HOME! Recap of Last Days in Ghana

I am writing this final post for my blog from my house, back in Chappaqua. It feels very good to be home. But first things first, let me update you on my trip to Kumasi: I took a nice bus from Tema to Kumasi on Saturday morning and arrived in Kumasi around 5:30pm. As I said, I didn't really have a set plan of what I wanted to do, and I had even less idea about where I was going to be staying. So with no map and very limited information about this new city, I got off the bus and was instantly in the grasp of a friendly but insistent taxi driver. He said he knew of a hotel not far away that was nice and not expensive. So within minutes I was in the lobby of the Ashfood Court Hotel, which turned out to be a very good place to stay. If you're ever in Kumasi, I would recommend it. That evening I was pretty tired from the travel and totally disoriented. I had a brief walk around the hotel's neighborhood before it got dark, ate dinner, and then went to bed early.

Waking up Sunday morning, I wanted to get an early start to see as much of the city as I could. For future reference: if you want to spend one day somewhere in Ghana, Sunday is not a very good choice. I wanted to start my day at the nearby tourist office. Of course it was closed. I had read in a guidebook about the nearby Owabi Wildlife Preserve, so I found the tro-tro station and got a tro-tro that took me right to Owabi. I had a great time there. I had a private, guided tour through the rainforest preserve which surrounds a large reservoir that is quite beautiful. We saw lots of colorful butterflies, birds, and even spotted some Mona monkeys as they dashed through the trees.

On the way back from Owabi, I got off at Asenemaso, where I had read about a traditional shrine that was worth seeing. With the help of some local people, I found a shrine (probably not the one I had heard about). It was nice, but not very inspiring as it was enclosed inside a locked building that didn't look like it saw much use. But the people who helped me were very nice and I spent a couple hours hanging out with them. They even had a ping-pong table and I took on some of the neighborhood kids, much to the amusement of everyone. I won, of course.

Finally, I caught a tro-tro back to Kumasi and found I was right next to the Kejetia Market, which I had read is a must-see. It is the largest outdoor market in West Africa. It reminded me of the souk in Fes, where I spent my abroad term last spring, although this was on a much, much bigger scale. They have basically everything you could need, from clothes, to metalware, to foods - including a meats section that I would have rather avoided. I walked around happily for about an hour, and then managed to get myself a bit turned around on my way back to the hotel. But I did make it. All said, though, I did pretty well seeing a city in a day, especially given my total lack of planning.

On Monday (wow, that's yesterday!), I went to take a bus from Kumasi back to Tema so I could collect my luggage and go to the airport for my late night flight. I turned down an offer of a taxi ride to the bus station, which ended up being a mistake. Forty-five minutes later, I arrived, sweaty and and legs aching, at the bus station to find that the Tema bus had just left and the next one wouldn't be for several hours. So I jumped aboard the next bus leaving for Accra and then from the Accra station, took a tro-tro to Tema. The trip actually ended up being faster than my ride up to Kumasi and cheaper as well.

So I collected by bags, which had stayed with Ben - WPE's country director. And I got in a taxi and headed for the airport. The Accra airport was a bit ridiculous, with multiple security screenings, immigration control on the way out, and lines that seemed to never end. Two and half hours after I got on line to check in, I made it to the gate and the plane was ready to board. We took off a little after midnight (local time) and landed at JFK before 6:30am (EST). I got my bags and met up with our friend Dave, who was waiting there despite the early morning arrival, and got a ride home. The jet lag has not been too bad, so far. We'll see how long I last. So far today, I've just been relaxing and enjoying American foods that I've missed (so far a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast and pizza for lunch). It's really good to be home and I look forward to spending time with family and friends.

So that will be all for my Ghana blog. If something brilliant occurs to me, I guess I can make another post, but I think a final note of reflection can go here: I had an incredible time in Ghana. Working with the kids at Manye has left a permanent impression on me and I learned a huge amount about other cultures, education, and myself through my experience there. I will always remember that place and I hope to return to visit them at some point after I graduate, maybe with some WPE alumni (! anyone interested??).

