Travel Blog Posts
April 10th 2011
Throughout my internship in the human rights office, I was responsible for creating skits and posters to demonstrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to children. We went to many presentations at many different schools. Here are a few of the skits and posters that I made. They are simple, but their purpose is to keep the children interested and educated about human rights. SCENARIO 1 Nii is a 10 year old boy who lives in the Teshie district. He lives with his mother and two younger sisters in their family house. Nii’s mother is a fish monger and, as the only male figure in his family, Nii has to work in order to provide for his family. Nii must go out on a fishing boat every morning at 3 am and the boat doesn’t get ... read more
March 16th 2011
Since I was so abruptly cut off last entry, I will start with some statistics about the Royal Seed orphanage and school. These facts were given to us by the head of the orphanage, but we have absolutely no idea if they are true or not. *There are 150 orphans living there and 100 community children who go to the school *There are 28 workers at the orphanage. 14 teachers and 14 people to care for the kids (this is the fact that seems highly unlikely as I have only ever seen 2 or 3 people caring for the children) *The monthly budget for paying the workers is 1500 cedis or about 2000 dollars. Divided by 28. If they are all payed equally (which I'm sure they're not) its about 53 Ghana cedis or 75 dollars ... read more
March 12th 2011
Well let me give a quick update from the last few weeks. The entries from here on out may be a little sparse due to the fact that in the new town where I am staying, the electricity is usually out from around 6 am to 8 pm. Not too convenient. I will start with last weekend. This past weekend I went back into Accra to visit my friends there, to go to a Projects Abroad event at an orphanage, and to see the Independence day festivities. It was nice to see all the volunteers from back in Accra as it's abit quieter and more mellow with just 6 volunteers, and possibly the only 6 obrunis in the whole town. On Sunday for Independence day we got up quite early thinking that it would be very ... read more
"The Deluge" (by special request) and Ghanaian firsts
Published: March 5th 2011Africa » Ghana » Greater Accra » AccraFebruary 25th 2011
After quiz night, one Tuesday evening: After hanging around at the head office for a bit it started to rain. And by rain I mean dump. This is only the second time it's rained since I"ve been here. So we all moved inside to wait it out, but eventually it just got really crowded in the small room and it was getting late so we decide to go out and make a run for it. By the time we reach the main road where there's taxis we are completely drenched. Completely. So then we can't get a taxi because no one wants to carry us wet people. Finally we see a tro and have enough people going to our area that we essentially just rent out the whole tro to take us back. Well this tro ... read more
February 21st 2011
Well I had another eventful weekend. On Friday evening I traveled with a number of other volunteers to Wli (pronounced vlee) Falls. These waterfalls are at the very eastern edge of the country near the town Hohoe and just before the border with Togo. At the hotel we stayed at, you could actually look over the hills and into Togo. It was quite an interesting trip and really great to see a part of the country away from the coast, which is where I've traveled before. The trip also had some very interesting/crazy elements: Me and a few other volunteers left to go to the tro tro station around 3:30 Friday afternoon. After arriving and finding a bus amidst the rediculous crowds of people, we ended up having to wait nearly two hours before the bus ... read more
February 14th 2011
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
February 9th 2011
So I've described a bit my surroundings and work, so here's a bit about my home. I live in a very convenient area of Accra called Labadi. It is a short distance away from my work, an internet cafe, a grocery store, restaraunts, and even the beach. Accra is such a big bustling city, I often forget it's right on the coast. I'm lucky enough to have a great house shared currently with four other volunteers, although we could expect more at anytime. The house is not luxurious by any means, but it is clean, has electricity, and even a real shower (which is fairly unusual here). The house belongs to a single woman, a retired teacher, who we all call "Aunty". She has a housemaid type person who comes and helps her go to the ... read more
February 9th 2011
So here's a little of what I do everyday: I work in the Projects Abroad Human Rights Centre which, as described before is just an exciting walk from the home where I am staying. This organization has several emplyees, but is almost all volunteer run. All the volunteers work in groups on various projects dealing with human rights. I am currently working on two projects. The first is a project where I work with a group of people to train teachers about basic human rights. Here in Ghana, human rights is a term not widely understood by most people. Today I went to my first teacher training. We gave a presentation about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and there was also a woman who spoke about domestic violence and who to report human rights violations ... read more
February 8th 2011
A typical day in Accra, Ghana starts out around 7 am with the passing of the garbage truck which plays a tinkly tune, much like an ice cream truck. After a breakfast of toast, I head outside into the lovely 90 degree weather. The road I live on is really just a dusty red path that stains your feet, shoes, and clothes with orange dirt. At this time in the morning the street is usually filled with lots of Ghanaina children heading off to school. Reaching the end of the road I come to the shack that sells various items and plays rediculously loud music 24 hours a day. Around the corner is a soccer field, always filled with people of every age playing soccer. Round the next corner and I reach one of the main ... read more
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.002s; cc: 9; qc: 79; dbt: 0.0568s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.6mb
