This week at the Autism Center including... BEST BUDDIES!

This week at the Autism Center, I worked on some "workshops" with the education director in how to PLAN for lessons. I actually used the same powerpoint from which I first learned about lesson plans! Thank you Professor Kim Paulsen! It has been really beneficial to walk through WHY they are teaching certain things to the kids, let alone how they are teaching them. For instance, a lot of the kids have items on their "program/goal" sheets, such as, "Imitates _____ sound," or "Identifies animal sounds." After walking through the form of a lesson plan, which includes explaining to the child why it is important they learn these skills, I think it has made the leaders at the Autism center begin to re-think the skills on which they are placing importance. Not that things are drastically changing in their program/curriculum... yet, but I can begin to see some small effects.

A very exciting advancement at the beginning of the week was a meeting with Best Buddies Ghana! On Sunday night, when I returned from Cape Coast, three individuals from Best Buddies Ghana and one Ghanaian volunteer from the Autism Center came over to the Ikando house for a meeting about starting Best Buddies at the Autism Center. The college student, Isaac, was excited about expanding the program and took on the responsibility/opportunity of starting up the Autism Center site. He was scheduled to visit Tuesday, and then Wednesday, but finally, today, he came and saw the center! (In Ghana, scheduled meetings are often delayed due to lack of knowledge of location, transportation issues, and just the general culture of delay.) Today, Isaac came and visited the center! He met the children, teachers, and administrators, and then, we decided to just go ahead and get started. We walked across the street to a private, "Regular School," and met directly with the head master! We had no appointment, but Isaac, Diane, and I just walked in and sold the project! The head master said he would be excited to expose his children to social interaction with children with Autism.



After school each day, we have had lots of Ghanaian experiences. We have made really good friends with Asana, who we have always called, "The Batik Lady." Batik is like tie-dye here, and is a very popular type of fabric. Asana owns a batik shop that is on the road in between the house and the Autism center. We stop each way to chat with her, and have become close with her entire family. This past week, the front of her shop is closed because she is actually making the batik. We have been in the back with her each afternoon helping make it, and we even got to design our own fabrics! [I made curtains for the new condo.] It has been very interesting to be so involved with her business, family, and life. We have gotten really close, and today she already talked about how she is going to cry so much when we leave.

We also went over to Richard's house last night. Richard is a teacher at the Autism center who we have become good friends with. Additionally, Muhamad is a volunteer from Kwame Nkrumah University in Kumasi, working at AACT only for the summer. We have become friendly with him, and he lives right around the corner from the center. His mom owns a shop with ice-cream, and he takes us to his house to show us his amazing artwork!

Ghanaian Houses/Family Life

Ghanaian houses/buildings in general are very different from anything I have known. A "house" is not necessarily all indoors. A "house" as they refer to it is more of a courtyard with enclosed rooms as mini "houses" all around a middle open space. This open space has "lawn-furniture" and sometimes a kitchen area, and dry-lines. Many nuclear families tend to live around the same courtyard area, or house as they call it here.


Tonight, we went to the movies! We went in Nima, which is not a very ritzy area of town and certainly not a very touristy one. The movie theater was outside, under the stars, with people walking arond with items on their head to sell! It was a hilarious experience, with old 80s movies and Ghanaians constantly talking and moving about.

Things Jessi forgot... by Diane

Dear readers,

My friend Jessi obviously forgot to mention what happen when she tried to go the bathroom . Here is the story: As usual Jessi needed to pee ( honestly I have never seen someone going so often to the toilet, she goes to the toilet six time per hours ) so she said to me :Diane I am going to the bathroom, I will be right back. Suddenly,I heard heavy sounds coming from the bathroom. Panicked, I decided to see what was going on. As a brave girl , I rushed into the bathroom ready to help my lovely friend. There I saw Jessi trying to explain to me in a language signs ( i am from France so my English is extremely limited , by using language signs?or signs language ? )that the toilet fall into pieces ( if you want more info about the incident ask Jessi sure she will be much more precise that me). Out of breath, she was keepig saying " OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD..... .

Seeing Jessi trying to do her best to fix the toilet hilarious........

During our time in a charming hotel, others things happened. Before sleeping, Jessi wanted to wash her face. She went to the bathroom and turned the faucet on. The water was poop brown, so finally she used baby washing rather than the water.

Just keep the spirit movin', man

That was the mantra we heard this entire past weekend... hanging out with Rastafari guys and chilling on the beach, heading to cape coast, always, "Be free," "No Worries," "Keep the spirit moving."

This will be the longest, funniest, most random blog post I have ever done, as it was the longest, funniest, most random weekend I have ever had! I will try to make it easier to follow by putting headers...

