Sao Tome Weekend

I apologize for the inconsistency in my posting lately. Frankly, we haven't travelled as much in 2016 as we did in 2015 so I find that our day to day life is somewhat uneventful. However, this past Monday was May Day in Ghana so Dan had a three day weekend. This calls for a weekend getaway... Enter: Sao Tome and Principe. A small country of two islands in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Gabon.

We learned of Sao Tome back in October 2014 when we spent a weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. The board listed our flight's destination as Sao Tome so we thought we were at the wrong gate. Come to find out the flight from Lisbon to Sao Tome stops briefly in Accra... so there you have it. It's by far the cheapest flight we've booked while living in Africa and we booked a hotel in Sao Tome using points from the chain that we "lived in" while in Maputo, Mozambique last year. Such a deal!

Our flight left late afternoon on Friday, getting us into Sao Tome around 5pm. We actually buzzed the tower on the landing, which prompted a good Top Gun reference. Turns out the runway is not very long and we didn't come down at the right angle in order to be able to stop in time so Mr. Pilot had to pull back up, circle around and try again. Success on attempt number two, followed by immigration, a quick shuttle ride to the hotel and a sprint off the bus to check in before the masses. Our vacation was underway. We changed clothes and went down to the bar to watch some soccer and have an appetizer before dinner. There was a barbeque buffet at the hotel so we sat outside with the ocean breeze and had dinner and some Portuguese Douro wine, and then we cried in remembrance of what good wine tastes like. We got tired (actually I got tired) so we went to sleep at a reasonable hour after a long day of work and travel.

View from our room

Saturday morning, we woke up and went down for breakfast. Found some pool chairs on the ledge of the pool... the ones that when you sit down, your bum is actually in the water. Ah, yes, this is the life. Busted out our books, slathered on the sunscreen and just relaxed. A few hours later, we went in for a quick nap, showered, and decided to venture out for some lunch and a walk into town. We found a place that got good reviews, and the name Papa Figo has a soft spot in our hearts. Back in Maputo, we used to visit a tapas place called A Esquina. The first time we went, we ordered a nice bottle of red called Papa Figos. This became our wine of choice at the restaurant, which resulted in Dan being dubbed "Papa Figo" by the waiters.

We ordered one plate of "frango" (chicken), a "peixe grelhado" (grilled Joe Pesci.. wait, no, grilled fish) and beers and took a seat at an outdoor table. Lunch was tasty and after paying, we headed out for a post-lunch jaunt into town. Town was... disappointing. Surprisingly, nothing was open on a Saturday afternoon. We wandered for awhile, eventually gave up and took a different walking route back to the hotel.

For dinner, Dan had a crab salad appetizer and we both had some steak. After dinner, we sat outside for a bit and then walked to the "Beach Club", a nightclub/bar that is adjacent to the Pestana Sao Tome hotel. They had a nice outdoor patio, so we sat, listened to the waves, completely lost track of time... all the things you should do on a vacation.

Sunday morning, we reunited with our pool chairs and soaked up more of the Sao Tomean sun. The hotel granted us a late checkout, so we lounged until we needed to go get cleaned up and pack. After checking out, we found a table in front of a soccer match and ordered two prego no pao (steak sandwiches) and some white wine. After indulging in the last of our good beef and wine, we boarded the shuttle back to the airport for the flight home.

On Monday, I planned to work a half day... which somehow turned into a full day. Dan ran some errands for me and brought home some tasty lunch takeout. And just like that... the calendar flipped to May. 20 months down on this crazy adventure, 4 remaining...

Global Mama's Visit

On Tuesday, I took part of the morning off to go with the NAWA group to Global Mama's. Global Mama's is an NGO that makes various fair trade clothing, housewares, etc from batiked fabrics. If you've forgotten what batiking is, please feel free to navigate back to the workshop and/or GTP posts for more. Yes, batiks are a big deal in Ghana.

We arrived around 10am to a nondescript two-story house in Ashaiman where the bulk of the batiking and sewing goes on for many of the products that Global Mama's offers. We sat down for a presentation on the history of the company provided by Renae, a US woman from South Dakota who had previously done Peace Corps work in Central Ghana. After returning to the US and obtaining her MBA, she and another Peace Corps alum found themselves longing to do something with women's empowerment and economic development back in Ghana. This began the idea of Global Mama's.

The company was founded in 2003. At the time they had one direct employee who had her own team of another 6 ladies. As of 2015, they directly employ about 70 women with the total "tree" encompassing over 400 women. Starting off with 9 international volunteers, they have grown to over 500 people who wish to contribute their knowledge to the company in various ways. They originally had two retail partners in two countries, and now work with over 300 retail partners in 24 different countries. Total revenue in part of 2013 actually exceeded $1 million which was a huge milestone for the company. Unfortunately, sales have tapered a bit over the last few years due to Ebola rearing it's ugly head in the region. That caused a limit in tourists to the area and less of an influx of volunteers which caused quite a hit to the company as a whole.

Global Mama's has a distribution center in Minneapolis, USA where they send finished exported items for delivery in the US. They also have a distribution center in Europe to serve that area. The company is incredibly well run and it takes a very resilient team to succeed in this environment. Keeping in mind that water and electricity are unreliable in Ghana, costs can vary greatly depending on the need for generator usage. Add in government officials trying to get bribes or take money from the company for "taxes" that they aren't actually required to pay as a Fair Trade NGO, and business dealings get a little hairy. Renae touched on some of the challenges they have faced but the way they have handled all the adversity is very admirable.

