Ghana Day 1 - City of Refuge

Finally! I can write out everything that happened in Ghana now that I'm done with midterms and papers! I'll try my best to remember everything that happened.

Day 1 - We had an early arrival into Tema, Ghana at about 6:30am. I went up to the deck and when you look at where we're headed, it's heavily industrialized, and there is kind of a haze over Tema. I didn't realize later that this was more of a smog than morning haze =/ We're the only cruise ship styled ship in and around the port, the rest of the ships we're huge cargo ships from Panama and elsewhere in South America. In anticipation for my trip to the City of Refuge that day, I got ready early and was ready to go at 8am. Come to find out, we're not getting off the ship till at least 10am >_< Everyone is getting anxious (especially me!) to get off with their backpacks and sun gear ready to go! My City of Refuge trip is an independent and not SAS-sponsored trip so times aren't as accurate, but it is a bit cheaper. After gathering everyone and figuring out whose not coming and coming in place of those missing people, we were finally getting off the ship as soon as they announced they're letting us off. About 60 people filed off the ship and walked all the way over to the parking lot where the City of Refuge founders, John and Stacy, would be meeting us. The buses we got on aren't the nice coach buses with lots of leg room and little TVs inside. Nope, these were the buses that were used in Dominica and Brazil that first fit about 20 people, but then there are aisle seats that fold down to use pretty much every single space that is available on the bus (picture). We stopped at an ATM on the way to pay the minimal fee of $48. When we got to the City of Refuge about a couple hours later (Tema is far away from everything and Ghana in general has really bad traffic so it takes three times as long to get anywhere). When we arrived it was in a dry area similar to Kawaihae. Along the dirt road in, there is a military training area where soldiers were being briefed which looked like it was about weapons. I thought this was pretty weird because the City of Refuge is a place for trafficked children and there is a school on this property too. When we arrive a couple minutes after that the kids we're playing soccer in their uniforms (picture) and it was about noon so it would've been about lunch recess for them. We took a tour of the place and the City of Refuge organization just started on this 2,000 acre property that was given to them a year ago. There were 2 houses (one that housed the founders, their children, and some volunteers and the other that housed the kids that actually lived there with the other volunteers), a soccer field, basketball court, and an in progress school building that was just concrete and had the holes for windows and doors, but no actual windows and doors. The children were in class when we walked through the school building and some were learning shapes, math, or even having nap time (picture)! The school is using an American system more than a Ghanaian system and they are starting to add on to the building so that they can offer junior and senior high school. Many Ghanaian students get up to junior high school but because of the limited financial support, many of them don't see senior high school. City of Refuge is trying to offer a K-12 education to encourage students to enter colleges and universities.