The Journey to Cape Coast, begins on Thursday.

We left the Autism Center Thursday afternoon, and it was VERY hot. We were carrying a lot of things, and sweating profusely, and really wanted to stop. We saw this "fancy" hotel, and decided to walk in and check it out. We went in ,and just sat and de-sweated in the fancy fancy restaurant, without ordering, haha! We just used the air conditioning, sat for 20 minutes or so, and then left.
When we got back, we dropped off our fabric we bought at Circle to the Sweing Lady right around our corner, and then went to get a taxi to meet Louis, the Ghanaian drummer with whom we were traveling ot Cape Coast. Mary, the dress-lady's daughter, insisted on carrying my guitar and being our escort to the taxi! We were to meet Louis at the Art Center, a place where people sell lots of cultural items, right by the water. When we got there, of course we had to wait an hour... but while we were waiting, we watched a practice of this show with intense dancers and drumming/singing/flute!
Finally, around 8, we left for Cape Coast, about a 3 hour drive. Mensa, Louis's friend, drove us, with Louis in the passenger seat and Diane and I in the back. In the trunk were oru bags, foru drums, and my guitar. One of the great things about Africa is you don't ever have to plan ahead of time for bringing snacks on a trip... while sitting in traffic, Louis and Mensa got us water, plantain chips, chocolate, and other snacks right from the car window. The ENTIRE ride, they kept saying, "Are you feeling worried? Be free, no worries. That's what I like to hear. Just keep the spirit moving..." those same few sentences OVER and over again. The "Rastafari culture" is big here, and is very repetetive in their constant mantras of "keep the spirit moving," and reassuring themselves and others all the time that "Everything is positive."
Along the way, we passed a police check where the driver paid the policeman one cedi, for no apparent reason. We could not get an answer out of our drivers, besides the fact that they kept saying, "It's just old tradition here." We kept finding out what would happen if you DIDNT pay the police at a checkpoint, but they didn't really understand our inquiries. It's just what they do, apparently.

We were to stay each night in Green Hills, an accommodation that Louis secured for us that he assured would be great for us, "I want to keep you girls safe and make sure everything is ookey," as he kept saying. The place was in "Addison Square Gardens," owned by teh Addison family, and home of "African Footprint," a drumming/dancing/cultural group with people who are deaf.
After checking into oruu *lovely* lodging, we went to Oasis Resort on the beach to hang out and jam. There was a bonfire, and it was Diane's first time having a camp fire! We sang songs with Rasta guys, and had a really great time! There was a little cultural clash at the end, but we learned a LOT from it:
It was 2:30am and Diane and I had worked at the Autism Center all day... we were tired and ready to get back and go to bed. Neither of us wanted to make Louis or Mensa leave their friends at the beach, to whom they introduced us, so we approached them and considerately said, "We are feeling very tired and would like to head back. We are happy to take a taxi, as we don't want to make you leave your friends here if you want to stay."
Unknown to us, in the Ghanaian culture, if you come with someone, you leave with them. It is absolutely 100% insulting to offer to secure a different ride home. It is flattering, and EXPECTED to request that the person who brought you take you home when you feel like leaving. Well, we had NO idea of this, and were just trying to be considerate of our friends who so generously drove us up to Cape Coast with their group. There was a large fight that lasted for a good while, where the guys just would not listen to our take on the story and were completely insulted by our actions. We learned a lot, and at the end of the night, drove back together to Green Hills.

Louis, Diane, and Mensa

Friday: Touring the Cape Coast Castle, shopping, cooking

We woke up to drumming around 7am, although Diane slept through it. Louis and Mensa made breakfast for us: bananas, eggs, bread, and tea. Diane and I toured the Cape Coast Castle in the morning, and to get in, Diane walked up and paid 5 cedi total for two tickets, although for foreigners it is much more expensive. ;) This was the headquarters of the slave trade from the Gold Coast.

**** Here begins our crazy adventures of meeting lots of people and seeing them AGAIN at unexpected places. I will use " * " to refer to those instances. ;) *********

At the castle, we met some African American ladies* from Illinois, and also befriended a girl from Ireland*. In the Museum, the lights went out... pretty flipping scary being in a slave quarters with no emergeny lights. (I had my key-chain flashlight, thank goodness!) It CERTAINLY was not an American or European museum. After the castle, we met up with Louis and Mensa and went walking around the area. Lots of bargaining, i.e. never bought earrings for more than one cedi, way to go Diane. Later, we went to a LOCAL market to buy food. Also got some fabric. We went back to Green Hills and cooked a Ghanaian meal.




It is STILL Obama Mania in cape Coast! That is where he visited with his family.


