Meeting the MCE, and Travel- July 12

This week’s tasks required us to split apart once again, but not before we had a meeting with the MCE of Sunyani, more or less the equivalent of a mayor.  We were greeted outside his office at the Municipal Assembly building at 10am by the Director, who we had met the previous day.  He led us inside the office and into the sudden sight of about seventeen of the important ministers and managers of the city.  We were invited to sit for the meeting and did so, a little nervously. First, we went around and shook hands with everyone. Then we sat down, and it was everyone else’s turn to come and shake hands with us. Everyone in the room introduced themselves, and the Director gave an introductory speech about our presence there.  

For the most part, the Director and the MCE did the majority of the talking, explaining their main concerns for their district and how we might be able to help. One of their concerns- which we are already assisting with through our book shipment- is the lack of supplies, especially books and computers, in their schools and communities. The minister of education also spoke up regarding education methods, and proposed that when we visit the local schools, we can observe and learn about their teaching methods, while we teach them about ours. Lastly, the MCE discussed the details of our book shipment, which will be picked up and paid for by his office once it arrives at the port in Tema within the next couple of weeks.

At the end of the meeting, we all shook hands again and exchanged contact information with the MCE as well as the minister of education, who had offered to show us around the local communities next week. After we left the Municipal Assembly, it was time for our group to split up for a while- Mike and Clayton took a taxi to the Sunyani bus station and nabbed the last seat on a bus to Kumasi while the girls expected to stick around Sunyani for a bit and take care of some work before traveling to the Babianeha for the weekend to get the middle school’s biochar experiment started and re-visit the Duasidan Monkey Sanctuary to discuss some advertising ideas with the community. 

The plan for the Mike and Clayton in Kumasi was to meet our electrician friend Peter and spend the day searching for an electric generator/alternator component for the Kwame Yeboahkrom Lister engine. By the time they navigated their way across Kumasi and met up with Peter however, it was too late to go looking that day.  Mike and Clayton spent the night in the FORIG guesthouse on campus, while Emmanuel’s wife was very kind and made them each a mountain of rice and mutton for dinner.

In the meantime, Chelsea, Helena, and Mollie spent much of Thursday afternoon following up on project work. They went to the Ridge Experimental School again to check in on the school’s supplies and computers, and to find a time when our group could come and do some science demonstrations similar to what we did at the CSIR Basic School in Kumasi. They met Jackson, the former headmaster at Ridge, who showed them around and explained that the students have exams next week, so we will not be able to visit until the week after.

Next, a trip to an internet café in Sunyani (a small room with ten or so computers, in which we paid the U.S. equivalent of about 25 cents for a half-hour of internet access), allowed Helena, Mollie, and Chelsea to check on the progress of the Duasidan Monkey Sanctuary marketing documents. They arranged for Mike and Clayton to pick up the documents at the FORIG campus, so that they could bring them to Babianeha on Saturday.

The Ghanaian version of Target.

After a late lunch and some fast packing, the girls took a taxi to the transit station, hopped on a nearly full bus to Dormaa (Note:  In Ghana, busses are less likely to depart at regular times since they usually don’t leave until they are full, so getting on to a crowded bus meant a sooner departure!), and began their journey to Babianeha.  After a comfortable (if bumpy every once in a while) one-and-a-half-hour ride, Mollie, Chelsea, and Helena arrived in the town of Dormaa, where they convinced a taxi driver to take them on the twenty minute drive to the Opuni house in Babianeha (the Opuni house being the home of Emmanuel’s mother and excellent host, Dora Opuni, as well as an assortment of his relatives).  

Chelsea, Mollie, and Helena's bus ride to Dormaa.

 Upon the girls’ arrival, helpful residents carried their bags and ushered them into their compound, where Emmanuel’s brother, Kwadwo, spent about ten minutes haggling (in Twi) with the taxi driver for us over the price of the ride. The discussion was very interesting to us, because Kwadwo and the taxi driver alternated between raised angry voices and laughing. After the taxi driver was talked down from twelve to seven cedis (7 cedis ~ 3.5 USD). The girls sat down to a meal of cooked yams (plain, so as to please Chelsea) and a vegetarian dish of cocoyam leaves (so as to please Mollie) which had already been prepared by the Opuni household.  The girls then retired for the night in the Opunis’ guesthouse, a beautiful newly constructed home that had not yet been used by the family themselves.

