Ghana

A roadside stand and village outside of Takoradi, Ghana

 A village between Takoradi and Cape Coast. The front home is painted by Vodofone (local phone company). Vodofone and other business will paint homes with their logo and pay the homeowner a minimal rental fee as well.  TV antennas symbolize that this is a community with resources. Teachers and government workers (the middle class) live in this community.

 Inside the slave castle of Cape Coast. The darkened door in the middle (the door of no return) is where slaves departed the castle in the middle of the night and were loaded onto boats to make the journey across the Atlantic Ocean to South America.

Handmade fishing boats located outside of the Cape Coast Slave Castle along the coast. Boats are handbuilt, carved and painted symbolizing a families boat. Designs include old African images and salutes to the Ghana Soccer Team the Black Stars and everything in between.

Ghana

Ghana is red clay dirt, packed down so hard that only a thin layer of dust is uncovered when the wind blows. The ground is covered with foot trails that run between structures made of sheet metal and wood. Structures that Americans would call shanties and that would be condemned and considered unliveable in most US cities. These structures serve as businesses, homes, schools and churches and are the essence of a Ghanaian village.

Ghana is noise that ricochets with laughter from small children dressed in colorful school uniforms slowly strolling to and from schools as they whisper secrets to one another. Ghana is filled with the chatter of independent business people bargaining prices in open-air markets, the beeps of taxi horns reminding walkers to get out of the way, the phonetic pace of street vendors shouting at you in order to sell their wares carefully balanced in large bowls or trays upon their heads.

Ghana is color that bleeds from the rust covered tin roofs providing shelters for homes, markets and businesses. Bright, bold, wood block printed fabric sewn into women’s clothing for everyday events. Orangish-red shiny tomatoes piled high in bushel baskets stacked high on tables in the market. The red and white colors of coca-cola and vodofone logos that are plastered across the sides of businesses and homes. The clear blue of the Atlantic Ocean that carries fisherman to their livelihood, provides hours of entertainment for families at the beach and serves as a haunting remainder of how humans were exported from this spot hundreds of years before.

Ghana is a country filled with polarities. Ghana provides over 60% of the world’s supply of cocoa. Cocoa beans are harvested primarily by young children who are bought and stolen from the country of Burkina Faso as slaves in order to meet the worlds demand for cheap chocolate. Reminders of the slave trade remain a part of everyday life, yet the people of Ghana do not dwell on their history rather they are hopeful for their future. Ghana has mind-blowing poverty and yet Ghana continues to be one of the most stable and growing African countries.

Ghana is in your face, colorful, loud, chaotic, aggressive, assertive, desperate, disparate, peaceful, hopeful and demanding of your time, money and love.

Brazil

 Graffiti in Manaus, Brazil of a jungle scene.

 Small village along the Amazon. Houses only accessible via foot or riverway.

 Canoeing in the floating jungle of the Rio Negro and offshoot of the Amazon River.

Arrival in Brazil

I have rewritten this entry about 10 times. Trying to figure out how to say something witty, profound and unique about Brazil. My lack of success has meant that I am writing about Brazil upon departing from Ghana. I now find that my memories of events are already fuzzy. That the book knowledge I had learned from numerous pre-port lectures is beginning to wane. What I am left with is, my feelings, sordid memories and confusion about the complexities of poverty, globalization, and my own beliefs.

Recently, Brazil has been receiving positive attention from the World. From the fascination with their most recent and successful president affectionately known as “Lulu”, to Brazil’s successful application and award as hosts for both the World Cup and the future summer Olympics. It is a country with growing economic prosperity. However, there has also been a great deal of negative attention given to Brazil regarding the state of their Favela’s (inner-cities), issues of education, and of course the deforestation of the Amazon.  It is in the management of these polarities of economic growth and poverty, development and conservation that is at the crux of Brazil’s future.

We saw this polarity as we arrived in Manaus, Brazil on a Sunday. I found Manaus to be similar to Milwaukee….an old industrial town trying to reinvent itself in order to keep pace with the future. And while Manaus has many of the attributes of a mid-size city it is surrounded by jungle and farmland making it one of the main stays of employment within the area. Everyday we saw hundreds of individuals getting off water taxis to go to work, shop for items, see the doctor, and then return at night to the same water taxis for the long journey up the Amazon to their villages and homes. The Amazon River has several functions within this area. It is a superhighway for commerce and shipping, it is a resource for food and water in rural Amazonian villages, it is main system of transportation for others and it is an economic machine that draws tourism supporting employment for many Brazilians.

