Being A Tourist

 The last three days I spent in Ghana I spent being a tourist! I just got home about an hour ago, and I didn't have reliable internet the last few days, so I didnt get to finish blogging! But I LOVED being a tourist and seeing the sights and what not. I'll tell you evvverrrrything.

So we woke up early on Sunday and drove to Elmina, which is a town on the coast right next to Cape Coast, which is one of the biggest cities in Ghana.  Elmina has a slave castle, and we got to tour it.  It was absolutely incredible hearing about what Africans went through with the slave trade, and actually standing where they stood. Along the coast, there are lighter skinned people, and some of them have European names because the soldiers there would rape the women, or marry them, and they would have mixed race kids.  There would be 600 males and 400 females in different dungeons.  It was all stone and pretty creepy, and it really smelled bad, but I dont know if thats because of all the death and nasty stuff that happened, or if its because its right on the ocean.  But many people died there - they would starve to death or get diseases.  They all went to the bathroom on the floor where everyone else was and they were given the minimum amount of food to survive.  Some people committed suicide by not eating at all.  They weren't allowed to bathe, unless a woman was chosen by the governor for him to have sex with.  Then she was given a bath.  If anyone acted up and tried to fight back, they would be thrown in a room with no light that had a skull and cross bones on it and were left there to starve to death and die.  For all the people that died, they would just throw them into the ocean.  The strategy was for the strongest to survive so only the strongest would be the slaves, but Africans were stronger than white people anyways. They would pack people on ships and trade them for goods and ship them to another places.  If they died while on the ship, and many of them did, they would just throw them overboard.  It is estimated that the migration of sharks changed during this time in history as they ate the human bodies.  It was really sad to be standing there where those people stood.  This slave castle was mainly run by the Dutch and the Portuguese and it went on for hundreds of years.  It was incredible.

In the middle of the castle

View from the castle

Afterwards, we went to Cape Coast and had lunch at a pretty Americanized restaurant that was pretty good.  From there, we checked into our resort hotel.  It was BEAUTIFUL. It was in Elmina, and it was literally on the ocean.  Palm trees everywhere, sand, everything.  We stayed in little bungalow type things, and we had 3, so 4 people stayed in each.  When we got there, we immediately checked out the beach.  The waves were big - probably the biggest i've ever seen! And you can tell that there is an immediate drop off.  We noticed that no one was really on the beach or playing in the sand.  It was probably 6pm ish and we were in our suits ready to get wet, but some guy from the resort told us we werent allowed to play in the water.  So, we went for a little walk to the beach area where the resort property ends and played in that water (: the water wasn't warm, but it wasn't freezing like the Pacific! It was definitely bearable.  An interesting thing about the ocean there is that locals don't see it as a cool, beautiful thing to play in.  They see it as a source of food.  So we found TONS of shells on the beach, because no one goes down and looks at them and picks them up and wants to keep them like at American beaches.  The sand there wasn't even really sand - it was more like crushed up shells.  We found some cool ones! And the sunset was absolutely gorgeous.  I loved getting to see this side of Ghana (:

The resort - Coconut Grove

Me & the sunset on the beach

Pretty!

The beach has shells everywhere!

The next day, Monday September 4th, we did a canopy walk over the Kakum Rainforest! It was definitely one of my favorite things that we did.  There is a bridge type thing from tree to tree in a rainforest, so we literally walked above the rainforest.  It was the coolest thing ever.  I added it to my bucket list just so I could mark it off! Haha.  There are only 5 like it in the entire world, and we got to do one! After the walk, I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my entire life.  So scary. But anyways. It really was awesome.  It's hard to put into words. When I first saw it, I was like "oh, this wont be bad at all!" But as soon as I stepped on it and realized how much it shakes, it was pretty scary. No one has ever fallen though, so we were safe (:

The beginning of the walk

Craaazzyyyyy

Me walkin. Taken by Leah

On the bridge! Scott, Me, Paige, & Kim in the background. Taken by Leah.

HUUUUUGE trees

Kakum Rainforest

After the walk, it started to rain pretty hard.  We went to lunch at a restaurant that was basically on top of a Crocodile Pond.  Since it was raining, the crocs didn't come out much.  One of the worker people did throw some bread into the water so the fish would swarm towards the bread and the crocs would swarm towards the fish and eat them, and Reika & I did see a huuuge crocodile open its mouth and get some fish.  It was soo cool and soo scary.  Apparently, the crocs there are friendly and are usually out more so you can actually pet them, but since it was rainy, they stayed mostly underwater.

