Last Saturday we set off to Kokrobite for the night. The drive took about an hour and a half and we arrived at Big Milly’s Backyard shortly after 1pm. The place is gorgeous, it felt like we were at a resort in Mexico or something. There are palm trees everywhere, the walkway is stones with shell designs, there’s hammocks, swings and lots of places to chill out in the shade. We headed straight for the beach which is filled with colorful fishing boats, people selling jewelery, clothing, purses, dishes – I actually bought a ton of cool stuff. One lady was from California, she had been in Ghana since the 1970’s and she had started up an NGO ten years ago to support local musicians. She was walking the beach selling handmade jewelery made of different shells for only a dollar each.  All the pieces were stuck through cigarette packs and packaged in used water sachet bags – very smart, and she laid out everything on the sand for us and chatted for a while. The water was nice, with huge waves that knock you over if you’re not paying attention. I was wishing they sold boogie boards because the water was perfect for it. The next day I noticed some kids playing with wooden boards – using them to ride the waves into the shore. I went over and asked them if I could try, they loved teaching me, it was harder because it was a really long slab of wood and it was pretty heavy but it still worked great!

We had booked the suite for the six of us for only $12 each, so the cabin had two rooms with a mini fridge and our own bathroom/shower. Everyone staying at the guest house orders dinner at the same time then they serve everyone at 7pm. Definitely had a ton of plantain chips, kracks (like Pringles), and beer to fill up on since we hadn’t eaten lunch and they don’t serve food in between meals. Spicy chicken burrito with salad, it was sooo good. That night was a reggae party at the outdoor bar. It was awesome because the band played a little bit of everything. We later had the best sausages I’ve ever eaten and some beef kebabs. Out at the beach we watched these fisherman bringing in their boat in complete darkness. It was crazy, they’re pulling up a huge heavy boat through the sand, with rope. Apparently it takes about two hours to get it up far enough. I watched about five guys pulling the rope for a while and it barely moved. They put slabs of wood down to leverage it but all I could think was there has to be an easier way – especially since they take the boats out twice a day. This should be the sort of thing an intern does instead of working in an office. You’d have complete control of the project and results would be clearly visible, plus you’re helping out the locals first hand. A couple hours later we saw another boat go out, with no light a lot, to lay the nets. Then we went to this bar/shack on the beach that was still pumping out the music. It was awesome, there were only about 20 people there, most of them locals. The bartenders are dancing and jumping around, having a blast with all the customers.

In the morning we watched them pull the nets onto the beach. There were a ton of people helping and all the women and children were cleaning the fish. Most of the children were wearing nylon, it was so bizarre – wearing it on their heads, as shorts or as a one piece. We headed back to the city around 3, I got to ride home on the dirtbike, I love it because the sun is still so hot and the breeze feels so nice. And on a bike it’s way quicker because you can go through all the traffic. Later I realized I forgot my backpack sitting outside the bathrooms, I forgot to grab it after I changed- didn’t bring it in with me because you really  don’t want to put anything down on the floor/rocks and sand. Luckily someone we knew was going back for the rest of the evening so I got it back that night. But then I noticed I didn’t have my bag of wet clothes and bathing suit – the guys packed the car, and they left it on the deck of our cabin – and so that is still at the guesthouse but they put it aside for me.

That night we wanted to make some delicious ham and cheese sandwiches. Ham is ridiculously expensive at the grocery store so we bought some street sausages and cheese and deep fried some steak fries, it was sooo good! Since I’ve been here there have been so many times that I’m at the point of fainting I’m so hungry when I actually get food. It makes eating more enjoyable that way I guess but it’s partly because we don’t keep food in the house – the fridge doesn’t keep things fresh so I don’t have any snack food and there’s only so much rice and deep fried food one can consume. And sometimes when we venture off for food it’s like two hours by the time we eat. On the way home from work I usually grab a grilled plantain or tiny samosas or spring rolls. We agreed that a delivery service would be the best idea ever for foreigners. Yesterday it clicked that that all the ingredients for a banana split are readily available and super cheap (except the sauce which I can buy). Bagged peanuts are always on the grill when you buy plantains and there are fan carts every ten feet that sell frozen vanilla ice cream, strawberry yogurt, and chocolate milk. I also discovered yesterday when I was forced to find some breakfast (because there were no fan carts anywhere – every two weeks they take a day off), that the baguettes they sell on the street are soooo fresh and delicious. I’ve had the loaves of sugar bread before but these are way better, and you can buy just a third of it. I also found some fresh watermelon – I always see the women walking with it when I pass her in the cab, but it’s too hot to get out and walk the rest of the way to work. When I got home from work one of my roommates and her friends had just finished making salmon pesto pasta, omg I was happy.

Tuesday night we went to a fundraiser that one of our friends helped organized. It’s to raise money for children who can’t afford to go to school. It was at an Irish pub close to where I live, there was live music (it was the band that taught us to drum the first week we were here) – and they have a monkey, he’s so cute. The meal was amazing – chili and rice with veggies, guacamole with pita chips, and garlic bread. I cannot imagine how excited I’m going to be when I get home and it’s Christmas time and good food is everywhere – and there’s cold drinking water, and hot showers. I may even appreciate the snow, for the first couple days at least – sweating sucks, the weather’s getting a lot warmer and muggier than it was when I first arrived –  even when I go out for lunch at 2pm it’s scorching, and there’s no fans where I eat.

Work is going awesome – I’ve been super busy this week. The graphic designer fell through so I’m going to create a brochure myself and we’ll find someone else to do the website. I’m also creating some picture collage plaques that I did at my last job, and I’m teaching the secretary how to take notes and type up minutes. We had a meeting with a man the other day – brainstorming to create a proposal for micro financing for women. He wants to work here so we’re going to write a proposal and try to receive funding so the project can be implemented. It was neat because it was brainstorming every aspect of how the project would work – how much will the loans be, interest rates, payback period, which districts, how will we select individuals, how will we ensure the money is spent wisely, and what will keep it sustainable. We all need to do some research on different aspects but we decided that a portion of the payments should be kept aside for savings, and would be used to purchase health insurance for the individuals.  I’m excited to help write the proposal but it’s too bad it wouldn’t be started while I’m still here. It was neat to see the differences in the culture – at home we would be selecting individuals to give loans to, but in Ghana it makes more sense to find organized groups (such as religious, occupation or social) and collectively loan money to that group – and the group will decide how much each person receives and this will ensure the monthly payments are made – the group could spot those who couldn’t make a payment one month. To me this just seems really confusing and leaves a lot of room for arguments and bias.  But I guess we’ll see.

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