Day 55 and 56: Tema/Accra, Ghana
It was weird to go to sleep in one place and wake up in another. Even when we went from Portugal to Spain there was a day of travel in the middle. But we went from Takoradi to Tema overnight. Tema was the name of the town where the port was but Accra, the capital of Ghana, was really our destination. It was about a half an hour from Tema and I didn’t actually make it there. I did go to Nima, which is a part of Accra. It is a community that has been there forever and is basically the slums of the city.
We had a tour guide with us, Ato, from the tour company Landtours. They were handling all of the SAS programs. But SAS had hired the Nima Street Art guys separately so we also had Larry, who was really in charge.
We drove an hour and a half to Nima. When we got there we got off the bus and walked down a street, across a dirt soccer field where a game was happening, and to a wall. The wall was painted. We stood and looked at the wall for a bit. It was painted during their last election. They use their art to promote peace during the elections. The artwork was beautiful.
Larry got on my nerves very quickly. He wasn't a tour guide, he was an artist, and it showed. He didn’t even attempt to talk to the group, he would just tell the few people standing around him things. And it was really hard to hear. So I didn’t learn all that much overall. It was really frustrating.
After we looked at the wall we walked to a library. I almost stepped on a dead chicken but Carla pulled me out of the way just in time.
The Nima Maamobi Community Library was two stories. The library was on the second floor. People can go there and use the books and study for free. They probably had about 200 books total. I think someone in our group got their address so that we could send them some books.
The first floor of the building had some class rooms but also had a theatre. They use it to put on plays with children in the community. They work with people of all ages but their aim is to bring the arts to the kids in an attempt to steer them in a good direction. We were at the library for about 20 minutes.
After that we walked. A lot. We walked to more murals. Nima did not smell good at all, anywhere. Their sewers are not underground so you are constantly smelling them. Plus there was garbage everywhere. And animals. Not just goats, but also cows. The most interesting thing I saw was the cows. Not just alive cows, but dead cows.
We walked by guys stripping the meat off of and cleaning the bones of freshly slaughtered cows. Just casually on the side of the road. There was a cow head upside-down in a bucket and you could see the bones and meat and other things just hanging out of the neck. They were sorting meat into piles. They were scrapping the bones and cleaning them into buckets of water that didn’t look all that clean.
All on the side of the road, and surrounded by live cows. It was incredible. A lot of things just happen on the side of the road. People sell things, people make things, people clean things, people cook things.
At one point we sat on benches on the side of the road and talked to a guy who is credited with being the godfather of art in Nima. Where we sat was where he displayed his art in the hopes that someone will buy it. His art was very beautiful.
Walking down the street was very overwhelming. We were basically walking in the road, right next to traffic and there were people all over the street. There were animals and kids and trash and people carrying things and dragging things and unloading things. There was a lot of honking and swerving. I got really claustrophobic. It didn’t help that everyone was staring at u and it was blazing hot out. I developed a massive headache that stayed with me the entire day.
We winded our way down some side streets. Which really meant that we were walking into peoples living areas. It seemed like the main street was where they worked and right off the street were these winding mazes of tiny houses. When we stopped to look at the first mural that was ever painted we were in a teeny tiny area between houses where some ladies were cooking. There were children all around us. Kids absolutely love us, they all wave hi and run after us. They are obsessed with our cameras and our hair. They want us to take pictures of them and with them. They are so energetic and excited whenever we are around. That was fun. They gave us some thing that was like peanut brittle that they had made.
We went to three different art studios. One was where they printed the t-shirts for Nima art. Everywhere was incredible small. We had to go into each place in groups of 5 and even that was tight.
One of the studios we went to belonged to Musah. Musah was with us all day, he is an artist that does sculpture and painting. His studio seemed to double for his house because we perched ourselves on his bed as he showed us his art. It was incredible. He used wood to create a shape and then painted a village onto the wood. He also had a piece where he painted on the backside of glass so that the painted showed through on the other side. And he had another that used cloth as texture and depicted people migrating across the Mediterranean to Europe. He told us that he had his first solo exhibition next week.
I wanted to buy a piece from him but we ran out of time.
After we left Musah's studio we got back on the bus and ate our box lunches. Someone asked if we were going to be eating with families because that is what the description of the program said was going to happen. I asked our trip liaison for the description and was surprised to find that what we were doing was nothing like what was advertised. It said that we were going to be broken up into pairs and sent to different families homes to eat lunch. Then, in the second half of the day we would have a performance and learn a style of dance that was specific to Nima. Then we would eat fresh mango as a snack and play some soccer. It was clear that we were not going to be doing any of those things.
At that point I was annoyed. I was hot and sweaty and all we had done was walk around this place and look at things painted on walls. And I barely learned anything about them. My third disappointing day, great.
