Accra seemed warmer than normal. Maybe it was a subtle way to prepare us for the wall of heat that greeted us the moment we walked off the plane. We then went through customs, where we all got our fingerprints scanned and luckily there were no problems :) We were greeted at the airport by Muriel's sponsored Ghanaian son, Sinbad, who traveled down from a northern city to meet us. We were extremely grateful for this, as our first real Ghanaian experience was organizing cabs to get us and all of our bags(2 or 3 a person!) to our hotel. Let's just say it was pretty overwhelming to have more people loading bags than there were of us! Everyone was super friendly, wanting to know our names and welcoming us to Ghana Akwaaba! ('welcome' in the local language) To add to the confusion, as Canadians, we are unaccustomed to the prices of everything being up for debate! Luckily Sinbad was a pro and got everything organized:) Once we were all packed (literally) into our 4 van cabs, we were off to our first hotel. Our first experience with Ghanaian traffic involved a lot more honking, dodging, and swerving than were used to! Once safely arrived we were glad to find our first hotel had air conditioning which was a nice way to ease us unaccustomed folk into the heat. The AC brought the air temperature down to a cool 27 for sleeping!
Internet is spotty here, but we have been writing blog drafts together and will update soon on the rest of our Ghana adventures! Everyone is safe, sound, and sweaty!
- Ghana Gals
Tori, Robyn, Kirsten, Jess, Rose
- Ghana Gals
Tori, Robyn, Kirsten, Jess, Rose
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
A hop over the Atlantic
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| Vancouver International, about to embark on our journey! (minus Tori and Lisa!) |
Top of the Morning!
We have made it safely to London, where we stayed for the night in between flights! Last night a 4 of us explored downtown London, while 8 of us enjoyed a quaint British pub experience just outside our hotel. Walking in the -2 weather with bone chilling winds, I am sure we will be wishing for some of that cool air this evening when we land in Accra. Hopefully the 33 degrees will be welcoming after freezing in thin coats here in England!
We have made it safely to London, where we stayed for the night in between flights! Last night a 4 of us explored downtown London, while 8 of us enjoyed a quaint British pub experience just outside our hotel. Walking in the -2 weather with bone chilling winds, I am sure we will be wishing for some of that cool air this evening when we land in Accra. Hopefully the 33 degrees will be welcoming after freezing in thin coats here in England!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Pre-departure Prep - Ghana 2013!
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With our medical supply bags packed and ready, we now only have to worry about fitting all our own personal belongings into our travel packs! T-2 days until departure.
We would love for you to follow us through our adventures and practice experiences via this blog spot. All group members will be contributing throughout the trip and would love to hear your feed back and questions through the comments you can leave below!
:) UBCO Ghana Gals
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Miss/won't miss about Ghana!
After an amazing and life changing adventure to Ghana, Africa we have returned back home to Canada. Many of us had mixed feelings about the trip coming to an end. Some of us felt sad to go but at the same time were also very excited to get home to family & friends. Our group put together a list of things we will miss about Ghana and also the things we really will NOT miss, here’s what we came up with…
Something I will miss about Ghana…
• The wonderful, helpful people
• Sense of community
• Green turtle resort
• The friendliness of the people
• Being greeted on the street & saying “nah”
• Buying snacks at any time, even from the window of a bus
• The simplicity of the way they live
• How everyone says hello and good afternoon
• The people and how open and kind they were
• All the little kids waving at us
• Only being able to eat fried foods..
• Greeting everyone and feeling a sense of community
• The slower pace of life
• The lovely people! So kind & the cute babies on the backs of the women
• People’s willingness to help
• Doughballs!
• The vivid colours that always surround you such as the rust coloured dirt roads and the bright fabrics the people wear
• The heat!
Something I will NOT miss about Ghana...
• Snot rockets & open sewers
• Being hissed at to get your attention
• Marriage proposals
• Taking wet wipe “showers”
• The unreliable power
• Fufu, Banku, light soup
• Doing my own laundry
• White bread, white rice, crackers…white everything!
• Toilets not flushing
• Sweat moustaches
• Power outages
• Rice & chicken, Fufu
• Never feeling completely clean
• Female urinals!
• Hot, sweaty, crammed, uncomfortable tro-tro rides
• Atrociously bad soap operas that are played extremely loudly on the otherwise enjoyable STC bus rides
• The heat!
Something I will miss about Ghana…
• The wonderful, helpful people
• Sense of community
• Green turtle resort
• The friendliness of the people
• Being greeted on the street & saying “nah”
• Buying snacks at any time, even from the window of a bus
• The simplicity of the way they live
• How everyone says hello and good afternoon
• The people and how open and kind they were
• All the little kids waving at us
• Only being able to eat fried foods..
• Greeting everyone and feeling a sense of community
• The slower pace of life
• The lovely people! So kind & the cute babies on the backs of the women
• People’s willingness to help
• Doughballs!
