Day 60

This morning I woke up and it was pouring down rain. It has been raining ever since last night. I had to wait till the rain stopped to go to the clinic so I allowed myself to sleep in a bit before getting ready to go to the clinic. Well I hadn’t figured it out till later that yesterday I had washed ALL of my clothes and had nothing to wear to the clinic. So I opted to not go to the clinic today and spend it catching up on my coursework. I did notes, read my scriptures, read the hunger games, watched a few episodes of friends, and read a lot of my coursework assignments. It didn’t rain for a few hours so I had a skirt and shirt that weren’t too wet but still a bit damp. They were the driest things I had, so I put them on so I could get out of my pajamas. I got them right in time too because less than 10 minutes later it began to pour for half an hour. Once that round of rain stopped, Cassie and I had to get out of the room before going crazy. We put our rain jackets on and headed out into the town. It was barely drizzling while we walked to buy some water and a card for our phone. We saw Matilda hanging out in front of the police station with a few friends. She is really like our older sister here teasing us about our bright ridiculous looking rain jackets. It’s like the typical older sister to be embarrassed by what their younger siblings do in public. We went to the market to buy some onion, bell pepper, and spices. We are always hungry in between meals with nothing to snack on so we bought a huge satchel of “Obama Biscuits”. Cassie got one yesterday and they taste just like Graham Crackers. We thought it would be funny at first but they are really good especially with my nutella on them. We walked home from the market to make our tomato stew for dinner. We wanted to make enough to last us until Saturday night. We sort of experiment when we cook here just adding different spices here and there and using a lot of water to extend our meals to last longer. While we were making dinner Grace told us the game of Germany vs Italy was on so we quickly made some pasta and poured our red sauce over it. I was rooting for Germany but sadly they lost and Italy became the other competitor for the world cup. Once the game was over we went back in and did notes and our coursework. I feel so blessed to have such an accommodating host family with such lovely girls to spend time with. I’m just sad Grace wasn’t here earlier for us to hang out with.