The Croc Pond

Crocodillio

Tuesday, September 5th, was my last day in Ghana.  We drove a few hours to Accra to spend the day before I had to catch my flight at 10pm that day.  Yaw took us into his home in Accra where his family made us lunch! They were all so stinkin sweet. Yaw seemed so happy to see his family after being stuck with us the past 3ish weeks, and they were all so cute.  He had a super nice house - one of the nicest i've seen, and he had an awesome view of the city.  His wife and daughters cooked us an authentic Ghanaian meal.  I was super happy to have atleast one more Ghanaian meal before leaving Ghana.  She made more Red Red (fried plantains with beans), Banku (The weird corn ball & soup with tilapia), Jollof Rice, normal white rice, and she also made FuFu.  I had heard a lot about Fufu and had seen many people making it in the villages while we were conducting water interviews.  Apparently, the pound up Cassaba (i dont know how to spell it but its like a yam) and plantains until it forms a dough type stuff.  Then they have it in balls and they eat it like Banku - with soup and they take a chunk out and then dip it in the soup and slurp it down their throat.  I tried it and it was pretty flavorless to me - Yaw says thats why you don't chew it, you just swallow it, cuz otherwise you wouldn't like it.  The soup had meat in it, which I ate, and then later found it IT WAS GOAT MEAT. I didn't freak out that much, but it was still pretty weird, especially because it tasted good.  The lunch was really good and I'm really glad I got to meet Yaw's family.

From there, we dropped everyone's luggage off at the Alma house except mine, and that's when it started to hit me that I was leaving that night, without the group.  We went to a market where I got to do my last minute shopping.  I had a lot of money left over that I wanted to spend and I did a pretty decent job at spending it I think.  Sort of.  I lent 50 cedis to another student though. So I guess I still had quite a bit left.  But whatever.  From there, we had dinner at the Accra Mall, and then I was dropped off at the airport.  Saying goodbye wasn't my favorite, especially to Yaw, who I really liked and may never see again :( I had never flown by myself before, and flying internationally, from an African country, was kinda scary.  But I made it (: And here I am.  I'll post one last blog in a few days reflecting on my trip.  Until then, thank you to everyone who supported me and read my blog! It really means a lot, and I think you can tell that I really did have the trip of a lifetime.

Kumasi

Lake Bosomtwe - The largest natural lake in Western Africa

Yesterday, we arrived in Kumasi, which was about a 3 hour drive from Abomosu.  Kumasi is a pretty big city, comparable to Accra.  It is more westernized than other areas of Ghana. The university here is called Kwame Nkrumah (Abbreviated Knust) and it is pretty nice.  It isn't nice to American standards, but for Africa, its super nice.  There is a road on campus lined with palm trees - it reminded me of a campus in California or Arizona. It's pretty cool.  So we left Abomosu at around 6:30am and got to Kumasi around 10ish.  They weren't expecting us until afternoon because they thought it would take us longer, but I guess more roads have been developed that made it faster.  When we got here, we met with a professor of Disability Studies for a little bit.  We couldn't check into our hotel until 2, so to kill some time, we went to lunch at this cafeteria type place and then took a tour of an Asante palace! It was really interesting.  There have been 16 Asante kings, and only the 13th and 14th lived in that one.  Basically everything is made of gold and we learned a lot about the culture.  The 14th king had 8 wives! And the next king is picked by the queen and must be part of the royal family but can't be the king's children.  It's usually a nephew.  It was interesting learning about that part of the culture.

After doing the tour and checking out the gift store, we went back to the campus and got our rooms for our hotel on campus.  I am rooming with Leah and each room has 2 beds and a bathroom with quality showers and a TV!!! It's super nice.  I am really loving it haha. At 4, we had a meeting with students in the disabilities and rehabilitation program here at the university.  We basically just got to interact with them and learn about the program and learn the differences between disabilities in the US and in Ghana.  It was interesting and it was cool to meet some peers!

