My Internship at the Ark

Five days into my trip to Ghana, Justice escorted me to my soon-to-be office in Haatso, just outside Accra, to meet my soon-to-be Supervisors at the Ark Foundation, Ghana. I had no idea what to expect as I only knew very little about the organization: that it is a women's and children's human rights non-governmental organization, which is involved in providing leadership training for young women. Over these past five weeks I have come to know my organization as so much more...

My first few days (ok, weeks), took some getting used to. First of all, the work culture is completely different than in North America. When I first walked in, my supervisors told me just to sit and relax.... I would have my orientation later that day... so just sit. Ok. So I sat and tried to relax, but every bone in my body was screaming... you should be doing SOMETHING! So I tried my best to find some way to keep myself occupied by doing something useful... I glued newspaper articles onto backings.... fun. Luckily, after about an hour of feeling lost, my supervisor came in and told me I would be going to the court house that day to watch a high profile trial dealing with incest and defilement.... My day was turning out to be MUCH more interesting.

Foster, an Ark volunteer and my first Ark friend, hopped in a taxi with me and we headed into Accra to watch the trial. I learned two very interesting things that day. One, Ghana's justice system is SLOW - to the point I would say it often fails to serve its purpose. I say this because we watched several cases come before the judge in which men were on trial for petty crimes, such as robbery, which had been committed up to 12 YEARS ago!!! Several men had been in police custody for long periods of time with no proper trials, and often, with medical injuries which had not been treated. It was shocking. Worst of all - their trials were not dealt with that day but deferred yet again to future dates, meaning there is no end in sight for most of them.

The second interesting thing I noted was the lack of professionalism on the part of the lawyers. The case we were watching dealt with the sexual abuse of a little girl - obviously a very serious matter. But the lawyers on both sides were just laughing like junior high kids in sex-ed class whenever any 'adult' words were used. ... Unfortunately, despite a compelling argument from the little girl's lawyer, it looks as though the verdict will favour the accused man... an outcome which is strongly opposed by women's rights NGOs in Ghana, like the Ark.

So I started my internship off with a bang!... Then I was assigned my major project - a Gender Violence and HIV/AIDS training manual for a project sponsored by UNIFEM. The project involves providing training on HIV/AIDS, violence, advocacy and law for people living with HIV/AIDS and service providers such as health and social workers. So far the project has been interesting, and I have learned a lot about the HIV/AIDS issue in Ghana - especially in relation to women. For example - I was surprised to learn that three quarters of AIDS cases in adults in their 20s and 30s are women... and that sex workers in Western Africa have a prevalence rate of between 65% and 85%.... So while Ghana is hailed as being one of the more successful African countries in preventing the spread of HIV... obviously there is still a lot of work to be done!!

I also had the opportunity to travel to the Eastern Region to participate in the Ark's mid-year review meetings... by far this was the best experience I had at the Ark. The meetings were to review the activities of each of the units and programs within the Ark, especially their fundraising activities. I learned more in the two days of meetings than I have in the rest of my time in Ghana. The executive director, Angela, asked all the difficult questions of her staff, such as why they were not meeting targets and how they intend to raise enough funds to keep the organization operating into the future. Some of the major challenges and weaknesses of the organization definitely came out during those two days.

Also as part of the trip to the Eastern region I visited the Ark's shelter for abused women and children - the only one of its kind in the entire country. I met a lot of the kids and had some time to play with them! I also met the incredible women who run the shelter - the atmosphere they created there was happy and hopeful - so much so that I could feel it as soon as I set foot on the property. Unfortunately, the resources for the kids were a little scarce - they only had two sad, dented balls to play with :( .... so, as most of you know, I did a bit of fundraising during this past week to help support the kids at the shelter. Lucky for me, and the kids, I have incredibly AWESOME friends and family, and we raised almost $300 for the kids!! YAY!

So my time at the Ark has been very rewarding and an awesome learning experience.... the only question is, where to from here?!?! ... Working at the ark has definitely made me realize this is the type of work I want to be doing 10, 20 and 30 years down the road...

Plain Rice, Fried Rice or Jollof Rice: The Story of a Trip to the North

Well, due to some computer issues and a wicked busy schedule, it's been a while... so I have lots to catch up on! For today? The story of a few weekends ago...