XOXO

Ama

Day 59

Today was my first day back at the clinic in a long time. As I was walking to the clinic today I ran into Kwame with his three daughters as they were walking to the clinic. They all had upset stomachs so I walked with him to the clinic talking about the differences between Ghana and America. I decided that I would stay with Kwame the whole day from the records office to dispensary. I first sat with him at the records office thinking of all of the questions to ask him during our interview. It took almost half an hour for him to figure out the situation with the records. His three daughters are 5, 7, and 10. They are absolutely crazy. When he told me they were sick I thought he was joking because they were running around dancing and singing. Once we got all of their records we went to the O.P.D., which took another half hour. We finally got into the consulting room with the chief where he brought all of the kids in and sat them down at the chair one by one for the doctor to examine them. He was much more thorough on the first kid than on the other two but he spent only a couple of minutes on. The youngest girl was acting out a little bit and got yelled at for acting silly in front of the doctor. Once they were all checked out we went to the dispensary to pick up the medication. The doctor prescribed two of them to get injections, which brought instant tear to their eyes. The older sister was being a brat and basking in the fact that she wouldn’t need one. The other two went into the injection room literally kicking and screaming. It took two nurses and her dad to hold her down while they gave her the shot. While the 7 year old laid on the bed still screaming about her shot, it only made it that much worse for the 5 year old. She was beyond terrified to get her shot. She was even squirmier than the older one but the nurse surprisingly got the shot in without any problems. Once they were finally finished with everything I asked to take Kwame aside to do my interview with him. The nurses room was filled up with the patients from the overflowing wards so I just opted to give the Interview in the hallway. It was quiet enough that my recorder would pick up all the sound. He consented to participate and I began my questions. It only lasted about 15 minutes but I learned so much from him that has become critical for my research. A few of the questions were new and really helped me understand why parents bring their children to clinics. I spent the rest of the day in the dispensary talking to Rita and Edmund. I went home later than normal and Cassie told me she was going to go to the Town Park if I wanted to join her. I hadn’t eaten lunch so I bought some peanuts to snack on while we walked. The best part about eating the peanuts is being able toss the shells to the ground wherever you are. We walked down to the park and saw a man with a wooden box labeled icecream on his head. He was handing out cones with white and pink icecream over them. Cassie and I each got a cone for 50 pesewas that was absolutely divine. It was more of a sample size and melted if you didn’t eat it right away but so good we couldn’t stop thinking about it. The town park is just a huge soccer field where people come to watch the school kids play. School was actually canceled this week due to the sports activities going on. Today was football (soccer) and tomorrow is track and field evens. Football is the favorite sport of Ghana so there were close to 300 people there surrounding the field. Cassie and I walked around the park for twenty minutes running into friends here and there. Our friend Mamaya gave us some shortbread that melts in your mouth. We met up with one the teachers at the School where Cassie observes. George is a nice looking young man that is very chivalrous. In Ghana when you say you like something, it doesn’t mean the same thing like it would in America. If you say you like something in Ghana it means you want that right now. So when we mentioned that we love the sweet bread here George literally ran after the sweet bread lady and bought us a few rolls. He wasn’t even going to eat any himself until we told him if he bought them he has to eat at least one. Only moments after we finished our sweet bread we met a new guy that goes by 50 cent. Original. He even tattooed his nickname on his arm. It looked so awful, you could tell he did it at home free hand. We had been waiting all day to buy ourselves a fan-milk and I guess he the seller had just passed us while we were talking to 50 cent because one second he was behind us and the next he was no where to be found. 