Soccer later

I'd like to write about the first Ghanaian soccer experience but too much other stuff has happened since my last post. We (the trainees) play against the trainers on Sunday so I'll combine that story with the first experience.

Since I last posted, we visited the Buoyem bat caves and went on a 5 day field trip. I've also twice prepared "pizza" for Ghanaians.

The bat caves were impressive but much more than anybody expected. The 44 of the 45 remaining volunteers (3 have now gone home) hiked a total of 6 hours in order to spend maybe 10 minutes looking at bats. The hike was great and the views beautiful but I'd venture to guess that it was the longest hike to date for many of my co-trainees. One girl has been nursing a pulled quadricep muscle and a few others were battling colds so by the end, we had quite a few invalids. One girl was actually taken to the hospital to be treated for dehydration!! Once I get settled, I'll post some photos so you can see the adventures. Photos don't do them justice but words do even less.

On Saturday, we were split into groups for a 5 day field trip. Water/Sanitation was broken into North/South, Environment into North/South and SED (Small Enterprise Development) stayed as one group. As a member of the Environment South group, I enjoyed many days of cramped travel through the country. Our first stop on the way toward the eastern region was in Kumasi. We spent a night at the Kumasi Institute of Tropical agriculture. We learned about mushroom farming, rabbit rearing, fish hatcheries, snail farming and a variety of permaculture and agro-forestry practices. We were all exhausted by the end of the day but enjoyed a treat from the students. Drummers and dancers greeted us from our last lecture and we were shown various cultural dances from each of the 10 regions in Ghana. The funniest part was that for whatever reason, a number of the men were dressed as women and danced around in high heels and skirts. Language/cultural divide prevented any explanation but it was funny regardless. Toward the end of the performance, the Ghanaians asked for a volunteer to show them how we dance in America. Though I'm not much of a dancer, I volunteered to get a lesson from the Ghanaians as we Americans can't hold a candle to their moves. It was embarrassing but was nice to step out of my shell a bit.

The next day was dedicated mostly to travel. Day three was spent with a current volunteer in Odomasi. We spent the day sitting with the chief and talking about Moringa (the "miracle" tree) and it's many uses. We were filmed by Ghana TV and were likely shown on the evening news. It's strange to get press since we knew nothing on the subject and simply sat under some trees while the chief spoke about Moringa.

Day 4 was brought our ten tired, smelly selves to Amedika. None of us felt especially motivated to do much but after a long day of travel, we were drug out to Shai Hills. None of us knew anything about Shai Hills but we went along. It was great!! We got there and realized that it's a nature preserve. Within 15 minutes, we were face to face with 5 baboons!! I'm talking no more than 5-10 feet away. It was truly amazing. We fed these wild baboons bananas. We'd throw small bits of bananas into the tree and the alpha male would snatch them out of the air with great ease.

After a while, I felt a bit more bold and stood with my arm outstretched and a bit of banana in my fingertips. The alpha male slowly moved toward the end of the branch, leaned over and snatched it from my hand. I wonder if his heart was beating as hard as mine was. What a rush!!

From there, we climbed into Shai hills (The Shai tribe lived there between 1778-1886) and used bat caves as a sanctuary while at war with the Ashanti). This bat cave was far more intense than those in Buoyem and only required a 10 minute hike. Very cool indeed. After Shai Hills, we went to see a "sacred forest." It is believed that a God lives in this forest and if one is caught cutting down a tree, the punishment is decapitation!! This visit was cut short by a SERIOUS thunder storm so we retired to the site of another current volunteer.

Today, we spent 9 hours in the van on our way back to Techiman. When I got back to my homestay, I was informed that while fumigating my room, my key was lost and my lock replaced. I waited around in the sun for a good thirty minutes before my homestay father decided to take a hammer to the massive padlock on my porch gate (I think I've explained this dungeoness porch). Quite amusing but not a good time considering my energy level.

That's it for now. I feel as though I rambled a bit so sorry for any disconnect. I'm out!! Love to all!!