Justice and his 2 fantastic assistants, Mavis and Eugenia, took the 9 of us Obrunis on a wild (and bumpy) journey to the Northern Region. We left bright and early Friday morning, driving most of the day and stopping only for food and 'wee wee's. We arrived at our first Hostel in Kintampo on Friday night and were offered 3 options for dinner: Plain Rice, Fried Rice or Jollof Rice. Little did we know, this would soon be the motto of our weekend.

Early the next morning we departed for Mole National Park, a destination which I had heard mentioned in documentaries and travel guides before I left home. Turns out, getting to and from the Park is more of an adventure than actually being in it. The road that connects the main highway to the park is only about 80km long, yet it took us a whopping 2.5 hours to travel it in each direction!! The packed dirt was so bumpy that our whole bus rattled until it sounded like it was going to fall apart. To make the drive even more fun, the already wildly bumpy dirt was sprinkled with massive potholes, which our driver attempted to dodge, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. When he was not successful, we braced ourselves for the huge thump., and the lucky ones at the back of the bus did their best not to hit their heads off the roof. The highlight of our drive out to the park was our pee stop in a tiny village where news of the bus full of Obrunis traveled quick. Before we knew it, our bus was surrounded by giggling little Ghanaians, all eager to have their pictures taken with us and to look at the instant replay on the screen!

Once we finally arrived at the park, we stopped for lunch at the hotel restaurant and were offered three options: Plain rice, fried rice and jollof rice. After finishing our lunch, we found out that we had just missed the elephants who were apparently taking a bath just behind the hotel when we arrived. Boo. Now, because it was mid-day, we were told the elephants were somewhere off in the bush and that it would be difficult to find them. But, after braving the bumpy road to get here, we were determined to set off on safari and find ourselves some elephants. Well, what we did find was a bagillion varieties of antelope, a few families of bush pigs (think Pumba) and finally, with the skillful eye of our armed guide, an elephant!!!

After traveling back on the bumpy road, we arrived late at night in Tamale. For dinner, our options were.... You guessed it! Plain rice, fried rice or jollof rice. After our delightful dinner, we headed to bed, while thoughts of elephants danced in our heads!... yessss, good one right?! :)

The next morning we drove another 2.5 hours north, and just before the border of Burkina Faso, we turned into the small village of Paga. Here, we paid 5 Ghana cedis each for our admission fee, and an additional few cedis each in order to purchase 4 live chickens... for what you ask? Well to bribe the local crocodiles out of the pond of course! Our hosts crouched down by the water, splashed their hands for a few seconds and before we knew it, we were graced with the presence of about 5 crocodiles. A few of the smaller ones were thrown little chickens and sent back into the pond. The biggest one, however, stayed resting lazily outside the water and then proceeded to pose with each of us for a picture! One by one we sat on the crocodile's back, picked up his tail, and posed for pictures, while the croc sat patiently, sometimes even smiling for the camera. It was ridiculously scary and also unbelievably amazing! Our only instructions were to not walk past his mouth. Why? Well, he can't see very well when he's outside the water and he might accidentally bite us.... Right. We also asked whether there are ever any croc attacks, because the villagers live quite closely with them. They responded that as long as they take care of the crocs, the crocs will respect them in return. As we were told this, we looked out at the pond, which is home to 200 crocodiles, only to see a group of kids getting ready for a swim and another few older boys wading through the water with their fishing lines. Amazing.

Later that day, we arrived back in Tamale just in time for the Ghana vs. Serbia soccer match! Of course, Ghana played their way to a 1-0 victory and the parties in the streets errupted! We're talking a parade of drumming, dancing and singing; popping wheelies on motorbikes; and trucks full of screaming, flag-bearing Ghanaians. Imagine if they had wone the cup...

Oh before I forget, that night an addition was added to our menu: Plain rice, fried rice, jollof rice, or fries!!! I've never been so excited for fries...

The next day we headed back to Accra, making a stop in Kumasi to take in the tourist sites and do a bit of shopping. That night, we were SO glad to be back at our hostel in Legon.... I actually cherished and prolonged my cold, trickling shower. Then it was off to bed to catch some 's before my first day of work... That story to follow soon!!