The City of Refuge is mainly based upon to rescue trafficked kids who have been usually sold by their family members to pay off old family debts. These kids are forced to work, usually as fishermen, in a area called Lake Volta. This practice is illegal, but many people deny any wrongdoing and/or justify this by saying they don't want to make their own children work so that they can go to school instead of these enslaved kids. I found out that one of the girls I was playing, Mary (picture), with had been rescued a couple years ago and she was a trafficked child that was sold to settle her uncle's debt to a fisherman. After several of us helped paint a shed, help in the classrooms, or make 600 meals, we all got together to go to a nearby community (about 5 minutes drive) and give out the 600 meals to local kids. When groups visit the City of Refuge, part of the fee is to sponsor meals for kids in a nearby village and part of the experience is to do a "feed." Originally, the fee with our amount of people is enough to sponsor 300 meals, but Rosemary, the trip coordinator, increased the trip fee to feed 600 instead. We all got on the buses and followed John and Stacy in their SUV that held the 600 meals. When we arrived, there were 100s of kids jumping up and down, yelling, and some even rushed the bus. They were really excited to see us. Seeing all these kids, I was thinking in my head, "I don't think we have enough." Enough as in food for every single kid that was there, so excited to see us come, because this means that they'll get a meal. The meals prepared were only one scoop of rice and one piece of chicken. It wasn't much, but they wanted to spread the food out as much as possible. When we got out of the buses, a couple adults were yelling at the kids to get in line and to wait their turn (picture). The leaders tried their best to order the kids from shortest to tallest, but there were so many kids you could do it accurately. When the kids settled down a little, John told us to get 10 plates each and to give them to 10 kids. I thought, okay, simple enough. As soon as the SUV opened, the kids abandoned their lines and rushed the SUV. We started handing out our 10 plates, but who to give it to? As soon as I got my plates out and turned around, kids surrounded me, trying to grab at the plates and begging me to give it to them. They were pushing each other, even the older kids were pushing the little ones out of the way. How are you supposed to choose what kid you give food to? How are you supposed to know which child needs the food more than the other. I handed it to whichever kid grabbed onto the plate first and I got through 6 plates before John and the other students had to close the SUV and have the kids settle down again. By this time, other SASers were crying and feeling overwhelmed at being rushed by kids who were starting to push and fight over the food. SASer's faces were all just a look of shock and trying to process what just happened in a matter of a few minutes. Half the meals were gone and some kids had gone home, few kids were actually eating their food, and most of the them who didn't get food, were being hurried back into line away from the SUV. This time, coordinators tried to have the little kids (from 3 to 5 yrs old) in a separate group right by me and the SUV. After about 5 or 10 minutes, we opened the SUV again and hurriedly starting giving the little kids food, but not a minute later, big kids ran out of line, surrounded the little kids and started pushing their way through, little kids were being pushed against the SUV and ones that just got their food couldn't get out of the crowd. I had tell the older ones to get back in line several times. Some listened to me, but most just stayed and tried to get food. I started passing more food out to the little ones and would tell the older kids to be patient and just wait till the little ones get it. This went on for about 5 minutes and we quickly ran out of food. I was holding a kid's hand, waiting for another plate, and another SASer was telling me it was all gone. I had to tell the kids that we didn't have anymore and I just kept on saying I'm sorry I'm sorry. There was so much dust in the air with kids anxiously trying to get food and fighting for it. More SASers were crying and we all just stood there not knowing what to do. After a while we all got back on the bus and rode home in almost complete silence. I think we were all just numb from the feed and at the same time sick to our stomach. A full dinner was waiting for us with fried chicken, salad, and fried rice. I don't think any of us were hungry, but we forced ourselves to eat because we didn't know what time we were getting back to the ship. After buying some City of Refuge shirts, we got on the bus and made it back to the ship.

When I think of Ghana, my mind goes back to this day automatically. The kids who were so excited to see us, the chaos that ensued just because we had meals that may have been the kid's only meal of the day. We had no idea if every single one of these kids had a home, had meals 3 times a day, if at all. I know there are starving kids in Africa, but I think I mentally blocked it because it is so sad. This feed was like a slap in the face to make me really realize these kids are not just in minimal numbers. It gives me a sickening feeling in my stomach every time I think of what happened and I don't think I've been able to process it fully. I still feel numb. All SAS students are so lucky to eat three times a day and students complain about pasta and potatoes on a daily basis. We're sometimes ignorant to the fact that kids age 12 and below would fight over this food that we can eat everyday and there is not limit to how much we can eat. I'm thankful that I had such a good childhood with as much food as I wanted and that I even have this opportunity to go on this trip of a lifetime. After Ghana, I am thankful for the simpler things in life such as food and I was thankful before, but not nearly as much as I am now.

I know this is a long one, but this experience had the biggest impact on me thus far this voyage. Google "City of Refuge Ghana" to learn more about them and what they do.

Miho

Update! Still not to Ghana! Get us off this shippp!

Everyone is getting a little restless because this is officially the longest time we've been on this ship at sea. Today is day number 8! Just one more than it's Ghana! =] Since my last post, the ocean has been very nice to all of us. The sun even came out for a bit today and a lot of people were out on the pool deck. Finally, I was able to lie out in the sun for a little bit before sadly going to work. I just tried going back out after work, but now it's very cloudy and foggy. Sad Miho ----> =[ We've had very interesting inter-port visitors with us. One being Mohammad Sheriff Ghale who is a popular Ghanaian musician. Google him! He did a Bob Marley tribute a few nights ago which was amazing! Josh, Ana, and Sara. You guys would've loved it! I recorded it so I'll post it up on Facebook when I can, if not, when I get back. He also did a collaboration performance with Suse and Gabriel (our Brazilian students) because there are many ties between Brazil and Ghana. They did AMAZING! Again, I recorded it so I'll post it sometime when I can.