We went to Oasis on the beach again to jam, and this time,



We went to Oasis on the beach again to jam, and this time, we saw a group of American-looking kids. While walking behind the group, we saw one of the boys was wearing a kippa!!!! The group** was from AJWS, American Jewish World Service. They were 17-18 year-olds doing a summer group community service trip building a school in the Volta Region in Ghana. We talked for a little while, and then they had to get rushed out to get on with their itinerary for the night. We were so excited to see them, but also sad that we may never get to see them again. (We continued to see them at FIVE random, unplanned occasions in the next few days.)

We continued to experience another (more severe) culture clash that night, of which I won’t explain the details, but it was another adventure and learning experience nonetheless. We went out on the beach and played more songs, mostly Bob Marley, with Rasta guys and other random foreigners. *On the beach, we met the Danish girl that we jammed with earlier that week at the Art Center with Louis. Upon leaving, TOGETHER, we saw an ice cream truck, serving soft-serve! There were also street kids dancing around to the music, that were incredible Michael Jackson impersonators. We shared ice creams with them.

Saturday... where we saw EVERYONE!

After another lovely bread and egg breakfast, we got in a tro-tro to go to Panafest, the big cultural festival in Cape Coast that weekend! The tro-tro was almost full, and short one seat for our group. Diane got on first, and I squeezed into the back and just plopped on Diane’s lap without really saying anything. The other passengers thought that I had just sat on a random Ghanaian lady, and were totally appalled by my behavior. I got so many dirty looks, like, “Who does she think she is, just sitting on someone’s lap!”

Louis’s group was supposed to play at the opening ceremonies at 10am, but his show got changed to 7:30pm. While it was disappointing, it was really not surprising because EVERYTHING in Ghana happens the opposite way that it is planned, in a completely unexpected fashion. We walked around the Panafest area, which included a large stage with huge speakers, and a whole expo of hundreds of Ghanaian vendors with various cultural items. I bought bags/purses made out of Fanice (ice cream in a bag) bags!!!
Later, we saw the opening ceremonies of Panafest, and bumped into... the **Jewish group! As usual, they were rushed away by their chaperones, but it was so nice to bump into them on Shabbat again.

Diane and I walked up "close" to watch the dignitaries, and to TRY to understand the Ghanaian English. We met the rest of the Ikando volunteer group who had just arrived via tro-tro, and then continued to walk around with Diane while they toured the Castle. We also bumped into another volunteer, Elizabeth, and her friend from Japan who is deaf*. Now that Panafest was officially open, it cost 2 cedis to get into the expo. No way Diane and I were going to pay... we walked up to the gate, and I said, “Hey! Remember me? We were just in here. I was the guitar player, she was the drummer?” The people at the gate said, “Oh yea! Can we please just see some ID?” I showed them my Vandy card and we just marched through into our Panafest adventures.

Inside, everyone was our friend from somewhere. People we jammed with on the beach, back in Accra, etc etc. One guy followed us around for most of the day, a Ghanaian university student. While bargaining (two large necklaces for 6 cedis, oh yea) we saw the ***Jewish group again!
After a great deal of shopping, we walked up to the stage, and Diane really wanted me to play. I declined, insisting that they had professional bands lined up and I would not just impose into their set. Diane marched onto the stage and said to one of the guys, “See my friend over there? She plays guitar.” They pulled me up on the stage, gave me the Stratocaster, and I just started jamming reggae and jazz on this huge stage at Panafest!



Then, the Jewish kids saw I was on stage, so a durummer, bass player, nad two singers from their group come on the stage and join me! We played a rousing, African "Od Yavoh Shalom Alienu," for the crowd!

While I was on the stage, I looked out and saw *the group from Michigan that I had sat with for hours delyaed at the JFK airport!

Later that evening we took a tro-tro to Kakum National Park. When we got there, it was pitch black dark, and the stars were by far the clearest, most beautiful stars I have ever seen... even compared to those in Carrollton, Ohio. Hard to believe! We hiked up to our platforms in the rainforest, where we stayed that night.

I was the first to check out the toilet, and the first one had a mountain of poop piled HIGH when I opened the toilet seat. Then, I brought Diane with me to look at the second toilet, because I was scared (rightfully so), and it had not only a gigantic mountain of poop but a mouse standing on the top of it peeking out at me! We slept three girls on one mattress under a mosquito net, and all night long heard animal noises: monkeys, and who knows what else. The next morning, we did the canopy walk. It was exhilarating!

Sunday: Kakum Park and back to Accra

On the top of the canopy of the rainforest, who did we bump into but... ****the Jewish group! Also, crossing the canopies, we saw **Elizabeth and her friend! Additionally, the previous weekend we traveled to the Volta Region, and our group adopted a *Canadian solo-traveler we had met on the bus. We also saw him at the bottom of Kakum park. On our way out, we bumped into the **group from Illinois we met at the castle.

