Mole

This weekend we went to Mole (pronounced Moe – Lay) National Park. It was really cool. We left on Friday morning at about 6 am and didn’t arrive until about 9 pm. It was a LONG bus ride. The park is way up north, almost to the top of the country. It was beautiful. When we arrived and were all heading to our rooms, 2 of the girls found 3 warthogs right outside their door blocking the way in. We were all a little bit scared, so we went and got someone to help us. He came with a handful of rocks and just started throwing the rocks at the warthogs until they ran away. It was fun to see right as we arrived.

The next morning we went on a walking safari. We left for the safari on Saturday morning at about 7 am. We walked through a small village and saw our first elephants! There were about three of them just eating the grass right outside the village. Nobody in the village seemed to really care about the elephants, but they all followed us around. It was so fun to see them. We went on a 2 hour hike through the jungle and saw many antelope, warthogs, some more elephants and baboons. It was so cool. The jungle was beautiful.
After we were done with our hike, we had breakfast and were greeted by a little monkey who wanted to share with us. He just jumped up right on our table, took some drinks of our juice, and tried to snatch some food. It was startling when it first happened, but it was really cool to see. Something that will probably never happen again! After breakfast, we headed out to a small remote village to learn a little bit more about the culture and how they live. We were greeted by a large group of children who could hear the bus coming. When I stepped off the bus, I was immediately swarmed by small children who were grabbing my hands and wanting to hold on to me. One little girl looked up at me and said, “You are my best friend.” Our guide along with the kids lead us into the village where we began our tour. It was really cool. The kids were holding onto us the whole time and we walked through the little mud hut village. We went to a couple of huts and saw the people making a variety of different things including: Shea butter, spinning cotton into thread, and the medicine man. It was really cool to see how they live, and I was amazed to see all the different abilities they are capable of in order to survive. The village was sad. There were flies everywhere and the kids just dealt with it. They were filthy from head to toe and many had sores on their heads, probably from the flies practically living there. It was really sad to see, but also really eye opening to see how they survive. The kids asked us for everything. They wanted us to give them our clothes, our cameras, and anything else we had on. I felt selfish saying no, but that is what we were told to do.
After we left the village, we went on another walking safari. We didn’t really see any more animals on the 2nd one, but it was nice to just walk around and enjoy the beauty of the jungle. When we got back we were heading to our rooms to get changed so we could swim and cool down, and there was an elephant right in front of my door! It was crazy. We just stood there and watched it until it had eaten pretty much our whole bush and then it left. It was really cool to see it so close to us.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool and playing games. We left early again on Sunday morning to return but made a stop to hike a waterfall. The water fall was beautiful. It was a very short walk, but it was totally worth it. We did, however, have to hike down 152 stairs. The way down wasn’t bad, but the way up was a little bit tiresome! After that, we headed back on our 14 hour journey to Accra. It was a really fun weekend, and a lot of bus riding!

A day of classes

Another busy day here in Africa. We started out by going to the school. Today, our lesson was on oral hygiene. It didn’t last as long as we wanted it to, but it was still good. The kids were really engaged and interested in what we were talking about which makes all the difference. I brought model with me from work and we showed the kids the proper way to brush and floss, and then we gave them all a toothbrush and a thing of floss. They were so excited to receive it, and almost each child said, “God bless you” after we gave it to them. It was so sweet. After our short lesson, we needed some time fillers, so we taught them some more songs. Luckily, Anne Marie just went to girls camp with here dad a few weeks before we got here, and she remembered the “Rigabamboo” song with all the actions. The kids absolutely LOVED it. They pretty much love any song we sing that has hand actions. We also taught them “Do as I’m doing” and it was also a hit because we got to jump, hop on one foot, wave our hands in the air along with a myriad of other things as we were singing depending on who the leader was.

After we were all sung out, we headed out to play games with the kids. They love when we play with them. They have lots of games, and we play almost all of them by standing in a circle and clapping. Their games are really a lot of fun, and almost all of them have a song that goes with them. I hope to remember them and teach them to my kids someday. They are so much fun. I had my hair curly today, and the kids loved it. They kept touching it, and a few of them said, "Next time you come, bring your hair like that, I love it, it is beautiful" These kids really know how to boost your self esteem!

Hate to be biased, but these two boys are my favorite. They are so cute and always want to participate. The top one is named Isaac, and the bottom is Richard

This is me playing "There's a fire on the mountain" It is kind of like our "Duck, duck, goose"

After we got home, we headed out to Manya Krobo to do our AIDS classes. We are working with the women this week and it has been a really eye opening experience. We ask a question that says, “Is what a woman has to say just as important as what a man has to say?” and almost every single one of them said “No” It breaks my heart to know that these women here are so bright and so intelligent and yet they have no opportunity to show it because they are viewed as second class. One of the lessons that I teach is how HIV and AIDS relate to women. We talk about rape, and how it’s not ok at any time in life for a man to force a woman to have sex, and when we say it they are all shocked. They kept asking, “not even if they are married?” or “What if they are engaged?” When we told them that if they do not want to have sex, they don’t have to, and if someone forces them it is rape and they can report it. It is a really hard lesson to teach, but I think one of the most rewarding. I feel like I am giving them a voice, or at least one small chance to make a change in the way things are.