Today, we got to sleep in a bit which felt awesome, and then we went to the campus bookstore.  I wanted to find some cool college tshirts, but they don't have anything like that here.  It's weird.  We asked people if there were tshirts for sale around here, and there wasn't anything. And when I thought about it, there wasn't really any students wearing college tshirts - they all dressed super nice.  You basically have to be rich to go to college, and since it's such a privilege, everyone dresses super nice.  So no tshirts for us! 

From there, we went to a village where they make fabric.  They showed us how they actually weave the fabric, and then they had a lot of cool things for sale.  The guys there were driving me absolutely insane.  Everyone really pressures you to buy things and they don't just let you look around at their stuff, they are always pulling you in different directions, wanting you to buy from them, which just makes me want to leave and not buy anything! I did buy a cute little bag for my sissy, & she better like it!

A bunch of fabric

They weave the fabric on those wooden things

From there, we went on a drive to a lake! It was called Lake Bosomtwe, and it was the biggest natural lake in all of West Africa! It was super pretty.  We had lunch at this super nice place right on the water with palm trees everywhere.  There were insects flying around and lizards everywhere, too.  But the service at the restaurant... horrible.  Except thats how its been at every place we have eaten.  Nothing compares to customer service in America, its crazy.  They have huge menus with lots of items that sound tasty, and everything you order, they say "we don't have it."  all they ever have is chicken or fish.  And by fish, they mean a whole fish. So its really annoying when I get super excited for some beef, and they dont have it, and then i settle for some spaghetti, and they don't have it. And I want some sprite, and they dont have it. And I want some ice cream, but they don't have chocolate.  it's the saaaame story everywhere. And the food has taken like an hour to get, each place we go.  So eating takes up a lot of our time here, which gets annoying.  I guess i'll appreciate crappy service in America because it won't even be comparable to the service in Africa.

palm trees!

Leah & I at Lake Bosomtwe

Scott catching a coconut out of the tree.  A few people wanted coconut water, so a guy climbed the latter and got them fresh coconuts right out of the tree and chopped the top off and they drank it! So cool! Coconut water is nasty, though

Posing with the coconuts!

Leah, Lindsey, Kayla, Reika,& I

Pretty Place

My Last Day in Abomosu :(

Well.  Tonight is our last night in Abomosu.  It's a bitter sweet feeling.  I have met some absolutely amazing people here; people that are changing lives! But I'm excited to be a tourist and see fun things over the next few days.

So today was a pretty easy day.  Elizabeth and I went to a village called Amonom with the distric water official guy, whose name is Nelson.  We had a meeting with all the chiefs and elders in the town regarding the boreholes.  I don't think I've talked about the Ghanaian tradition for greeting guests to the town and stuff, and it's pretty interesting! First, we ask permission to visit the village and we say why we are there.  Well, our interpreter does it. Then, we go around the room and shake everyone's hand.  They are usually sitting in a line.  To accept our offer and to welcome us, the assembly men & chief & elders get up while we sit down and they shake our hands. Then we proceed with our meeting.  At the end, we have to ask permission to leave.  We have had to go through this process maybe, like, 4ish times.  So anyways, their answers were basically that they love the boreholes and that their community does a good job of maintaining them, and that they need more.  When we were done, they offered us a drink.  It was pretty funny because Nelson was trying to get us to accept the beer, but we kept telling him that I'm underage in America and we have to abide by University rules and he just kept insisting.  He is an older guy, but he just didn't understand! We took non-alcoholic Guiness malts, which were pretty weird tasting.  We took forever to drink them, and we sat there for forever and the assembly men just sat there, and then we realized that they were waiting for us to finish our drinks.  So we tried to drink them faster, and then we asked permission to leave.  Some of the customs here are pretty interesting and I definitely feel lucky that I get to experience them first hand.  It's also pretty cool getting to meet village royalty, too!

 Basically every village and every family we listen to asks us for something.  They tell us, next time you come, bring us clothes, a house, more boreholes, public bathrooms, etc.  It's sad because they want so much, and they expect that since we are white, we can just give it to them.  But it isn't that easy.  We asked the village elders today how much they had in their budget for maintenance of the boreholes, and they have 320 Ghana cedis, which is equivalent to $160 American dollars.  Its crazy to think that I have more money than that just sitting in my purse to spend on food and souvenirs and stuff, and they only have that much to maintain their only quality water source.  It's sad.  I feel helpless, and they expect so much, but we really can't promise anything.  We were just basically doing a research project, not buying them new boreholes.  I wish I could do more!

