Melissa's Travels

more vendors in Accra

2009-07-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Our Day Trip

2009-07-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

Went to Cape Coast yesterday. This is what it looks like:

Pirates!

Cape Coast castle is where the slaves from Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, etc were held before boarding the ships. They had to walk there from their respective countries and stayed in the dungeons for up to 12 weeks. Interesting side note, slaves created a rain harvesting system to collect water, but the British got their drinking water from ponds, causing them sickness.

Door of No Return.

Outside the Door of No Return...fishermen.

One intense experience to another - after the Castle we went to the national park where we walked above the trees on a frightening suspension bridge. Yikes!

Accra Interviews

2009-07-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

I've decided to do some interviews in Accra to compare with the girls in Tamale. So far, they are not as different as I had expected. Although, nearly everyone I meet in Accra were not born here, but came from other towns and villages to make money. Also, in Tamale, the girls say they like selling water, but in Accra most of them don't like it. Their number one complaint is men touching them and objectifying them.

Where Your Donations Are Going

2009-07-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all of your donations! Africa Change International has been able to hire two new people, creating two jobs in an economy with a high unemployment rate. Paul pictured below on the left is the new manager for the internet cafe. I've been training him on translation and hired him to help me with my interviews. Even though English is Ghana's official language, they usually can't understand my American accent if they understand English, or they speak the native Twi.

I've also been training the new secretary, Annette, on transcription and I've hired her to type up my interviews. Win, win.

ACI is launching the computer lab on Wednesday so I will be able to attend (I leave Thursday). We've lined up TV and other media to cover the event and Miss Ghana 2008 is scheduled to come, no lie. We've been in the newspaper once already, and I'm going to interview some kids who use the internet cafe and write it up for an article. I'm thinking I should do something for The New Yorker or something. Does anyone have any experience with that?

Plastic Pollution

2009-07-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

When people buy sachet water, they usually throw the plastic on the ground (which they call "rubber.") It usually ends up in the sewers, blocking the drains and causing floods in the rainy season. I was surprised today when one of my interviewees who was only 15 years old explained to me how she would wait until her customer was done drinking the water and collect the plastic bag to put in a bin later. I thanked her for doing that.

PS Back at home, MIT Sensable City lab is getting tons of press for Trash Track, the project that puts tracking devices on trash to see where it ends up and how much gets recycled. Read about it here in Wired: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/mit-trash-track/

Tamale Friends

2009-07-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

This is Lydia who works at Pure Home Water, the NGO started in Ghana by my MIT professor Susan Murcott. Lydia is in charge of the lab. Even though she has a full-time job that pays decently by Ghana standards, she can't pay the fees for her sisters to go to school, so she's trying to get Compassion International to take them on for sponsorship for $5/month.

This is Bhavna. She basically grew up in Ghana and helps her dad with his two businesses of owning a store and a sachet water production company. The people here call her white. She makes great Indian food!

Ouch!

2009-07-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

Close-up of skinned knees from wiping out on my bike on the road to a local village:

So the only medical supplies we could find were iodine and penicillin. It reminded me of Little House on the Prairie. So I patched myself up with some gauze and an ace bandage. Does anyone else think it's weird that ace bandages in Africa are flesh-colored for white/beige people?

Larabanga Mosque

2009-07-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

Although I do not recommend staying the night in Larabanga, the one attraction there is Ghana's oldest mosque.

Mole National Park, Upper West Region

2009-07-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my side trip to Mole National Park. They say that you can get closer to the animals here than at other game reserves in Africa, but they don't have as many animals. We missed the elephants by about 30 minutes, but got to see their poop. What are they eating? Anyway, Jesse got food poisoning the night before and couldn't come, so it was just Jake and me. We befriended the german volunteer at the place we were staying in Larabanga who was our temporary stand-in for Jesse. He was very nice, but unfortunately was having a terrible time at his position because there was nothing to do and only rice to eat. (If you go to Mole, it's worth the price to stay at Mole Motel, do not stay in Larabanga!) We got to watch Obama's speech and we all agreed that everything Obama said was true and correct.

