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.