asomdwee

So many,many things have happened in the last couple of weeks since our last chance to blog. Of course I am referring to the slave castles, Green Turtle Lodge, spending a week with our host families, and the work project. However great, inspirational, mystifying, fantastic, and emotional those things were, the thing that is sticking out the most in my mind right now is soccer (or football as the rest of the world calls it). First off, there was out little pick up game at the J.S.S (Junior Secondary School which is our equivalent to Jr. High) where we lost 3-0. But that is beside the point. The fact of the matter is that I played soccer in Africa! I don’t know about anyone else who played, but I find this so freaking amazing! It was so much fun being able to get out on a pitch again however bad it was (and believe me it was bad–it made Cal’s field look look like a God send) and just play for the love of the game. And the boys we played with were great athletes–they were ready for another 30 minute half when we were all ready to fall down and sleep. Then again, they weren’t the ones who were doing hard labor for five straight days. Today, we decided to attend a soccer match instead of visiting the craft villages, and I’m sooooo happy we did! It’s wild how loyal these people are to their country and their football (you see a Africa Cup billboard every other block)! It just makes me laugh because if I were to wear so much America paraphernalia I’d be called a red-neck back home or asked if I’m from Texas, not that I have anything against red-necks or Texas. But the game was great, even though I think Libya was cheated out of the tie because an offsides wasn’t called on Ghana, and I really wanted to see some PKs. My favorite parts had to have been all of the dancing the group of guys in front of us did. I wish I had recorded some of it! The most exciting thing was watching the players get into it with each other and the refs and then having the police charge out on the field, and then the one Libya player be chased off by an officer! There’s nothing like that in the states or on Fox soccer! I love Ghana!

In the past week or so, we went to the Cape Coast Slave Castle and had a tour. We were able to go inside the slave dungeons on our tour and I was suprised at how horribly the slaves were treated. The dungeons were very dark with a tiny bit on sunlight from a window. The next day, we went to Elmina Slave Castle to eat lunch. We went around the fishing village which was so cool. The boats and nets we saw the fishermen use are so simple. After Cape Coast, we stayed at the Green Turtle Lodge on the beach. It was beautiful! We visited a few schools and donated lots of school supplies. The children were very excited about our donation. We also went on two canoe trips, one just down a little river to see the mangroves and the other one was to the stilt village, which was pretty cool. Next, we went to Swedro to have our homestays. Lucy and I stayed together with a very nice family. They were so kind and generous. Some of the meals we had include red red, rice pudding, pancakes, fruit, rice, and eggs. The community service we did at the school was hard but fun. Most of the days, we carried containers of sand to the site to make cement. We also mixed sand to make cement. One of the days during the week we were in Swedro, we went to an orphanage to help out. We did lots of laundry and cleaned up. Later, we returned to the same orphanage to drop off lots of things, such as food and baby supplies. The kids were sooo excited when they got soccer jerseys and were cheering for about 5 minutes straight! Everyone was so happy and felt good after this visit. Now, we are in Kumasi and we just got back from an AMAZING soccer game. It was Kumasi versus a Libyan team and Kumasi won 3-1. It was so exciting and the stadium was full of enthusiastic fans. Tomorrow we leave for Mole!

Lindsay Taylor

Kumasi is my favorite town in Ghana, well so far. The Hasta Hotel is great, very accomodating, and the soccer game we attended today was so much fun. The people just seem a lot friendlier here, or maybe it’s just my perception. Today has marked the ten day mark in which we are going to leave Ghana and return home. We are leaving Kumasi tomorrow and heading to Mole, a new adventure.

Before Kumasi, we had our homestays and I stayed with Lauren. We stayed with Jemimah and her daughter Lauretta, both extremely nice people. We had a wonderful time there because the food and company was great. During the day we worked at a local school helping to build a volunteer house. Personally, I didn’t really enjoy the manual labor aspect of our work project, but at the end I was officially glad to say that I had actually helped build a building with my two bare hands. I don’t think I will be saying that again any time soon.

Ghana has been good to me, but I’m looking forward to returning back to Sacramento. My thoughts as the trip is coming to a close: wonderful people, silly friends, fabulous.

It has been a very long time since i last blogged, and so much has happened since then. I could rattle off about a million activities that we have done, but it would take a very long time, and i only have 33 minutes left to email about 5 people. So for now I will just talk about the last few days. We arrived in Kumasi yesterday night, and today we went to a soccer game. It was really fun and Ghana won 3-1! But before arriving in Kumasi we were in homestays for a week, and doing community service. The construction work was really tough, but the cheerful greetings from all the school children helped make it exciting and different everyday. Terren and my homestay parents were very kind and I had a wonderful time getting to know them.

I must admit though, i am feeling a little homesick. I miss my family, and want to share with them my experiences. I have a feeling i will miss Ghana very much after I leave though. The people here are very friendly, and the food is really good. Not to mention the beaches and the amazing sites. I can’t wait to see what the next 10 days bring me.

WE are in Kumasi right now after leaving our homestays.

The homestays were very interesting to say the least. I was staying with Mikaela and we had a blast with our homestay mother Monica and her daughter Anna. During the week we worked at a school building a new wing for it. We hauled sand, dirt and concrete for the laborers for four days. I think that my head is now permanently flattered, but the kids at the school were really nice, and we did make a lot of progress on the building. We also went to the orphanage and donated some stuff and did some work for them.

When we presented the boys at the orphanage with their soccer jerseys, they cheered and were so excited, so that was really nice. We also went to a club, but we were the only ones there, because it was 7:30 in the evening, but its supposedly THE party place in Swedru, which was our homestay town. WE are now in Kumasi. we just went to a soccer match which was so much fun. The Kumasi team beat the Libyans 3 to 1. Everyone had so much spirit and was crazy.
We’re off to Mole in the morning and I’m really excited.

