On the Way Home

We took a Peace Corps vehicle on our trip to Benin so we were able to see a little bit of Togo along the way.  The beaches seemed a little cleaner than the ones in Benin and Ghana.   

Scott looks  out over the ocean.

 

Jordan and Jennifer relaxing in the shade. 

Hermit crabs were all along the beach.

This is the restaurant we ate at on the way.

 

We ate some pretty good food there too!

When we hit Lome it was quite an adventure.  The main highway was covered in rocks and downed trees.  There were lots of men standing in the middle of the road.  A moto drove up next to us and motioned to us to turn around.  We were not certain of what was going on.  Once we had turned around, we found out that it was Togo’s independence day and there were people demonstrating in front of one of the government buildings.  We just had to take a little detour around the city to get home.   

We had a little trouble at the Togo Benin border on the way home.  Going to Benin we all stopped at the Togo side and got our visas stamped.  When we got to the Benin side they said we did not need to stop and we could go on.  We all should have known better.  On the way back we stopped in Togo and were made to go back to Benin because we never got our visas stamped there.  We got escorted by the immigration officer.  They made us wait around for a long time.  The two best French speakers we had talked to one of the higher ups.  He wanted to speak to the driver although he spoke no French. Finally after he yelled at the driver in French he let us go and they stamped our passports.  

Here is the officer in our vehicle.

A Trip to Benin

We just got back from a really fun trip to Benin.  We attended the Global Shea Alliance’s annual conference.  We met a bunch of people in the Shea industry.  There were people from all aspects of the industry in attendance , from the pickers to the international buyers. Most of the time we were helping with logistics and registrations, but we were able to attend some informational sessions. The sessions were about all aspects of Shea production including sessions on Shea tree management, financing, cosmetics, and improving Shea nut quality.

 

There were several cosmetics sessions, teaching women to develop new products with their butter. 

 

Since there were people who spoke either English or French, there were translators for each speaker.   We got to wear cool head sets to hear the translation.  Don’t worry this is just a funny picture, Scott is really not trying to bring back the 70’s. 

     

A trade show accompanied the conference.  Women from Ghana, Burkina Faso,  Benin, Togo, and Nigeria were able to promote their hand made shea products.  Some of the products included shea butter, shea soap, shea cream, and shea oil.  We also got some amazing honey roasted groundnuts as well. 

We also managed to have a little fun as well. On the second to last night of the conference they had a cocktail party by the pool that over looked the beach. They provided the attendees with free drinks, which included champagne in real glass steamware and not in a plastic sachet.

Six other Ghana volunteers also attended the shea conference with us.

There were Peace Corps volunteers from Togo, Benin, and Guinea. It was fun talking to volunteers from other countries and hearing the similarities and differences of their experiences to ours.

We ate extremely well both at the conference and at the restaurants. And yes, that is broccoli, this is the first broccoli any of the volunteers in Africa  have had since we left the US. It was a fight between us PCV’s for the broccoli.   

The Enskinning of a New Chief

  Dipale just got a new sub chief. This means they initiated a new elder or advisor to the chief. There are several sub chiefs in each village. When this occurs they hold an enskinning ceremony for the new sub chief.
First all of the elders assemble at the chief’s palace.

The drummers play as they enter the chief’s palace. Each elder has their own rhythm. When the drummer plays their rhythm, they give him money.


Once each elder has greeted the chief, the sub chief’s new smock is presented

The new sub chief in his new outfit.  Next he dances around in his new clothes.




After the ceremony has been performed, he must then greet the chief’s wives.

Everyone then proceeds to take the new sub chief home. There is drumming and dancing the whole way and it continues throughout the day at his compound.

The Strange Extremes

  So we have had a really busy last few weeks.  On the 15th we left for our all volunteer conference in southern Ghana.  There were about 160 of us total.  It was really fun seeing everyone and finding out about their projects.  We had a talent show and Scott performed as the Magnificent Sandoo.  It was really funny he did a couple magic tricks with one our friends. Everyone was amazed. 
  After the conference was over we headed down to Accra to get our visas for Togo and Benin.  Well,  I say after. The first day we tried to leave, we got in a wreck and stayed an extra night because we did not feel like getting back into a vehicle.  The wreck wasn't bad it just shook us up a little.  The guy on the moto was the only person with an injury.  Thankfully he was wearing his helmet and his leg was just twisted.  Once we finnally reached Accra, it took us a whole week to get our visas.  Not very suprising, but frustrating at times. 
  So far in Accra we have gone to actual grocery stores, ate Thai food, went to the mall, ate pizza, went to the circus, and ate cheese!  Totally not what you think of when you think of Peace Corps.  There is a lot of wealth in this city.  The extremes are amazing.  Coming from our mud hut village with no lights to this is a bit of a shock. 
  Next week we will be going to Benin for the Global Shea Conference. It will be with representatives from the shea industry, policy makers, and volunteers. It is going to be a great opportunity to get ideas and buyers for our communities

It was an Italian circus.

These people are clearly not Ghanain.

Taxi Ride

For us to get from Tamale to Dipale, we have to take a taxi ride to Gushie, which is about an hour drive. Here is a video of a typical ride. Things you will see in the video include people selling and carrying things on their heads and traffic chaos in the taxi station. The main station has one has one small entrance and exit. Also, you will see a man jumping on to a moving moto king, then our driver yells at a woman on a moto. The video ends when we stop and fill the back of the taxi will frozen fish. We only almost hit 3 people and one moto, not to shabby.

6th of March Ghanaian Independence Day

On March 6, 1957, Ghana gained independence from Britain under the ruling of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It changed its name from the Gold Coast to Ghana at this time as well. It was the first African colony to be granted independence. Many of the schools in our district came to the district capital, Savalugu, to celebrate in a marching competition this independence day. We got a ton of pictures because they were so cute!

Each school marches around the football pitch, dressed in their school uniforms.

The head of the district education service, the chief district assemblyman, and chief of police wait for the kids to pass by and salute them.

The drummers stand in the middle of the pitch and provide the marching beat. The Savalugu School for the Deaf marched as well. The video didn’t turn out, but their salute had perfect timing!

The carpenter’s union even marched

The Obroni Gets a New Name

After going to a training in the south for a week I stopped off at our friend Austin’s site for his naming ceremony on the way home. His counterpart,Clement, wanted to officially give him his Ghanaian name. They had outfits made out of the same fabric for the occasion. Clement’s hat was absolutely ridiculous so everyone took a turn wearing it .

Austin with Melissa in the hat Our friend Jason rocking the hat

Nikki also gave it a try

Clement with Austin ….and yes that is a sleeveless shirt

Clement gave a speech, “Today is a good day, and a good day is today”

Clement’s uncle, Mr. Techi performed the ceremony. He told Austin the he should always be truthful in his work. First, they drank water from the same glass.

Then they drank a sachet of Goal, a liquor ,made from sugar cane. It is really sweet and not that good.

Austin then received the name, Kwame Boa me Bwame

Kwame means Saturday born, and the rest means help me help you.

After the ceremony it was time to eat.

Comfort and Mohammed killed a chicken. Lots of fufu was pounded.

The finished fufu

The biggest, tastiest bowl of soup I have ever seen

Eight people all ate out of this one bowl. It was amazing, even if it looks a little gross.