Day 16: Day of Farewells

Driving back from dinner last night, listening to music and looking out the window of the bus as the streets of Accra, I felt sad to leave today. I'm not one to get homesick a lot, but I have on this trip. So I'm glad to go back, but I'll miss Ghana for sure.

Yesterday and today we've gone for morning jogs before breakfast. Again, just four of us from our trip, but its so interesting to see the city during the morning rush hour. This morning, I saw a tiger! Some pick-up truck was transporting it, and it was caged in pacing back and forth. It was a nice sight that made me do a double take :)

Today after lunch, we packaged all the extra food we had left over at the restaurant. A couple friends and I walked around the Center which planned our trip (we're staying here for the afternoon, since we checked out of the hotel and our flight is only at night) and found moms to hand the boxes too. It was nice to walk around one last time before leaving.  I'll miss the vegetation and humid, hot weather, no doubt.

The four of us who walked around were talking and reflecting on the trip. Honestly, its been a different experience for everyone, since we are all from different backgrounds and mindsets. But one thing I think that is common is that we've not only learned so much about the Slave Trade and modern West African society, as the trip had planned, but we've learned so much about ourselves personally. I've realized things about myself that will make me view the world differently, and there are habits I've picked up here which I'd like to maintain no matter where I go.

These two weeks have been a blast.

Medasi,

Padma

Day 14: Reminiscing in Accra

The past two days have been busy, yet not. We've been hitting Slave Camps, Baths, and other sites throughout the trip but we finally saw Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle before returning to Accra. It was on these two trips that the gravity of what we've been studying and preparing for finally hit me.

Let me start with the Slave Camp we saw up North, near the border. Pikwara Slave Camp was a site where the Slavetraders kept slaves to be brought upon capture and sold when the time came. It was a rocky area at the foot of a mountain range, and what we saw was unbelievable. A lot of what we saw did not hit me, honestly, until we viewed the Slave Castles while in Cape Coast, but I'll explain.
There were different areas we saw in the camp. The "food" area was on a large boulder, and there were smooth, oval, shallow holes carved into the side of the rock. Our guide said that slaves were made to carve those holes and then eat from them. We saw a "buying" area where the slaves were actually sold and bought, and changed hands on their way from their native lands to the coast. There was a "punishment" area where rebellious slaves were chained to rocks under the scorching sun and sometimes whipped as an example to other slaves. And then there was a crass cemetery area where they were crudely buried.

We visited another Slave Market in the notorious city of Salaga, where wells still existed in which the slaves were bathed. Today it is a lush, green, forested area away from the city, but the heart of the city is still around the previously huge, rich slave market.

The next site that sticks out in my memory coming down from the North was a Slave Bath site. The slaves were bathed and groomed in and on the shores of a small river that ran through the area. This was their last bath before reaching the coast. The place was quite beautiful to my eyes today, but while we were there I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of suffering that happened centuries ago.

Perhaps one reason I couldn't "comprehend the magnitude of the suffering" of all these sites was the presentation. Ghana's Ministry of Tourism (THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM!!!) made these sites visitable, physically and commercially, and a lot of our tour guides spouted off memorized scripts at all the places. It was difficult, already, to wrap my mind around the concept of what all happened, and on top of that the set up made it even more difficult. But the castles cleared that up for me.

 Finally, the Castles on the Coast. They were beautiful, in all their cement strength and with their seaside views. But the dungeons, rooms, and quarters we witnessed were sub-human. In fact, Elmina castle was used as a warehouse for not slaves, but goods and products for centuries before it became to be known as a Slave Fort. It was in Elmina Castle, staring at the Door of No Return, where the African people walked one last time on African soil, that it began to hit me. 

The bus ride after, coming to Accra, was quiet. I did a lot of thinking on that bus ride.