50 cent heard us talking about it and sent a little kid standing around to go and get the fan-milk seller for us. While we waited for him to come he told us he was a motorbike driver and he dreams to go to America. The little boy came back and 50 cent paid for our fan-milks. Cassie and I felt so spoiled during this we could hardly believe it. We joked about how if we really were awful people we could get our groceries paid for all the time by the love struck men. We could tell them how much we loved onions and we would get a ton of them. We watched the game for about half an hour before we remembered that Portugal vs Spain was playing tonight. I never pass on a moment to watch Ronaldo so I was looking forward to this game. We asked George if there was a place in town we could go to watch the game. He told us there wasn’t but we should go to his place to watch it. We agreed but decided to go home and cook dinner before going to his house. We had a bit of time to kill so I did a quick 30-minute workout and took a shower. We were thinking about how it was going to be too dark once the game ended so we would just stay and watch the game with Grace. The game was supposedly supposed to start at 6:30 but we couldn’t find it yet but Grace said sometimes even the TV shows are on Africa time. She told us it might be on later so we just waited and wrote our notes inside until she could find it. It was close to 8 before she found it but it was already over and they were going over the highlights. Spain had won, but there’s still one more game between Italy and Germany to decide who plays in the final game. I am loving my time here and can’t believe how many different activities I get to experience everyday. I have found that on the days that I just agree to be apart of something I have the most fun. I was tired from the clinic so I could have stayed home and slept but instead I had such a wonderful day and met so many new people. Out of the many lessons I’ve learned from living here it’s to truly have a sense of adventure.

XOXO

AMA

Day 58

This morning I was exhausted from traveling yesterday so I slept until around 9. I made hot Milo and oatmeal for breakfast and did my notes and blog posts until 12. We were all meeting in Agona at 12:30 so I started to walk to the station until I ran into Cassie and Sammy about half way there so I turned around with them and walked back to the house. Cassie had to grab a couple things before we walked back again. We got into a taxi with two other passengers already and left. One of the passengers Prince was very friendly and talked to us most of the ride. About halfway there, the taxi started smoking and it broke down. We pulled over on the side of the road while the driver got out and checked what was wrong. He got it fixed, or so we thought, so we drove off. About 2 minutes later we started to really slow down. The bikers were going faster than us. The third time he pulled over another taxi pulled over too and let us all get in the taxi while his passenger waited with the broken down car while the taxi driver got in ours. We finally got to Agona, got our fried rice and went to the Gentle Spot. Jackie and Lauren had already eaten but waited for us. We each got an Alvaro, ate our food quickly and went to the Internet Café. We went to the newer one where the Internet is so much faster.  I didn’t have much to do so I only spent a couple hours. Jackie and I finished around the same time so we walked back together to the taxi station. I got a fan milk and went home. The rest of the day I spent reading the Hunger Games, working out, and doing coursework.