As we sat on the bus they had a hip life artist, Friction, come and talk to us about the music movement in Nima. Hip life is kind of like R&B. Friction broke out in the music industry while in Nima and now is fairly famous.He rapped and sang for us and it was pretty good. He has his own record label, performs with his group, VIP, and has an NGO. His used his NGO to help kinds in Nima see that there is more than the ghetto. He doesn't want kids to get into trouble and drugs. He wants to help guide them in the right direction. The arts are not widely accepted in Nima because they are not understood, but support for it is growing.
If you want to learn more about Friction he gave us his website: friction-music.com and frictionfoundation.org.
After Friction left us we went back to the library for a painting workshop. Finally, something that I really wanted to do. They set us up in the theatre room. It was very make-shift, they cut up water bottles to put paint in so that we would all have all the colors. They had the main primary colors, black, and white. We were divided up around tables and were given a fairly large sheet paper. Then we were pretty much let loose. It was less of a workshop and more of a free for all.
The cool thing was that, while we were all doing our own things, Musah would come around and add to our paintings. To start I painted a purple swoosh and then a green swoosh on the left side of my paper and then a yellow spiral that went from the left side to the right side. I made the spiral with both dark yellow and light yellow. It was then that Musah came over and asked if I needed help. I told him that what I had done was all that was in my head and now I didn’t know what to don But what did he see?
He said that he saw a women. He then sketched a woman holding a baby inside my yellow swoosh. It was beautiful. I then filled in around her with orange and gave her a maroon headscarf. He then came back and did both her and the baby's face. We worked together on the empty white space between the baby and the woman. The end result is fantastic. I am absolutely in love with it.
It was so much better than just buying a piece of his art. I also painted something in my journal that he added to.
The second half of the day completely made up for the first half. Painting was so much fun. Perhaps too much fun, I ruined my jeans. I haven't actually tried to clean them yet but we were working with acrylic paint so I am pretty sure the smears all down the thigh are not going to come out. I don't even know how they got here, I was too into it. I also had paint on my back and my shoulder. I have no idea, but it was totally worth it. At least my jeans now come with an interesting story.
It turned out that Larry's mom had made food for all of us and he went to get it while we were painting. So when we were done we ate rice and beef and some fish thing. That made up for things too. I was pleased with the afternoon.
On the bus ride back some students decided to buy plantain chips. And by buy plantain chip on the bus ride I literally mean we were on the bus and people would come up to your window and sell you things. We were stuck in traffic so they forced one of the windows open and the guy handed through some bags of chips. It was then that the traffic started moving and we pulled forward. He sprinted after us.
Now, that as a sentence by itself is not that impressive. What makes it impressive is the fact that he was carrying a two foot tall bag of the chips on his head.
They carry everything on their head. Food, laundry, raw materials. Everything. They use rings of fabric to rest things on. I had a conversation with Ato on the bus about how it doesn't seem like it would be good for their necks. But apparently it is a very natural way to carry something because your neck is locked, so it doesn't take much effort. So they just casually walk around with things on their head, and the run with things on their head.
The guy had to run after us twice before the transaction was complete. The moment they had success we all started applauding. We also bought chocolate from another person. The chocolate we bought was called Kingsbite. It is made from cocoa grown right in Ghana. It is 100% cocoa but is milk chocolate and doesn't have any sugar syrup added to us. It wasn't all that bitter so I don't know how it was 100% cocoa, but it is really chalky.
We were stuck in traffic for a really long time and didn’t get back until an hour after we were supposed to.
The first thing I did when I got on the ship was find Molly. Yay! We ate dinner together and then watched The Big Bang Theory for hours.
I am so glad that we were able to paint, it made up for the entire day. My painting is hanging on my wall, I can't wait to frame it.
The next day, the last day, was another early morning for me. I again had to meet at 7:45.
This time I was going to learn how to make beads.
We drove about an hour and a half out to a village that also had a bead factory in it. And by bead factory I mean more of a complex of buildings that a few guys lived and made beads.
I learned some things about Ghana on our way there from our tour guide, Steven. Finally, gaining some knowledge.
They don't have a very good public transportation system. It exists but it is not reliable at all. Most people own their own cars so that they can make sure they get to work on time. Most cars are used from the U.S or Europe. Their economy is not strong enough to support the purchase of new cars. This was one of the first countries where I didn’t see any car dealerships. They did have tolls though, we went through one a few times.
It was interesting to learn because during my different times out and about I made the observation that Ghana was just a few years behind the times. All of the cars were old models and the kids books for school had Hannah Montana and the second High School Musical movie on the front of them. The items they were using were just really out of date. But it makes sense, those kinds of thing are cheaper for them to buy and work just as well.
