The truth comes out.

Date: 7/03/2010
Time: 20:00
Location: Accra, Ghana

So Joey, Neisha, Liza, Sara H, and myself have this professor that tends to fall asleep in class. Not when he is lecturing or anything but both time when we were watching a movie. The first time he was in the classroom and I heard this snoring behind me- and it was our teacher clearly passed out- this went on for basically the whole movie. Then the second time he left the room. Elena comes into our classroom and says, “Hi guys just came to say hello. Oh and your teacher is passed out on the couch downstairs!” It was fantastic. Couldn’t believe it- and now he can’t get mad for all those times that I was falling asleep during his lecture. But, we have recently discovered why he falls asleep so often on a Monday afternoon class. The CRA’s took us out to what was called, “Chez Afrique”. None of us had a clue what this night was to entail. To be honest I thought it was a Ghanian holiday of some kind and we were going to a Ghanaian party. Well, we ended up rolling up to a restaurant/bar place. Ghanians starring at us as we rolled out of our white van. Michael Williams (our Professor) comes over, and greets us. I thought this was a little odd- but then we all found out that he owns this hopping joint. Sara and myself look at each other and said, “oh now we understand!” Michael Williams falls asleep in class because he owns a hopping live music bar where he must be partying all night with his bottle of wine whilst his very loud butch wife deals with all the orders and making sure people have chairs and tables to sit at. It was quiet an interesting night. All ending with a little look into what Osu had to offer to start off the Ghanian Independence day- I would say...It would have gone a lot better if we had gone a little earlier into Osu, and we were not as tired. But it was pretty cool to see what Ghana did for the weekend of their independence. Ghanaian singers on a huge stage out on the streets with everyone just enjoying themselves, I really would have liked to have stayed if I was a kind of person that can stay up later then 10pm.
In order to celebrate Ghanaian Independence day a lot of us decided to go and enjoy the beach. We hoped onto a tro tro and made out track to Kokorobite. What a beautiful place. It was here where I realized that I had fallen in love with Ghana. I have fallen in love with the beautiful landscape, the beautiful people, the culture, and so much more. There are some aspects that I still dislike- like taxis honking trying to crab your attention to see if you want a ride- but it is honking from one end of the street to the other and then they stop in front of you and still wait for you to hop in. Honestly… I will let you know if I want a taxi stop stopping. It is one aspect I hate- so now I just let them honk, and let them stop for me and just walk past- because honestly it is their fault that they are waiting for me. I never said I wanted a ride! But anyway, Kokorobite was absolutely amazing. Beach perfect and Big Milly’s was just fantastic. I really felt like I should have been on holiday with my family- but I guess the people on the NYU program with me are my family for now. And it was great to be able to experience it with them.
I will leave my weekend like this for now. I will allow pictures to show you Big Milly’s. Hope you enjoy.
-KR x

The only rule: Do Not Drown!

