Glory 2012

            There was a short presentation in the middle of our quad here in ISH II last Friday announcing that there would be a praise and worship concert on Sunday March 25^th. A few of my friends and I were very excited about it and decided to go!

            I assumed, after watching the acapella choir in the quad, that it would be a fairly laid back event. However, like so many of my assumptions made here, I was wrong.

            We walked into the national theater and felt the cool rush of air conditioning indicating we are in a nice place. We got there right at 3:30 pm when the flyer said it would start and of course the theater in mostly empty and the band is just finishing up practice. It helps us get good seats though, so I don’t mind!

            Once seated and waiting for some time, more people begin to show up and we are handed, not a folded piece of paper, but a full booklet as our program guide. As I flip through the program I see that this event is sponsored by companies such as Ecobank, the Accra Mall, Africa TV and many more big names in Ghana. Its now starting to get through my thick skull that there is a reason we paid a whole 10 GHC to come to this event.

            Around 4:15 pm or so the show begins to start. Only 45 minutes late. Not so bad. After the opening prayer the president of one of the choirs comes on stage and reads a welcome letter straight off his paper. I begin to get nervous, but the event quickly turns around.

            We start the praise and worship and everyone around me immediately gets up and starts dancing. And when I say dancing, I really mean dancing. No swaying with eyes closed or a simple hand in the air, but full on moving your body getting down. I loved every second.

            After 30 minutes or so of dancing, the music ends and we all take our seats once again. Someone announces that the next act is performed by the literary family as people in costume file onstage into formation. A narrator begins her speech about a king and his son and their two realms. Quite obviously the begin to do a cute play about the beginning of time, creation of man and Jesus. The whole shebang.

            The entire thing was actually incredibly cheesy (Making the Devil a lion and whatnot), but it was also quite funny. What made it even better though, was watching it all with Ghanaians. They were cracking up at what I am sure are jokes I didn’t understand, talking back to the characters and reacting in all the right parts. It was great.

Once that was over and a few sponsors got a plaque, the program reads, “first package”. Of course at this point I was hoping it was food. I really hadn’t eaten much of anything that day. However I am still excited when the real choir comes out, 150 members strong.

They switch off lead singers, all of whom are so good they put pop stars to shame. Some songs I recognize from CDs my mom used to play in the car when I was young, other I have never heard, and some are Twi (which I am trying to learn). We go from standing to sitting to dancing to swaying throughout this 90-minute performance. By this time it’s getting a little late and I realize we aren’t even halfway through the program!

We are back to the sitting position as the director of the choir comes onstage to announce the new Cwesi Oteng music video. Even though I don’t know who this is, everyone else must because they scream and shout and sing along. And wouldn’t you know it, at the end of the video, none other than Cwesi himself comes onstage and begins singing! He only sings 2 songs before his time is up, but it got the crowd incredibly excited!

We get to sit for a while now as we watch a short film on the organization the choir is sponsoring this year. We then begin offertory for the cause and people come in and out of the theater to get water or snacks. We run outside for a bit to run to the washroom, get some water and eat a meat pie before we head back in.

We are finally onto the second package (guess what it is?!) which of course is more singing and dancing. You would think that about 5 or so hours into this people would be tired, but again my assumptions are always wrong!

            We sing and dance like we just started and by the time they bring on the final guest, people are in the isles, crowded up front and even on stage. We finally have our closing prayer around 9:45 pm and we follow a bunch of people outside to the buses that go back to campus.

            We’re exhausted as we relax on the bus and meet some new people who invite us to their church. Before you know it someone starts singing praise and everyone quickly joins in on a local worship song. This one is much slower. No one is dancing anymore, but instead they have their heads bowed or raised to the heavens. I relax and listen to the melody, wondering what they are saying and before you know it, I’m back in ISH.

To Togo We Go!

I woke up early on Friday morning and walked down the stairs at 6:00 am ready to go. I met up with the rest of the crew that was heading to Togo, and after a quick stop at the night market we were on our way.

