Baking with the Gyesi Family

So I love baking, right?!  Well I didn't really think I was going to get to do much baking while in Ghana and till recently, I didn't really know if they had any sweets...I was SO wrong!  Not only did I find a place where I can get delicious chocolate (a store I now visit quite frequently), I got to do some baking!  

One evening, I was chatting with my family and we somehow got onto the topic of sweets.  After trying to explain to them what a brownie is and learning that my host mother loves cake and pretty much all sweets, I started telling them about my family's secret chocolate chip cookies and how absolutely delicious they are.  They were very interested and said that I should make some!  So I went to a few supermarkets with my host brother and got all the ingredients I would need and then we baked...

Here is the cookie batter.  It smelled (and tasted) SO good!  It wasn't the same as the ones I make at home, but they were still very good.

Here are the anxious observes waiting to be the first to try my cookies!

My sister Asabea watching the cookies in the oven.  Unfortunately we burnt the first few, but I'm pretty sure they still got eaten..

Everyone was very happy and excited!

And here was the final product!  Yummy, yummy, yummy!

I had to leave before they were finished, so I left the rest of the baking to my trusty sidekick Asabea.  She did a great job finishing them!

So that evening, we all ate cookies for dessert!  Everyone liked them except the little guy...

He would not even try them!  Seriously (and I am not making this up), he started wimpering and crying when we brought the cookies close to him!!!  I have NEVER met a kid who is afraid of cookies, but for real, Kofi is!  And so now...if he is ever misbehaving (which is often), the family will threaten him with cookies!  They put a chunk of a cookie in a little baggie and will bring it out whenever he is being bad!  He is SO scared of it and stops misbehaving whenever the cookie chunk comes out!  I am dead serious.  We all think it is the funniest thing and sometimes Emmanuel will joke around with Kofi and pretend he has a cookie behind his back--Kofi starts wimpering and says, "no, no, no!"  Poor kid!  If only he would just try the cookie, he'd realize it's actually quite a treat!

So...the sweets continue...my host mom knows that I like candy a lot so she decided to show me how to make homemade toffy (candy).  All it requires is a lot of sweetened condensed milk and a little bit of oil.

You bring it to boil and stir for a very long time.

The color eventually starts changing to brown and the consistency becomes thicker.

Once it is ready, you pour it out onto a cutting board to role it out.

It doesn't look too appetizing now because of the shape and color, but the final product is delicious!

Then you cut it in whatever shape you want and let it sit for just a little bit to cool.

And there you have it...toffy!

And that wraps up another episode of  "Baking with the Gyesi Family!"  Thanks for tuning in!

Some awesome excursions

I have only been here for a little over 2 weeks and have done SO much!  Aside from spending time volunteering, running errands, and trying to figure out the whole school thing (which has proven to be very difficult), here are some photos of the awesome things I've done so far...

I went to Kakum National Park, which is pretty close to Cape Coast.  It had some of the coolest trees I have ever seen!  There were lots of different kind, many that were hundreds of years old, and some that were absolutely ginormous!

 

I went with the international students the first time... 

 And the ProWorld people the second time.

 There is a canopy walkway that stretches about 350m.  It is 7 or 8 lengths of walkway connected by tree platforms...it is pretty high up, pretty shaky, and pretty much awesome.  The view was absolutely spectacular!

Afterward, we ProWorld folks went to a monkey sanctuary.  These people from Holland came to Ghana and built the place from scratch.  People bring hurt animals or baby animals that have no parents in to this husband and wife who then raise the animals!  Sometimes they let them go when they are healthy enough or old enough.  The women was very funny...kinda crazy...she keeps the real little babies in her bathroom!

They also had turtles!  And some sort of wild cat, alligators (or crocs maybe), and a little anteater!  It was a very cool place with a beautiful view over the African bush!