Date: 28/02/2010
Time: 21:00
Location: Accra, Ghana

Some would say that 16 is a celebratory age, some would say 18, and others…21. All three ages are occasions to celebrate- I guess it just depends where in the world you are. As my family “currently reside” (there you go ISIS people) in the United States I will celebrate the American age of 21. Though I did celebrate my 18th in England pretty well (thank you Chrissie, Baker, Lauren, and Katie K) - oh and to Andrew and Jack who ended up with the bill at the end of the night! Although my 18th is pretty hard to forget, 21 is something more to celebrate. The year I can legally drink in America is the day that I am free to roam the world (though I think my parents would say I do that anyway!).
I had a 21st birthday in America over Christmas break- that… well let’s just say that I do not remember most of it (not that I am proud of that fact) but in Ghana with double birthday- seeing as Molly’s was the day before mine we were determined to make a little bit of a birthday week. Molly’s birthday we went out to- After One. Molly is the cutest- she decided because it was her birthday she should buy everyone shots. But… it backfired on her… we made sure she was drinking enough and eventually she was drunk enough to go home.
The next fabulous day was my birthday. The day was superb. Most people would assume that people would have made me drink an immense amount seeing as it was my 21st birthday. Well… my birthday so happened to be on Wednesday- one of the busiest days that I have here. Two classes in a row- African Music and Dance and then the torturous class of Postcolonial Literature. Don’t get me wrong- I absolutely love the books and plays we are reading- in fact I highly recommend the reading list- 1 book a week- most reading I have done for an English class before. But, sitting through that 3 hour class is I would say ripping out your eyes worthy. But anyway, the night went on had a relaxing dinner at Tante Maries with a relaxing beer, and ended up just hanging out for the night. I had a birthday plan for the Friday and as I had to get up early to visit my husband Gideon at New Horizon Special school the next morning I did not want to be hung over. So it was a lovely birthday.
Friday came about. I would usually say, TGIF but no week here has ever been slow and a lot of the time I want time to slow down because it is going too fast. But, In this case…I was pumped for the itinerary for the day. La Palm Beach Resort was lucky enough to host all of us for some fun in the sun. Although it was 10 cedi to get in it was 10 cedi worth spending. The pool was to die for. With everyone being in their hostility phase, it was perfect with a swim up bar to go swim and grab some drinks, a little kid play area (which was closed…but a few of us made sure we had a photo shoot in the area!) I really wish it was open because I actually wanted to play in that area. Swimming, drinking, and tanning- well for some of us. Liza refused to go into the sun all day as she had to even out the burn she had gotten the previous day- she had to make sure she looked good for Steve’s arrival that next morning.
The day was fabulous, and ended up having to take Douglas home as the degenerate decided to basically black out whilst we were at the pool. The main goal for the day was yes to have fun, but also to have no one drown- pretty sure a lot of us thought a few times that Doug was going to drown. But we got him out there. Got him some water on the tro tro ride home, got him to bed to get ready for the Indian dinner we were to have a couple hours later. The Indian dinner was to die for. Dinner was approved by Neisha who is Indian. I was glad to have her approval as only she would know what truly authentic Indian was. Indian, Indian in my belly- nothing more satisfying.
Saturday morning a 4:00 am wake-up call so that we could be on the bus to Kumasi by 4:45. It was brutal but at least we went to bed early the night before allowing ourselves to be fully rested. The journey was alright- thank goodness we did not have to listen to Melissa and Sara L singing this round (but how the other times it was just so beautiful). I really do not have a lot to say about Kumasi. To be honest I was hugely disappointed with this trip. Kumasi seems like a really cool city- being the second largest city in Ghana Accra being the first, it was oddly enough a lot more modern and built up then Accra. I really can’t say that much for it because most of the time we were on the bus and they did not actually let us go out and explore Kumasi first hand- but from the bus windows it seemed that there were a lot more modern buildings. I was impressed to say the least. The market was a bust as they bought us on a Sunday and obviously Sunday is not a market day. Christa is obsessed with these mini stools that they make there so we stopped off at the stool market where we got mauled by all the stool vendors. We also got to see the house where the king got to live- that was um quiet boring- pretty sure even our RA’s were laughing at the tour guide. But oh well. Overall the weekend was a bust but at least we got to see a little bit of Kumasi and I hope to go back to fully explore the city and see what it has to offer.
For now goodbye,

-KR x

This is what we are doing?

