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Published: September 9th 2005
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The MoFA Crew
This is Navid and me with alot of the senior staff and district directors of MoFA. It was taken just after the presentation of our report. Navid's wearing a traditional smock from the Northern Region and I'm wearing Ghanaian Kabba. (Just one of several outfits I've had made :) So this is it, my last entry in my travel blog 😞 Since I arrived back here in Canada last week, I’ve had a chance to go through some debrief training with EWB and spend some time up North with my family and now I’m moved back into Guelph, ready to start class on Monday. I’ve been trying to write this last blog entry for a little while now, and getting thoroughly frustrated every time I try. How am I supposed to sum up the last four months in mere words? How can I share everything I want to in just one more entry? It almost feels like by writing it all down, the reality that its all over will hit pretty hard, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that - although maybe that’s just what I need. I take comfort in the fact that just because the travelblog and placement are over; I know the sharing has really just begun. I am looking forward to seeing and catching up with everyone back home and sharing more stories and thoughts in person. Looking back at all my entries now, these stories have really just been a small picture into everything
Tamale Central Market
Just one of many stands in the market, selling Tomatoes, the famous Maggi cubes, and a variety of other spices I’ve seen and experienced - I wish I could have taken everyone with me to see the real live version.
The last couple weeks in Tamale were extremely busy. Our work for the entire summer came down to a report and presentation that we submitted on our last day at the Ministry. Leading up to that day, as you can imagine were pretty crazy - trying to see everyone and say goodbye, finishing off our work, getting ready to come back here etc. It involved a lot of late nights. For being in bed by 9:30pm every night all summer, switching to working until 11 or 12pm was like starting to pull all nighters. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time on a single report, especially not one that I was writing with another person. But Navid and I pulled through and thankfully even were still really good friends at the end 😊 I don’t think either of us has ever really written a report that really mattered before, like this one did. My papers for school affect my grades, but that’s pretty personal. This report was (hopefully) going to have impact on a lot of other
Hockey Night in Ghana?
Nassir has become quite the hockey fan over the last four months. We made sticks using an EWB annual report (hehe not quite the intended purpose, I know) people; MoFA, the communities they serve and other EWB volunteers working with both groups.
Outside of work I spent most of my free time wandering through markets. Partly because there were a lot of things I wanted to buy to bring home with me to remember Ghana, partly because I was trying to find some really good goodbye gifts for my Ghanaian family, and partly because I absolutely love walking through the market. I really feel like a market is a great symbol of Ghanaian culture and everything I like so much about their society. The vibrant colours of the beautiful cloths, the friendliness of everyone greeting one another, the fresh produce and food, I’m going to miss it all incredibly.
Goodbyes are never easy, and we you don’t know if and when you’re going to see people again, it makes it just that much more difficult. The hardest people to say goodbye to were definitely my family. I’ve grown especially close to my little brother Nassir who I would play cards with at night and hockey with on the weekends. He’s a great kid, that I’m going to miss a bunch! Outside of family there were colleagues,
My Ghanaian Family
One last group shot of my family before I headed off on the bus to Accra. friends and other acquaintances. I was amazed at the generosity of everyone, and the many gifts I received both for myself and for my family at home. It was just one more example to add to my list that demonstrates all of the wonderful people I’ve had the opportunity to meet.
We left Tamale early on a Tuesday morning, and took the long bus ride back down to Accra. It was really interesting how my perceptions of everything had changed since the last time we rode that bus, 4 months previously, going in the opposite direction. In May when we were leaving Accra I had been overwhelmed by so many differences from what I was used to in Toronto - the open sewers, the seeming lack of organization, the many people selling things on the street. This time, as we rolled into the big city of Accra, I took small comforts in these things and I was shocked by how big and modern it seemed compared to Tamale - the overwhelming factors were things like car dealerships, manicured lawns, architecture of buildings. We spent 4 ½ days in Accra and Cape Coast, doing tourist sorts of things and getting
View of Elmina
This is the view looking out of the fort at Elmina. Very different from Tamale! used to big city life again. It was actually a pretty good transition I think to readjust to western culture again. In Accra I got the chance to visit Ghanaian markets (had to finish up my shopping), and experiment with the whole Trotro system (a very Ghanaian form of public transit) and at the same time enjoy things like salads and beaches that we had missed all summer. We made a trip to visit Cape Coast and Elmina, which are two forts that were used extensively during the slave trade as holding places before the slaves were shipped to the New World. Both of these cities are right on the Atlantic Ocean and had a distinctive fishing village feel. We spent the night in Cape Coast and had a very pleasant walk through the city that night after visiting the Castle. It was really different then Tamale, there were so many people out and about in the streets at night, playing music, chatting etc. At first we thought there was a festival or something going on! The area had a very interesting history, and a complete different side of Ghana that I had not really had the chance to experience that was really interesting. I mostly felt that I was in a different country already. Overall, the Central Region and Accra were neat places to visit for a few days, but I’m really glad that my placement was in Tamale.
Eventually the time came to say goodbye to Ghana and a great summer. After cramming in all of the food that I probably won’t get for a while at least (including asking the taxi to stop for fried yam and roasted plantain on the way to the airport) we were off. A relatively uneventful trip back to Toronto for training and now here I am. Whats next you ask? Well, mostly trying to find the best way that I can to share what I’ve learned and seen, and looking for ways that I can change my actions here to continue to promote development. I want to keep a lot of what I’ve experienced with me, and see how I can integrate it back into my life here. This summer, everything I’ve learned and seen, has and will have a great effect on my attitudes, my values and my beliefs. Now its time to move on, and see what I can do with this knowledge to help those who have given so much to me.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my entries as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.
Naoumi Tibeyeu
Alyssa
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Wumpini Atchulo
non-member comment
Thank you Alyssa for providing me with hope and encouragement one more time in our great journey together. The pictures are wonderful and the writing is better.