National Theatre Day 2

Today was our second day at the National Theatre of Ghana and it was a lot more structured than our first day. We started off by learning another traditional Accra dance. This dance was also rigorous and fun with a lot of difficult moves/steps. The steps and the dance's drum music became easier to do and follow as we practiced the dance for a while. Some of our small groups also got the chance to add to their acting scenes. This adding helped in shaping the structure and purpose of the acting scenes.

National Theatre Day 1

It is the start of a new week and the first day at the National Theatre of Ghana. The theatre is pretty huge and I love it's boat-like design. We started of with random acts of the birth of a child, dancing and entry of a king and queen to obtain a feel of the stage and theatre. These random acts did not make sense to me at first but then they helped me to become familiar with the stage and the theatre environment. We also learned a traditional Accra dance called Azonto which was rigorous and fun to do. The dance had similar moves/steps to dances in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). The dance's accompanying drum music however was different from the drum music in T&T. Although the drum music was strange, I quickly understood and danced to its rhythm as the day continued.

Craft Market and Accra Mall

It is Sunday and we are off to Accra Mall. Accra Mall is very similar to the malls in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). It was nice window-shopping there. The items in the mall were expensive and I was advised that these said items could be purchased for less at the craft market so yes, I window-shopped there. A lot of the Ghanians present at the mall wore traditional clothing that were very stylish. I spent most of my time in a large supermarket at the mall looking at Ghanian products. Most of the products were just like products in T&T but they either had a different name or had a different packaging. The Weetabix product at the supermarket for example, had a significantly different packaging to the Weetabix product in T&T. The craft market had a maze-like structure with plenty corridors of stalls to explore. It consisted of hand-crafted items made by Ghanians. Some of these items were also made on the spot at the craft market. These items were very colourful with intricate designs. My favourites were the leather bags and the woven jewellery. I wanted to buy a lot of jewellery but similar to yesterday at the Accra Market, we had very little time to shop. I do hope we get to revisit the craft market with more shopping time.

Accra Market, W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre & Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park

It is the first day in Accra and we are off to the market. Accra has a lot of tall buildings and seems to be well developed. The Accra market was buzzing with noise as thousands of Ghanians inside and outside the market building sold items. Upon entry into the market building, they recognised us as foreigners and started calling us to purchase things from their stall. "My sista, come and take a look," they would say as soon as they spot you taking a quick glance of their stall. The Ghanian lady myself and others bought black soap and other items from was very quick with her hands as she packaged each of our items in bags in a short time period. She was also very generous as she freely added extra items such as a hand bracelet or portion of shea butter to what we purchased. We had very little time to shop at the market and were quite upset about this. Hopefully we get to shop at the market again very soon. The W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture was very informative about highly honoured persons in Ghana and worldwide as there were many pictures of well known honoured black people such as Martin Luther King and Maya Angelou, as well as honoured Ghanians. Some of Maya Angelou's quotes were also attached to her photos and they were refreshingly encouraging. The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park displayed aspects of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's life such as the clothes he wore and books he wrote. His main goal was to create a unified african continent. The Ghanians back then however, did not favour his desire and expressed their disagreement in vandalising his statue that now stands with its head separated from its body and large gaping holes. There were also many pictures of him and his family which I admired as they serve as prof of his remembered, family oriented persona. Me at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park

Volunteering Day 5, Road Trip & Fete Night

Today was a sad day for me as it was the last day of teaching my P2 class. Gabriel and I taught them I.C.T. and had planned to present them with eats and drinks. Unfortunately by the time we were ready to do that, we had to leave. We did not even get a chance to see the students, after their break, to tell them farewell. We thanked the teacher Mr. Michael for what he would have taught us, gave him tokens of our appreciation and asked him to give the students the snacks on our behalf.

We took a long road trip to the Methodist University College Ghana hostel to spend the weekend in Accra. During the journey we sang songs which bought vybz and laughter into the journey. The college hostel had a lot of space with great views of Accra. It was amazing and I took it all in, the thousands of building lights, the trees and the air.

It was also fete night :D and we quickly got ready to go to the DND night club. The club was popping as we all danced and enjoyed the music. The DJ was impressed with our energy so he gave us a 'shout-out' and music cds with his music.

Volunteering Day 4, Journeys & Model African Diaspora

The students of the P2 class I thought yesterday were playing the 'in the river, on the bank' game during their break. I felt happy as I saw them and glad to know that they learnt something from me and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). They also remembered my name and what I taught them yesterday. It's a joy teaching them and I have learnt many teaching skills from Mr. Michael.

