Ghana

Tema, Ghana

Ghana was hot, dirty, and amazing after all the European countries we visited.  Ghana is more challenging a country to visit but also more rewarding in the end.  This was our second visit to Ghana, so we knew what we were getting into.   I had planned a school visit, and a trip to a glass bead making factory.

Before we arrived we learned that Global Grins, a non-profit who hands out free toothbrushes worldwide, had supplied the ship with 30,000 toothbrushes to hand out in Africa and South America.  On the first day, Barry (the clown) found a school at the prime meridian (yes, the actual 0 degrees) and he was going to perform for them, so we tagged along to hand out toothbrushes after his show.
The first school had hundreds of kids and it was loud and a bit chaotic while he was performing.  The girls sat with the audience and watched him perform.  They were getting lots of attention as we were waiting because of thier light skin and hair, and everyone wanted to touch them.  After the show we went to each classroom and handed out toothbrushes to the students.  Last time we were in Ghana, we went to a village school, and it was much poorer than this one.  This school had desks and some school supplies, but the schoolyard was still dirt, and the school itself was sparse by our standards.

The next school we went to was a private school and it was much smaller.  There were maybe 100 kids, and we were all in a small room watching Barry perform.  The girls handed out toothbrushes right after the show, and they sang a song for us.

We also handed out toothbrushes in the city of Tema, close to the ship.  We walked out into the markets and streets and handed out the toothbrushes.  At first we handed out to people here and there, and then we were mobbed and people would be grabbing toothbrushes out of our hands!  They would follow us to get more toothbrushes.  I don't know if they wanted them because they were free or because they wanted to brush their teeth.  I saw toothbrushes in the market, but there was definitely a need and we were there to fill it! The ship handed out more than half of the 30,000 toothbrushes just in Ghana.

One day we hopped on a tour bus and went to a village where they make traditional African glass beads.  It was described as a bead factory, but it was all outdoors and under thatched roofs.  It was a factory only in the sense that 5 people worked there and made lots of beads to sell.  On the way to the bead factory the bus driver made a wrong turn and got lost.  So we arrived late and we spent less than an hour watching how they made the beads, and we did not get to make our own like we were told.

 We were on a giant tour bus, and when we were lost we were on narrow dirt roads in the village and we ripped out a powerline that was hanging low. The girls and I heard yelling then we saw the people running away as the powerline snapped like a rubber band! We were inside the bus, and I felt really bad that we came and this happened, and I made sure the girls understood that there were homes (shacks) that would not have power because of us being here. 
That was a hard day, we spent four hours in a bus to see 45 minutes of beadmaking.  But I knew that the traffic can be bad, and things are never "on time" in Ghana. Time the way we know it does not exist in Ghana, so we enjoyed the view from the bus as we traveled. 

Our last day in Ghana was spent visiting a school, but this school was a wealthier public school.  There was a playyard that was paved in and had grass growing.  There was a play structure and even tables for the kids to eat their lunch.  This trip we did with a large group of college students from the ship, and they help entertain the ghana school kids.  The girls felt safer and less accosted at this school than the others.  We brought face paint with us to share with the kids, and soon the girls and I were painting pretty patterns on the arms and hands of the schoolchildren.  The last video shows a teacher teaching the class at this school.  This school cost $500 a year enrollment, verses the $20 a year at the village school, so we did not bring any toothbrushes to hand out.  We played with them at thier lunch break, and most kids brought the same thing for lunch.  Lunch was a plastic container filled with rice and a small spoonful of what looked like spaghetti sauce on top.  I showed the girls and they saw how simply the school kids eat. It made our school lunches at home look very fancy.

The girls saw schools and kids in a country that is so different from their own.  When working on the travel logs, both girls struggled to find something that was the same as their hometown.  Poverty is everywhere in Ghana and easy to find, but we also saw a schoolkids who were considered well to do and it was still less than what we have at home.  Ghana was challenging for the girls, it was hot and not as fun as going to see animals at the zoo.  But I hope they see that not all places have those luxuries and people still live their live happily.

The first school we visited in Ghana

Rachael is in the western hemisphere and Riley in the eastern hemisphere!

There were hundreds of noisy kids at the first school

Rachael watching the clown show with the school kids

the outside of the school building before we went in to hand out toothbrushes

inside the classroom handing out toorhbrushes

Rachael was more ok with everyone touching her this time in Ghana

the students crowded around us to get a high five, and talk to us.

Riley felt too crowded, and had enough of the touching

Rachael doing high fives and handshakes

don't let them touch me

This is the entrance to the second school we visited

we all crammed into a taxi for the ride to the 2nd school

the second school was much smaller, and quieter

watching Barry perform for the schoolkids

The kids were watching intently

they sung a song for us to say thank you!

the outdoor street market in Tema

Carrying babies and goods in Ghana without hands

we saw cows and goats on the sides of the roads grazing everywhere we went

the village next to the bead making factory

traditional glass beads in Ghana

waiting for our lesson in how glass beads are made

showing us how the glass powders are poured into the bead molds

glass bead molds that go into the kiln

he is explaining the process of making the glass beads...it is in English but the girls could not understand him with the accent!

taking out a hot bead

a homemade clay mud kiln was used to melt the glass powders to make colorful beads

one of the rooms of the beadmaker's room

we ran out of time and ate our lunch on the bus!

we were suprised to see bowls of live chickens being carried on heads!

the chickens were sold very fresh, for you to take home and kill to eat

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finally some cooling raindrops, it was very hot!

A thatched roof building in the village

A beach in Ghana.  It was too hot to be at the beach!  The waves were full of plastic bags and trash and pretty polluted.

We decided we won't be mailing anything from Ghana!

this was the school we visited on our last day in Ghana, this is where we did face paint. 

coloring together

the inside of the classrooms

a second grader reading the night before christmas.

Here is some video from the 3 schools we visited in Ghana