Date: 21/02/2010
Time: 21:00
Location: Accra, Ghana

Another two weeks has passed on my study abroad Ghana style. Birthday month, turning 21 and still a ton of exceptional experiences to have. The past two weeks has been a mixture of relaxing (per usual) African bead making and a Ghanaian family homestay.
Now when you think African beads. Is there a type of bead you would think off? Maybe for those that do not know about the African culture, and have no idea that there are certain types of beads that pertain to Africans it would not seem odd…but for those that know what I am talking about, tell me what beads would you think we were going to use when we were bead making? Well, we paid 25 cedi to have the number one jewelry maker in Ghana (courtesy of Christa of course) come in and teach us how to make jewelry. We were uber excited- it was time for arts and crafts. Something most of us have not done since year 1 or so? So this famous jeweler (who by the way was invited to teach the Obama kids how to make jewelry when they came to Ghana) held up this necklace that had three balls on it and beads that looked like you could buy them in Michaels. I looked around the room… people were looking at each other with a very questionable facial expressions. No one could say anything though as obviously we were ignorant jewelry makers compared to Christa (who by the way has her own jewelry line and this number one jeweler) Anyway, we took the challenge. We all decided to build this magnificent piece of art work- some like Melisa and Sara Legasey decided to take the artistic selves that they are and create a different necklace masterpiece. Which the jeweler said, “oh okay… woow that is great” Definitely not meaning what she had just said! Anyways, the 3 hours it took to make the necklace was all worthwhile- why… because I decided I was not that bad at art work.
After a lovely relaxing weekend of bead making and chilling out in Accra for the weekend and week, NYU in Ghana decided to switch things up for us. They decided to send us on a homestay. Think homestay in a foreign country- usually they send you to a typical family right?. Well… pretty sure none of us had a typical Ghanaian family. Most of us were put with wealthy families- but hey… it is Christa who is basically running the program so she would never put us with a traditional family. But anyway, I was originally supposed to be with Molly and Arielle. Molly got a text from our homestay sister saying, “Hi Molly. My name is Justine and I know you are staying with me this weekend. Can you ring me I just wanted to let you know that we are not a typical family…Call me” How weird is that? We had guesses on what on earth this girl could mean. We had… what if the parents are gay, we had the family is actually all obrunies, we had they are billionaires, and then our student life coordinator guessed that it is a family with multiple wives. Well… I never got to find out for myself. I was placed with Heather Fossity. We had a driver pick us up from the homestay office (driver turned out to be the cousin of our hometay father) we were driven to a hotel where we met our daddy for the weekend. It was the most awkward time of my life. It literally looked like they were our sugar daddy’s and we were there young white “biddies”. We sat and he ordered us drinks, after awkward chats and not chatting, it was time to decide what we wanted for dinner. Now… for those of you that know me- I am actually terrible at making decisions. Bobs and Anthony I think you can attest to this. I have no ability whatsoever to make any decisions. “Anthony, what should I do about this________. Should I choose this____ or this_______” But, decisions had to be made so after our weekend daddy said, “do you want to make food, or do you want to eat out, or order in?” We decided on ordering pizza from the hotel. Heather and I were just going to order 1- but our father ordered about 5 pizzas and chicken kebabs for us. His reason was, “I do not want you girls to be hungry” This is just the attitude of the Ghanaians. No matter where you go they make sure you are fed well. But do I mind? Nope!
Eating a massive dinner put Heather and me to sleep. Weekend daddy wanted to take us dancing later that night (because at this point it was only 8pm) but, Heather and I must have been in a food coma or something because we fell right asleep. – going to sleep early here is a necessity unless you are going out as I have explained before everyone wakes up at the crack of dawn. As Sara’s homestay sister said at 6am, “wow you like to sleep in”. We are not on the subject of time though except for the amount of times I threw up and had no so pleasant pooping sessions. It seems that my system had finally given in to the different foods here. I ended up throwing up everything from the night before and more, as well as pooping out I don’t even know what. Finally Nurse Mary told me to come back early from the homestay so she could start me on antibiotics. My homestay was short lived, but I must say for the few hours I was with the family I learnt a lot. My weekend daddy made a lot of multiple wives jokes, and was loving feeling young.
The rest of the weekend was me recovering from the bacteria that was festering in my stomach, and listening to the stories of others. Overall the group was 50/50 on if they had a great time or not. Poor Liza had a horrible homestay with a man who was looking to marry a white American woman. Sara legasey had a family that hated Jews, but Sara Hayward had a great time pounding Fufu in the middle of nowhere, and oh almost forgot. The “not normal Ghanaian” family… Justine ended up being a student from the USA who was here for a year, and the host dad was a successful business man who has his own business. He supplied the three girls with beer all through the weekend and they swam in his pool.
Well now it is time for the “Magic School” bus to say goodbye, as I am tired and need some sleep so I can go teach some kids at New Horizon.
Goodnight to all,

