Ghana

Day 1 – Drumming and dance workshop
The first day in Ghana our ship was greeted by drummers, singers, and dancers outside on the port as the pilot was docking our boat. It was pretty cool, especially because that was what we were going to be doing that day. So we finished eating, got ready quick and made our way to the gangway which was off the 2nd floor and not the 5th floor. If you ask me they make a lot more work for the crew when the gang way is on the 5th floor. Anyways, I was one of the first people off…..3rd off actually, and I walked down the port a little, even though I was supposed to get right on a bus, but come on who steps off a ship in Ghana and the first thing they do is get on an air conditioned coach bus. So I walk down the dock a little and I was immediately bombarded with men trying to sell me things!!!! Being the first person to make it this far I was also the first to meet “Mr. Quality,” “Mr. Cheap”, and Joseph. They told me I needed to get their stuff it was better than the guys stand who was right next to his and selling the exact same thing. One of them gave me a bracelet for free, “because I was the first person he met and I was so nice,” so that I could be a human billboard for him.
So I walked back and got on to the bus and made my way into town. On this bus ride I realized how far the port actually was and OMG was it long! To get out of the port it was a mile walk (at least) and it wasn’t until the third day that they got us a shuttle to get out to where the taxis could go.
We arrived at a hotel where we first watched people drum and dance for a while. They would make us get up and dance with them in the morning and we were tired before lunch time. The heat in Ghana is almost unbearable it really dehydrates you and you don’t realize it is happening. One girl even got a little too dehydrated and was not able to continue with the second part of the day. After we danced to the drumming for a few hours we left on our bus and went to a hotel for lunch. The hotel was a completely different style hotel then we had just been at and it was sort of an oasis. We had a buffet lunch and this is where I first had Pepe sauce and Shitto sauce and there was one more that starts with an “M”. These sauces will change your approach to food. You can put them on anything and even if you don’t like spicy food you will still love this sauce! Something I am learning and I don’t understand it is; why does every other place in the world have Amazing fruit besides America. I mean every place!
Well after we re-hydrated we went back to the hotel. We learned how to do a traditional dance and play the drums and a song that would go with it all! We also learned that the hotel we were at was not really a hotel but a brothel, which we would see a lot more of as our stay in Ghana continued.
After the day was through we went back to the boat refueled and SHOWERED. I have never appreciated showers as much as I have since I been to Ghana!

Day 2 – Ghana – School and market visit
Day 2 was the first day me and Steph split apart on this trip. It was a sad day but we learned to manage. I got up ate breakfast and went to visit a school.
When we got there we were addressed by the head master who was a little old lady with a thick Twee accent ( the language of the Ashanti people).She told us that we would break up into groups and go to different class rooms. I asked to go to a class room of younger kids. I ended up in a class room with 3 year olds. They loved everything about my camera and all they wanted to do was play with it until they discovered my hair. Then my hair became the main attraction. I was swarmed by about 20 three year olds and that was only because all 50 touch my hair at 1 time. Their hands were all rubbing my head feeling my hair and I was on the floor not able to see anything. I couldn’t understand how it went from 2 little girls to playing with my hair to 20 kids all rubbing my head. After 10 minutes of this hilarious epidemic the teacher finally broke it up and I looked like I was straight out of the 70s. I don’t think a hair dresser would know how to give my hair that much body it literally stood 4 inches off my head! You never realize how different you are in another country until it is brought to your attention. Even the teachers wanted to feel my hair at one point because if being a white person in Ghana isn’t different enough having blond hair is jaw dropping.
As the day continued on, Melissa (the girl I was in the class room with) and I taught them the hokie pokie, opened countless water bottles, played countless games, help teach the ABC’s and much more. We left around lunch time and went back to the boat. We all quickly took showers because we were surrounded by coughing kids all day and then went to the market circle. Elizabeth and I broke away from the group because traveling in groups of 8 is just way too much. We were once again bombarded by the many vendors, one of them being Alex whom Elisabeth bought into a little too much. I don’t think she realized that all they wanted was her money not her friendship! Finally we were able to continue into town
The walk into town is not so pleasant; it is filled with open holes in the ground where you see sewage statically floating there, and you must watch your step because you could easily fall into one at any point. It smelt horrible for the most part (and people say New Jersey smells)! We got to the market and had no clue how to approach it, there was no feasible way to go about this strategically.