            There were about 9 of us going, but we all split up into smaller groups so we could easily take trotros. The guys were going to try catching one out of Madina, so they went the opposite direction. Myself, Jenny and Logan headed straight for Tema station in down town Accra. After asking multiple people we were finally directed to a nearby station and immediately put on a tro heading for the border. Easy enough.

            The ride, though crammed, was fairly straightforward. I’m finally getting comfortable with being uncomfortable here. I remember my psychology teacher senior year telling us to do that, but I don’t think he meant physically.

            We were dropped off at the border and swarmed with people asking to exchange our money. We followed one guy only to run into the guys exchanging their money. Relieved we headed for the building where we could get our visas.

            I must have filled out at least 5 papers with the same information. Name, Nationality, passport no., reason for visit…

            When we finally stepped onto Togolese soil we found that there was really no difference. Obviously. However they did speak an entirely different language. Thank goodness we did meet up with they guys because they were the only ones who spoke any French. I don’t know what we were thinking we would do when we got here, because I’m sure we would have been in bad shape!

            The hotel we were planning to stay at was walking distance and even though it was hot, the breeze from the ocean made it much more enjoyable. We reached the Hotel D’ Galleon (very French) and were greeted by some of our friends who had arrived the day before.

            After putting our stuff down in our tiny rooms, we headed back downstairs to the restaurant. Now I have never been to Europe, but I imagine it’s a little bit like this restaurant (aside from the heat and the awesome beach). This was the classiest place I had been to in a very long time. I ordered basically a ham and cheese sandwich with a fried egg on top. I was just so very happy to have a sandwich that isn’t mostly mayonnaise, with bread that I’m used to and real cheddar cheese.

            We walked around town for a bit before settling down at the beach to play in the waves and watch the sunset. Everyone was staying at the same hotel, so we met up with everyone for dinner at a real pizzeria down the street.

            We checked out early and headed for the grand marche. There were 12 of us wondering around the huge market packed with cars, motorcycles, hawkers, vendors, locals and foreigners. I was happy I got in a cup of coffee before coming because it was certainly draining! Not to mention it was much hotter here than back in Accra (which is really saying something).

            We split up and planned on meeting around lunchtime, but after an hour of waiting, we decided to head out just the 4 guys and 3 girls. This is normally a much bigger group than I would ever travel in, but I was amazed that we were able to stay together the whole time!

            We grabbed motorcycles and hopped on the back to see the local voodoo market (which is apparently really big in Togo and Benin). We looked like the lamest biker gang around with all 7 white people stopping at stoplights together on the back of our bikes. I can only imagine what we looked like to the locals.

            The voodoo market was a very small lot filled with various skeletons, skulls or full on animal heads (fur and everything). It was all very disgusting, so when they asked for 3000 CFA for a tour and pictures, we said no thanks and turned around.

            Next stop Lake Togo! We took a cab there, paid for our rooms at the resort and headed for a swim. More of a bath really. The water wasn’t too deep, but the mud was, so we sort of had to sit and crawl around the water. It was very amusing and DON’T WORRY DAD I haven’t gotten a parasite that I know of!

            The resort restaurant was very expensive, so we took our chances walking down the road to see if we could find a food stand for dinner. We walked for about 20 and were getting very hungry when we finally saw a stand. Theo (our spokesman for the weekend) tried to ask the lady if she sold food. The conversation went as such (in French):

Theo- “Hey, do you have any food?”

Lady- “What?”

Theo- “sorry, I speak English”

Lady- “well I speak French”

Right… It seems we have reached an impasse. So we all made motions showing we were looking for food and she pointed us down the road a bit. We reach a bar next to a kitchen with a sign that read “cafetaria le bon gout” and figure it must be the place!