After the presentation, we went upstairs to meet some of the teams of seamstresses. The head of operations, Dorcas, gave us a rundown of how the teams are assembled and how they work. The teams actually vote for who they want to work with in order to increase productivity and pair up people with similar work ethics. Originally, they let the "mamas" pick their own teams and, not surprisingly, many picked their friends. Soon after, they realized that they would rather pick people with the same drive so things were shuffled a bit. They have charts for productivity showing how many of a various item (dress, shirt, purse, whatever) a team made over a given week. They also recently instituted a First Class First Time policy which rewards teams who create a high quantity of garments but require less than a predetermined threshold of fixes/repairs. They learned that the productivity metric was causing the teams to rush to get more items finished, but that they were actually wasting time, because those items required extra hours in fixing issues found during Quality Control. The First Class First Time policy rewards teams who work quickly but with very few errors in their work. These teams receive sizable bonuses for their impeccable work.

After meeting the seamstresses, we went outside for a quick batik lesson. Many of us have done batiking before so they didn't spend a lot of time going over it again. We appreciated some of the dye color recipes to make rare colors and different stamping patterns that are so well known as Global Mama's products.

Probably my biggest shock was when Renae explained that the items in the Osu shop (which Dan and I have been to several times) are actually rejects. My jaw nearly hit the floor when she said this because we've bought some items from there and they are lovely. She said some of the issues might just be that the dye was slightly off from the standard color or a seam was not straight, or a pocket slightly off. Essentially, these items were thrown out by the QC group and cannot be submitted for export to the US or Europe warehouses so they get sold here at a discount. Hey, fine by me. Those of you who have received an item we bought at Global Mama's probably noticed that the tag lists the names of the "mamas" who created it. This is done for accountability so they are proud to put their name on their products but also for traceability if issues are found after shipping. This allows them to retrain the necessary people easily.

After our tour, we were given some free time in Dorcas's office with the fabrics that didn't make it through QC. They gave us a discount on the fabric by the yard so we all had a field day picking out some items. Afterwards, I hitched a ride home with one of the ladies and went back to work. See the link below if you'd like to learn more, browse the Global Mama's online store or donate to this wonderful operation.

http://www.globalmamas.org

Jambo Kenya - Nairobi Part 2

After Sarah collected us from Giraffe Manor, we took a drive out to a place called Kitengela glass. They make hand-blown glass pieces from recycled glass bottles. We received a quick demonstration from one of the craftsmen as he made a very pretty fruit bowl. It's amazing the simplicity of blowing air into hot glass to make everyday items. After the demonstration, we wandered the couple shops that they had on site.

Items made here are used for decor in many of the hotels and safari lodges around Nairobi and the Mara. Additionally, they are available for sale in those same places and other shops around town. As a result, the items for sale at this "warehouse" were offered at a wholesale discount of 30% off. I really wanted some sort of light fixture or chandelier-type thing. I had my "fun money" from the teddy bears I've recently made for people in Ghana, and I had a short list of items I was interested in procuring. We wandered around for awhile and I was having a hard time making a decision (shocker!... anyone who knows me knows I'm awful at this kind of stuff... I can't even pick a restaurant efficiently).

I finally asked Dan if anything appealed to him and he said, let's get three of these and two of those and we can do a cluster thing, hanging them at different heights. Done. So we retrieved the hanging lanterns, and I picked out some gifts while Dan selected a pitcher and decanter. The guy calculated everything up and gave us the discount and in total it came to about $180. Seriously? For custom, handmade, original pieces?! Sold! They packaged everything incredibly well and we were on the road again.

We stopped at a cute little sandwich place for lunch and then headed into the city center of Nairobi to attempt to find our hotel. Sarah isn't terribly familiar with downtown as traffic is usually a mess and she avoids it like the plague. She teaches 2nd grade at an international school in Nairobi and is almost finished with her third year. In June, she will pack up and move back to Florida. We met at University of Florida and have been sharing East Africa vs. West Africa stories for awhile. Since we knew she would be on her way out soon, we figured it was a good reason to get a visit to Nairobi on the schedule.

After arriving at the hotel, we walked to the Masai Market, a market of "artisans", (read as: people hocking stuff they haven't actually created), and shouting at you because your white and likely to buy stuff. I had a very detailed list of the items that I wanted to buy (cough, thank you, Pinterest). Sarah and I briefly discussed numbers on the way over because everything is negotiable. Once I had an idea of what the price should be, or even what I was willing to pay, then I felt okay diving in. There's a lot of people yelling to get your attention "sister! come look at my things!" A guy told Sarah he was Obama's cousin. It's a hoot just to listen to the things people say to get your attention.

I knew I wanted two beaded Masai collars that I want to frame and hang on the wall back in the US. I had a vague idea of what I wanted but had a hard time finding two I liked from the same person. Finally, we found some Masai women in the middle of the market who were surrounded by beaded jewelry. I found two that I liked and eventually got her to agree to cut her price in half. The other item I wanted was a couple shukas. Shukas are blankets of varying thickness that the Masai people usually wear draped over their shoulders or as a quasi-toga. They come in all different colors but red is considered traditional. I liked the idea of them as park blankets or even outdoor blankets back in the US on a chilly evening. I got two lightweight ones and one heavier one for about $22.

