Sisterlocks

Day 1 of my Sisterlocks installation was quite enjoyable. I awoke at 4:30 a.m., before the sunrise and before the crow of roosters. I rushed to the tro tro station, arrived by 5:12 a.m. only to find one other passenger and the driver…the town doesn’t get going as early as I’d thought. It was dark. I was expecting everyone to be up and walking around but that didn’t happen until 6:00 a.m. I watched the sky change from midnight black through various shades of gray and finally to a dull tope. By 6:12 a.m. we were making our way down the mountain, the fog was clearing and I was extremely tired. We arrived in Madina and at 6:30 a.m., the traffic was already backed up. I arrived at Emelia-Jane’s house around 7:00 a.m. and we began the Sisterlock installation at around 8:00 a.m.!! The day was great, some of her friends came by and it was such a pleasure to be in the company of young Professional black women. Women, who have loved, lost, raised children, gone to college, worked in the corporate world, quite jobs, started businesses, traveled the world and who are still young, fabulous, vibrant and beautiful. I felt like I was sitting in the middle of an episode of Girlfriends. I had a wonderful lunch of jollof rice, broiled fish, salad and a green spicy sauce on the side and for dinner, I ate fufu with light soup and tuna…delicious. Just like banku, I had to get used to the texture of fufu and now I love banku and I’m working towards loving fufu. Maybe it will have to just stop at like…unlike my hair which I absolutely love!! The next day, we were back at it again at 9:00 a.m. and we finished off on the following Tuesday. I could not have asked for a better outcome. I’ve decided to get creative this time around, so I’ve been searching for cool hair clips and hair jewelry; I may even sew in a khari shell or two.

Aburi Hospitality - Monday, July 13, 2009

I took my first full MCAT practice exam this morning, I definitely need to study more but I’m glad to have a gauge of where I am and to have an idea of the areas that need the most improvement. After the exam, I decided to take a break and go see my wood-carving friend, Kwame. I think I ended up buying another piece from him and then he took me to meet his Uncle, a former security officer for President Nkrumah and residing chief of Aburi, his sister, who was sitting in her clothing shop, a Jamaican friend, who I believe is his sister’s fiancé and his Mom, who was cooking dinner. I had a nice conversation with the Jamaican guy, I can’t remember his name, but he was just telling me about how great Christianity is and then I explained my spiritual beliefs a little and we reached common ground on God be so awesome and powerful and mysterious that no one could possibly ever truly understand “Him.” Then, we talked about how amazing it is here, how vast the resources are and how more Black people from the west need to come on over and reconnect. When I finally made it home, it was evening time, so I made a stir fry and started my black eyed peas. I ate well that day.

Day with X – July 12th

X spent last Sunday with me. We spent most of the day talking about business plans and future plans and investing. Ben walked over with Kwame, the wood carver from the Rose Plot Restaurant. X is so cool, that when he was finished cooking, he made my plate and then he put two spoons in a bowl for he and Kwame to eat out of. That is one thing I’ve noticed about guys here…they are not intimidated by the presence of another man or even if they are they don’t show it. Sharing a plate of food with a complete stranger is the most brotherly gesture I’ve ever seen. I almost shed a tear. Kwame is trying to open a restaurant, so he took us over there, they taught me some twi, we chilled for the rest of the day, listened to some Michael Jackson, played cards, ate left over rice, etc.

Mole, Mystic Rock, Crocodiles, Slave Camp = Interesting Weekend

I would have never guessed that Africa would present so many more questions for me to ponder and answer so few. In the last five days, I have done things, I have said things but most importantly, I have deeply questioned myself, my motivations, and the role that I play as a Black Westerner in an African country.

As we headed along a seemingly endless paved road that eventually turned into a seemingly endless bumpy red dirt road, I stared in admiration at the mud houses with straw roofs and sometimes aqua blue doors. I love the northern countryside because it is what I imagine all of Ghana was like before colonization. The mud houses are so kempt and appealing, more so that the modern cement buildings, with chipping paint and bright telecommunication advertisements (MTN, Vodofone, Zain, Tigo) splashed over them. They are just as natural as the landscape that they so perfectly decorate, these mud houses…so my admiration turned into a desperate attempt to capture all that I could with my camera. I took picture after picture of these roadside villages trying to create a digital representation of the entire scene but to capture the entire scene meant that I need to capture the inhabitants of these villages as well. So, I found myself desperately trying to capture the people walking or sitting along the side of the road in their beautiful colorful attire as we sped along at 60-70 mph. I was trying to time when to press the shutter button but most times I missed the shot and got blurry trees or blurry buildings…and then it dawned on me, who am I to take these pictures of people without their consent? What role am I playing in the exploitation of the third world taking snapshots with the intention of showing them and even selling them to others. Trying to turn someone else’s reality into a piece of art…what gives me the right? When we arrived at the village of Larabanga, we met a man by the name of Emanuel, who told us the story of the mystic rock.

Hundreds of years ago, the people of the Northern Region built a road from current-day Mali to Tamale. They wanted this road to be straight but the mystic rock was in the way. They moved the rock but when they returned, the rock had mysteriously moved back to its original location. Thus, the rock earned the name the mystic rock and they were forced to build the road around the rock. It was also from the location of the rock that the founder of the village threw his spear to determine where he would build his village. The next day, he found that the spear had landed in the oldest Mosque in Ghana, only a few kilometers away, and the village spread from the Mosque outward. In this community, I was faced with the same ethical dilemma…should I or should I not take pictures with and of the villagers. For some reason, it just seemed so dehumanizing. I think I would be offended if a stranger came to my house and started taking photos of me and my children, to do who knows what with the pictures. And to make it worse, all the kids were asking for money and random objects in our possession and while I felt compelled to give, I also felt that giving would only perpetuate the notion that they are lacking something. By giving a cedi or two, I am feeding into a cycle of dependence and 2 cedis is not going to significantly change anyone’s life. In fact, I feel like it is disrespectful to give money because it’s like I am saying this is all that you are worth to me when actuality this is not my sentiment at all. I believe they deserve all the goodness and riches the world has to offer and I also believe they already possess so much of that richness, perhaps not in the form of money...but they are no doubt rich in my eyes.

Perplexed and disappointed in myself for giving money, we moved on to the entrance of Mole National Park. After 13 hours of travel and 2 months of unfocused studying, I was elated when I found I had a room to myself. And equally livid 3 hours later, when I found out it was a mistake. I spent most of the night trying to detox from the internalized anger that had built up from my own actions and from the actions and words of those around me.

