Jessica & Stephen Go to Ghana

he week of November 23 marked the official start of exams on campus. Jessica muscled through three straight exams while Stephen was lucky enough to only have one. It has been nice to see the academic session wind down while having good periods to study and catch up on some last minute adventures in and around Accra.
Right before exams started we took a one and a half day trip to Kokrobrite beach and enjoyed some good food and relaxing reggae music. We traveled with some friends who made the experience more enjoyable. We also ran into some European travelers who shared some interesting tidbits about their countries and other African countries they have travelled to. Their stories have certainly made the prospect of returning to the contentment appealing.
For a day trip we took a short trip back to the wood carving village in Aburi. It was nice to have more time to get to look around and interact with the craftsmen and women. Each piece they make has a certain meaningful interpretation and it was just as interesting to listen to them describe their pieces as it was to look at them.
The day after going to Aburi we found a fair trade shop in Osu that focused on helping Ghanaian women earn a livable wage while making little unique arts and crafts. We were both very excited to see and NGO successfully making a positive mark on the country’s environment, society, and economy.

Starting on Tuesday November 3^rd Jessica and I scurried out of a power outage that spanned across Accra and boarded a van headed to Kumasi. We arrived at around 3am and waited to catch a Metro Mass Transit bus going to the Northern city of Tamale. The 6 hour ride left us exhausted but we found a pleasant Indian restaurant to gather back some energy and then found a cheap place to stay. Then we wondered off to find some of our guidebook’s recommendations in the area and found a very relaxed market nearby with hundreds of paintings, crafts, and apparel. Because not to many foreigners travel so far north, the experience was much more culturally rich and far less touristy. We perused the market for a couple of hours and then were invited to listen to some truly talented drummers. They even taught us some new rhythms to impress our drumming teacher.

            The next day also got off to an early 3am start where we walked most of the way to the bus station because our taxi driver who was “guaranteed to be there” did not show. Unfortunately upon are arrival we were informed that the metro bus to Mole National Park was booked, despite our guidebook’s instructions that you could not purchase tickets in advance. Nonetheless we found a person at the tro-tro station to negotiate with a mate to get us a fair price on a ticket passing through Larabunga. After a relatively uncomfortable 3 hour ride through dirt roads, we arrived just outside of Mole.

            While in Larabunga, a very informed and polite 16 year old showed us around his village. This village turned out to be rather bland, but it did contain one of the oldest Mosques in West Africa and a “mystery stone” that supposedly contained spiritual significance. Unfortunately we were not able to see the “mystery stone” because the locals were guarding it and wanted to charge a significant amount of money to see it. The rest of the day involved several of the village’s children following us and having us take their pictures. Once we could not stay awake any longer we found the only logging in the area which consisted of sleeping on a couple mattresses on the roof of a building built out of mud.

            Instead of paying for transportation to the park we walked 6 km to the park early the next morning. It was incredible to see the sun rise over the vast expanse of wilderness and see warthogs, monkeys, and antelope along the way. The resort there was like a little slice of paradise as it stood on the top of a large hill overlooking a man made watering hole where all different kinds of animals gather. The Mole Motel even had a swimming pool that is known for having elephants come and drink water directly out of it.   

            We then took the rest of the day to watch the animals come and go from the watering hole and went on a two hour safari where we were able to see all kinds of animals up close. The next day we hired our own private tour guide to take us on seven hours of hiking where we blazed our own trail through high grasses, into small rivers, and over several hefty hills. In those seven hours we saw hundreds of antelope, whole tribes of baboons and green monkeys, a four foot long Nile monitor lizard, and bunches of the most exotic birds in the world. Unfortunately we did not see any elephants because it was their breeding season, but we did see plenty of footprints and other evidence of their existence.

After a couple weeks of navigating the country on our own it was nice to finally have a trip that was organized by our group. A five hour bus ride quickened by the showing of two seasons of Two and a Half Men, brought us to the Treasure Island hotel. After a quick lunch we visited the national museum of the famous African tripe called the Ashanti. They ruled West Africa for a long time until their tenure was unfortunately intruded by British colonialists. However they still have a King who has a reasonable amount of clout in the region. His main purpose is best viewed through local celebrations and as a symbolic figure for the Ashanti people.