Elmina Castle is one of the slave castles on the coast of Ghana.  This particular one is over 500 years old.  It has a very rich history and was inhabited by many different countries throughout its years.  Unfortunately, many Africans were captured and kept here before they were traded off to other countries.  It was a very cool place to visit, but it was hard to hear about the brutality that took place there.  There is this awesome fishing port right next to it.  Here you can see some of the boat - they are very colorful!

This is a picture of inside the walls.  The building towards the left was one of the 2 churches they had.  The slanted piece of wall was built to reinforce the structure and was later used as a training activity for the British soldiers (because after the slave trade was ended, the British used this facility as a soldier training camp).  The small door at the bottom right was a punishment room for the slaves who fought back for their freedom.  

Here is  me sitting on the castle wall looking all African and beautiful...?  My host sister made this dress for me!  Okay so the ocean used to meet up to the castle wall and ships came right up to load the slaves and other goods, but over time the waters have receded significantly far away from the castle.  The view is phenomenal.

Me and Lucy!  The symbol on the right is the Dutch trading symbol.

So again with ProWorld we had a drumming lesson.  Here is me banging away on my ol' drum.  It was a lot of fun, but I don't think I have a future career in the drumming :-)

And then we danced!  We were taught a traditional African dance.  Again, a lot of fun...but no future here for me :-)

So another ProWorld activity...we went to a town and built stones for a school.  Here the guys are adding water and mixing up the cement.

 Then they shovel the cement/dirt mixture into these metal boxes and patted them flat.

 Then me and Lucy pick them up to unload them next to the others.

 So for about 2 hours we helped them make these bricks to build a bathroom for the students.  It was hard work, but a job well done.  We made about 75 bricks!!!  I later learned it takes about 350 bricks to make a small room...depressing...but at least we made a small impact!

Yesterday, me and Lucy went to watch a football (soccer) game.  My project partner, Nicholas, organized this game for some youth in his town.  Here is a picture of a very crowded and enthusiastic van full of kids.  They sang songs and chants the whole ride to the field!

Action shot.

So as the game was going on, a bunch of little kids came and sat next to Lucy and I.  They were so funny!  At this point, my attention was almost completely off the game and onto watching and interacting with all the kids.

Here is us with just some of the kids!  They were so talkative...asking me questions like, "Do you know what H1N1 is?"  "Have you eaten fufu yet?" "Tell me about America."  And then one kid told me I have big cheeks!  Oh the truth finally comes out!  I told you mom!!!  :-)

I've been to the ocean many times.  There are these huge rocks that the waves splash up against!  It is SO neat to watch.  One day I got a little too close and got totally drenched by this huge wave!  I didn't know what to do with myself!  It was very amusing!

I went to the club with all these fun people!  It was this REALLY nice place...air conditioned and everything!  We had a lot of fun!  The picture is of the ProWorld volunteers and our host brothers or project/volunteering partners.

I've been out to dinner alot with these lovely ladies.  Every Thursday all the volunteers go out to eat with the ProWorld staff.  There are some really tasty places.  The food takes forever to come out...like over an hour at least.  Sometimes it doesn't all come out at once either so sometimes some people are finished before others even get their food!  See the two women on the ends...they have matching party dresses because it was one of their birthdays!  We got a pretty big kick out of it!

Here is my host family before church this past Sunday.  I really enjoy the church service.  There is dancing and singing!  It is mostly done in Fante...so I don't really understand everything they say, but the atmosphere is just great to be in and the music is wonderful!  My host mother is in the blue dress.

This is just really random, but totally worth mentioning.  So one day I went for a walk and came back home to this...my family cutting their grass...with scissors!  I helped them for almost 2 hours and we got their grass looking real nice!  It is funny because I used to cut the grass at my house and pretend I was a hair cutter...never did I think I would have a client with this much hair!

So in conclusion, I have had many excursion thus far.  I have met lots of great people and have experienced many aspects of Ghana!  I definitely plan to continue with all the fun!