Like many who visit Brazil, our adventures in Brazil focused on the Amazon River basin and Jungle. The first day of our arrival we perused the market, went to the refurbished opera house and heard a local symphony featuring the works of Beethoven and Schubert. We spent the remainder of the day arranging a trip further into the jungle. We found a local hostel and made arrangements through a small eco-friendly tour operator called Amazon Antonio Jungle Tours. It turns out the owner, Antonio, a soft spoken, humble man has reworked how tourism can work in the Amazon. He own more than 300 acres of jungle, hires only locals from the bush, has built an eco-friendly sustainable hostel and creates a non-touristy way to see the jungle, explore the rivers and better understand the people and culture that resides in the bush of the jungle.  We had the opportunity to camp in the jungle, fish for piranhas, explore the floating jungles via canoes and spent enormous time talking with our friend and guide Francisco.

As I reflect on my experiences in Brazil here are just a few of the items I discovered/relearned and realized:

• American pop culture is exported in ways I never imagined. I watched a bad Jennifer Love Hewitt film translated into Portuguese on a bus on the way back from a remote village in the Amazon. I saw more pictures of Brittney Spears on newsstands than I see in the United States.
• Fresh caught grilled fish is always tasty no matter where you are, even piranha.
• Coke tastes better when made with real sugar vs. high fructose corn syrup.
• Paddling a canoe holds the same wonderment in the amazon as it does in Wisconsin. The boats are bigger, paddles are heavier, and seats are harder.
• Progress without education isn’t always positive. By introducing refrigerators to remote regions of the Amazon, there is no longer a need for individuals to fish on a daily basis, radically changing how individuals spend their time. Leading some individuals to feel a loss of purpose, as their time has not been filled with other duties or tasks. Most people want to feel useful.
• A strong educational system is essential to develop a middle class. A strong  middle class is essential to stabilize and grow a society. Creating a strong middle class is complex with challenges, issues and polarities that I never imagined.

 

 And while I could continue the above list for probably pages, I am still learning what I learned. After 5 days in the Amazon, 7 days at sea and then 5 days in Ghana I am still processing. I imagine the complete list of “stuff I am learning on this trip” will continue for years and years.

That said, way to go Pack! Pictures will come shortly, technical problems continue......

Life on the Ship

 Our Team (Sunny, Faith, Amy, Alissa, Al, Raja, Daniel and Me)

Our Ship the MV Explorer

Life on the Ship

As of yesterday, we have been aboard the MV explorer for almost a month.  Which means, we’ve begun to settle into a routine living and working aboard a ship with 700 other people. Life on the ship is somewhat similar to a college dorm, summer camp, a never ending meeting and at times a bad ferry ride all at the same time.

Our ship is 7 decks tall, for a cruise ship 7 decks is small. In comparison, Ships like Princess and Norwegian Cruise tower over us at 14 – 16 decks tall. Undergraduate students reside on decks 2,3, and 4. Lifelong learners (folks ages 25 – 87) reside on decks 4 and 5. While Faculty and administration reside on decks 4, 5 and 7.  Amy and I share a room on Deck 4 have responsibilities for about 55 – 60 undergraduate students each. Our room is about the size of a large dorm room. We have a small bathroom and shower connected to our room. We have small table we refer to as our studio, a desk we refer to as the office and shelf filled with books we refer to as the library. It’s sparse, but livable and comfortable. And surprisingly, as of today, I still don’t really miss all my stuff.