In the session with Dr. Michael we explored our life's journey, from birth to present. Some of us had relations in different countries along with our home country. This seems to be another common phenomenon some of us share in the african diaspora. Drew's pastorial group focused on the journey in the past, present and future. I think everyone should definitely have an idea of where they would like to be in the future, where they are now and where they came from.

We also made a model to show how we would strengthen the african diaspora. One group had a neatly built umbrella while another group had a detailed 3D map. Moe's group (my group) had an egg which showed the birth of the new african diaspora. Balloons filled with party streamers and in the colours of my group life's journey countries' flag were attached to the egg and then burst to illustrate the realization and sharing of our cultural practices with each other. The balloons were burst by Share Think and Act cic in the form of a toothpick with a yellow puff as this organization helped us in accepting and appreciating the african diaspora. A yellow puff was used as yellow is the organization's colour.

Volunteering Day 3 and Tawala Beach :)

Today Gabriel, Keivaugh, Samantha, Ben, Regan and I worked with the P2 class. Keivaugh taught Maths and we helped with the marking of the Math problems. The students said recitations about Ghana and black women. The recitations were very informative as they had factual information about Ghana and they also gave encouragement for black women to love and cherish their chocolate complexion, rather than bleaching it to become 'fair' like white women. I taught the students a common game in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) called 'in the river, on the bank'. They learnt it quickly and were laughing at each other as they played.

The session with Dr. Michael involved the discussion of each country's traditional practices as they relate to birth and pregnancy, dreams, leaving the family home and funerals. With funerals for example, we all view the body of the deceased before its burial, however Ghanians view the body at the deceased home and at home (T&T) the body is viewed at a church.

The Tawala beach party was relaxing and I felt as though I was at home, as I danced to songs that are well known in T&T. Plus I got to ride a horse which was pretty cool.

Keivaugh and I teaching the P2 class

Volunteering Day 2, Oral Presentation & African Symbols

Today Gabriel and I taught a P2 (primary level 2) class solid and liquid refuse, electronic circuits and religious studies. I spoke slowly as I taught the students and they understood what I was saying and teaching....yay me :D...... I quickly learnt from the teacher, Sir Michael how to find out if they understood what was being taught by saying, "Is it clear" or "Am I communicating." They would then respond by saying, "Yes madam," or shake their heads to imply no. In Trinidad and Tobago we say something very similar such as, "Is it clearer now." I loved and also quickly learned their unique style of applauding each other when they answered a question correctly.

The Oral Presentation workshop that was lead by Lennon was enjoyable and informative as I learnt about the similarities and differences in folk tale stories from the countries of all the participating groups.

In Dr. Michael's continuation of the living spaces he shared the meaning of several african symbols with us. Most of the symbols refered to ones' character. I was shocked that there was one for being arrogant but greatful as I now know which symbol to avoid using. Plus I am no longer unaware of what they mean :).

Living Spaces and Volunteering

Its the first day of volunteer work at the Unique Christianville Educational Institute and the school's director/principal gave us a quick tour of the school. The students of the first classroom we visited stood and welcomed us as soon as we entered. I was pleasantly suprised as students in Trinidad and Tobago only do this type of greeting when prompted to. Samantha and I worked with a first year class that greeted us in a similar fashion and they also taught us a few songs such as The Three Fishermen.

In the afternoon we had a Living Spaces workshop with Dr. Michael whereby we watched a documentary called Tales of the Front Room and shared stories about items from our living spaces. All the stories shared were different, but they all involved our family. This associated appreciation of our family with items from our living spaces may be a common appreciation we share with each other within the african diaspora.

Sweet yet Slavery Sunday

Today was deemed a relaxation day and I was able to rest for quite a while :D

I also watched a movie about slavery called Goodbye Uncle Tom. It was really sad to view how the slaves were prepared for sale similar to how food and animals are prepared for commercial use in a factory. How the slaves were hand-picked for 'selective breeding' to produce the strongest slave there is. Some slaves died while some lived. There was a 13 year old female slave however, that prefered to lay with a white man rather than a black man. This preference my have resulted from her possibly being raped on countless occasions by white men. It may have also been her way of coping with slavery :/.

Castle Day

Today I learned a new game called Snap from Cassie and other members of the London group. It was fun and it was just what I needed to start the day pumped and ready for whats next.

The visit to the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles were informative and it caused me to think about the great suffering that the slaves would have endured there. The journey through the dark, cold cells with very little ventilation, and the demonstrations shown by the tour guide helped me to get an idea of how overwhelming it was to be a slave. How easy it was to just give up and die, and how suicide could have been a pleasant thought, with no fear of death. How hard it was on the other hand, to stay alive, to have hope and to continue believing that there is a God who cares for them. One misplaced puzzle during slavery could have resulted in my non-existance. A bittersweet hats-off goes out to my ancestors for their endurance and strength during slavery as it lead to my existance.

