Kumasi Trip

Our program went up to Kumasi this weekend(sorry for the belated post). While we were up there, we saw an adinkra work shop, a kente work shop, swam at a crater lake and had fun at a pool. It was a while ago and most of the stories are mixed in with the photos that I took, so, I will largely be glossing over the details on this blog post.

Kumasi is the cultural capitol of Ghana. It is home to the Ashanti people. They are Ghana's largest ethnic group and live in the center of the country. Their language, Twi, is the most widespread language in the country. This is significant because it is more popular then English, dispute English being the country's official language. There has long been a debate about changing the national language to fit the reality on the ground. Some argue that Twi will boost national unity, because nearly everyone already speaks it and it would thus be an easy transition for the country to make. Opponents say that switching to Twi will give preference to the Ashanti people at the xpense of the rest of the tribes. Those who want to keep English argue that it is an internationally recognized language spoken through out the world and will give Ghana a step up when it comes to international issues, plus, due to its foreign origins, it would have no affect on intertribal relations. Opponents of English point out that nations develop fastest when their people are able to be educated in their mother tongues. Hardly anyone speaks English in their homes... Twi is by far more popular and its popularity would only increase if it became the national language.

Another interesting thing about the Ashanti is the power they held during the pre-colonial era. Ashanti were the dominant group. They were the only tribe that was able to challenge the European powers and went to war defending their lands. Those wars lasted many decades and because the British were never truly able to suppress them, the Ashanti kingdom marked the norhtern limit of their colony. So when someone goes farther up to a city like Tamale, they will see very little European influence.

The Ashanti were also the domestic group that benefited most from the transatlantic slave trade. Due to their dominance, they forced many of the other tribes to pay them tribute. Those tributes often came in in the form of slaves. And since the Ashanti could only use so many slaves, they sold the rest to Europeans and profited handsomely. In the process they destroyed what would later become the Northern and Southern portion of their country. Either way, Kumasi and the surrounding region is very wealthy. Their king layers himself in gold any time he goes out. His jewels are quite heavy, luckily he conserves energy by being carried everywhere he goes.

We went to the King palace and took a tour of a museum devoted to the history behind the kingdom.

We also went to a few workshops that made local crafts. I took a lot of pictures so check those out.

My Brother's Getting Married!

Ty(my actual/biological) brother back home has decided to get married to his, now, fiance Cimone. Just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS! to the happy couple. I wish you the best. I think you'll be great. Rock it! Just remember that you have to work your entire lives to keep the love fresh and strong. If you get comfortable and ever going that extra mile for each other, problems will inevitably bubble to the surface. But, that's just a problem that all couples face... other than that you both shouldn't have any problems because I your great for each other. Welcome to the family Cimone. Hope your warming up to our traditions(The Simpsons, 'int', made you are, and all the rest). Much love and I send my warmest across the net.

Trip to Cape Coast

This weekend, my group took a trip to Cape Coast. Its probably the third largest city in Ghana and used to be its capital(back during the colonial era) because it was the country's center of commerce and (almost) in the middle of the country's coastline. During the trip we visited Slave River, Elmina Castle and Kakoom national park.

Slave river was the final resting place for captives of the Transatlantic slave trade before they were sold and boarded the ship that brought them to the Americas. The path that led down the river held so many foot prints that it was noticeably lower than the rest of the terrain. The grove made by their feet was probably about three feet deeper. We were given a tour of the area and told about how Ghana is trying to welcome back Africans in the diaspora. Some examples of this were the graves of people who had their families send their remains back to Africa and a wall the park constructed for diasporans to write their names on. I would have written mine, but the park was charging $100 for the honor of doing so. And that explains why the wall is empty.

The castle we went to is called Elmina. It is the oldest European structure outside of Europe. It was built by the Portuguese during the 1400's(i think). Since then, it has been owned by the Dutch, British and now Ghana. I can see why they chose to build it on that part of the coast. It is gorgeous. Right on the ocean line with a great view and the castle itself is beautiful. Inland, up the adjacent hill is a fort that was built to protect the castle. The castle was originally built as a trading post for ivory, gold and food stuffs that were needed to refill whips as they sailed on to southern Africa. Gold was so prevalent in Ghana that the colonial powers named it the 'Gold Coast'. Elmina actually earned its name because of the Portuguese term for 'the mine'.

Eventually the castle was converted into a center for the slave trade. They took out the inventory and converted the stores down below the castle into cells for slaves. Slaves were much more profitable then gold, so the trade of most other goods nearly collapsed and they turned their attention to trading people. Elmina, and the neighboring Cape Coast Castle, were home to Ghana's largest slave market. Or at least that's what people from the South will tell you. Northerners claim their Salaga market was the center of Ghana's slave trade.

We were given a guided tour of the castle. Our guides were very knowledgeably and we learned a lot. There were two parts of the trip that stood out to me. The first was the 'ripe' smell of the female dungeons. All the slaves in the castle had to relieve themselves inside their cells because no attention was paid to their sanitation. But for women, it was especially bad because they were given no way to clean up their menstruation and even 150-200 years after the last slave left the castle, it still holds a disgustingly pungent smell. The other notable was a view from the 'door of no return'. This was the door through which slaves were brought to ships waiting to transport them across the Atlantic. Today it is a cold dark cell with a broken steel gate. When you look out the gate, you see a picturesque beach and a bright beach umbrella. Looking out there, I just imagine what slaves would have thought if they were starving to death in there and looked out to find a family of tourist building a sand castle on the beach below.