The rest of the day, I spent relaxing and cooking. Since it was our last night, Darcy, Sherry, and I cooked a steak dinner for the Abu's.  They cooked us a Ghanaian dinner last night, so we cooked them an American dinner tonight! We also had baked mac n cheese, salad, and fruit.  It was yummmyyyy.  Beef here in Ghana is pretty uncommon, and the beef they do have tastes pretty weird, so it isn't the same as in America, but hey. Steak is steak. Atleast it isn't rice and chicken!

Looking back at my time here, I'm shocked at how many amazing people I have met.  Stephen and Margaret Abu are amazing people.  They do so much for their community.  They really are changing lives! And Seth, mine and Leah's favorite interpreter, was just so nice and such a good guy.  He also came to dinner tonight, and he brought his youngest daughter, Benedicta.  She was so darn cute! Although he came late, Soup, an American, also ate our meal we cooked.  He is living with the Abu's and he is from Utah.  He is, like, 26, but he has students from Utah State coming to learn about business by actually giving out loans to people in Ghana.  He was a pretty cool guy.  Also Elder Dalton is a missionary who originally lived in Washington, then moved to Utah, and is now doing a mission with his wife in Ghana.  He was an awesome person to meet.  I also met, like, 5 other LDS missionaries from America and other African countries.  Honestly, every person I have mentioned so far in this little paragraph is LDS.  It's crazy how much they do out here.  It's weird because sometimes i feel like we too are on an LDS mission, just because I've met so many LDS people here.  The missionaries seem to have a big influence on the people they talk to.  It's crazy how much religion can affect culture.  Like I said before, some men here have multiple wives, but since Seth and many other Ghanaian men are Mormon, they only have one wife.  Subcultures within subcultures within subcultures blow my mind sometimes. And I know there are TONS in the US.

Anyways... It was also amazing meeting some amazing nurses, like Joana from Asunafo.  She was definitely my favorite. & meeting the Australians at the Begoro Rehabilitation Center, the villagers in Abomosu and other clinics, and the chiefs and royalty we have met.  And not only that, I've made good friends with the girls on my trip! If it isn't obvious, that weird Chinese girl Leah and I have hit it off! We are so similar its insane.  & I feel like everyone on our trip has SUPER different personalities.  Everyone is completely different.  It's weird, but it's good! I've definitely made some friends while living  together in this house in Abomosu.

I've gotten so used to life here in Ghana, that sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm in Africa.  The scenery, the people, the weather, etc, i am all used to, until I stop and think to myself that I really am in Africa.

I'm going to miss Abomosu.  I won't miss the leaky sinks, the toilets that you have to pump the flusher like 50 times before anything happens, the ants that are everywhere, the flying bugs in the kitchen, the daily rice, the sketchy electricity, the heat, etc, but i WILL miss the people and the experience.  These will be memories that I will keep with me forever!

Margaret & Stephen Abu

View of our gated home

in Abomosu

The school in Abomosu that World Joy built.

A business in Abumosu - how people make a living

The Police Station in Abomosu

The Post Office

Carousels, Begoro, & Food

Our last few days in Abomosu are upon us! Yesterday, again, Leah and I went with Seth to another village called Wekpeti-Abresu or something like that.  This village seemed much smaller and deeper in the "jungle".  Here in Ghaan, it gets dark all year at around 6:30. It's interesting how many things play into the fact that most of Africa is so underdeveloped, and education is a BIG reason, but there are many reasons why people aren't getting educated, and one of those reasons is the fact that it gets dark so early.  Many people don't have electricity, and if they do, it's pretty sketchy.  In our super nice house we are living in, the power probably goes out about 5 times a day, which means the whole village doesn't have power, and probably neighboring villages as well. Since there isn't any, or much, light after 6:30, children don't have any light to study by, so they aren't getting as educated as they should be.  To try and help with this, companies have put in carousels to generate electricity to light lanterns so the students can take them home and use the light to study.  The carousels are actually like those toys you stand on and people spin you around really really fast.  It's a toy for the kids to play on. And while they play, then generate electricity.  These lanterns  are pretty small and they don't have enough for everyone, so the kids have formed study groups, which has helped with cooperation in the classroom.  We got nothing but positive feedback after interviewing families and educators about these lanterns.  They only wish they had more so kids didn't have to walk to and from homes when its so dark!