-KR x

Embracing the Ghanaian disability community

Date: 10/02/2010
Time: 12:50pm
Location: Academic Center, Ghana



I am down to find the best part of me. I could not just stand and watch the Ghanaian community and not participate in any of it. I am actually not sure what person on this program would not take up the opportunity to do community service or an internship. As a Psychology major I knew I wanted to do something with disabilities. I have never worked with anyone who needed special attention and as soon as I saw this was an option I knew it was the right place for me.
I work at a school called New Horizon special school. We have a range of kids from kids with autism, kids with Down syndrome, some with cerebral palsy, and some that are non-verbal. I knew it would be a challenge but I did not know what to expect. I have now gone twice this week and I go again tomorrow (Thursday). The assembly is brilliant. It allows them all to sing, and learn how to say the date and gives them time to interact with each other. Some are extremely disabled and others are not so much. It is amazing to see how each one of the kids help each other out. One of the boys Godfrey he is barely verbal and he is unable to walk up straight yet he has an effect on the younger ones. When Godfrey signals to them to be quiet, they will be, when he pulls them to go and sit down they will do it.
I teach in the class with kids with Down syndrome and they are nothing but sweet. One girl Belinda everyday comes running into my arms gives me a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. Muhammad always takes me by the hand and tells me that his driver will next time come and pick me up because we are friends. Joshua grabs my hand kisses it and never lets go. The 10 kids that are in my class love to make sure that I am coming back to them. “So you come everyday? You teach in our class?” me, “Yes I teach your class. But I only will come Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday”. “So you don’t come Wednesday?” “No, sorry!”
New Horizon 20 min walking distance from the NYU Academic Center is a school with hope and school of change. You can see that they are there to really get these young ones to develop skills that they may not have gotten anywhere else. For those that are too old to go to school they have workshops. They have carpet, doormat, baskets, jewelry and food making stations. I will say that they are amazing. I have never seen such great artwork been made. The school has opened “new horizons” for the disability population that is looked down upon here in Ghana. Ghana’s look towards people with disabilities is an attitude that is unlike the western world. No one gives them credit and they are just shoved to the side. I would not say that it is as bad as if one is homosexual in this country (As that is basically a death wish) but, those with disabilities are definitely not as welcomed in their own country as those without them.
After just two days I have only initial emotions and thoughts and wish I could share more. But as the months go on I will update you further on the New Horizon Special School service work I am doing. I do not even like to say community service, as I feel it is a more personal experience then so and community service is such a broad word. But for now, until I have done more hours, weeks, and months that is what it is!

Here I will leave my blogging phase to end until the week again has passed. The weeks here seem to be over in a flash and I can’t seem to break up my blogs to make them a little more reader friendly (length wise).

Sophs x

How did we get here?

Date: 07/02/2010
Time: 21:00
Location: Accra, Ghana



This past weekend was packed full of educational excursions and findings. The monkey sanctuary trip ended up being very successful, which was the beginning of the first NYU program trip weekend.