Medasi,

Padma

Day 12: Dreamlike Beach Resort :)

We're finally on the beach again, staying at (If I may say for so for myself) a posh Beach Resort! There's a sweet stickiness in the air that the sea spray creates, with the ocean so close we can taste the salt on our lips again and walk through the moist sand and groves of palm trees just to go to dinner. The waves roar in the background and create a white noise at all times. Its nice to wake up to this though!

Our drive from Kumasi was quite peaceful. It was amazing how much greenery surrounded us! Everything was so thick and lush.

The coast here is so rough though! I've never seen such huge waves that are so loud! When we arrived here yesterday, we played in the Atlantic for a long while. At first, I was tugged and dunked every which way. But after a good twenty minuets or so, I learned to keep my head above the surface and how to brace myself against the waves so as not to get pushed back every time.

It's amazing to think that on these very beaches just three hundred years ago, the Slave Trade was in its peak. So many people suffered here, some lost their lives, and all were thrust into a new life which was nothing like they had experienced before. And today, in 2012, we've seen, learned, and enjoyed so much on these same beaches.

Medasi,
Padma

Day 10!

Here in Kumasi we went on a morning walk. Schoolchildren walking to their trotros (local public taxis here) or bus stops became a familiar sight. The children here smile and wave back at us :)

Kumasi is the capital of the Asante region. The Asante people are absolutely beautiful! I think I'm regaining my sense of seeing beauty in everyone, one thing I'm happy and thankful for. I also realized that I've gained an African/Ghanaian taste of attractiveness. Its funny how that happens when you immerse yourself in another culture, when you're around people of the same nationality all the time.

We've seen the Asante Palace, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and lots of other sites. Its beautiful, and this cloudy weather helps a lot!

Medasi,
Padma

Day 8: Calm in Kumasi

The last two days have been a whirlwind of activities! I finally got some time to write, but I'm just going to share some of my observations and realizations because I feel that what we actually did wasn't as important as what we learned doing it.

-The children here are much less sheltered than in the "developed" world. I guess that the poorer children anywhere are forced to be more responsible than children higher up on the socio-economic ladder. Here, children of two or three know how to care for their month-old siblings.

- The people here are so friendly. I can smile, wave, or say, "Hi, how are you?" and they respond! For me personally, its a nice way to diffuse the awkwardness whenever random guys stare :) Now, after Ghana, I want to greet people in every country that I travel to and see how people respond. I know in the States its usually a gruff, short, reply and people are on their way, with the "Time is Money" mindset.

- At our previous hotel in Tamale, I realized how different the hotel-key system is here. Whenever we leave the hotel, we hand our keys in, and they know that they can then clean our rooms. But in Tamale, when I went to pick up my key after we got back from an outing, the receptionist remembered my room number with my face and just handed it over without a word! I didn't have to tell him or anything. In the US, they would:
   (1) expect us to keep our keys and not have us turn them in when we leave...and the key would actually be a key-card, not keys like they are here.
    (2) ask us what are room number is, not remember and just know when we came back to pick it up!

- Cars and lories honk all the time! Dr Arrington said that its a form of communication, just like English or Twi. But its always cool how vehicles honk at people and bikes also on the road to let them know they're coming. And even with such loud honks, people don't even turn their heads to look...they understand and know that a car or lori is coming and move over.

-Using the restroom along the long drives has literally been an adventure in itself. So far we've seen really nice toilets, terrible toilets, semi-pit latrines, pit latrines, and used the "bush bathroom" several times. I've realized its really not that bad, especially if you're wearing a skirt :)

- I've found a new sense of appreciation for the iPhone. I haven't been making phone calls on it because of the data roaming charges, but I can still do sooo much on it! I've taken pictures, listened to music, made notes...did I mention making notes? I've made several to record all the thoughts I've had and incredible things I've seen.

-A previous government here installed speed bumps on pretty much every major roadway so that drivers must slow down and accidents may be avoided. For us, it's definitely slowed us down!