 The shukas we purchased and a photo of Masai warriors wearing shukas (credit)

After the market visit, we went our separate ways and got some rest. Sarah picked us back up in the evening and took us to one of her favorite restaurants for dinner. The food was good and the air was a little cool; a welcome change from the heat and humidity of Accra. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and Dan and I walked to a nearby pub for a nightcap before going to bed.

Sunday was much less eventful. Slept in, worked out, I got a massage, we had some lunch, etc. The highlight of Sunday was dinner. We'd been informed by a number of people (Kenyan, tourist, websites, etc) that the place to go is Carnivore. It's a sort of Brazilian churrascuria-type place with all you can eat meat. You get a little flag on your table and as long as the flag is upright, a constant flow of servers continue to come by carrying skewers of different grilled meats. When you admit defeat, you set your flag down on its side to signal the servers that they don't need to come by anymore. Carnivore is also famous for a drink called the dawa. It's sort of a twist on a mojito. It's vodka and lime and soda water with honey on a stick. You stir the honey stick in the beverage which sweetens it up like the sugar in a mojito (no mint though). So we enjoyed our drinks and our meat, which included the normal beef, chicken, pork, lamb and turkey, as well as some more obscure things like crocodile and ostrich. It was a fun way to end our trip.

A very early wake up call on Monday, and we were off to the airport to head back to Accra. Until next time, Kenya! Asante! (Thank you in Swahili)

Karibu Kenya! - Giraffe Manor & Nairobi Part 1

Welcome to Kenya! Dan and I arrived reallllllly early on Good Friday on very little sleep courtesy of yet another red eye flight. We were picked up at the airport and driven out to Giraffe Manor. To backtrack a bit: I found photos of this place on Pinterest awhile back and was absolutely dying to go. That said, it is not cheap so I mentioned it to Dan and then let it percolate for awhile. Upon the culmination of NFL season, we managed to win the fantasy football league and the winnings promptly burnt a hole in our pockets. Dan suggested Nairobi for Easter weekend and I was wavering on the idea until he promised me a night at Giraffe Manor. Well, twist my arm why don't you. (Side bar: giraffes are kinda my favorite.)

We arrived to the property around 7am and all seemed quiet... which was mildly disappointing in my comatose state. Then, we saw a baby giraffe when we were walking in. As we walked past the baby, a big one came around the corner and the gentleman carrying our bags said we must hurry and get inside because that is the momma. They brought us some coffee and told us that there currently weren't any tables available for breakfast but we were welcome to go out back and have a seat and watch the giraffes. Now, you see these photos online and you're thinking "that's amazing, but there's no way that's actually what it looks like"... oh, yes. yes it is. It is everything it looks like and more. So I spent a little bit on the back patio feeding Kelly the Giraffe. Ho hum, nothing to see here.

A breakfast table opened up and we were seated by the window. It didn't take long for Kelly to realize that we were going to eat without her so she shoved her head in the window and made herself at home on my plate. Once finished, she raised her head up a little too quickly and drooled on my head. Thanks, Kelly, love you too. Breakfast for the humans consisted of scones, fruit kebabs, granola with yogurt, eggs, sausage/bacon, toast with coffee and juice. No shortage of food for these weary travelers. After breakfast, we went to our room for a very quick nap as we were being picked up at 10:30am for an excursion to a local elephant orphanage.

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is open to the public for one hour each day. They have private appointments but they require reservations and I screwed that up so we went to the public showing. My main reason for wanting to come was to pick out a baby elephant to foster. A year of fostering is $50 and they send you monthly updates via email with what your elephant has been up to. The public "show" on Friday was absolutely packed. Given that it was a public holiday and holiday weekend, there were people everywhere. Much of the show was watching the babies be bottle fed and roll around in the mud while the trainer explained how they find the orphans, their plan for growing them and releasing them back into the wild. Dan and I have played with elephants of varying size in South Africa and Thailand so we didn't need to pet them and all that. We really just wanted to pick out one we liked and learn his or her story. We decided on a 22month old boy named Murit who was rescued after falling down a well. His little ears fold over at the top which we thought was cute so he won. While everyone was swooning over the baby elephants, I went up to fill out the paperwork to foster Murit. Murit's photo now graces our fridge in Accra alongside our family and friends.

Feeling warm and fuzzy about our good deed, we headed back to Giraffe Manor for some lunch. The giraffes were over at the giraffe center (a public viewing place where you can see and feed giraffes), which shares property with the manor. We had some soup and some really good fish skewers and then headed up for a nap. We were told to be downstairs by 5 for sundowners and more giraffe time. And here's a few of photos from that:

After the giraffes wandered off for bedtime, everyone went in for dinner. Dinner was a halloumi and red pepper starter, steak and potatoes, and dessert. They also brought a small chocolate cake with a candle for my belated birthday. After dinner, everyone went to the sitting room by the fire for more wine/cocktails and chatted. There was a couple from DC, a group of friends from London, a couple from Germany, a family from Denmark, and a family from Oman. Everyone was really nice and it was a pleasure chatting about what people's plans were around Kenya, where they have been or where they are going. We eventually went to sleep and set the alarm for breakfast the next morning. At around 7am, I scooted to the restroom and when I returned, Dan was laughing. I asked what was so funny and he told me to pull back the curtain. I left the windows open all night as there's no AC and the air is cool. I pulled back the curtain to find... Betty.