I have a new family! Haha sorry old one. Nah nah nah. I signed up (along with 100s and 100s of other SAS students) for the Extended Family Program. Fellow students are your "brothers" or "sisters" and your "parents" are one or two of the life long learners, faculty or staff. My family is pretty cool. I have Jim, Marie, Yun Shu, Stephen, Brianna, and Gabby. Our "parents" are Ko (an RD for Deck 2) and Sarah (one of the ship's psychologists). She's actually a social worker but her title on the ship is psychologist. Everyone is pretty cool and we're planning to meet up at least once after each port, and meet up for "family game nights." I'm happy with my family even though my "parents" are a lot younger than I expected. I was expecting life long learners, but its totally fine cause I think we'll have a lot more fun with younger "parents." Ko is full Japanese and I think they planned this >_< I'm pretty sure we're 2 out of a handful of full Japanese people on the ship. They had to have planned it. It was pretty cool though.

Classes have been going well as usual. I got my exam questions for Cultural Anthropology and our professor is letting us write the essays for the exam and just turn it in on "exam day." Which is pretty much taking a take-home exam. He's also giving us 2 weeks to do it! My other classes I hope will be fairly easy as well. My professors stated that there won't be any surprises and one of them is even giving us a study sheet. It's mostly matching, multiple choice, and shower answer. So thankful that my professors are so nice and lenient. They understand how hard it is to focus on a ship, especially if it's test time.

Other than that, I've still been meeting new people everyday and getting to know more about people everyday. =]

Silly comment of the day: "Why do I need an India visa when I have my MasterCard?" -Some girl O_o

^^^^hahaha yes, someone ACTUALLY said that.

I forgot to mention a comment that someone said the first day on the ship. "Is toilet paper a foreign object?" WTH!? The thing with the ship is that it can't take any "foreign objects" through it's plumbing and since the start of the voyage, 3 hand towels have been flushed and stopped entire plumbing system for that deck on 3 separate occasions. Don't ask me why people have flushed hand towels down the toilet... It's beyond me >_<

I'll try and write before Ghana but if not, I'll write about everything I've done throughout Ghana or after all of it!


Miho =]

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes" - Marcel Proust

Amazonas, Brazil!

Pictures from going up the Amazon River, around Manaus, cooking in
Manaus, and my Amazon adventure! (Piranha fising, Caiman feeding, giant
lily pads, floating houses, hammocks, swimming in the Rio Negro river) =]

Roseau, Dominica

Pictures of Titou Gorge and Trafalgar Falls in Dominica!

=]

"If better is possible, good is not enough."

Don't give up, just work harder.

It's not a boat, it's a ship!

It's not a boat, it's a ship!
We're not on a cruise, we're on a voyage!
We're not tourist, we're explorers! =]

Boy, do I feel like I'm on a ship today. The ship is rocking like crazy
as we make our way across the Atlantic ocean and on our way to Tema,
Ghana. People are walking around like they've had one too many. You'll
hear a lot of "Sorry" in the hall because of people bumping into each
other or getting in other people's way. People are out sick from class
too. Being on the calm Amazon river and in Manaus has taken it's toll as
we got out of the Amazon River yesterday afternoon. It was a week of
calm waters, then to the rockiness of the Atlantic! My cabin is pretty
much at the very front of the ship and you could hear the current
crashing against the ship all last night and this morning. When I lay in
my bed, I feel as though I'm completely coming off my bed because the
rocking is so bad! I heard the crew has been laughing because they say
this is definitely not the worse it will be >_< I took my first Bonine
(similar to Dramamine) pill today and I'm sooo glad I took it, because I
don't feel that bad at all. I feel like I wan't to sleep all the time
though. Which I've heard is a form of seasickness.

On a happier note, this is my first time crossing the Atlantic Ocean!
All I've seen my life is the Pacific and I'm starting to think I might
like the Pacific better. All you can see now are clouds (but that may be
because we're in a storm...I'm not quite sure). Hopefully, it's better
tomorrow O_o

Miho

Showering never felt so good! Manaus Adventures!

I'm back on the ship! Showering never felt so good! I haven't showered
for the past couple days >_< Like at all...I did jump in black coffee
colored water a couple of times though! =P It was soooo much fun and we
did soo much! I'll try my best to tell everything that happened, but
it's 4 days worth.

