These past two weeks I have been traveling and adventuring more outside of Accra which has been very rewarding! The Western region is home to the Fante people who speak a different dialect of Akan than the Twi that is predominantly spoken in Accra. This past weekend was also Ghana’s Independence Day on March 6^th, which is a huge holiday because Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to be free from colonialism in 1957. I celebrated at the music festival on Busua Beach which was an incredible experience!

Shai hills

Before leaving for the west some friends and I took a day trip to a national park a little outside of Accra called Shai Hills. This area is very rich in history and has an amazing view of the grasslands surrounding the hills. The Shai people lived in the hills about 100 years ago, and maintained their culture by hiding in the many caves in the hills to avoid the British who often came to collect taxes. One such cave is nicknamed the bat cave because it is full of hundreds of bats! We were able to find pieces of pottery and stone bowls left from the Shai people on our hike, which was so interesting to see. Another unique thing about the hills is the abundance of wild baboons living there. Baboons are typically afraid of people so hiking throughout the hills seeing the baboons are more rare, but the baboons living around the entrance to the park are more friendly towards people, so they will walk around near visitors and are not afraid to get close! Baboon attacks do happen so you are required to have a guard to guide you through your hike.

Nzulezu, the Stilt Village

After traveling about five hours to another major city in Western Ghana, Takoradi, my friends and I continued on to the town of Beyin where you can get a tro tro to the famous stilt village, Nzulezu. Nzulezu means “city on water” because the entire village lives in homes built on stilts in the Tahore Lake. The village has been there for over 700 years and they live very separately from the mainland society. There is one guesthouse, so only about four visitors are allowed at a time, but luckily we were the only guests and were able to rent rooms for one night and stay over. Our guide took us on a canoe through the jungle to get to the village, and once there it was an incredible sight! The village is pretty self-sustaining; most people fish throughout the day and there are churches, a school, and several restaurants and bars. The only thing asked of guests is to bring school supplies as a gift because this is something they need the most. Another source of income is that the village produces its own locally made gin called akapeshie which is distilled in the village and sold on the mainland. We enjoyed a dinner of a full fish, tried the akepeshie at night, took a midnight swim with the children of the village before bed, and then spent the morning exploring a bit more before canoeing back to the mainland. It was definitely a unique experience and an incredible culture to witness!

Cape Three Points

After Beyin we continued West to the southern-most tip of Ghana and the closest piece of land to the geographical center of the world, Cape Three Points. It was more difficult to get to the village than we thought it would be, but after an hour-long drive through the jungle we made it to the coast. The village is pretty isolated, and we were  all shocked by the fact that this important landmark was not a tourist attraction at all. There is a lighthouse up the hill which was very cool, and the lighthouse keeper had made some monuments made to mark the center of the world, but that was about it. We really enjoyed the fact that this area was really simple and not a huge tourist trap. We were able to camp out on the cliff next to the lighthouse as far south as possible, which was neat to say we slept at the center of the world! Definitely my most interesting campsite, especially when we woke up with coconuts falling from our palm tree and goats circling our tent!

Busua Beach

This past weekend my friends and I traveled West again to Busua for a big music festival celebrating Independence Day weekend. We were able to rent a room for all three nights for 10 cedis each, which is about $2.50! The village is very quaint but it was full of guests for the holiday. All the beach hotels and were full and there were lots of beach restaurants and bars to choose from throughout the weekend. We tried lots of interesting food like Ghanaian burritos (which do not taste like Mexican food at all) and banana tacos. There was live music playing constantly throughout the weekend, and at night there was a big concert of DJ’s and some live bands. During the day we were able to go surfing and boat out to an island not far from the beach, which was really interesting. On Sunday night there was a big jungle party to celebrate Independence Day, which was actually a party with DJ’s, a stage and a bar in a clearing in the middle of the jungle. The whole weekend was both relaxing and a lot of fun, besides the thumb-sized cockroaches in our room!

