We took off today on an all day “cultural experience”. Here
is our bus, borrowed from an evangelical church. Note carefully the
collection of stuff in the windshield.
Just looking out the windows was amazing – women balancing large
bundles on their heads, fishing villages with homemade wooden boats,
businesses with signs like 'GOD NEVER FAILS CHOP BAR – FOOD ALWAYS
READY'
Then we made a stop in an authentic Ghanian village. Starting
with a meeting with the village elders and a prayer for us welcoming
us to the village. The village was constructed of a mixture of
concrete block walls and thatch roofs. Amazingly they were wired for
electricity.
We looked at the major food processing facility --- fish smoking.
The finishing step is when they add some sugar cane waste to the
last step in smoking. This gives them the gold color and allows them
to keep insect free for up to a year. Looks yummy.
Then the highlight of the trip- a visit to a local elementary
school. We had a big supply of ambassador bears ready – 40 of
them – figuring we might meet a class of students. BIG MISTAKE!!!
When Mary started to hand out the bears kids appeared from
everywhere. Mary gave me the job and I was swamped – hands
reaching from all directions – so I called a halt. Mary asked me
if
Clyde was okay --- I looked and CLYDE WAS MISSING!!!! He had
disappeared in a sea of green uniforms. What to do? We approached
our guide and told him the problem. He told the principal and
miraculously Clyde was handed over and we replaced him with an
ambassador bear. WHEW!!!
Despite the problem the kids were delightful and performed a dance
for us. The elementary school system has some great plans --- some
realized and some not so much. All kids are required to go to school
through 8th grade. The school provides uniforms and teaching
materials. They have a system for the education of teachers and all
of the students are taught English. They also give a hot meal to each
student every day. They would like to have a library, but lack the
resources. They have a plan for teaching all of the kids to use
laptops – however only three laptops for a school of more than 100
– and no computer desks. The system is poor but headed in the
right direction. Naturally most of us made a contribution.
Onward to the first of two slave markets – On English and one
Danish/Portuguese. Each of them had to have a “Condemned Cell”
where troublesome slave were left to die with no food or water.
Then the were thrown into the sea. Men and women were kept
separately. The women were sometimes paraded in the courtyard for
the governor to choose those to provide personal service. The sick
and healthy we separated and the healthy we chained up and taken to
the “Door of no Return” where they were placed in ships and
taken to foreign lands (US, Brazil, Caribbean) to work as slaves.
The conditions aboard the ships were abominable – about enough room
for each person as in a coffin. The importation of slaves was
abolished in the US in 1820, but emancipation didn't occur until
1855.
Golf in Ghana – We had lunch at the “Coconut Grove Restaurant”
equipped with an 18-hole golf course. Here is the first tee. Notice
an unusual hazard along the left side of the fairway – a crocodile
pond.
Lunch (we survived without needing Immoduim) was accompanied by
energetic drumming and acrobatic dancing.
We looked around the ground and Clyde did some hamming with a
crocodile,etc. He also left a couple of bears with a lady in
the gift shop for her kids.