We drove by a forest where a bunch of baboons live. And they were just chilling on the side of the road, giant pink butts just hanging out there. That was fun to see.
The complex where they made the beads was beautiful. On the level of the resort we went to, no trash, and it didn’t smell. There were a few buildings around the outside and in the middle were huts where the kilns were. There were also some structures that they use for prep work and storage.
There are 5 different types of beads:
- Old recycled beads. They are just made from various different items.
- Recycled transparent beads. They are made from bottles. Mostly beer bottles and coke bottles but also some other colored bottles. The break them up into chunks and then put the chunks into the molds.
- Recycled glass bottle beads. These are also made from bottles but they pound the bottles into powder and then use the different colored powders to make a design.
- Glazed beads. They are also made from powdered glass.
- Bodom beads. These are special beads made for chiefs.
I took that list right from my notes, which I scribbles furiously while he talked. Looking over it now they all seem really similar to each other. But he showed us examples of all of them and they looked entirely different when they were done.
After he briefly showed us how he uses the powders to make the designs and how they polish the beads we went to make our own beads. We had to rush into it because they needed to be fired and cooled in time for us to take them home. We made two kinds of beads, the recycled transparent beads and the recycled glass bottle beads. We used two different molds, which were labeled with numbers so that we knew which ones were ours. One of them had four smaller holes. That one we filled with the glass pieces. I mixed mine up to see what different combination would look like. There was white/clear, that was a coke bottle, green and brown, that was the beer bottles, and then some blue.
Our second mold was larger and only had one hole. We filled it with the powder. To make a design you use a tiny metal shovel to scoop up the powder and pour it into your mold. Then you can use a small stick to move the powder around. I didn’t try to make anything specific but I tried to make some sort of pattern and make sure that all the colors could be seen. The powders looked really pastel and pretty. There was blue, yellow, purple, pink, and green.
After we finished putting the materials in the molds we went into the small store that they had there. I bought so many beads. Especially bracelets. They were only three cedi a piece, which is about a dollar fifty a piece. I also bought fifty individual beads to replace the seeds in my mancala set.
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I bought mancala. I bought it after the village visit when I went through the market quickly with Lori. I love mancala, I played it all the time as a kid. The one I bought is made out of wood and carved on the tip. It came with 50 seeds that we weren't sure I was going to be able to get on the ship but ended up not having a problem. The seeds aren't that pretty so I though it would be cool to buy beads to replace them. When the beads ended up only being 20 cents a piece I jumped on that opportunity.
Beads make great gifts. I am very proud of my purchases, and it was fun to shop there.
We gathered under one of the huts to eat our box lunches. It was one of the most relaxing field programs I have ever been on. We had to wait for the beads to be fired and cooled so we just relaxed and chatted and ate.
The fire the beads in kilns made out of ant hills. When I think of a kiln I think of the fancy electric things you see in modern pottery places. Nope. This was straight fire in a hut. They got them in and out with a metal spatula like thing on a huge stick.
We watched them pull them out of the kiln and shape the bead within the mold while they were still hot. Then Steven told us random things that the palm trees were used for. Which included palm oil and making moonshine.
When the beads were finally cooled we helped to polish them. They polished all four of the small glass ones but I was able to polish my larger powdered glass one. The way they polish them is rubbing them on a stone with some water and sand. You just scrape it back and forth in sand on a stone until it is clean. Polish is a really loose term. It was more like we were just cleaning them.
They turned out beautiful. My powdered glass one is my favorite. The colors came out really dark, not pastel at all. The color are all mixed together in this crazy pattern. So cool.
They gave us some string so that we could string them together. I had gotten a small glass medallion shaped like Africa in the store so I used that and the beads I made to make a thing that I can hang on the rearview mirror of my car when I get home.
It was such a great day. Nice and relaxing and I learned a lot and got to make beads. I really enjoyed it.
On the way back two girls wanted to get coconuts. When they saw someone selling them they hollered and we pulled over. I thought, hey why not. So I went with them. As soon as we got off the bus and started down the street it started to rain.
Did I talk about the rain? I don't think I did. Ghana doesn't have seasons, its so close to the equator that it is basically the same temperature all year round. What they do have is a rainy season, which lasts from around April to the end of November. So the crazy rain yesterday and this downpour were to be expected.
The coconuts were 1 cedi a piece. The guy chopped them open with a machete right in front of us. The water inside of them sloshed over the side as soon as he broke a hole through the top. It stopped raining as soon as we got back on the bus. Of course.
It was a surreal moment for me. I ran through the street of a village in Ghana during a downpour… to buy a coconut. In Ghana.