The market is a giant wooden circle that people have small shops built into them, then there are little stands in the center crammed together so that as many people as possible can have a stand. These stands are filled with raw fish that has just been caught, or that has been caught a few days ago and has not been refrigerated or kept cool in any fashion. There were also pig’s feet hanging from wooden bars ( I definitely thought they were human arms at first, they looked fleshy and dead and hey who knows what they do in other countries). We went to one stand in the market and met the people running it. One lady was older and more traditional and she was selling some form of drink that you drink from a bag.
(They drink everything out of bags I am not quite sure why but they do and its kind of cool. You cannot reseal these bags so you need to drink everything at the same time and the way you open it is by biting off one corner and suck.)
The drink was really good and she gave us a little sip out of a cup because we were not sure if we should drink it as it did not seem like the most sanitary of all things. But it was really good and I wish I got more. Anyway we stayed and talked with Mary and Ellen for a little, Ellen was younger, she asked me if I had a brother and if she could come home with me and marry him. I told Ellen that I did have a brother but I was sorry he had a girlfriend and I didn’t think Mary (Thomas’s girlfriend) would be happy with her marrying him (don’t worry Mary I got your back haha). Ellen also told me because I was born on a Sunday that in Ghanaian tradition my “fancy” name was ESI. However I don’t have a clue what it means because when I asked they just said it means you’re born on Sunday.
One thing that I must warn any woman that goes to Ghana and goes to the Takoradi Market Circle is that make sure you are wearing long short or pants. I felt awful when a woman started pinching my legs. At first I was like what the heck are you doing why are you pinching and slapping my legs? Then Ellen explained to me that the older woman do not like it when you can see your legs and that next time I should wear longer short but next time I should bring her back my short shorts because she wanted to be a sexy lady too.
We made our way out of the market circle and did a little more shopping and walked back to the boat. We did not buy too much but we got a lot of experience. It was quite a different experience and it was just the beginning! When we went out that night I was taught how to balance a large plate of Peanut bread on my head by Simon my new Ghanaian friend. I also became an African waitress!

Day 3 – Ghana – Cape Coast Castel
We get off the boat and make the same walk toward the market circle. I made sure to wear longer shorts this time. We do a few things that some of our group needs and while we are at the post office we meet up with Dorian and Dick, a professor and his wife, who also want to go to the Cape Coast Castle. So our group just got a little bigger which is actually perfect when you are trying to get on to a tro-tro. A tro-tro is a “private” bus system which really means a rundown van that 12 people can fit in. The reason it is better to have a larger group is because this van will not leave until the entire thing is filled. It only cost 3 Cedie (Ghana currency) so they have to make their moneys’ worth. Even when we already had 9 people it still took about a half hour to start moving.
Finally we set out on the hour bus ride, with the windows wide open and the breeze blowing in our faces taking plenty of pictures of the reoccurring country side. We finally made it toward the coast which was an amazing change of scenery. When we made it to Cape Coast Castle we got out and were in awe.
The castle was something to marvel at but something you also felt horrible calling a castle. It was a grand structure that had lasted so many years but terrible things happened here. The Portuguese originally designed the castle to hold gold, as Ghana is considered the Gold Coast. However, after realizing they needed more help then they could afford they started recruiting slaves and eventually just selling them. That is when they converted the castle into holding cells for slaves. The male dungeon was a series of 5 rooms. Each room was about 15 x 20 feet long and in total of these 5 rooms there were, at times, 1000 slaves. The amount in the holding cells all depended on how long it took the ships to make it there and back. For the most part the trip took 2 months but could be extended to 3 if brought off course or hit by a storm.
Each of the other the 5 rooms had barrel vaulted ceilings with 3 very small (1’ x1’) windows at the tops, this was the only light able to get into these room. There is 1 room that has a slightly bigger window but that is only so that the captors can see the slaves so that they could brand them. They said they had only found the floors a few years ago because the feces was so high that they could not get to the floor.