Day 1 - We're here in BRAZIL! =] The plans are to cruise with Ada,
Alexa, Chris and Lindsey! We had to go and find an ATM first and we
didn't want to go to the one in port because there was a long line and
we thought there were probably be a lot of fees. So we went searching
for an ATM and we go to Brandesco first and some of us tried it, but no
luck. They had a milion (no exaggerationg...okay maybe a little) ATMs!
They had at least 20 ATMs in there which is so weird and none of us has
seen it like that before. So we went to another bank and apparently ALL
of their ATMs weren't working. We knew this thanks to a Brazilian man
overhearing our convo about how it's not working and he knew English.
After going to a couple more places and stopping and asking locals
(thank goodness Ada was with us to try and ask in Spanish where to go!
Thank you Ada!!!), we started to get over it and then decided to go back
to Bradesco. I didn't try my card the first time and this time when we
came back the bank was full! I think everyone came here because the
others weren't working. I was hopeful and set on a machine I saw a local
take out money from. and SUCCESS! Money! Finally! After about 2 hours!
We headed back to the port where all the bus stations are. We planned to
go to a National Park on the other side of town called Parque do Mundo.
Taking the bus was interesting. You enter the bus and then there is a
guy sitting on the left side with a gate that can only be activated by
him if you pay the bus fee which is R$2.75 (about US$1.37) and you had
to exit through the back door. We caught the bus all the way to the park
which was about a 45 minute ride. When we got there we asked the
security guard if we could go through and he gave a thumbs up. When we
got down to the visitor's center there were only a couple people there
workng and it didn't look like they gave tours so we decided to just
find one of the marked paths and go along it. We went walking on the
paths and didn't see much of anything except for cool looking plants and
whatnot. We went down by the river and it was super sad because there
was soo much trash! Especially sad because it's a national park and it
doesn't seem like it's taken care of at all. Even the trails were a bit
run down. We went walking on the bridges after and saw an alligator by
the water and it was kind of close to where we were standing before.
Some of us thought it was fake because there are fake ones up at the
visitor center, but some of us thought it was real because alligators do
freeze in positions and can do it for long periods of time. We saw
another alligator and right when someone yelled, "There's another one!"
That alligator jumped in the water! All of us freaked out because we
thought it was fake! So we realized the other one (that's way bigger
than the 2nd one) Is real and then some of us wanted to see it closer.
We went down near the water and Chris, Ada, and I went up to the river
and then we heard Alexa scream a little ways behind us and yell SNAKE!
There was a HUGE snake right by her feet. We all freaked out and Chris
and Ada started taking pictures of it. Luckily, it just slivered away
into the water. At that point, I was like Okay! Let's go! Let's get out
of here RIGHT NOW! That's the first time any of us has seen a snake that
big out in the wild and we were convinced it was a boa. After getting
back to the Visitor's Center a guy about 18 years old with braces comes
up to us and asks us if we want a tour, but of course we already walked
around. We were talking to him about what we saw and showed him the
picture of the snake. He told us it was an ANACONDA! yeah! The ones that
can kill you! He said that the one that we saw that was about 6 feet
long could've killed him and he was way bigger than any of us and tall!
At that point we knew we were all lucky that we didn't get attacked by a
snake or alligator. We were all a little freaked out after that, but
also thought it was cool how we were so lucky to see both alligators and
an anaconda. The tour guide told us too that since he's worked there,
he's only seen them twice, so we got really lucky. Afterwards we left to
get something to eat and we ended up at this dessert place with things
that look like calzones and cakes galore! We had a little of both trying
some of each others and getting different things. We headed back to town
and stopped at a couple markets. The last one, Adolpho Lisboa had some
really cool stuff and for really cheap! I went all out souvenir shopping
and bought a lot of cool things (No, I'm not gonna say what I bought) It
was literally half the price (or more) than it would be in the US. We
all headed back to the ship because Chris and I had an FDP (Faculty
Directed Practica) for our Anthropology of Food class. We hopped onto
that trip and headed to Senac Culinary Institute which is a cooking
school. We cooked Manaus's famous fish in a few different dishes and
even made cake (the same cake I had at the bakery earlier that day!) It
was alll sooo delicious and learned a lot about Brazilian cuisine. We
even got some Acai juice! The day couldn't have been better and the
cooking was definitely the highlight of my day! After that it was lights
out because I had a big trip planned for the next few days!