The next morning, I woke up at 6:00 am, took a nice WARM shower with RUNNING water, ahhh!! And headed out on a walking Safari, swimming in Alanna’s 9 inch K-Swiss because I hadn’t brought any closed toe shoes of my own.
On the Safari, I was still detoxing and thus paid very close attention to the tiny details of my surroundings. The day was chilly with a slight overcast; we walked with our eyes prowling the ground, trying to avoid small pellets and large dung piles in our path. I especially wanted to avoid the large dung piles because Alanna’s shoe would have surely gotten stuck, leaving my bare foot to face the rough terrain alone but of course I would have put the shoe back on and just carried the smell with me. We spotted deer and antelope first, hiding amongst the trees. They looked on in fear, with a calm curiosity as to what direction we would head next. Next, we saw 4 elephants bathing in water so deep that from a distance, I thought they were hippos (which actually we saw on the Black Volta River the previous morning, on 5 person canoes). The air smelled of lemon grass…the aroma was so soothing and combined with my growing hunger, I felt like I was floating over the valley. As we progressed, we saw monkeys and warthogs and baboons and even a small fox. I learned that elephants have a work tusk and a defense tusk but in most cases, their work tuck becomes weak and breaks off, so they must use their defense tusk to work and when that one breaks, it must depend on other elephants to eat because they are unable to dig up their own food. We also learned that male antelope’s that leave the bachelor pack to try and become the leader of the females, will forever be unwelcome in the bachelor pack and if they do not win in the battle for the females, then they are cast out of each social group and being a loner makes them a prime target for lions. We spent the next night in a very nice hotel in Tamale and we had a great conversation that was even more heavily ingrained in my mind the next day after visiting a slave camp.

Before the slave camp, we visited a village by the name of Paga. Here the crocodiles are said to each be spiritually connected to one person in the village. They say there is the same number of crocodiles in the area as there are people and anytime a person dies, a dead crocodile will appear the next day. The story of how the village was founded is centered on the mutual respect and friendship between a crocodile and the founder. Because the inhabitants do not harm the crocodiles, the crocodiles in turn, do not harm people, so…we were each able to touch a crocodile and take pictures with him and he only budged once when Kwaku attempted to sit on him, haha. The crocodiles are rewarded for cooperating with the tourists by feeding them live chickens, which is actually kind of disturbing to watch.

At the slave camp, I was surprised by my numb emotional response. As sad is it was, all I could think about was how Africans sold and traded other Africans. Mostly inter tribal conflict would result in one tribe taking or kidnapping members of another and bringing them to the European masters. It made me think of a good analogy:

There is a mother, and she has a small baby that she doesn’t want to keep. She may or may not love this child but what is most important is that there are things that she needs more than this baby. She needs money, she needs clothing, protection, shelter…self-preservation is her number one priority. A rich family comes to her and offers small gifts in exchange for this child and the mother welcomes this transaction openly because they are offering things she needs for survival and in turn it seems as if this couple will take decent care of her child. At least she will know he will have shelter over his head and food to eat. What she did not know was that this couple never had the intention of loving this child as their own. In fact, this child was mentally and physically abused. As an adolescent, he tried his hardest to please them but they were nonresponsive, he was more like a burden than a member of the family. A nuisance that they barely tolerated but maintained control by manipulating his self-image. As a young adult, this man carried so much baggage and pain. Feeling as if he would find some answers about his identity, he set out to find his long lost mother. She had changed; she was weaker than he remembered. Still strong in spirit but she had lost her way. Her son took her hand and said, “Mama, let me help you,” and she turned, looked into his starry, hopeless eyes and said, “Why did you come here? I didn’t want you then and I don’t need you now.” Oh, how his heart sunk to the bottom of his chest. The mother he had dreamed of for so long was just as unabashedly cruel as his false parents. Now, he is forced to make a decision. Stay with the Mother, who pushes him away, because he loves her so very much or go back to the only resemblance of a family that he knows because at least they have the money and the wherewithal to take care of him even though they don’t want anything to do with him either. He struggles and struggles and he decides that no matter what direction he decides to go in, he should treat them all with love and respect. Because if he doesn’t, he will unintentionally exploit, dehumanize, hurt, degrade, and inflict the same pain upon others that has been constantly inflicted upon him. He realizes that his mother has also been abused perhaps not physically but mentally and thinks that if he eases into her life, they can grow and heal together.

This brings me to the theory of the closed door policy that some of my colleagues suggested developing African Nations adopt until they get on their own feet and figure things out for themselves. I actually love this idea, cut the bullshit pity aid, cut the trading, cut everything and let Africans benefit from their own resources. Some of the brightest, wisest, most gifted people on the planet live here; there is no reason except for the continual exploitation of these countries by developed countries and corporate giants, that Africa should not be a thriving, vibrant continent. My only question is, “What about her long lost child?”

Hair Wash 1 cedi, Hair Cut 5 cedis, Liberation Priceless

I awoke at 6:30 a.m. this morning, determined to do the second most courageous thing I’ve ever done with regard to my appearance. I was on a Tro Tro by 7 am and we were moving by 7:10 am. Accompanied by my ipod and Toni Morrison’s Paradise, I made the most of our 2 hour journey to Accra. When we arrived at Tema Station, I asked for directions to the area where I could catch a Tro Tro to Osu, an upscale area of Accra where “Exotic Trendz” hair salon is located. A guy by the name of Pheore was headed in the same direction but to our dismay, all the roads to Osu had been blocked due to Obama’s arrival. Not knowing what to do next, I found myself following Pheore out of the Tema Station and through side streets…he had decided to walk to Osu. As we walked, we talked about Obama, school, work, future plans, etc., which helped pass the time. I had no idea how far Osu was from Tema station but I was so excited that I didn’t have to pay 4 cedis for a taxi, that I didn’t really care. Looking for Exotic Trenz turned out to be a hassle. Here, when you ask people for directions, they point in wayward directions but never give any specific information, so needless to say, I couldn’t find it. As Pheore was dialing a cousin who could possibly help, we passed a salon that said cutting on the sign and I decided to go in and ask if they could cut my hair. They said they could and for only 5 cedi.

