Travels

August 9, 2012

Hello again!!

I wanted to dedicate a separate blog to the traveling that I have been doing recently. Here are all the details! (I am learning this software more now, so I'm able to insert pictures with my posts.)

July 18-19 Koforidua

We had been hearing from many friends about a very large bead market north of Accra in a town called Koforidua. There are many artisans in Cape Coast that sell beautiful jewelry, and we learned that many of them get their beads from this market. Upon some further investigation, I've learned that beads have quite a long history and great significance in Ghanaian culture. Dating back to the 1500s, locals have been making beads that were used for trade, for celebration and funerals, and to signify tribe or family roots. Beads are traded around Ghana, as well as north into Burkina Faso, Mali, and from other coastal West African countries like Cote d'Ivoire. They are made from many different materials including stone, glass, wood, bone, clay, and now plastic. Naturally, I wanted to go and see this market for myself!

We planned with a few local friends to take the trip, which sounded like a great idea to me since they would be able to help us find our way and guide us at the market. It can be very confusing to get around, as the transit stations are large parking lots inside of bustling markets where up to 50 or so vans are sitting- each destined for a different route. Without knowing your way, this can get quite overwhelming! Luckily, our two friends, Sammy and Sonunu helped out quite a bit once we reached Accra and had to find our next van. The trip to Accra is about 2 1/2 hours- 3 depending on traffic, so we left Cape Coast Wednesday night and spent the night at our volunteer house in Accra. Thursday morning we got up early and got on the road to Koforidua. That leg of the journey took about another 2 1/2 hours, the majority of it trying to get out of the city, which is quite large. Once outside Accra, we traveled north up into some beautiful mountains. It rains a lot there because of the elevation, so everything is very green and lush. When we reached the market, Sammy called one of his friends that sells beads, and he was able to show us around. The friend owns the shop in the photo on the left.


There are about 50 shops in the market, each with different beads displayed. Some of them come from other countries around the continent and are sold with many beads from around Ghana. Standing inside one of the kiosks, I didn't even know where to start looking!! So many beautiful colors and types to explore. Some beads are already made into necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, while others are strung for you to purchase and make your own jewelry. Sammy knows how to make jewelry and has promised to teach us, so I purchased mostly beads to make things with. Here are some pics- R- me in front of a rainbow of beads! Below- Friend Sammy, myself, and a really friendly and knowledgeable shop owner with his beads.
More Koforidua pics here- http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc477/colleenfulp/Ghana/Koforidua%20Bead%20Market/

July 27- August 1
Accra, Wli Falls, PramPram

Lauren and I decided to take a long trip over the weekend following the service day. We had been hearing a lot about Volta Region, which is in the eastern part of Ghana, bordering Togo. Volta has the largest man made lake in Ghana, created by a dam on the Volta River. It also has the largest waterfall in West Africa, Wli Falls (pronounced V-lee), so we wanted to go check it out!


Global Mamas had applied for a grant from the French Embassy to expand to a new location and was awarded the grant out of hundreds of applicants. We found out that there would be a reception for the French Embassador the Friday that we were heading to Accra, so it worked out very nicely. We were able to attend, and I even got to have a short conversation with him. He is a nice man that has been stationed in Ghana for 7 months, with previous posts around West Africa. I'm not ashamed to say that one of the most exciting parts about this party was the French wine and cheese that GM bought to serve at the reception! (I haven't had great wine or any cheese since arriving in Ghana, so that was quite a treat!)

We stayed overnight in Accra and headed out Saturday morning to Wli. We booked a guesthouse that previous volunteers had recommended by calling in advance. We traveled to Hohoe (pronounced ho-hoy) and took a taxi from there to the guesthouse. The trip took about 4 hours, so we got in in the afternoon. Volta is absolutely beautiful, so I really enjoyed the drive. I think this has been some of my favorite scenery so far! Here is one shot from the road (left). Upon arriving, it was quite rainy, so we decided to have some lunch there and rest for the afternoon. In the evening we walked from the guesthouse (which is between Hohoe and Wli) into Wli, which turned out to been about 3 miles. It was a beautiful walk down a quiet jungle dirt road. We passed people occasionally on the road, coming and going from their farms or collecting firewood. Everyone that we passed greeted us with a smile and a hearty 'Welcome!' I think that may be one of the only English words that some of the locals know, so it made me feel really good that they had made an effort to learn it in order to let visitors like us know that they were happy to see us there. :)

