Fried but happy

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted something! Shame on me. Things have been picking up as far as my internship goes, and I've been away from Cape Coast for over a week, to a town near Accra called Ashaiman ("Ashama"). Internet has been unreliable, and my timing of trying to get a post up has not been good..but here I am! I am seriously pooped with all my traipsing around Ghana, sightseeing and giving presentations! But I have had a ball, and I have a lot to catch you up on, so here we go. In chronological order:

First, I did a Nutrition class with two beloved community members, Judith and Ellie, about two and a half weeks ago. Judith runs a souvenir store and Ellie runs a restaurant next door to Judith's store.  We have dinner many nights at Ellie's, dinner costs the equivalent of about $4 and is dee-licous. Both businesses are located near the Global Mamas volunteer house, making it the best location in Ghana because of these two ladies. I was so pleased to spend this time with them. I'll be meeting them tomorrow to do a breast cancer awareness class and a menopause class.

Judith, Ellie and Me at Ellie's place

Then about two weeks ago put aside my fear of dancing in front of people sober and and I got my African dancing and drumming on! Remember that lady I included in my second post, Antoinette, Ghana's premier female master drummer? She gives workshops! So me, Amelia, and Adrienne (yes another Adrienne, it took getting used to!) danced and drummed our little hearts out for two hours.  Antoinette was a great instructor, her assistants were encouraging and patient, and I was so glad I didn't chicken out.

Adrienne, Amelia and Adrienne, with Antoinette center back, and her two amazing assistants.

Me disturbing the elephants trying to bathe in peace

April 15 was spent on the way to Mole (Mo-lay) National Park, with another volunteer and her visiting friend. Elephants, warthogs, water buffalo, Roan antelopes, and many, many other animals walked around without a care in the world. What an amazing thing to see! Ok yes, they did run away when they saw us coming, a bunch of funny humans riding atop a jeep, holding on for dear life as the driver negotiated the jeep around enormous potholes.  But to see them in their natural habitat was one of my bucket list items. Check! :)

Cloud formation in Mole after a heavy rain and hail storm...the heavens opened right up!

During our stay, there was a huge rainfall that lasted a good hour. The sky was amazing soon after it stopped.

Hamza in front of Ghana's oldest Mosque

I forgot to mention, before we got to Mole, we made a short stop to visit Ghana's oldest mosque. The gentleman in the photo is Hamza, our guide. He said they have written records that this mosque existed in 1491, but most believe it is even much older than that. I didn't see the inside...you can't enter it unless you are Muslim. But the outside was so cool it didn't matter! Northern Ghana's population is mostly Muslim. And this mosque is still a working mosque.

The last night we (two gals and I) were in Mole, the sunset was spectacular. And see that horizon? It's all trees. When was the last time you saw so many trees? This is medicine for the soul.

After Mole, the gals I was travelling with and I went to Accra, where we met up with some other volunteers and went to the Accra Mall. Yes, the mall! We saw a movie that was not my choice (I wanted to see Captain America) but the choice of Sascha, a volunteer from Denmark, who passionately wanted to see "Heaven is a Real Place." So we did. And that's all I'll say about that.

After a few days in Accra, I went to Ashaiman with one of the Global Mamas founders, Renae, to stay for two days and give presentations on nutrition, breast cancer awareness and menopause. This was a big deal for me because my goal was to give at least one presentation at each GM location, and this was the last location for me to visit. I also gave the most presentations here because they were all finally finished! So this was a big step for me, and I've relieved I was able to complete it. It seemed to go well, and while there were a few gals who looked bored out of their minds, (I tried to make it exciting!) many more had questions and lingered a bit afterwards to talk a little more. 

This is when the group exercise was going on, where they needed to design a nutritious meal based on the info they just got.

"Ashimama's Food Pyramid"

As part of my internship in Community Health, one of my tasks was to make sure the audience was able to create their own food pyramid using foods relevant to them. That's what this picture above captures. We all took turns drawing. My favorites are the chicken and goat! When I asked them what they wanted to call it, they said "Ashimama's Food Pyramid" (Ashimamas being a combination of Ashaiman and Mamas.)  Genius!

After Ashaiman, it was back to Accra for a couple of days. The Accra Global Mamas house is also the private home of the founder, Renae, her husband and their two kids. They also have two huge dogs that are extremely intimidating, especially when they growl, but all they want (like most non-rabid dogs) is a good scratch from you. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this guy, in a much less intimidating mood. I think this one is named Loose Fur:

I'm back in Cape Coast now, looking at the last 3 weeks of my stay in Ghana. It has gone by so quickly. But in the beginning, it was going by so slow! Next week I'm here, the following week I am taking a week off and going to Barcelona, home of three of my favorites, Miro, Picasso and Gaudi. Then I'm back in Ghana for a few days, then home! I can't wait to see my friends and family, including my own menagerie animals.

I'd like to leave you with this picture of the elephants I took during the walking safari on our third day in Mole. This captures the essence of what I thought of whenever I thought of Africa. Ghana has turned out to be much, much more, but the spirit of Africa will always be this to me. I'm grateful beyond measure that I got to see this in real life.