The female slave dungeon was a bit smaller as less females were captives. The females had 2 small room about 20 /20 that were to hold 400 women at a time. Also if any slave acted out of line or tried to escape they would put them in the suffocation room. It was a small room with no windows. They would not be given food or water just left there to die.
Lastly, there was the “Door of No Return”. Once the slaves passed through these doors they were to never return back through the doors or to Africa. This was the door to the beach where they would row out on small boat and row out to meet a large ship that they would be transported on to either Europe, the Americas or Brazil. 1/3rd of them going to Brazil alone.
This was a very hard place for me to be because I was not sure how to act. I knew you were not supposed to speak loudly or much at all but just listen to what was being said. I also did not feel right smiling, which I smile most of the time. There was so much that was hard to react to especially when you are among such a horrible place in such a beautiful setting.
After this I split off from the original group I was with and traveled about a half hour and went to Hans Cottage Hotel. This was a really cool restaurant and hotel, there were a bunch of bungalows that were on stilts above the water. The water was muddy and filled with crocodiles. We all had lunch and there were 7 girls and 1 guy (Ben ) aka protector haha. We had lunch and mine tasted like it was cooked over garbage although some how everyone else’s tasted great (not fair)! But here is the exciting part of lunch time! We got to pet a crocodile. My heart and adrenaline was racing as I walked up to a wild croc. This croc was pretty big and it had just strolled up out of the water and now this man was telling me it was safe to pet him. Personally I thought he was a little crazy, but of course I did it. When else can you pet a big croc and let me tell you this was no caiman!!!!
Then we got back, went in a taxi to the tro-tro station loosing Ben on the way and took the tro-tro back to Takoradi (which seemed to take forever). Hopped in another taxi then get on a port shuttle that would bring us back to the boat!! Longest process ever and to think I had to get up at 3 am to go to an orphanage.
Oh yeah when I saw Stephanie I jumped on her!!!! I missed her!!!!

PORT RULE: NO SLEEP!!!!!!!!

Day 4 – The Orphanage!
Me: Stephanie Stephanie Stephanie wake up I say at 245 am after she feel asleep for 2 minutes! WE HAVE TO GO!
Stephanie: IM UP!!!!!!!
We then race down to the gang way in order to meet our group. Our friend Jen organized the whole thing and it was a daunting task for her. Any way we get on the bus at 3 am and this bus is more like a van then a bus and has exactly 20 seats which is the amount we need. Steph tosses and turns in about 25 positions trying to get comfortable until we are all contorted (Staphanie, Ben and I) so in about 20 minutes we end up with Stephanie on the 3 seat sprawled out, Ben laying one way on the floor while I am laying in the opposite direction using his back as a pillow. Oh also mind you I met Ben about 13 hours ago. All 20 of us wake up in the middle of nowhere laughing hysterically over all the different positions that we have gotten ourselves into not knowing how it happened.
It took us a total of 7 hours to get to the orphanage after all the traffic and the driver got lost. We get off in the middle of nowhere with just one small house. This is where I am surprised and realize I might not have been paying as close of attention as I thought I was. The orphanage holds 21 kids, but in reality this orphanage was just really a house where a married couple had rescued 21 kids from Child slavery. Their names were Stacy and John and they were 2 of the most amazing people I have ever met. They have devoted their lives to helping, saving and feeding children. When we arrived, there was no sign of the children as we ate breakfast and helped prepare meals for the 1200 kids that we would be feeding at the fishing village. After a tour of the house and a little introduction we were brought to the school where the kids were learning. They were outside playing games when we walked up. We looked in the school for a little introduction to what they were learning and even though there were some 15 year olds they were still learning at an elementary stage because of the slavery they were put into at young ages instead of getting proper educations.
We split up into two groups. There was one group that played with parachutes and another who were playing futbol!! Of course I choose soccer! I haven’t played in 2 years and now all of a sudden I get to play with Ghanaian kids and their dad ( who played pro for Nigeria). How awesome is that? Well we played for about an hour and then we took a break and got some water.