Backtrack…I’ve never wanted to cut my hair. Even today as I sat in the chair watching my hair fall to the floor, I thought I would cry. My hair length is something I have taken so much pride in over the years. When I got it layered in high school, it was nice, it had body, but then the body went and the length just got shorter and shorter until I said enough and stopped going to the hair dresser all together. So, today, naturally, was very significant for me. I chopped off my pride and joy and the greatest part about it is that as the shape of the small afro began to form, I couldn’t control my smiling. It was so perfect, so light, so f the world’s standards of beauty, so Angela Davis, so 70s, so edgy…and most importantly so me. As my barber walked with me back to toward the Tema station, we took a detour to see the President’s castle, which is right on the ocean front. We walked by colorful fisherman’s boats and tons of trash along the shore line (sigh) but the best part of our walk was what how it felt. I felt like I was making a statement and people were so responsive to it. Just imagine being the only person walking down the street in Africa wearing their natural hair…big and unapologetic. Two girls in a shop that sells accessories for Queen Mothers and Chiefs motioned for us to come over and they began outfitting me with crowns, necklaces, bangles, and scarves. We took pictures and laughed…who knew hair could cause so much commotion and happiness.

It’s so strange that even the texture seems different. I see more S curls and they stayed even after my hair dried. I spent 3 hours travelling back to Aburi due to traffic and all, so now I’m tired and need to get something to eat but my excitement hasn’t faded and I can’t wait to walk through town with my new hairdo.

The Volta Region

This past Saturday we went to the Monkey Sanctuary and to Wli falls, here are some pics:

Week 6

Two days ago, Ben, the medical student who is working with us on our project, arrived. After work, the three of us went to the internet café and while Ben was standing outside waiting for us to finish, he met a man named Wade. Now, under normal circumstances, Alanna and I probably wouldn’t have gone with him but since Ben was with us, we agreed to go to his house with him. Wade is African American but he moved to Ghana about 15 years ago. He owns 10 acres of land in Aburi and he has a farm somewhere else in Ghana and 3 acres in Costa Rica. He’s been to probably over 100 countries and so on. Enough about Wade, let me tell you about his house!! He built his house in an octagonal shape and it is located on the top of a mountain, right at the edge, overlooking a vast valley with more mountains on the other side. It was the kind of thing I’ve had dreams about but doubted that I would ever see. So of course, I’m now determined to build my own house on the side of a mountain somewhere.

My throat was sore all that day and when I woke up yesterday my voice was gone, I had a fever, chills, headache, muscle pains, basically, I felt like crap, so I didn’t go to work. I worked up enough energy to go into town and buy some malaria medicine and some units for my phone. But I didn’t have enough money left for food, so when I got back I made “Campbell’s” Tomato soup:
1) Boiled 200 ml of water.
2) Scooped some out and melted some peanut butter with the hot water.
3) Added tomato paste to the pot.
4) Added the peanut butter water.
5) Added 3 cubes of sugar.

Actually, I think it was better that Campbell’s…sometimes you just gotta work with what you got.

Today, I’m still sick and I’m at home being a lazy bum but I’m about to start some MCAT practice sets. I ran out of tissues, so I’ve been blowing my nose with one of my t-shirts, lol. And I cooked spaghetti but I didn’t feel like making sauce, so I just poured soy sauce, hot pepper powder and complete seasoning on it. It tasted just like spicy ramen noodles.

More Beads and Some Confusion

Today, Kwaku, Polina, Bernice, Alanna and I travelled to Somanya with the intention of going to the Bead market but we ended up at the Cedi Bead Factory. I got some great beads and contact information for if I want to order beads in bulk in the future. We caught a tro tro that was going to Accra because the driver said they would be passing through Aburi…but apparently he wasn’t telling the truth because we drove through the valley instead of the mountains and we got off in Medina. Before we went our separate ways, Kwaku kept running after the guy who lied to us to get him to pay for our Tro Tro fair back to Aburi. The situation seemed to be escalating; there was some pushing and lots of yelling. I’m sure they would have fought one another if they had just kept it between the two of them but the spectators acted as mediators, diverting the energy away from the two people arguing and the group helped them reach a resolution. It was quite interesting to watch. Kwaku says he had fun arguing with him, lol, so I guess it’s all good.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Last night, my friend and bike tour guide, Kobe, cooked a great dinner of banku and fish and okra stew for me. It was absolutely delicious…the only issue was that there were lots of bones and one of them got stuck in my throat. Whenever something is stuck in my throat, other parts of my body start to hurt like my right arm and my head, so I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking maybe the bone had penetrated the tracheal tissue and was now traveling in some blood vessel toward my brain. I was also very sleepy, so I went into a slight state of delirium and I called my doctor, Tope, and he said I shouldn’t be worried because if it was in my esophagus, I would be hacking and choking but since it’s in my trachea, then it should go down but if not then go to the doctor in the morning.

This morning…it was still there. So, I went to the Herbal Doctor at the centre and he sent me over to the hospital to get an X-ray. This took about an hour…meanwhile they were giving the rats more pap smears to see if they got pregnant. I took my X-ray back to the doctor and since he didn’t see a bone, he concluded that there was probably just a sore from the bone and that it was causing the pain. So, everyone at work was saying that it was all psychological and I wanted to believe that but it didn’t stop me from feeling something jabbing my throat. They kept telling me to just swallow a big ball of banku and it should go down but I ate banku twice yesterday and if I eat it again, I may just go into a coma from a chronic case of the itis.

Now, we are at Bernice, Edwina, Edith, Prince, Mike, Rashid, and the 6 other of our friends from the University of Ghana apartment and we were supposed to be learning how to make Banku but since I’ve already eaten so much banku, we decided to just make spaghetti. It hurts to swallow food, so I had to eat slowly. After dinner, I tried hacking up the bone again and I was successful!! So, I guess my experience has shown that X-rays cannot be used to locate fish bones because they aren’t dense enough. We watched 3 movies: A Family that Preys, Freedom Writers, and Getting over Sarah Marshal. And since it was raining and pitch black outside, we decided to spend the night and leave in the morning. Now, I can rest easy knowing that there is no fish bone traveling toward my aorta.

O and today was Tope’s birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Birthday TK!! Save me some pepper soup!