Although to some getting up at 5:45am is early… to us NYU in Ghana study abroad kids- it is just another day in the life of Ghana. It seems that we have all got in the habit of going to bed by 10pm (if we are not going out) and getting up between 6:30 and 7am (Get used to it Daniel and Anthony!) Normal days we do not have an excuse for the early morning wake ups other than we feel lazy staying in bed until 9am because everyone in Ghana is bustling by 7am. But, Saturday we had an excuse. We were off to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is a 2.5 hour drive from Accra as if heading toward Sierra Leone. The bus fell silent after about 30 minutes of driving- sleep I guess was more important to some people, but to me... it was an opportunity to finally get some alone time with my thoughts whilst passing some great scenery.
We finally arrive at Coconut Grove Resort. Christa starts to harp about how we will not always be staying in places as nice as this resort, but since it is our first trip she just wanted us to start off with a bang. But knowing Christa… I am pretty sure none of the places we will stay will ever be just a hut and fending for yourself in the African wild! Oh you just wait for some lovely Christa stories (We all know these are the best part of my blogs- because they sure are my favourite part!)
We roll up, and we go down to breakfast. Buffett style… yeah… buffet to start the day on the beach- not too shabby ehy? I felt like I was back in Club Med with the family where the first day of eating was all about filling up your plate with whatever they offer. First time up, second time up, third time up… should I go for a fourth?
After gaining about 10pounds we were now directed toward Elmina castle. Elmina Castle was one of the biggest slave trading prisons and “swip swapping” areas. I listened to the guide with full ears as it was quite hard to understand his accent; we stood in the cells of the African slaves as well as the cell for all those European soldiers that “misbehaved”. We stood in the area where families would come together for the first time and where they would see each other for the last. We went upstairs to where the Dutch would stay while the terrors were right below them. What kind of human being lives just above humans that are being tortured and sold, when you have wonderful ocean front views and living quarters? The holding cells still smelt like rotting bodies, and just imagining the stench now, you can hardly understand what it must have been like with hundreds of sweating, diseased, sick, impoverished people laying standing and sitting up against you. It is a site that I know will take me a few more days to fully comprehend. The words that come out of my mouth always seem to be, “why?” “How?” “Disturbing” “sickening” but no words can describe the “castle” we saw. It was not castle… it was the prison of dead. Many walking in would not come out, and those that did were being taken to another imprisoned life.

Elmina castle was a rude awakening to the beginning of the day, but the show must go on. Canopy walking is next on the agenda. As we stood waiting for our turn, on the canopy walk I figured it would be a two minute walk across from tree to tree. But how I was wrong! I felt like I was on top of the world. Tree’s below us, in front, behind, and beside us. Nothing could save me from the fall; it was me and the rope. I must say I felt so jack Baueresk but Tarzan style (Rob I am disregarding the shooting range as that was just ultimate Jack Bauer!) What was I doing in Ghana on a canopy walk? Who cares… why question it? Fun and games on canopy walk just make it that more fun... “be a lion, now be a sea lion” wow Doug.. could you choose any more African animals? But Akua (RA) was definitely following in Christa’s Tyra Banks style. Which by the way Akua got a new weave and looks so good. She is racking in all those men, as I am a witness to a late night (10pm) visit from a boy.

It is interesting to see how are RA’s and one of the staff members all went to bed exactly at 9 on the dot. As we were enjoying a buffet dinner on the beach with a bonfire and music the RA’s left. It was just us NYU study abroader’s and Christa. I was quite jealous because as a group of the people in the group was in an in-depth conversation with Christa I was chatting with some other foreigners. Oddly enough one of the guys comes from Chesham a town over from where I partly lived when I was in England (Great Missenden) and then another of the guys went to University of Edinburgh so we chatted about that, and we all just hung out on the beach. While others were grabbing details about Christa’s love life and giving her advice I was meeting new people. Great! But it is okay… I still got the details about Christa. I will not spread her details online… but to all the men- she is free!
The weekend ended with a day sitting by the pool side and on the beach. I will say it was a little like sandals but as this blog could be read by NYU’s Business school heads (yeah I think my blogs are that good) I will say that it so far has been a very educational 4 weeks that I have been here.
With weeks moving so quickly I will have to start updating my blogs more regularly making them shorter and giving you more details about my lovely travels around Accra, Ghana and the rest of Africa.
For now I hope I was able to inform you all enough about my weekend. If you need any more details I will be glad to email you with fuller explanations of the places we went and my take on what I have seen.
For now Goodbye,

-KR x

Monkeys, Skinny Dipping, and two hour taxi rides.

