January 29, 2006

March 26, 2006

Our team will depart on April 1 for a month long stay in Ghana and Togo. The team members, all teachers, were selected last May. They all are non Rotarians who applied for this opportunity over a year ago. In the past 10 months we have come together as a "team". We have had several planning and education sessions. We began with an early meeting with two members of the GSE team that went to Equador last year Linda Machado and Cynthia Holman. At that same meeting we spoke by phone to Kathy Stutsman from Dist 5960 who lead a team to W Africa in 2003. We gained valuable insight from both past team participants.

In subsequent meetings we have met with Philippe Lamoise to discuss matching grants, the inbound GSE team from Ghana and most recently Regan Watson who works for Orphanage Africa. Her organization has a children's home just outside of Accra, the capitol of Ghana, and Regan has lived in country. It was her love of Ghana that sparked the interest of her dad Bob Watson and hence our opportunity to visit this new destination for Dist 5340.

I think we are well prepared. We have shots, visas and a good feel for what we are about to encounter. I'm honored to lead such a fine group of educators. We have a National Board Certified teacher, a current San Diego teacher of the year, and a recent winner of the "Crown Award" for outstanding year book given by Columbia University. The final two members of our team have each received unprompted recommendations from their school administrators. I'm excited about the opportunity we have been given. As technology allows we plan to update this site.

March 26, 2006

Hi all, our group has been trying unsuccessfully to get updates on our activities to our website. Here in West Africa, we are having some technical difficulties. I hope this update reaches you all!

Today is Monday, April 17th. We are here at the Cape Coast in Ghana where it is a holiday and there are many Ghanaian families on the beach having parties celebrating the day after Easter. It is an official holiday here in Ghana. We arrived here on Saturday after departing Lome, Togo. Our group spent a spectacular week in Togo staying with our attentive and charming Togolese home stays. Our activities in Togo included visiting Togo Lake, Sicot cotton factory, a cotton oil factory, the University of Lome, the American School, and other smaller schools where Rotary Projects are underway. Additionally, we had lunch everyday with the Rotary clubs that we were going to meet with the same evening.

I have to say that the cuisine in Togo is phenomenal and we keep teasing each other that we will be the first GSE team that arrives from West Africa fatter than when we left the U.S.! In Togo, we also had some great outings to the crowded markets and spent a fabulous day in the countryside of Kpalime buying crafts and also visiting traditional markets. On Wednesday and Friday night our gracious hosts put on dinner parties for us and Friday we went out dancing with our families as a farewell. The song African Queen is our group song and the DJ did a special dedication for us. I am proud to say that we held our on on the Togolese dance floor! We were treated so well and made such strong connections with the Togolese Rotarians that we all left Togo wishing we could stay longer. However, it is wonderful to be back in Ghana with our dear Ghanaian Rotarians. After being picked up at the Ghanaian border, we drove to Cape Coast where we are currently staying right on the coast. Easter Sunday we went to Kakum National Park and hiked a bit and did an incredible canopy walk across the top of the trees. At some points we were as high as 100 feet above the ground and when we looked out we were atop a sea of green waves consisting of the beautiful rain forest. We arrived too late in the morning to get a glimpse of the exotic animals that inhabit the forest, but we did get one visit from a little monkey!

After having lunch and leaving Kakum, we went on to visit Cape Coast Castle where the British held slaves until a ship arrived to take them away to their hellish destination of becoming the property of another human being. It was a difficult experience because we were all interested in the history of these buildings, but standing in the same hot, dark, cramped rooms in which up to a thousand Africans were held at one time (a total of 12-25 million over the coarse of the duration of the slave trade) left the taste of shame and disgust in all of our mouths. We have all read and seen movies about the horrors of the slave trade. However, being in a building where it actually took place and seeing the miserable living conditions and experiencing the heat, the shackles, the cruel design of the holding rooms and the lavish conditions in which the slave traders lived in the very same building as those poor, abused souls just takes one to another level of understanding and sadness for the crimes against humanity that have occurred here. Today we visited Elmina Castle which was a Portuguese slave castle that was taken over by the Dutch and then the British. Once again, the team was very thoughtful and affected by our tour.

We then went to visit our friend Irene who was a member of the incoming GSE team from Ghana that came to California in February. She gave us a tour of the school she teachers at, St. Augustine College. We had a very high-energy encounter with about 120 of the boys that attend this all-boys, Catholic high school. We broke into small groups with them and told them about our teaching experiences in our schools and they asked many bright questions. Many of the questions had to do with comparing and contrasting the disciplinary systems in US schools and Ghanaian schools! We finished our meeting with the boys singing there National Anthem and their school song. It was so fun for us to interact with the students. Afterward, Irene prepared us a lunch of traditional Ghanaian food and we enjoyed every little morsel.

Tomorrow our team departs for Kumasi where we plan to visit the village of Bonwire, the home of the Kente cloth.

Our team will send an update as soon as it is possible. A busy schedule and limited access to the internet makes it challenging for us!

Sheryl Bode

April 27, 2006

We are on the last leg of our journey... two more days to go and some of us would love to stay here for another year (or longer.) The experiences we've had in these 28 days could have never been found (or felt) in a book, documentary or on a webpage. The last time you heard from us we were on our way from Cape Coast to Kumasi. As Sheryl mentioned in the last missive we were all moved by our visits to Cape Coast and Elmina Castles. As we walked the halls where hundreds of thousands of humans awaited their unknown fate as slaves in the New World we could here the screams of anguish and despair, not through our ears but in the depths of our soul. I couldn't fight back the tears as I imagined how the women felt as they lived through the the first phase of cruelty in the dark dungeons of hell... ironically their survival guaranteed even more suffering.