We stopped on the main road on the way back to eat at Hans Cottage, a place I had heard about from my lovely tro-tro mates on the ride to Kakum park. (I had a good hour of love proposals and conversations with eager Ghanaian men on the way to the park. I explained to them that I was married already. I’ve gotten good at this!) There, at this random stop on the road midway between Kakum and Cape Coast, we saw *****the Jewish group again! It was really just meant for us to travel together the entire weekend; although each time we saw them they were always being rushed out to their next activity. It was a lot of fun to make friends with them in Ghana.

We convinced our tro-tro to drive us not only back to Cape Coast but all the way to our Ikando house for seven cedis per person! On a squished, extremely hot ride back, Diane and I wrote up this entire blog to remember all of our crazy occurrences of the weekend.

Funny morning

This morning, when I was walking down our dirt road to meet Diane to walk to the Autism Center, a man on his motorbike stopped in the street. I first thought, "Oh goodness, is he going to offer me a ride?" Haha.

He said: "I need a wife. I need a white wife," and I said, "Oh! Good morning," and said, "Have a great rest of your day!" and moved on. That was the closest I have been to marriage so far!!!

Then, when we were walking through Circle, the junction where we change Tro-Tros, a young boy kept coming up to me and saying, "Obruni obruni obruni," nothing special, as people say that all the time meaning no harm. A lady who was selling things came over as if to help me and said with a strong accent, "Obruni means 'white lady,'" HAHA! I learn something new every day ;) (I get called obruni about at least three times per block when walking. I try to think of it as them saying, "madame.")



Next funny thing... our tro-tro was truly naked. The steering wheel had NO coverings on any of the wires. Completely exposed, with no plastic, cloth, leather, or any attempt to make it look like a real car. Just wires that made it go.


THEN, we got off the tro tro and some lady insisted that I had previously asked her for CHEESE, and she had her cheese for me. (Some white girl must have asked her for cheese in the past and she just assumed since I walked by that it was me. A very funny intercourse with her.)

A great morning with a fun bit of humor for the way to work at the Autism center :)


I bought a lot of fabric today at Circle to get dresses made... two cedis per yard, and it's gorgeous! Also got some more Obama-print fabric.

So many people here think I am Spanish! While buying fabric, I buy a sachet of water (people carry them around on their heads selling them for 5 peswa, the equivalent of about 3 cents) and this guy asks me, in Spanish, if I could get him one too. I was so confused, but ended up having a good, full conversation in SPANISH! AHAH. Then, Diane came by, and turns out he speaks French too, along with about five other languages. Very very intelligent 'beggar'...

Last Night

Last night we hung out with two of our friends who work at the Autism Center, Ibrahim and Richard. Ibrahim took Diane, Richard, and I to see his art work. He is studying art at the university, and is UNBELIEVABLY good. His entire house is full of spectacular artwork. I usually do not enjoy galleries, but I sincerely enjoyed viewing each of his pieces of intricate, interesting work. Then, we played cards and hung out and cooked pasta together for dinner back at the Ikando house.

Adventures in the Volta Region

This was another incredible weekend, made so fantastic by the unexpected adventures that occurred every step of the way!

Thursday night, we went with our Ikando Volunteer group to dinner in Osu and then Bywells, a "club" in Osu that has a live, local band on Thursday nights. We met some of our Ghanaian friends there too, and had a really great time dancing and listening to the music. We piled in a cab to get home, and once again, had to face the police check with more than 4 passengers in the cab. One of the Ghanaian guys got out of the car before the police check, walked ahead as our cab went through the checkpoint, and then got back in the taxi ahead of the police checkpoint and we carried on our way with an over-full taxi, haha!

On Friday, we left for the bust station straight from the Autism Center. We took an STC (coach) bus from Macola Market to Hohoe. The bus was not air-conditioned, but had a nice breeze. The whole way it stopped for mobs of people selling bread and other products to our bus, and was a very cultural and scenic experience. Our group started as 9 people: 3 Americans, 2 Swedish, 2 French, one British, and one Taiwanese. Later that night, we picked up a Canadian who joined our group for the next day.

We stayed at "The Grand Hotel" in Hohoe. There was nothing grand about it, but we had dinner there and slept, and left the next morning to go to the Wli falls! These are the tallest falls in West Africa, and really were magnificent. We had to take a guide to get to the first falls, and then the "upper falls" are "at-your-own-risk" during the rainy season. We decided to make the climb, after a good while of hiking and bathing in the first falls. The hike was a very steep incline, and was really a challenging trek! We were so wet, from deet, humidity, and sweat, and seeing the top of the falls was an exhilarating experience.