 The Ashanti are also famous for two kinds of cloth that they have manufactured throughout their existence. One is called the adinkra cloth which involves taking any kind of fabric and stamping on over 60 symbols representing traditions and proverbs. The other textile is an intricately loom weaved cloth called kente cloth.  It is one of Africa’s most famous fabrics and it is worn by local chiefs and on festive occasions. Meeting the people who weaved the cloth and seeing how long it takes them to make it was one of the more interesting things to witness in Ghana. 

During a relaxing week of relatively uneventful activity we decided to check out the culturally rich part of Accra called Osu. Osu is set up to appeal to tourists and as such there are plenty of intricate art pieces available as well as a slew of international restaurants. As long as you do not run into an overly pushy salesperson, learning about the people and where they learned to paint, carve, etc. can be a very educational experience, however undoubtedly there is bound to be a couple stands that make the experience uncomfortable. Nonetheless we have met a couple of “Rasta” (basically Bob Marley followers) friends who always greet us and chat whenever we are in the area. 

Eventually after meandering for a while in Osu we found a place called Smoothys where there just happened to be a poetry reading/ creative writing night going on. Needless to say the readings were unimpressive, yet revealing as to the state of creative thinking in Ghana. Fortunately they did have terrific smoothies.

For weeks all of the foreign exchange students raved about a beach resort called Green Turtle Lodge (whose slogan is don’t chop turtles), so Stephen and I finally decided to make our way there on Friday, October 16.  It was quite a long journey, but people were very helpful with getting us on the right path so that we made it to the beach just before sunset.  Unfortunately, all of the lodging was booked and we were told we would have to check the hotel about a mile away.  As we were leaving we heard the group behind us say that they had two fewer people, so they did not need one of their tents, so we ended up getting the smallest tent on the beach, but we didn’t mind since it was still a place to stay.  They served us a delicious meal of vegetable curry, thick fries, and a goblet of hot chocolate while we talked to a Norwegian and a Canadian about their experiences in Ghana. Once we finished eating and chatting we stepped out onto the beach and were taken aback by the visibility of the stars and the amazing show being put on by bioluminescent plankton that made the waves light up in neon green.

In the morning we woke up early and ordered Green Turtle’s famous French toast with caramelized bananas, and talked to a German brother and sister who were vacationing there.  The rest of the day was spent lying around in the sun, playing soccer and jumping in the waves.  In the evening there was a live drumming performance and a night walk to look for turtles (we didn’t see any though).  We reluctantly left Sunday morning so that we could be back in time for our Monday classes, and shared a taxi with a really interesting couple from Holland who quit their jobs to spend a year traveling through Africa, before sitting by a British couple on the trotro back to Accra.

Friday, October 9^th, Stephen and I left Accra to head back to Kakum National Park.  Squished at the back of a bus, we made the 3 hour trip to Cape Coast, where we took a taxi out to the park and checked into the Rainforest Lodge.  The rooms were very reasonably priced (about $12) for being located inside the park, and even came with a TV showing 2 channels.  Unfortunately Stephen broke the TV off of the wall trying to adjust the antenna, and the light quickly turned into a strobe light, so we just sat in the dark listening to the sounds of the forest before heading to bed early so we could wake up for the 5 am hike. In the morning we met up with a French couple in the lodge and waited for our guide to arrive.  Once on the trail we walked very briskly up the hills to beat the bird watchers to the canopy walkway so that we would be more likely to see the monkeys.  Luckily we did make it to the walkway (which is the longest in the world) first because it allowed us to see a tree full of monkeys.  About 25 to 30 Mona monkeys were flying through the air, jumping from tree to tree and we could hear the calls of the Black and White Columbus monkey as well.  We watched the monkeys until they disappeared into the forest.   Once on the forest floor, our guide took us on a tour of the important plants in the rainforest and explained how they were used by the ancient people of Ghana, such as a tree that pour water out of its raised roots, and a tree that was thought to contain spirits.  Two of the most interesting facts we learned were that parasitic fig tree’s local name translates to “a stranger comes to your house, kills you and takes over in three days”, and that the mud huts that people still live in today in Ghana were originally inspired by termite mounds.

After the tour we rested a bit before making our way to Han’s Cottage, where we had lunch.  The restaurant is set on stilts above a pond containing over 50 full grown crocodiles that the staff lures out with raw chicken for tourists to see.  Fortunately the area was not too crowded, and Stephen and I got to touch a 7 ½ foot crocodile.  After taking many pictures, we finished our meals and walked for about 2 hours to get back Cape Coast.  We caught a trotro headed to Accra at a gas station on the edge of Cape Coast and were back on campus 8 uncomfortable hours later.