boating to the island

Location: Western Region, Ghana

Internship Coincidence 

Dinner with the kids at Hope Community

In Haatso

A few of the boys at Hope Community

prayer shawls from St Marks to Pastor Ashley

Coming to Ghana I did not expect to find anyone who had heard of my hometown, but I have been shocked by the people I have met here who have connections to Lancaster County. I started my internship with Hope Community Children’s Home in Haatso on Monday, which is about a ten minute tro tro ride from the University. The children’s home is in a church called Hope Community Chapel, which is a beautiful place on a quiet road with lots of friendly people. In one of my first conversations with my mentor Pastor Ashley, he asked where in the US I was from and I said Pennsylvania. He said, “Oh have you ever heard of Lancaster?” I was so excited and said I had because I live in Lancaster. This was very special because even a lot of the Americans in my program had never heard of Lancaster, so I’ve been explaining the Amish a lot. He then said, “you may have never heard of it but I go to a small town called Mount Joy in the summer.” At this point I nearly fell out of my chair because that small town is my home! We were both very excited as I (probably too loudly) said that I live and go to church in Mount Joy but went to school in Elizabethtown. He explained that his church is affiliated with Hope Community Church in Mount Joy, and a team from that church comes to visit in the summers. He has traveled to King of Prussia, Lancaster, and Lebanon for conferences and meetings before and stayed in Mount Joy for some time. For the rest of the day I was still in shock that of all the internship sites I could have been placed with, I was paired with a man who has been to my hometown in the middle of nowhere! Before I left home I was given a postcard with the name of a family I could contact in Ghana, and turns out that family works with Pastor Ashley as well! I still cannot believe all the coincidences and how small the world has become. So far I am loving the internship and spending time with the people and the children at Hope Community. Everyone has been very welcoming, and the kids are getting a good laugh at my attempts to dance like them and speak Twi. I am now hoping that through these crazy coincidences I can connect Hope Community with my home church and find a way to support this amazing organization!

Classes Don’t Start

Classes started last week, but at the University of Ghana apparently the first week of class matters even less than it does in America. Most of the professors do not come to class, and even less of the students make the effort to move in until the second week. This was very difficult to wrap my head around, but I did end up having two classes with a professor and a lesson so that was exciting. So far I think I will be taking working with people with HIV/AIDS, philosophy of social work, popular music in Africa, intro to Twi, and my internship. Classes are held once a week usually for about two hours, which is a little different than the typical class structure at Penn State but I think it will be nice only having each class once a week. That being said my closest class is about a 30 minute walk from my dorm so early classes will be a struggle!

Department of social work!

Culture Lessons

I have had several opportunities to explore the local culture here at the University of Ghana, which started with a traditional African dance class. I looked ridiculous trying to keep up with the dancers teaching us, but luckily the rest of the Americans with me seemed to struggle just as much. Regardless of the fact that we all butchered the dance that our teachers made look so easy, it was fun watching them perform and somewhat learning the basics. Definitely glad I am not getting graded on that lesson!

I also learned to hand was my clothes on Friday, which was a huge task but surprisingly fun. It will be less fun when the sun is out and I have a large load to do, but I felt very accomplished by how clean my clothes looked and that I had personally washed each one. It definitely put into perspective for me how much I take for granted in the US and the luxuries we view as necessity! I can’t believe I used to complain about doing my laundry at school when I had my own washer and drier in my apartment. I definitely will never take washing machines or air conditioning for granted ever again!

laundry at the University of Ghana

All the clothes I washed by hand!

After washing my clothes I went to the Medina Market with several friends. For those from Lancaster, this place is like Roots on steroids. It is huge and crowded and you can buy anything under the sun. It was incredibly overwhelming but very interesting to see. The size of the place and endless amount of products for sale was incredible, and after two hours the only thing I purchased was more clothes pins for my laundry!

My most recent experience was a cooking lesson where I made gari fortor. After getting the supplies from the market we had to chop the vegetables, cook the sauce, mix the gari (ground cassava), cook the chicken, and fry some eggs. It was very unique and unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before but it was very good. Hoping I can find somewhere back home to buy cassava!

