Oh My Ghana!

GHANA
(9/22-9/25)
Ok so I know it’s been so long since my last blog and I’m sorry for my frequent readers, but I really have just been soooo busy! I know I missed my blog about morocco but I’ll get back to that another time..I just got back from Ghana and thought I would write about that so I don’t forget all that I did. Before I start I just want to apologize to everyone for being so behind on my emails too! When I’m in port I am never ever near a compute and when I am at sea I really am so busy with class and work and shipboard activities it’s just so hard to find the time! So I’m sorry everyone
So we got to Ghana early on the 22nd. It was a realllllly hot muggy day outside, but nonetheless I was excited for my day to begin. I was going to a school for my learning and memory class. We were going to observe and see what the differences are between American schools and this particular school in Ghana. This school was not like all the other schools in Ghana. This one was called Morning Star School and was a private school. It was started by a Ghanaian woman, who wanted to bring education into the lives of children. She has now passed away but her children now own and run the school.. They have all been to America and went to college in America, but decided to come back to share their education with their country. Most of the kids who go to this school are wealthier kids (in terms of Ghana) but there are definitely some kids who go there that are on aid or orphans who are fortunate enough to be getting help. The school itself didn’t look like a school it was just an outside facility with classrooms that looked old, and rugged, but the insides of the classrooms were bright and cheery. We first went into a kindergarten class, it was only their fourth day of school, and they were soooo well behaved it was amazing. We then walked around to the other grades and got to talk to the kids and interact with them. They were all soo happy to have us there. They treated us so amazingly well it was unbelievable. The things they were learning were definitely harder than the things we learned in the same grades in America. There discipline and behavior was also unlike anything I have ever seen. Talking to these kids was incredible as well..Every single child I talked to had a dream to be something great. The woman who was showing us around told us that these kids really understand the sacrifice their parents are making and that’s why they don’t take education for granted like we do. The school has almost a 100% graduation rate and almost a 100% rate of kids going on to college.. Those percentages are unheard of in America. After we looked at all the classes it was recess. We got to play with all the kids..we took tons of pictures. They loved looking at the pictures on the camera. I’ve never seen kids so happy to have visitors. If this was in America, and a group of Ghanaian kids came, I don’t think the reactions would have been the same, It put a lot in perspective. After the day was over we were all made food and got to have a nice meal. It was an amazing experience, and I would love to be able to go back to that school again,. I got the woman’s information and hopefully I can keep in contact with her. My teacher and a lot of the kids are donating money or things to the school and I would love to do that. She also told us that in Ghana there are government run schools, but some other people went to those schools, and said it was so sad. The classrooms were dark and old, had no pictures. The kids barely had pens or pencils. Its amazing what a little funding can do. I feel awful for those kids who don’t have the means to get a better education. And it really makes me want to do something about it. Hopefully one day I can help in some way.
After our day at the school me and a few friends went into the town of Accra (about 45 minutes away from our port) We did some shopping in the markets. I got some cool souvenirs. The people were all so nice. They did harass you a little bit, but in a nice way (if that makes any sense) They wanted you to buy things and did follow you and try to get you to buy things but in such a friendly way. They love Obama, everything was Obama this and Obama that, “we love him and we love America so we love you” It was so awesome to be so welcomed, because in Morocco we were not. After our shopping we headed back to Tema (port) to eat dinner and get ready for the night out. We decided to all go out in Tema because a lot of us had to be up early the next morning for trips. The cab drivers took all of us to the only club in Tema. There were like a hundred SAS kids in the bar/club in Ghana it was awesome. We walked in and it was all out in the open the dance floor was under the stars. It was in the middle of nowhere though. It was a little freaky getting there. The roads are all dirt and dark and scary. When we finally got a few drinks and the music came on we were all so happy! We then started to look around and saw something a little off. There were probably 15 Ghanaian women, walking around dressed like hookers, and much to our surprise that’s exactly what they were. They kept going up to all of the boys we were with, it was hilarious, the boys were frightened. It was a very funny experience. The night was a great night. Everyone was having a great time. It was getting late though so a few friends and I went back to the ship to get to bed for the next day’s adventures.