We spent the next half hour or so feeding Betty from our room, through the window. Seriously. Is this real life? Someone pinch me. When we ran out of pellets, we went downstairs for one last breakfast with the giraffes. It was drool-free and uneventful. We checked out and waited on my friend, Sarah, to arrive and pick us up for a local's guide to Nairobi. More on that next time.

Birthday Festivities

Last week was a whirlwind of celebrations. I am so grateful for our amazing friends here in Ghana and feel blessed to have crossed paths with such lovely people. Thursday was my 31st birthday and was a day of well-wishes, finished off with a tasty dinner out at an Italian restaurant with Dan. Towards the end of our meal, the sky opened up and dumped rain for several hours. We made a run for it to get a taxi home and slept soundly to the sounds of the rain. That rain may have flooded a bedroom overnight but, we will let that slide.

Friday, after work, a group of us got together at a new place called Kona Bar and Grill in Osu. We had a going away party for one of Dan's coworkers. Janni was on a 6 month exchange program from Copenhagen, Denmark. She has now gone home but it was a nice last night for all of us to get together. It was a surreal moment in the car to look around and realize none of the 5 of us in the car would still be in Ghana by the end of the year: Janni back to Denmark, Gabby back to Kenya, Veronica back to Uganda and Dan and me back to the States. All in all, it was a nice night with good music and good company.

Saturday was a lazy afternoon on my part. Dan, however, woke up and began preparing a birthday cake for me. A few weeks ago, I showed him a photo of a birthday cake shaped like the Death Star from Star Wars. He said "I could totally make that". I politely accepted his challenge and he spent the entire afternoon baking a cake and mixing frosting from scratch. His efforts were truly impressive. The final product was delicious, though maybe slightly lacking in the aesthetics department. It's the thought that counts and I greatly appreciate the thought and the effort... and the multiple sugar rushes that occurred over the weekend.

Saturday evening, Hannah and Robin came down to spend a few days with us. We were going out to dinner that night except for one small problem: the water pump was broken. They turned off the water at about 3:30pm and water was not restored until 9am the following day. Hannah, Robin and I decided to take our pre-dinner showers in the pool since we had no running water. I have to say we all looked pretty good despite maybe a slight waft of chlorine.

There were 10 of us at dinner (left to right in the photo below): Veronica, Selasi, Joe, Sharon, Dan, me, Robin, Rosemary, Gabby and Hannah. The food and drinks were delicious and the conversation was also very enjoyable. We left the restaurant around 11:30 and all headed home after being out the night before and a long Saturday in the kitchen on Dan's part.

Sunday was a day full of movies and lounging. The four of us got up and had breakfast, played volleyball in the pool, took naps and relaxed. It was a very nice birthday weekend filled with quality time with some of my favorite people.

GTP Company Tour

A few weeks ago, I RSVPed to go on a company visit of a local textiles company called GTP. In my last post, I talked about how to make batik through a workshop that I attended last Friday. (Note: if you have not read that, now is a good time. Otherwise, much of the remainder of this post won't make sense.)

....Waiting on the less-dedicated readers.... :)

Ok, so Tuesday morning, 35 or so women met up and caravaned to GTP's factory in Tema. The tour was organized through NAWA (North American Women's Association) of which I am a member. We arrived there around 10am and were seated in a training room for a short presentation on the history of the company. GTP is celebrating it's 50th year in Ghana and it's parent company is Vlisco. Vlisco was founded by a Dutch man who was fascinated with the batik printing in Southeast Asia. On a trip back from Asia, he stopped in Africa and the locals were enamored with the fabrics he was carrying. The idea to create a batik printed fabric in bright African colors and patterns was born.

Vlisco remains a Dutch company with it's headquarters in Holland. There are four brands under the Vlisco umbrella: Vlisco (manufactured in Holland), Uniwax (manufactured in Cote d'Ivoire), Woodin (manufactured in both Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana) and GTP (manufactured in Ghana). Vlisco is, by far, the leader in the market, with few competitors in the West African region. However, the market still remains untapped. Vlisco estimates a market demand of 175 million units per year, but the company only manufactures 25 million. This leaves the window open for knock offs... more on this later.

After the presentation, we were divided into groups to begin our tour of the facilities. We started in a room with bundles of raw cotton. The raw cotton is sent out for weaving and returned to the site. At that time, it goes through two machines: one to de-lint the fabric and another to treat it with a chemical to remove the starch that was added during the weaving process. After that the fabric is bleached and/or dyed to a solid color as the base for printing. It is rolled through a number of rollers fill with hot steam for drying and put onto massive spools.

In the next room, there a big machine fitted with a roller that is essentially a roller stamp. Fabric goes down and wraps around the stamp to be stamped with wax. After being stamped, it is dyed a secondary color and dried. It is then put through a machine that heats and boils off the wax. As the dye resists the wax, the part of the fabric that was covered in wax remains the color of the original fabric prior to stamping.