That night, we slept near the Wli falls at another "hotel." The next morning, we took a walk to the Togo border, a very unexciting 2-foot-tall wall, and then took a tro-tro an hour and a half to the Tafi Atome, the village that has the monkey sanctuary. The rest of the group was going to stay there overnight, but Diane and I decided to travel back Sunday evening so that we could get back to the Autism Center on Monday morning.

We saw some monkeys, and decided to go for a walk. Caroline, from France, and I started walking one way out of the village the opposite direction of the main road, thinking that the rest of the group was walking behind us. After a while, we realized they were not behind us, and with no cell phone reception, we turned around and walked back toward the village. After not finding them there, we figured they must have continued up the road toward the main road, so we contined our walk. Granted, it was really sunny, and very hot and humid in this rainforest area. Still a lovely walk together. We got pretty tired and hot after a while, and saw a motorbike coming behind us going in our direction. I flagged it down, and we jumped on! We rode on it, past our friends. When I tried to tell the motorbike to stop and let us off, he didn't understand. After a while, he said, "I do not understand English, I speak French!" HAHA! After all that time of enduring a language barrier, the French girl and him spoke, and we got off and started to walk BACK so we could catch up with our group. Then, a large trailer truck came by. We jumped on the back of that, and then jumped off again when we found the group on the road! Since Diane and I would have to come back to the main road later to catch a Tro Tro to go back to Accra, we decided that we would jump on the next motorbike we saw to go back to the monkey sanctuary to get our backpacks, then come back to the main road to find the group. We went back, and the monkey sanctuary didnt' have the key to where our things were. We had to go BACK to the boys and THEN back again to the monkey sanctuary, then hitched ANOTHER ride back! Basically, we spent the whole day on a motorbike, but it was really so much fun. We took a tro-tro back, the two of us, to Accra, and were safe and sound :) Goodnight!

We be jammin'

This past weekend, we traveled to the Volta Region to see the Wli Waterfalls, hike in the rainforest, and explore that area of the country.

I will first write about today, which exemplifies a "typical" day in Ghana, as all of the unexpected, amazing events that happened seem to now be "typical" in that they are all perfectly timed without being planned!

1. Autism Center, drums and jamming
2. Best Buddies Ghana
3. After school
4. Cultural observations: "I want to be your friend"

Volunteering at the Autism Center

Today was a really spectacular day at AACT, the Autism Awareness, Care, and Training Center. While there were no special activities, the children and staff were so productive the entire day. Last week, I worked individually, in the afternoons, with some of the staff to talk about how to run a lesson with their child. I talked about trying to really test if the child is learning, and also to vary the tasks, not just doing the exact same "trace this, count this" every day. Today, I watched the 'teachers' with whom I had worked doing CREATIVE things with their students! One of the teachers went and got different objects for the child to count, rather than just putting up his fingers like they had done EVERY day since the beginning of the program. It was so amazing to get to watch the effect of just some simple brainstorming and "culturally sensitive" sessions that worked with the staff there to get them to improve on what they wanted to teach the children.

In the afternoon, I helped the ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) people from the Global Autism Project to make lots of PECS symbols. (Their blog is: http://globalautismproject.blogspot.com/ It is really great, and tells in more detail about the project here. Check it out!)

During the past few weeks, we have been doing preference assessments and also formulating communication symbols for different students. This afternoon, we printed, cut, and laminated all of the symbols so they will be in use starting tomorrow! One of the best parts of the day was when one student (who had bit me hard earlier in the day, a particularly rambunxious young child with Autism with lots of energy) climbed onto my lap while I was cutting out the pictures, grabbed the scissors from me, and began cutting the pictures himself! This seven-year-old ended up cutting out the PECS symbols for his whole class! It was so rewarding to see this child, who is often very difficult to control, be so successful at a work-related task.

Best Buddies Ghana!

One of the staff members there is SUCH an amazing teacher, and so passionate about serving people with disabilities in Ghana. In a casual conversation, "What did you do this weekend?" he told me about how he took one of his former students, twenty-something years old with cerebral palsy, to the hockey tournament in Accra! I asked him if he had heard of Best Buddies, and he and a friend had actually be in touch with Best Buddies International (Valerie, the same person I have talked to about expanding our travel program abroad) about starting up in Ghana! He just needed someone to help kick it off, as he and his friend have been working on brainstorming and formultaing a proposal and beginning schedules. Right place, right time! I will be here for the next three weeks and will be able to help them with Best Buddies Ghana!