So in the morning of Day 2, I went and ate breakfast, packed really fast
and then I was on my way! The riverboat was right on the other side of
the dock than the ship, so we left the ship and got straight on the
boat! The riverboat is a 2 story boat with the bottom being like the
common area and the top deck being the sleeping area with all our
hammocks VERY close together! On our way out of Manaus, the guide was
telling us the history of Manaus and everything. Manaus used to have the
whole industry of rubber with their rubber trees and the only way other
than 2 highways to get from city to city is by boat. So everyone rides
boats to get to other cities or their house in the Amazon. There are soo
many boats that there are floating gas stations right outside the port
of Manaus. I think there were about 10 floating gas stations and a lot
of ports are floating ports as well because of the increase in water
level. Manaus has two seasons, dry and wet. The difference in water
levels of both seasons was enormous! The difference was seriously about
40 ft. Maybe even more than that. These banks flood for 6 months too! So
houses on the shorelines are on stilts and some houses are even high
enough so they get flooded with the water. When the water level rises,
the trees don't die either! Because they've learned to adapt and just
stay alive until water levels go down again! Fishes and electric eels
come in when the water levels rise and eat the fruits. The electric eels
shock the tree causing the fruits to fall in the water. We went to the
meeting of the two rivers which make up the Amazon river. The difference
between the two rivers are amazing! They differ in color, pH,
temperature, and therefore, river-life. The Rio Negro river is very
acidic (4.5 pH) and was a black-coffee color. The Rio Solimoes river is
the color of creamed coffee and is really cloudy. There is a lot of
wildlife that live in these water because it's so cloudy and not acidic.
So we went to the meeting of the two waters. You can Google the picture
cause the one I have isn't the greatest. We ate an AMAZING lunch that
was all Brazilian food. We have our own two cooks on the ship and idk
how they can cook in such a tiny kitchen but it was all delicious. There
were all different kinds of things for meals but it was mostly like
chicken stews, fish stew, lots of manioc flour. They even had apple
bananas! Finally something similar to home! =] Everybody loved the apple
bananas and I got to tell them about Banana Lumpia. They had white rice
too! PLAIN white rice! Soo yummy =] It definitely satisfied my craving.
Then we went to go and see the giant water lily pads. They can be as big
as 9 feet! And they have thorns underneath to protect them from the fish
that like to eat em. There were also caimans there too. Caimans aren't
alligators or crocodiles. Our tour guide hung some meat on a string and
there were two jumping at it. Then piranha fishing it was! We got into
little canoes and went out into little rivers. We used beef as bait and
that was kind of creepy because the piranha were eating it like crazy!
It was pretty unsuccessful and only a few people caught piranhas.
Miles, Zach, Chris and I were having a little competition on whoever
caught a fish first. Miles I believe caught the first fish and it was a
catfish >_< I didn't catch ANYTHING! >_< We then went Caiman hunting! To
catch one that everyone could see and hold! We caught a really small one
that was about a year old. I held it, took a picture and everything! We
called it a night and went back to the dock where we got on our canoes
and back onto our riverboat. Ate another amazing meal on the riverboat
then it was off to bed! Hammocks were not the greatest to sleep in >_<
Most of em were hung up on a tighter angle and so I traded with someone
and got one that was flatter and better for my back. I kept on sliding
down in my hammock so my feet were higher and kept on bumping into
people beside me whenever I shifted in the hammock. It was crazy, but
everyone was pretty fine with it.