This is Manya Krobo. It is a very poor town.

There was a pastor there today who was helping us out and acting a little bit as a translator, and when we said that it’s not ok for a husband to force a wife to have sex, he looked at me and said, “Are we taking about in America, or here in Africa, because in Africa if a woman reports to the police that her husband forced her to have sex they won’t do anything about it because it is his right.” I was appalled. He didn’t agree with much of what we said, and so I just hope that as he was translating, he didn’t taint what I said. He also told us that we were wrong when we said that men and women are equal, he said, “in everything except sex, men and women are not equal, men are greater” I wanted to punch him in the face for being such an arrogant chauvinistic pig. Keeping the women how they are is not going to help their country get out of poverty or make any progress. It is only when we all work together as equals that w can make any real progression. It was a very frustrating lesson, and just made me very grateful that I live in America. I would probably be dead if I lived here because I would be out picketing for women’s rights. It is a hard life they live here and every day I gain a stronger respect for what the women of this country have to deal with.

PS) We are heading out on another weekend excursion and won't be back till late Sunday, so this will be my last post until then! We are going on a safari, so pray that I don't get eaten!!

Drivers License?

Here is the video for "Once there was a snowman" The kids love to sing it!

We had another good day in class today. Anne Marie had the lesson today. We trade off every other day doing what we thought of and then we just help each other out. We taught Sign Language today, and the kids absolutely LOVED it! We didn’t teach them anything really in depth, but Anne Marie brought a poster of the alphabet. We practiced it a couple of times and then went through the class and practiced signing each of the kid’s names. They were loving it. After every couple of names, we would teach them a phrase such as “My name is …” or “How are you” They thought it was so cool. We could probably have done it for days and they would have still loved it. Then we went through and sang the alphabet song while doing the signs. They loved our version of the song. They sang theirs for us before we sang ours, and it was so cute. After every couple letters they would sing a phrase about Jesus. It was really cute.

The rest of the day was free. We went to the temple again. It is the last week that it will be open while we are here because they are closing it for cleaning. We were trying to hit a session, but we got lost on the way. Surprise, surprise. Our taxi driver had no idea where we were trying to go, and sometimes it is very hard to explain because they speak with such thick accents. When we finally made it, the session had already started, and there wasn’t another one for 2 hours, so we all did baptisms. I felt so bad for the lone man in our group. Each of us girls did about 10 names, and there were 10 girls there. So total, he had to baptize us about 100 times. I bet his arms were tired! Back of the taxi - don't mind my hideousness in this picture! :)

Then, we all headed out to eat, and surprise again, more problems with the taxi. We were just driving along, when all of a sudden traffic got really slow. I guess the cops just do random checks sometimes, and so he pulled us over and came to our driver and asked for his license. Our driver started arguing with the cop and after a minute he looked at us and said, “You get out of the car, your driver is being arrested, and the car is being impounded.” We were like, “Well, okay then,” and we got out of the car. I felt bad for the driver, but I guess it is his fault for driving illegally, probably with a stolen car. Most of the drivers here hot wire the cars to get them started, so I am sure most of them are either stolen, or illegal. It was pretty funny and just a little bit scary.
And, that was my day in Ghana. It is always an adventure, and each day I learn something new.

School Days

Today was a great day. We started out by going to the schools and teaching in our classes. Today I taught my lesson on the human heart. I was a little bit apprehensive because of the whole volcano thing, but it actually went really well. They were SO interested in what we were teaching them, and they were all participating. It was such a relief that they caught on and were actually excited to learn about it. We taught them how the heart pumps, about the veins and arteries and then how blood travels through your heart. Then, we had them all take their pulse and we listed them all on the board and calculated how many beats per minute their hearts were beating. They loved that! Then I had them run in place for 30ish seconds and had them take their heart rate right after they were done. They loved to get out of their chairs and move around. It was so fun to see them engaged and learning. It gave me hope for my future lessons!

Both of these pictures are of the kids who are in our 4th grade class. They are so cute!

The kids LOVE to sing. They love to sing for us, and they love to have us sing with them. It is so cute. So, Anne Marie and I decided that it would be fun to teach them a couple of primary songs. So, we taught them “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree” and “Once there was a snowman”. Before we taught them the snowman song, we had to teach them what a snowman was. It was funny. They absolutely loved learning the songs and caught on so fast. It was awesome. They sing popcorn like this: “Pop pop popping on the apricot tree” instead of “popcorn popping on the apricot tree”.