Drumming, Jamming, the beach... typical after-work experiences

Louis is a 'famous' drummer, at least to me, as I had heard about him from Molly, the director of the Global Autism Project, for quite some time. He makes drums, and has played drums for people such as Stevie Wonder. He volunteered at AACT's field trip last Wednesday, and we have been in touch ever since. He is custom-making a drum for my brother, Jordan, and wanted me to come over to his shop today to check out how he is making it. We went after school.
The 'shop' is in an area along the beach where TONS of drum-related trades-people have "set up camp" in clusters around the land, not really on streets but paths along the dirt/beach. There are people who cut the wood, hollow it, carve it, work with the hide, sew the bags, everything you could think of that has to do with drums, all over this beach area! We saw Louis's area and Jordy's drum. It is REALLY cool.
After taking us around to see the drums being made, he took us to a group of his "Rasta-friends" to JAM. We rocked out for a good two hours to everything from Bob Marley to the Indigo Girls, and an amazing rendition of "Ameh Yisrael Chai," the African-style Jewish song. They asked Diane and I to play songs for them from "our culture," so we did, and they loved it!! We stayed there on the beach jamming until after dark, and then one of Louis's friends drove us to a place for dinner, where it cost less than 30 peswas per dish (about 22 cents) and then he also drove us all the way back to the Ikando house!

Cultural Observations

It is really interesting that a lot of the things I have read about in the guidebook are actually TRUE. For example, it says that children in rural areas will ask foreign people (Obrunies) for a pen because they know they will get that more likely than money. In the Volta Region, a child straight up asked me for a pen as I walked by the path! Also, people REALLY do just want to be your friend here, ALL the time. On the tro-tro, at school, on the street, at the store... everywhere, someone will help you or talk to you and then say, "I really want to be your friend," and then request your contact information or provide theirs. We really have made some true Ghanaian friends, from work and even some random encounters, but the legends of everyone requesting your information really are true. I usually say, "My cell phone does not work here."
Additionally, strangers are more than willing to go out of their way to provide directions on the streets. As there are rarely street names, it is difficult to give or receive directions. You just have to "go." If you ever ask, "Where is ______" a person on the street will never just point you in the right direction... they will make sure to walk you all the way to your destination, whether you want them to or not! The people here have such kind intentions and have really made the experience enjoyable at all moments, even while lost in the city.

A field trip like never before!

On the bus-ride back from today's excursion (or field trip as we say at home), I kept trying to picture the activity on the bus I was on occurring on a bus in America. I absolutely could not picture it.

(Check out photobucket.com/JESinGhana for pics of today!)

IT WAS AMAZING! After an incredibly fun field trip, all of the staff and students were completely exhausted. Outside in the heat all day running around, playing, sweating... and on the bus... jamming, dancing, drumming, the whole way back! Louis, a famous drummer, came to volunteer for the day, among many other extra volunteers from the university here. He played on the way back, and everyone sang and danced in the aisles and seats for the entire ride.

At the botanical gardens, there were not much of any "gardens" or scenery to see. We saw a donkey, a pond, and some plants. BUT, there was a fantastic playground and hang-out area where we spent most of the day and I had the greatest time playing I have had in quite a long time.

There was a huge teeter-totter type of toy, amongst many other playground attractions, that I jumped on the moment I saw it, like a little kid! It was so much fun to spin around, and bring the kids on. It was great to see them interacting and enjoying each other's company in such a different environment.

I am totally wiped, from just a day of pure playing! The weather was beautiful, but the heat... my goodness! I am going to go eat more FanIce (ice cream in a bag :)

The Global Autism Project

Each day, we go to the Autism center and "volunteer." The great thing about the Global Autism Project is that they are more concerned about what the center will look like AFTER they leave than the volunteering that is being done on the spot. (Ingram Scholars Summer Project defense panel, eat your heart out! Sustainability, haha.)

The past two days we have had a training workshop for the staff (half yesterday half did it today) in PECS and PRT (Picture Exchange Communication System and Pivotal Response Treatment). These procedures are things I learn about and use in special ed, and the staff in GHANA is using these research-based methods to work with children with Autism in their community! The true "help" that the Global Autism Project gives the center is way more than volunteers. They make the training in such a way that the staff are empowered, for example, they receive an official-looking certificate after completing the PECS training, and the STAFF carry on the 'best practices' for the life of the organization, not just for the duration of the volunteers' stay.

The Global Autism Project people are all ABA certified (Applied Behavior Analysis). The center has come such a long way since it first started, and even moreso since the GAP started six years ago. For the rest of my stay, I will be working on.... LESSON PLANS! Thank you, Vanderbilt Special Education, for making me create lesson plans upon lesson plans, of which I can recite the order of an effective lesson with no hesitation. I am working with the teachers on not just having students constantly repeat things and trace letters, the majority of a Ghanaian education, special ed or not, but having them do modeling, guided practice, and independent practice activities for skills that are important for them to learn. It will be great to work with them, and to really know that the skills will be used by these passionate teachers and attendants here in Ghana far after I leave!