The following morning, Sunday, we slept in and had a nice breakfast at the guesthouse. This is all quite amazing considering that the power had been out through the night with a loud rainstorm thundering over us. The guesthouse is run by a nice Ghanaian lady, and she does have a generator. Unfortunately, the generator was not working that morning, despite several efforts by her groundsman, so she made us breakfast over a coal fire outside. Eggs, beans, and bread with butter. Yum! We hopped in one of the minibusses with some locals and headed into Wli to do the waterfall hike. The rain had let up a bit. We checked in at the visitor station and met this character (photo right), Kwame. We loved his shirt! He set us up with a guide named Wise, and we headed up the mountain trail. We got rained on quite a bit, but it was worth it. Wise pointed out cocoa beans in their pods, coffee beans, and pineapple plants all along the trail. Here are some more views of the hike-

And, of the waterfall!!
The wind was really blowing the water around, so it was quite beautiful but wet! haha

Here is a view of the falls from town (right). It is really striking, even from a distance.












We headed back to Accra Sunday afternoon, stayed overnight in the volunteer house, and shipped out Monday morning for our next site. More photos of Wli here-http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc477/colleenfulp/Ghana/Wli%20Falls/ 

PramPram

PramPram is another one of Global Mamas' worksites, located on the beach about an hour east of Accra. They use a slightly different business model there, directly employing seamstresses and batikers in their office rather than contracting Mamas to sew and batik from their own shops as in the Cape Coast model. GM has asked me to do an assessment of the two sites, to try to help them determine which one is working better for the women. While in PramPram, I conducted 10 interviews with Quality Control office staff, seamstresses, and batikers both for my research for my program at UW and for GM. I'm asking questions primarily about decision making and financial independence, to try to learn about women's empowerment in Ghana overall, and try to learn if there is a connection to goal setting and financial independence when working with Global Mamas. I will then conduct interviews back in Cape Coast, as well as a control site at a textile factory in Tema or Accra. I will use the information from the three different sites to see what I can learn! Photo R- batiks drying in the sun at the workshop.

PramPram is very lovely, although quite small and lacking running water. For that reason, it is a bit of a challenging place to live! We have full time staff and volunteers at the site, as well as the Ghanaian employees that live there. There has been talk of moving to Tema, a suburb of Accra, where we could build a larger production site with better amenities. Photos- Left- Erika, myself, and Lauren with some of the office staff.  Right- me with a Palm :) Below- volunteers with some of the batikers.  More PramPram photos here-

http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc477/colleenfulp/Ghana/PramPram/ 

That concludes my travel adventures to date! I am now back in Cape Coast/Elmina meeting with Mamas here and working in the office. I am thankful for this great opportunity and for the support of all my loved ones back home!

Take care,

Colleen

Service Day Project- A Great Success!!

Hello!!!

So first off, my apologies for a  long delay in between blogs! I have been traveling as well as having a few small computer/internet difficulties. I have a LOT of exciting updates for all of you, so lets get started. :)

When I last wrote, I was filling you in on the service day project that I had been planning with a colleague. We had the event Saturday morning of July 21 and it was an amazing success!! About 60 Mamas turned out at the hospital early in the morning around 7am, carrying their brooms and smiles. We had some lovely shirts made, one for each mama, out of some polo shirts donated by our supervisor. They are red, dark blue, light blue, and yellow, and we hired a local business man to screen print our Global Mamas logo small in the front and large on the back. We started handing out shirts as they arrived, which was met with a lot of excitement. (Photo above- early morning cleaners)The nurse that I had been working with to organize the event was not there that morning, so she set me up with another nurse to help set people up to clean the wards. We split into two groups, one to clean the children's ward and one to clean the maternity ward. As I walked around checking on people, I was so amazed with the women's energy and diligence for the project. Some of them took leadership roles over small groups, directing the cleaning of the floors, window glass, window screens, outside grass and gutters. One of my favorite moments was when one of the head Mamas pulled a hose into the maternity ward from outside and set up a few people to start spraying the screens from inside out. Can you imagine?!?! A hose inside the maternity ward.. amazing! The hose did work wonders though and you could literally see the dirt running off the screens. (All there is between the outside and the ward is a screen window.) There are some of our ladies cleaning the screens in the picture to the left.