Gari fortor!

Horses on the Beach

On Saturday my group ventured out to Labadie for a beach day. We were very excited to go horseback riding on the beach because that is what Labadie is known for. It is a bit overwhelming because everyone there was trying to sell us different things and get our attention, but we managed to still have a fun and relaxing day in spite of being offered bracelets and mangos every 30 seconds. Horseback riding on the beach is definitely different from riding back home in the grass, but it was a fun experience I was not expecting! The water was also very warm which was a nice surprise.

Jamestown beach

Labadie beach

beach cafe

Three weeks and it already feels like I’ve been in Ghana for months. I am loving the people, food, and even some of my classes. So far I have no sunburn, but I am dreading the end of winter when it will get even hotter!

Coco Lounge for Kiera’s birthday!

The whole group!

Location: Haatso, Ghana

Who would have guessed that the biggest blizzard in Pennsylvania history would hit the only weekend in my life that I am supposed to be flying internationally? Waking up Sunday morning I was crushed to see that my road had still not been plowed, and all the trains we could possibly take to NYC were cancelled. It was just starting to sink in that I might have to reschedule my flight and join the program late, when the miracle of my Aunt and Uncle’s Jeep came down our road. We quickly shoveled a path through the 28 inches of snow from our street to a plowed section, and amazingly were able to walk out to the Jeep and drive all the way to New York City. I am so fortunate to have family willing to wake up at 7am on their day off to come rescue me, and parents who took the risk of driving on those ridiculous streets for 5 hours to get me to the airport! At least now dad can cross driving in NYC off his bucket list 🙂

My flight went well and I could not have been happier to step off the plane into the 90 degree weather of Accra. My first day in Ghana was a whirlwind but I had so much fun. The other students in my program are all friendly and easy to get along with, and I think my room is even nicer than the freshman dorms at Penn State! The floors of the building wrap around the central open courtyard so everything is open, and each room has a private balcony as well. All the foods have been entirely unlike anything Ive ever tasted, but so delicious and spicy! Now that I have been here for three days I finally have the proper cell phone and wall charger, so I finally feel more connected!

I do not have many pictures yet because I am still trying to take it all in, but hopefully these next fews days spent on campus I will get some more photos!

Location: University of Ghana

Sunday, November 16, I didn’t do a whole lot. I relaxed most of the morning and watched Easy A. Our advisor/professor met with us at 2 PM, after he went to church, to begin the data analysis process.. or something like that. We met in his office to turn in our original data sheet from the field and copies. We also went over our objectives. This was the beginning of the next few important and VERY NERVE WRECKING steps of our research. I found the most joy in collecting the data.. Obviously, because we were in the Ngorongoro Crater. It was fun too, though once we got to know what we were doing!

Location: Rhotia, TZ

Location: train to Tangier

Today I leave Morocco. I’m sitting on the train to Tangier watching Rabat disappear behind me; only the green pyramid roof of the Mausoleum and the still-scaffold-covered Hassan II Tower still are visible.