            An older man comes out and Theo asks him about food. A huge grin spreads across his face as he motions for us to come. He runs behind the kitchen and starts bringing out 3 benches and a table. I don’t know about you, but I consider it to be great service if the owner brings your table to you. He asks Theo if we want anything to drink and after taking our order he and another woman bring us all HUGE bottles of soda and beer, followed quickly by a bag of water sachets. His son in behind the counter at the kitchen and speaks English well. After exchanging pleasantries, he asks us what we would like. As there is no menu, we ask him what there is. He only says one thing, so that one thing it is!

            It doesn’t take to long for the food to finish and we are served by the cook, the owner and yet another mystery woman (they seemed to be popping out of no where!).  They unveil a plate of spaghetti, fried eggs and half of a baguette. Filling and delicious! We finish and they bring us each coffee (that we are allowed to mix ourselves!) and more baguettes!

            We are all fat and happy by the time we are ready to head back. The man shakes all of our hands and tells us his name is John, before he requests we all take a picture together.

            We hadn’t even asked how much everything cost, so considering the meal we were expecting it to be quite a bit. However it was one of the cheapest meals I’ve had! Roughly 1000 CFA, or 4 GHC (that’s 2 USD).

            We head back for a few rounds of cards by the lake before we head to bed. It was a great St. Patty’s Day.

            In the morning we head to a village at the bottom of the Togolese mountain range. We see kids heading to school and as a few little kids grab my hand I wonder if I am accidently kidnapping them. However it turns out I was just walking to school (I really should learn French).  After a short hike around the villages and mountains we head back. All seven of us crammed into a guys car who brings us to a taxi and negotiates a good price for us to get to the border. He would have taken us himself, but he was on his way to the hospital when he picked us up and took us the opposite direction (we found this out after, but I still felt incredibly guilty).

            We crossed the border a little farther north into the Volta Region of Ghana. The border consisted of a small gate and a building where you could get your passport stamped. So it was pretty quick.

            I loved my trip to Togo and how beautiful it was there, but I still felt very comforted to be back in Ghana, which is finally beginning to feel like a home.

Sunset

We're Off!

Roof of Hotel D' Galleon

Guy Selling Chickens at the Grand Marche

Motorcycles

Only Shot of Voodoo Market

Lake Togo Bungalow

The Place Known as "John's"

Kids Loving Theo

Kid on His Way to School

International Women's Weekend

I woke up early on Friday morning to a text from Gus announcing he had pink eye and would not be joining in on our weekend trip to the Volta region. This left myself and four other girls from my program to have our own adventure. What was at first a nerve-racking thought soon became an empowering one and because our trip began the day after International Women’s Day, our theme for the adventure quickly became International Women’s Weekend.

            The trotro station by our school was jam packed that morning, so we reluctantly took a taxi to one of the larger stations. The driver seemed reluctant to take 5 passengers in his small car (which has never been a problem before) and tried to overcharge us, but we are getting much better at bargaining. First of many small victories for the women of this weekend. As we were driving to the station police sirens went off and a cop car passed us, which actually freaked out the driver and he asked Meghan, who was currently sitting on our laps, to get down. Because Meghan is so conveniently small she slid in by our feet with her head resting in our laps like a baby’s would. We got quite a kick out of this and even had the driver laughing.

            We caught a trotro to Tema and waited at a station for over an hour until the large trotro to Hohoe arrived. I got what I thought would be a good seat by the window and settled in for a 4 hour drive. However when the car started moving I realized that the row in front of me leaned back with every bump, crushing my knees even further into the back of the metal seat of the person in front of me. After about an hour and a half of this torture, our trotro’s tire started to fall off I guess, because we were all issued off the bus. Half of the people immediately got into another trotro that had pulled over, leaving about 8 of us stranded on the side of the rode looking for a ride the rest of the way. We bought some FanYogos (sort of like  ice cream in a sachet) and sat in the shade for 2 hours or so when our driver finally flagged down a meat truck willing to take us the rest of the way.