After the castle we walked down the beach to the town's other castle, Cape Coast castle. Words really cannot do this beach justice, it is a beautiful sight to behold. and the sand is so soft, the water so warm. I kind of wish I lived there. I walked the beach with a few friends from my program, one of whom, had been visited my he farther. I talked to him because he's from Oregon(he grew up in Hood River) and everyone knows how much I love my Oregonians. MY camera was full so I don't have many pictures from this weekend, but I will upload the ones Rihana took with her camera.

The next day we went to Kakoom park for a canopy walk. I was afraid it would be as disappointing as the one we did in Costa Rica. I was afraid it would be a dinky little foot bridge connecting a few low trees. But that wasn't the case at all. We were really high up. I'm not all that afraid of heights(having gone bungee jumping and sky diving) but I did have trouble catching my breath at a few spots. At the highest, we were 150 ft up, looking over the forest. There was one guy, Micheal, who was mortified during the walk. He was shaking the entire time. It was a really good experience and our group, took a lot of pictures. Whenever I get my hands on them, I'll post them with the rest.

peace out - tamu

My First Published Article

As promised, here is a copy of the first article that I published over at the Statesmen Newspaper. If you click on the images it should bring you to a larger version of them... one that's actually readable. Enjoy. This article was the peak of my very short career as a journalist. Oh, and I plan to keep this post here for only a week or two. After that, I'll be sending it back to the posts of April, since that is when it was published.

Morning At Dance Class

I'm in a dance class. It is called Introduction to Traditional African Dance. We meet twice a week, Wednesday evenings for two hours and Friday mornings for one hour. The class has a live band that plays music for us. Two or three drummers, a cow bell, sometimes one other instrument. Sometimes they teach us songs, as well. I think by the end of the class we will need to sing and dance at the same time. I'm dreading that because I can dance, and I can sing, but I can't do both at the same time. It just doesn't work for me. I get so off beat, it looks as if I'm dancing to a different song that only I can hear.

Since its Friday, I went to dance. the class started as usual. We did a warm up. This generally involves following along with what ever one of our teachers does(similar to an aerobics class). We use that time to practice the various moves. Nothing too difficult. There's just this one teacher who enjoys watching us go crazy. Well, this teacher will tell the drummers to go at double speed. On top of that, he switches between the various dance moves at double speed. So the class is left frantically trying to figure out which move to do and as soon as we have, he's moved onto the next move. Despite feeling the urge to collapse afterwards, I really enjoy it.

After the warm up, we'll do a run through of our dance routine. This includes one practice round, then they split us up into groups so they can see how well we actually know it. Following the routine, we'll generally learn something new.

But that didn't happen today. Class was ended early because the performing arts students were holding an and our teachers told us it would be great, so we all had to go. We did. It was a waste. No food, no dancing. All the Africans in our class skipped out. The one good thing... no great thing was the entertainment. They had this student come with a keyboard and they must have just instructed him to fill time because he had no routine, he sang no songs.

What he did do was sing about whatever thoughts popped into his head. My favorite songs were "to the lady in the front row drinking some sachet water... enjoy your sachet water" and "my phone is ringing now, someone must be calling my phone now. Mmmm, maybe I got a new text message." Those two songs were classics. The rest of his act was equally random and I laughed the whole time. But that still didn't really make it worth the stay. We were there for about 45 minutes and other then that wonderfully thoughtful serenade, nothing happened. At one point, a few of us tried to leave but a man at the gate guilted us into staying. It was reminiscent of the Simpsons episode where they all join the cult. The cult leaders gather the town together to watch a movie about their beliefs. Before the movie began everyone was told that they could leave at any time, if they didn't find the message to be pertinent or believable. Well, after a few minutes of the film someone decides they've had enough and want to leave. The moment he stands up, the movie is stopped, a spotlight is cast down on him and over the intercom, someone asks him if anything is wrong/embarrasses him into sitting back down. The movie continues and spot light goes out. Then, when any subsequent people tried to leave the same thing would happen and in the end everyone stays until they are all brainwashed into believers.

Luckily, my fellow classmates and I weren't subjected to the same fate. We escaped with our lives by sneaking out the back. That was on our second attempt. Actually, we almost didn't make it because on the way out we ran into our head dance teacher. The moment I saw her I ducked away from her disapproving glare and quickened my pace.... we had gone too far to let freedom slip out of our grasp.

When I returned home, it was laundry time. I always do laundry on Fridays. Its done by hand and takes forever, so Fridays are the only day when we(Rihana and I) both have enough time. Its not very hard work, it just takes a really long time. There is one casualty though... my cuticles. They bleed every laundry day. After a couple of hours of rubbing clothes together, they can't help it.

By the way, I love Fridays. Because after laundry is done, i have no more work for the the week and get to relax with my siblings and watch movies until Monday. Fridays are sweet.