He takes us to another room to show us the handstamping method. There are about a dozen men handstamping piece by piece. They are phenomenal. No measuring, no questioning, no attempts to line up the stamp, just dips in wax and plop and it's perfectly in line and I'm in awe. They make me feel bad about my stamping efforts last week at the workshop. After stamping the fabric goes up and into the machine that melts off the wax and comes out on the other side.

Incredibly talented man hand-stamps/Fabrics coming out after wax removal

He also shows us a machine-method of doing the wax in colors. It's an assembly-line of rollers with each roller adding a new color to the fabric. Feels like an episode of How It's Made (or my favorite Sesame Street episode ever as a kid when they showed you how Crayola makes crayons... fascinating.) I digress... After being utterly stunned by the work that goes into these fabrics, we went to a less-exciting but still necessary section: the washing and drying section. After drying, the fabrics go through Quality check 1, where an inspector watches it scroll by and removes any flawed pieces. Quality check 2 is done in a similar fashion and then the fabrics are cut into yardages for sale.

While in this section, he shows us the new labels they are adding to their fabric. There is a problem in Ghana with counterfeit GTP fabrics being manufactured and smuggled in from China. They mimic the pattern and the copyright information on the border of the fabric so well that it is almost impossible to tell the legitimate fabric from the fake. The best way to tell is to wash the fabric as the Chinese knockoff isn't able to hold the dye well. Unfortunately for most buyers, by that point is too late. These new labels allow a potential buyer to scratch off a code and text it to GTP, who will instantaneously reply either confirming or denying the legitmacy of the package of fabric you're considering. While it's a little inconvenient for the buyer, it's necessary for them to protect their reputation and ensure that people know the cheap, poor quality fabric is not actually real GTP.

The factory in Tema employs about 700 workers (1000 total in Ghana including a smaller factory in the northern region) and those employees are divided into four shifts, keeping the factory running 24/7. This particular factory makes multiple style lines of GTP and Woodin fabrics. There are designers on site who work tirelessly to create new designs for the fabrics. In one year, the Woodin line alone will release 400 new designs. Dan and I frequent one of the Woodin stores in town. He has 4 shirts from there, our curtains are fabric from there, and several of our friends and family have Woodin shirts. After seeing the work that goes into making the raw fabric alone (not to mention creating the ready-to-wear items), I'm pleased we support this company... and will continue to do so.

Batik Workshop

At the last minute, a spot opened up to go to a batik-making workshop at a local special needs school. Caroline, a French woman, volunteers at the school and has organized about a half dozen of these workshops over the last year and a half or so. The New Horizon Special School is, as the name would imply, special. In total there are about 125 attendees of all ages. Those aged 6-18 go to school during the day and are taught a curriculum that is tailored towards children with mental disabilities. After age 18, there are several "workshops" behind the school where the adults are taught trades. They want them to feel like they have accomplished something on their own but also teach them a craft that would allow them to earn a living outside the school. Trades include (among others): beading, basketweaving and, you guessed it, batik.

The class was taught by "Auntie Mariana" and some other helpers. She gave handouts explaining the process of batik and we got right into it. We each got about a yard of white cotton fabric and she showed us various completed samples just to give us some inspiration. In the corner of the workshop sat probably 3-4 dozen stamps. The stamps ranged in size from about a 3x3 square up to a 10x10, some were sponges and others were actual stamps with big wooden handles. As we were picking out our stamps, she set up a "test cloth" and let us each try one stamp and one sponge by dipping it in hot wax and stamping on the white cloth.

Once we got the hang of it, we got started on our pieces. I wanted to keep my patterns as African as possible so I picked a stamp that sort of looked like blades of grass to me. I stamped in a checkerboard like design and then took it outside to be dyed. I chose yellow as my first color. Here's some photos of me and one of the helpers dying some of the fabric, and a photo of what mine looked like while the yellow was drying in the Ghana sun.

Next, we went back in and did a second round of stamping. There's a lot of thought that goes into what colors things will actually end up. My first stamps would be white (as the fabric had not yet been dyed). Once dyed, the wax should prevent those spaces from receiving color so they remain white. My second round of stamps would be yellow since that was the color of the fabric when I stamped. Once the second set of wax stamping was done, we dyed again in a secondary color. Some people did a darker shade of their first color (ex. light blue, then navy blue). I was in a toss up between green and blue as my second color.

She already had a big bowl of blue ready so I made the impulse decision to do blue. What I neglected to consider, whilst trying to recall my art lessons on negative space, is that the yellow undercoat with the blue second dye actually made it dark green. Hey, thanks for making my decision for me, color-wheel. After the second dye dried, they boiled a massive pot of water on a charcoal stove. The cloths were stirred gently one by one in the boiling water to melt off the wax. They were then washed with soap to try to remove the loosened wax and then hung on a clothesline to dry.

Once they were mostly dry, we brought them in and Auntie Mariana ironed the last bits of wax off the fabric and we took them home. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with my fabric but now I have all kinds of ideas in my head. I almost want to go back and make more and have the street vendors make me cushions for my patio furniture.... the options are endless!