Finally tutoring has started and it has provided a hands on look into the Ghanaian educational system. The school we began tutoring at is about a half hour walk from campus in a town called La-Babalweshi (a student asked me to spell this during the first day and the students had way too much fun at my expense during my attempts to spell/pronounce it). The school house is off a road less traveled and is in very poor condition. All the students are spread out in an open building with wooden chalk boards and benches. The school contains grades 2-6 and Jessica has been teaching grade 6 and I have been teaching grade 3. We are now teaching there every Wednesday and Thursday for an hour class period a day. 

            The educational atmosphere is a challenge to say the least. Jessica’s teacher seems to be quite strict and often hits a student’s arm with a wooden cane if they misbehave. However despite any conversation between the teacher and Jessica he proceeded to text her “I have fallen love in you” which is a very common thing in Ghana as most of the men will tell you point blank that they want a white woman.

Anyway, the background noise from the other classes and outdoors makes it necessary to speak loudly in order to get the student’s attention.

             In my class it is obvious that my American accent makes it difficult for some of the children to understand so I try to communicate ideas in other ways as much as possible. There are also a wide variety of skill levels in my class and it makes it difficult to teach from a textbook when many lack the basic spelling and grammatical understanding required to grasp the basic ideas in the lesson.

             Although the school is a bit grim in detail, the students seem to enjoy themselves especially when we arrive. As soon as I step into the classroom the children erupt into chanting “Mr. Stephen, Mr. Stephen…!”and it always puts a smile on my face. Jessica has been subjected to similar gleeful greetings and the students now look forward to playing duck duck goose (which they have misinterpreted as juice) with her ever since she taught them the game.  It is also obvious that the students enjoy an hour of something different from their everyday endeavors and the teachers seem to appreciate a brief reprieve from what appears to be a stressful job.

             Despite its challenges Jessica and I are trying to formulate lesson plans throughout the week in order to better engage and educate the students.  Our focus has been trying to open students up to thinking outside the box because the rigidity of Ghana’s educational system discourages any kind of creative thought.

Jessica and I finished another exciting two weeks by going to a festival in Ghana’s Volta region. The celebration took place in our drumming professor’s home town of Dzodze. Around 30 obrunis (white people) went with us on a three hour drive through bumpy unpaved roads and across Ghana’s beautiful Volta River. We arrived the night of October 2nd and were welcomed with food, uplifting local spirits, and a shot of a drink called apeteshi. After a brief meal of tea and bread we had the privilege of listening to the locals drum and dance the night away while even picking up some Ghanaian dance moves ourselves.

The night was a bit unpleasant as our group crowded into two small village houses to sleep on very thin mats. We awoke at the break of dawn to roosters cowing and goats scattering outside our windows. Then after breakfast we walked to the official festival where several drumming ensembles showed off with music and dance to celebrate the palm tree. Several vendors circled the festival selling ice cream, meat pies, and cupcake like items called bofloats. We also were able to try some palm wine which was a staple at the grounds. The festival décor was quite extravagant by Ghanaian standards and several processions incorporated tribal persons walking with a palm tree in a pot on their head. The festival attracted a huge crowd consisting of several local chiefs and even an appearance by the vice president of Ghana.

In the process of leaving the festival to visit our drumming teacher’s uncle and other extended family we picked up a group of about 30 Ghanaian children who each grabbed onto one of our hands and followed us for the next 3-4 hours without fail. Very few of them spoke enough English to have conversations but they persisted to stick next to us regardless of where we went or what we did. Eventually we were able to send the children back to their homes and made it back to our weekend home in order to meet a local chief. As a group we presented the chief with a bottle of snaps and in return he “granted us permission” to visit his town any time and told us the story about how his tribe set foot in Ghana.

Then on Sunday the 4th we witnessed a local celebration of the gods by our fellow village members. Jessica and I decided to step out when we learned that the celebration consisted of live animal (chicken) sacrifice, but returned to witness what totaled to over 2 hours of dancing (which Jessica would like to note looked like the origins of the “funky chicken”) , drinking, smoking, and drumming in honor of the gods. It was a unique experience to say the least as one woman became “possessed by the gods” and proceeded to cover herself in a muddy cloth, bath a small child in mud, poor out two bottles of alcohol (for the gods), and run out of the village only to be chased and brought back by the other members. It was unlike anything any of us had ever seen.

Overall the trip provided an unfiltered view of Ghana which allowed us to gain a greater perspective of what tribal Africa is like. It also gave us an opportunity to meet several new foreign students and try dishes unique to the Volta region such as coconut biscuits.