Thank you for following my thoughts and travels in this very different part of the world. It is a place with great people and great potential. It is a beautiful and hospitable country that I would recommend to tourists and potential volunteers. Let me know if you have any questions specifically, because I selfishly only discussed the issues that were on my mind. I am sure I will talk to you all soon. For now, this is David, signing off.

"Our Day" + My Last Days in Ghana

I fly home Monday night, so I only have a few days left in Ghana. The academic term has ended and yesterday was a celebration they call “Our Day.” It is the way Ghanaians mark the end of the school year. Parents come to the school and the students put on performances all day and there is lots of food that the kids bring to share. I got kind of picture-crazy all day – by closing time I had taken over 250 photos. Here are three to give you a sense of the day:

The first is from a play by the Kindergarten kids. It was kind of hard to follow exactly but I’m pretty sure it was about a wicked step-mother. She went to the “juju-man” (a kind of evil spirit sorcerer, I think) who put a curse on one of her blankets so she could kill her step-son. But she mixed up the blankets and killed her daughter instead. That realization is the event in the photo.

The second picture is from the singing group, made up of girls in fourth and fifth grade. They were very good and also had very nice choreography. Their songs were all Christian about Jesus, etc. I think the line they are singing here is: “Here I come to worship, here I come to bow down…”

And the final photo is from the Manye dance group, made up of six boys and six girls from the upper primary and junior high students. It was an elaborate, lively performance. Here is a snapshot I thought I would share that captured the energy and costumes in the performance. You can also see some of the parents seated in the background.

So that’s the end of school here. My work at Manye is finished and my commitment to World Partners ends tomorrow. We built a couple buffer days into my travel plans so I could do something after the program ended. So tomorrow I will be going to Kumasi, which is the second largest city in Ghana. It’s about six hours north of Accra and was the interior capital for the Ashanti empire. I will be there by tomorrow afternoon and will have Sunday and Monday morning to explore the city and the surrounding area before heading back to Accra to catch my plane late on Monday night. It worked out well so I will be able to see a new part of the country before heading home. The other two volunteers are flying home tomorrow, so I will be traveling by myself. It’s not such a bad thing – I don’t know exactly what I will do in Kumasi, so I can make my own plans and see as much of the area as I can before I have to go.

I may have time to use the internet briefly when I return on Monday to collect my luggage, which will stay in Tema while I travel. If I get online, I will write up a brief post to update you. But the timing might not allow it, so the next you hear from me may be back in the US on Tuesday morning! So I hope you all are well and I will talk to you soon!

Week 7 (Final Week) Update

With one week left in Ghana, I actually don’t have very much to report. I had a relaxing weekend. I read a good deal and spent time with some kids on Saturday. On Sunday, I went for a nice walk around Community 25, which covers a much larger piece of land than I first thought. I could be a small town in itself. I was surprised to see dozens of really large houses and two enormous schools popping up on the other side of the community. It’s a big contrast with the area around Manye. Technically, we are located in “Community 25 Annex,” although the houses built in the Annex were here first. But it seems Tema’s development plan is kicking into gear and Community 25 will mostly be home to wealthy families in the future. That seems a bit sad, but hopefully that will come as children attending schools like Manye are able to get good jobs and have a better standard of living than their parents’ generation.

Also of note, Dana Charles (Dartmouth’06, currently in graduate school at NYU and a friend of Ben Schwartz - WPE’s founder) is here in Ghana doing research about what motivates people to send their children to school. We hosted a survey here at Manye yesterday so that Dana could collect data for her research. Turnout was unimpressive, but Dana was encouraged by the data she’s been collecting at NAP, the other WPE partner school. So it’s nice to help contribute in some way to the work she’s doing and hopefully she will be successful.

That’s about all I know. Exam week has finished for the kids, but they still have to come to school while the teachers finish their assessments. They basically get to do whatever they like during the day, and I’ve enjoyed hanging out with them. I will miss them a lot when I leave. 

I fly home one week from today, on a late night flight that arrives in NY on the morning of Tuesday 8/9. I will definitely miss this place and everyone here, but I am also looking forward to coming home. So I hope you all are well. I’ll probably send one more blog update later in the week. Talk to you all soon.