It’s been awhile!! Our home stays are over and we’re going to leave for Mole tomorrow. My host family was very nice, Comfort (the host mother) is an excellent cook!!! I’m going to miss them very much. Today we went to a football game and Ghana won! Woo hoo! Let’s see, so much has happened, it’s hard to know what to put down first. The Green Turtle Lodge was pretty cool, they make really good scambled eggs and toast. While at the G.T.L. I was able to help out in their kitchen. That was hella tight. I mushed up a bunch of really good smelling things. I miss the most random things. Funyuns for example, I have been craving a bag of those for a few days now.
To update you on my health: I’m good.

Oh! If there is a way someone can tell Sam, Kristy, and Melina happy birthday for me that would be hella tight. Drew and Dad are coming up too. I miss Taylor and the guys (hey Taylor, tell Quentin, Sam, and Gabe that they should expect the coolest gift ever). I miss my old school chums. But the one person I really miss is my little baby brother. He’s way too cool for school and I’m going to miss his birthday too (the big one two). Mom, tell Vance I’m going to give him so many hugs and kisses when I see him that he’ll suffocate from the awesome force of my love. I miss you too Mom. You’re the wind beneath my wings. For real.

Ghana is so wonderful. I feel so good here. Everything about it is beautiful. I’m going to miss the people here. Everyone is so in love with the country, it’s really inspiring. My life is a little more complete because of this trip. I’ll see you guys soon!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Smashley

in the past week, or probably longer, that i haven’t blogged we have been very busy! with our homestays and volunteer work we have not had time to access computers at all. I have finally gotten on the Ghanaian time schedule and wake up at the crack of dawn (literally, and thanks to the roosters in our back yard) and go to bed by 8:30 at the latest. The school we were working at welcomed us warmly and for the first couple of days we could stand the Obruni comments but after that they got tiresome. We pulled through though. Carrying sand was hard work but rewarding when we saw the fruits of our labor. We continually saw progress on the volunteer house we were building and it was something to be proud of. I would say that the harder work came at the orphanage. Hand washing sheets is pretty tough especially while fighting the pungent odors of non-potty trained kids. Everything was worth it though when we gave them the jerseys Mikaela had brought. They were jumping and screaming for joy. It was a life changing experience. it would be safe to say that more than a couple of us were teary eyed by the end. As for the homestays, me and Lindsay LOVED our family. They were so adorable and really happy to have us. The food was a little hard to get used to but it was definitely not the worst we have had here in Ghana. All in all I have been having a great time and i am gonna find it hard to leave.

We are in Kumasi now, and in my opinion it is my favorite city. We attended a football (soccer) game today and it was the most fun i have had yet. Everyone is so full of pride here, and it is a joy to be apart of it. We leave for Mole tomorrow and I am excited to safari it up. until next time.

lucy

We have completed the community service portion of our trip and are now in Kumasi. The students worked really hard on the building at the school site, unfortunately all of the work was very rigorous! We dug out and carried a lot of sand for the concrete floors for two large rooms and the plaster for the front of the building. Needless to say we were very tired at the end of each day. We also visited an orphanage and cleaned their laundry (clothes and sheets), wiped down all of the beds and swept the entire orphanage. We returned later with a donation from our group, we went to the market and purchased food, supplies, cleaning materials and general items they needed. We also donated some of the items we collected in Sacramento. The soccer jerseys were a huge hit! Tomorrow we will visit the craft villages and get some shopping in before heading to Mole, the game reserve for a few walking safaris. We are having a hard time squeezing in visits to internet cafes, and when we do, the machines are incredibly slow. Know that the students are healthy, enjoying themselves and send their best!
- Jeremy Predko

We finally left Accra and I’m really glad that we are starting to travel within the country. I went to the beach and it was such a great experience to just relax read a book and not have any worry in the world. I got to eat lobster and swim in the ocean and I really enjoyed myself. Every time I close my eyes I imagine being back in California and I think it is so weird that when I open my eyes and look on the side of the road I see such sheer poverty. It is like such a parallel world from my own and I could not imagine having to live this way I feel really fortunate to have the life that I have.

We went on the canopy walk today and it was a lot of fun it was so high up in the air that you could not see the ground which was a little scary but the view was incredible and I really enjoyed it. Occasionally someone jumped on the bridge and made it shake so it was a little hard trying to hold on to the bridge and juggle a video camera at the same time. Overall I have been waiting to do the canopy walk and excited to do that for such a long time and now I can say that I actually accomplished that amazing walk. One of the only 4 in the world.

Afterwards we went to the cape coast slave castles, which was very eerie, because I could just imagine all the millions of slaves that were at that exact spot bound for a horrific life. The views of the castle and the ocean was stunning. I got chills up my spine when we entered the pitch black slave dungeons and took a tour. It is a very eerie and creepy place, and I could just see the faces of suffering slaves and imagine their presence. The whole experience was intense and especially when we went and saw the tunnels which led to the door of no return, and just knowing that millions of people passed through those tunnels bound for the Americas, was a little mind boggling. Overall I had fun and learned a lot at the castle. This is my 7th day of cold showers and we are on the road again tomorrow so hopefully our next hotel has warm working water.

Bye for now I’ll write later.

Today was very sad but I thought I would be more emotional. I think that the beauty of the place distracts from the grotesque atrocities committed there, which isn’t a good thing. The hotel is better than i thought but showering is like wading in a mini pond since we apparently have a draining problem. We are leaving tomorrow for Takoradi for one night then to the Green Turtle Lodge. It is right on the beach so I’m super excited. Starace will definitely be getting a mani and a pedi and an all around makeover. He will love it, I’m sure. Well that’s about it for now. Til next time.

~Lucy