Around the World and Back Again

After traveling around for what feels like a lifetime, I'm finally get ready to settle into a routine. I'll hopefully be able to catch you all up on the whirlwind that was the two-week educational tour. We shall see.

On our way back from the north, we stopped at Kintampo Falls - the most beautiful waterfall I ever saw. We all got in and climbed all around like ants. The water was so powerful; I forgot that water could be that strong.

Once officially on the tour, we started in Cape Coast, which is tourist central in Ghana, especially because it's right on the gorgeous Gulf of Guinea.We had class on the rooftop of our hotel that overlooked the ocean, enjoyed the beach, and traveled around the city.

The Gulf of Guinea at sunrise

A fishing boat by the Gulf

The Atlantic Ocean at sunset

Cape Coast is also where the slaves were taken during the Transatlantic Slave Raids, so we went to two castles (dungeons). It was extremely powerful in ways that I can't really adequately describe, which seems to happen to me a lot on this blog. Going into the isolation cells where the slaves were kept, you could barely breath because the air was so thick. In Cape Coast Castle (dungeon), there was a church for the English officials and governor to attend that was quite literally on top of the dungeon where 800 male slaves were kept in darkness with minimal to no food. It's honestly the strangest juxtaposition of two dichotomous worlds.

The male slave dungeon entrance at Cape Coast Castle (dungeon) 

The view from the Governor's Quarters

Canons lined up, facing the Atlantic, at Cape Coast Castle (dungeon)

El-Mina Castle (dungeon): Basically the exact same as Cape Coast, but built by the Portuguese, not the British

Also while we were in Cape Coast, we all did a canopy walk through the treetops Ghana's rainforest at Kakum National Park. As I'm sure you all know all too well, I'm deathly afraid of heights, but I absolutely loved the walk...when the bridge walkway wasn't moving. It was incredible nonetheless, though sometimes absolutely terrifying in the same moment.

 

Canopy walk views from Kakum National Park

After we left Cape Coast, we went straight for the Volta Region, where bounced around three villages in nine days. We started in Dagbamete, where we traveled to try some Kente weaving. Kente is highly treasured in Ghana and one of the most worn and replicated patterns throughout the country and has been for centuries. It's woven in a man-operated loom that incorporates both hands and feet.

We then traveled to Sogakope and saw more dance and drum groups and traveled to a nearby village, Vume, to do traditional pottery (ie - without a throwing wheel) by the Volta River.

 

 Claire and Dan dancing with two girls from the women's dance and drum group

 

The two demonstrators at Vume beginning their pots

Ariel and I after finishing the tops of our pots

The view of the Volta River from where we were doing pottery

From there, we went to another village, Krobo-Odumase, which is the home of beadwork in Ghana. We met with a group of Queen Mothers and learned about the Dipo tradition for young girls. Dipo is an initiation, coming-of-age process and apparently one of the only coming-of-age traditions still left in Ghana.

Five Krobo girls dancing, demonstrating the different types of dress during each stage of Dipo

We also got a chance to make our own beads from a master beadmaker. The beads are all made from recycled materials, especially glass bottles. The broken glass is put into different size molds, melted, turned, and then cooled to produce gorgeous beads. Sometimes the beads are painted, but the beadmaker said that fashion is starting to change and plain, simple beads are selling better.

Broken glass in a mold, almost ready for firing

A mixture of the painted and plain beads after stringing

So, after traveling all about, I'm back in Accra until tomorrow when I'll leave for Kumasi to start my independent study project for the next month. I'm studying urban women's access to financial resources, so they may be more updates, though I can't guarantee they'll be as exciting as this one. Hope all is well and best wishes from Ghana!