Cultural Lessons

Twi Phrases I’ve learned:

Akwaaba (a-kwa-ba)- welcome
Me dasi (meay-da-see)- thank you
Wo ho te sen(who-hoe-tay-sain)- how are you
Mensu me dasi (men-sue-may-da-see) - I thank you also
Eye a hain (aya- a-hain)- how much is it
Me pacho(meay-pow-cho) – I beg you/ I am sorry
Ye fre wo sen(ya-fray-who -sain) - what is your name
Me din de (who-deen day)- my name is
Wo din de sen (who –deen-day-sain)- What is your name
Wo ko hen- where are you going
Ye be shiah (ye-bay-she-ah) we shall meet (see you later)
Ochena-(o-chin-a) tomorrow
Me ko (me-ra-ko)- I am going
Me ko to (me-ra-ko-to)- I am going to buy
Me pe se- I would like
Ensuo (en-sue)- water
Me pe se miware wo- I will marry you
Me him(mee-nyim)- I know
Ma bre (ma-bray)- I’m tired
Me ca Twi kakrakra(me- ca-twi-ka- I speak a little bit of Twi
Obibifro (oh-bee-bee-knee)- Black person
Me pe se- I want
Maakye (ma-chein)- good morning
Me pe wo asem- I like you
Me do wo- I love you
Wo edidi(way-dee-dee)- have you eaten yet?
Me pe wo adanfo (me-pe-woo-adan-foo)- I want us to be friends

Local Dishes I’ve learned How to cook…and will most definitely be cooking in my apartment this school year (If you’ll be in Ann Arbor, you should drop by):

Fish Stew –
Sautee onions and fresh garlic in Sardine Oil. Add half a can of tomato paste. Stir and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add hot pepper powder (use in moderation). Add the sardines. Enjoy the stew over boiled yam or spaghetti noodles.
Optional ingredients – Okra, another kind of fish like tuna or salmon, green pepper

Banku – corn dough and cassava dough, stir until the consistency is very thick

Jollof Rice – oil, onion, tomato paste, rice, water and plastic

Red Red – Fill a frying pan with palm oil and drop in chunks of ripe plantain, make sure to flip them every once in a while. Cook black eyed peas in water (easy as pie).

Friday, June 12, 2009 – Monday, June 15, 2009

Friday, We performed LD50 experiments to determine what dosages of Spondias Mombin and Alstonia Boonei would be acceptable for administering to the rats. Two of the rats that received IP injections died; all of the other rats survived. Then we travelled with Dr. Sitti to Accra and met with a researcher that helped us identify the kit we will need to use when trying to identify specific messenger RNA in our tissue samples in July. From there, we headed to Emelia-Jane’s house, where I met my new Sisterlock consultant. She was so warm and friendly and I am so excited to re-lock my hair on July 17th. She put a few sample locks in and I must say, they are much tighter that the ones we had previously installed…I guess taking the class can’t hurt, lol. Dr. Sitti sat through my consultation to make sure that it wasn’t just another internet scam, lol.



Finally, we arrived at the International Student Hostel in Legon (University of Ghana). Upon our arrival, we were reunited with the three girls who are stationed at the other Mampong research location. Together, we went to our rooms and then proceeded to the market with Prince, a recent graduate from the University of Ghana. He is doing his year of service in the International Student Office and I suppose he was assigned to accompany our small group for the weekend. Later on, we went to the mall and met up with Kwaku and Polina at Rhapsody’s. That was lots of fun, I had a white chocolate martini, met a guy who owns an IT business in Atlanta and another dude that lives in the UK and gets free Chelsea tickets. And most exciting of all, Kwaku took a picture with Acion(sp?), who is (according to Kwaku) the best midfielder in the World! The next morning, I woke up at 5:30 am (don’t know how I did that) and we headed to the Volta region to take the Dodi Princess to Dodi Island.

The Dodi Princess was a typical Ferry Boat. They served great fried rice, grilled fish, cabbage, and stew. We also enjoyed a live band and took pictures, with the scenic mountains and vast river in the background. Dodi Island wasn’t exactly what I’d expected. There wasn’t any beach only jagged rock formations and children everywhere, looking for hands to hold and asking for money…it was very unnerving. I gave money to some girls who were singing, dancing, and playing instruments because I felt it was a more respectable way to earn money and a more respectful way for me to contribute. The situation sparked a huge conversation on the boat ride back. Kwaku posed a question to the group, “Would you rather be as rich as Bill Gates and live until your 50 or be poor and live until your 100?” (Poor meaning pay check to pay check) I won’t go in depth but it is a very interesting conversation, it seemed to draw out our values and varying thought processes. I must say Kwaku did a wonderful job facilitating the conversation because it was the type of conversation that could have easily got out of hand; people got really animated and emotional. To summarize the conversation: Kwaku and I chose to be poor and live until we’re 100 because with more years you can see generations of your family grow and provide guidance and instill values in your descendants. In addition, you can contribute positively to society in smaller but still impactful ways and who knows your children may grow up and become extremely wealthy and help the world with greater financial contributions. The others chose to be as rich as Bill Gates in order to give the majority of money to cancer and HIV/AIDS research. So, we all argued our various points…They thought we were selfish for not wanting to save the world and we covertly accused them of being unrealistic idealists. At the end, Kwaku summed it all up by saying there is no wrong answer, everyone is entitled to have their personal preference but in the end, we can all make a positive contribution to society no matter how much money we have.

Back at the International Student Hostel, I met PD, a Nigerian Computer Engineering Student and Evan, a Brown University graduate, currently doing Teach for America and working with a Ghanaian NGO for the summer. We invited them to come out with us to a chill spot called the “Bus Stop,” where we played pool and listened to music until the electricity went out…hahaha! I love it!

Family Matters

Observing how family is valued so much in Ghanaian culture has made me really miss my family and want to do a better job of not just keeping in touch but strengthening my relationship with my extended family. I’m not even as close to some of my immediate family as I would like to...we need to do better. I think there is a general tendency for people to hold onto angry feelings and not talk about what bothers them. Instead, they just don’t talk to the person who bothers them. I find that I only do this when I don’t want to resolve an issue because if I truly wanted to have a close relationship with whoever the person is, then I would tell them about my issues and we can work through it together. I can’t speak for all families but it seems that people in my family have a lot of hidden feelings and built up resentment for one another. Even though it’s hard and sometimes people’s feelings get hurt including my own, I find that things always get better after I talk about the tough stuff. My Dad told me that many family members and friends are following my blog, so this message is sincerely meant for all of you to internalize because I want us to be closer! Shout out to my brother Brian, love you Dude, thanks for calling…but once every 4 months isn’t good enough…and I’ll take half the blame. :)

Girl Power!

I think we have the best lab in the Centre, people are so funny, I’ve gotten in so many great belly laughs here, mostly at the stuff Sami does and says. Like secretly reading Alanna’s Cosmopolitan Magazine in the back of the lab and saying that they should bring back the military regime so that women can be arrested for wearing trousers (pants) and walking up to me every morning saying, “Let me greet my wife.”