It was a very fun day and the two Ghanaian ladies praised my fabric as their favorite while we were chatting. I'm not sure if it's because I chose the most African stamps or the color scheme or if they were just being nice but I'll just assume I did something right! Here's the final product hanging up to dry at home.

Weekend with Friends in Akosombo

Last weekend, we went up to Akosombo to see Hannah and Robin's new place. They've settled into their little cottage house on the grounds of Right to Dream Academy where Robin has assumed a new role as Director of Operations (or something like that).

We rode up there on Saturday afternoon and quickly got the tour of their new digs. They have a two bedroom place that they've painted and furnished, which we poked fun at because it took them almost a year to get a sofa when they lived here in Accra. It's really cute and suits them perfectly. Robin informed us that a few of the girls might be coming over to talk to Dan and me. One of the girls, Louisa, is going to be moving to the US in August to attend a high school in Connecticut. Robin wanted to give her the opportunity to ask questions to Americans and we were happy to oblige.

Around 3:30 there was a knock at the door, and twenty-something girls filed in. Each one walked right to me, extended her hand and introduced herself... impressive. They ranged in age from about 11 to 15. They took over the sofas, chairs and floor. Robin did a quick introduction of us and opened the floor for questions.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but things got really deep. I think I expected more, what's the weather like? or how is it different from Ghana? We did get those questions. But we also got some deep ones which really put us on the spot. Things like: who are your role models and how did you pick them? What's your definition of success?

It felt a little guidance counselor-like but we tried to inform Louisa of some of the challenges of school in the US. For example, we tried to address trying to figure out where you fit in, and cliques, and that there's nothing wrong with being labeled a nerd/geek/smarty-pants. I also tried to say a little about being a teenage girl in high school since it was a group of young ladies and we have slightly different experiences. This is especially important for Ghanaian girls because this culture is still very male-centric. Women clean and cook and basically do what the man expects them to do. It's still not fully understood/accepted for a girl to be better in the classroom, workplace or on the soccer field than a boy. Girl's sports are pretty well ingrained in US high schools so hopefully she will be proud to showcase her talents.

After our chat, Hannah, Robin, Dan and I got freshened up and went to the Royal Senchi resort for dinner and drinks. Went back home after and crashed.

The following morning, Leonora drove up so we had a nice morning catching up with her and showing her around the school. She basically runs the Ghana branch of an education foundation that works with low-income regions. They go to rural schools and provide a solar panel and satellite dish. The satellite dish then beams lessons that are taught centrally here in Accra out to the rural schools to ensure that those children get a chance at a decent education. As such, Leonora's company has access to quite a few education grants and curriculums which could be really helpful to Robin and the teaching staff at Right to Dream.

After we walked around, we sat down with two of the boys who had been asked to explain RTD's badge system. The badges, which are basically pins, are Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 and you have to score a certain level in three areas (academics, football/soccer, character) to move to the next stage. The Stage 1 criteria are more basic as it's intended for younger kids or kids that are new to the program. Stage 2 expects more from the kids and achieving a Stage 3 badge means you are ready to be considered for placement at a school in the US. If you fail to achieve the necessary scores at the end of a term, your badge can and will be taken away. With your badge goes your privileges. For example, one of the under 15 boys lost his badge and wasn't allowed to play in the tournaments with his teammates in Europe. The team ended up winning all their matches and the tournament and he was devastated. Not only has he learned his lesson and cleaned up his act, but the other boys, seeing his despair, have quickly realized they don't want to make that mistake. It was a very informative presentation and Michael and Perry did a great job explaining it to us and answering our questions. This is the second time we've been up to the school and the kids continue to blow us away with their English, vocabulary and public speaking to complete strangers.

After the RTD requirements had been completed, we went back over to the Senchi to spend the afternoon by the hotel's pool. Sunday was Ghana's Independence Day so there was a lot of live music and the hotel was packed with people. We stayed till about 4:30 and then rode back to the city with Leonora.

If you'd like to watch more about Right to Dream's girls program, please watch the video below. Note: yes, they all have short, cropped hair. That is standard for school-age girls in Ghana.

Weekend Getaway - Blue Diamond Beach Resort

Apologies for the lack of postings lately. Things have been very quiet/uneventful around here so there wasn't much to tell. But, alas, we did something fun last weekend so here ya go!

Last week some friends invited us to tag along with them to a hotel on the beach about 2 hours outside Accra. Considering we rarely get out of town given our lack of car and driver, we were pleased to be included. On Saturday, Sam and Alex picked us up at our place and we set out for the town of Apam. Apam is due west of Accra, about midway between the capital and Cape Coast.

Not surprisingly, we hit quite a bit of traffic so it took almost 3.5 hours to get to the place but the view was worth the wait. The room rates were very reasonable, though I admit that the rooms themselves were very average. No fancy bedding or other resort-like amenities. That said, we didn't mind because... Look at that view! Why would you be in your room except to sleep anyway? To be fair, they actually offer day rates if you want to drive over and spend the day at the beach/pool.

We arrived, checked in, dropped off our bags and went down to a table in the sand. We each got a fresh coconut and ordered some seafood for a late lunch. Dan and I split some calamari and each got grilled tilapia with some rice. Sam and Alex also split calamari and got the spicy seafood dish and a seafood salad. Everyone was pleased with the meal and given how long it took to be delivered, there's no question it was freshly prepared.