The Carousel

The Lantern

Just a cool picture around Wekpeti-Abresu that I thought I'd share. I love those trees!

Today, we drove about an hour and a half to a town called Begoro, to a rehabilitation clinic run by the Salvation Army.  It was on a hillside and it was a really neat town.  Basically the people that ran the place were all from Australia.  I was really looking forward to today, because they have Occupational Therapists from Australia who were working there and I wanted to meet them, and we were going to be painting the clinic.  When we got there, there was a church group from Australia that were painting the walls, and so we were given the cleaning job.  The smell of paint was so strong and some people suspected that there was also mold in the building and many people couldn't handle it; they felt sick.  I felt fine, luckily, but because of the strong smell, we didn't stay very long.  We cleaned the boys dormitories and started the girls dorms when it was time for lunch, and since people weren't feeling well, we just left after lunch.  We had lunch at a hotel called "Hillside Hotel" and it was pretty fancy and tasty.  I'm disappointed that we didn't get to stay longer at the clinic and I wish we could have interacted with patients and kids and the OT's (because I want to be an occupational therapist) more instead of cleaning rooms, but I know cleaning is important and I was happy to do it.  It was pretty cool meeting Occupational Therapists who were working abroad.  It just reminds me of what I could do when I am done with school.  I think it would be awesome to move to a rural country like Ghana for a year and just help them out, but I don't know if I would be able to do it! Living in these conditions for a year would be tough. But it's amazing how much they really help the people with disabilities.  Like i've said before, kids born with disabilities are often killed, and these Occupational Therapists really make a difference here.  They help people who can't walk at all, learn to be able to walk again.  We met a man who couldn't walk at all when he first started seeing the OT, and now he can walk just fine, and even showed us his squats! These therapists are just more educated and they know that with some therapy, people can live a normal life.  It's pretty awesome. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Rehabilitation Center, but I have pictures of the town of Begoro!

So for dinner tonight, we got a real authentic Ghanaian meal. I have mentioned before that Stephen Abu lives next to this house we are staying in and he basically runs it for World Joy, but his wife, Margaret Abu, cooked us all dinner.  She made fried plantains, Red Red, bean stew, Jollof rice, rice and beans, balls of rice, peanut butter soup, chicken, fish, salad, and probably something else I didn't mention.  There was so much food and it was all tasty!  But let me tell you, if I never had rice again in my life, I wouldn't complain! Haha we have almost had it every day since we have been here, sometimes multiple times a day! No more rice please!

Tomorrow is our last day here in Abomosu! Friday morning we are going to a University about 6 hours away (yikes).  This trip is quickly coming to an end! 3 weeks is a long time but it sure is going by fast!

Ekorso

Today, we had another day of interviews. Leah and I went to a village called Ekorso with our interpreter, Seth.  We went to Ekorso with Seth last week too, but today, instead of interviewing the villagers, we interviewed village leaders and people who were a part of the water and sanitation committee.  It was interesting because they gave us different views of the boreholes than the villagers.  We learned that the community leaders believe that since the government gave the village the boreholes for free, the community members shouldn't have to pay to maintain the borehole.  They don't understand that machines break down, and the community can't fix them unless they have money.  The community members don't listen to the water committee because they are always asking for money, and they believe that if white people tell them that they need water to live and they need money to maintain the boreholes, then the people will pay a monthly fee for the boreholes.  They said that the fee would be very small, like 50 peshwas, which is less than 50 cents, but many families can't even afford that.  It's tough for them because people are uneducated about the boreholes and they need to be educated so they see the value in paying a levy to keep maintaining the boreholes.  After interviewing one woman who doesn't use the boreholes because the one near her was broken, her daughter showed us the water they do use.  We walked down the road and through the jungle a little bit and came upon a tiny little stream that looked very dirty.  There were tilapia swimming around in it, and it was pretty gross.  There are many water-borne diseases in water like this, but this family didn't really have a choice because they need water to survive.

Where some families get water from

In between interviews, Leah and I had to use the restroom, and these small villages don't really have toilets.  They have public restrooms, but they are literally holes in the ground.  So yes, everyone, I peed in a hole in Africa.  We have learned that you need to bring toilet paper with you wherever you go as well, because many places, even places with toilets, don't have toilet paper.  So appreciate toilet paper! I know I do after this trip.