Welcome to Ghana

We finally arrived in Ghana and its pretty huge with lots of flat land. As we travelled to the Windy Lodge Hotel, I marveled at the Ghanians, whom were mostly women, that were selling items from a basin that was well balanced on their head. How could she carry that with such ease I thought as I observed a Ghanian woman balancing a basin, full beyond what it should carry, with countless skin creams and other skin care products. These women definitely have an extra dose of the average female physical strength. I was however puzzled by the open display of living room sofas for sale at the furniture stores as sofas are normally displayed in plastic or indoors in Trinidad and Tobago.

Group Facilitation, Blogging and First Aid

Group facilitation is not an easy task. Ms Annmarie recommended that a group facilitator should start the first group meeting with an 'ice breaker' activity, to let the members of the group feel comfortable and willing to share ideas. The facilitator could also choose an activity that is related to the topic for discussion. If the topic is teamwork, the activity could be the human tangle game that we played as shown in the video below :)

Group facilitation also involves proper use of communication styles and skills such as eye contact with ALL MEMBERS of the group. One must never make eye contact with only one member as the other members will easily loose their focus on the facilitator and the topic. A group facilitator can also encourage group members to share their opinions/ideas by sharing their own opinions/ideas as well.

Ms Sophia on the other hand, emphasized that blogging is not just about sharing information, it also involves sharing about you the blogger. One must be creative and connect with their blog! As I reviewed my previous blogs, I observed that very little was shared about my thoughts or opinions. I am now trying to be creative and connect with my blogs and I do hope that I am doing just that :). Blogs can also consist videos/pictures rather than words. At the meeting we did a still video about our purpose for travelling to Ghana as shown below.

We were privileged to attend a first aid training session at the Moriah Community Centre and from the looks of it first aid is hard work! There is a lot to remember and do. We learnt about the different accident scenarios: how to spot them and how to deal with them. Someone that is choking may be holding their throat and could confirm choking by nodding their head. In trying to help the choking individual, one has to hold them in a forward bent position and give them couple strokes just below the neck area. We also did Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) which was cool but tiring. Some situations require 2 cycles of 2 breaths and 30 chest compression. 60 chest compression is not an easy task for my tiny arms. Strength and endurance is definitely needed in first aid.

Camping and Transcultural Awareness

There is a lot more to camping than I had previously thought. Campers must be aware of the country code which consists of 10 rules for campers to be of no disturbance to the environment. Some of the rules such as leave no litter and avoid damaging fences, hedges and walls are expected. Keep to the paths across farm land is a strange rule to me but then again it explains why I never saw people camping on the main road lol.

I also thought that campers just pitched their tents in clear area and that was all there was to it. However, I learnt that camp sites must be selectively placed in areas where they are protected from the wind and areas that would not allow for large pools of water to be formed from a little rain. It was said that the camp site must always be facing the morning sun. I cannot remember the reason for this but I think it may act as an alarm clock for the campers to awake on mornings.

The Ghana crew and myself also had the opportunity to make a tripod camp fire. This fire uses three medium-large rocks as a base, hence the name tripod. We took our time and assembled the 3 levels of a fire which were;

1.     Kindle - the base level which consisted of very small flammable items such as small dried leaves and pieces of cardboard.
2.     Twigs - the second level.
3.     Wood - the third level.

Shane shared his experience in Ghana with us and it helped us to better understand transcultural awareness. The similarities and differences between Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago cultures. For instance Ghana has chiefs that are the overseers of different districts whereas Trinidad and Tobago have majors that do the same thing. Different titles but very similar responsibilities. He also encouraged us be open-minded and to not express ethnocentrism, whereby we view our culture as being better than other cultures.

Interpersonal Skills

The 5th meeting for the TLFHD programme was held on Saturday 5th April, 2014 and Ms. Ann Marie was present to explain the weird birthday suit homework : ).

The week long birthday suit home work was about being able to really look at and analyse yourself. Identifying what you liked and disliked, and even discovered about yourself. It was also about understanding that there are somethings about yourself that you can and cannot change. There are definitely a few things that I can and want to change, for the better, about myself.

Ms. Ann Marie also examined with us the process involved in communication. She helped me in understanding that noise, which is anything that disturbs a message from being received in its truest form, could also be me : O. I also understood that the me involved in disturbing messages were amygdala hijacks and that explained a lot....wow.....: ). My poker face may have been a happy, sad, confused or sell-out blushing face....sigh.....when all I wanted was for it to be a poker face : /.