lazy days

2009-07-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Jake says he had expected strange noises in Africa, but the 6am marching band practice and the boys across the street playing gangsta rap weren’t what he had in mind. The cacophony of the neighbor’s hounds howling, anonymous goats baying and Nurdeen’s roosters crowing at all hours, not just at dawn, mixes with the periodic call to prayer from the local mosque. This is how I woke this morning, not blaming Nurdeen for his incessant roosters who after all lay the eggs for his breakfast. Although I get up late, it will be hours until I’m joined by Jake and Jesse who I had to yell at last night for being 18 year olds and laughing hyena laughs until dawn. Unable to lie awake in bed all morning, I wasted time by cleaning up after the boys and burning some bread for breakfast. I was down to my last pair of clean underwear, so I set about “doing laundry” which means cleaning out a basin well enough to rinse some clothes in a mixture of rainwater and SuperConcentrate Wilderness Wash. I reminded myself of my dad making up new lyrics to old songs as I hummed “how much DEET must one woman spray” to the tune of Blowin in the Wind. The answer, my friend, is biting at my legs.

The sky is dark and gray, threatening my work at the clothesline. I would say “at least the power hasn’t gone out yet,” but I don’t want to jinx myself. At least we still have running water. At least Jesse put his music on my computer and I got an hour long radio show hosted by Bob Dylan on the theme of “friends and neighbors.” Jesse and Jake wake up and eat breakfast. We wait for Sunday to end so we can go to the National Reserve to see the elephants. They play hearts on their laptop while I play solitaire on mine. I find this exceedingly ironic.

more!

2009-07-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

I would really like to do a photo exhibit. Any ideas?

Rahina's Photos

2009-06-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

Rahina is one of the sachet water vendors I interviewed. I gave her my camera for a day to take pictures so I could see her life as she sees it. I'm developing a few of them for her to keep. Also, I'm going to follow up with some of the interviewees to have a focus group before I leave where they can meet each other and talk about the photos...PS Can you believe you can meet someone off the street, give them your camera and get back the next day? That's how this country is, very trustworthy.

This is Rahina...

This is part of a naming ceremony which is conducted one week after a baby is born to give them a name...

This is one of her kids. She doesn't like her photo being taken!

This is one of her friends....

This is one of her neighbors...

Random Photos from the Field

2009-06-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

wildlife

2009-06-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

How to Make Sachet Water

2009-06-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

the women of Tishagu

2009-06-20T10:11:00.001-07:00

I spent the day mapping the neighborhood of Tishagu. These ladies were very helpful and told me all about their community and let me take their pictures. I'm going to try to print them out and give them copies.

more sachet water vendors

2009-06-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Images of the Market

2009-06-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

Some of the women and girls I've been interviewing

2009-06-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Images from the Villages

2009-06-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry!

2009-06-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've been having trouble posting pictures to blogger. I have tons coming right up!

Thank you Megan Barry!

2009-06-14T09:20:00.002-07:00

Thank you Megan for being the first to donate to Africa Change International. You rock!

Hot Tamale!

2009-06-14T05:01:00.000-07:00

We took the (air conditioned) bus to Tamale on Wednesday. We left Accra at 3pm and arrived in Tamale at about 6am. While we were waiting for the bus, a woman unloaded all these bananas

Here is the house we are staying in. It is also the headquarters of Pure Home Water. It does not have air conditioning, but it actually isn't very hot here. Yes, that is a rain harvesting system. But we haven't had much rain yet. Peter in Accra says it's been raining there.

This is the Pure Home Water truck. Jesse, Jake and I sit in the back and everyone seems to think that is really funny.

Customers!

2009-06-11T04:47:00.001-07:00

ACI opened the internet cafe three days ago and customers are pouring in! Peter tells me this story of a 15 year old boy: He walked in at about 7pm last night, asking about the free computer workshops. He sat down at a computer and Peter logged him in and left. When Peter went back in the cafe, he saw that Paul our security guard (picture below) was talking to him. Peter admonished Paul to stop harrassing the customers, but Paul explained that he was showing the customer how to work the computer. Even though this 15 year old boy is in the school system that has a computer curriculum, he has never touched a computer! He didn't know how to work the mouse and didn't know how to click to get an internet page.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't surprise me. The Ghanaian government has mandated that all schools teach computers. But they don't have computers, so they hand write everything. There are even tech college graduates students WHO HAVE NEVER TOUCHED A COMPUTER. I'm not making this up. People can get a diploma in computers with only hand-writing code, and very obscure, out-dated code at that.