Introduction to my trip

So I've always had this desire to see the world and travel, especially to Africa.  I've spent numerous hours researching study abroad programs, with a small bit of hope that it would become a reality.  Well, it has become a reality.  I found a wonderful program that focuses on service and volunteering.  I paired that with an education at the University of Cape Coast and here I am!  In Cape Coast, Ghana.  I will be here for 19 weeks and am excited for the adventure!

Here I am at the airport!  Me coming to Africa didn't even seem real at this point!!!  It was hard to leave my parents, but I know they are just a phone call away!  Thank you Mom and Dad for being so supportive of me with this trip!  I couldn't have and wouldn't wanted to do this without you!  I love you guys!

So after a 10-15 hour flight (I don't even really know how long it was...it was just long!) I finally arrived in Accra, Ghana!!!  This is a picture of the airport.  It was very hot, but I was very calm and excited to meet up with my program director Kirsty!

Once all the volunteers were there (4 of us), we hopped in a van and drove about 3 hours to Cape Coast!  It was such an incredible drive!  So much green (trees & brush) and brown (roads)!  We passed by many small towns and villages.  It was quite shocking because everything looked so different!  Then when we got to Cape Coast, we passed this sweet sign with Obama on it!!!  Akwaaba means welcome.

The first picture of me in Africa!!!

They took us to the Castle Restaurant the first night which was right on the ocean - so breathtakingly gorgeous!  Seriously I think there were the biggest waves I have ever seen!  And I saw crabs!!!  These are the other volunteers and ProGhana staff.  From left to right: Michaela (staff), Lawrence (staff), Abbey (volunteer), Cory (volunteer), Kofi (staff), and Lucy (volunteer).  These are some pretty awesome people!

So then I met my host family!  I absolutely adore them!  The mother's name is Elizabeth, 3 sisters-Augustina, Abena, and Asabea, and one brother Emmanuel.  They are all adult age.  Augustina also has two kids-Yaa (girl, 2yo) and Kofi (boy, 4yo).  They are just visiting for the month of August.  They are all so wonderful, welcoming, and nice.  I do feel very at home with them!  Below is the house I am staying at.  It is very nice, clean, spacious, and again, very welcoming!

This is the road that leads to my house.

These are the two little kids!  They are always running around laughing or crying!  They are so adorable!  Kofi has the sweetest smile and Yaa has the most adorable laugh.  Here, she just got a new baby doll and is carrying the baby on her back as the women here do!  Too precious!

This is my very own room!  It is just perfect!  Lots of windows, a bed, a desk, and an armoire for all my things.  There is a fan too which is totally a life savor considering I basically sweat through anything I wear here!

Here is one picture of the "town."  People call it downtown area because it is where the big market is.  It's also called Kotokraba.  It is very busy...lots of people and taxis and lots to look at!  People sell EVERYTHING here from funeral caskets to bras to sinks & toilets to TV's to freshly killed fish to tons of beautiful fabrics.  I will post more picture of the town later and explain more about it then too!

Here is the ProGhana building.  They are on the top left.  This is where we meet for Fante lessons or we come here to hang out and use our computers.

Here is one of the entrances to the University of Cape Coast (UCC).  It is a HUGE campus!  It even has an entire hospital, primary school, junior high school, senior high school, dental clinic, 6 dormitories, post office, etc.  It is so big!  I start school on Monday...I think...but I still don't know what classes I am for sure signed up for or when for sure they are or what buildings they are in.  These uncertainties are common in Ghana and I have been learning to just go with the flow!

While I am here, I will also be working alot with a health organization called HEPENS (Health Protection and Environmental Sanitation).  They are a non-governmental organization that reaches out to specific populations and educates them on important health issues.  Here is a group of teenagers learning about STI's and mental health conditions.  Next week I am hoping to teach them!  I'm very excited!  Once schools start here, we will also be going to them teaching kids about sanitation, proper hand washing, dental hygiene, etc.  

So that's an introduction to my trip to Africa!  I am very happy to be here and looking forward to all Ghana has in store for me!