Day 3 - Yes that above one was a lot of info! But I wanted to tell all
of you everything that's been going on! So we got up at 7 O_o to eat
breakfast and then we were off at 8 to go trekking in the Amazon
rainforest!! =] When we got to the beach where we would be starting our
tour guide informed us not to touch anything, only if you ask one of the
tour guides first because a lot of things are poisonous. Also, don't go
wandering cause there are a lot of Caimans and Anacondas...We were all
like O_o ....okay? thanks? We walked for quite a while and stopping in
different spots to show us cool stuff. Like a tree where they get the
sap and make gum, tree sap that is like tar, but can be used for gun
powder, a tree and when hit it echos in the woods and is used when
you're lost or to tell a village nearby that you're just passing
through. They also showed us how they climb trees to grab fruits and
such so that they don't have to chop any trees down. You just get a palm
branch, twist it completely, tie the two ends together and use it on
your feet (with leverage) so the branch gives you enough grip on the
trunk of the tree. They also showed us cool insects like bullet ants
which are like an inch and a half big and their bites are worse than
fire ants! Tribes use to use bullet ants as a rite of passage for the
males and they would get repeatedly bit by bullet ants. I learned a lot
just walking through the rainforest and listening to our super
knowledgeable tour guides. We got down to a river on the other side, the
canoes picked us up and we went back to the riverboat to swim on the
beach. Yeah, swim. In the black coffee water! It was creepy that you
couldn't see your feet, but we were all SUPER hot from walking through
the rainforest that we all really wanted to cool off. Then we left the
beach in the riverboat to go down river to the Acajatuba village where
we met some of the locals, bought souvenirs and played soccer! The boys
played the Brazilian boys first and I really don't know who won, but it
was a fun game! It started to rain at the end of it, then it was the
girls soccer game. I wasn't going to play, but then Miles was like why
aren't you and Tamie playing and we both decided to play. There were
more of our girls out of the field though so they gave us Brazilian
jerseys and Tamie and I just looked at each other and were like what??
We just ended up playing up for the Brazilian girls which was really
cool! We beat the American girls 5-3. Afterwards we had some time before
the canoes would come and pick us up so we just hung around and I ended
up playing with the little kids from the village. They were super happy
and interested in us. We were talking with one of the older ones who
knew very little English. Then we played with the kids and with what
they would say we got to understand some words. Such as ataka is attack,
no hada is spin. lol That's all they wanted to do was piggyback rides
and be spun around. We did play tag for a while too. Afterwards we went
snake hunting! Yeah, not a good idea >_< But we didn't end up seeing any
snakes. Instead we saw a couple sloths chilling in different spots. We
went to a beach by canoe (getting lost at one point) and there was a
luau waiting for us! lol with lights strung up and barbeque sticks
already all cooked up. Very good food with a coconut pudding at the end!
We then played some games like musical chairs which I got as far as 5th!
lol I never win musical chairs. Then tug-of-war and even before that
some people we're dancing. It was really fun and just a good atmosphere
to be in. We packed up and went to bed on the riverboat after a super
long and tiring day!

Day 4 - Swimming with PINK dolphins! Yes! The infamous pink dolphins!
The creepy, sword-fish looking pink dolphins! Right after breakfast we
got in the water with the pink dolphins and the two Brazilian boys fed
the dolphins right next to us and it was sooo crazy! Some people were
freaking out and I definitely freaked out sometimes! They come up right
next to you like nothing. It's not like at the Hilton or some other kind
of planned encounter where they're trained. These are wild dolphins and
they even told us AFTER we got into the water that they have had dolphin
bites before. O_O Great! Thanks for telling us AFTER we're in here with
the dolphins. The boys were really good and positioning the dolphins so
that we could touch it as much as want. Afterwards we went to visit this
family where they make a lot of different food products to sell in
Manaus. They make manioc flour, acai products, cupuacu and many others.
This guy has 15 kids with just one woman and they run the entire farm.
They're oldest looked about 30 yrs old and they had a little 2 yr old
running around. Our tour guide showed us around the farm and showed us
this fruit where they use the dye and a lot of us painted our faces.
After the goodbyes we headed back to Manaus and to the ship! It was sad
that it was all over cause we all had so much fun and it didn't seem
like 3 days, but the idea of a shower sounded really nice. It was sad
saying goodbye to the tour guides too because they were really funny and
a lot of fun. We even had a choice to buy our hammocks that we slept in.
I would've liked mine to keep as a memento, but I didn't like the colors
of mine because it was multicolored. I got on the ship, unpacked, took a
long hot shower (shaving completely) and ate dinner. We left Manaus a
little late because the ship with the fuel came late. We we're on our
way at about 1900! We're Ghana bound and we'll be arriving there in 10
days! Can't wait for the next port but I have that it's all happening so
fast and once we leave a port, it's one less countries left to go to!

Miho