Kakum National Park and...oh yeah, my internship!

I am slightly self-conscious of appearing to be on a perpetual vacation, or as my Dad would say, my second retirement.  I may be giving you the impression that all I am doing is traveling and hanging out at the beach, but I did come here to work on my internship, too, I promise Dr. Avila.

This past week was a big week as far as my internship goes. But before I rush into all that, I wanted to share my journeys from last weekend!

Saturday we got up early to hit the road at 8 AM to visit one of Ghana’s world-famous national parks, Kakum. A lush, gorgeous tropical rain forest, Kakum is 145 square miles of beauty with a unique feature, a canopy bridge that allows you to basically walk above the tree line and get a rare view of the forest from above.  It took about 20 minutes to get from beginning to end of the bridge, with breaks in between at seven viewing platforms. The bridge moves and sways as you walk across it. It was breathtaking, literally and figuratively!

Me on the canopy bridge. I blinked...of course!

The park is home to over 300 species of bird, 600 species of butterfly and 40 mammal species, with the largest population of forest elephants in Ghana, but we didn’t see any. We did see some beautiful butterflies, lizards and my favorite, the praying mantis, but that’s just fine because walking along a bouncy suspension bridge made of ladders and wood planks and held up by netting was exciting enough!

On the way home, Ben, our taxi driver, insisted we stop at a roadside attraction that had live crocodiles. He said you could stand next to them and get your picture taken, and we didn’t believe him until we got there and saw school children having their pictures taken standing right next to a live crocodile that was not in a cage, not restrained in any way, and as Ben promised us, was not drugged. We were all extremely uncomfortable, and frankly quite freaked out, so we didn’t stay long. It was more nerve-wracking watching  those children so close to wild, carnivorous creatures than walking across a bridge held up by nets! (Sorry, no photos of that stop!)

Sunday was spent at a beach right here in Cape Coast, Brenu Beach. But it is far enough away that we still had to take a tro-tro, then a taxi, then take a walk to get to the beach. This is my favorite beach so far. There were hammocks and chairs with umbrellas, and it didn’t take us to long to find our own spots. I chose a hammock and I stayed on it for 4 hours reading a summer romance novel.

Brenu Beach. Kinda crazy perfect, right? This is where I spent several hours last Saturday!

I also enjoyed a glass of freshly made pineapple juice. As you know, pineapple is great for your digestion as it has a lot of fiber and natural enzymes. It is also high in vitamins C and E, so it benefits your eyes, skin, internal tissues, brain and heart. And when you mix it with a little coconut rum, it tastes even more delicious!

When we first got to Brenu Beach, the sun was shining and the breeze was up, keeping us relatively cool.

After a few of hours though, we heard a loud thunderclap and looked north to see a huge black cloud coming our way, which quickly moved in our direction. Amazingly, it didn’t rain while we were there, but it got us packing up to head home. I couldn’t believe how close the clouds appeared over the ocean.

Looking like it's time to go home.

So that was our weekend, the latest of my sightseeing part of this journey. What I haven’t been writing about in my blogs is my internship. That’s mostly because I have been in the research and assessment phase, and crafting my presentations, which is not as exciting to write about as monkeys and the questionable history of the building I live in (see previous blog entries if that got you interested!). But now I’ve begun the next phase, which is presenting something that is (hopefully) useful to the audience.

On Wednesday, March 19^th, I co-lead my first class, on good nutrition. It was mostly presented by a very educated and, bless her heart, very pregnant nutritionist from the University of Cape Coast, Rebecca. She is from Ghana and delivered her part of the presentation in Fante. When it came time for me to present, Global Mamas office manager extraordinaire, Patience, translated my words into Fante. 

Forty women and one brave man, Hubert, the nice fellow who gave me my first walking tour of Cape Coast when I first got here, attended the class. The class was pretty tame for the first 30 minutes or so. But then the women got really comfortable and started asking questions, giving each other advice, sharing experiences – in other words, it was a great success. All the while Patience was quietly translating for me what was going on so I could keep up with what was being said and share in the moment.

The class was scheduled to last for two hours max, with short exercises, and a water break. However, because there were so many questions and a lot of discussion, we skipped all the learning exercises and only took one short break for refreshments. On top of that, the class ran a little late. All in all, I think we gave our Global Mamas something they needed and enjoyed. Yay!

