#739 Global Mamas

In Ghana, we spent an inspiring day with Global Mamas.

Previous Semester at Sea voyagers raved about Global Mamas, the Ghanaian fair-trade cooperative started by eight women in 2003. We've seen Global Mamas handcrafted products from Ghana for sale in a shop down the street from our home in Indianapolis so we know the Mamas have grown to be a worldwide creative community. But we want to know more.

So while in Ghana, we visit both the Global Mamas store in Accra and their modest facility in Cape Coast where we learn about their 350 producers from 7 communities all in Ghana supporting local entrepreneurial women and their families.

Then come their products, beautiful and useful.

But when Global Mama Mary Koomson takes us to her batik workshop things get really interesting.

Sponge patterns. Organic cotton. Natural dies. Brilliant colors. Drying sunshine. We have so much respect for the hard work and skill invested in making batik fabric! 

We come away impressed with Mary Koomson's fine craftsmanship and much better clothed. 

Yours in Ghana,

Kelly

#594 Ghana maps

To better understand Winneba, Ghana, we need maps.  Ideally we would find locally produced geographic datasets showing roads, streams, and elevation contours along with point locations for important sites like schools, clinics, and drinking water sources.   

But in conversations with Winneba government officials on the first day of our visit, we learn the creation of local scale GIS datasets has not yet happened.  So we use a printed Google Map with minimal landmarks to orient ourselves as we tour Winneba.

On our second day, our colleague Benjamin Akuetteh with the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services at the University of Ghana, Legon, works the phone and finds a lead at the Ghana Survey Office in Accra, Ghana's capital. 

Ghana Survey Office

A series of meetings there lead us to a private office where amid stacks of paper maps, those very detailed Winneba GIS datasets we seek appear on the screen!  Cue big smiles all around.

Although these geographic datasets are created by the government, they are not freely distributed.  

Since we are not prepared for a large data purchase on the spot we make some notes, snap a photo, and opt temporarily for a less-detailed paper map from the analog “Map Sales Office”.

Yours in map sleuthing,

Kelly

#593 Ghana Geography

A Ghana highlight was my visit to the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services at the University of Ghana, Legon.  Mr. Benjamin Akuetteh is Principal Applications Specialist at CERGIS and he introduced me to the staff and their work.

When I saw the sign over Benji's desk, I knew we were kindred spirits.

 

Benji and I share some of the same GIS books.

And Benji's spent time with GIS celebrity Jack Dangermond, founder of ESRI, the world's largest Geographic Information Systems company.

The previous day during meetings in Winneba we were disappointed to learn no GIS datasets had ever been created for that town.  But Benji was about to lead us on a hunt to see if his combination of GIS savvy and professional connections could uncover a previously unknown source for that elusive digital information.

Yours in setting up a GIS cliffhanger,
Kelly

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#592 Sisters - Charlottesville and Winneba

Charlottesville, Virginia and Winneba, Ghana are sister cities.

 

So when our Fall 2013 voyage of Semester at Sea docks in Ghana, we welcome a Winneba contingent to visit the MV Explorer, then we all travel to Winneba for an overnight stay.

In Winneba, we meet with local leaders to help lay the groundwork for future visits by Semester At Sea students through the UVA School of Architecture Resilient Communities project.  We visit local schools, see the site where a new public library is planned as part of the sister cities project, and walk the beach lined with colorful fishing boats. 

Yours in getting to know our new sister,
Kelly

#591 Ghana librarians

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times.  Libraries and librarians are the best.

Our friend Cynthia was out of town on leave from the University of Education - Winneba during our 2-day visit.  But she traveled to Winneba to greet us and show us her library.

And we showed her that UVA misses her.

Yours in continuing the Ghana librarian exchange,
Mary

#530 Ghanaian librarians visit UVA

When we were so warmly welcomed by Ghanaians last February, Kelly and I had no idea that soon we would have the opportunity to welcome Ghanaian librarians to UVA.

UVA librarians were thrilled to receive some funding from the Center for International Studies that would allow us to implement an international library exchange to complement our increasing international focus and our amazing international collections and services.    

For our initial exchange, we drew on our Ghana connections and invited two academic librarians:

• Cynthia Kumah, Head of Reader Services, University of Education, Winneba  (left in photo)
• Gifty Boakye, Deputy University Librarian, University of Ghana, Accra (right in photo)

You wouldn't believe me if I told you everything that we did last week, so I'll let these pictures of our first international library exchange tell the story!

Yours in appreciating the distance traveled, effort made, enthusiasm shown, and graciousness demonstrated by our Ghanaian colleagues,
Mary

#466 The Kindness of Ghanaian Strangers

Friendly.  That's how I describe the people we met in Ghana.

Here's one example.  Driving down a narrow dirt road toward a remote coastal town we came upon a gaping mudhole. 

We surveyed the options, hit the gas, and sunk deep into the muck.  Tires spinning, we were stuck.  We all hopped out and pushed, but we made no progress.  Then two local ladies approached with baskets regally balanced on their heads and babies cradled tightly against their backs.  "We will get you help", they offered calmly.  Shortly an excited crowd of young boys came trotting down the road and jumped energetically into the muck engulfing our van.  While two boys pawed the glop from in front of our tires, others collected dry dirt and stones using their shirts to carry the cargo back to the scene.  Another boy hacked palm fronds with a machete and piled the rough greenery under our tires.  Shortly our van was back on solid ground and we all celebrated.

Yours in appreciating the kindness of friendly strangers,
Kelly

#464 Ghana's Coastal Forts

In 2009, President Obama visited the Ghanaian coastal forts where Africans were imprisoned  from the 15th to the 19th centuries in order to supply the Atlantic slave trade. 

The president said "It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it's also possible to overcome."  And he said he hoped the visit would show his daughters that far outside their "blessed" upbringing, "history can take very cruel turns."  

His words of wisdom are now more meaningful to me having visited these somber landmarks with Semester At Sea.

Fort Appolonia at Beyin: 

  Fort Groot Fredericksburg at Princess Town (1683):

  Fort Groot Fredericksburg slave dungeon:

Fort Groot Fredericksburg slave dungeon:

Fort Metal Cross at Dixcove (1693):

Fort Metal Cross door of no return:

Yours in believing "as bad as history can be, it's also possible to overcome",
Kelly

#463 Dry Season Water

February in Ghana is dry season.  But today was all about the water.

We floated down a long canal through marsh grass and jungle...

into a lake...

to visit the Nzulezu water village, a tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On our return trip I bailed water from the leaky canoe

then Mary and Lisa walked the beach where locals pulled in long fishing nets.

Yours in H2O,
Kelly

#462 A Hot Start in Africa

John Muir called Africa the "Hot Continent".  After our first day on the ground in equatorial Africa, we agree with John. 

Our hot Sunday walk through Takoradi's central market circle (the town's hub and spoke layout is Washington DC-like) put us face-to-face with enormous snails, live crabs, scalded pig's feet, guinea fowl, and fish in all possible forms. No photos allowed.

Clearly Sunday in Takoradi was all about the churches.  Familiar hymns like "Rock of Ages" drifted through open pointed-arch windows into bustling courtyards.  The local ladies do love to dress up for church and once services were over, they loved having their pictures taken.

Yours in enjoying a hot African start,
Kelly

#460 Greeted in Ghana

The folks in Takoradi, Ghana greeted our arrival with native dancers.

Perhaps word of our earlier greeting in Manaus, Brazil preceeded us across the Atlantic.

Yours in comparative greetings,
Kelly