• The vivid colours that always surround you such as the rust coloured dirt roads and the bright fabrics the people wear
• The heat!
Something I will NOT miss about Ghana...
• Snot rockets & open sewers
• Being hissed at to get your attention
• Marriage proposals
• Taking wet wipe “showers”
• The unreliable power
• Fufu, Banku, light soup
• Doing my own laundry
• White bread, white rice, crackers…white everything!
• Toilets not flushing
• Sweat moustaches
• Power outages
• Rice & chicken, Fufu
• Never feeling completely clean
• Female urinals!
• Hot, sweaty, crammed, uncomfortable tro-tro rides
• Atrociously bad soap operas that are played extremely loudly on the otherwise enjoyable STC bus rides
• The heat!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Project GROW
On Sunday we traveled to Bolgatanga to visit the Project GROW (Ghana Rural Opportunities for Women)village for a celebration day. Our van pulled up to about 200 women gathered around us all singing so beautifully, dancing and clapping as we arrived. It was a surreal and wonderful moment. Project Grow was started by Vida, a nurse from Ghana who did her masters thesis at UBCO.
Although some parts of Ghana are doing well, rural northeast Ghana remains far behind, with an infant mortality rate that is among the highest in the world. The leading cause continues to be poverty. The people have skills and knowledge to be self-sufficient, but in their developing world, they lack the resources. Project GROW taps into local knowledge and provides these resources. All of the initiatives have been determined by the participants. Self-determination, local knowledge and abilities, and community goal setting are the key elements of Project GROW.
It offers women micro loans to buy livestock so they have a source of income for themselves. When women have control over income it empowers them in the village. The project has taken off and it has been amazing to see how much their hard work has accomplished. Of each goat bought, it's first baby goat is given to the next woman in the village so that she also has a chance to make a change and sustain the project. From this, the women have been able to get together and purchase a grain mill to make food, and were able to build a store house to cover the mill and stock the grain they are producing. The ability to store and produce so much more food has helped their village in incredible ways. Now the women have been able to raise enough money to build a new building. This building will house a maternal health center, a community meeting room, and an adult literacy program. As well, they were able to send a woman to a larger center to learn how to make baskets, sew, and other trades, which she could then teach other women in the village. There is a group in Salmon Arm who donated money and the women were able to buy two donkeys and a cart which will help them take their supplies to town. Our nursing grad class also had four girls who worked with the project in their third year, and for Jackie, who was on the trip with us, I think this was especially wonderful to see what they are doing. The adult literacy program will teach the women basic reading and writing skills, such as how to write their names, and basic math skills for working in town and going to the bank. It was an amazing day, and seeing these empowered women who are working so hard and have been able to do so much for their village, was heart warming and inspirational. There is a famous quote that they use here in Ghana: "If you help a man you are only helping a man, if you help a woman you are helping the village". This is what Project GROW has done.
You can read more about it on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/191469730895043/#!/pages/Project-GROW/169593749760275?sk=info
Although some parts of Ghana are doing well, rural northeast Ghana remains far behind, with an infant mortality rate that is among the highest in the world. The leading cause continues to be poverty. The people have skills and knowledge to be self-sufficient, but in their developing world, they lack the resources. Project GROW taps into local knowledge and provides these resources. All of the initiatives have been determined by the participants. Self-determination, local knowledge and abilities, and community goal setting are the key elements of Project GROW.
It offers women micro loans to buy livestock so they have a source of income for themselves. When women have control over income it empowers them in the village. The project has taken off and it has been amazing to see how much their hard work has accomplished. Of each goat bought, it's first baby goat is given to the next woman in the village so that she also has a chance to make a change and sustain the project. From this, the women have been able to get together and purchase a grain mill to make food, and were able to build a store house to cover the mill and stock the grain they are producing. The ability to store and produce so much more food has helped their village in incredible ways. Now the women have been able to raise enough money to build a new building. This building will house a maternal health center, a community meeting room, and an adult literacy program. As well, they were able to send a woman to a larger center to learn how to make baskets, sew, and other trades, which she could then teach other women in the village. There is a group in Salmon Arm who donated money and the women were able to buy two donkeys and a cart which will help them take their supplies to town. Our nursing grad class also had four girls who worked with the project in their third year, and for Jackie, who was on the trip with us, I think this was especially wonderful to see what they are doing. The adult literacy program will teach the women basic reading and writing skills, such as how to write their names, and basic math skills for working in town and going to the bank. It was an amazing day, and seeing these empowered women who are working so hard and have been able to do so much for their village, was heart warming and inspirational. There is a famous quote that they use here in Ghana: "If you help a man you are only helping a man, if you help a woman you are helping the village". This is what Project GROW has done.
You can read more about it on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/191469730895043/#!/pages/Project-GROW/169593749760275?sk=info
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