So, I'm really glad that Peter is doing this. We are writing a grant for seed money to start the basketball programming and enhance the computer lab from UN-Habitat. Wish us luck!

Transitioning to the water project...

2009-06-09T13:58:00.000-07:00

The Crew!
From left to right: Susan Murcott, husband Ralph, Yale freshmen Jesse and Jake.

Today I met up with Susan who just got in last night. We went to a small village about 1 hour outside of town in a district called Ga West. (pictures in next post) The project is one of six and are run by Water Health International, part of World Vision. They started their first project one year ago, which is the longest running water treatment plant of its kind. They plan to expand to 20 more. They get all of their materials from India, set up a project, employ Ghanaians, then sell the water for less than sachet water, which is the cheapest water you can buy. They also hold community workshops and educate people on the importance of clean water. We arrived at about 11am and they already had about 60 customers in a town of 1800.

Tomorrow I get to sit in on a board meeting for Pure Home Water. Board meetings sound boring, but it would be interesting to see the difference between a non-profit that operates in Africa versus one in the States. Then on Thursday, we are leaving Accra for Kumasi, and then even further north to Tamale! It's going to be hard to leave Accra because there is so much work to do here, but I have to do the research for my school paper. Eight more weeks of busy busy busy...then maybe I'll get home a take a vacation, ha ha!

(PS Today we also shopped at Global Mamas, a fair trade store run by the Minnesota non-profit Women in Progress. If you see any of their products in Ten Thousand Villages or other fair trade shop, buy them! Their profits go to women in Ghana teaching them sewing and business skills and a whole host of other things. They also take volunteers if you are thinking of coming to Ghana.)

How To Drink Clean Water

2009-06-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Get water from the source.

Step 2: Filter the water through sand, activated carbon, microns and UV treatment.

Step 3: Fill bucket from tap.

Step 4. Drink pure water!

This is just a pretty bird that I saw;

In Accra

2009-06-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

Matta makes the best fried plantains EVER...

This is Peter's grandmother all dressed up for church. She's wearing the scarf I brought her from the States! Thanks, mom for suggesting to bring her a scarf. Good call!

The lady on the left is Matta who cooks for me. She's standing with her friend.

How To Get a Coconut

2009-06-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Climb tree.

Step 2: Cut down coconut with machete.

Step 3: Thank Peter's girlfriend's mother who owns the tree!

A girl after my own heart!

2009-06-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

One of the partner projects is with an orphanage outside Accra. I can't go until I get back from Tamale because my schedule is booked, but I can't wait to meet this sassy-pants!

Living in Accra

2009-06-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

To answer my sister's question via email, yes, it is hot. Not hotter than an August in St. Louis - just about as muggy too. Not as bad as I thought it would be!

I thought you might like to see where I am staying. This is Peter's grandmother's house:

This is the road where we live. Most of the main roads are paved, but not all residential roads. The neighborhood where I'm staying is called Tescano:

The tree in this photo is medicinal. It's called malinga (I'm waiting for your jokes, dad!). The water tank in this picture holds the precious shower water that has become very dear to me:

This is Paul who was hired as "security." Basically he watches the ACI office when no one is around and runs errands. You can tell he's from the north from the scar on his cheek. I'm "training" him on things that will help him work at the internet cafe - like telling time, typing and using the mouse. He catches on pretty quick!

Helping out at the school

2009-06-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

Africa Change International has a partnership with the Police Depot 3 and 4 school where the children of police officers go. Police make $150 or less a month so you can see the school doesn't have alot of resources.

This is the school:

This is one of the houses where the police and their families live. Most of the families live in dorms like this on campus where the school is located:

Advising Africa Change International

2009-06-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

This week, I've been all around Accra meeting with the CEO of the National Sports Council, director of DED (German Economic Development NGO), Egypt Ambassador and others, trying to rally support for ACI. Everyone is very receptive! It's been tiring, though, and when I get back to Accra, there will be even more people to meet.