Moringa Oleifera

At the request of my internship hosts, I included the nutritional benefits of the local Moringa tree in this presentation. So I did my due diligence and conducted a literature review on Moringa, and found some amazing facts. Moringa, which grows prevalently in Africa, is a nutritional powerhouse.  It’s leaves and pods are very good sources of vitamins A, B, and C, calcium, iron, potassium, eight essential amino acids, and protein. Ayurveda and current research  use Moringa to successfully treat anemia, malnutrition, arthritis, skin disorders, and high blood pressure, to name a few. I discovered  in recent research that Moringa is helpful for people receiving chemotherapy – patients needed less chemo and less recovery time because by adding Moringa to the equation,  chemo did it’s job in a shorter amount of time, and the patient’s healing process was quicker. Even more amazing:  Moringa grows in the countries where malnutrition is the highest.

Next week I travel to Krobo to present the same nutrition class, sans a nutritionist. Gladys, the office manager, who speaks English in addition to her native Krobo, will translate my presentation live. Most of the employees at the Krobo office only speak Krobo and no English. That brings up one of the interesting things about Africa’s history. When the powers that be decided where the borders to each country would lie, they sort of lumped a lot of different tribes into one country, so country boundaries did not reflect natural language divisions of people in the area.  In Ghana for instance, many people can’t understand each other if they don’t speak English, because their native languages are so utterly different. Fante is spoken here in Cape Coast, and Krobo is spoken in Odumase Krobo, Ewe is spoken in the eastern part of Ghana – and they are completely different languages even though the areas are a few hours away and in the same country.   To make it even more interesting, while English is an official language here in Ghana, all the countries that surround Ghana – Cote D’Ivoire, Togo and Burkina Faso – are all Francophone, using French as its first or second language, as it were. So English doesn’t work as well in those African countries as it does here in Ghana.

So that about wraps it up for last week and this coming week. This weekend, I’ve been taking it easy reading Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende. I threw my back out last Tuesday, the day before my presentation. It was the first time it’s ever happened, and I was worried I would be in too much pain the next day and miss the class, so I went to our neighborhood pharmacy and got some prescription-strength painkillers over the counter for about $8 that helped me get through the next day without a hitch.  At least in my experience in two foreign countries, Ghana and India, strong painkillers are easier to come by than in the U.S. In 1984, when the McConnells went to India, my mom took a bad fall in the shower and was in a lot of pain. My dad called the hotel doctor, who promptly came to their hotel room, assessed my mom’s injuries, and gave her a shot of morphine. My mom, whose list of drug-induced experiences is very short and boring (she’s only been drunk once, seriously!), still fondly remembers the morphine experience of 1984. Kids, if you are reading this passage, take note: Just say no to drugs. It’s ok if your doctor gives you painkillers to help you recover if you are in the hospital, at home recovering from an injury, or took a bad fall in the shower, but that’s the only time it’s ok to take painkillers. Unless of course you throw out your back in a foreign country, you are short on time, you are afraid you will miss a presentation if you don’t get some because you’ve taken your aspirin and it didn’t work, and stronger painkillers are available at your neighborhood pharmacy.  Then it’s ok, but only take enough to get you through your presentation, and tell your parents or friends that you are taking them, so at least someone knows in case you have a bad reaction.

Heading to Ashaiman Tema and Krobo this week

Since I’m heading to Krobo this week, with a stop at the Global Mamas office in Ashaiman for a few days, and I don’t know what the Internet situation will be, it may be a while before you receive another edition of my blog. But have no fear! I will be back with more stories soon. In the mean time, please memorize the following Fante words.  They will come in handy when you visit southern Ghana one day.

English                              Fante                       Pronunciation

Good morning                   Mema wo akye          May moe watchee

Good afternoon                 Mema wo aha             May moe wa ha

Good evening                    Mema wo adwe         May moe wadgee

Responses to greetings above:

Response to older man              Yaa egya           yah age a          

Response to older woman          Yaa ena             yah enna          

Response to  your age or younger    Yaa nua                  yah neeya        

How are you?                     Otse den?                   Oat se den?

I’m good.                           Bokoo                          Bo koh

What is your name?            Wofre wo den?          Woe froh woe den?

