Coconut Grove, Bridges of Death and Hungry Crocodiles

This past weekend, our fabulous director, Leslie Steeves, surprised us with lush accommodations at a resort called Coconut Grove right outside of Cape Coast on the beach. At home in Accra, our house is well equipped but very basic, lacking hot showers. But given the heat and humidity we deal with here, cold showers are often a refreshing treat in the morning. Three hours from Accra, Cape Coast was cooler and much less polluted than Accra. My first hot shower in over a week at Coconut Grove felt like a small miracle along with icy cold air conditioning, a delicious menu at their restaurant and a lovely pool. While in Cape Coast, we visited two different slave castles. Walking through the castles was an experience that I will never be able to convey in words but it pressed down upon me with sadness and horror at the conditions that people lived in for months before they had to endure the terrors of the trip across the ocean. The walls of the dungeons themselves held the memories of the thousands of people that passed through. There were literally scratch marks in the concrete from people reaching out in pain. Hearing about the rape of African women by British, Dutch and Portuguese soldiers was particularly hard for me. I hope that the period of history of the slave trade will never be repeated again and such injustices will always be fought against.

On Saturday, we changed pace and went on a canopy tour in a nearby rain forest. I am terrified of heights, but I prepared myself for the bridges above the canopy that we were warned about. However, I wasn’t ready for the bridges. No way. They consisted of a one foot wide board held aloft by ropes and a rope fence keeping you walking hundreds of feet above the rain forest floor. Each bridge was maybe a hundred feet long. I can not think of a worse challenge for someone terrified of heights. Luckily for me, one of my group mates sang to me as we crossed together, me hyperventilating, him chatting away happily. It was quite an experience. There were about seven bridges, linked together by small stands surrounding tree trunks and they all swayed with a vengeance. By the time I finished the last bridge, I was soaked in sweat and my legs felt like they might give out. But I finished alive and we all headed off to lunch in our Chinese bus.

Lunch was a whole other adventure. We went to Han’s Cottage, an eatery located above a crocodile pond. In my mind, I imagined eating and watching a few crocs swim by. In actuality, we were seated next to one of the landing strips of the crocs and then introduced to the one perched on the shore by an emotionless restaurant worker. She charged 1 cedi ($1 U.S.D.) to touch the tail of the croc. So of course a couple people do and at this point I am thinking this lunch was a really terrible idea. But in Ghana it takes forever to get food so we didn’t have anything else to do but stare at the crocodiles and watch as the crazy restaurant lady brought out raw chicken to feed the damn things.

Right at this point, almost as if the fates collided, a huge group of children arrived with only three or four adults in tow to watch the crocodiles. Things get worse. As the kiddies watch the woman feed the croc meat from her stick, a different crocodile lunged out of the water from behind the children and scared them all half to death as well as making me wonder if we had a casualty. With signs all around warning that the restaurant would not be held responsible for accidents, the children ran into our seating area, screaming, laughing and crying. But amazingly enough, the woman still showed no emotion and continued feeding the croc and for at least a half an hour, the children would push forward onto the shore to watch the crocs and then scream and run back toward us at the slightest sign of motion. I thought my poor heart would give up after all the stress of the bridges of death and the terror of those children. And to top it off, lunch finally came and it totally stank. Literally. The rice smelled like cigarette smoke. So with no food, little water and the noises of children’s screams reverberating in my skull, I climbed back into our bus and returned to Coconut Grove where I nursed myself back to health with a shower and a (few) beers.

Today is the first day of my internship at Public Agenda, a private newspaper focusing on sustainable development. I will be following reporters around and hopefully getting a chance to write a few of my own stories. The paper has features on women and gender issues, government policy and the environment to name a few. I think the process of learning how the media works first hand will be a great experience. Already, I have met all the reporters and we even went out to lunch together where I had Red-Red, a yummy dish of beans colored by red palm oil and fried plantains. I had not yet eaten at one of the many stands on the side of the road, but I got my Red-Red today from a little stand around the corner from Public Agenda and it only cost 50 cents, which is definitely the cheapest meal I have had so far. It was great too! Tomorrow is Republic Day, so our group is heading to Labadi Beach, where it’s rumored 100,000 people gather to celebrate. It should be a grand time. Now that I have internet access at work, I will hopefully be able to post pictures soon.