I am proud to say that today I made Sami and Vincent take a second look at the theories they so strongly stood behind in yesterday’s heated debate about women’s role in society. It seems that some of the men in our lab think that women are inferior and weak and that men are “Champions!” Sami kept trying to use Biblical scriptures to back up his arguments about the inferiority of women but others who know Bible scriptures well claimed that he was making things up or misconstruing the meanings. I should make it clear that these conversations are very funny and for some reason I never feel insulted in any way by the chauvinistic commentary. So, I proved them wrong by removing this round bottom flask from the rotary evaporator when Sami and Vincent had tried and were convinced that it was stuck. Consequently, I showed that women are innately stronger and superior and wonderful!! They got a kick out of this and Vincent went on to tell a story about how he tells people he has two home towns because he wants to acknowledge both of his parents’ home towns because he has equal respect for both of them.

I’ve started making friends in town on my way home from the internet café. Mr. Boat, the owner of the art gallery outside of the Gardens invited Alanna and I for dinner today. Mrs. Boat made us boiled yam and stew with fish. It was one of the best meals we’ve had in Ghana thus far.

I found a sisterlock consultant in Ghana named Emelia-Jane and I’m going to meet with her on Friday. Hopefully hopefully hopefully, she won’t charge as much as they do in the States. If so, I’ll be coming home with a whole new look…even better than last time.

Friday, June 5, 2009 – Monday, June 8, 2009

I went to Accra twice this past weekend. That adds up to about at least 8 hours of suffocating on the tro tro and three hours in taxis…suffocating all the way from thick smog and diesel exhaust fumes. I hadn’t realized how polluted the air in the valley was until I went back after spending three weeks breathing fresh, clean air in the mountains. I had inaccurately assumed the gray cloud hovering over the valley was just dust or something but I was sadly mistaken. It is so thick in some areas that I had a headache and Alanna said her chest was hurting. I passed by the Environmental Protection Agency and it looked like no one even worked there. I asked around and people say that the use of automobiles has increased so rapidly that they have not been able to enforce any strict air quality regulations or control the number of cars on the road. And on top of this Diesel is used because it’s cheap but it’s less refined. While I’m on the topic of pollution…trash is all over the ground and the landfills are always on fire, I guess this is done on purpose to try and eliminate some of the waste. Basically, I feel the whole Waste Management System needs to be revamped. I never saw any landfills in Costa Rica but the amount of trash in the streets and in gutters and streams was about the same. I’m assuming that most developing countries are struggling with these same issues. Tackling pollution issues should be on every government’s list of top priorities. I don’t understand how they can’t see that being proactive about protecting the environment will consequently have positive effects on the economy, by creating new jobs and trades, and on public health. Those are like three most important aspects of life on earth for crying out loud. I talked to Alfred and he explained that they have the plans on paper but it is difficult to move forward with many sustainability efforts due to lack of funding. So, many NGOs have been stepping in to help with projects such as making drinking water reservoirs for rural communities.

On a lighter note, I’ve been working on my Ghanaian/Nigerian accent; it’s coming along quite nicely!

There are other undergrads from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, who are working at the centre this summer, they are really cool and funny (at least the parts of their conversations that they say in English)….I really need to learn some more Twi. I didn’t expect for people to speak so much Twi, I thought they would speak English mostly…but I was mistaken.

I found out that some tribes in Ghana eat cat meat and others eat dog meat… crazy stuff. Vincent offered to take me to eat some cat but luckily I’m a vegetarian lol, so I respectfully declined.

Last Thursday, Sami took us to the bead market in Kofuridua. It was great, I spent more than I wanted to and there is still so much more that I want!! I have this whole African Couture Jewelry Line in mind…a mixture of crystals and traditional African beads, I am so excited!

Monday, June 1, 2009

I can’t believe I waited this long to go outside at night. I guess it seems so scary because it gets so dark and who knows what or who is lurking in this vast forest surrounding our little house. But seriously, Aburi has such a magical feeling at night. The street is even more active than it is in the day…the lights come on, music comes on… I saw people playing ping pong, shopping, trying to print and type stuff up in the internet café and best of all, I felt like I blended in. The darkness drew a shadow over my light skin and I could walk down the street without being called Abruni or stared at by every available eye. I’ve been waiting to address this issue but it’s been bothering me to no end…people here think I’m white. It made me sad at first because as a Black American there is a certain expectation that you will somehow find a part of your identity when you travel to Africa and I suppose I have, if anything it has been beyond amazing to see Black people everywhere being self-sufficient, peaceful, friendly to one another, and so on. But the feeling is like going home after a very long time, only to find your mother has Alzheimer’s and she has no clue who you are. Nevertheless, I have such a deep appreciation for their culture and way of life, even if I don’t necessarily fit in…as we all know, it’s not always easy going home after being away for a long time or in this case going home for the first time ever.

On a more positive note, my supervisors and colleagues at the centre have been the most welcoming, helpful, friendly, patient people I have ever encountered. Everyone speaks and stops to chat. Several people offered to pick up a new phone for me or to try and track down the phone that I lost. We have gotten about 10 dinner invites and offers to take us on weekend excursions. And they are genuinely interested in picking our brains about certain topics and issues such as the high divorce rates in the West. Actually, I don’t know how many conversations I’ve had about marriage…clearly, marriage is a very significant part of life here and people don’t understand why we don’t value it as much in the West. Honestly, I don’t understand either. I had almost an hour long conversation with Dr. Furi Lartey about the affects of divorce on families and he explained to me that part of the reason that divorce is less common here is that when there is a problem that cannot be solved between a married couple, the extended family is called upon to help settle the issue. So, there is more support and a greater since of accountability. He is worried, however, that many people are beginning to adopt Western nuclear family practices and I quote, “They’re building walls around huge compounds and putting one little building in the middle of it; where as a whole community would have live there in the past. And sometimes they build the wall so high, you can’t even see over it!” Lol, we laughed about this. This really saddens me because I see so much wrong with Western culture. While I value my privacy and like to be efficient and keep a tight, unreasonable schedule, I really do think it is unnatural to stress oneself constantly and to put people on the back burner and success in the front. Is it not possible to make a positive contribution to society with turning yourself into a human machine, who only knows how to be efficient but not how to feel or how to maintain a marriage and a healthy family and social life? It is crazy how laid back it is here but somehow things still get done and at the end of the day people leave work looking just as energized as they were when they came. If only the centre had the equipment and resources they deserve, they would be shipping herbal medicines around the globe, to the moon and beyond!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Today, we had a big discussion about Polygamy in the Phytochemistry lab. Sami is in the process of searching for his second wife. He was explaining how the Bible says that it is ok to have more than one wife, like Abraham, but that Polyandry (the practice of women having more than one husband) is an abomination. Alanna joked for a while that she would like to have multiple husbands and Sami just cringed at such an idea and shook his hands back and forth in disapproval. There a lot of mixed opinions in the lab about Polygamy, most people seem to think that it is too hard to please more than one woman at once. The conversation then turned into pre-marital sex or as they said, “seeing your nakedness.” Lol. Sami and Vincent say that in this part of the world people don’t have pre-marital sex…but we all know (at least everyone else) that this is not true. Lol. Needless to say, it was one of those conversations where everyone is talking all at once and it was hard to stay focused on what any one person was saying, so I walked away from the conversation thoroughly confused, amused, and shocked all at once.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Today, the little girl came back to the window in the morning and said she’d be back after church, lol. When she said “hello,” we both jumped and let out a slight scream, lol. So, later on, I told the girl not to come to the window anymore because it frightens us. She says she is 8 years old and she lives in the blue and white house across the way from us. Her father is a baker and her mother is a teacher and all together they have 8 children. So, I guess she just wants to be our friend maybe next time she comes we’ll play cards or something.