Date: 05/02/2010
Time: 23:00
Location: Accra, Ghana


The game of bargaining is a simple one. Bargaining requires some talent and the ability to not feel guilty of how much you are bargaining down. It also requires though the ability to realize when one is getting ripped off. Bargaining down from a 30 cedi taxi ride to hopefully getting 10 cedi was a challenge. We finally agreed on a 15 cedi ride. What we thought would be a simple little less than an hour’s drive turned into much more. Not only did we have an odd number of people where one taxi was carrying an extra person, but we also had a little bit of communication issues. Our taxi drivers had a vague idea of where this monkey sanctuary was, so we told them to follow each other. My taxi driver went speeding away so there we were (molly, Sara, Doug, Elena, and myself) were saying, “We need to follow the other taxi. The other driver knows how to get to the place. Go behind...” Our conversation was us trying to get him to understand what we saying and him were just sitting there laughing at our “obrunie” selves. In the end the other taxi was able to catch up. But one problem arose. Sara, “um guys.. . I really need to go to the bathroom… like GO! “Us knowing what that meant, we told the driver to stop at the next petrol station. We stopped Sara ran out the car to find a toilet. Next thing we see molly comes running down from the toilet area... “Do you guys have anything we can use to wipe?” None of us had anything. Sara and molly came back for us to realize that Sara had to use receipts to wipe up the lovely “D’s” that she had. But… thankfully after that she felt a lot better and our journey towards the monkey sanctuary could continue.

Our car ride consisted of us stopping asking locals to show us how to get to the solo monkey sanctuary ( no one had a clue!), it consisted of us having some sweet jams being played in the car, and our driver just smiling every time we asked a question. We arrive in the general vicinity of the monkey sanctuary. This is where we start driving around for about an hour. We went into the town area for them to send us up the street, where we stopped again and asked locals, they sent us back down the road, we were sent then to Bojo Beach. (What paradise. It was as if we were in the Caribbean!) We finally had a local taxi driver take us to the forest where the monkey sanctuary lay, going through basically peoples back gardens, and bumpy bumpy dirt roads.

We arrive at the monkey sanctuary. Our cab drivers at this point are for the lack of the better words, “pissed”. We had just taken them 2 hours out of the city. They said they would stay and wait for us. At first we did not want them to wait around as we are cheap students who knew we would have to pay for them to wait around for us. But, I guess our bargaining skills have just started to become natural as we bargained for the first two hours they waited to be free, and every hour after was 10 cedi. Not a bad deal I would say. So at this point… we have taken two Accra taxi drivers out of the main city, where they will be waiting around in the forest for us until we are done! (Can I say...VIP service?)

The day was a day like I have not had in a long time. I would say I have had a lot of experiences in my life, and this was one excursion. One of the girls knew the owner of the solo monkey sanctuary. So, he gave us a nice deal to take us into see the monkeys (only 3 cedi each= 2 dollars) But he exceeded any of our expectations. He first took us to the school in the area because it was “obrunie Fridays” Any foreigners/white people they get on a Friday they bring them to the school to give the kids a little more incentive to come to school on Fridays. The kids were adorable. They came up and gave us hugs; they were like little kids in a sweet shop. Extremely excited we were there. After all the pictures and playing, he took us around the village. He bought us through the nooks and crannies...we were in a real live African village. Komiate (the monkey sanctuary guy) said that he basically is the provider for the village. And when he isn’t providing people just provide for each other… people for the community. Through the village the rubbish around was immense. Rubbish in every corner of the street, and houses (stone/thatched roofed/huts) placed in random little areas. Shops right next to houses, and woman making food everywhere you look. Weaving in and out of the dirt pathed houses community, we finally reach the beach. It was as if we were stepping out into the outside for the first time. A huge amount of fishing boats appeared out of nowhere, the beach and water all providing a perfect picture. Komiate bought us down the beach walking through the fishermen rigging up and relaxing on their boats. He then grabbed a small boat from these kids and told us to get on. We all stepped on carefully making sure not to rock the boat, facing forward we began to move. Komiate had a large wooden stick to stear and move the boat (was like in venice the gondolas). He bought us to the private beach of Bojo resort. This is where all hell broke loose.