Day 57

This morning we woke up at 6 and packed up our stuff before walking to the bus station. The bus was full so we had to wait about an hour for the next one. We got on the bus at 7 and I sat in the aisle seat with Jackie in the middle and Cassie on the window. Lauren sat in the same row as us but on the other side next to a fat lady. I sat in the bus and waited for us to leave. I didn’t want to sleep until we were actually driving so I tried really hard to stay awake even though I was exhausted. This man stepped on the bus and gave a very exuberant prayer before we were off around 8. I tried to sleep most of the way but it was too bumpy I just rested my eyes for the two hours. We took a few pit stops along the way where people just went to the bathroom in the open. We reached our halfway pit stop point around 11 and I got off with Cassie while Jackie and Lauren stayed on the bus to watch the bags. Cassie had to go to the bathroom so I walked over to guard the view of her while the women just went to the bathroom with no barrier. Cassie was walking behind a tree but she slipped a fell getting her whole entire backside muddy. We walked back to the bus to find food but there wasn’t anything appealing. I ended up buying half a loaf of bread to split. Jackie had bought a small bunch of bananas and shared them with the rest of us. I decided sleeping was useless so I got out my scriptures and read a lot in Alma. Once we finally arrived in Kumasi I got off and carried all of my stuff to the LONG journey to Barclays. I had 2 heavy backpacks that might have weigh as much as me, and a very heavy stuffed purse. We walked for at least 30 minutes through the hospital and to the bank. I was falling behind most of the walk just struggling to keep walking. Once we finally arrived to the bank I was tired, sore, and hungry. I pulled out money, went to the bathroom, and made our way to the immigration office. This was another 20-minute walk that I wasn’t up for. Once we got to the small stuffy immigration office we heard that they were on break so we had to wait until 2. As we sat and waited there was a ratio of about 4 workers to customers. They were about just 40 different workers just standing outside 7 or 8 offices. A man gave us our VISA renewal forms that we filled out and waited for the break to finally finish. Around 2:00 Jackie and Cassie went into the office first but came back out saying that we needed to go to the Internet Café to print out our flight itinerary. We were all on edge because we hadn’t had food all day and didn’t get much sleep last night. We made the 10-minute walk with King to the Internet café just next to the post office. The place was so busy but we did run into a lot of missionaries there. The computers were too congested so we had to wait to use one of the open computers. While we waited we talked to the missionaries. They were from New Zealand, Colorado, and Nigeria. We walked back to the VISA office and waited for 20 minutes to be seen again. I walked into the room and the VISA office lady was a total brat and refused to actually speak to me. She would only speak through her partner and was being such a brat I didn’t even have time for her. We had to get photo copies made of our VISA forms and sweet King could see that we weren’t up to do any of it so he made them for us. We got our 30-day extension for 40 cedi like we originally planned. So after talking about where to eat we decided that we wanted actual food so we went to Vic Baboos. I ordered a chicken sandwich and an orange mango gingerale juice. I read Hunger Games while I waited for my dinner. When I got my dinner it was literally a chicken nugget on a huge piece of bread with a small tomatoe and piece of lettuce. I didn’t like what I had just ordered so I re-ordered the grilled cheese omelet that Jackie got. I have had the worst luck with sandwiches on this trip. We walked to the tro tro station and got on without any troubles. We only waited less than 10 minutes before we were off. Jackie and I sat next to eachother and got to talk about our Southern roots. We talked about rodeo, cowgirl boots, hats, country music, and even switched some music between us. This was one of the few bonding moments I’ve had with Jackie that makes me love her. The rest of the time I read my scriptures and tried to sleep for the ride. We were in Agona before I knew it. King grabbed Cassie’s and my arm to sweetly thank us for the trip. As soon as we got home we greeted Grace and Matilda came out to give me a big hug. I am going to miss Matilda so much. I made hot Milo once I unpacked and typed notes.  