The weekend before, we stayed on campus to view a live university performance of a Nigerian comedy called “Pepper Soup.” We also found a new Lebanese joint in downtown Osu which served excellent salad and falafel as well as a London brand ice cream that surpassed our expectations. Jessica and I also were able to get dressed up and eat in one of the nicest restaurants in Ghana called Rhapsody’s. The setting of the restaurant echoed that of an an upscale New York nightclub and the food was excellent. Probably the highlight of the meal was the fact that they had real cheese.

I also participated in “The CIEE Olympics” which brought together several foreign students studying in Ghana to compete in local games and events. It was nice to meet some other students studying at a nearby University and share experiences.

As an Aside, I believe it is also important to mention that my roommate Gabrielle and I’s favorite premier team, Manchester United, remains unbeaten, and by bringing Uganda to a 2 all draw on Friday Ghana’s under 20 team won its group in the 2009 U-20 world cup in Egypt.

Once the excitement of the soccer game passed Jessica and I were finally able to gather some readings/ assignments for our classes. The political science department simply copies the selected portions of books they wish students to read which makes for the whole of the main department a giant copyright infringement warehouse. Each department also has a small library of its own, to which both of us are trying to navigate on a weekly basis.

On September 12^th our CIEE group ventured to Cape Coast which contains another main university, Kakum national park, and most importantly a few castles used during the slave trade. Jessica and I choose to visit the same castle President Obama and his family visited, formally Cape Coast Castle. The tour was a very humbling experience and akin to visiting the Holocaust museum in the US.

After standing in the dungeons that held the captives for 6 months to 3 years, we were taken in the most emotional portion of the castle where misbehaving captives were held.  This was a 10×15 foot room with no light or ventilation.  60 people were put in this room and locked in until the last of them suffocated.  It was very chilling to see the scratches on the floors and walls made with their shackles.  Even with all of this going on, a church located directly above the male’s dungeon, operated during the castle’s use.  It was inspiring though to walk through the “door of no return” (the exit to the castle before the middle passage) and to be able to return. 

Unfortunately after returning to our hotel for dinner, both of us fell very sick. It must have been the food because several other members of our group also felt ill throughout the next couple days. We recovered rather quickly but missed going to walk in the canopy of Kakum National Park. However we plan on returning to Cape Coast to walk the canopy and enjoy some live crocodile viewing at a nearby resort.

Fortunately the week before we fell ill, a vegetarian stand opened up in the “night market” outside our dorm. This new stand has allowed us to try items like groundnut soup and spices on tofu that would not normally be available to us. The women at the stand are also very nice and we have made some good friends there due to our frequent visits. Our friend Gilbert from the night market also continues to teach us Twi and about what it is like to grow up in Ghana. His stories have revealed surprising details such as the time he was beaten by his teacher for not doing his homework!

It seems like every day we meet someone new who wants to be our friend and travel around Ghana with us without knowing anything about us. The willingness of Ghanaians and Nigerians studying in Ghana to befriend foreigners is something that is very odd. For example while walking in downtown Osu a 17 year old kid rode his bike up next to us just to say “hello, can I be your friend.” That is about the extent of many conversations and encounters around town. There was even a group of visiting Nigerians studying geography who wanted a picture with us as we were walking back to our dorm. Our frequent encounters make it seem like we are mini celebrities.

After a rather dense week of school work we decided to return to Bojo Beach for the weekend of September 18^th -20^th. An off the cuff look for a hotel led us to a very nice resting place called the De Holiday Beach Hotel. This fully furnished resort complete with a pool, bar, game room, and solon ran us only $35 a night. This also included a free breakfast and a room complete with 2 flat screen televisions, a fully equipped kitchen, and most importantly hot water.  After a full day at the beach on Saturday we were invited by some locals to Reggae Night at a nice hostel called Big Milly’s. This resort was right next to a beach called Kokrobite and provided a fun and relaxing environment.

September 21, 2009 became a national holiday (only as of the previous Thursday) in honor of Kwame Nkrumah – Ghana’s first president – so classes were canceled and we had a day to get ahead on laundry and school work. 

We will also begin volunteering at an after school program called Chapter 58 later this week.

On Sunday September 6^th we traveled to the main soccer stadium in downtown Accra to see Ghana play Sudan. This match was important because it held world cup qualifying implications, but Ghana (whose soccer team is known as “The Black Stars”) was heavily favored. Our seats could not have been better. We were only seven rows back from the midfield line! Luckily we justified our television worthy tickets by decking ourselves out in Ghana apparel.