Then they taught us how to sing one of their songs, and they loved that we learned and sang it for them with out them singing. It was so sweet. It is so fun to sing with them because they all have actions and clapping and they sing so loud. It is so fun. Even all their games have songs that go with them. They love when we will play with them and try to learn their songs. They think it is hilarious and spend most of the time laughing at the way we say things, or when we don’t know how to play. It is super cute. I hope they stay interested in what we are teaching. It just makes things so much easier!

We also taught our AIDS class again today. This time we were working with girls. It seemed to me that they caught on so much faster. They seemed to understand what we were saying, and also they just had a stronger knowledge of the disease. I was so glad that they had the understanding that they did, but I almost wish it would have been opposite. Since almost all of the girls we interviewed also believed that boyfriends and husbands had the right to sex even if the girlfriend or wife didn't want it, their knowledge of the disease doesn't really do much for them. However, if the men had a stronger knowledge of it, they have more power to change and actually make a difference in the rates of AIDS, especially because it is so much easier for women to transmit AIDS to women than it is for women to transmit it to men. It is just good that at least they understand about it. They were a very bright group, it is just so sad to see how much they lack self esteem. They are all beautiful, smart, intelligent women, and yet, they have almost no say about what goes on in their lives. It is very sad, and would be a very hard life to live.

First Weekend Excursion

Wow! What a weekend we had! It was our first weekend away from Accra, and it was packed with amazing things to do! We traveled by bus for about 4 hours to Cape Cost to go on a Canopy Walk through the rain forest, to see a crocodile reserve, and to visit the Elmina Slave Castles. The Canopy walk was our first stop. It was beautiful! We walked through the rain forest across about 8 bridges hanging in mid air, high above the trees. It was raining the whole time, which just added to the ambience. It was absolutely unbelievable. I loved it. The forest was so green, and the trees were amazing. The bridges were made clear back in the late 1800s or early 1900s by 2 Canadians, and 6 Ghanaians. I don't know how they did it, but somehow they managed to get clear up in the trees to build these amazing bridges. It was so cool to be above the trees, or most of them, and to be looking down from a hanging bridge. It was a little unnerving at first, but it was really cool.

Everywhere we go, people want to have their pictures taken with us. We are practically celebrities!

The view from one of the bridges - AMAZING!

The sign says: You Survived The Walk Way Hand Over Your Badge Here...

After we were all soaking wet, we headed over to the crocodile reserve. It was so cool, but mostly scary. There was a pond, and the whole pond was full of crocodiles. The people working there lured out the crocodiles with raw chicken, and they fed it to them right in front of us. I was standing probably 3 feet from the croc. CRAZY!
Then on to our next adventure - the Elmina Slave Castle. It was so sad. The whole town was there for some kind of fishing festival. As soon as we entered the castel, a distinct dark feeling came over me. It was so sad. As I was walking through the crowd to get to the castle, I even felt a little guilty, being white, and feeling like I was some how to blame for the slavery that took place.

This is where they would put people who misbehaved. They were left in here until they died.

The castle was amazing, so much history is there - so many lives lost, so many untold stories. Slavery is such a sad thing. I wondered as I was walking through how it all started. What gave somebody the idea that they were better than these people, just because of the color of their skin? Why does that constitute that they had "the right" to take away their freedoms and treat them so inhumanely? I wonder what the world would be like today if slavery had never existed. Would racism still exist? Just some thoughts I had today.

These are the balls that they would chain the women to if they resisted rape

The prisons and dungeons we walked through were awful, no light and usually just one tiny window for ventilation. 12 million slaves were kept at this one castle. Only 4 million made it to their destination alive. I can't even begin to imagine the fear, but I did get a good feel for how awful it must have felt being there. The spirit there is still so wrong - so dark. It is very sad and very eye opening. If the female slaves resisted rape, they were forced to stand in the courtyard with ball and chain with no food or water for days, sometimes even till they died. I can't imagine how horrifying that would be.


We then made it to our hotel; a quaint little resort right on the beach. It is one of the nicest resorts in Ghana, and would equate to about a 2 star hotel in America. President Obama is staying there tomorrow night, and the secret service was there scouting it out making sure everything was ok. It was actually pretty cool. They all had huge German Shepherds with them. They were pretty normal, a little weird, but what do you expect from secret service? One of them actually told us that the reason they were there was because of Obama, of course in less words, as I am sure he was not actually allowed to say that. It was pretty cool - probably a once in a life time experience - how ironic that it happens to be in Africa. I guess it just goes to show just how small the world really is.

Anne Marie and I on the beach swings

And before I go, I just wanted to say to all of you, but especially to Dan:

AND