We woke up around 6am on our last morning in Senase. After brushing our
teeth and packing up our bags, we went outside to give our family the
second half of our gift. We had bought Semester at Sea picture frames
and were going to take some family photos with my Polaroid camera to
give them. It turns out that they absolutely loved it! Everyone wanted
multiple pictures of themselves and with other people. We must have
taken like 30 pictures, and if I had brought more film, we would have
kept going. It was so amazing to see the joy that a simple photograph
brought to them. Here I am, complaining about having broken my Sony
point and shoot and being stuck with my "crappy" kodak, when at the end
of the day that crappy kodak is better than anything they could have
ever imagined. Our family wanted to take some pictures with us too, and
the dad told us that we are his son and daughter now, and asked for our
phone numbers to keep in touch. I'm not sure if he realized the concept
that we don't currently have phones, but I hope that he wont give up and
will try again once we do. We ended up staying so long that one of
Fred's brothers had to come and get us because we were the last ones. I
had bought that new Polaroid (actually made by Fuji) solely for this
homestay trip, and these photographs were literally the best gift I
could have ever given them. It's so, so fulfilling to think that Dain
and I literally just gave this family the only photographs that they
will ever have. And the fact that they wanted Dain and I to be in their
photos that they will treasure for ever means more than words could ever
express. I didn't want to leave...
But we had too..
So we said our goodbyes and gave our handshakes (hugs and kisses aren't
part of the culture) and walked with Fred's brother. After breakfast at
Fred's, we got on a bus to a school for our performance of the routine
we had learned the day before. The past 2 Senase trips have performed
for the village, but since the kids have always been in school Fred
thought it would be cool to re-visit one of the schools from the day
before to show the children. The school we went to was a boarding
school. It was a lot nicer than the school I had visited the day before,
but that doesn't mean it was at all adequate. Being a boarding school,
parents had to pay to send their children there, and you could
definitely see the difference in wealth among the two schools. But that
difference in wealth doesn't mean that this school is rich, because it
is still quite a mess. There are still no toilets and no showers, and
the buildings are still falling apart. We didn't see what the dorm rooms
look like, but if the classrooms were an indication they need some work.
Before our performance we were taken to an office to change into our
African-wear and meet the headmaster. The headmaster was dressed in a
head-to-toe suit, which gave the impression that this was the Ghanaian
version of a rich school.
Once we were dressed we went outside and lined up to do our performance.
The kids were released from class and surrounded us as the drummers
started. We were nowhere close to good at this routine, but we all had a
complete blast and the kids enjoyed it. When we were finished, the kids
just started swarming us. Even though this wasn't anything new, it still
was awesome. The headmaster asked if we would like to sit in on a class
or join the students for lunch, but Fred told us we didn't have time. So
unfortunately after taking a few pictures we went to use the wall and
then left.
About 3 hours into our bus ride we stopped at a gas station store to buy
some food since we weren't stopping for lunch. There was nothing for me
to eat, but I did find some necessary female products I was out of (Side
note: dealing with that time with no toilets is not fun, and I have so
much respect for these women that do it their whole lives), and I still
had a bit of rice chex I had to finish anyway (you cant bring open
things back on the ship). So after that we drove for another 2 hours or
so until we got to Kumasi to go shopping. In a bit of a time crunch, we
only had 45 minutes, so everyone was really running in different
directions. Dain and I ended up not finding a ton, but we were hoping
the next day would be better.
So we continued on back to Tema. Five hours into our drive, we were told
we had 4 more. But three hours later, we were updated with having 3 more
hours to go. So we stopped at "public toilets" on the side of the road.
They costs .10 cedis for a wall or .20 cedis for a port-a-potty type
toilet. And neither had a sink or toilet paper.
The rest of the bus ride home was when the experience really started to
hit everyone. We had slept at the beginning, but now as we were starting
to see signs for Accra we started to realize everything that had just
happened to us. Some of us started crying, others were so proud you
could see it from a mile away. None of us wanted to come back yet. We
were staring out the windows and having new appreciation for life and
the world around us. Suddenly, everything seemed more real. Everything
in our lives seemed more privileged. The fact that someone had to sit on
a stool in the middle of the bus because we were 1 person overbooked now
seemed like a luxury rather than a problem. Senase changed all of our
lives. And we couldn't stop talking about how nothing else on Semester
at Sea will ever compare. I would venture to say that the 31 of us had
by far the most enriching, rewarding, memorable experience on the Spring
2012 voyage of Semester at Sea. My climax has been reached. My life has
been changed.
Due to the most rocky and trafficked road I have ever been on (I will
never complain about Boston potholes or traffic again) it ended up
taking us another 5 hours to get to Tema. When we got back we all gave
Fred the biggest hug and tried to emphasize how much this really changed
all of our lives. Fred had told us that he really wants to finish his
studies in Turkey (he came back just for this trip for us) and may not
run this again. I hope more than anything that someone can take over if
he can't do it. Semester at Sea students have been so enriched by this.
Nothing else we could ever see or do on this voyage could mean this
much. I hope and I hope that I will see Can Do Land Tours offering this
for the Spring 2013 voyage.
Once we got back to the ship I went to my room to drop down all of my
stuff and immediately ran up to deck 6 to go to the bathroom (TMI
warning!...
I pretty much had held it for 4 days because of lack of a toilet, so I
sprinted to Deck 6..mostly because I felt too dirty to use my own
toilet) then back down to my room to shower. Now, I've said before that
I am going to take the longest shower of my life, but I'll go out on a
rim here and say this was the time that I actually meant it. After
showing, I went upstairs and bought a burger from the pool bar, my first
real meal and days. Some people from our trip were going out, but I
wasn't really up for it, so a handful of us just hung out on the pool
deck. Before bed, I took yet another shower, and went through all the
clothes I had worn these past 4 days to shove them into a bag not to be
reopened until after they had gone through the laundry. In the morning,
I took yet a third shower. During my three showers, I could not stop
thinking about how lucky I am. I just took 3 showers in 12 hours. That's
more than people in Senase have in their lives. Every thing I did that
next morning and day reminded me of Senase. And everyday since I haven't
gone an hour without thinking about it.