8 Weeks!

Cape Coast Trip Day 4

This morning we woke up at 8 with a lot of energy despite staying up till almost 3 last night. We were all pretty sore from so much dancing last night. We left to eat another delicious breakfast at Baobobs. We waited for almost an hour and half for our pancakes but in Africa time that’s nothing. We got two orders of banana pancakes and two orders of pineapple honey pancakes to split. The waiter came out an hour after we placed our order and said he didn’t have any bananas. We told him that they’re fruit stands everywhere; can’t he go out and buy bananas? So he went about 50 ft away to a fruit stand and bought a bunch of bananas. Our food came about 10 minutes later. We had church soon so ate our pancakes really fast and walked to church. The church building felt like more of a church building than ours in Asamang with classrooms, bishop’s office, and nice chapel hall. The most peaceful feeling overwhelmed me. I know that it doesn’t matter what the building looks like, it still made a bit of difference for me to walk into such a familiar setting. We walked to the second floor where the chapel was located but Sunday School from the first ward was still going on so we just sat down and waited. A lot of members came into greet us, even some handsome missionaries with matching Kente ties. Every time I see missionaries I can’t help but get so excited for them and The Church. To see the church spreading to so many corners of the earth is joyous. Sacrament meeting was typical here with us not understanding most of what was going on. Although, the first talk was in Twi-nglish so we understood a bit of her talk. I read my scriptures for most of the time because I am still very behind on scripture reading. At the conclusion of Sacrament we said goodbye to the missionaries and walked back to the hotel to change our clothes. We got an extra sheet from the hotel to spread out while we had our group meeting. We went over how in life we make choices that are good, better, and best. We all made the decision to be here and now we need to make sure that we make our time the best it can be. We discussed how in Provo we would have had a good summer but why choosing to travel to Ghana was the best. We reflected on the past two months and what expectations we had for the third month. We went over what the top 2 things we have learned since being here and it was unanimous that spiritual growth was the biggest. We all learned so much about ourselves that we might have never learned without this trip. It started to drizzle and we were hungry anyways so we went to Chic-Hebs to get a small snack before dinner since it was already 3. We met the cook Henrietta but she told us to call her Hetta. She asked us questions all about us and insisted we ordered veggie burgers. We told her we only wanted a small snack so we ordered drinks and fries instead. I got a pepsi to drink while we just sat and laughed about everything. We were all in such a good mood that we laughed at pretty much everything said for the next hour. Our food came and it was absolutely disgusting. The fries tasted like old tofu and the side was coleslaw with fry sauce on it. We paid a whopping 5 cedi for it thankful we didn’t order the veggie burgers. We went back to the hotel to have our packing party and listen to some Beyoncé. It took a little longer than we planned to pack so it was around dinnertime by the time we were finished thankfully. We were still hungry because our snack was so gross. We went to the Castle rooftop for diner and I ordered curry rice with chicken. I figured our food wasn’t going to be there for a while so I went downstairs to take a shower. The water was freezing as usual. I can’t wait till I can finally have a warm shower. When I came back onto the rooftop they were in the middle of a game of skip-bo. We waited almost an hour and half for our food but it’s a good thing we’re such a funny group because the time passed by pretty quickly. I had a fanta with my delicious dinner. We finished with talking to each other for the next couple of hours about our time at BYU and telling funny stories. The other girls left to go back to the room but I just stayed on the roof enjoying the quiet and reflecting on the past few weeks here. The time spent here has been such a steep learning curve for me. I have learned so much about myself and others that I might not have otherwise. I have been happier here than ever before. In college it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day tasks and assignments that I forget to take a second and breathe in all the beauty around me and realize how truly blessed I am. I’m sad this trip has come to an end but so grateful we did it. Tomorrows going to be another travel day, which are never good, but I’m hoping it won’t be too awful!

