Amazing Times!

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Hey everyone!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update the blog! I've been trying to balance my internet cafe time with registering for classes (similar to running around like a chicken with my head cut off), starting classes, finding them on this huge campus, and getting used to living in a country where things operate on a whole different plane. So much has happened since I last wrote, so I will try and give you a short-ish version.

The group and I visited the slave castles at Cape Coast and El Mina. They were these 500 year old monstrous ex-forts complete with dungeons to hold slaves in transition to America, topped by ridiculously lavish governor's quarters. Overall, it was pretty overwhelming to consider the castles' implications. While we we were touring the dungeons, which were basically brick rooms with a 2'x2' window near the ceiling, the guide informed us that we could barely see the bricks beneath our feet because during the renovation of the castle, they decided to leave the layers of blood, sweat, feces, and urine on the ground, to remind us all what the slaves went through. Needless to say, there was quite a stench and hardly any moving air, nor any light. As we moved from dungeon to dungeon, I got really light headed and started to feel nauseous. All of a sudden, we were standing there, and I basically fainted...it was like something just took over me. I was extremely embarrassed because there was a huge group of us, but as our guide helped me to a seat outside, he informed me that this kind of thing happens to a lot of people that visit there. In fact, while I was "recovering," another man on a different tour fainted as well. Very power place, indeed.

In more recent news, an amazing opportunity opened up this week. Earlier in the week, I saw a sign (in passing) on campus, for the United Nations Institute for Natural Resources in Africa. I asked our program coordinator if he knew anything about the place, if they need interns, etc, because I was really intrigued and the name alone sounded amazing! Nii (our program coord.) mentioned that it was usually for graduate students, and laughed a little at how excited I was. Putting my fears of rejection aside, my friends Sam and Jessica came with me to check it out yesterday. Surprisingly, we were met with such good news! The head environmental policy analyst, Yvonne, was just as excited as we were to work together, and explained to us the work she does. Basically, she focuses on educating women and community leaders about different environmental topics, and will be needing our help with a conference on waste management and climate change in November. She even asked us to review the training manual and if we have any additions, we will have the opportunity to co-author the manual with her. She said she thought it would be good for us to have co-authored something at this stage in our careers (I kept thinking that she was a saint!!!) Oh my god, at this point, we were all trying not to shriek with joy! Then, she said in January, there would be another conference addressing the gender issues associated with environmental problems and how to empower women since they have proven to be excellent natural resource managers in Africa. Jessica is a gender studies major, so she was just floored! To make things even better, she mentioned that we will have the opportunity to travel to rural communities to have workshops with women addressing waste management, and that when the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for those of you who don't know😊 folks come for meetings, we can all meet up! I can't even tell you how awestruck we were of her and the opportunity she just gave all of us. On our way out, the receptionist gave all three of us copies of these awesome UN publications like, "Women as Natural Resource Managers in Ghana," and different success stories from all over West Africa. Needless to say, as we floated down to the parking lot, we were all in tears and just kept saying, "THIS IS WHY WE CAME TO AFRICA!!!!" over and over. I totally taped her business card to my wall with my pink duct tape! She has my dream job of all dream jobs! Check out the website: http://www.inra.unu.edu/ I will keep you posted on how saving the world is going 😊

As you can see, life in Africa just keeps getting sweeter. Last week, I had a bit of culture shock when trying to figure out everyday life. I think that was due to the high volumes of rice I eat....lol But now, I've just stopped saying, "It doesn't make sense!!" and started saying, "it makes sense to them...so let it go..." and I'm doing just fine.

I love you and miss you all...will post pics when I can figure out how 😞

Love, Robin Lyn

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