My name is ______             Wofre me ________  Woe freh me _______

How much?                         Ahen                           Ah hin

Reduce!                              Tso do                         tsew dough

I don’t have any money        Me ne cica                  May nay sika

Thank you                           Me da wo ase             Me dah see

Very much                           Pa Paa Pa                   Pa paaaa pa

Please                          Me pa wo kyew         May pow woe choe

Where is?                             Owo hen?                   Oh woe hane?

Where is the toilet         Toilet owo hen?         Toilet oh wo hane?

Oh and by the way, I also achieved another educational milestone recently…I got our resident African grey parrot Busua to say “Aloha!”

On that note, Alooooooooooo-ha!

Krobo, Peki and Wli

Yes I’m back and I’m ok! Internet is unpredictable here, and I’ve been without it for about a week. So to continue with my adventures...

Bead market at Odumase Krobo

Odumase Krobo (Krobo for short) is where I spent much of last week. Global Mamas has an office there where their beads are made and jewelry is strung, as Krobo is famous for it’s glass beads. Some of my housemates and I went to Krobo to help Global Mamas complete their Annual Report employee interviewing.

Our interviews were completed by mid-afternoon, so we all decided to head over to their outdoor market. We took a taxi from a very nice young man named Felix, (pronounced FELL-ix) and he dropped us off in the middle of MAYHEM. Cars and tro-tros coming within centimeters of you, if not bumping you with their bumper. A sea of people. The market was lively, although a bit dangerous. Besides the cars moving through humans like cattle, I almost walked right in to a rusty metal roof of one of the booths. I’m not used to roofs being at my 5’ 3 ¾” level! Glad I got my tetanus shot before my trip. Gotta keep on your toes here in Ghana!

Once you get off the main road through the market, it’s a lot more peaceful. The market was filled with sellers of food, clothing, shoes, pans, and just about anything you can think of, but we were there to shop the beads. Hand-painted beads, strings of beads that remind you of those Necko candies, handmade glass beads, brass beads, stone beads.  We got there late so only got to shop for about an hour, which was probably a blessing in disguise. But we got some good shopping in and lively interaction with the sellers, so it was a satisfying trip. When the bead sellers started packing up, we decided we needed a beer, and voila! Felix

Dana, Laurie, Anna & Sascha after the market

coincidentally drove right by so we hopped into his cab. We told him we needed a beer, and he took us to a very nice hotel located right across the street from Global Mamas.  We moved a table outside to the courtyard, where there was no one else, and enjoyed sharing the spoils of the day.

The next day, Thursday, was a holiday, as it was Ghana’s Independence Day. For the daytime celebration, children dress in their school uniforms and march around in formation with fake rifles. For about a week before Independence Day, children practice in public areas; it’s quite a sight!

Children practicing in formation for Ghana's Independence Day March 6

My home, Cape Coast, is directly above this caption, on the coast.

Friday morning we completed the remainder of the interviewing, and then the weekend had begun for me, Sascha and Anna! We hopped into a tro-tro and headed off to our weekend excursion in the Volta Region. Lake Volta is the largest manmade lake in the world, and it’s dam produces most, if not all, of Ghana’s electricity. As you can see on the map, it’s huge! Our destination was an eco-hotel called Roots Yard in a tiny town called Peki (see bubble on map) (www.rootsyard.org). Roots Yard was our home base for a couple of days while we travelled to nearby attractions, Wli Waterfalls and the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary.

Feeding a Mona Monkey

Saturday morning we headed over to the Monkey Sanctuary first. We took a tro-tro to Hohoe (no, the two words don’t rhyme, it’s “ho-hoy”) located just north of Peki, and from there we hopped on motorcycles where our guides took us on the final leg of our journey to the sanctuary. The conversation I had with my guide is very typical for female North American tourists here: Are you married? How many people in your family? I want to marry an American woman! Mind you, he might say this even if he is already married, because polygamy is practiced here.

The monkeys were gentle little Mona Monkeys living in a bamboo grove. They were strong little guys, so you had to hold your banana firmly so they would interact with you more. They would peel back the banana skin, remove the banana meat, all the while rarely losing eye contact with you, and be on their way. To my surprise, one decided to jump from the bamboo stalk to my arm almost as soon as I held out a banana! He/she was surprising light in weight.  Since about 1933 the monkeys have been protected here and are revered by the locals. Prior to that, they were hunted to near-extinction, as new religion settled in and forbade animal worship. I’m glad they have a safe home now.