When Wisdom got to the Gardens, we headed over to the Bike and Hike Tours shop and we chose a 11 km route that looked fairly easy based on the altitude variation. Little did we know that we were embarking on a strenuous adventure. We started off on the paved roads and we went down this HUGE hill, which was exhilarating and a little scary at the same time. I kept thinking that it would have been crazy for Tope to learn to ride a bike like this, he would have surely died. We veered off of the road and rode on a thin dirt trail that wound its way through the mountainside. Our arms were sliced up by the branches and leaves that we passed and we were constantly dodging large rocks, one of which was so obstructive that I had to make an abrupt stop and Alanna ran into the back of my bike. I kept riding but when she screamed, I turn and saw her falling into the brush and then she kept screaming even after the amount of time that it would have taken her to hit the ground. At this point I had started to laugh a little but when she got up and I saw that she was soaked, I just started laughing uncontrollably and to make it worse, I was the only one laughing. She was really pissed after she fell in the stream, so Wisdom stayed with Alanna at the next village and I kept going with Koby, our guide. On the path, we passed girls carrying large stalks of Bamboo, we passed a man with tattoos intricately carved in his face with a dozen large white animals (I think they were cattle); I brought my camera out slowly to take a picture and they started running and broke through a fence, lol. The man just laughed and followed after them. We kept going and the trail was so difficult and tiresome but completing the entire course was very rewarding. While riding, I just wanted to be finished but now that I’m finished, I want to go riding again. Koby was really nice, he also runs track and field. He says that he is the second fastest 800m runner in the country. We exchanged numbers, so maybe I’ll go biking with him again. When we got home, we cooked and ate spaghetti with Wisdom and Tope, nothing like a home cooked meal. :)

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Today, Alanna and I woke up early and went jogging around the garden. It was a challenging task for the both of us, as it was hot and neither of us is in good shape. We also did some lunges, short sprints, high knees…basically like a mini track practice. I just realized that I miss really miss boxing, I hope I can continue next year, although I have a feeling I will be too busy for extracurricular activities. We went to lunch and had omelets…they are so good and cheap, the only item on the menu we can afford! And I tried Palava sauce for the first time, it is made with some sort of green leaf (I forget the name), palm oil and onion. I liked it, so sometime in the future; I will try it with green plantains or a baked yam.
We found an internet café in Aburi, thank goodness, but after an hour, the electricity went out, lol. This one boy was so upset, he just stormed out of the place, I presume he was in the midst of some important business. The manager was going to let me go for free, but I paid him 2 cedis anyway.

I must say that many people in the village haven’t been as friendly as I expected. We’ve gotten mixed responses…for example, we were walking down the street and Alanna stopped to take a picture of this huge lizard and this guy walking by us said, “Abruni” really loudly for no reason, it was just really unnecessary, I kind of translated it as, “Stupid Foreigners,” but who even knows. Other people just stare; it’s kind of uncomfortable at times. I think after they get used to seeing us, they may open up a little more.

There is one person, however, who seems to be completely fascinated by us. She is about 9 or 10 years old. She knocked on our front door this afternoon, Alanna answered but said she could only make out the word “Charlie” and thought she was looking for someone named Charlie, so she told her there was no Charlie here and closed the door. Alanna came back into the room and talked for a few minutes about how bad she felt for closing the door but that she didn’t know what else to do. I said not to worry about it and that if it was that the girl had to use the restroom, I’m sure she’d found one by now. About 10 minutes later, we were watching the BET awards and discussing how Trina and Plies are each surprisingly well spoken and Plies even went to nursing school, when Alanna looked over at me and started making weird facial expressions. She was freaking me out, so I hoped off my bed and she ran over to me and whispered, “the girl is just standing in the window by your bed, staring at us.” Alanna was really scared, lol, but I decided to go outside and talk to the girl. She was very pleasant and clarified that Charlie’s is a hotel and she wanted to know if we would rather stay there as opposed to here…I told her we are happy where we are and thanked her for inquiring. After we came back in, we thought for sure she was gone but sure enough 10 minutes later she says through my window, “ok, I’m leaving now.” Lol, I must say that was a pretty strange encounter…I have a feeling she may be back tomorrow. I actually think she may just want to be our friend…and I hope someone isn’t sending her here on some sly mission to scope out the place.

I’m not trying to be paranoid but the reality is, someone stole one of the girl’s laptops last year, so we are trying to be cautious. At the same time, we want to meet as many people and make as many friends as we can. In Ghana, crime is not a major issue, while there is the occasional petty thief, most people seem content with legitimate sales and hustling to make ends meet. While there are a handful of very wealthy Ghanaians, many of whom live in the large homes we passed on the way to Aburi from Accra, the majority of the population live in poverty. It is not the kind of poverty that you may be envisioning…these people don’t have much but they are not suffering, they have food, shelter, clothes…what they don’t have is the luxury of excess but it does not weigh on them because most people are in the same boat…there is no mansion next door to remind them every day of what they don’t have.

Alanna and I watched a special last night on BBC about the Dalats in India. They are the lowest in the caste system and they eat nothing but rice and the rats they find in the rice fields that they work. They are paid with rice and have been so severely oppressed that it is close to impossible for most of them to escape poverty. When they move to the city to pursue better work, most end up living in the slums where there is one toilet to every 800 people. While in the city, they face less caste discrimination but they still end up living in extreme poverty.