*Note: This post was written by Clayton, Helena, and Chelsea.

Greeting the Town- July 10 & 11

Tuesday the 10^th was a day filled with going to the Sunyani open market for ingredients for dinner (we always have particular fun at the stand where we buy eggs, because the friendly women there, Nana Afia and Nana Yaa, always try to teach us a few new phrases of Twi when we visit), compiling our video footage, and doing a bit more writing for project documentation. At the end of the day, Mike, Chelsea, Mollie, and Helena went for a run along the street that goes by our dorms, during which most of the people who saw us go by either stared, laughed at us, or asked “Where are you going?”. As we realized later, people do jog around here, but the locals only go in the cool early morning hours.

One small section of the open market in Sunyani

Clayton holding one of the cocoyam leaves (similar in taste to spinach) we got at the market

On Wednesday, our morning was filled with errands and chores:  buying fresh food for the day, picking up a couple of science demonstration supplies, and filtering water.  Around noon, Emmanuel arrived (he had driven from Kumasi) to introduce us to a variety of individuals who will be instrumental throughout the remainder of our stay in Sunyani. 

We were introduced to Andy Ampong, the new headmaster at Ridge Experimental Junior High School, a site of donations and lessons from previous Pavlis cohorts.  Then, on our way to briefly visit another project location, the Abesim Community Center, we stopped in at the Sunyani Municipal Assembly, where we met the director and made future plans to meet with the Sunyani MCE (Municipal Chief Executive)- the official who has taken responsibility for the payment of our book shipment.

Emmanuel knows just about everyone in Sunyani, so our greetings did not stop there.  We stopped downtown and met Emmanuel’s mother-in-law, Comfort, at her local business, the Glory Pharmacy.  We drove to see the beautiful home of the Regional Minister and waited outside a meeting of all the area MCEs for the chance to be formally introduced to Kwasi Oppong Ababio, the Sunyani MCE, with whom we planned to meet the next day.

We met with the head chancellor of Sunyani’s new local environmental and natural sciences university (to be called ENAT) and became acquainted with Dr. Solomon Fofie, the head physician at Sunyani Polytechnic (another local university).  We also drove to see the Sunyani Regional Hospital, the workplace of Dr. Jacob, one of our main contacts for assessing medical needs in the area.

After this full day of greetings and introductions, Emmanuel delivered us back to our dormitory room and then headed back to Kumasi.  As for us, thoroughly worn out from meeting so many new faces, we made dinner (a spicy ginger/lime stir-fry), had our group meeting, and called it a night.   

*Note: This post was written by Chelsea.

Tro-Tros and Kwame Yeboahkrom – July 9

We're sorry for the delay again, everyone! We bought an internet modem last week, but the provider has been down, so we have had very limited internet access. We should be able to put up several new posts by the end of today, though. Thank you all for your patience! :)

***

We all awoke Monday morning wondering if the recently returned power was really all that appreciated. The local student radio station adjacent to our room greeted us at 5am blaring their music from a small radio in their room, disrupting all of our sleep. But we were still able to get moving at 7am to enjoy a nice breakfast of eggs, toast and avocado prepared by Mollie, Chelsea, and Helena, while Clayton and Mike slugged their way through their morning.

This was our group’s first day apart from one another. Helena, Chelsea and Mollie stayed in Sunyani to sort out tasks around our dorm, while Clayton and Mike set out to Kwame Yeboahkrom to deliver the Lister engine housing plans and create a parts list, accompanied by our Kumasi electrician friend Peter (pronounced “Peetah”). This trip was also another first because instead of using Emmanuel’s forestry trucks to get to the village, we took the famous Ghanaian tro-tros the entire way, which created quite an adventure.

Starting in Sunyani, the first tro-tro trip was to Dormaa, with Mike and Clayton crammed in the first row and Peter behind. We entertained ourselves by pointing out the various oddball ads, business signs and taxi slogans along the way.  One sign appeared to be trying to tell us not to simultaneously lead small chickens while playing the trumpet.  From Dormaa everyone packed himself into the back row of another tro-tro, said goodbye to pavement, and bounced, rocked, creaked and banged all the way to the village of Ankrankwanta. From there, we took one last tro-tro to the clinic in Kwame Yeboahkrom, arriving there a bit after noon.