             The man kindly through boxes of meat splattered with blood into the back seats to clear a row for us and I piled in next to the 2 vegetarians of the group. I was just so thankful for how cool it was in the car due to the frozen carcasses that previously occupied my seat.

            I’m glad we got picked up when we did because about an hour into the drive it started pouring rain. My window didn’t close all the way and the rain came in a bit, but I didn’t mind one bit. I leaned my head against the cool glass and took in the scent of wet cement and greenery that reminds me of winter at home as I watched the forest grow more dense            and the occasional lightning flash across the sky.

            Before I knew it we were there, looking for a hotel in Hohoe as the light of day began to fade. We ended up at the Galaxy Lodge, which was more expensive than what we had hoped for, but it was already dark and the last three places we had checked had no vacancies. After overpaying for a sub-par meal at the hotel restaurant, we all headed to bed early, because there really wasn’t much else to do.

            We woke up nice and early and enjoyed some coffee and toast before setting out for Mount Avadjato, Ghana’s tallest peak. We paid a taxi driver to take us there and wait for us. Once there, we had to pay a fee to climb the mountain, but opted to go without a guide. The hike started out easy enough and after a short trail we reached a sign telling us we were about to climb 865 meters. I assumed this would be a piece of cake because it wasn’t even a 1K. I was sorely mistaken. After that sign we began the real hike, which just so happen to be straight up on slippery terrain in a dense jungle. It felt like climbing stairs in a sauna. Within 10 minutes I felt like I might as well have just gotten out of the shower because I was drenched from head to foot, as was everyone else. However we pressed on, because this was international women’s weekend gosh darn it and we were going to make women everywhere proud!

            The hike itself, though tiring, was incredibly beautiful. The trees made cool twists and turns and cast interesting shadows as they protected us from the blazing sun. There were hundreds of butterflies of all different sizes and colors. We even saw a chameleon! Logan actually stepped on its tail accidently and it did a weird hiss flip thing. Good thing too because otherwise we would have never seen it.

            We finally made it to the top and took in the great view, with the other 20 or so Ghanaian students, who I am guessing did this as a class trip. One of them pointed out a waterfall to us and told us we were looking at the Togolese border, which was really cool! We made it down quickly enough and Sarah picked up her backpack from the bush she left it in on the way up. She actually dropped it and it rolled down the incredibly steep slope for what seemed like forever while we all tried not to pee our pants laughing.

            Our taxi driver took us straight to Wli Falls, which is the tallest waterfall in Ghana. We decided to walk to the lower falls, because it was a much shorter walk and a tad cheaper. We walked with a Ghanain student named Innocent, who showed us all the natural plants along the way. We saw pineapples, cocoa beans and coffee beans, but sadly none of them were ripe yet.

            When we got to the falls Innocent pointed out all the bats on the cliffs. There were hundreds! Flying around, screeching and hanging upside down. Luckily they were far enough away to make it cool instead of creepy.  After changing into our swim suits we rushed into the refreshingly cold water to reach the wall under the waterfall. I’m sure we looked ridiculous because even though there were plenty of people at the falls, none of them were going in the water. I’m sure our squealing didn’t help our case.

            We dried off and heading back to the main road where we got a ride back to Hohoe. We decided to head to Tafi Atome Monkey sanctuary that night and happened to catch a trotro with a guy who worked there (another win for our women’s weekend). We hopped on the back of some motorcycle taxis down the dirt road to Tafi Atome and I prayed we wouldn’t crash, but I’m getting used to the fact that no transportation I take is very safe here.

            We paid 20 GHC for our room, dinner breakfast and a tour, which was actually a pretty good deal. Right off the bat we saw tons of monkeys in the trees outside out rooms. They aren’t coming up to us, but they certainly are used to people. After about 20 minutes of watching them and taking pictures, we become much more fascinated with all the baby goats running around. Not a strong point for our women’s weekend, but honestly who can resist adorable baby goats?!