The game was not very exciting as far as soccer matches go, as Ghana controlled the game for all 90 minutes. Once they scored their first goal Ghana used their size and strength to out muscle Sudan and keep ball control. The biggest highlight came from one of Ghana’s star players Michael Essien. In the 60^th minute he found the back of the net from just outside the box in a truly powerful shot. Throughout the game his ball handling and general awareness set him apart and he soon became Jessica’s favorite player. She has even become a Chelsea fan because Essien plays for them in the premier league. Additionally Essien is one of the biggest celebrities in Ghana and is sponsored by MTN  (one of the biggest cell phone companies in Ghana).

Being part of the crowd was also a great experience because there was not an empty seat and everyone was a diehard fan. There was even a tribal chief who brought pigeons and a blessing leaf  to bring good luck to the Ghanaians. There were also a group of ten or so young men who pranced up and down the sidelines wearing almost nothing but body paint to show their support. They even carried some kind of smoking caldron on their heads at one point in time.

At the end of the game the vice president of Ghana announced his congratulations to the Black Starts because by winning they clinched a spot in the 2010 world cup in South Africa. Even as we exited the stadium, people where going crazy and it was a very special environment to be a part of.

Writing from Last Week

Last weekend we went on our first trip with our study abroad group.  We were told to meet in the parking lot at 8:00 am on Saturday morning, but after an hour of waiting the bus never showed up, so we rescheduled for Sunday at noon.  Since Stephen and I had nothing to do we took the trotro into Accra to visit the national museum.  The museum was entertaining enough but all of the items were poorly displayed and many did not have any description of the item’s importance.  Sorry there will not be any pictures from here because they charged extra to take pictures.  In the back of the museum there was an art exhibition that had some beautiful paintings that were incredibly cheap as far as art goes.  So now I have a painting that I want, and Stephen and I have picked out two rather large drums that we want to bring home, so we are brainstorming ways to get these home.  Please comment if you have any insights as to how to go about this (other than shipping because we heard that it will cost more than the drums to ship them). 

On Sunday we woke up early to try to find breakfast (almost nowhere is open on Sundays).  We found a coffee shop in the Accra Mall and Stephen finally got a vanilla late.  It is interesting that coffee is pretty rare in Ghana despite the fact that they grow coffee beans and instead of coffee a popular drink is called Milo, which is basically hot chocolate, only better.  Once we returned to our hostel we met up with our group and rode about an hour up to the top of a hill to a botanic garden.  There were plenty of interesting trees and plants, but my favorite is called the shy plant, which looks like a tiny fern that curls up when you touch it (I will try to post a video).   

Next we went to the first cocoa farm in Ghana.  It was really interesting because they still had two of the original trees that we planted in Ghana in the 1800s.  They took us through the steps of producing the cocoa beans.  They harvest the pods once they turn yellow with a long pole that has a sharp tool on the end called “go to hell” since it send the pod somewhere that the pod will never come back from.  They use this so that they can harvest only the ripe pods without damaging the tree or knocking down any pods that are still green.  When they first open the pod you can suck on the seeds, which sort of taste like mango.  These seeds are placed under giant leave to ferment and during the fermentation process they are turned and sifted through to remove everything but the beans.  Next the beans are dried and the bad beans are picked out.  We got to taste the dried beans, which were very bitter (as you would expect).  At this point the beans are ready to sell to the government, who buys all of the cocoa beans in Ghana for export.  It was also very interesting to see that the cocoa farmers grew everything from avocados to yams among the trees.

Our final stop was a wood carving village.  This community is where people aspiring to become a woodcarver go to apprentice the art and many of them then have stands in the area where they sell their work.  Unfortunately we only had half an hour to look around, which is not nearly enough time to shop since you have to first go around so you have an idea of what things should cost and then go back and bargain.  I think that we will go back there sometime so we can buy a few pieces. 

My Oceanography classes have been really interesting so far, but also kind of depressing because the topic of environmental degradation comes up in every class.  The environmental habits here are quite bad and it seems to be a combination of a lack of awareness, poverty and a lack of infrastructure.  Open dumping and open burning of trash is the norm, with much of the trash and sewage going straight into the ocean and lagoons.  People take from the land whatever they can get because they do not have any other means of livelihood.  For example, mangroves are being deforested for firewood, or cut down and filled to build housing complexes, sand is being collected (illegally) to sell to construction sites and sea turtles are still being hunted and their eggs gathered.   Unfortunately, from what I have gathered from the Ghanaians in my classes and my Ghanaian friends it seems that overall the people are still far away from realizing the rarity of the organisms here and the importance of preserving them.

