You're Ghana Love It!!!

Hello all!

After 9 days at sea, in just another 8 hours I will be getting off the ship in GHANA!

             It has been a good nine days. 4 out of the nine nights we "pushed forward" an hour. It's funny because once a year during "spring forward"…you know, that one dreaded night where you have to lose an hour of sleep and everyone complains the next morning? Well, when you travel east for 9 days straight on a ship, that means lots of time zones. It also means that every time zone is an hour ahead from the past…so we have been losing an hour a night on an almost nightly basis.

            Yesterday, I had lunch with Sheriff (I have been spelling his name wrong…WOOPS!). He was telling me how at home he is also a teacher. He was also telling me how he uses his music for good things. For example, there was a major problem in Ghana in recent years with things called the Guinea worms. These worms are transferred by water and after infecting they can be deadly. Sheriff explained that he knew this problem could be solved with education, so he did what he knew how to do. He sang about it. He traveled from town to town playing shows for free. As he gained popularity and credibility, his music became more powerful and made more of an impression. Now, the national problem with these worms has been reduced dramatically thanks to people like Sheriff. I have talked about him quite a lot, he has really inspired me…if you want to check out his music, you can!

www.itunes.com/sheriffghale 

            Tonight we had our "pre-port seminar" that we always have the night before getting to a port. We are told what is safe, what is not, what to eat, how to stay healthy, and lots of other important information. I was surprised by how funny the pre-ports are. All of our supervisors have such a good sense of humor. We were laughing half the time. At the end, there was a movie put together where they showed lots of pictures of people kissing the fish on Neptune Day. As I was watching the video and laughing hysterically and thinking of my own experience of kissing that fish, I thought to myself "Wow, this is the WEIRDEST (and best) study abroad program EVER!"

            While I am in Ghana: The ship is porting a town called Tema, about 18 miles west of it is a larger city called Accra.

Tomorrow: I am leaving the ship with some friends and going into the city of Accra. We plan on seeing a couple of interesting sounding historical sights and just exploring the city…WE'RE GOING TO BE IN AFRICA OMG!!! Tomorrow evening we will either stay in a hostel, or go back to the ship after some dinner and hanging out…don't worry mom and dad, if we go back at night we are in a group of 6 with 3 strapping young men who will protect us haha.

 

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday: I signed up for a home-stay organized by a Ghanain who has been organizing trips for SAS each year they come. I have heard amazing things about this man from past SASers. We are going to be traveling up north and doing hikes during the day, village visits, orphanage visits, seeing monkeys, swimming…etc. I will be with about 20 other SASers. I think this will be a really great experience. I'm so excited to be hanging out with a local and staying in a local village. We will be dropped back off at the ship on Thursday evening, so I will likely be heading back into Accra that night to hang out with friends and see more of the city.

 

Friday: I am going on an FDP (field directed program) that is led by two of my professors (Professor Bass of Travel Writing and Professor Parrot of Technology and Reproduction- A Global Perspective). The name of the FDP is "Women's Health and Childbirth Practices in Ghana. This is the description given about it:

 

Like most developing countries, Ghana is faced with a host of issues related to

women's health and childbirth. Some of these issues include access to pre- and post-

natal healthcare, and cultural, religious and traditional beliefs and values.

 Visit a local hospital and meet with one of its resident gynecologists. This interactive

meeting will focus on common birth practices, issues surrounding childbirth and

women's health and other related topics. There are vast differences in beliefs about

childbirth and childcare practices cross culturally, and close examination of maternal

health, childbirth and infant mortality and nutrition are critical to the understanding

of both the rhetoric and reality of social justice for women and children in Ghana.

Please note: Box lunches will be provided from the ship.

I'm really excited for this one. I know that it will be extremely educational.

It is now almost 2 am and I am waking up to see the sunrise and the ship dock in about 4 hours (woops). So, I'm going to get to sleep. I'll be sure to post when I get back, on Friday evening! Have a good week everyone! I know I'm Ghana love it (haaaaa).

Steph