Running into the water as if we hadn’t seen it in years, and jumping into the surfer style waves. Elena screams, “ I am ready to go free… top coming off” So… the 8 girls and Doug followed suit. Have you ever felt so free that nothing could harm, break, or get in your way? I must say this was pretty close to that. Nothing but the water and me crashing into each other. Almost 4 weeks of being in Africa and finally in the past two days I had seen a lot more and felt so many different emotions that this break from the world felt so good. After our “running naked in the paddling pool” and Doug losing his swimming trunks it was time to get some real monkey action. Komiate bought us back to the forest where we watched to find the monkeys. Monkey!!!!! It was so cool to watch the couple that came to see us. Watch them swing from tree to tree, climb up the tree and sit. It was a perfect ending to a day in the day and the life of a true Ghanaian village.

After a day like today nothing could have gotten me in a bad mood. Except for the taxi driver. We all decided that we would pitch in 10 cedi for the drivers. That meant that each driver at the end of this got 65 cedi. (20 cedi there and 45 cedi on the way back). Perfect deal I would say, but no to the Ghanaian’s we are just rich white kids that can afford to give them a lot more. I ended up getting in the other taxi on the way back with the grumpy driver. He was a slow old grandma driver, and I was hungry. I was getting annoyed because I did not want to miss out on Tante Maries (one of our meal plan restaurants). As we got home he said, “How much you give?” we say, “45 cedi, and that is way more than we said originally so that is enough!” driver, “I beg, 50!” “No, bye!” Our white colour will not give into the “Obrunie” prices that they give. We are living here for 4 months and I will not get ripped off. I will pay “Obibinie” (Black) prices (at least try and get Ghanaian rates!)

I hope I painted a good picture- but no words can describe a day in the forest, beach, and with kids. ( Oh yeah missed out the big about us playing with the kids at the beginning of the whole day!) oh well… Perhaps I will post some pictures and videos if the internet will be able to handle the uploading of them.

Goodnight to all- as I got to get up at 5:30am to leave on a NYU Program trip to Cape Coast.

-KR x

Special Edition: First proper “African” experience

Date: 4/2/2010
Time: 16:40
Location: Accra, Ghana



I have been losing myself in what I am trying to say. I just can’t find the words. Today was one of the most productive days I have had so far, and I am blown away. Not only did I 1. Go ahead on work for once. But I was able to see the special needs school I will be helping out at three times a week, and then I had an afternoon trip into Jamestown.

Jamestown is one of the poorest places within Accra. It is a place where “Obrunies” really are not that welcome; unless you are with someone from the area it can be toured. I have hardly any pictures as it is a place where taking pictures is completely frowned upon. Although at first I was annoyed at the idea of not being able to take photos of what I came here to see, I completely respect the wish. How would you like if England, Germany, or USA were underdeveloped countries and the other countries only ever see the slums and the poor conditions and never any of the developed areas? For these reasons it is very hard to capture these poor areas in pictures and I would recommend just coming yourself and storing forever a mental picture. It is something like I have not seen before. I have been fortunate to see a lot of places in my life with the move to Japan, but I was young, and I will be the first to say- ignorant. I went to El Salvador this past May and that was the first country I had seen in my “adulthood” life where I felt I could fully understand the nature of how and why they were living like so, and just understand the pain the country went through. Now having gone to Jamestown I have seen more of the “Africa” that is always shown.

