ada foah, etc.

hi everyone. well a magical time to recount. this past weekend our travel group of 6 friends headed off to ada foah, a town near the mouth of the volta river, the largest river in ghana. To get to Ada Foah, it's necessary to take a boat from Ada (on the river) downstream towards the coast. We ate in Ada then boarded a long, thin wooden boat and headed for the coast. As we chugged down the wide river, hugging one bank, the sights on land were incredible. large, colorful fishing vessels were beached on the sand, and behind them a lazy forest of palm trees in which were small, grey huts with palm leaf roofs. Kids played in the water and often the bank would open to a shaded cove with more activity. in the soft afternoon light, it almost seemed unreal, as if this place should only exist in movies. we were all giddy, laughing, breathing in the air, our eyes wide. eventually we reached the strip of beach that separated the river from the ocean and pulled into a cove with the strip of beach on one side and a shaded fishing village wrapping around the rest of it. we passed the inland point of the cove and on it there were villagers lying in hammocks tied between palm trees and chopping up coconuts. the place we were staying was a series of rustic beach huts right on the beach ($3 p/night). when we pulled up to shore, we could hear the ocean crashing but couldn't see it over the rise in the sand. we eagerly hopped off the boat and dug out feet into the sand. we'd landed in paradise. after dropping off our stuff we climbed up over the hump in the beach and ran down to the ocean. the beach stretched as far as i could see in either direction, the beach framed by palm trees and the ocean. the undertow was actually pretty vicious and two of our group were nearly sucked out to sea so we didnt go back in but opted instead to swim in the cove. afterwards, i sat in a chair facing the cove and river beyond and read for awhile, often glancing out at the various watercraft that passed by, from dinghy's with bed-sheets as sails to large rowboats with eight or so rowers. as the sun slowly set, a thin mist settled over the volta river and soon i could only see the dark outlines of these boats. after reading about three pages in my book, i went down the beach with arielle and mollie to a cluster of palm trees to buy some coconuts then we headed back and we all had dinner under a thatched roof. after dinner zach arielle and i ran out into the dusk and onto the eerie beach and just jogged down the beach awhile. when we returned we met some brits on their gap year and hung out with them for awhile then the owner of the huts built a bonfire on the beach and some teenagers from the village came over and did this great dance performance. after we sat on the sand near the flickering light of the bonfire and looked up at the sky. i eventually took a short walk on the beach and it was incredible. it was very dark so i could only see the outline of the huts, the bonfire in the distance and the gray sand immediately surrounding me. i could see the full expanse of the sky, from one horizon to another and as the wind whipped down the beach i felt like i was in some desert.

anyway the next morning we woke up very early to see the sunrise so we walked out onto the beach and stared at the grey sky, waiting for about an hour. some fisherman walked by and stared at this dumb group of white kids waiting for the sun rise. soon one of us spotted the sun, but it was already a good ways up in the sky and had just poked through a gap in the clouds. a little disappointing. that day we took a boat to a rum village where they make rum from smushing sugarcane. it was a very fun trip and i really began to feel comfortable with the group. i had a good talk with zach about how i didnt feel comfortable or natural with other members of the group and his idea was that if you dont feel comfortable with new people, instead of avoiding contact with them, spend more time with them. sounds incredibly simple and obvious but i needed it. also, spending excessive time alone can sometimes cause me to obsess over my faults and magnify them out of proportion until i feel that i cant relate to other people, when in fact i can. so ive found all this quite helpful and have really been trying harder to bounce ideas and feelings off people to get fresh perspectives, cause i can work myself into a mental frenzy if i dont.

anyway, in other news, ghana (finally) passed a bill outlawing domestic violence against spouse and kids, though there is still some confusion here whether it's still legal to rape your wife. also, everyone here is very excited about the upcoming 50th anniversary of ghana's independence from britain. it is this tuesday, march 6th and celebrations are already beginning. last night (saturday) me and three friends went to a "highlife to hiplife" concert on the parking lot in front of the national parliament building. hiplife is a combination of the more traditional highlife music and hip hop. an artist called abrafuor (probably butchered the spelling) performed and was really good and got the crowd really going.

in the papers, there have been a lot of editorials questioning the fervor with which people are celebrating ghana's independence. one editorial worried that people are focused too much on the independence while losing sight of how far ghana still has to go. another said that ghana should have made more progress in the last fifty years towards true autonomy. for example, according to one of our lectures, much of the independence celebrations themselves are being funded by the united states and over 50% of the national budget comes from foreign aid (uganda's is over 90% from foreign aid). additionally, ghana has to import nearly everything. virtually nothing, even stuff that could be produced here, is made in ghana. even a lot of the cocoa beans are sold out then bought back as chocolate, though there is some domestically produced chocolate. but its quite disheartening how manipulated a lot of these countries are by large companies and even by our own government. the first leader of ghana, nkrumah, was overthrown by the cia-funded coup when he tried to make ghana more self-sufficient. for example, nkrumah built a tire factory so ghana wouldn't have to buy tires from outside. after the coup, the factory was turned over to firestone. also a lot of the multinational corporations operating here (like the gold industry) reap nearly all the profits of natural resources that are in ghana, simply because ghana doesnt (yet) have the technology to build its own mines. and the money that the ghanaian government does get from the industry doesnt seem to go to the average joe. the sad thing is im sure its far, far worse in a lot of the other countries in africa, as ghana is one of the most developed and democratic countries here.

anyway ive also begun work at a rural health clinic about 40 minutes away. the clinic, situated near the town of dodowa (a town known for its mangos), specializes in childrens health and nutrition. the first day i was there (monday) i went with several nurses on an outreach program into the village of dodowa to check on the young kids in the village. the nurses did physical exams and made sure all the kids had a full set of vaccinations, which, surprisingly, they all did. with the national health insurance plan here, adults pay $12 dollars a year ($2 for children) for health insurance. the outreach program was really interesting and the nurses were extremely helpful and talkative and translated a lot of the conversations, since my Twi language skills are still pretty primitive. they said the primary health concerns here for children are malnutrition and malaria. anyway it was very interesting walking through the scattered village and sitting outside mudhuts hearing mothers talk about their children. the nurses told the mom's how to realistically give their kids nutritional meals (like adding fish powder to pourridge) and i was really impressed. we also visited some more isolated huts and it was fun walking on these narrow paths lined with mango and banana trees.

on friday i returned and worked in the clinic's pharmacy. the pharmacist was not loving life. he had come here three years ago to do his year of compulsory national service but because of some glitch or mistake, he still had not been released or assigned elsewhere. all i could think of was milton from office space. but he was actually a very nice guy and was very interested to hear about the american health care system and was astounded that there are poor people in america.

ok well that's all for now, sorry it took me so long to write this, hopefully i will update again soon. gwen arrives in 9 days cant wait! the family is excited to meet her.