Wli Waterfall, the highest in Western Africa

After seeing the monkeys, we then headed to Wli Waterfalls, the highest waterfall in Western Africa, and about 15 minutes from the Togo border. It was another tro-tro ride and then a taxi ride to the visitor’s information center. From the main office you take a 20 minute walk through a rain forest until you get to the falls. I had read somewhere that Wli was also home to bats; turns out it’s a rare fruit bat that lives right next to the waterfall, and they are protected here, as they used to be hunted. They are kind of difficult to make out because they blend right in to the rock, but then one will take off and fly and then you realize there are HUNDREDS of them hanging out!  We hung out for a few hours and we got home late that night, but our wonderful hosts had dinner ready for us shortly after we arrived at around 11 PM. We had texted them earlier that we thought we would be late, and they generously said No problem!

The next day we decided to walk to Lake Volta, which turned out to be too ambitious a goal and we ended up taking a taxi to the lake after about 3 hours of walking. But the walk was gorgeous, through a cocoa tree grove and giant trees that completely dwarfed us.

We also walked by several cemeteries. Which brings up the subject of funerals. Funerals are a big, big deal here; how you celebrate a person’s death has a direct impact on your family’s reputation. A funeral can go on into the night and through the next morning, as we witnessed the first night we spent at Roots Yard. They were having a funeral for a local military hero, and all night and into the early hours of the next morning hymnal music was blaring into the neighborhood. They were still celebrating Sunday morning, as illustrated by a car full of locals showing up to the lodge at 9:30 AM with beers in hand to toast with the owners, who also knew the recently deceased. It is touching that they celebrate a person to such magnitude, but apparently a family can go bankrupt with the cost, which brings up some concerns.  But then again, we do that in the U.S. with weddings!

Lake Volta, the largest man-made lake in the world

Anyway, back to our hike/taxi ride to the lake. When we got there, we were so hot, and we all really wanted to go for a swim, but we all decided against it. There is a worm that lives in the shore of the lake that will burrow into human skin and you have to have it cut out. There is also a parasite in the water that may enter your body and you may not know about it for a very long time. So we chickened out. Although for just a few seconds, I did go knee-deep into the lake, as my legs were covered in sweat and red dirt, and I looked pretty pathetic. This cemented my promise to myself to see a tropical medicine doctor when I get back to the U.S., which I am kind of excited about, just to get checked for random parasites and worms that hitched a ride with me to New Mexico.

The best movie theater in Ghana!

After getting back from our hike and having a vegan dinner, we saw “12 Years a Slave.” And it was the best theater ever! We hung a sheet on a building near our dormitory, and stretched out on some loungers, and saw the movie outdoors. This picture was taken the next day; we viewed the movie at night. I really don’t have the words to describe the movie that would do it justice, but it was very well done and very powerful. Wow.

Kente Cloth

The following day we were planning on heading home, but first we walked about 15 minutes down the road to see Kente cloth weavers. Kente cloth (from kenten meaning basket weave) originated in the Ashanti region. It is hand-woven and is worn on formal occasions. To see them weave this cloth is quite amazing; they use their hands and toes to move around the many pieces of string. I didn’t take a picture because it felt too intrusive, but I purchased a piece of Kente cloth that is sort of a sampler of all the patterns they use.

We went back to Roots Yard to settle our bills, then headed out for the long trip back to Cape Coast (and Anna on to Krobo). On the way home, our traveling route got a little unpredictable because tro-tro drivers like to tell you they can take you halfway to your destination where you may catch another tro-tro to your final destination, but they don’t really know for sure if your transfer tro-tro is still running. Long story short, we spent the night in Accra and got home a day late. After talking with some of the seasoned volunteers here, I discovered that this is a very common thing, and part of the Ghanaian Maybe Time.

View from the back of a tro-tro

My lesson about traveling in Ghana is to start your traveling early! And try not to travel at night. But we did see a lot more of the region than we would have, and it was quite lovely. And while we were driving through the green mountains of southeastern Ghana, and while I worried about what time we would be getting home in this mysterious country, a quote from one of my family’s favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., popped in my head: “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” Thank you for writing those words that comforted me on my journey, Mr. Vonnegut!