Here is Peter and Richard at the new office:

Here is Peter with the CEO of the National Sports Council. He's doing alot for youth in sports in Ghana, so we hope he will help us:

Here is the Internet cafe as it it right now. Hopefully, when I get back from Tamale, there will be people sitting in those chairs!

2009-06-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

Oh man, this camera is not very good! I will have to get better pictures. Anyway, you should have seen the kids laughing at me. They thought I was so funny with my American accent. The older kids could understand what I was saying, especially when I said that I was from the country that Obama is from!

Compare the local school with the nearby American school below. Yes, that is an air conditioning unit.

Accra

2009-06-04T04:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends,

I got to Accra Monday night. Sorry I haven't posted until today, but the internet service here is almost as bad as Comcast! I have been to the internet office twice now with Peter to try to get them to connect the internet. Peter is the Executive Director of Africa Change International which is one of two projects I'm working on in Ghana. Peter is trying to open an internet cafe to raise money to provide basketball coaches to schools and orphanages here. The idea is to train kids that show talent at an early age so they can win scholarships for schools (and eventually university in Europe or the US), and apparently, scholarships for jobs in Ghana. They are also going to use the internet cafe as a computer lab to teach kids to use computers responsibly.

But of course you can't charge for a service that's not working, so no money coming in right now. They have an employee to work on writing grants for them since they are an NGO, but of course that will take time. I would like to get a seed grant of $1000 to help them for the first couple of months while they wait to get a grant. (It's $300/month to pay the basketball coach that they have already chosen and $350/month to pay utilities.) Mary, can you help me put a paypal button on my blog like you did last time?

I'm going to try to post a picture of me with the kids at one of the schools I'm at. I'm at a different Internet cafe and they don't have a really good photo program.

Anyway, the school is for the children of policemen and women. It's called Police Depot 3 and 4. Maybe the Belleville Police can hold a fundraiser, Laura? The school runs a "shift system" which means that half of the kids go to school in the morning and then the other half goes to school for the afternoon. Obviously, they would like to have volunteers come and help them out so there is enough teachers for the students to go full-time, so if you know anyone who wants to teach at a school, let me know.

Besides going all around town meeting people like the CEO of the National Sports Council and ambassadors at embassies to raise awareness about the program, I've also ate sugar cane for the first time (yum!) and alot of other things I've had before but are much better here, like fried plantains. I basically eat fruit for breakfast and have some combination of rice or yams with vegetables and fish for lunch or dinner. There is a girl named Matta who cooks. I don't know how old she is, maybe in her late teens. She's going to catering school in another town and is here for a month to make money. Also there is a young guy named Paul who basically does anything like open the door or watch the office when we're out. They are both very nice. We all stay at Peter's grandmother's house. She's really nice too. They speak Twi mostly, but enough English so that I can communicate with them. I haven't really learned much Twi yet, except "obruni" which means "white girl."

FICTION book suggestions needed!

2009-05-28T17:02:00.001-07:00

Please post comments with some good fiction I can read on the plane. Thanks!

Ghana - May 31-Aug 5

2009-05-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

This is my itinerary to go to Ghana this summer (subject to change!):

May 31 Leave Boston
June 1 Arrive Accra, the capital of Ghana in West Africa

-- Fun Fact: Ghana was the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence, in 1957. --

June 2-7 Play with kids at the orphanage!

--Africa Change International www.acighana.com is a start-up non-profit based in Ghana that seeks to empower underprivileged youth through basketball ---

June 8-15 Meet up with Professor Susan Murcott and the other MIT students, embark on cross-country road trip stopping at various water and sanitation plants

-- 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water. --

June 15-July 9 Interview women and girls who sell water in Tamale, in the Northern Region of Ghana.

--Fun Fact: The Dyula Muslims settled in this area with the Ashanti a long time ago. They got along trading kola nuts (what we used to make Coca Cola out of.) --

July 10-Aug 5 Return to Accra

--Fun Fact: The population of Ghana is about 22million. Some statistics say that 50% of the population is under the age of 16. --

This trip is generously provided by MIT's Program in Human Rights and Justice!