Working with the clinic’s doctor and our tro-tro driver- who, coincidently, also is helping with our project- we discussed the plans for the generator housing. We decided on a 10’ by 12’ room with one door and three basic windows for ventilation. The engine will be bolted to the floor with four studs imbedded in the cement that were delivered with the engine, while all other components such as the generator will be screwed in place after the building is done.

While we were in Kwame Yeboahkrom, our driver showed us another Lister engine being used in the village, which was previously unknown to us. This engine was powering a small grain mill, so although we still need to create our own system to connect a generator to ours, we at least have a working reference for what is needed to get our engine running.

After seeing the motor, we returned to the clinic and ironed out the rest of the details. We then shared a quick friendly chat with the clinic’s doctor and after Clayton attempted to speak Twi to a small crowd of laughing girls, we set off again in the same series of tro-tro’s back home. Leaving a little after 4:00 in the afternoon, and arriving home to the dorms around 8:00, Clayton and Mike joined the girls for a nice dinner of rice, fried cocoyam (a potato-like tuber), and breaded garden egg (like a mini eggplant) along with their best interpretation of no-bake cookies with locally available ingredients, ending another long successful day.  

The girls had a full day too, but with less travel: learning more of the ins and outs of the Sunyani market, organizing information from our projects so far for documentation, putting up blog posts, and cooking with ingredients from the market!

*Note: This post was written by Mike, though he wasn't here to post it himself.

Hello Sunyani! - July 8

When we woke up on Sunday morning, the power was out again.  The early Ghanaian sun, however, made the absence of electricity considerably more bearable!  We took advantage of the morning to become more familiar with our new home.  We gained access to a shared kitchen space (with counter space, several sinks, and even a gas stove!), met a Canadian summer resident of the dormitories, and got a head start on unpacking and tidying up our rooms. 

In the afternoon, the five of us caught a taxi to Sunyani’s market.  We satisfied hunger with a stop to eat the bread and pies to which we had previously been introduced.  Then, armed with a list, we explored downtown Sunyani.  We bought items ranging from onions and avacados, to butter and eggs, and even a couple of bandannas.  The Ghanaians we interacted with (most still dressed in their Sunday best) were very friendly.  Many were happy to have our business and even happier when we were able to slip in a word or two of Twi (i.e. basic greetings, introductions, and thank you’s). 

Four squished into the back of a taxi

Chelsea trying her pie

Though the Sunyani market was considerably less overwhelming than Kumasi’s central market, we were tired after a couple of successful hours and returned back to our dormitories.  Helena, Mike, and Clayton were able to wash some clothes (a far more time-consuming task when done by hand).  An attempt at a run was made, but prematurely concluded on account of pouring rain and approaching darkness. The entire group then enjoyed a headlamp-lit (as the power had yet to return) Minestrone soup dinner, as deliciously prepared by Mollie, Helena, and Clayton.  After 8 PM we again had electricity and Mike was able to tape-out dimensions and complete drawings for the lister engine’s housing structure.  We then discussed plans for the approaching day, and called it a night.

Big Trees and Kente Cloth - July 7

Our night at the Bobiri Butterfly Sanctuary was filled with sounds of the forest; we were lulled to sleep with noises of frogs, birds, and all kinds of insects.  We struggled out of our comfortable beds and into the kitchen around 7 AM.  Thrilled to have a large kitchen (and stove-top) at our disposal, we decided to make French toast.  Without milk or cinnamon or vanilla, and with honey as a substitute for syrup, we all enjoyed a warm and filling breakfast. 

Around 8:30 AM, one of the Bobiri guides arrived and ushered us through a couple of the forest’s trails.  We eagerly followed as our guide, another Emmanuel, cleared our path with a machete.  Emmanuel introduced us to many of the forests most notable trees, trees, mind you, that stretched high (higher than we could see) into the sky.  We climbed around wall-like buttresses of trees more than 300 years old, we played with rubber from a rubber tree, we (well, some of us) tasted the bitter bark of a Mahogany tree, and we dodged (some better than others) stream-like armies of biting ants.  After several hours out on the trails, we returned to our rooms and prepared to once again hit the road.