While I am staying here in Accra, I am living in the richest part of Ghana- Labone. I appreciate all that I have, but it was time for me to get out and see more of the surroundings. Jamestown like Baltimore (which is depicted as a crime city and nothing more) has an inner beauty. We bargained our way from a 10 cedi taxi ride to a 6 cedi ride from Labone to Jamestown. As we got there we headed straight to the lighthouse. Here the locals saw us and thought, “Obrunies” and knew they could try and con us into a higher price. But we negotiated our way to a great price. We climbed the windey stairs, at the top went up some very what looked to be unstable stairs and crawled through a hole. Here our eyes were opened to a whole new world. One side you had all the fishing boats and the fishing community, to other you had open sand and water, the next side a strip of houses and even the boxing area, and in front the vast amount of Jamestown houses and shops. A view of “shacks” and palm trees, and even mountains in the background. I hate using the word shacks for someone’s house and to the people that live in them it is not, but to everyone I have ever known in my life that is the nearest thing that would compare to what we all know. The lighthouse literally was a lighthouse. It shined its light on the aspects of life that I could not even begin to imagine. The beautiful thing is that no child has anything to compare it too, and is hopefully grateful for the roof over their heads, and the friends and family they still have. Such beauty to see the simple life that they all lead no technology or everyday western distractions to take them away from playing football, or running about in the sun. I will say it is disheartening to get asked by a child for some money because they are hungry or are thirsty.

Heading across the street to Jamestown fort (across from the Jamestown king’s house) the idea of standing in prison cells where the slaves were kept and shipped and bought was disturbing. I have been learning in-depth about the slave trade in Pan-Afracanism and it was great to be standing in a cell that was first hand evidence of history and the many lives that passed through. In 1 cell that really was probably the size of Loyola Kitchen in Campion (not including the eating area) there would be some 30 odd people and in some even 70. People are messed up. To think of enslaving another human being is crazy (never use crazy here as it literally means Insane and it is another very disrespectful thing to say) to me- but I guess a lot of things in history have been incredibly disturbing.

Now we shall take a trip down to the fishing boats. Place where kids ran up and greeted us and a lot of older people were not happy to see us. We were not sure if Emmanuel (our tour guide that we met in Jamestown) should take us any further, but he said it was okay his family lives in here. The boats reminded me of the big Viking rowboats you always learn about in school, but the air was defiantly fishy. The fishermen were welcoming and even wanted to take us out on the boat- but we unfortunately ended up not getting on one. The small community was as if were those little boys running through the streets in slumdog millionaire; but a bit more spaced out. Clothes out on the clothes line, woman cooking up whatever they were cooking up, children running around everywhere, houses with a few people in them. I can’t even properly give a description as Emmanuel was rushing us through because he knew we were unwelcome. Emmanuel definitely earned his “Dash” though as he then afterwards took us over to the boxing arena. It was called, “House of Pain”. Here, the complex around looked as if it was falling down, but the boxing guys were happily playing a competitive game of football. I think that is what I love most. Even in a place that may not look as nice as our million dollar houses (or whatever they may cost) they are still able to enjoy life and see life for what it is. The only thing they may complain for is food and water, but no kids have said, “Daddy, this isn’t what I wanted, I wanted a blackberry!” Life is not materialistic but more real. Yes I used real as honestly materialistic things are not something you hold on to for life, whereas family, friends, and your everyday basic needs are part of what life all started with.

Today was a good day. I can’t wait to start at New Horizon a school for kids with disabilities, and I was finally able to get out of Labone. I will leave on quiet a funny remark. The taxi driver we had on the way to Jamestown says, “You from Obama land. You have money!” Liza, Doug, and myself, “No, we are students we don’t have money.” Driver, “Everyone in America has money. So you have money. Obama has jobs so there is money” Doug, “umm… there is only hope!” Liza, “Obama does not give us money. I only wish he did!”

I will say that was an amusing taxi ride.

Alright good evening to all,

-KR x