Murphy's 7 C's of effective communication were also discussed as shown below.

Communication styles such as Assertive, Aggressive, Passive Aggressive were then discussed in detail about their appropriateness in different communication situations. Assertive Communication is the preferred communication style to use as it is appropriate for most communication situations. One thing that stood out to me was that no matter what communication style is used, once emotion (mi boy amygdala starts doing his thing) steps in, assertiveness is lost and you open or expose yourself. As a result of this exposure, most times you loose and sometimes you may win. I also understood that the communication style an individual mainly uses links to their intrapersonal being.

Functioning as a professional, ethics and finding your moral compass were also discussed with Lennon and Glendora. Being a professional involves being goal-oriented and also being able to get rid of distractions that hinder the achievement of goals. The method a professional uses in obtaining goals and getting rid of distractions is very important, remembering Leekai as he kicked the bottle lmbo and Kayde as he picked up the bottle lol.

The Amygdala Hijack and Me :)

In the 3rd meeting of TLFHD Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme Ghana 2014, I shared my interest in medicine and how the body biological reactions are linked to our emotions with the presenter, Ms. Ann Marie and other participants of the programme. She then gave me an assignment to find out more about the amygdala hijack which would help me understand the link between our biological reactions and emotions.

The amygdala is an almond shaped mass of nuclei located deep within the temporal lobe and adjacent to the hippocampus as shown below:

Figure 1 – The Amygdala, Temporal lobe and Hippocampus

It plays a primary role in the formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events. Stimuli from the eyes, ears, skin etc. sends a signal immediately to the thalamus and then the amygdala before a signal is sent to the neocortex. The neocortex consists of different parts of the brain, eg. The occipital lobe, that deals with logic & analysis, rational thought, control of emotions, language and morality. The amygdala assesses the signal by recognizing the emotions and feelings it evokes. It then inhibits the “slow thinking” rational brain, resulting in an unthinkable response that is based on emotions and feelings. This inhibition of the neocortex caused by the amygdala is called amygdala hijack and it is illustrated below:

Figure 2 – The Amygdala Hijack

The amygdala notes the emotion and feelings caused by the stimuli, and the unthinkable response that resulted from them. In the future, if similar emotion and feelings are evoked, the amygdala hijacks the rational brain, producing the noted unthinkable response.The amygdala hijack can result in positive and negative outcomes as it heavily influences the following:

·         Arousal

  positive - your spouse in a secluded, public area evokes a desirable feeling of pleasure in you. The amygdala quickly hijacks any reasoning from the rational brain about the area being inappropriate and may cause you to caress your spouse in a certain way/area which then results in the fulfillment of an exciting sexual adventure.

  negative - someone other than your spouse evokes the same desirable feeling and causes you to commit adultery, create an unwanted pregnancy etc.

·         Autonomic responses associated with fear

  positive - fear from seeing a ferocious dog running towards you may result in a amygdala hijack which increases your heart rate, blood pressure and causes you to 'freeze up' or remain stationary. The dog upon seeing your response does not attack you.

  negative - fear from seeing a vehicle speeding towards you causes you to 'freeze up' and may result in you being seriously injured.

·         Emotional responses

  positive - while in a meeting, someone sitting next to you gives you a good joke which evokes a feeling of joy and causes an amygdala hijack which blocks any reasoning about you being in the meeting, and you burst out in laughter. No one in the meeting was disturbed by your laughter and you happily enjoyed laughing at the joke.

  negative - your outburst in laughter was very disturbing and it caused you to be 'kicked-out' of the meeting and/or scold about it.

·         Hormonal secretions

  positive - being prepared for an exam evokes a feeling of confidence which causes an amygdala hijack that blocks any reasoning about exercising caution when answering questions. This may then result in the release of hormones which makes you feel happy and causes you to complete the exam very quickly.

  negative - not being prepared for the exam may cause a feeling of anxiety which may then lead to the release of stress hormones that causes you to stress about one question for a long period of time.

·         Memory

  positive - while driving you may encounter a situation that you had experienced in driving school. You may feel confident as you remember the experience, which then aids your memory in remembering how to respond to the situation in the best possible way.

  negative - you encounter a stressful situation that you never had experienced before. Being stressed and unsure of how to respond may hinder your memory in remembering possible methods of handling such situations.

Bibliography

Bailey, Regina. About.com Biology. 2014. http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/Amygdala.htm (accessed April 5, 2014).

Chipscholz. Scholz: Leadership Development. April 5, 2012. http://www.chipscholz.com/2012/04/05/emotional-hijacks-at-work-beware-the-tiger/ (accessed April 5, 2014).