Our daily ship routine is centered around three set meals. Breakfast is serve buffet style every morning 7:30 – 8:30 p.m., lunch 11:45 – 1:30 and dinner is 5:30 – 7:30. Work, socializing, planning, meetings, interacting with students, interacting with colleagues all seems to blend together and typically starts with breakfast and ends at 11:30 p.m. or so, depending on how many times I have to remind students to be quiet. When I was hired, the original job description was a combination of residence hall director, special events coordinator and security. To date, that seems somewhat correct, but the line “other duties as assigned” certainly fits in this roll. I am a part of a team of 8 living learning coordinators and in a typical day we work with students to plan educational and recreational activities, our duties include: test proctors, alcohol service night security, facilitators of activities, workshops and events, support for students with issues related to alcohol, drugs, sex, mental health and homesickness. We provide logistical support for students regarding questions like….how do I call home? Do you know how to set  up e-mail or access the web? How do I get sea urchins spines out of my foot? Do you think this is a jelly fish sting? My roommate is sleeping in a room with a boy, where am I supposed to go?  How drunk is too drunk?  Are you sure I can't bring alcohol on the ship? In essence we try to provide information and support in a way that is fun, educational and effective.

To date in conjunction with students and faculty we have organized over 50 workshops, hosted embassy dignitaries from Brazil, planned and implemented a talent show and dance for 600 students, run a basketball tournament for over 20 teams, planned and run a shipboard Olympics for over 700 people, shown over 20 films. Things that would take months or weeks of committee work, is accomplished in days or hours by interested individuals regardless of title or role. It has been a true example of collaboration for the greater good.

So now that we are underway, getting our groove on, and some major events are out of the way....I hope to post to this blog on a more regular basis. 

Go Pack Go!

Dominica

Pictures above (Storefront in Roseau, Dominica and view of coast)

Upon leaving the Bahamas on January 12, 2011 roughly 4 short days later we arrived in the Caribbean Islands on the island of Dominica.

Dominica is not to be confused with the Dominican Republic. Confusion among the two is such a common occurrence, that mail meant for Dominica often goes to the Dominican Republic.  Dominica was originally inhabited by the Carib people and was rediscovered by Columbus on a Sunday (Domingo in Spanish thus the island’s name) in 1493.   Since it was rediscovered, the French and British spent time feuding over who was in charge. Eventually, the British won. For a significant period of time both the British and their slaves resided in Dominica. Eventually, the Dominican people won their freedom from the British and today most island residents are descendents of the slaves from that era. Today, roughly 70,000 people reside in Dominica with roughly 3,000-6,000 native Caribs and 11 centenarians (according to our cab driver).

So enough of the general book knowledge, we arrived early in the morning to the town of Roseau on January 16, 2011. At roughly 8:30 a.m., 700 Americans disembarked a large ship and descended on this tiny town that was primarily shuttered up on Sunday. We walked across the street from our port to the visitor center. Got the basic information, and unknowingly set off a debate between two cab drivers as Amy bartered pricing. Fortunately, we ended up with a great guy named Charles. Charles took us into the rainforest for a little hiking one day and the next day over to Champagne Reef for a little snorkeling. While the activities were fun, beautiful and amazing as evidenced by the pictures, the conversation I had with Charles regarding the European, American and Chinese influences on the Dominican economy, culture and way of life were what made the largest impact. Within the first 10 minutes of meeting Charles he shared that while his family was all from Dominica originally, many of his siblings had moved to the United States, he preferred to stay in Dominica. He talked with great pride about the number of centenarians, noting that stress in Dominica was different than that in the US.  He also shared his concern about how the  short-term thinking by his country’s administration was leading to the proliferation of chain businesses.  These businesses seemed to be running smaller independent businesses out of business. He questioned the wisdom of accepting money from Europe and Chinese dollars into the Dominican economy. He expressed that these larger countries didn’t share the same values of Dominicans and were creating challenges for maintaining the Dominican way of life. He raised questions about the intent of these large countries. He wondered why large countries would invest so much money on helping build roads, stadiums for cricket, providing business loans? He wondered if the desire was to take over Dominica? He wondered why businesses like KFC, Subway and Pizza Hut were even needed? Simultaneously, he noted that individuals eating and harvesting local fruits such as mangoes and bananas was on the decline. Instead local foods were being replaced with fast food and Cheetos. In listening to Charles talk with both concern and passion for his country, it struck me how similar we all are. This isn’t meant to be a declaration against large economic super powers and the need for world peace. But rather a reflection on how similar our lives are across the globe that in essence, many of us get up, go about our day, and try to make our best way forward to provide for ourselves, our families and in that process we hold high hopes for our collective futures.