XOXO

Natalie

Day 55

Cape Coast Trip Day 3

Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had. This day could not have been more perfect. I never ever want to leave here. We woke up early around 6:30 and so we could leave early for Carcum Canopy walk. We met Innica on the rooftop around 7 and could already smell breakfast. I ordered pancakes and an orange juice. We waited for Esther, Tina, Carl, and Sarah to meet us for breakfast. The pancakes were seriously so delicious. We brought bananas and cut them up in our pancakes. The other group ordered their food and we all finished around the same time. We went downstairs and saw our taxis waiting for us. The other group decided to take a taxi the whole way there for 60 cedi but we took our taxi to the tro tro station. Once at the tro tro station we didn’t have to wait long at all to leave. The taxi ride wasn’t too uncomfortable and only cost us 2 cedi. We saved so much money by just taking a tro tro to the park. In the tro tro we talked to Innica where she told us that she was so grateful that she ran into us in the lobby last night. She said she was in her room crying and praying to God that she would have a better experience in Ghana because she missed her boyfriend and didn’t feel very safe there. Then she came downstairs and we invited her to come with us and she said that it was no coincidence we were all there at the same time. That got us talking about religion and our beliefs. She agreed with everything we talked about especially the word of wisdom and chastity. Innica told us that she believes there is a God but doesn’t go to church. We invited her to church if she’s still in Cape Coast tomorrow. We got dropped off at the entrance of the park and had to pay 1 cedi to enter. We had to walk down a dirt road to the canopy site. It wasn’t even 10 when we arrived to the park but it still wasn’t busy. We had our student ID’s so we paid 15 cedi to enter the park. We saw the other groups there of tourists and they were way too cute to look like they were about to do a nature walk. The girls were dressed in nice silk shirts, skinny jeans, makeup, and hair nicely done. We were in our long shorts and dirty shirts but we didn’t care one bit. Our group had 16 people in all. Jackie, Lauren, Cassie, Me, King, Innica, Esther, Tina, Carl, Sarah, 4 Medical students, and this weird couple. Carl stayed back with King Innica and us while the rest of the group quickly hiked up the hill. We took our time taking pictures looking at the nature around us and having a really good time. We stopped a few times to look at millipedes, worms, and ants. We started the walk off with an intro to the park and what was there. They had lots of animals there but it was unlikely that we would see them during this time of the day. We would get 120 feet up in the air and go over 7 different walkways. We were the last people on the canopy walk with only Carl and the tour guides behind us. We were going slowly on the first walkway so they told us to hurry up. We told the tour guide we don’t want to be rushed and he’s going to have to pass us if he wants to go any faster. The rest of the group was already on the second walkway by the time we were barely half way on the first. We just kept looking over the edge and all around us. We weren’t even that high up yet but we were already amazed at how far we could see. In between each walkway was a platform where we spent even more time taking pictures and videos. After awhile the Ghanaian tour guide passed us leaving only the German tour guide to watch over us. He had been doing an intern with the park for the past 10 months and spoke rough English. Over the next hour we were completely out of sight from the rest of the group. We had the best time jumping up and down and taking pictures. Only Carl stuck with us and seemed to have a great time with us. It must be the American bond or something. By the time we were finished the rest of the group had been waiting what looked like a long time for us to finish. We didn’t even care if they had to wait a long time, we definitely got our 15 cedi out of this trip. We began the trek back with the rest of the group to the main park site. I think the other girls were wishing they hadn’t worn their cute gold sandals and fancy clothes as we hiked back in the deep mud. When we got back there were so many people. There were hundreds of little kids and tourists everywhere. We went out to try to find a tro tro or taxi to take us to Hans Cottage. The only taxi there would only do it for 25 cedi. The place was only 20 minutes away so we declined and waited across the street to find a tro tro or different taxi. We waited for about 20 minutes without any luck while the taxi driver laughed at us getting rejected by every tro tro because they were all too full for 6 more. Then a taxi with only 1 passenger stopped and agreed to take all 6 of us for 6 cedi. I sat on top of Innica the whole time and my legs were dead asleep by the time we got there. The first thing we saw when we entered Hans Cottage was this alligator with its mouth open looking very fake. We took some pictures of the other alligators swimming around in the lake surrounding the restaurant. Then we saw a crowd of people surrounding another crocodile and taking pictures almost sitting on them. Cassie and I were the only ones to pay to take the pictures. Cassie was first and got tons of pictures on the alligator just hovering over it. I was next. The alligator started moving right when I crouched over it and then I realized