It's that time! Time for my first real post live from Legon, Ghana! … It’s long… but it’s worth it

I left Toronto on Friday June 4th after being dropped off by Jake. The flights were.... interesting. Eight of us flew with Delta, which I have coined The World's Worst Airline. After flying from Toronto to JFK in New York, we were directed towards the gate where we sat with 200 other passengers. We were not assigned seats at this point and were told we would get our assignments about 10-45 minutes before the flight. When we went to the counter, they checked our documents, stamped our boarding pass and still no seats. To make a long story short, after MUCH confusion and slight rudeness on the part of their employees, the 8 of us were the LAST ones on the plane and were assigned whichever seats were leftover. I ended up in a middle seat, which did not recline, right next to a baby.... enough said.

BUT! All things have been on the up and up since then! We arrived in Accra very early on Saturday morning and were greeted by Justice - possibly the world's hardest working and most caring/patient individual. He took us to our home for the next 6 weeks - Catter's Hostel in Legon, which is a region just outside Accra. Our hostel is fantastic! Clean rooms, friendly staff and even air conditioning!!... The shower is touch and go, but as we're learning, you just have to go with the flow... who needs clean hair anyways, right? :)

After settling into our hostel we spent the rest of the first day making our first voyages out into Legon. First, Justice led us to the nearby mall - through the squatter camp, over the wooden planks covering the open sewer and across the high speed highway. Once we were there, we pretty much felt like we were back in Canada - the mall is very Western and full of people from all over - Westerners and Ghanaians alike. We're thinking we will be making many visits there over the next few weeks!! That night our second voyage took us to Chez Afrique - a nearby bar/restaurant with live music and delicious food. Here we had our first taste of Red Red!! Red Red is fried plantains accompanied by a hot chili sauce... mmmmmmm.

Sunday morning Justice took us to his Church. Ghanaians are lively in all aspects of life but especially in worship - they sang and danced and smiled and welcomed us in a big way - it was a good way to start the day! After that we ventured to two markets in Accra – one named for the first president, Kwame Nkrumah and the other called The Circle. Both were packed full of people and small make-shift huts. This was my first realization that I am in Africa. The kids came running after us yelling “Obronni! Obronni!” which means “white person”. The men suggested that I become their wife. And the women sold everything from Red Red, to the National dish of Fufu, to shoes, to textiles, and everything in between. It is also raging hot. Like, sticky, can't breathe, frizzy-hair kind of hot. Luckily we stopped on the street for some delicious coconut milk


Later, our new friend Mavis, who was acting as our tour guide for the day, took us to her Aunt’s house in Adenta, another region just outside Accra. Mavis’ Aunt, Uncle, cousins and a group of neighbourhood kids greeted us with open arms. We got to see how a typical middle class family lives here – Mavis’ uncle is a lawyer and her Aunt just finished her entrance exams for University. They welcomed us in and showed us their home and the maize they grow in their backyard. They also spend over an hour preparing Fufu from scratch and showing us how it is done. First they take ground-up cassava and coco yams, then use a huge wooden stick to pound the mixture until it turns into a sticky kind of dough. Then the dough (Fufu) is served in a soup. Ours was served with bush meat, crab legs and snail. So was it good? Ummmm…. The jury is out. Haha.

Yesterday we had an orientation at the University of Ghana, which is a beautiful campus. And today we spent our morning in Ghanaian Parliament watching the proceedings and then meeting with several of the MPs… the education has begun!!

Today, Justice took me to the Ark Foundation to introduce me to my supervisor and then Tuesday will be my first day of work at my placement – I still have no idea what I will be doing, so I will keep you posted!!


Soooo, we have been keeping very busy, and it feels like we have already been here for weeks. I miss everybody already, but I am having a FABULOUS time and I can’t wait to tell you all more about it

Love you all – talk to you soon!!

Welcome!

Hi Everyone!

On June 4th I am embarking on a six week work-study trip to Ghana in West Africa as part of an exchange opportunity with my Masters program at Queen's University. I'll be traveling with eight of my fellow students to the University of Ghana in Accra - Ghana's capital city. We will be working for local NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) during the week and voyaging out to various parts of the country for weekend study tours.


I'll be posting updates and pictures here as often as I can - so I hope you all will check it out and follow along with me on my adventures!!



Steph