My observations have strengthened my belief that capitalism is the biggest bullshit success story I’ve ever heard. Statistically, capitalism only benefits the richest 10-15%, everyone else suffers and is made to believe that they are not REALLY being deprived. But honestly, there is enough food in this world that not one person should be starving or even malnourished. So, in closing, I don’t blame the people for staring at us and trying to hustle or even steal from us…fricking greedy Westerners need to be redistributing the wealth around the globe and stop trying to convince everyone that capitalism is the golden way because it’s not…it’s the greedy, selfish, destructive way. I’m not saying I have a solution…but communism or maybe even socialism doesn’t sound half bad to me right now.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Today, Dr. Anderson came to the Centre. I must say it was a quite humorous experience watching him trying to explain to Dr. Sitti why there is no follow-up data from the plant extracts that were sent back to the States in 2007 and 2008 and how he doesn’t have any protocols for any of the experiments he wants us to do this summer. Dr. Sitti’s small chuckles made it even better! Thankfully, we got some concrete plans down by the time he left and it will be up to Alanna and I to expand on all of our major objectives by adding specific procedural steps. Our project will definitely break some research boundaries and take what has been done in the past, by our MHIRT predecessors, a step further. After work, we went to the craft market in Aburi where I bought 2 handmade carvings, one of which is too big to fit in any of my luggage…oops! Lol, I’ll figure all that out later. Because we were with Dr. Anderson, she gave us these amazing discounts…and when I say amazing…I mean she gave me a 50% discount on each of my carvings!! My apartment isn’t ready for all this African beauty.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Today was a good day…like everyday…but it was especially good because it is a Thursday and I was born on a Thursday, hence my name in Twi is Yaa, which is coincidently similar to my real name…Ayanna! It was also a good day because we began working in the lab. We learned how to identify certain unwanted compounds in an herbal concoction including reducing sugars, phenolic compounds, polyurinides, saponins, alkyloids and more. It was like being in orgo lab but without the pressure of performing, only the luxury of absorbing information at my own pace. Sami was a great help, he walked us through each of the procedures and after lunch we went back through each on our own with a different drug. Then, to top the day off, Tope came to visit us and I rocked their socks in tunk! And Tope got lucky and won B.S. :-P

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I just want to start off by saying everyday here is a great day, especially because they all start off with a beautiful drive down the mountain on the way to Mampong. Today, we had a lot of humorous conversations with our colleagues at the centre. Many members of my lab asked me what religion I followed and of course this is always sort of awkward to explain, especially to a stranger, so I tried to keep it as simple as possible. I didn’t feel as if I was being judged, they were very accepting but it was so funny because every young guy that came into the lab, they would introduce him as young and unmarried, lol. Sami, one of the two high priests in our lab, introduced me to (forgot his name) and said, “Blank is young and single but Jesus is between him and God but that’s ok, he can just convert you.” LMBO, I was cracking up. We also had this mango situation where there were like seven people crowded around trying to tell me and Alanna how to eat this mango I was trying to peel. Some were telling us to eat the peel others were saying not to, then they were arguing over the right way to peel it and whether or not we should share or just one of us eat it…lol, I love these people.

Monday, May 18, 2009...The Research Begins...Sort Of

Last night was kind of funny in hindsight but it was pretty scary at the time. While our cabin is very nice and homely, being in the garden feels like you’re in the middle of the forest and with no electricity, it was pitch black by 8:00 p.m. We went to bed around 8:30 p.m. but we were awoken throughout the night by crazy noises, some sounded like crackling coming from inside of the house others came from outside like this constant howling/crowing/cockle-doodle-dooing from like 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. I kind of wrote off the noises in the house as the natural creaking of the house and the foot steps outside as the night watcher’s footsteps but Alanna was completely freaked out. So, we lived in fear until the electricity came on at 5 something and I got up at 6 to do Taebo.



Today was our first day at the center. We went around to all of the different offices (Accounts, Pharmacology, Phytochemistry, Microbiology lab, etc.) Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and I am excited about our project. As of right now, we are only sure that we will be making plant extracts but hopefully we can do some biological assays and MAYBE do the rat uterine tests when the medical student gets here in June or July. Dr. George and Dr. Sittie arranged for Olga and Mr. George to take us to the market for food, water and various other things we need in order to prepare our own meals. It was really great, we’ve passed through many markets but this was our first opportunity to really go into the heart of a market and buy things and bargain with vendors. Side note: There are vendors everywhere in Ghana, along almost every road and many stay open through the night. It is just amazing to me, every inch of good space is utilized to its full capacity. I am very impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit of Ghana. In fact, I feel that life here moves at a much more natural pace than in America. Back home, everyone is always rushing, and while the drivers here are no less (or even more) aggressive, people seem to take life in stride. I also like that arguing seems to be accepted as a natural means of communication just as joking around or having a calm conversation. I’ve seen many people argue but with the intent to end it and they don’t seem too emotionally involved in the quarrel.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Today seemed so long but we actually didn’t do that much. It was kind of funny because as I woke, I was hoping that the water would be working today, so that I could use the bathroom in the hostel…I had to pee really bad, lol. But it turned out that the water still wasn’t working and a couple of hours later the electricity went out too. Alanna and I sat staring at the fan as the rotations became slower and slower…it was so sad, hahaha.

So, we took that as a sign to go get something to go out and exchange some more money and get a new sim card and minutes for her phone. We ran into Tope in the hall and he scolded us for trying to go to the market by ourselves (lol), so we woke Kwaku and Polina and we all drove together in Kwaku’s dad’s old car. When we got there, we parked behind this bus, which turned out not to be such a great idea because the bus driver of the next bus that pulled up behind his car went off on Kwaku, lol…sorry Kwaku!!

When we got back to the hostel, everyone was starving but it is Sunday and all the delivery food places weren’t answering the phone, so we sat around for a while, listening to one another’s stomach growling and then 4 of us headed out to Chef Solo’s to pick up some 1.50-2.00 cedi meals…you can’t beat that!! Right after we finished eating, a man showed up to take Alanna and I to Aburi Gardens. It really caught us off guard because we didn’t know what time we were supposed to be picked up and we thought that Kofi Jyan was coming, but he didn’t.

The ride to Aburi Gardens was AMAZING!!! I missed a lot of great pictures because the car was moving pretty fast but we rode through the mountains and saw lovely homes (I guess it is the equivalent to suburbia). Aburi Gardens is up in the mountains and the landscape is absolutely amazing. We haven’t had much time to explore because it gets dark at six, so we’re trying to wake up early and go for a run around the gardens. We have our own little house here with a living room, refrigerator, bathroom, closet room, bedroom and television. Unfortunately, the electricity is out her too, so a couple of candles, sitting in glass Fanta soda bottles, are holding it down for us right now.






