Blog #2: The Sankofa Center (May 12th, 2015)
We had another outreach on Thursday, which went really well. People seemed very interested in what we were saying, and there wasn’t such a strong reaction this time to the condom demonstration. While at the last outreach it was only women who got tested, this time it was mostly men. There was a well in the village and we took turns pumping it and filling a bucket with water, which was such a cool experience. There were baby goats running around, and the children were adorable as usual. I just learned a fun new dance, and at the outreach today I’ll be performing that one too.
Aaron and I went to Kokrobite this weekend. Before we left for the weekend, I did my laundry here for the first time, and a woman who lives at the compound showed me how to ring out clothes and hang them on a clothesline— which you’d think would be easy, but after a lifetime of washing machines, it was a real workout! The beach at Kokrobite was absolutely beautiful and the water was so warm. I also got to see where they are building a new Sankofa Center compound, which is really exciting. On our way home, we went to an amazing dance/drumming show. There was a female dancer who would sit on people’s laps until they gave her money, which I found out is a tradition here. At one point a man danced for me and I gave him a cedi — so now I’ve had money thrown at me, and thrown money at another dancer! After the performance, we were invited to dine with the dancers and drummers. They served us a dish called Fufu, which is fish and a kind of soft, slippery dough, in a spicy nut soup. You dip the dough in the soup with your (right) hand and swallow it whole! It’s really yummy.
I am now in my last week of my placement, and I have completely fallen in love with Ghana. I will write again when my placement is coming to a close, and I will definitely be coming back to this beautiful, genuinely welcoming and loving place.
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