After lunch, the guys played some volleyball and goofed off in the ocean. Alex and I went and got hour massages. An hour massage was 180cedis... so roughly $45. Um, yes. Sign me up. After massages, showers and a nap, we met back up poolside for dinner and some drinks. Between the traffic, the sunshine and just the general lazy feel of the place, we all retired to bed by 10:30pm.

The next morning, I woke up and walked down to a hammock and just hung out listening to the waves. It reminded me of the condo my Gram and Gramps had on the beach when I was a teenager. When I'd spend the night, we'd leave the guest bedroom window cracked so you could hear the sound of the waves as I fell asleep. Dan woke up shortly after and came to join my "hammock vegging".

Eventually, the four of us went to the poolside for breakfast, which was included in the room rate. Tea/coffee, juice, an omelet, fruit and toast. Lots of food for someone who's about to sit around in a bikini... haha. After breakfast, we relocated to some lounge chairs by the pool and relaxed. With the view and the occasional dip in the pool or the ocean, it was hard to believe we were still in Ghana.

Another late lunch with our toes in the sand and we went back to the rooms to shower up for the ride home. There was much less traffic on the way home, which is common for Sundays here, so we made it home in an hour and a half. Dan and I had some incredibly gourmet peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and watched a movie before calling it a weekend.

2nd Annual Valentine's Day Fort-Build

Valentine's Day weekend was surprisingly busy, despite not having any concrete plans ahead of time. Friday night, Dan and I went to dinner with Robin. It was his last night here in Accra before going back to the UK for a few weeks. They are currently in the process of moving up to Akosombo so the house here is pretty much empty and certainly without food.

We went to a South African restaurant that is in a hotel/apartment complex that looked new. The menu was pretty robust for a "hotel restaurant". We got some chicken and seafood skewers to share as starters and a bottle of wine. For mains, Robin got short ribs, Dan got the pork chop and I had a steak. Few places here have steak, and even fewer have good South African beef so I figured I'd give it a shot. My steak was actually really good, the best I've had in Ghana for sure. The guys seemed lukewarm about their choices. Robin's ribs were not braised the way we would have expected short ribs to be, so he gave the chef a hard time (which he always gets a kick out of doing).

Saturday morning, we lounged around the house. Francis, the head security guy, had been bugging me about washing our windows. I held him off for awhile with the good ol' "it's harmattan, let's wait til April" spiel, but he was growing impatient. As I'm certain he needed extra money, and we genuinely like him the most of the staff, we said ok. We did, however, choose to limit his access to just the living room and kitchen. We rarely open the windows in any of the bedrooms anyway.

He came at 10:05 (impressively punctual for a Ghanaian) and got started. When he finished with the patio, I was really grateful. Mostly because I had been dreading cleaning the deck after harmattan and trying to de-dust our patio furniture and the grill. He did all of that and washed the screens/sliding glass doors. We had agreed on 75ghs but we were so blown away by the job he did that we gave him 100 (which is still only $25, to keep things in perspective). I might have him do it again in August right before the patio furniture gets packed onto the shipping container.

Saturday afternoon was spent by the pool, with a side of naps. We got cleaned up and went to our favorite restaurant, Bistro 22, for Valentine's Day dinner. They had red lights throughout the restaurant with silk flower petals and heart confetti on the tables. There was a live band playing "love tunes" on a guitar, saxophone and a strangely high-pitched male vocalist. We ate a lot, enjoyed playing a mildly successful version of Name That Tune and got carrot cake to go. Came home and watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith whilst fork-fighting over the slice of cake.

Sunday was equally as relaxing (read as: lazy) while we watched a triple-header of soccer games. Last Valentine's Day, we were living in Mozambique. To refresh your memory... or mine, since I don't recall whether this story was told at the time... Dan offered to plan the activities for the day. When we left the hotel it was humid and over 100 degrees and felt like a sauna. By 4pm the sky turned black and was about to dump. We stopped off at the store for snacks and gave up on dinner reservations. Good thing we did because it was hurricane-worthy. Cars were stuck in the flooded streets, rain was blowing sideways, it was crazy. We took the mattresses and couch cushions onto the floor and built a fort of bedsheets and blankets, created a makeshift charcuterie plate and watched movies.

It was such a spontaneous but fun night that we decided to make it a tradition. So, this year was the 2nd annual fort-build-movie-watching Valentine's Day. We put together some snacks, built a fort with the sofa cushions and dining chairs and climbed in. We watched Bridge of Spies with Tom Hanks and then cleaned up and crashed. Still fun the second time around so I suspect it will continue.

Things have calmed down a lot on this end now that the weddings and things have passed. I expect the next couple of weeks to be pretty uneventful... which is just fine. :)

Super Bowl Sunday

The Super Bowl was somewhat uneventful for us this year. It was disappointing that it was being held in San Francisco and knowing we were missing out. Though based on all the articles I read and opinions on Facebook, sounds like 80% of people just whined about it. That said, it was fun to watch some of the pregame and see photos of our old home.

We watched movies most of Sunday afternoon since the game didn't start till 11:30pm our time. Around 6pm, I made some slow cooker buffalo chicken meatballs and a big bowl of hummus with carrots to hold us over. About 11pm, Dan threw a bunch of wings on the grill in preparation for kickoff.