The Fun Afternoon Life!

After 'work' today, Diane and I went to Kaneshie. This is a HUGE market, one of the many in Accra. There are three floors of a big building inside the market area, let alone the hundreds of stands outside the building. The entire top floor consists of fabric. We met up with the other Ikando folk on the top floor of Kaneshie market and got fabric with which we will make dresses/skirts/shirts, etc. We had been invited to a BBQ by the Architect crew (many of the Ikando people are Architecture interns at a firm here in Ghana), at their office, which is near Kaneshie. Also, Molly, the director of the Global Autism Project, invited us to their place where her Ghanaian friend was cooking food! So, we went from the Architecture party to the oceanside place with the autism crew and had a wonderful rest of the night by the sea, complete with some awesome drumming, of course!

Tomorrow, we have an "excursion" (the word they use for field trip), and the drummer is going to volunteer and come with us! We are going to the Bottanical Gardens.

Ice cream in a bag.

Here in Ghana, everything is in a bag! The filtered water, sold in 500cc bags, and today, I had ICE CREAM in a bag! They even sell Gin in a bag, everything. I guess it helps curb the waste problem, which is really not bad, especially comparing it to my adventures last summer amongst the trash heaps in India and Nepal. Here, people do not litter very much, and trash if seen at all is in the gutters, not piled up... at least I have not encountered that yet.


Ghana is a very flexible country, or maybe better stated, the continent of Africa is very flexible with time. Flexible meaning that you must know that no matter how set a plan is, there is a very good chance of it being canceled or delayed. I like that here, and especially with the fun people I have met!

Today, I had planned to volunteer in a slum neighborhood with the two Swedish girls, Lykke and Sofia, collecting data about the children who live there, there abilities, and backgrounds in order to get them into schools. Well, this morning when we were leaving for the trotro, we found out that the chief (of the village/area) said we could not come today. Even though it had been set up for a week, and confirmed many times, it got canceled last minute! So, the four of us (me, two girls from Sweden, and one from England) went to the markets around town instead and shopped, walked around, bought African fabrics to make dresses/skirts, and explored. We had a really great day, getting to see and do lots of cool things, despite the expected unexpected change, haha. I even got ice cream in a bag!

Obama Obama Obama Obama!

It is OBAMA MANIA around here!!! When someone wants to get my attention on the streets, they say, "Obrino" or "white girl," and if that doesn't work, they yell "Obama" and then "Misses Obama!" It is so funny! As often the only American amongst a group of other foreigners, i.e. from Taiwan, England, Sweden, Norway, etc., it is even more amusing to hear them assume our patriotism.

Yesterday (Friday evening), we planned to go to Kokrobite, a beach about an hour and a half west of Accra. A friend of Molly, the director of the Global Autism Project, is a drummer and besides helping start a music/drum-making program at the Autism center, he was performing at a big show Friday night. We also wanted to get out of Accra to be relieved from all the Obama madness, like road closings, traffic, lots of people, etc. We made it to this CRAZY bus station, called Keneshie, even with most of the roads being closed between our station and Keneshie, and when we go there, the lines for the tro trotro to Kokrobite were soooooooooo long, and it was raining! When one trotro came up, it filled up quickly of course, and someone got on out of line and there was a fist fight ON the trotro! After that, we decided to try to get a cab, and then with the rain and traffic and road closings, we ended up staying in Accra.

I invited two Ghanain friends from the Autism Center to join us in our adventure to Kokrobite, and they actually found us at the bus station! We all went back to the Ikando house together and jammed out to Bob Marley songs and other reggae, some original, on guitars, drums, and flute. The people here, for some reason, feel so connected to Reggae and Rastafari and it seems so authentic, even though we are in Africa, not Jamaica! Their voices and style are just amazing, and so much fun to jam with.

So, for Friday night, we went out to "dinner" at Lizzy's, a dancing place in Osu, the area with restaurants and music venues, and had street food (Beef Kabobs and rice) and lots of craaaaaaazy dancing with many many eager Ghanains. I do not think I have ever been that sought after in my life. So many ghanain men, and so few women, and they loved the foreign ones, haah. It was really great to have our two friends, Richard and Roland, with us!

Roland, who has been working at the Autism Center for 3 years, told us about his dad's fishing boat. He said he would take us the next day to go out on it. So, this morning, at 8am he texted saying he was ready. After the others at the Ikando house heard about this opportunity, so many people wanted to go, so, we had 8 people plus Roland and Richard! Me and one other from America, two from Sweden, two from England, one from Taiwan, and one from France.