Huge buttresses on a huge tree!

Our guide demonstrating the use of a vine as a resting spot

After we piled into Govina’s truck, we were escorted to Bonwire, a town noted for producing a traditional Ghanaian fabric, kente cloth.  While there, we were able to watch craft-masters create marvelous designs with complex looms and diligent well-practiced fingers.  The craftsmen were eager to share their knowledge, they even allowed Mollie and Helena to sit down and try it for themselves!  Of course they sold their crafts there as well, so everyone got another chance to improve upon their bargaining skills.

Kente cloth community showroom with looms in use and fabric on display

Later in the day we gathered our line-dried laundry from Emmanuel’s home, grabbed two duffel bags full of useful items (left from previous cohorts), and bought some fresh bread and vegetables from a small market at KNUST.  We then drove (with Govina) back to our KNUST dormitory base in Sunyani.  When we arrived in Sunyani we were able to get good use out of our headlamps and flashlights—our entire dormitory was without power, and being 7 PM, Ghana was already very dark.  Unsure if the power would come back on at all, we delayed further unpacking, snacked on bread and peanut butter, and debated if we should go elsewhere for food and potentially electricity.  We were both surprised and excited when the power came back on around 8:30 PM.  Using hot plates, rice cookers, and cooking ware left from previous groups (thank you!) we prepared and enjoyed a makeshift stir-fry dinner.  We concluded the evening with a group meeting and discussion of plans for Sunday.

Biochar, Laundry, and Butterfly Sanctuary – July 6

Thanks to our many friends and advisors, our days in Ghana so far have been going very well. This morning, we visited the Soil Research Institute (SRI) in Kumasi, where some of the most extensive research on biochar in the world has been done. Biochar is a substance which is produced by charring organic matter in an anaerobic environment. It has many benefits, particularly the fact that it significantly increases crop yields when put into the soil. Therefore, Ghanaian biochar scientists are trying to increase biochar usage in agriculture. Last year’s Pavlis group started helping with the education side of this effort by talking to rural farmers about the benefits of biochar (which are not yet widely known by the general public) and organizing a small garden biochar experiment for school children in the village of Babianeha.

We plan on continuing the school garden experiments at various locations, but we wanted to meet with SRI to find out how else we could support the efforts of the biochar researchers. We met with Dr. Edward Calys, who generously took the time out of his busy schedule to sit with us and explain the current state of biochar usage in Ghana. He was very passionate and proud about the progress that has been made in recent years. So far, Ghana is putting one biochar reactor in each region of the country, which is far ahead of most countries in the world. However, this number of reactors is still not enough to allow farmers in rural areas the opportunity to use biochar.

Dr. Calys told us that what he needs most is more resources and help with improving the technology of their biochar reactors. So, we proposed to him the idea of starting an international senior design project for engineering students at Michigan Tech, whose aim would be to improve the reactor design. We gave him the appropriate paperwork to fill out, and hope to hear back from him soon.

Next, Dr. Calys introduced us to a director at SRI, as well as Dr. Edward Yeboah, the head biochar researcher. Both of them were very kind and welcomed us to the area. We then got to see some biochar for ourselves, since one of our great FORIG drivers, Godwin, was bringing some back for Emmanuel’s research. Dr. Calys also made arrangements for us to visit the nearest biochar reactor when we come back to Kumasi in a few weeks.

Dr. Calys on left showing us biochar

We then drove back to the FORIG campus, where Mollie, Chelsea, and Helena went to eat at the canteen while Mike and Clayton went into town with our other FORIG driver and pal, Govina, to get fitted for some Ghanaian shirts. At the canteen, which is a nice, open air restaurant of sorts for students and staff, the girls had some rice and veggies, along with a new soft drink we have discovered, called Alvaro. After finishing our meal, we met a student from the civil engineering department at KNUST who got very excited when he found out that we were from Michigan (he said he had read travel guides about Michigan) and sat at our table to find out about what we were doing in Ghana. We were very impressed that he finished an entire plate of banku (a dense sour dough made from cassava and maize) and soup during the course of our conversation; most of us usually have some trouble finishing our food here because it is so filling.

