Countdown to Ghana

Hello my friends! Welcome to my blog!

If you haven't heard, I'm going to be spending the next 3 1/2 months in Ghana in West Africa to complete an internship for my MS in Health Education. I am leaving the day after tomorrow, Monday, February 10th. I've been planning this trip since mid-November when  I found out I was getting laid off from my job.

I'll be working at a very cool non-profit organization called Women in Progress (click  here for their website).  They've been helping Ghanian women build their businesses for the past 20 years, and are now developing a health education program. I'll be helping them do that by designing, presenting, and then teaching the women there how to teach others about nutrition, maternal health, reproductive health, stuff like that. 

The towns where I'll be teaching are Cape Coast, where I'll be based, Ashaiman and Krobo.


If you are like me and didn't know where the heck Ghana was, Ghana is in the red square on this map of Africa. Cape Coast is located in the southern part, right on the ocean and is a few miles west of the capital city of Accra (pronounced a-CRAW).  The area is also known as the Gold Coast, as it is one of the top 5 gold producers in the world! It's also a big producer of some of the world's best cacao. But I've been advised to not eat any of the chocolate there as they export all the good stuff, so I'm bringing a supply of my own. The ocean I'll be dipping my toes in is the Gulf of Guinea. Neighbor to the west is Cote D'Ivoire, and Togo to the east. Burkina Faso is north. Ghana is a peaceful country and gets along with it's neighbors (Mom & Dad please note. Don't worry!).


I've been learning things about Ghana and wanted to share a couple of neat tidbits. First, every Ghanian has two names, their given name and their day name, based on what day of the week they were born. I was born on a Sunday, so my day name is Esi in the Fante language, and Awisi in Krobo. Apparently, Ghanians love it when you introduce yourself with your day name! I thought you might get a kick out of finding your day name, too. So if you don't know it already, find out what day of the week you were born, and see below to find your day name. Names are in Fante/Krobo languages:

Sunday - Male names Kwesi/Akwasi, Femail names Esi/Awisi
Monday - Male Kojo/Kwadjo, Female Adwowa/Ejo
Tuesday - Male Kobena/Kwabala, Female Araba/Abla
Wednesday - Male Kweku/Kwaku, Female Ekua/Aku
Thursday - Male Yaw/Kwao, Female Aba/Awo
Friday - Male Kofi/Fifi, Female Efua/Afi
Saturday - Male Kwame/Kwamena, Female Ama/Ama


Second, Ghana is home to the world's largest snail. And yes, they get eaten. And yes, I will eat one if there is garlic and butter involved. And maybe some white wine. Or maybe if there is no garlic and butter, but a lot of wine.

Image credit: www.palaeowerkstatt.de