So Cocoa Beach was... interesting. The beach was unfortunately filled with trash and we got a little harassed by the people there, so we didn't stay too long. But we were super proud of ourselves for finding our own way on the trotro and bus! Also, the coffin shop was super cool! They had so many different designs - everything from a beer bottle to a bible to a robot to a crab. Really impressive!
The next weekend, CIEE went to Dogobom in Ada to do some community service building water purifiers. At first, I was a bit skeptical and annoyed to be going because I felt as if we were going for the day just to do a good deed and then going back to our privileged lives. There was also a lot of people to do a job that didn't require that many people, so many of us got distracted, but I ended up getting really into helping build the purifiers, and as I got more into it, I began having a more positive experience than I expected. The process was as follows: building the plastic container, washing rocks and sand (very weird thing to do, I know), and putting rocks and sand in the plastic container. The whole process took the entire day. It truly amazed me how much the rocks and sand actually cleaned the water. Below is a picture showing the difference in the water going into the purifier (the one on the left) and the water coming out (the one on the right). It was truly amazing. I was so happy that it worked so well. Underneath that is a picture of the purifier itself.
That week was fairly uneventful - just continuing my classes and going on constant walks with my dear roommate. I also did my first big chunk of hand washing. Oh boy! But I still have a huge load left to do. Eek! I must finish that soon or else...
This past weekend, Morgan, Cathleen, Maiken, and I traveled to Kumasi to visit both the city and Fent (Morgan's good friend from Elon who is Ghanaian). Friday, we struggled to find a bus to take us to Kumasi (a city about 4 or 5 hours away from Accra). The bus stations were super confusing and we did not really understand what was going on half the time, and we were all getting tired and grumpy and were about to leave to try to find some good cheese pizza to make ourselves feel better, but right before we were about to leave, a bus came. We got to Kumasi at about midnight and Fent picked us up. We stayed with him near his family's house at his room. It was so much fun and really nice to be able to experience life the way that Fent and other Ghanaians live and not just the touristy, hotel experience. On Saturday, we went to Bowre, where they make Kente fabric. It was so impressive. All of the fabrics mean different things too - I got one that means "education is the best option" - I love the meaning of mine. After that, we went to the market - it is the biggest market in West Africa - so busy and hectic and wow. Then we went to the Cultural Center, looked around and had dinner. It was really a fun day. That night, it was pouring rain, so we stayed in, just watched a movie, and slept. Sunday, we went to the Palace in Kumasi - we learned about the history and traditions of the Asanti Kingdom, which was really interesting. The travel back home to Accra was just as hectic, if not more so than to Kumasi. We went to the bus station, were bombarded with people trying to get us to go on their buses, almost got run over by a few taxis and buses, and could not decide on what to do because we were so confused. But we finally got on a bus/trotro and got home. It was a fantastic weekend. Kumasi was so different from Accra, especially in the way that people treated us. They were not as forceful or persistent as people in the city. It was a fantastic and relaxing weekend (except for the bathroom situation). We were not able to take a shower for the whole weekend and were so looking forward to taking showers when we got back home, but lo and behold, we find out that the water is out at ISH2 and also out at ISH1, which is our usual fall back. Needless to say, we were quite distraught. Morgan and I took a 30 minute walk at night when we got back at 10pm to a friend's dorm across campus to shower. We felt so fantastically clean and wonderful and fresh after that.
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