After lunch, Mollie, Chelsea, and Helena went to visit Naomi, the woman from the marketing department at FORIG who has been helping us with the advertising for the Duasidan Monkey Sanctuary. We gave her a draft of an info brochure for the sanctuary, and she generously told us she would work on designing a brochure (called flyers here in Ghana), road sign, and info poster over the weekend. We still need some information to complete these documents, but this coming week we hope to visit Duasidan again to get the input of the villagers and wrap up our lingering questions.

The girls then went to Emmanuel’s house to do some laundry- the Ghanaian way. We learned how to wash our clothes by hand using several buckets of water for washing and rinsing. We were accompanied by some of Emmanuel’s children, who actually took some time out from playing in the yard every once in a while to help us with some of the clothes washing.

Laundry with some help from small hands

Meanwhile, Mike and Clayton were shopping for essentials in the Central Kumasi Market, after getting fitted for their shirts. They were able to get a view of the entire market (largest one in West Africa!), which spans a huge area at their tailor. They made it back to Emmanuel’s house just in time to learn how to do some laundry themselves, and then we all squeezed into Govina’s truck to drive a half-hour outside of Kumasi to the guesthouse at the Bobori Butterfly Sanctuary, where we planned to stay the night.

Driving with Govina (who has driven us many places over the past few days) has been a lot of fun, and we have become familiar with quite a few hip new Ghanaian/African songs during the long drives. It was dark when we arrived at Bobori, but we could already see how great this location was. It was about a ten-minute drive through the forest to get there, but the guesthouse was very nice, with beautiful forest-murals painted on the bedroom walls, a well-equipped kitchen, and even a “room for relaxing”, which consisted of an outdoor patio with chairs and a table. Before the electricity was scheduled to be turned off at 9pm, we had time to make ourselves some spaghetti with vegetables (including a tomato-sized type of white eggplant the guys had gotten from the market earlier in the day), and enjoy the “room for relaxing” before turning in for the night. 

School Kids - July 5

On Thursday we visited the CSIR Basic School in Kumasi. We got there as the students were starting school by singing patriotic songs; they ended their assembly with a Happy Birthday song for one of the teachers with the same melody that we are familiar with in the US, but with many verses.  We split up into two groups and went to each grade (K-5) to show science demonstrations to the students.  A lot of our demos involved balloons, some involved water, and we also did a hands-on lesson on circulation and respiration. 

Both the kids and the headmaster were very excited to have us visit.  The headmaster emphasized the need for real life examples of concepts in classrooms.  The kids were having a blast with the lessons, but had even more fun at break time when Clayton blew up a balloon for them to keep off the ground, but when the inevitable happened and it popped, he was mobbed with requests for another balloon.  Another fun thing we did with them was play music.  Mollie got out her harmonica and tooted a few tunes while they sang, including Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday (again), Jingle Bells and Joy to the World, before they exhausted common repertoire and the children continued to sing many more songs, which sounded like children’s hymns. 

Kids+Balloon

Before we left, we presented the headmaster with a set of donated speakers to use in the future for setting up a video chat between Houghton school children and the Basic School.  He was very pleased, especially because the school should be receiving electricity very soon. 

After our busy time at the school, we went with our friend Cornelia to the market to buy some more fabric for Clayton and Chelsea and then to her favorite seamstress to measure the girls for their dresses. It took much longer than expected to pick designs and get the details smoothed out, but Cornelia was extremely helpful and the boys made friends with the neighborhood kids in the mean time.  We are very excited for our clothes to be ready in a few weeks!

On the way back to our guest house we stopped to buy rice, tomatoes, onions and cracker/cookies (called digestives or digestive biscuits).  Then we made dinner in our room with the rice cooker that was left by last year’s Pavlis group.  Our first home cooked meal!