I wanted to use this post to tie up a few loose ends, describe some parts of Moroccan culture, and talk about the “study” aspect of study abroad. Because, trust me, my program still worked us pretty hard in the academic department. I had three classes lasting from 9 until 4 from Monday through Thursday (hereusement we had Fridays off for traveling). My Sociology of Migration class, taught in French, was very very interesting and it helped to lay our all the complexities and intricacies involved in the concept of migration; it’s much much more complicated than just going from Point A to Point B. The class was taught by a very tall Belgian-Moroccan professor named Farid, who enjoyed asking us about how things are perceived in the United States and each of our personal heritage stories. It was interesting because even though two of us were children of a least one immigrant, the rest of the class was just as invested in the topic as he taught it. The next class was an Introduction to Darija, taught by Majid who took us around Meknes a few weeks ago. We all loved this class mostly because of Majid. He truly enjoyed explaining his language to us, and since he has gone back and forth teaching English and Arabic/Darija, he was very adapt at conveying the differences between the languages. He’s the one who gave us all Arabic names and brought in his childhood fine arts teacher to give us a class in Arabic Calligraphy. Darija was challenging for me because it was a spoken language, although it could be transliterated, a lot of the learning was auditory, and I as a visual learner found that very difficult. Some of my favourite words though are, swiya(a little), swin/a (pretty masc/fem), yel-lha(let’s go), bzeff(a lot), inshallah( God willing), and l’Humdullah(thanks be to God). I’m a little sad we didn’t get to learn any of the Arabic alphabet, and if I’d been a super great student and on top of my game I would have tried to learn while here, but homework from my third class, plus travelling and a general lack of time prevented that from happening. As I mentioned, the work in our third class, Politics of North Africa, was hard to keep up with. With long (50+ pages per night) readings in French, presentations, a large research paper, and two exams, it was a lot to fit into just 6 weeks of class. The class was loosely organised on a thematic basis, comparing Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia on a historical basis. There wasn’t a lot on the explicit politics today or political system. Instead we learned about the colonial history, modernisation, islamism, authoritarianism, and the Arab Spring, which were all very interesting, but confusing when presented in thematic order as opposed to chronological or geographic basis. Since I was still interested in the political system, I decided to do my research paper on the electoral system in Morocco. For its’ House of Representatives, Morocco actually has 90 seats set aside for candidates elected from a national list (as opposed to a local constituency), 60 of which are reserved for women, and 30 for men under 40.

Like usual I’d let myself get caught up in schoolwork and only during this past weekend did I really take stock of things I’d been noticing during the past few weeks. For example, I came to the worrying conclusion that even though I’d said before that I wasn’t experiencing as much male attention as expected, the reason I hadn’t been was because of Ramadan. In the few days after Ramadan ended, I experienced a significantly more amount of comments and advances from men when walking on the street. Nothing serious, but it was a little disillusioning to realise that what I thought was a drastic misconception may instead be as a result of the rules of fasting during my particular time here. I don’t know if this is actually the case, but it was just something I noticed.

It seems kinda strange to be leaving; like I was running a race and suddenly around the bend the finish line appeared out of nowhere. My time here went by so very quickly, and looking back I’m really impressed that we got to do as much as we did, even though there are still a handfull of things I still wanted to do. I’d love to go back to Chefchaouen and hike to the waterfall, I’d probably enjoy seeing Marrakesh even though it is just a huge tourist trap, and there’s a both a beach town in the North called Assilah and a town in the south famed for its’ horses called Essilia that I could stand to visit. And even in Rabat there are more things I wanted to check out but was unable to due to Ramadan; the bibliotechque nationale, the Mohammad V Art Museum, the roman ruins site in the middle of Rabat, and I really wanted to go to a hammam again (due a poor decision at the beach on Sunday I have a very nasty sunburn on my back, arms, and legs so the exfoliating hammam massage that the other students got yesterday would have been very painful at the moment). But despite all that, we did get to see Casablanca, Fes, Meknes, Tangier, Chefchaouen, Rif Mountains, the Atlas Mountains, the Ziz Valley, Ifrane, Azoua Cedar Forest, Marzouga and the Erg Chebbi dunes of the Sahara Desert, the Atlantic Coast, and the Mediterranean Coast, even some of Spain and Senegal. That’s not bad for 7 weeks!

I wouldn’t go as far to say that Rabat has become a second home to me though. As long as I’m fair-(ish- see sunburn explanation)-skinned western female I’ll never really be considered totally a part of this country. No matter how much darija I learn and use, no matter how less-mangled my french gets, no matter how tan I get, no matter how many “welcomes” I get from men in the streets, it doesn’t stop the stares, the curious looks, the direct attention, the different treatment, or the continual target on my back as a tourist, as someone who clearly isn’t from here. And yes while that saddens and bothers me, it doesn’t change anything about the country itself. Neither I or the people can help our perceptions of each other. What we can do is do our best to live beyond perceptions and actually try to know and accept each other.