Dr. Nadler, Relly. "What Was I Thinking?: Handling the Hijack." Psychology Today. July 2009. http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/51483/handling-the-hijack.pdf (accessed April 5, 2014).

Erich. The Art of Thinking as a Free Gift. August 26, 2012. http://freegift100.blogspot.com/2012/08/taming-your-emotions-amygdala-part-1.html (accessed April 5, 2014).

Waylon H. Lewis Enterprises. Elephant: Dedicated to Mindful Life. 2014. http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/08/yoga-bodywork-healing-the-brain-bonus-video/amygdala-hippocampus/ (accessed April 5, 2014).

Lennon, Poverty and Development

The 4th meeting was recently conducted and the anticipated, sensational presenter Ms. Ann Marie was absent. She was missed but her absence gave Lennon the opportunity to engage in being a leader/facilitator :). Lennon invited and facilitated our Do's & Don'ts ideas for the Tobago group participants in Ghana. She then helped in explaining our ideas and lead us to agree on a general consensus. Thank you Lennon for reminding us about the things to pack for the programme, munches are a definite carry-on for me :).

The phenomenon of poverty, the different types of poverty and facts associated with poverty were also discussed with Sir Phillips. I learnt about absolute and relative poverty, social and occupational exclusion and the existence of 'lumpenproletariat' (the underclass). I also understood that most of us, if not all of us, do suffer from some type of poverty. I sometimes experience relative poverty coupled with social and occupational exclusion :(.

Mr. Daniel on the other hand, reminded us that poverty can be eradicated via development. He discussed with us the Design Thinking Approach;

• What is?
• What if?
• What wow's?
• What works?

He totally revamped my knowledge about starting and owning a business. He also mentioned a saying which stood out to me. It was, " the old way cannot be the best way." Serious food for thought :).

Being a Leader/Facilitator and Meetings

The 3rd meeting for TLFHD Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme was held on Saturday 22nd March, 2014 and although it was lengthy, it was worth the while :).

The first session of the meeting was all about being a leader/facilitator. The best leader/facilitator, as shared by the presenter Ms. Ann Marie, is someone who knows who they are. Myself and the other participants were then asked to 'find and hug a tree' for 5 minutes and I wasn't quite sure what we were suppose to learn from hugging a tree. I soon understood that it was a much needed time-out to relax our minds as we observed and basked in the things that we took for granted sometimes. It helped us in analyzing how our experiences contributed significantly to who we were. It had me thinking about how my experiences, some good, frightening and sad, would have contributed to the good and bad components of who I am. She also emphasized the importance of a leader/facilitator being able to trust others.

The second session was about meetings. The different types of meetings and the things needed to conduct a meeting. Some of the information shared by Mr. Kwesi such as how to take meeting minutes were a review and enhancement of what I had already known. Others such as the term 'Quorum', Robert's Rules of Order and parliamentary procedure for meetings were new to me. I am now able to introduce and vote on a motion like a true parliamentarian :D.

Volunteering and Ghana = Amazing Opportunity

My sister called me one night and asked me if I would be interested in participating in a volunteering project in Ghana. I told her yes and was anxiously awaiting more details from Lennon. I always wanted to do more volunteer work and was grateful for the opportunity to do so. I first volunteered at a boy's orphanage in Trinidad. The boy that I helped was 10 years old but looked like a 6 year old. He was very short, tiny and had a very....very short attention span. After he completed 1 Math question he became restless and ran off to play with the other boys and always seemed to have lost his pencil, which he looked ALL OVER the orphanage home for, before he could attempt another question. It was an enjoyable learning experience, inclusive of methods to use while helping children with a short attention span :).

Thus far, I have attended 2 meeting sessions for TLFHD Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme and obtained a better understanding of what volunteering is all about. I have also learnt a lot about Ghana and Ghanaian culture. I am very excited about this programme and I am trying to keep in mind that in Ghana my right hand is my only hand :)

My Blogining

Blogging??? Not me and that blogging thing............was my stance about blogging 2 months ago. Now here I am, not sure what to write as my first blog. As a current participant of The Lily Foundation for Human Development, Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme Ghana 2014, I was introduced to blogging as a method of documenting all that I have experienced and learned from the programme. 

It was quite easy to create and design this blog. As I learnt more about blogging, my stance on blogging has changed. Blogging is similar to a long-lasting diary that serves as a record of anything that would have contributed to an individual's persona. I am glad that I was introduced to blogging and I am currently compiling experiences to post in my blog basket :).............remembering a common phrase, "one one does full basket."