Adinkra

Funtunfunefu-Denkyemfunefu: Democracy and unity
This is Mate Masi: Wisdom
Nkyinkyim: Versatility

Sankofa: remember and learn from your past

This past weekend, a portion of my whole group went to see Kumasi, the second biggest city in Ghana. It was similar to Accra in many ways except that it seemed far busier, faster, and has the biggest open air market in West Africa (seriously, it was a giant maze). On saturday morning we went to the village where they pring Andinkra cloth, the Bonwire Kente Village, and Lake Bosumtwi. I'm absolutely obsessed with the Adinkra symbols although I just realized I haven't mentioned them yet, so I'll explain now: The Ashanti people are members, along with several other tribes, of the Akan ethnicity, which makes up a significant portion of Ghana's population. The Ashanti are a powerful tribe that counts itself among the few to actually provide effective resistance against colonialism. They are fierce warriors with a legendary stubborness to survive and live freely, one of their most renowned mottos being "kill 1000 and in the morning, 1000 more will come." However, they also have a beautiful and rich culture, including one of Ghana's most famous crafts - kente, but I'll get to that. Less known, but certainly not less beautiful, are the Adinkra symbols. Some of these symbols are part of the collection of Ghanaian indigenous symbols, which were found in pre-historic art painted on cave walls. Adinkra, in Asante Twi, means "Goodbye." They are called this, at least in part, because they are printed on cloth which you wear to funerals, in order to send messages to the deceased and the gods. Today, they are still used for this purpose, but they are also used in art, architecture, jewelry, and many other things. Each has a twi name which explains it's meaning. Here are a few examples of my favorites:
Sankofa - meaning Go back and take. In other words, remember and learn from your past.

Mate Masie - meaning What I hear, I keep. In other words, wisdom.

Nkyinkyim - meaning Twisting. In other words, versatility

Funtunfunefu-Denkyemfunefu - roughly meaning Siamese crocodiles share one stomach, yet they fight. This symbol is a reminder that infighting and tribalism is harmful to all who engage in it. It is the symbol of democracy and unity

At the village they showed us how they grind bark with a large mortar and pestle and then boil it to make the ink. Afterwards we got to make some strips of Adinkra fabric on our own by stamping fabric. It was a lot of fun.

Next we went to Bonwire, where kente fabric is woven. One of the weavers gave us a quick lesson on kente and then we walked around to watch various weavers and make some purchases of our own. Deece and Seann had very generously given me a wonderful gift for my birthday to be spent in Ghana and I had been saving it for this! After walking around the building several times, I kept coming back to this one weaver. I asked about a few different pieces but my eye kept falling on one I knew was going to be more expensive because the number of different designs. Out of curiousity, I asked him the price. With a sort of guilty face he replied "Oh...that one's more expensive; my grandfather gave it to me." Shocked I asked why he was selling it. He told me that his grandfather had woven it 60 years ago and had given it to him as a gift to sell for school fees. I asked about the different designs and he told me each other their meanings: many heads are better than one, all hands are not created the same (diversity), and tolerance. He told me that the combination of those three designs are called the "unity" cloth. He had basically already sold me on it with the story about his grandfather but now it was a done deal. I am now happily the owner of a 2 beautiful yards of kente cloth. Thanks Deece and Seann!!!!!

After that we went to Lake Bosumtwi, a lake caused by a meteor crash hundreds of years ago. It is a common getaway place for wealthier people living in Kumasi and it was beautiful. The next few entries will be pictures!

Two of my friends, Matt and Libby, "hiking." I put this in quotes because we did less hiking and more stumbling down a hill. It was incredibly steep. I wasn't far from them here but it was so steep that it looks like I was. The path we were hiking was largely unmarked and the rainforest mostly untouched, it was stunning.
In order to reach the waterfall, we all had to repel down a short little cliff. It was so much fun (if not a bit terrifying)!
This is me, Layla and Alli and the bottom of the waterfall. We could stand right there but the rest of it was pretty deep. I'm wearing a tshirt and basketball shorts because I hadn't brought a swim suit, silly me.
Here is Alli, Layla, and me (left to right) again, dancing at the base of the waterfall.

Here is the aforementioned slideshow I promised! This is a little village called Fume in the Volta Region (the Eastern part of Ghana). It is at the base of several mountains and we had to walk past it to get to where we were staying. This is the typical architecture for this part of Ghana, as well as some parts along the coast: mud walls and thatched roofs.
This is a group of children in the village. The minute they saw my camera they cam running up to be in a picture. Notice how one little boy is holding his baby sister - it is common for even young children to take care of their younger siblings through out the day while their mother is making food and doing chores. When they get older, they will begin to help with chores and food and their younger siblings will take on the caretaker role.
This is one of the views from where we were staying. It was atop on of the mountains and absolutely surrounded by untouched rainforest, absolutely stunning. Across the way, though you can't see it here, is the highest human settlement in Ghana.

Wilderness Adventures

This weekend some friends and I traveled to the Eastern region of Ghana known as the Volta Region. It is called this because of the giant man-made lake (Lake Volta) which provides most of the water and electricity to the country. The people in this region speak Ewe and are kinder for the most part than any other Ghanaians I've met. I wanted to attach some photos to show everyone the amazing places we went and things we did but the internet seems to be absurdly slow so instead....