            Our free dinner ended up being white rice and a boiled egg, I should have figured they would try to carb us up, but hey, it was filling! We woke up for our 6 am tour where our guide gave us all bananas. This was really all she had to do because as soon as the monkeys saw this they jumped all over us. It was pretty fabulous.

            I was incredibly thankful when I saw we had coffee and tea at our breakfast and savored every sip, because these things are not as common here as I would like. We were joined by another woman who we sat with on the trotro and talked to her for about an hour while we ate our bread and sipped our coffee. She is from Arizona and came here to start her own organization to help child slaves in Ghana. She was quite an interesting woman and it was a perfect end to our weekend. The ride home, though long, was very easy and we made it home in time to do our laundry :)

broken down trotro

The Ascent

Made it to the Top! Togo is just beyond the hills

Pineapples! Who knew they didn't grow on trees

Wli

Bats

Anything odd about this picture?

Stranded

Ada Foah

This weekend, for Meghans birthday, a bunch of us girls decided to head to the beach for a night. After a slow start in the morning, we left around 11:00 am and headed to the trotro station. Surprisingly it didn’t take us long to get a trotro that fit all 4 of us. It took us into Accra to one of the main trotro stations so we could get a trotro heading east to Tema. Once on our way, we were circling one of the many round abouts and I had my first trotro accident experience! Two trotros in front of us crashed into each other, then we hit them and a taxi hit us from behind. Overall it was very fast and it didn’t feel like much of anything (don’t worry mom I didn’t get whiplash or anything). Obviously the driver thought it was no big deal either, because after a quick look at his fender, he hopped back in the car and we were off! Two trotro rides and two hours later, we were in Ada! Our driver didn’t speak much English, so he dropped us in the middle of nowhere. We asked around and walked along the road trying to find the water. We knew it must be close because the ocean is on one side with the Volta River on the other, so there’s just not that much land we could have been on! A couple of guys on motorcycles told us they would take us somewhere close to where we were heading for 1 GHC. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what was going on, we decided to go with it and each hopped on to the back of a motorcycle. They took us through a couple of fishing villages and dropped us off by the river. From there we got a water taxi (a wooden motor boat) to the resort we were staying in.

            We lounged by the ocean, collected shells, swam and ate for most of the day. At night there was a bonfire, with live traditional music and dancers. Definitely what most would imagine a typical African moment would be like :)

            While we were enjoying the show, the largest comet I have ever seen flew across the sky! I thought it was a firework at first, because it was so big and bright and colorful, but the angle it fell at, and where it disappeared made it clear it was a comet of sorts. By far one of the coolest experiences I have had.

            Afterwards, a bunch of use walked back to the ocean and played in the water in the moonlight. It was all very surreal. I woke up early the next day to see the sunrise with Kendra. We sat by the water in the pink shade of morning and watched the crabs come tentatively out of their holes and head for the waves. We then walked along the beach collecting more shells and talking about faith as the sun peaked over the clouds of fog. I took a nap and woke up to instant coffee and toast by the river. We had another lazy day before we began to head out. Three other girls and I paid one of the crew members to take us to rum island nearby, when we had a tour of the rum making process. Basically it was two antique machines, a sugar cane field and an old man.

            We sat around a table as the old man poured each of us a shot of both light and dark rum. I was not aware we were going to be tasting it and was not prepared. I asked for the tiniest sip possible (which was still bigger than I wanted) and let it burn down my throat as I tried to not make too much of a scene. This would have been an experience best suited for someone like my brother, not for me.

We headed back for the main island and caught a trotro that took us all the way back to Accra. The ride home was much faster and I slept through most of it, which was helpful. I got back around 8:00pm and felt exhausted, yet somehow very rejuvenated. This is only the beginning of many weekend trips to come, so I hope my energy lasts!

Trotro Time

Inside Our Hut

Outside Our Hut

Sunset

Dancing

Volta River

Machine #1

Sugar Cane Field with Old Man

Machine #2