Tro-Tros and Shopping - July 4

This morning we were charged with our first independent (without direct assistance from our extremely knowledgeable advisors) group task:  to use the city transportation to once again reunite with our advisors by 8 am.  There are several ways to get around in Ghana, most of which do not include having our own personal driver; we had been very much spoiled throughout the first days of our visit.  The streets of Kumasi are bustling with taxis, buses, and tro-tros.  The latter option, tro-tros are re-purposed vans that make frequent stops along the main highways and can transport upwards of 10 passengers short distances around the city for extremely reasonable fare.  Because we were interested in transporting all five of us a short distance to our meeting point, we chose to travel by tro-tro.  When we decided to leave during morning rush hour, however, we quickly realized it would be unlikely for all of us to commute together. 

A tro-tro junction near KNUST

Two of us  (Mollie and Chelsea) hopped in the first available tro-tro and, just as the two began to worry about the others, the remaining three (Clayton, Helena, and Mike)-who had had to wait a while to find a tro-tro with enough room- were dropped off by a second one.  Both groups successfully communicated the stopping destination; therefore we completed our first independent mission--and all for a cost of 30 peswas (in USD, approximately 15 cents) per person!

On our final day with our advisors, we again had a full day mapped out.  First, we travelled by tro-tro to downtown (or, in Twi, “adum”).  There, we had beginning lessons in bargaining.  In Ghanaian markets, there is no such thing as a price tag.  Rather, when you ask “how much?”, sellers are likely to give you (especially if you are an obruni—the Ghanaian term for a white person), a starting figure of as much as 10 times a reasonable price.  Having been first informed of a reasonable price range, the five of us bargained for masks for our advisors. 

Then we met our advisors at the CSIR Basic School to meet the classes that we planned to work with the next day.  Since we planned to teach science lessons to the students, we went into town with Godwin, one of our trusty drivers and Cornelia, a new friend of ours from FORIG.  We tracked down supplies like Vaseline, vinegar, baking soda and kebob sticks from the outskirts of Kumasi’s Central Market, the largest market in West Africa. 

A colorful booth in the market

The streets were overwhelmingly crowded with customers and vendors of all sorts. In order to get the kebob sticks, we asked a vendor selling kebobs where to buy the sticks.  A woman near the stall tried to explain to Cornelia where to get them, but ended up leading us to them herself.  It was quite an adventure trying to keep up with the woman with the six of us trailing at varying distances behind through alleys, through a market on the train tracks and back through twisty-turney alleys again.  The eventful chase was well worth it, though, we were able to get our kebob skewers! 

In the market Helena, Mike, and Mollie bought some fabric to make into custom shirts and dresses too.  And the group bought bread, peanut butter, and bananas, which we later ate for dinner.  After dinner, Mike and Helena bought some snacks at a local gas station, where Mike also had his hair cut for 5 cedi ($2.50)!

A fabric store near the market

Journey – Akwantuo: July 2,3

On our second day in Ghana we were introduced to Sunyani, a city approximately two to three driving hours west of Kumasi.  We settled into rooms at the city’s KNUST satellite dormitory; we will use these rooms as a housing base throughout the rest of our stay in Ghana.  We spent most of the day running errands (i.e. securing plane tickets for our advisor’s departure, exchanging our US dollars for Ghanaian currency, the cedi, and outfitting our new residence with common household items such as hand soap and dish detergent.  On our trip to the Sunyani market, we stocked some of our in-country phones with minutes and we were even able to try a popular local snack, pies (meat and onion filled bread, a seemingly distant relative of the pasty!).  We ended the evening with an even more familiar dinner (pizza!) with our advisors at their local lodging, the Eusbett Hotel.

Beginning the next morning, we had a very full day of traveling around with our advisors.  We were off just after 7 am and on the road to Dormaa, just outside of Sunyani.  The road has many speed bumps/rumble strips with two or three small strips in the road in a row.  After meeting briefly with a representative for the regional minister, we continued on to Kwame Yeboah Krom (Kwame is a common first name, Yeboah is a common last name and Krom means village.) To put it mildly, the road was extremely rough on the way to the village. 

We met a local government representative near Kwame Yeboah Krom and he lead us into the village, where we were visiting the Lister engine, a simple engine that was ordered for the village two years ago and just arrived a few months ago.  Our goal for this trip is to facilitate the building of a housing structure for the engine, to buy a generator, and to try to get the engine up and running.  It was very exciting to practice our small Twi phrases, as most people in the village didn’t speak English.  The kids especially got excited! This was our first time visiting a more rural area, and we had an enjoyable, if short, time.

