Cape Coast

After 4 longgggg days, I am finally back in Accra. We left Thursday for the AIESEC Ghana National Conference. There are 5 local chapters in Ghana (CUC -which is mine, UCC, KNUST, Legon and one other that I don't remember.) Also, some people from AIESEC Togo, Burkina Faso and Nigeria came to the conference.

This was the first and last AIESEC conference that I will ever go to. Part of the problem is that I am not a member, I'm just an exchange participant. So a lot of the AIESEC-lovin' and bonding was not for me. Also, the workshops were insanely boring and were attempting to teach us to be better leaders, but I was so bored I couldn't focus. After Thursday sessions all us interns decided to skip everything else...

Friday we woke up and ate breakfast. It was a type of porridge but as with most food here, a bit sour and not something I would chose to eat again. It's not bad by any means, but its just not tasty. Anyway, we walked down to the beach which had the most perfect sand I have ever seen. Also, most of the shells were perfectly in tact and are the color of ivory. There are these spiral type that look really cool too. I brought some home to share.

After the beach we went to Elmina which is one of 3 castles in Ghana. It was owned by the Dutch and other various Europeans and was used a point of slave trade. Standing in a cell with no ventilation and thinking about the fact that thousands of people died where you are standing is something that will stay with me forever. Or the room that still had a foul odor... because the people locked in the room stayed there for months. They ate, slept and went to the bathroom in the spot that they stood. Imagining the filth and disease in that room makes me sick. I cannot even being to imagine what these people went through.

We came back from lunch and ate some plantains and beans -- they actually tasted good although I don't really like plantains. We sort of got in trouble for skipping everything, so we felt a little obligated to attend some sessions. After a few I couldn't take it anymore, so I bailed and went to my room.

It was on Friday that the issues began. We had payed a certain price with the knowledge that we were staying for 2 nights. The third night us interns were going to stay somewhere else since we wanted to tour and see the city. Well someone got the info wrong since we only paid for 1 night. Some chinese interns were really pissed and left to find another hotel. I stayed for simplicity, but was not happy to have to pay more money. Also, they then expected us to attend more of the conference and we refused. This all led to some ill feelings. They didn't understand why we would come to the conference and skip everything; we felt cheated and misunderstood. Long story short, some left and some stayed.

Saturday morning the group that left went to the National Park and my group went to the second castle called Cape Coast castle. Like the first one, looking around at the signs that say "Door of no return" and realizing how many thousands of people walked through the door to board some ship bound for Europe or the Americas, branded with the ship code and the country to which they would be going. It made me think a lot about how succesful America has been, but how many people suffered for us to get to where we are today...

After the castle, we returned back to the hotel. Tensions were still high and our huge group was split up, cranky and the level of English was low - I still often have to play translator. Regardless, we found a place to sleep Saturday night, but a few people had enough and went back to Accra.

I woke up Sunday and did not plan on going to the National Park. The rest of the group left and then of course I decided that I wanted to go too. By myself I made my way to town and caught Tro-tro to the park. While others paid a lot for taxis, I got there for 1.6 Ghana Cedis. If I keeping tanning maybe they will think I'm a local!

We left Sunday afternoon and made our way back to Accra. It took about 3 hours and by the end we were all glad to be home. However, I made so many new friends from so many countries... Tina from Nigeria, Sharon from Ghana, John from Burkina Faso. It is really awesome what AIESEC can do to bring different cultures together. And it's amazing how similar everyone is around the world.

This morning (Monday) we traveled by foot to 6 more schools. I am very excited to learn which school I will be assigned to. Hopefully it will be one of the closer ones so that I can volunteer more often during the week.

I've been here for 2 weeks already... 8 more to go. Unbeilevable.