My trip was leaving at 7am and when I woke up I was glad I didn’t drink as much as my other friends did. I was ready for my day! I was heading to a village about 3 hours away from Tema that was famous for all the monkeys they have. After a very long and bumpy bus ride we finally arrived. It was so hot and sweaty, and we were in the middle of nowhere but it was still great. The scenery was beautiful. There were little kids running around all over the place, and all different kinds of farm animals too. The kids were all so happy to see us! They didn’t speak English, but we still played with them and took pictures with them. Our guide took us for a nice little 20 minute walk and then we finally got to see the monkeys. There were tons of them! They were just swinging from tree to tree. They were all playing with each other it was so cute. We had bananas and got to feed them. It was so cool having a wild monkey eat out of my hands. You just hold the whole banana and they peel it so fast right in your hands. It was the cutest thing. They looked like Rifki from the Lion King. That’s really what this part of the country looked like. After our visit with the monkeys we then got back on the bus and had another 2 hour bus ride to another village where the was the famous waterfall called WLI waterfall. It’s supposedly one of the highest natural waterfalls. When we got there we had to hike about 45 minutes to get to it. It was a beautiful hike. It was the jungle. There were amazxing trees and plants and really weird bugs. There were centipedes the size of hot dogs and ants the size of flys. It was gross! When we finally got to the waterfall I could not believe what I saw. It was the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen. This waterfall was just coming down. There was a rainbow surrounding us and it was so green. Words and pictures cannot even describe. We all went into the waterfall. There was a big natural pool and we all went swimming it was unreal. I remember just looking up and being amazed that this was my life. I was in the middle of Africa swimming in a waterfall! How cool is that? We all tried to get right under the fallll but it was so hard that it hurt and we couldn’t get that close. We all swam for about 45 minutes and then had to head back to the bus to go back to Tema. The bus ride abck was really long it took about 4 hours and we were late getting back. We all rushed to eat dinner and get ready for another night out. We all headed back to the same club as the night before. The night was just as fun.
The next day my roommate, my friends Alex, Sean, Sam, Andrew, Stephanie and Arianna, decided to head into Accra. WE wanted to eat some good food and head to the beach for the day. We found this place called Frankie’s and had the most amazing hamburgers ever (probably not ever, but we were so sick and tired of ship food that it tasted amazing) After we ate we took a 5-10 minute cab to the beach called La Bodi. It was awesome. We just went and played in the water. And Sean and I rode horses along the coast. It was so amazing. We also got serenaded by 3 reggae guys. They played Bob Marley for us for about 30 minutes it was awesome. It was Sam’s birthday and they sang their own reggae version of happy birthday too. All in all it was great relaxing day in Ghana. I also bought a cool painting on the beach. We headed back to the boat, ate and got ready for our last night out. We decided to go back into Accra. Tons of SAS kids were going so we all decided that was the right thing to do. Accra is supposed to have a much better night life. We got there and all American kids covred the streets (SAS). The owners of the bars were sooo happy to have us. We kept roaming around from bar to bar until we all finally decided on this club called Mirage. It was a really cool place with two levels. We spent the rest of the night there and had a great time. On the way home I went into a cab with my friends Vanessa and James. We then saw our friends in another cab getting pulled over, and then we got pulled over. We were all scared and wondering what the hell was going on (we heard from others that when they were driving back from Accra the other days they got pulled over too, but we didn’t know why) Our cab driver was telling us not to worry but of course we were! It just so happened that there are check points and the cops have to check to see if there are the right amount of people in the cab and if seatbelts were on. I don’t know if that’s the exact truth, but I’ll make pretend it is. When we finally got back to port it was like 4 am. The cab driver wouldn’t drive us to the ship, if we walked it would have been a 20 minute walk though industrial streets (not safe) Thank god James was there, he was fighting with the guy to let him drive us, but he wouldn’t, then the port security got involved and was telling us to get out they have a van to take us to the ship, we payed to cab driver but he wasn’t happy with what we payed him, he started yelling at James again, and me and Vanessa were scared out of our minds. The police and security took care of it and brought us back to the ship. It was one of the scariest things ever. Most of the people in Ghana are so nice and so happy and willing to help, but when it comes to money some people just turn into mean people. But we got back on safe and sound and it was a good story. T
The next day was our last day, but it was a gross rainy day. We already did all the shopping we could have and saw all we could see. We decided to take the day to rest and stay on the ship. I don’t regret doing that at all. We had to be back on board by 4 o’clock anyway and we didn’t wake up till about 12. The boat departed at 8 pm and we are now setting sail for Capetown, South Africa. Ill be better with my updates im promise! Miss you all!!!