Rant time:
Notice above that I said 31 of us students had the amazing life-changing
experience of Senase. There were actually 34 people on our trip. Three,
in my opinion as well as pretty much everyone else's, completely wasted
this chance.
1-In Ghanaian culture it is offensive to wear shorts that come above
your knees. While the majority of the girls wore jeans or longer skirts,
2 girls wore short shorts anyway (the third of this trio was a guy) Not
only did they wear short shorts, but on the very last day, when we were
on a bus for 13 hours, they wore leggings! Clearly they had clothes that
covered their knees, but instead they choose not to wear them and rather
to offend people who had generously opened up their homes to them.
2-The first night at dinner they ordered bottle service. This little
restaurant didn't even know what bottle service was and it ended up
being that the bartender drove INTO town, which wasn't close, to get
them alcohol.
3-When we all made a brief stop at the pay-toilets, we ended up waiting
for an extra half hour because these three felt it necessary to buy
beers at the stand next door.
4-Though I will give it to the guy that he was interacting quite nicely
with the kids, the two girls were not at all.
5-They complained about the long walks and the dirt everywhere.
6-The reason we had a stool in the bus is because one of the girls
begged Fred to let her best friend come despite the fact that it was
full. Do you think any of the three of them even took a turn in the
stool? Nope.
7-Fred had asked us from the beginning to have the money to pay him for
the trip when we saw him on Day 1. Somehow, by the time we had arrived
in Tema on the last day, one of them still hadn't paid and kept asking
Fred to stop at an ATM before we got to the port. Fred had given us ATM
opportunities twice during the trip, including earlier that particular
day, but they chose to spend the time buying alcohol instead and now
wanted all of us to wait for them now.
This trip filled SO quickly. So many SAS students would have loved to
gotten a place on it, and instead 3 people got it that completely wasted
it. While 31 of us have a new found respect and appreciation and a new
world understanding, nothing seems to have come of this for 3 of them. I
really hope I am wrong, but it sure didn't seem that way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On day 5 we woke up early to head out to explore Tema with Robin,
Christina and Kathryn. Our plan was to find the Prime Meridian, which
runs right through Tema, but it didn't seem to be a big deal and no one
knew where it was. Eventually, we drew our own line in the sand and
pretend that it was right there. We wanted to do a bit of shopping but
there didn't seem to be much, so we ended up going back to the ship for
lunch. But, before we did, I got my first FanIce! FanIce is the ice
cream of Ghana and its sold in little sippy-type packs on the street. I
didn't eat any on the trip so far because of the lack of toilet
situation, but I was going for it today. THE VANILLA WAS LIKE HEAVEN IN
A TUBE. I wanted 20 of them.
Before going back on the ship for lunch Robin and I shopped for a few at
the market outside of our dock. I found a few cool things, but I am
still not comfortable with the pushiness of it all and didn't stay long.
After lunch, Kathryn, Robin, Dain and I went to the postoffice to get
postcards and stamps and to get more FanIce! I got strawberry this time,
which was no where near as good. We then walked around trying to find
the church that the prime meridian runs through (after having asked the
reception desk on the ship) but we couldn't so we just started to walk
back to the ship. All in all day 5 wasn't that exciting, but my other 4
days in Ghana made up for all of it.
Ghana changed my life more than I could ever explain. Nothing else in
the world will ever mean so much to me.
Other notes about Ghana:
-Ghanaians LOVE Obama. He's everywhere.
-You can buy ANYTHING on the street or from your car - ice cream,
chocolate, microwaves, water, bras, flags, toilet paper...literally
anything.
-One of the students on the Senase trip actually had his DSLR camera
stolen the very first night. We all immediately felt so welcome and
comfortable that I think we all let down our guard. That could have
happened to any of us, and it was quite sad to be woken up to the
reality of it all within the first hour. But thankfully, the person who
it happened to had an amazing attitude about it and didn't let it bring
him down. Fred was also quite distraught and thought it was going to
ruin his reputation, and tried the best he could to find it before we
left. He wasn't able to, but the person who it happened to still said
this was the best experience of his life. I loved that attitude, but it
was still quite a wake up call.
-We listened to Shakira's "Waka Waka" so much on this trip. I never
really liked that song before, but it was kind of amazing now. Being in
Africa puts an entirely different spin on the words.
-People in Ghana have weird bellybuttons. I can best describe it as
looking like a ping pong ball was inside. Not that there is anything
wrong with that, its just an observation I realized and I wonder what
kind of evolution brought us different bellybuttons.
Safety: I have felt safer in Ghana than anywhere else. Of course, petty
theft and pickpockets can occur, but that can happen anywhere. I would
have felt completely safe from physical harm walking around by myself
anywhere in Ghana. The people might have nothing, but that does not mean
that they are harmful.
Gluten Free: To be honest, there was a good amount of foods in Ghana
that looked pretty safe. I decided not to try anything because I didn't
want to waste my days in Senase being sick, but had I just stayed in
town I would have tried some. Regardless, even if nothing else was
gluten free, I could have eaten only Vanilla FanIce and been happy as
can be.
I'd say "Next Stop: South Africa" but at the time of writing this I've
already been to South Africa, so instead, I will say: Coming at you from
the outskirts of a tropical storm off the coast of Madagascar! Chairs
are flying, people are swaying and books are falling. Oh the life of a
shelback.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
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