A "few" wrap-up photos and videos are in order now that I'm somewhere I'm not paying for internet or computer access. Some are things I've posted about in the past but didn't have a chance to put up the photos and some of them are things I forgot to mention earlier.
Mary's son, Chris, is a rapper in Ghana. He likes to talk about how famous he is and how difficult it is for him to leave the house because people will always be pointing and trying to talk to him. He has a blond Austrian wife and a 1-year old son. He lives in a longhouse behind his mother's house that he likes to tell you he built with his very own hands, but actually did not. He drives a blue convertible with no muffler and a DIY splatter paint job. He also splatter-painted some clothes to match for nights he performs at a club. The interior of his house is decorated with graffiti. One day, he told me "Americans are so selfish. You make your cell phones so that no other country can use them. My brother in Columbus used to send me phones to sell here and I had to lie to the people and tell them they took the [SIM] cards!"
He and his friends started freestyling for Marrie, Natalie and me.
Labadi beach:
Locals trying to make a living, waiting for tourists under the unexpected-hike-from-hell umbrella rock. Two of the young men had built those ladders for people to go on the top; charge of 10 cents.
Home security in Dzorwulu, my neighborhood=broken glass in newly poured concrete walls to prevent burglary. Though the house next door was actually, according to Chris, a stolen guns warehouse. It's a possibility; I only saw two people there once in two months. Barbed wire is also popular.
Government school kids at the end of the schoolday:
Vibe FM, "The soul of the capital". Known as "the station with the couch" around town. The computer in the foreground was only available for the accountant, who skims money from the station to finance his restaurant. The computer in the background is only a monitor and does not actually have a computer, keyboard or mouse. Note the complete lack of telephones. The owner/boss/CEO is on the right.
View on the way to work everyday, after arriving at Circle:
I took a picture into a dark room at the Elmina slave castle. It was not part of the tour. The flash revealed all these bats; I squealed like a little girl and ran.
Elmina courtyard. The incline with a pole on each side to the left is where male slaves were forced to climb to the top using only their arms in order to keep up their strength:
View of the coastal village from the castle:
Slaves who caused trouble were sent into this room to die. None of them were cleared out until every person inside was dead.
Male dungeon at Cape Coast slave castle. Between 800 and 1000 slaves were put into three rooms of this size.
Accra coast as viewed from Eddie's car during one of my first tours of Accra:
Field in Dzorwulu:
Dorm at the University of Ghana; the best school, by far, in the country. No washing machines so everyone puts their clothes on the balcony to dry:
Circle, one of the trotro parks and stations and crossroads and markets and black markets and everything:
Trotro change table at Pig Farm. She thought it was very funny I wanted to take her photo:
AIDS is Real and do not urinate here!
Pounding fufu (most popular food in Ghana) in the backyard in preparation for the wedding reception:
Flower girls:
Breakdancers at the wedding reception at Mary's house. This is not a usual thing; they were just cool guests.
All the babies are carried like this:
Two of a group of six or so kids who were totally into the digital camera concept at the wedding. Some famous news anchor was making a speech while I took this picture:
Tiaraing ceremony with the bride's mother and aunts, pre-ceremony. The outfits the aunts are wearing are very typical church garb, though the weekly Sunday outfits aren't usually quite so shiny:
At the orphanage in Kasoa at dusk. The boy on my left is 11; the one who gave me a tour and grabbed my hand to prevent himself from getting hit. The girl is the daughter of one of the orphanage workers and the other boy was playing with her.
Fun toy:
The younger kids attended school at the orphanage. There was a row of four classrooms; this is one of them:
Deborah and me in the front yard, four days before she left:
Typical dinner: redred, fried plantain and water in a pouch
Mary, the former Muslim, Christian-convert, daughter of northern chief with 22 siblings and homeowner:
Van, practically the only trustworthy and productive guy at Vibe:
Typical street at Buduburam, the Liberian refugee camp:
Sonnie and her aunt in the room they share with four others at Buduburam. Sonnie is the 18-year old nursing student:
Wheelbarrow boys at Buduburam. They rent the wheelbarrows for $3ish a day then sit out front all day, hoping to be hired to carry some loads around for people. They charge $1 to do this so they often lose money or only break even.
At the meeting called by the UN to tell the Liberians the plan was to integrate into Ghanaian society. No new news, big meeting.
Some video of the trotro preacher. Marrie is sitting next to me.
Deborah standing in front of the new place:
The school where Julie works is pretty rural. These kids all go there; they followed me around in a huddle like this the entire time we were there.
Julie's daughter, Julie and Deborah seeing me off at the airport. This is the same day Deborah left the house forever. She got her hair done and all dressed up and looked really nice. Julie is wearing a Bike & Build T-shirt!:
I flew through Milan on my way to Boston. The Alps from the plane:
The rest of the pictures from Ghana are now up here.
Visiting the Teddy Exports primary school in India:
Thanks for reading!
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