Mike and Clayton checking out the Lister engine           

After visiting the engine, we visited the local representative’s home in the neighboring village of Okirakrom.  When we visit again to work on the engine for a few days, we can stay at his house.  In the courtyard there were a bunch of orange trees that were heavy with fruit.  In Ghana, oranges are green on the outside, but orange and juicy on the inside.  What a treat!

From there, we continued on to the village of Duasidan to visit the Duasidan Monkey Sanctuary, a relatively unknown location that the locals would like to develop into an ecotourism site.  Here, a large group of kids flocked with us and our two guides a short way into the 40-acre plot of forest.  In a clearing of bamboo, one guide started tapping on the sticks and pretty soon, we were surrounded by monkeys!  We had brought peanuts and small bananas to feed to them and they snatched them right from our hands!  One of our projects is to help advertise the sanctuary to tourists, so we took a lot of photos and videos.  Emmanuel sat down with our two guides to help translate and we taped an interview with them. 

The group with two local guides (left and second from left) and one of our divers, Govina (third from left)

Monkeys!

Chelsea feeding a Monkey

Next, we traveled about 20 minutes to Babianeha, where Emmanuel’s family is from.  Emmanuel’s mother had prepared a huge and delicious lunch of chicken, a cocoyam leaf (like spinach) dish, and jollof rice for us! After a quick meal, we visited the community center that was founded by Pavlis students in the past, interacted with the children who were there reading books and using the laptop computers, and then took a short walk to the Ghana/Ivory Coast border.  We talked to the border officers and then crossed over briefly.  It was pretty much the same as being in Ghana except for a few French phrases.

After our short visit to the Ivory Coast, we headed back into the vehicles for the long drive back to Kumasi.  We finally got in around 8 pm, settled into a guesthouse for temporary lodging in the city, and then concluded the evening for dinner with our advisors at the Royal Basin Hotel.

We're in Ghana - July 1

Hi everyone, we’re sorry for the delay in blog posts- our days have been long and we’ve been keeping busy! Our flights (Houghton->Chicago->Atlanta->Accra) went without a hitch, and we arrived around noon, Ghana time, on July 1^st. Our advisors Mary, Bob, and Andrew from Michigan Tech, as well as our Ghanaian contact Emmanuel (our other Emmanuel- not our TA in Houghton) and a few of Emmanuel’s friends greeted us when we arrived in Accra and took us out to lunch at a small restaurant just outside the airport, since we had a few hours before our final flight from the capital Accra to the city of Kumasi. It was so surreal to finally be in Ghana- a place we have been imagining for so long. We dove right in and tried some local dishes- Clayton, Helena, and Mollie all had red-red, a plate of beans with red palm fruit oil, and fried plantains, while Mike and Chelsea had the jollof rice, a rice dish with tomato sauce and spices.

The group at the restaurant near the Accra airport

After our late lunch we flew to Kumasi, the home of KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science and Technology) and FORIG (Forestry Research Institute of Ghana). The drive from the airport to our hotel in Kumasi was probably the highlight of our trip so far. As our expert FORIG drivers wove in and out of the traffic (though “traffic” seems too tame a word for the amount of activity on the roads here), we finally got our first look at life in a country very different from the one we just left. In the city, there are people walking everywhere, crossing the busy streets as casually as if there were no cars at all. Among them, street vendors walk between the cars at the stoplights, carrying their wares on their heads as they offer everything imaginable- from chocolate to toilet paper- to the people sitting in their vehicles. Another striking feature of the surroundings- which can be seen everywhere in the area- is the bright red color of the soil, which is one of the most basic indicators of the fact that we are very far from home.

After our eventful first drive through town, we went out with our advisors to another local hotel to watch part of the Spain vs. Italy soccer game (4-0, Spain), and then had dinner at the hotel restaurant, where we tried mashed African yams for the first time, as well as fried plantains (different from the red-red kind) called kelewele.  Finally, we got to get some rest, since at this point we had been up and traveling for the past two days. Needless to say, we all slept pretty well!