The "toilet" aka hole in the ground

 After we were done conducting interviews and we were waiting for our ride to come pick us up, we did some things the locals do.  A little girl was carrying things on her head and she let Leah & I try, so we did. And we failed miserably.  I knew it had to be harder than they make it look, but trust me. It seriously seems impossible.  I couldn't let go of it without it tipping over.  These little girls carry these things without hands for support - it just somehow stays! This will forever baffle me.

Another thing we got to do was tie a baby to our back! The baby was super tiny and her mother tied her to us. The mothers basically lean over, put the baby on their back, wrap the scarf thing around their body, and tie it in the front.  It looks so easy, but I was so scared the baby would fall! She didn't tie the scarf very tight around me and I didn't get to hold her for very long, but it was still super cool! The baby girl was absolutely gorgeous - her eyes were big and brown and pretty.  We got to hold her for a while afterwards, too.  African babies really are adorable. 

Seth and the momma wrapping me up

 Doing it like the locals do!

Pretty baby!

They always want to take "snaps" with us and see their picture on the camera

After we got back to Abomosu and walked to town, I cooked dinner for everyone.  I had a team, but one was sleeping because she had a headache and the other one went to town and didn't get back until later, so I basically did it all by myself.  Darcy taught me how to make meatballs, and so i cooked spaghetti & meatballs! The sauce was super sweet which was weird, but it was tasty and I was pretty proud.

I really enjoyed my time in Ekorso today! It was fun doing things that the locals do! I'm lucky I made friends with the crazy outgoing Asian girl named Leah because she is the one who asks the locals crazy questions, like if we can hold their baby! Haha. I am leaving back to America in a week from tomorrow night! It's crazy to me how long this trip seems, yet how fast it is going! I am having the time of my life and I appreciate that so many people are reading my blog! I hope I am giving everyone a good description of culture in Ghana and my personal experiences!

More Culture Stuff

In my first blog, I know I talked about a few culture things that I had learned, but since I've been here for about 10 days and I've been living in a rural community for about 6 days, I've learned a lot more that I'd like to share!  Some of these things I've already mentioned, but for some reason, pictures are uploading a lot faster so hopefully my pictures give you a better idea of the culture!

Mud House

A House in Process

 In all of Africa, it is extremely common to see homes that are half built.  We have learned that people do this because they build their homes as they get money.  The homes build of stone are better quality and more expensive, and people basically build them brick by brick.  It's funny because it reminded me of my daddy's cabin.  He is just building it as the money comes hahaha.  Except these homes can take 10-15 years to build! That's a longgg time.

Turkeys

These chickens & roosters climbed all the way up into a tree and then jumped off, which was pretty hilarious.

Steven Abu made a noise and ALL the animals came runnning, even the chickens. It was the oddest thing i've ever seen.

Like I mentioned before, there are animals just roaming the streets, especially in the rural communities.  Here in Abomosu, there are TONS of chickens, roosters, goats, sheep, a few turkeys, and dogs.  It's funny because all the dogs look exactly the same. Since all the animals literally roam around free, we asked if people just take the animals they want, or if they are owned, and we learned that people own them all.  They mark them somehow, like putting something in their ear, kind of like in America.  Also, people have a certain "call" that they do, like a whistle or kissy noises, that their animals just know, and they come running to their owners, even the chickens!  It's pretty interesting how it all works. Steven Abu, who is our neighbor and works for World Joy, did his noise as we were walking to his house, and all the animals ran towards him, like in the picture above! It was so funny! I recorded it but it would take too long to upload.

 So I know that I mentioned before that everyone carries everything on their heads, and they really do! And they start out young! The girl in this picture looks really young and she is carryinng that HUGE bowl full of a bunch of Plantains! That HAS to be heavy.  It's so amazing.  A few people from our group have tried to walk with these on their heads, and it does not look easy.  Not only does i have to be perfectly balanced, but it is so heavy! Kids start carrying things on their heads by about age 6, and I guess they are just super good at it. People carry produce, water (which I can't even imagine carrying water steadily as its sloshing around), things they are selling, laundry, and even luggage!