After Elmina, also known as the "Point of No Return" we departed for Kumasi... the drive was beautiful, the Ashanti region is verdant, a vibrant green, the color of hope - a fitting backdrop for an area steeped in tradition and history. Thanks to a thriving lumber industry and gold mines, the wealth in the area is evident to anyone approaching the city for the hills are adorned with palatial estates.

We had a late lunch there... then went out to dinner with a friend of my host family in Accra. John, who was generous enough to host the whole team has roots (no pun intended) in the lumber industry... he showed us a great time! We had one of the most fantastic meals of our trip and many, many laughs. While he's a Lion, he was very pleased to be in the company of Rotarians because he admires the great work that Rotary has done in the villages in his area. Speaking of Rotary and Kumasi, we had a fantastic experience with Kumasi Rotary... the meeting was interactive... the 8 members present were discussing some impressive projects they were working on and it was a very positive, proactive and productive group. They made such a great impression that Gloria, the member of the GSE Committee traveling with us is looking forward to visiting this group when she returns to Kumasi. Because Kumasi is the seat of the Ashanti Kingdom, we were able to visit his palace there...we didn't see the KING HIMSELF, but it's not unusual to run into him while visiting. We learned a lot about the progressive programs he's designed and implemented to improve education for the children Ghanaian children. He is highly regarded by his people for his commitment and wisdom, to the extent that he is affectionately referred to as "King Solomon." We learned a little history and I was given a Ashanti name by our guide. The Ashanti have a wide variety of arts. Bark cloth was used for clothing before weaving was introduced. With weaving, there is cotton and silk. Women may pick cotton or spin materials into thread, but only men are allowed to weave. There are different patterns in weaving, each with its own name. Sometimes the pattern represents social status, a clan, a saying, or the sex of the one wearing it. Patterns are not always woven in the cloth. It can also be stamped on in many designs. Pottery is a skill that is taught to a daughter by the mother. There are many stages to making pots and there are many colors of clay available. The Ashanti also do woodcarving and metal casting. We visited Bonwire a town known for its work with the trademark Kente cloth. We were able to watch the young men weaving creating patterns of various expression and level of difficulty. On the way out of Kumasi we also stopped in Ntonso to browse the adinkra cloths created by local artisans.

Upon our return to Accra we were greeted by our new families... Friday was a free day, a few of us got together to do a little shopping and have lunch. Saturday was our big day, we were able to visit Orphanage Africa... an event we had looked forward to even prior to leaving the States. OA was all that we expected. We were greeted by the children and staff with a lot of love... the children sang welcome songs for us and hung out with us for awhile. We talked to Lisa Lovatt-Smith whose commitment to improve the lives of the children she works with is evident in her every gesture, word and action. I felt humbled to be in her presence. The GSE team had to be torn away from OA... the children were like magnets, silently calling us to hold them and play with them. After we left OA we visited the first teachers college in Ghana. After driving through an idyllic village nestled in the mountains we arrived at P.T.C. The first teacher training college in Ghana founded in 1848 by the Basel Missionaries at Akropong-Akuapem. There we learned about the founding of the college, the process used for training teachers and that like the US - Ghana is facing a teacher shortage, especially after the educational reform measures recently passed where education is compulsory and children are being offered meals at schools. While these measures are positive - they are taxing an already drained teacher force. Ghana is experiencing a horrid "brain drain" and the educational and medical fields are two that are suffering. Government provides subsidies to those who study to become to teachers. Invariably someone will go through college and all the training and find that a job elsewhere or in another industry is much more lucrative and the schools suffer.

Sunday was a day spent with our host families. Some of us (me) went to church services, others had days of leisure and others (me) went to the beach. Monday we visited the International School. This school usually caters to children of diplomats or business people. Ghanaians comprise a small percentage of the quota. The school is pricey and in order for residents of Ghana to attend the children must be registered at birth. After the school we went to a market by the beach, bartered a bit and enjoyed a few laughs with each other. In the evening it was off to the Golden Tulip to fellowship at the evenings' Rotary meeting. Tuesday we were out of Accra and off to Tema, an industrial harbor city about 20 minutes from Accra, on the way we visited the world famous Malaria Research Center. We were given a 3 hour tour of the facility, met a lot of researchers; some specializing in malaria, others in HIV and others in a rare skin disease that has its roots in a bacteria similar to that of tuberculosis. The day was enlightening and it ended with a little irony, a few hours later I was diagnosed with malaria which is why I'm writing this email while my colleagues are touring the Nestle or GTP plant. Yesterday they visited Akosombo Dam which according to Dick was pretty spectacular.

(Yesterday was my first day of repose - Doctor's orders.) Dick said that there is a hotel by the dam that is gorgeous - 5 star and it costs 100.00 a night to stay there. So pack your bags and we'll see you here in Ghana!

We'll be in the air on the 29th which is Rotarians at Work Day but Bob Watson you'll be happy to know that we sported our t-shirts proudly at Orphanage Africa as we distributed medicine, snacks, toys, t-shirts and stickers.

You have a few more days without us, so sit tight and we'll be together soon.

Thanks for reading this!