 Presentation and Food Photography are not my strengths.

But they tasted good!

Our only involvement was Fantasy Football related. Three years ago, Dan took over a spot in a league with his dad and his friends. It's really interesting in how the rules work. It's cumulative points over the course of the season, not head-to-head matchups with winner being the best record. It makes the draft very strategic because you're trying to pick good players but you want the players who will make it to the Super Bowl.

Dan's first year in the league, he did not win anything. Prizes are for 1st, 2nd and 3rd out of 9 guys. Before his second year, he asked if I wanted to join. I said I didn't want my own team but if he was up for a co-management thing, I'd be willing to do that. In year 2, we got 2nd place. This year we won. As much as I'd love to say that this is a clearly because of my involvement, it's probably more that we've learned a lot with respect to draft strategy over the last three years.

This year's biggest lesson: Don't expect Vegas to inform you that your star running back isn't playing. I think it took three weeks for Dan to get over that one.

We watched until about 10 mins left in the third quarter. Found ourselves underwhelmed by the game, the commercials and the halftime show. Thus, at 2am we decided to call it a night. I'm glad we watched it regardless. It's almost funny how American it is. Very few people in Ghana know/care about it (including non-American expats). I think there was one sports bar here that was showing it.

Another football season is over and so begins the long slog to August/preseason. Womp womp.

Ghanaian Wedding Numero Dos - Gabby and Rosemary

Last Saturday, we went to our second wedding in as many weeks. This one, while taking place in Accra, was much more multicultural. Rosemary, the bride, is Ghanaian from the village of Ho (see Dan's post from Sunday about the Ho festivities... it's not what it sounds like, I promise). Gabby, the groom, is Kenyan on secondment in Ghana from PwC Nairobi... though he's been here three years now. Pierre, the best man, is Cameroonian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but now is on rotation in London. Jonia, the maid of honor, is Tanzanian, and used to work for PwC Ghana but is now on rotation in Dubai. And then there's me, Dan, Janni (Danish), and White Joe (English) rounding out the cast of pale folk. Yes, we have multiple friends named Joe so we do actually call him White Joe to his face.

The wedding was set to start at 10am "prompt". We left the house at 9:35 expecting to arrive around 10:15. We got lost... very lost. In Dan's defense, he knew where he was going, but there was a service road on the right of the highway. He didn't know he needed to be on the service road so when our turn came up, we couldn't make it through the cement barrier. We finally arrived at the church at 11:05 and were sat in the front row by the usher. Rosemary had walked down the aisle but, considering the priest was giving the "please silence your cell phone" spiel, we realized we actually were right on Ghana time.

The ceremony was a Catholic one with lots of standing and sitting but the service was very nice. The priest did well to try to merge the West African/East African cultures and made everyone feel welcome regardless of their personal beliefs.

During the ceremony, we noticed that some people had programs. Dan looked across the aisle to check a woman's program to see where we were in the service. He then whispered to me, "My name is in the program for the reception but I'm not sure why". We asked the usher for a program and she said they had run out. The nice woman across the aisle heard this and gave us one of theirs. Verdict: Dan is a "Popper of Champagne"... along with a few of Rosemary's friends, Gideon, Pierre, Gabby's brother, Dan and Albert. All I can picture in this moment is the scene from Dumb and Dumber when they pop Champagne and kill the endangered species owl. We had a good laugh over this. Thankfully, when that time came at the reception, no humans or owls were hurt in the completion of this task.

After the ceremony, there were multiple photographs taken. A list of the order of photographs was provided in the program just like it was the weekend before. We stayed for the "PwC" photo and the "friends of the groom" photo. Afterwards, we hitched a ride with George to the reception where we were seated and awaited the arrival of the newlyweds.

The reception was very nice and similar to Laura's with the western-ness. They cut the cake, there was a bar, toasts, first dance, etc. There was a buffet of food from both sides of Africa... Ghanaians love spicy food, whereas East African food has no pepper so they accommodated family/friends from both ends. The funniest thing is that our table was selected last to go to the buffet but they had run out of plates. We're not sure how that happened. You have x number of chairs, wouldn't you need at least as many plates and then some for people who come back for seconds or take two? Apparently not. So we had to wait for them to wash some plates. A lot of the food had run out by this point so we took what was still available and went back to the table. After the food was finished, and the drinks were flowing surprisingly heavily, the dance floor opened up. It was everything you'd expect an African wedding's dance floor to be. Best people watching experience I've had in a long time.

 Albert post-Champagne-popping/Dorothy, me and Ayesha

 Dan the Man/Photo with the newly married couple which escalated to...

 

this...

and then this...

As the reception was winding down, Pierre asked Dan and me if the after party could be at our house. Obviously, we said yes. The remaining booze was put into Albert's trunk and he and Dorothy drove us home. We got home around 6pm, took some showers and a quick nap. People started turning up around 8/8:30. At max capacity, there were about 15 of us.

By 1am, Rosemary was asleep on Gabby's lap and I casually started to pick up empty bottles/glasses. You know, the universal sign for "hey it's been fun but please get out of my house so I can go to bed". Everyone was very grateful that we had them over and the troops headed out. Suffice to say we slept very well after a long day in the sun and playing host/hostess.

Another wedding in Ghana complete.