I learned that younger coconuts have jellier meat and are still water. As they get older the meat hardens and they start to milk. Younger coconuts are better for eating, the older coconuts are what the shaved coconut we are used to comes from. I dug the meat out with my fingers until one of the girls offered me a spoon. The water tasted sweet and warm, but nothing like the coconut flavor I am used to. It wasn’t that good. It was a cool experience but I don't think I would eat a straight coconut again.
We made it back to the ship late again. I walked around the market that they had set up here. It was all the same people, they had followed us there. I bought a some stuff; a tiny drum and a painting. I remarked to the person I was shopping with, Lillian, that it seemed like this was going to be the only country where I didn’t get my usual stuff: postcards, magnets, and pins.
It was then that I saw some magnets sitting to the side in one tent. Score. Then I went with Lillian over to look at the beads in another tent. There another SAS girl was holding some postcards. I asked where she got them, she directed me and boom, success. Lillian and I were on our way back to the ship when she noticed some more beads so we stopped to look for a moment. It was then that I saw a cardboard sheet with tiny flags all over it. What. Wait a minute, could it be?! PINS!! YESS!! They aren't straight pins, but they are still pins. I was so excited Lillian was concerned. My day was complete.
We got back on the ship just in time for another drumming performance. The same guys that I woke up to on the first day were back to perform again. The two of them played a simple song and then they were joined by two other people who danced. When they first came out of the side door of the union I assumed that they were women. They looked like women. But once they made their way down to the middle of the room I realized they were men. I leaned over and whispered my thoughts to Molly and she agreed that she too thought they were women. It was mostly because of their outfits. Their shirts were scoop neck with puffy sleeves and they were wearing skirts. And yet they did the dance really well so it didn’t seem like they were filling in for the women who usually did it.
The music teach, Julie Strand, explained it when they finished. She started off with, "I bet you were wondering why they appeared to be dressed like women." Apparently it is a rain dance that they do in villages. The story was that they gods said that in order for the drought to stop all the women in the village had to perform the dance but couldn’t be menstruating when they did it. But that was impossible because everyone was different. So, to trick the gods the men would dress up like women and perform the dance so that it would rain. Way to take one for the team men!
It was a great performance, a great end to our stay in Ghana. At they end they got a bunch of people up to join them and it turned into an African dance party.
Dinner was BBQ! This time we got to do BBQ correctly because it wasn't raining. They set it up on deck seven. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, mac and cheese, potato salad, and all the fixings. The mac and cheese was magically delicious. We all got two huge plates of food. It was a fantastic change of pace from normal ship food.
We sat and relaxed outside of deck 6 for a long while. Then Molly and I sat in the piano lounge and I started blogging while she attempted to study. But she got all of my Disney music from me and then spent all of her time going through it. I had 450 songs. Which is excessive.
Tomorrow is Neptune Day and we are all kind of freaking out. We discussed it extensively at dinner. We kind of know what it is but they have done a very good job at keeping the majority of it a secret so we still have many questions. This is the description of it straight from the website:
"Dating back to 1926, the transition from pollywog to shellback forms one of Semester at Sea’s most memorable traditions. Each time the MV Explorer crosses the equator for the first time during a voyage, festivities ensue in which pay homage to King Neptune by kissing a fish, showering in “guts,” and shaving their heads"
I'm totally shaving my head.
No, not really.
If it comes out of my mouth, someone punch me.
The cool thing is that this isn't just a Semester at Sea thing. Line-crossing ceremonies are a long standing tradition in maritime cultures. Especially the Navy. If you have never crossed the equator in a ship before than you are a pollywog. The first time you cross the equator on a ship, which is what we are doing tomorrow, you become a shellback. We are going to be extra special because we are crossing at 0.0;0.0, the center of the world. This means we will be Emerald Shellbacks.
How awesome.
The good news is that our line crossing ceremony will be significantly less violent than those in the military or on fishing vessels. According to wiki they would hit each other repeatedly on the butt and hang people upside-down.
But we do have to kiss a fish.
And apparently Captain Jeremy dresses up like King Neptune. That will be entertaining.
And this all happens really early in the morning. Apparently we will be woken up at some point. By them banging on our doors? This is where it gets a little wishy-washy.
What should we wear? Bathing suits? Will we have a lot of time to get ready? Should we sleep in our clothes so all we have to do is run? I'm a little scared.
The most hilariously thing is that, in preparation of shaving their heads, a whole bunch of the boys have shaved their heads partially. And by partially I mean in insane designs. And things that I wouldn’t really call designs. One person just left a one inch ring of hair that goes right around his head. One kid who had a faux hawk shaved the two strips on either side of the faux hawk but left the tuffs over his ears. Another shaved just the top and left all the sides and back. Another shaved a spiral design. They are all just walking around casually, looking ridiculous. It's hilarious.
Tomorrow will be interesting.
To shave my head or not to shave my head….
