Miscellanous

This is the water that we drank.  We were not allowed to drink any of the water from the house.  These are satchels of water that sell for about 5 cents or you can buy bottle water too.

A speed bumb sign!!! There were a lot of speed bumps on the roads that were paved because they drive like maniacs there!! And we thought Illinios drivers were bad..... :)

Women carry their babies on their backs, wrapped in a piece of fabric so their arms are free to sell their product!!! Not only do they carry their babies on their backs, then they balance things on their heads!! Amazing.

How they cook french fries!!! Most homes don't have ovens so they use charcoal and a pot of oil!!

Football(aka soccer)

This is the soccer field at Cantonments FC.  The picture was unable to capture the field conditions.  The field was not square.  In the far right cornre there are mini-hills, holes, drop-offs and a few patches of grass. Perfect conditions for sprained ankles right?!

The U-12 boys that I coached.  A lot of them were only 8-9 years old, but all of them had way more talent that I do!!! Their ball skills are amazing. 

This is the storage area for the soccer equipment.  I was told it has been broken into more than a few times but they don't have any other options.  The founder of the club and the coaches do not have room in their homes. 

Each team has bout 5-6 balls to use, most of them are in such bad condition that we would have thrown them out here in the US. 

Street Vendors

So along almost every street there were small shacks or stands with people selling everything you can imagine, from toilet paper to jewelry, from storm doors for your house to microwaves.  These 'businesses' were how most people made money.  I don't know how successful they are or how people could live off of that small income, I was not able to figure that out.  Sometimes you would have some nicer homes on a street but then there would a business right next to it.  I don't know if the people own their stand/shack or how they pick the location.  I had so many questions but didn't want to be that person who asked a thousand questions. 

Host Family

These are the girls that I lived with while in Accra.  Breanna on the left who is 4 and Stephanie, who is 6.  They both attend a private school all day.  Most girls in Ghana have short hair.  This is a rule in some of the schools, to keep lice out of the schools, and also since water is scarce in Africa, they tend to keep it short for easy maintenance. 

This is the home that I stayed in.  The family that I stayed with would be considered an upper-middle class family I believe.  It was a pretty typical 3-bedroom, 1 bath home.

Underprivileged Children's Center(UCC)

The school that I was able to work my last week at was called Underprivilege Children's Center(UCC).  It was started by a man named Billa, who 12 years ago started teaching some of the local kids who didn't attend school.  They would meet under a mango tree where he would give lessons in English, teaching them the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, etc.  They now have a building with 6 outdoor classrooms and have a partnership with a company in the UK, who sponsers the children who pass the exam to attend a regular school. 

This is one of the classrooms.  They are about 8x8 or 10x10 and don't have enough chairs, desks, or tables for all the children.  As you can see the walls don't go up to the roof and there are no doors, so there never any quiet time.  Kids come in and out of classrooms, go out of the school grounds, are constantly running around and yelling.  The lack of structure is so evident and has to be detrimental in the success that the students see in a timely manner.  For example, the last day I was there, I had to give reading assessments to classroom 3 to find out what level they were reading at.  We had to do this outside where the kindagarten class meets because they don't have a classroom and were constantly interrupted by kids wanting to read with us.  It was hard to give an accurate assessment in these conditions. 

The following are pictures of some of the students.  They love to get their pictures taken and got so excited to see their faces on the screen. 

Cape Coast

Here are a few pictures from the weekend we spent in Cape Coast. 

This is the canopy walk we took in Kakum National Park in the rain forest.  The walk was pretty cool, I would have liked to see some animals though. 

This is a picture of Cape Coast Castle.  We went on a tour of the grounds and saw the dungeons where they kept the slaves and learned a lot.  I was glad that we did this and learned a bit of history about the area. 

This is right outside of the castle, where they dock their fishing boats.  The boats are made of wood and we actually saw one captsize while they were trying to get out to sea.  There were big waves all day along the coast and it seems impossible that they make it safely. 

Waiting for food.....From left, Tess from Germany, Sara from Holland, and Celia from France.  We ate at this vegetarian restuarant 3 times while we were there because it was cheaper and better then the hotel restuarant but had to learn how to wait.... a long time!!!

Total Anxiety

This is Keneshie Market.  There is only one grocery store in Accra and it is primarily for foreigners because of the prices and the products cater to Europeans/Americans. This market is where most of the locals get their food.  I've never seen so many bushels of tomatoes, pineapples, coconuts, and more. However, there were so many people there in such a small space and everyone wanted you to buy something.  White skin= rich!! They will grab your arm and try to pull you near their stand and it is also a place where you have to keep a tight grip on your purse/bag.  This is where we had to get a Tro to Cape Coast, I think we sat in the tro for 35 minutes just to get through all the traffic. 

 

Taxi

This is a picture of the shared-taxi lot that I would have to use every day.  I would find a taxi that had a 'Camp 2' sign on it and wait until it is filled with passangers.  We then would travel on dirt roads that were so uneven and filled with huge holes, bumps, and ruts.  The taxi would drop me off about a 1/4 mile away from the school.  I could have walked from the Tro stop to the school, however they don't have any road signs and all of the 'roads' look the same to me, so I knew I would have been lost.  These share-taxis are all about to collapse.  They are the old drop-taxis(taxis that drop you at the door of wherever you are going and you don't need to have the car full) that they no longer used.  For those of you who knew me in high-school, the '82 Saab I had was a Cadillac compared to these!!!

Tro-tro

This is a typical Tro-tro in Ghana.  Most of them are in pretty bad shape; saw some with the back doors tied with ropes.  There is a driver and then there is a younger boy(usually a teen) who is in charge of getting the passengers on and off, telling everyone where they are going, and collecting money.  There are signals for each route in Accra and there are not necessarily designated stops.  Riders would tell them where they need to go and they would sometimes make a stop or not.  I had to take a Tro half way to work every day, and then I would have to get in a shared taxi.  Tros are the cheapest way to travel but sometimes not the safest and usually very crowded!!!

Amazing balance

Most Africans sell food and other products along the roads.  It is common to see them carry things on top of their heads.  This woman was selling bananas and thought it was funny that I wanted to take a picture.  I was amazed by what they can carry and how strong their necks must be. 

1st meal

My first African meal.  The fish was supposedly Tilapia(didn't really taste like it), rice, deep-fried plantains, Red-Red (a popular spicy bean dish) and some kind of chili sauce.  I tried everything on the plate but honestly did not enjoy any of it.  There were 2 other volunteers with me at this restuarant and a Project Abroad Staff member.  They take all the volunteers to this restaurant on their induction day.

Heathrow

Waiting in Heathrow Airport for my flight to Ghana.  My hopes to see some Olympic athletes did not come true.  I heard that most of them came through Heathrow two days after I was there!!! But you could tell that the airport was prepping for them, tons of security and lots of employees helping travellers.