On a happier note, I met a graduate student that is working at The University of Ghana’s research station that monitors the turtles’ activities and he gave me his contact information if I ever want to come out there.  I definitely plan to contact him so we can maybe see the sea turtles.

I was also very excited when I realized that they have the West African Manatee here.  One of the professors did his PhD research on them, so hopefully he can advise me one how to see one.  I have a feeling my chances are not very good though because their numbers are pretty low and they inhabit the lake and the entire length of the river so it would be quite lucky to see one.

So after 3 weeks of classes neither of us is completely registered for our classes.  It has been quite a mess and my schedule has changed 3 times since I last reported it.  I cannot even describe the frustration of everyone telling you that you need to do something different than what you were told the last time you were there.  Additionally, no one wants to give you a complete answer and they will typically just refer you somewhere else.  For example, to add Conservation Biology I needed the head of the department to sign an add-drop form.  Naturally I took it to his secretary, who sent me to the general office to ask where the TA’s office was.  The Zoology general office sent me to the Oceanography general office to ask where the Zoology TA’s were (this didn’t make sense but I went anyway).  The Oceanography office sent me to the Oceanography TA’s who sent me back to the secretary for the Zoology head of the department who sent me back to the Zoology general office.  The general office tried to send me back to Oceanography but at this point I refused to leave until she would just tell me where the TA’s were herself.  To this she said I was being difficult and wasting her time.  I was persistent though and eventually she gave me directions to walk down the hall and it was the last door on the left.  Why she couldn’t have told me that in the first place I don’t know, but once I found the TA’s they took me back to the first office I went to and got the signature.  So some form of this is what we have gone through again and again. 

We both added an African Drumming course though.  Unfortunately it is not completely added and we will have to continue to deal with that later, but the first day of class was really fun.  The teacher is a very nice guy and we learned some of the communication drumming like “how are you”, “I am fine” and “thank you”.  I really want to take a drum home now but I am still trying to figure out the logistics of that. 

Writing from Today

Okay so it has taken me a long time to post this since I wrote it, so I am just going to add on what has happened since then.  The power on campus was out (which is why I couldn’t post this) so registration continued into this week.  Fortunately after some more running around and craziness I am happy to say that we are both registered. 

Over this past weekend we went with a group to Bojo beach which was absolutely beautiful (especially compared to most beaches around here).  After the adventure of getting there by trotro and a taxi that all 7 of us squeezed into we crossed a bridge and road in a boat across and estuary to a strip of white sand that had the ocean on the other side.  The weather was perfect and we finally got to see the sun after a month of almost entirely overcast weather.  The hot and sunny days are supposed to become more and more frequent as we move into the dry season so we will see how excited I am about the sun then. 

On Sunday we went to see the Black Stars play Sudan in soccer, but Stephen wants to write about this, so I guess you will hear about that later.

Yesterday the Oceanography department arranged a field trip for the 400 level students to take us to Tema port and on a drive to see some of the coast and lagoons.  We met at about 7:00 and left at about 7:30.  The harbor was about an hour away but once we reached the port we had to sit on the bus for 1.5-2 more hours because the port intercepted a large shipment of cocaine over the weekend and was changing management so I guess they were trying to figure that out.  Once we were in the man in charge of environmental concerns spoke to us about ballast water issues and took us onto a Norwegian ship where the seaman on board told us that none of the ports enforce rules about ballast water or any global environmental regulations except for the United States and Australia.  The port manager then explained that they do not feel like they can really enforce rule because ships will stop docking in their ports and will go to other West African countries instead, causing Ghana to have major economic problems. 

Next we stopped at a lagoon that supposedly is better than it used to be, but it was lined with anywhere from 1-10 feet of garbage that had been brought in by the tides.  After that we visited a lagoon that was by a hotel that drained its sewage directly into it and the professor said fish can no longer live here and that this one was nowhere near the worst.  So the field trip was surprisingly depressing, but ironically a coffin shop was a bit of an upper because they sold coffins shaped as birds, airplanes and even beer bottles. 

I think that this is probably enough for now and I have to go celebrate terrific Tuesday where you get two suspicious looking pizzas for the price of one!

Yɛbɛhyia bio (We will meet again)!