A woman going through Palm seeds

The school in one of the nearby villages

Most of the buildings are located outside, with a roof, and the school is no exception.  It is summer vacation right now, so the school isn't in progress, but it was amazing seeing the school.  There are just a few rooms with these kinds of desks and a chalkboard.  It is extremely dirty, too.  Can you imagine going to school in these conditions? I know I can't. 

A borehole

This is where people pump their water.  In this village, they have one in the middle of the town that everyone relies on because it is the best one.  People will wake up as early as 4 in the morning to fetch water, and will wait in line for hours.  Fights are not uncommon while waiting for water, and it is usually the children that have to fetch the water before school.   We have tried pumping the water and it isn't super hard, for one bucket, but I can see how filling up multiple buckets at a time and being a child could get very hard.

,

 It is extremely common to see signs like this - advertising the next football (soccer) game.  Here in Abomosu, I think I saw 3, which was surprising because it is such a small village! Since not everyone has a television, they pay about what is equal to 25 cents to watch the football game, and football is SUPER important in Ghana.  Everyone plays, and everyone is GOOD.  I hope we get the chance to attend one of these football games on tv!

Just like people carry items on their heads, mothers ALWAYS carry their babies on their backs! They always have their hands free!  I haven't gotten any good pictures of babies on a momma's back, but in this picture, you can basically tell that the baby is on her back.  She looks super young, so maybe she is an older sister or something, but she could be very well be a mother.  It's really hard to tell the ages of many people here.  We met 20 and 30 year olds who literally looked 15.  But anyways. They use a scarf type thing to tie them up.  To get them there, they bend over, slide the baby from their arms to their back, and just wrap the scarf around the baby and tie it in the front.  It looks so easy yet so hard at the same time.  It's interesting because the babies are always with the mothers, unlike the US. And the babies are rarely crying. They seem so contempt just relaxing their with their mommas.

Another interesting thing about mothers and babies is breast feeding. You can just walk down the street and you see mom's with their shirts lifted, just breast feeding in front of the whole village.  Since we have been conducting so many interviews about the boreholes, we talk to many women, and probably about 5 of the women we interview would be breastfeeding DURING the interview.  It seems so odd to us, but it is so normal to them.  They aren't embarrassed and they don't try to hide it, its just natural.  It's the baby's bottle and it needs to be fed.  

 There are a lot of other cultural things I have learned that I don't have pictures to go with them, but I thought were pretty interesting to share.

So a little bit about personal hygiene here.  Everyone lives in dirt, so everyone is obviously dirty.  It's really sad because some people just have flies buzzing around them, especially kids.  It's weird seeing that, because we are used to flies buzzing around cows and horses and poop, but not people.  And the people don't really seem to swat them away or anything, they are just used to it.  Yaw told us that the guys shave their armpits here to prevent B.O., but it must not work very well because the guys definitely still stink.  Especially when we went out dancing, they all smelled pretty darn bad. They use lemons or limes for deodorant, but from what i've heard, they put it on before they take a shower.

Another thing that is interesting is their use of the word "fat."  In America, calling someone fat is considered rude, but here fat isn't good or bad, it's just a fact of life. When someone here says "you've gotten fat," they don't mean anything rude by it. Here, being fat basically means you are well fed, and therefore healthy.  One of the nurses called another nurse fat, and we told them that that is considered mean in the US, which they seemed surprised about, and when talking to locals, they refer to people as "the fat one."  It's pretty weird to hear, but it is normal here.

Marriage is important here.  We have been told by some nurses that NOBODY gets a divorce, but then another man talked about his parents being divorced. It might vary from village to village, but I'm not sure.  Marriage costs a lot of money and the people don't usually get married until their late 20s or early 30s, which I was kind of surprised to hear.  Weddings cost a lot of money, so couples usually spend many years saving up to have a wedding, so they date for a long time before the wedding.  Few people have wedding rings or wedding bands because they are so expensive.  Yaw, our driver, told us that in Africa, it is okay for men to have multiple wives, but not okay for women to have multiple husbands.  I dont' know how common it is, but he said it happens.  As for gay or lesbian people, they are not accepted at all.  One of the nurses told us that nobody is homosexual, and if they are, then they hide it so nobody knows.  Some people could get killed for being homosexual.  It's interesting because we have noticed that people are very close with each other - guys will hold hands and be close with other guys, but they aren't gay. They are just close friends.

There are many other cultural things I have noticed that can't think of at the moment, so hopefully you will also get to hear more about those later!