Blogs from Africa - page 2766

Honeymoon’s over, it seems. Group tensions are rising steadily and it’s frustrating to deal with negativity in such a beautiful, positive place. It’s actually not the group so much as one individual who has tremendous power over the group dynamic. So we have a strong source of negativity to contend with here; imported American attitudes are bleeding into the everyday and we’re struggling desperately to hold on to our “but-we’re-in-Ghana” spirit. I won’t harbor the negativity, even here, so let me move on to one of the most fascinating and (for me) exciting parts of our experience: the shopping. Our University of Ghana bus translates to International/American money to street vendors and anytime we stop, in traffic or otherwise, we are surrounded. Wooden masks and carvings, jewelry, instruments, t-shirts, the most random things you can imagine, ... read more

Today Tommy and I took an all day coastal drive along the peninsula all the way to the cape of good hope. Tommy had a blast driving like he was racing and these twists and turns were all along the cliffs, and severe sharp turns. The views were breathtaking, so we stopped just about every few miles. One view was literally more beautiful then the next, until we got closer to the National Park where the cape point is. Before we reached the park, we stopped in at an ostrich farm.. I insisted since now I think Ostrich is amazing, I had it for dinner last night! It is so lean! So then we reached the park which signs warned us as we entered about not feeding the baboons, and to be aware of the ... read more

What's funny is that our first big trip while living in Europe isn't even in Europe! We took off for Morocco today and flew into Fez. We took this crazy rickety bus from the airport into town and found our hotel (Hotel Ibis) and checked in and dropped our things. There were 7 of us...Egan, Erin, Joy, Adam, Anna, Matt, and I. Once we dropped our things we went looking for something to eat and walked around town for a while looking for Moroccan food. What's amazing is how many pizza places there are in Fez! We finally stopped and asked someone where a good place to eat was and he was great enough to show us the way. He took us to a pizzaria that also served tangine and couscous so we ordered some ... read more

We have had a series of incredible female lecturers speak to us about various issues related to West African women (Ghanaian specifically), including a doctor, business woman, politician, activist, and sociologist. The doctor was the most fascinating, as she talked about various women’s health issues that each of us could relate to. But the topic of abortion in West Africa both transfixed and polarized us. An act legalizing abortion in cases of justifiable physical or mental circumstances (as decided by a woman and her doctor) was passed in 1960, covering all of Ghana and surrounding areas. This was good news, as we noted that it was more progressive than many Western policies. However, as our woman doctor sat before us, we were informed that most doctors (herself included) will not perform abortions and that, in fact, ... read more

I was a bit taken aback when a black maid entered from the kitchen to serve us our breakfast. “Gina, we ARE in Africa,” Gene reminded me, once we were again alone at the table. “I know, but…” was all I could say. It just seemed a bit too old school for today’s World. I would later come to learn that it is still quite common in South Africa for black women to serve as maids inside the home. While I was aware that the majority of the South African population is unsurprisingly black, this still somehow managed to come as a shock to me. We spent the majority of our morning at the salon - Gene getting rid of his disheveled rocker hair and I making a transformation into Raggedy Ann. Feeling like we once ... read more