Schools and Tears

Yesterday, we had our last two lectures at the University of Ghana. The last was absolutely captivating as investigative reporter Anas A. spoke on breaking stories about a child prostitution ring and prisoner abuse in Thailand. His lecture was inspiration and at times, truly unbelievable. The opportunity to uncover scandals and deep social problems is something that Anas said the Ghanaian media should take advantage of. Later we walked down the road on a fun trip through the neighborhood to find the soccer field at the elementary school nearby. We brought our own soccer ball and a few of us played but I stayed on the sidelines to take pictures and observe the fun. And it was so much fun. The children here are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and they are full of bubbly energy and excitement. We took a bunch of photos and the kids were thrilled to see themselves in the screen of the camera. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I had a really great time hanging out with the kids and watching the soccer game.

Today we went on a field trip to a school in a Muslim neighborhood called Nima. The children prepared heart warming performances for us with dances, songs and poems. It made me cry it was so sweet. The school was in an impoverished area that we got to through very thin corridors and it was a bit scary thinking about the possibility of a fire (one happened last year in another depressed area in central Accra) in a neighborhood with so few entrances and exits. During all the performances, one girl in a pink shirt, probably about four years old, watched and sat with us silently. She had short hair, a single gold earring and refused to smile even when the other children were squeaking with glee. After a while, I realized she didn’t attend the school but had snuck in to be with us. Other children had pressed up against the windows during the performance. This girl didn’t speak English but she latched onto us when we got up from the performances and then stuck to my side. One teacher tried to lead her out but I held onto her hand even as we were leaving.

The children here are often left on their own, even at very young ages, because the community acts as a family unit and each person looks out for one another, especially the children. When I had to part ways with the girl in the pink, she cried and immediately my heart broke. Leslie, our director, left a $100 donation with the school and I asked her if we could request it be used to send the girl to school. There are over 60,000 children in the area of Nima and only 25% attend school because their families can not afford school fees. I can only hope that girl will be able to attend school and I have certainly been inspired to begin looking for credible sponsor organizations to pay for education.

Falling Asleep in Lecture

Ok, there's a lot to update on and we found a great free internet site here at the University of Ghana that allows me more time to write and reflect on everything that has happened so far. Yesterday and today we've had lecture at the University of Ghana on media history and different forms of media. All the speakers have had unique viewpoints on the role of the media. Sadly, I fell asleep during yesterday's morning lecture (I wasn't the only one and luckily also not the one yelled at), but after a quick infusion of easy-to-find coca cola and a few bites of delicious ginger snaps, I was up and running again. We were in a room with air conditioning that made life freezing, especially after walking to the university and working up a fantastic layer of sweat. The sweat here becomes a way of life and I have decided a sheen at all times just makes me look healthy. For dinner, we went to a tasty pizza parlor at a gas station near the University and took full advantage of a "two-for-one" pizza deal ordering 8 pizzas in all. They were really quite good and since cheese is very expensive here, a good change from other things I've been eating.

Our living accomodations are quite nice. There are 13 of us total and Molly, Logan and I all live in one room together (all girls). I've been trying to stay healthy on a vegetarian diet which can be a bit of a challenge since protein staples include chicken and fish, but I am taking a multivitamin and my malaria medication regularly, so far so good. Naps are becoming a regular occurence in my life as the heat and humidity takes its toll.

We found a delightful bar across the street a couple nights ago that serves Star and Club beer (the only 2 options) for $1.20 each but they stand about a foot tall. I can not finish two but a beer at night takes the edge off and it's a great way to meet Ghanaians, who are more than happy to converse, dance and hang out day or night. I can't say enough how kind and accomodating the people here are. It is truly a heart warming place. I will try to post photos soon.

Here I am.

Wow. Here I am in Ghana. Traveling was a whirlwind but I made it safe and sound. This country has the nicest people I have ever encountered in my whole life. Yesterday we went to a super high energy soccer game and that was an experience and a half. Today we took a tour of Accra that really opened my eyes to size of this giant city. Got to go, no time left at the internet cafe!

Getting Ready to go

I am currently procrastinating the long process of packing for six weeks in Ghana. I leave on Thursday and I am extremely excited although it all feels a bit surreal right now. But soon enough I'll be heading out and I know that I will have an awesome experience but I will also miss all the people I am leaving behind.