Here's a list of Casualties in Africa thus far:

1 pair of leather sandals lost to the Atlantic Ocean

Countless hours wasted due to inefficiency and waiting

1 pair of Theta sandals lost to an Osu gutter (I tripped, the gutters are deep, it was horrible)

Numerous bandaids used to cover blisters on feet and hands (repelling down a little cliff to be able to swim at the bottom of a waterfall is pretty sweet btw)

1 pair of adidas sneakers lost somewhere in Cape Coast (they must have fallen out of my bag)

Several pairs of skirts/dresses with new rips and tears

1 camera stolen at a football match (one minute it was in my pocket, five minutes later, after walking through a crowd, poof - gone)

1 pair of sandals lost to sheer wear and tear

My name: No one in this country, or refugees from Liberia for that matter, can pronounce the name Betsy. They've never heard of it and apparently the t-s is impossible. Versions of my name I have been called: Betty, Betta (?), Besty and the worst of all (or at least my parents would think), when I gave up on going by Betsy and said my name was Elizabeth, everyone at my internship decide my name was Lizzy or Liz. My poor name.

Okay I'm horrendously behind on this blog so I'm just going to get everyone up to speed on my last two weeks. First I have some exciting news! After scouring the internet for NGO's working at the Budumburam Refugee Camp, I finally succeeded in making contact with an organization named Cradle of Hope for Relief and Development. CHRAD is an organization that was founded and is managed by a Liberian refugee who hopes to address the woefully unattended to issues that refugees face daily. Although it is a fairly new organization, the man who runs it, Lawrence, is passionate and charismatic with the sincere hope of making a difference. With the help of Women for Sustainable Empowerment, another NGO located at the camp, CHRAD aims towards providing psychosocial support for women and youth in the camps, many of whom have experienced the type of trauma that only comes from something as horrific as warfare. It is also greatly concerned with creating educational and training opportunities for all members of the settlement in the hopes that what is learned can be taken back to Liberia to build a better, stronger, more peaceful nation.
So far I have been to the camp twice: once to just get familiar with the camp and the second time to begin my counseling. Yes, I am actually counseling people. So far it's mostly been girls between the ages of 13 and 21 who have been interested in talking to me about their stories, but apparently the boys begin to open up only after they get familiar with your presence and once they trust that you won't betray their darker secrets. Considering the pasts of some of these young men, I don't blame them whatsoever.
This week I went to DOVVSU for the first time. DOVVSU stands for Domestic Violence Victims Support Unit and they take domestic violence, rape, and sexual abuse complaints, process them, investigate, prosecute and offer minor counseling to victims. I've been a little wary of this internship only because it is with the police and I was worried that I would be stuck sitting in court or filing papers for hours. The beginning of the morning did not do anything to dispel my fears.
Yaw, a Ghanaian-American student from Chicago, and I arrived at DOVVSU in the Ministries area at about 8:15 am. At that point we greeted one of the Sergeants and he told us to wait for further instructions. So we waited...for two hours...just sitting there. Welcome to Ghana. From 8-10 officers wandered into work. I found this absolutely astounding. If you're 20 minutes late for work, you'll get a stern talking to or at least, it's incredibly frowned upon. Once you're at work, you start working right away, no dilly-dallying. Women, children and men began arriving around 8 but none of them were seen to until around 10. Not only that but the claims and statements are kept in files on desks that really seem to have very little organization. I can't imagine how long it takes to locate a file. If they just put them all in a computer, the whole unit would be so much more efficient.
Finally we were led around the station and introduced to various people who worked there. Because of my interest in trauma counseling, I will mostly be observing the counselors who work there. Obviously I shouldn't be allowed to counsel myself so I'm not surprised to have a more observational role than anything else.
The two counselors are both Ghanaian women in their mid-twenties. One is currently getting her Masters of Social Work at Kingston College in London and the other got a diploma in Social Work from a nearby institution. They are both wonderful and great to talk to. We mostly just talked about how their part of the unit functions.
When a person comes in to make a claim, they are first sent to an officer who takes a formal statement of their complaint. They then file that complaint and wait until the head Sergeant has read it and made a decision on whether to investigate, prosecute and/or refer the victim to one of the social workers for counseling. The victim can then set up times to meet the counselor. Elizabeth and Nora, the two social workers, told me that they mostly see couples but that they also see women and younger girls as well. I asked how important the unit thinks counseling is and both agreed that there needs to be far more emphasis on the recovery of the victim.
I was struck by how many children there were running around the Unit. Of course, this should never surprise me anymore as there are multitudes of children everywhere I go, it just broke my heart to see them there. They do have a small play room where the children can go when their parents are making a complaint or where they can de-stress if they are the victim but the like of child support in this case really needs to be addressed. In the states there are psychologists who are specially trained to work with child victims; here, the children can play on a rocking chair for a bit before telling their story.
As we were walking through the hall, Yaw and I noticed a clearly intoxicated man whose shirt was unbuttoned and off his shoulder. When I looked closer I saw a very deep gash on his shoulder. Yaw later told me that he had heard this man's complaint - his wife thought he was seeing other women and decided the proper way to deal with this was grab a knife from the kitchen and start stabbing him wherever she could. Pretty extreme I'd say. Other than that I didn't hear/see anything in particular but it was only my first time.
On a happier note, the other weekend several friends and I went to this fantastic place approximately 20 minutes from the nearest town and about an hour from the city. There was absolutely no cell phone service, an adorable little bar/restaurant with fantastic food/ an untouched stunning beach, and a tiny fishing village. The Green Turtle Lodge is an eco-lodge started by a British couple. They run a turtle rescue for the turtles that lay their edge on the beach and are entirely self-sufficient, from their solar power to their employees who are young men and women from the village. Despite the large waves and slightly scary rip-tide, it was honestly paradise.
I've got to be better about updating this blog, I forget too much if I wait!