Blogs from Cape Coast, Central, Ghana, Africa

Hey all, Since I last updated my blog I have done a bit more travelling (down south this time) and so have a few new things to fill you in on. As you can see from the location, me and Louise went down to Cape Coast (a prime tourist spot, with no other tourists) and met up with the other 2 Brits who came at the same time as us, Rus and Christa. I think it is fair to say that I didn't hugely like it; I don't quite see why it is considered a tourist spot. It's dirty and grimy with very little to it (apart from a castle and a few dirty beaches) and the entire time you are just being constantly hassled, 'Oburoni, Oburoni where are you going?' 'Oburoni, Oburoni come and look ... read more

This weekend I took a trip to a nearby town called Cape Coast. This town is about three hours outside of Accra and is the site of the first European contact with Ghana. The town has many historical sites as well as lots of beautiful beaches. Just outside of Cape Coast is the Kakum National Park. On my first morning in Cape Coast I went to this national park where they have a famous canopy walk. This involves a short hike up a hill and then it is made of a series of rope swinging bridges up high in the canopy of the forest. The walk was incredible, but a little frightening. Unfortunately Saturday is a big tourist day so the walk was fairly crowded and noisy and most of the wildlife that lives in the ... read more

So our adventure today began at 6.30am, (for those of you that know me i don't do mornings)! We ate a quick breakfast and then set off to get a bus. We arrived in Cape Coast about 11am and grabbed a taxi (after much haggling). Our hotel is lovely, we have a room right on the beach and can lay in bed and listen to the waves. After settling in we chartered the same taxi to take us to the rainforest (Kakum National Park) where we heard that was a treetop walk. Everything began so well...the drive was good and when we got to our destination, our driver pushed to the front of the queue, in true Ghanaian style, to get our tickets. We set off on our guided tour until we had to stop and ... read more

I am writing this little diddy from my hotel room in Cape Coast and I'm like teetering on the edge of my seat. Though the jitters are partially due to the fact that I've had like three cokes today (they taste so much better when they don't have corn syrup in them and come from glass bottles), I'm jumpin' around like a Mexican jumping bean because Sam and I are officially starting our internship with the United Nations tomorrow! By a stroke of (true-to-Ghanaian-fashion) luck, last week Sam randomly went by the director's office (Yvonne) on her way to class. If you recall from my older posts, we were supposed to be interning with Yvonne last semester, working to develop training manuals and seminars for teachers for environmental education. Specifically, we were to work with climate ... read more

While in Cape Coast, we visited the Progressive Womens' Co-op Credit Union Ltd. This credit union was originally formed to help women of the area save, borrow and build their businesses. It is now an open bond credit unions that has members from all walks of life and also includes men. They have what is locally called the "Wonder Box". It is a savings box that the member keeps either at her home or or place of business. Atany time, savings may be dropped through the slot in the box and until the Su Su collector comes, there is no access to the funds. On a monthly basis, the money is collected to deposit to savings, repay loans and use for larger ticket items. It has been given the name "Wonder Box" because at the end ... read more

It has been brought to my attention (thanks Todd) that I may have not formally introduced my coaching partner to the people who are follow my blog. Well... Barry Treacy is a credit union manager from the coastal town of Youghal, County Cork, Ireland. The Irish League of Credit Unions has teamed up with CCA (Canadian Co-operative Association) and CUA ( Credit Union Association of Ghana) to send two coaches from Ireland along with ten coaches from various regions of Canada to assist credit unions of Ghana with their development. Not only am I learning every minute of the day about Ghana and their growing credit union base, I am learning all about Ireland and their credit union system. I am very fortunate!... read more

Bary and I went for a walk, hoping to get down to the sea. Unfortunately for us, neither of us have a good sense of direction. Luckily for us, you can get a taxi anywhere and they are not expensive. We went to the Castle Restaurant that is right beside the Cape Coast Slave Castle (we plan to visit the Castle on the week end). We had a lovely lunch (I'm sounding Irish already) looking out to the beach and beyond to the sea, feeling the strong ocean breeze on our faces. We could have stayed there for much longer than we did. As it was, Emanuel, our driver was out looking for us as we came upon him at a petrol station. We have now exchanged cell phone numbers so we won't put him to ... read more