We miss our friends back at the hostel so much, we had become a little team…it’s crazy how you can sometimes hit it off with people so fast and so easily. And even when you live half way across the world, you can have so much in common.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Today, I woke up around 11 a.m., only to find that there was no running water. But no worries, there is a reservoir outside that we can collect water from and rinse the soap off of your body by pouring a bucket of water on yourself…it is actually pretty cool, lol…I’m probably one of the only people who enjoy taking bucket showers. We moved very slowly during the morning (the heat + not knowing where restaurants are makes it hard to get going), so by the time we got ready to go around 1:30 p.m., I sat down on my bed and fell asleep again, lol. Then, around 3 p.m., we rounded up the crew and headed for the beach, we figured we’d find a place to eat on the way. We got to the beach, and a restaurant was conveniently placed right on the water front. So, we ordered our food (I had vegetable rice with pepper sauce on the side!!) and proceeded to be hustled by every guy selling something on the strip, haha. I don’t know why we were such a target but they were just swarming our table and being super persistent. I told a couple of them…”if I keep buying your stuff, I’ll be out here with you in a minute; u got something for me to sale?” But they were fun and I got some good deals…in total, I spent 20 cedis and got 3 necklaces and 3 bracelets. Not bad, I don’t think. Then I rode a horse and played in the water and soaked my pants real good. The darkness came…and we headed home.

•Woke up at 6:00 a.m. because it was already fully light outside with a light overcast. Weather.com was wrong, not a drop of rain fell today.

•Raman took us to change money, and then out to lunch.

•The food was great!! I can’t wait to eat more. For lunch I had red red (fried plaintain and black eyed peas), jollof rice, and fresh squeezed pineapple juice!!


•On the way to change our money, we saw a car crash w/a motorcycle and a taxi (I think).

•I was expecting that the exchange rate would be 1 dollar to 1 cedi but currently it is 1 dollar to 1.45 cedi, I got 142 cedis for a 100 dollar bill, I was so geeked.

•Polina, Alonna “Niké”, and I went to the internet café, my computer died on me before I could send all the emails I needed to or upload my blog.

•I got my hair braided for 8 cedis, amazing deal.

•At the salon I watched “Let’s Dance,” the Nigerian version of “So you think you can dance."

•There was a little girl in the salon and she started to scream and cry, her mother yelled…be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet…the girl kept crying, so the mom hit her hand and repeated…be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet (louder and louder)…then she swooped the toddler up and said GO TO SLEEP, said be quiet one more time, and the girl was knocked out within 3 seconds…it was amazing… like magic.

•We met two Nigerian medical students, who live in our hostel, named Temitope and Adebimpe. They’re doing there “elective” here in Ghana and we’re going to the club with them tonight.


•Our night out was lots of fun, we went to a very nice upscale bar, drank and danced until about 12 a.m. then we headed for a club called Tantra…where they play a mix of techno house music and hip hop, this was also had a very upscale feel, with a mixed crowd. We left around three but the club doesn’t close until sun break…we just couldn’t hang…such a long day warrants a good night’s sleep…and that’s exactly what we did.

May 13th - May 14th

Yesterday/Today was all travel and very little sleep. We (Ayanna, Alanna, Taysha, Polina, Janaiya, Folasade) left from DTW at 9:00pm and we arrived in Amsterdam around 11:00am. I was surprisingly not tired but it definitely caught up to me on the second flight. The food they served on the planes was actually not half bad…well I can only speak for the vegetarian options, there were mixed reviews on the meat dishes. The first plane served curry beans w/ greens and rice and a salad on the side. The second flight served Aubergine curry offered with coriander couscous, raisins and Spanish red pepper…classy, right? And the passion fruit mousse was served over gram cracker crust (just delish). To make the flight even better there were the most adorably little girls sitting behind me, except they were never sitting, they played in the isle for the majority of the flight and I played something equivalent to peek-a-boo with them for a little while. Both flights gave me a chance to pretty much finish this month’s issue of Essence…it’s a must buy…all about being green and they gave green awards, here are some highlights:

Ways to go green at home:
Let fresh air in, unplug unused appliances, wipe your feet, turn your heat down and put on a sweater, use recyclable bags, say bye-bye to bottled water anddddd GO MEATLESS(they suggest visiting black vegetarians.org/recipes/soulfood.htm for those who don’t wanna give up soulfood!!)

They also had a wonderful interview, as their feature article, with Michelle Obama and her mother, Mrs. Robinson.

Finally, a few of the Green Award winners are working on projects in the Bronx that involve both creating green job training and salvaging abandoned building parts for reuse (google Majora Carter and Omar Friella for more info)

Unfortunately, it gets dark very early in Ghana, so when we arrived at 7:30 p.m., it was already dark. It was still pretty cool to see Accra at night, even though it is very dark and the only light comes from small store fronts and vending machines and buildings, people are still walking about and street vendors are still set up and open for business.

The dudes at the airport were definitely trying to hustle us. They run up to help you before you can even say “yes, I need help” or “no, I got it” and next thing you know their asking you for a tip. Hustlers everywhere, I need to think of another believable country to tell them I’m from, because if you say American, they’ll automatically assume you got bukoo money.

Now, we’re at the International Student Hostel in Accra. Taysha, Janaiya and Folasade are leaving for Mampong Ashanti at 5:00 a.m., Kwaku and Polina are here for good and Alanna and I will be here until Sunday, so we’re going to exchange some money tomorrow and go get our hair braided with Polina, should be fun!!!

Before Take Off

This entire semester has been a test of my endurance only to prepare me for experiences that will challenge my stamina even more. I have come to realize that despite my natural inclination to push people away...I need people. And I absolutely love the people around me, everyday they surprise me with their charm, their warmth and I am even intrigued by our disagreements becuase they serve as another means by which we can grow as individuals and as friends. It has taken me a long time to understand relationship dynamics and by no means do I know everything. But I know one thing for sure, I value every friend and family member with whom I have a relationship and I look forward to imporving upon those relationships as I continue to sculpt my existence and my character.

I look at this trip to Ghana as an opportunity. An opportunity to learn not only about herbs and Ghanaian culture but also about myself and I will hopefully return with a renewed since of purpose.

I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to my fellow LCers for being so awesome, my parents for not completely freaking out about massage therapy school, my DYNAMIC E-board for holding it down at LC and planning a terrific year for 09-10, and my friends, who through thick and thin have remained true and I look forward to the years to come.

Check my blog every once and a while this summer and leave some feedback, I'll be reporting on my project and my MCAT studying, and my weekend adventures, etc.

Peace out,
Ayanna