how scary this actually was. I got to feel it breathing and made paying the 2 cedi totally worth it. It took another 45 minutes or so for our food to actually get there. I ordered a papaya drink that was also heavenly along with the spring rolls. They were loaded with ginger and veggies, so delicious. We finished and watched school kids and adults freak out as they tried to take pictures with the alligator. One woman wanted a picture with the alligator so badly but looked like she was going to cry every time she even went near it. We left the cottage and took another taxi about a 30 min ride. There was a lot of traffic so it took a lot longer than normal. The traffic is the same everywhere in Ghana, just absolutely insane and very aggressive. Once at our hotel we rested for about 45 minutes then went souvenir shopping. This was the best 2 ½ hours of shopping ever. I got the best presents for myself and family ever. It was hard to contain my excitement at some stores but I was so happy with all of my purchases I could hardly believe it. I got an amazing deal for the present I am giving to my parents and couldn’t believe how perfect it is. Then we went back to the stores that line the coast with all the Rastafarian men. I got a few more gifts and then we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and spent an hour relaxing there before going to dinner. We met up with Innica and walked to dinner. Lauren and Cassie went ahead to buy some more gifts so when we met up with them they were watching this really cool dance performance. Everyone was danced in traditional African wear and there were 5 huge drums behind them. The dancing was really cool and each one was so talented. King told us that one of them was deaf and dumb and just feels the beat and knows what to do. It gave me goose bumps watching him. We walked to Baobobs but it was closed so we went to Coast 2 Coast but it took too long and was more expensive so we actually ended up at the castle restaurant like we originally planned. I ordered sprite and shrimp with fried rice. The Italy vs Spain game was on so it kept us distracted from how starving we were. Once it came I practically inhaled it. They put red sauce on the side which made it that much more delicious. We paid and started walking down the road to go dancing at La Hacienda. We ran into a man named Lafiya that was one of the professional dancers we watched earlier. I don’t know how it happened but we ended up learning how to dance in the middle of the road from him. We practiced our new moves with these little kids and each other. Then he started doing tricks with this little boy until he told me to do one with him. I was so scared at what he was going to do but he just grabbed onto my forearms as I jumped on his thighs. I put my other hand behind me while Cassie snapped a photo of us. It is one of the funniest pictures I have ever seen, I look like a little kid. We continued walking to La Hacienda where Lafiya was also going. We walked into the bar but no one was dancing. We continued our dance classes from Lafiya for about half an hour before the other group showed up with Carl. We danced for the longest time enjoying every single second of it. At one point one man did try to dirty dance with me but sweet King quickly got him away from me and told him to find somewhere else to dance. This other lady in a white shirt was going absolutely crazy so I danced with her too for a little bit. Cassie also snapped a great one of that one. We had King David, King, and Lafiya who are some of the best dancers with us. We learned a few more dances from Lafiya as the night went on. The other girls left Carl to hang out with us but he didn’t seem to mind at all. He even did a bit of awkward Azonto dancing himself. We left the bar around 12 and got fan-milks before going to The Oasis for round 2! We walked into what looked like a real American party. All of the white girls were so high and just standing around. The second that our favorite song ‘Chop My Money’ came on we were up on the dance floor going absolutely crazy. Most of the music was American but a few Ghanaian songs were played throughout. We were running around the dance floor going absolutely wild and I’m sure everyone was wondering what drug we were on and where to get it. We went down to the beach and walked in to our ankles. We wanted to go in so we asked Innica to watch our stuff while we went swimming. She basically flipped out. She said it was a very bad idea and wouldn’t let us do it even though King David and King said it was ok. We agreed we wouldn’t go past our knees. We sat down in the really shallow water and let it wash over us and get us completely soaked. We looked at the time and we couldn’t believe it was already 1. We walked back to the hotel as a group and took pictures with Innica and Carl. In the middle of Lauren’s shower the water shut off so we ventured downstairs for another shower party. During this talk we talked about how much as changed in the past few weeks and how much of a better person we all have become because of it. We talked about how excited we were for the fall and how many times it is affirmed to us that we are supposed to be at this place in this time to do what we need to and learn. Six months ago I wouldn’t believe anyone if they had told me I was going to be in Africa for the whole entire summer and now here I am. Having one of the best days ever with the most fun people and learning so much along the way. The Lord has blessed me in ways I will never understand.