We did a small dedication ceremony where I presented all of our donations to the nurses and the lead nurse also gave a thank you presentation. It was so moving to be in a room with so many wonderful ladies! The picture above is of our ceremony. The lady to my left is Kristin, one of the two founders of Global Mamas. She happened to be visiting Cape Coast one day during her 10 day trip here, so we made sure she could be there for the service day! In total, we donated: labor ward- 53 beautiful batik curtains (45 window curtains to provide privacy to the rooms from the outside and from the hallway, 2 large divider curtains, and 6 large curtains to hang between beds), 8 plastic chairs for the pregnant women to sit in (previously they would sit on the floor or stand!), and 3 plastic fans that they can spread out around the ward. We chose plastic because they will not rust like the metal fans, since the hospital is right across the road from the ocean! Children's ward- a hot water kettle for boiling water, packages of biscuits and juice boxes for the children that get admitted there, and a few small toys- plastic number and letter magnets that they can play with, which we chose because they can be easily sanitized. With the amazing donations from our families and friends as well as other volunteers and interns, we were able to donate such a wonderful assortment of items!! I am so thankful to all that supported this project. I can tell you that the ladies in the maternity ward and the nurses throughout the hospital were so so thankful for all the effort and love that was sent their way. From them to all of you, a very sincere thank you and God bless!

After the service day we all walked as a group down to a local park for the annual awards ceremony. We presented 6 awards to Mamas, which were voted on by all GM staff in Ghana and the US, as well as all the Quality Control staff that work in the Cape Coast office (about 10 people). The awards presented were: Global Mama of the Year, Initiative, Innovation, Leadership, Staff Member of the Year, and Dedication (which is a new award Lauren and I created to give to a Mama that we heard so many positive things about). We hired our dear friend Eli to cook for all of us, so she made some great chicken and rice for the event. (Eli is the lady that lives down the road from our volunteer house. She owns a restaurant and cooks us some lovely westernized dinners when we need them.) We were able to get the park for free, after speaking with the owner and explaining that we are an NGO with little $$, and we agreed to purchase 'minerals' from him in exchange. (Minerals are what they call soda or pop.. we bought Fanta, Coke, and Sprite for everyone, as well as water sachets) Our manager Mel and the QC Staff boss, Wisdom, were the MCs of the event, and it was great fun! We took some really great group shots after the awards.

There is one of the whole crew above, and one of the Quality Control office staff + volunteers + GM staff below. Top left- Kristin (founder), Erin (V), me (V), Matthew (QC), Lauren (V), Melanie (GM S), Amos (GM S), George (QC), Kennedy (QC), Cali (GM S), Tony (GM S). Second row starting next to Kristin- Christianne (QC), Roberta (QC), Annette (QC), Joyce (GM S), Katie (V), Grace (QC). Front row- Erika (V), Suzy (QC), Alberta (QC), Wisdom (GM S).

To get more views of these pictures plus many more, here is the link to my service day photobucket!
http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc477/colleenfulp/Ghana/Global%20Mamas%20Gives%20Back%20Service%20Day%20and%20Awards/
(click the link or copy that whole thing and paste into your browser)

Since that day, Lauren and I have been back to the wards several times to ensure the curtains get properly taken care of and hung. This past Monday we went with Matthew, one of our staff members, to nail up all of the wires to hang the curtains on. We bought nails, hooks, and wire to hang the curtains, and with the assistance of Matthew, were able to nail up the wires in each window frame. We also donated plenty of the supplies to the hospital, so that they can fix any wires or replace them if ever needed. The curtains had been stamped by that time (each ward has their own stamp), washed, and were in the process of drying and being ironed. We went back on Tuesday to see the progress and were able to see how truly beautiful the place now looks! I have some wonderful pictures of the final product which I will upload and share will you all very soon.

Once again, thank you so much to all that were able to donate to this project and those that have been following our efforts and sending support. I feel so proud and happy with what we were able to accomplish together!

More to come soon!