During “halftime” I talked with John and he was telling me about a few of the things they are doing to help the people of Ghana along with everything they do for the kids. John told me that they were setting up an organization that they would give women 100 bags of water for free to sell. They could then go out and sell these waters to make money to buy more and continue this process. They then would teach these women how to finance their money and about banks and how to open accounts to save their money. He also told me that I should really rejoin my school team because I can beat all the boys. J We then continued the game playing for about another hour and a half having a great time. Although I cannot fully describe this to you I must say it will be one of the most memorable things. You can really gain some ones trust by being their teammate. Out of this game not only did I get a great time but I got some new friends, I gained some of the kids trust and they really opened up to me, telling me their stories and myths of Ghana.
Aron and Mesha won’t play on a team because they believe that other teams use prayers and make sacrifices to shrines in order to get magic. This magic can turn the ball to fire and kill or seriously injure the other team. Aron told me his story later when we went to the fishing village. He pointed at the boats and said that’s where he was a slave. His parents sold him and his brother into slavery as young boys. Their job was literally to catch fish. They were pushed into the water and could not get back onto the boat until they caught a fish. If they did not catch a fish they would tie a necklace around them that had a large rock on it so they would stay under the water longer. Aron watched his brother drown next to him. These kids all have stories ones that are way beyond anything we could have ever imagined. This may sound stupid but I didn’t know. I had no clue that there is more slavery today than ever before in the history of the world, and yes this includes the slave trade. Just because it doesn’t surround us doesn’t mean it’s not happening. We cannot hold our selves responsible for not knowing but we can hold our selves responsible for knowing and not doing anything. I have trouble writing this because I know these kids, I’ve looked into their eyes and talked to them hearing their story and they have changed me, informed me, and taught me. I hope that at one point I can be the turning point in some ones story, that I can help someone like Stacy and John help all these kids! So that one day I too can give someone a second chance!
We were later brought to see the new school they were building for not only their kids but also some kids of the village. We then went back to the house finished preparing the meals and went to the fishing village. We were feeding 1200 kids here and it was intense. We had to form a wall with our bodies and pass out all the meals we had prepared earlier that day. The meals consisted of Rice with Pepe sauce on top and a hardboiled egg. The kids were fighting to get the food pushing through each other and we figured out that some of the kids were trying to take seconds which we only had enough for every child to have one meal. There were women passing around 1 baby trying to get meals in front of the kids. It was like nothing I could compare it to, there was no order just everyone fending for themselves. When we finally ran out of food John brought the attention away from us and handed out the last 2 meals while we just watched so many kids not eat. There were some remarkable things that I did see. I saw some of the older kids giving their food away to some of the younger kids who did not get to eat. Also the kids who did not eat were not mad but they thanked us for doing what we could. I did not feel like we did that much. We did what any decent human being would do and it was rewarding but honestly I fell like it was not as much about the feeding as John and Stacy informing us. They could have handed out the food themselves but to bring us meant that we might join this battle they are fighting. After taking some pictures with the kids we went back to John and Stacy’s house hung out with the kids there a little more, ate dinner and made our way back to the ship, finally getting there at 3 am.
If anyone would like to see any more about the organization the John and Stacy run called City Of Refuge, please go to www.cityofrefugeoutreach.com

Day 5 – The Beach
We went to the beach the last day we were told it was a little bit of paradise which was exactly correct. We all needed a little detox from the heavy event from the prior days. Busua beach was gorgeous. Chelsea, Stephanie, and I walked the entire thing which we figured out was a lot longer than we expected. It was about 3 miles there and back. So we got back, I went in the water and then ate some lunch. It was amazing as always! We then made our way back to the boat making out taxi driver stop for fan ice. Fan Ice is Ghanaian ice cream it comes in a pouch which you bite the corner off and eat. It’s amazing!!!! Vanilla being the best flavor. I think I might make my wedding cake out of it someday. We got back to the port bought a few last minute things, got on the boat and said good bye to Ghana.