-Driving around up North has made me realize how many more donkeys there are in the North! The first one I saw caught me off guard because there are virtually none down South. But all the villages in the North have them!

Ok it's late. More later!
Medasi,
Padma

Day 6 at Daybreak!

It was hard to wake up early this morning because we stayed up late last night talking. I was so glad I did though, because we (just four of us) finally went on the jog we've been thinking of doing every morning!
 We started our run at 6 AM sharp, and boy was it a good run! We saw all the early morning routines of people on the outskirts of Tamale (our hotel is in the outskirts of town so we ran towards the heart of the city through the suburbs, if you could call it that). Lots of goats, chickens, and roosters were already up. The streets weren't quite as thronging as yesterday (yet!) but they were still pretty busy. The four of us ladies got some stares and honks :)
  Now we're off to a busy day around Tamale!

Medasi,
Padma

Day 5: Travel to Tamale!

This morning, we left from Molè National Park and came to the vibrant city of Tamale. But before we left, we had a last adventure in the Park...we got to see an elephant, up close and personal! An elephant had wandered up to the visitor center and was walking around chewing on leaves of shrubs and stuff. Our group, along with another Ghanaian school group, crowded a safe distance away and watched in fascination. It was beautiful! This one was missing one tusk, and had a small circular hole in its ear...
  We reached Tamale around 4 in the afternoon and refreshed a bit before dinner. I had one of the best dinners yet here...rice balls and groundnut stew. It was heavy but delicious!

 Today is Friday, the Holy Day of the Islamic Religion. Tamale is heavily Muslim, as is much of Northern Ghana, and on the way here we passed a village where everyone was going to Mosque for a community prayer. It was pretty cool!
 Driving in Tamale, I saw the most beautiful Mosque I've ever seen. I think now, after reflecting on it a little, I can safely say that Tamale is my favorite city yet. It is much smaller than Accra, but still lively and with its own unique personality. It was thronging with people dressed in bright traditional clothes when we drove in, and there are people EVERYWHERE.
 Tomorrow is market day! We'll be outside in the huge, thronging market place here, sweating in the heat and bargaining for everything we buy. Amongst Ghanaians!

Medasi,
Padma

Day 4 cntd: Afternoon Off

After the mosque we came back to the hotel and had lunch. It was delicious, but its so hot outside and I got a headache.
  Many baboons and other monkeys hang around the compound. At breakfast this morning, one stole sugar and marmalade from off the table! It had to be chased off. At lunch, they hung around our periphery and made everyone nervous.
  I forgot to explain about the hike this morning in my earlier post...our hike ranger, Christopher, told us of the park's history. The land here used to be a huge forest area but in the 30s and 40s, the so-called Sleeping Sickness broke out. Many forest people died in the epidemic and as a backlash killed all sorts of animals, not knowing which spread the sickness and wanting to contain it. Once researchers found the source, the tsetse fly, and discovered a cure, the Park was established as a safe haven for the wildlife.
  After lunch I took a long nap. It was nice because for once I didn't have to set my alarm (we had the afternoon and evening off), I just slept until I felt like waking up. Through the evening we all sat out by the pool, under the awnings of the building, when a huge rainstorm started, and talked about a lot of things. What we've seen so far, more of our backgrounds...our topic strayed to adoption at one point. I found out that especially from foreign countries, it is extremely expensive and time consuming! I also brought up prenatal care and pregnancy in Laribanga...I did see a couple expecting women this morning and was wondering. The women there obviously didn't have the medicines and hospitals we do. They're so strong! It's really something to ponder.
  Talking it out helped wash away some of the stronger emotions from this morning. Overall it was a calm and relaxing rest of the day, with some beautiful storms.

