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.