XOXO
Natalie

Our Rasta Friend from DC

Hike to Canopy Walk

Canopy Walk!

Hans Cottage

Lafiya!

We went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean

Innica, King David, King, Cassie, Jackie, Me, and Lauren

Our new friend Carl!

Day 54

Cape Coast trip Day 2

This morning we had breakfast at a small restaurant named Baobobs. The dining area was about the size of a small porch and only could fit about 15 people. 100% of Baobobs profit goes towards a school where Ghanaians are taught a trade so it attracts a lot of tourists on humanitarian aid kind of trips. I ordered Banana pancakes with chocolate sauce and a pineapple mango smoothie. I was in heaven at the first bite. Another group of Americans was sitting across from us so we told them they should get the pancakes. We talked for a bit and found out that they had been there for almost 6 weeks, which really surprised us. Their food came and there was a small bug in it so they scooped out a huge chunk of oats and were still amazed at the women carrying things on their heads. We are very past that point now even though we’ve been in Ghana for the same amount of time. We are exposed to a lot of different things because of the region we live in. We finished our pancakes in record time and walked into Baobobs shop to look. We ran into a couple of girls that asked where we were from and one of them actually graduated from BYU a few years ago. What a small world. Erika graduated with a Psychology major and was now working in a Liberian refugee camp trying to get them all back to Libya. We exchanged numbers and told her about church on Sunday. Jackie even arranged for her to stay with them for a couple days before she leaves. We said goodbye and walked down the street to the Slave Castle. With our Student ID we only had to pay 7 cedi. Two other girls arrived around the same time and joined our group. We started talking about what we were doing in Ghana and she was doing something similar but in the Volta region. She quickly became annoying trying to one up us on how unique her experience was. She told us that she feels like a Disney Princess when all the kids wave to her. Never heard that one before. We were hoping to ditch her pretty soon. We first went into a big room with artifacts and paintings with descriptions by each of them. The first painting I saw was a picture of the slaves being traded into boats and being whipped. It was then that I realized how sobering this experience was going to be. We looked around at the shackles and whips used on the slaves and learned a lot about how the slaves were traded. We were only there for a few minutes but our tour guide was waiting for us so we had to leave. He explained that the slave trade was abolished in 1803 but wasn’t finished until 1833. There was a plaque outside the door that Michelle and Barack had unveiled because Michelle was able to trace her ancestors back to this castle. The first place we went was the men’s quarters. It had 5 rooms in total that kept around 150 men in each. The rooms couldn’t have been bigger than 15x40. The only source of light or ventilation came from a small hole in the wall. It made us pretty emotional when we tried to imagine the suffering and cruelty that happened within these walls. The 5^th room was where the hallway to the Door of No Return. It had been sealed off in 1833 to symbolize the official ending of the slave trade. We walked back on top of the hallway to get to the end of the door of no return. There was still areas where we could see the width and depth of the hallway. One of them was filled with clean water where the people can get water if there is ever a shortage. We then went to the women’s punishment quarters. The women who refused to sleep with the soldiers or being difficult were sent there for one week with only 2 small meals a day. They were put in there to be an example to the other women about what would happen if they resisted. Then we went into the women’s quarters. It was one big room with only a small hole for light and ventilation. There was no drainage system like in the men’s for them to use for the bathroom so they had to go wherever they could. When they went on the roof for feeding times the slaves that worked at the castle would wash out the floor. The children all stayed with the women despite their gender. Then we went into the men’s punishment quarters. There, only one man would be sent after being whipped half to death. The room was hot with no light or ventilation. The men were not fed any food the whole time so they only lasted a couple days. The whole time I was in the castle I just kept thinking if these walls could talk, the stories they would tell. The pain and suffering they had seen. The stories they had overheard. I couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface at what actually went on there. The next stop was the Door of No Return. This was the door that once a slave came left he would never return again. On the outside of the door there was a new plaque that said “The Point of Return”. A few years ago they had some ancestors of slaves from that Castle return and go through the doors. The next stop was the captain’s quarters. It was just as big as the men’s quarters but was for only one man where below there were 150 in the same size room. We left that area with such a feeling of disgust and couldn’t believe how such acts could have taken place. After the tour was finished we returned back into the artifact room. The museum had a gift shop that had so many things in it. The craftsmen’s ability was stunning. We each bought a couple souvenirs then went across the street to Coast 2 Coast to get a drink. When we finished we went down to the beach to meet up with King. We took a lot of pictures and then sat down on a set of steps. We started talking to this really nice Rasta man that lived in DC and was only going to be in Washington state in a couple of months. We got pictures with him and went shopping. There were about 20 shops in a row that we got a ton of gifts for our friends and family. The place reeked of weed and was really targeted towards the stoners that come to Ghana. We ate dinner at the Castle Restaurant afterwards. I ordered the grossest chicken sandwich ever. We aren’t even sure what was in it but knew not to order that ever again. I reordered a chicken coconut curry plate that was much better. The restaurant overlooked the ocean and was so serene. We went back to our hotel and the water still wasn’t running so we went to fetch water to flush the toilet with. Lauren and I had a little shower party in the outside shower. We talked about everything that has changed within us over the past few weeks. I love talking and spending time with her. I got an overwhelming sense of excitement for the fall and everything that will happen. After our showers we went down into the Lobby to talk to Kofi about our taxi tomorrow and to get an extra sheet. We met a lady from Belgium in the Lobby that was also having problems with the running water and lack of sheets. Her name was Innica and she was traveling all alone. We invited her up on the rooftop to talk about our plans if she wanted to join us. She seemed very excited to spend time with us and helped us plan a good portion of the trip. We met another kid, King David, on the rooftop. After we ordered our breakfast for tomorrow and told them what time we wanted it. Another girl came up and asked if she and her group could join us for the canopy walk tomorrow. We told Esther the plans and she went down to bring the rest of the group up. She said it was 2 other girls and a guy. We had a nice conversation with the hotel workers and Innica then went back into our room. We must have had too much sugar or something because we were so hyper and had the funniest conversation. We all laughed so hard we were crying. The girls crack me up and I’m so glad we’re all here together. We all said our prayers and read scriptures before going to bed. We planned on going to bed a lot earlier but didn’t because of us talking too much. I’m sure we’ll all be exhausted tomorrow but totally worth it!

XOXO

Natalie