Medasi,
Padma

Day 4: Laribanga Village and Mosque

  We had our morning hike at the National Park at an early 7 am. It was pretty uneventful according to the park rangers since we didn't see any elephants, but we did see many deer, antelope, monkeys, and warthogs.
  The mosque was nothing like I expected. It was located in the village Laribanga, ancient and pretty rudimentary, built of clay, stones, and wood. Our guide there, Ahmed, told us of its long Muslim-Arabic history.
  The language in the village was Kamara (I guess that's how you would spell it...). It is the ONLY village in Africa that speaks it, so the 4000 people that live there are the only people in the world who know this language! That was amazing to me.
  Lots of children in the village flocked to us while we were there. Many showed signs of Kwashiorkor. I befriended two little girls who held my hand through the tour (pretty much everyone in our group was holding little kids' hands).
  Honestly, the tour of the village was quite eye-opening, depressing, and humbling. The people survive from the shea butter business (we got to watch the whole process of collecting and refining the nuts into a lotion) and the tours of the mosque, which all go towards local profit and help (or so we were told.).
  We've seen so many different sides of Africa already, and after seeing Accra in its richness it was hard for me to accept the sights we saw at Laribanga. After talking to some people in the group, I realized that people are living there, and will live there as they have for centuries, and who am I to impose my judgements on them? After all, as someone mentioned, "You don't miss what you've never had". So it may be hard for us to see such poverty, but that's how they've gotten along for generations and will continue to do so.
  Or is that something we tourists tell ourselves to assuage our guilty conscience?

Medasi,
Padma

Day 3: The Day of Driving

So today we hauled it from the Southern tip of Ghana (Accra is on the Southern coastline) all the way up to Molè National Park in the NorthWest corner. The scenery was beautiful to say the least, and despite 15 hours on the bus, I enjoyed the mountains, plains, crops, trees, and lush greenery.
  We got a flat tire shortly after lunch! But our bus driver had a spare in the back of the bus and changed it in about 15 minutes. And that was it, we were on our way.

  The roads were fine except the very last stretch we had to cross... it was two hours straight of a dirt road filled with washed out potholes. We passed a village where I saw a long black snake slither into the brush!
  Other than the extremely long drive, today was actually really enjoyable. Our group really got into Hiplife, the newer style of Ghanaian music, and it was a fun time pass.
   Tomorrow we have a hike and a mosque planned! That should be fun.

Medasi,
Padma

Day 2: Adventures in Accra

I woke up early this morning planning to go jogging with a couple friends in the neighborhood of our hotel. We all met in the lobby, ready to go, but the minute we stepped outside it started raining! We came back to the mini-gym in the hotel to work out a bit. By that time it had started pouring! It was a sweet, warm monsoon rain. Apparently the rain season has come early this year, lucky for us, so it probably won't be as hot as usual on this visit.

Our plans today included touring Greater Accra and seeing all the different neighborhoods as well as many independence memorials, having lunch at the National Theater, touring more of Accra, and dinner at a cute place called Chèz Àfrique. Touring such a huge city was only possible with a bus tour, but what with jet lag and sitting in a seat for hours together, I couldn't help but fall asleep. Hopefully we'll get a chance to enjoy Accra at a deeper level later.

After dinner, back at our hotel, a local seamstress who had heard we were in town came to do some business...She had many beautiful dresses, bags, and quilts to sell and also took our measurements to make new dresses with. All the ladies in our group ordered from her and we can't wait to receive them in two weeks!

I'm looking at the schedule for tomorrow and it's a longgggg day of driving. We leave in the morning from our hotel, stop for lunch in Kumasi (a city in the central region) and reach Molè National Park in the North late tomorrow night. I'm not looking forward to the long hours in the bus, but it will be nice to traverse the country and see all the different regions. 

Medasi!

Padma

Day 1 Continued: First Outings in Accra

Exploring our hotel this afternoon was quite fruitful...I found out we have a state of the art pool, as well as an internet café (on top of the Wi-Fi!).
We had our first meal at Tawala Beach Restaurant, literally a restaurant on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. As our professors have been telling us, chicken and rice is what we'll be eating a lot of the time, and Welcome to Ghana, that's what we had for dinner. Seeing the Atlantic while we ate was amazing. The ocean here is loud and rough and the waves actually crash onto the shore. If I had thought Accra was humid earlier, it was nothing compared to how humid it was at dinner. You could feel the moisture in the air and taste the salt on your lips.


Driving through Accra to dinner, I couldn't help but notice something... "Developing" countries are developing countries no matter where in the world they are. Having experienced India, Belize, and now Ghana, I've observed that they all have similar appearance, lifestyles, smells in the air, and so on. Its interesting how that tie is there.

After dinner back at the hotel, our group sat out by the pool and talked through the jet lag that kept us all awake. We got to know each other, and found out that the 16 of us are from all sorts of backgrounds. Its definitely a wide range of people, but I'm sure that is one thing that will make this trip more memorable.

I realized something after sharing my story and hearing everyone else's story, and having seen much of Accra today. We may be from one of the most well-reputed and most convenient-to-live-in countries in the world, and there are many beauties and luxuries in the American culture, especially compared to countries and cultures world wide. However, it seems to me like there is an arrogant, almost too-liberalized side of that same lifestyle and while it can be understood, it can be ugly at first glance.
I guess to dwell on this, and realize that there's no good and bad in any culture, is the wise thing to do.

Medasi,
Padma

Day 1: Upon landing...

Flying

   Besides the random power outage in XNA and the two hour delay (waiting on the runway for 8 planes to take off ahead of us!) in JFK, the flights were smooth and quick. I slept most of the Transatlantic flight, but I must say that I watched the recent rendition of Footloose  :) 

Accra, the Capital

    I realized the minute we stepped off the plane in the Accra International Airport that there's something important I forgot to mention in my introduction. I'm Indian...I was born in India and moved to the US at age 3, and I've lived there ever since. But I knew from talking to the faculty about the program that Ghana would be very similar to India. Both were colonized by the British until about 60 years ago, and both are still considered "developing countries" today. 

   So stepping onto Ghanaian soil and looking around, the familiarity was a punch in the gut. The sights, smells, the heat and humidity, and vegetation (coconut trees dappling the streets!) were all a friendly feel. 

   We checked out of the airport successfully and made our way to the hotel in Accra. We have a couple hours to refresh and unpack a bit before dinner, so I thought I'd post. Below are some pics of our hotel room.

  I'm gonna go explore a bit for now! I'll update tonight after dinner...if I'm not too tired!

Medasi,

Padma

The Day Before Departure (The Day of Packing)

So this is it! Tomorrow at 11:40 am our group leaves for Ghana. We've talked lots about what to pack and what to expect when we get there during our classes over the past two weeks, and I feel fairly prepared. Honestly I expected myself to pack at night before I went to bed, when I absolutely had to, but I found myself sitting at home bored, twiddling my thumbs during the day so I finished packing in the afternoon itself. Can't wait for this time in two days when we'll have landed!

About Me...

       Hi! I'm Padma Mana, a Fulbright College Honors Student studying Biochemistry. I just finished my Freshman year and had heard about this African and African American Studies study abroad program in Ghana. After some meetings with professors and serious email conversations, I found out that the program studies the historical Transatlantic Slave Trade and also contemporary Ghanaian society. I thought it would be a great experience, learning from humanity's mistakes, and figured I'd learn a lot from it, so I jumped on board. I'd be lying if I said that was the only reason I was so interested in the program though...I'm always interested in Women and Genders Studies, and one of the faculty advisors of the trip studies Africa with an emphasis in Women Studies. After talking to her and learning that the program was quite flexible to what we students were looking for out of it, I was very optimistic. So, here I am, one of the few Science majors on a History Study Abroad. But nevertheless, about to have the time of my life!
     Our flight leaves in two days, and we'll be in Ghana for a little over 2 weeks, following the route of the Slave Trade and visiting many important sites and cities. I can't wait!