We met up (despite an approximately two hour delay in meeting each other because of numerous road blocks due to Obama Mania). We walked for a while to a trotro station and took the trotro to Accra Central, and then walked to Jamestown, where the area that Roland's family lives on the beach.

Jamestown was full of people in small shacks and lots of kids playing soccer in dirt "fields" all over. Everywhere we walked large groups of children in unison yelled, in their Ghanain accents, "Hello! How are you!"

We walked down to the beach, NOT a touristy or luxurious beach location, but the fishing, local living area. Through some public toileting areas, dead fish, and lengths of canoes, we got to the water and hung out with some of Roland's friends (among the naked children swimming in the ocean, haha!)

After hanging out with the fisherman for a while, we walked up a few steps to this area where Roland's friends have tons of drums and flutes, etc, and had a random breakout HUGE drum circle! So many people came and joined and sang and danced and drummed. Amazing harmonies and rythms. Then, they started a spontaneous dance lesson for our group. They coreogrpahed a whole dance for us, and we had so much fun! Our "instructors" want us to go to the auditions for TV Africa in two weeks with our dance, HAHA. We will let you know if we get on tv. (I think I may be on tv from the Obama afterparty tonight.)

Next, we walked up to Roland's mom's house, where they cooked Banku for us. Banku is a traditional African dish. It consists of Maize in a ball, hot, and then fish over a "sauce" of onions, tomatoes, peppers, etc. The fish is literally a fish, a whole fish, sitting on top of the "sauce," and you dip the Banku balls in with it and mush it and eat it with your fingers. It was actually really really good!!

We played with the children in Jamestown, jump rope and dancing/clapping games, and by 5:30, we walked to a beach restaurant, got some cold drinks, and watched the sunset by the water. Then, we came back to Osu for some "fast food" dinner and dancing.

After that, we went to the OBAMA AFTERPARTY!! No one knew what it would be like, but a few people from the house had heard of it going on. We went back to the house for a moment to change and clean up (although there is still no flowing water), and put on nice clothes because we heard it may be a "cocktail" type of affair. We found our way there and it was SO COOL. It was right across from the U.S. Embassy, at the W.E.B. DuBois center. It was "high class" Ghanaian people, and some foreigners. When we got there, our group tore up the dance floor and had such a great time with all of the people and the MANY different live performers. They had everything from Reggae to Michael Jackson tributes. Everyone was dressed really nice, and it was a gorgeous, manicured outdoor place. We were the last ones to leave, staying after it ended dancing with the dj's and all the people still there!

It was so much fun to go around with our group. What an awesome conglomeration of cool, open-minded, fun-loving people from all over the world. Even though everyone assumes that we are all American when we walk by and yell "Obama" to all of us, haha!


All around there are t-shirts, songs, tapestries, everything that says "Obama" and has the American Flag mixed with the flag of Ghana.


Imagine dancing all night last night with crazy Ghanaian reggae dancers, then traveling today to various parts of Accra, the dirty beach, dancing in the hot sun, running around with children, then going out dancing two more times at night soaking wet in a thin sundress, and then coming back and there is no water! YES, we are all living like that together. But thank goodness for babywipes! I am so glad I threw that extra large pack in (thanks Mom and Dad for convincing me). No worries, because tomorrow I am joining the two Swedish girls in their project going to the slums. We are doing well and staying well and having a great time.

Just kidding

So the internet thing a few nights ago was a joke. It popped up for a few minutes and quickly went away. We had a great few days at the Autism Centre, and tonight we are going to Kokrobito, a beach about an hour away, for a bonfire and some other stuff. have a great weekend!

Hello from my BUNK BED!

CRAZYYYY!!!! I turned on my computer to write up a quick blog about tonight on microsoft word, assuming I do not have internet out here. I opened my computer and it connects to WIRELESS! Here at the Ikando house in Ghana. So, I am sitting on my top bunk bed, under my mosquito net, writing my blog on the internet!

Even crazier.....

Yesterday I quickly got to know one girl, Diana, from France. Her parents were born in Congo. Today, we worked together at the Autism Center... as we were leaving the internet cafe, she saw my notebook that had "Jessica Solomon" on it and asked, "Are you Jewish!?" I said, "Yes, why, are you?" And she said "YES!" So this girl that I had connected with on my first day, from France, and with dark black skin, is Jewish, and we are volunteering at the Autism Center in Ghana together!

Her story: Her mom grew up with a family in Ethiopia, and later, like many, went away. She lived in Congo. Diane's dad, from Congo, went to medical school in Paris, as did Diane's mom, where the two met. Her mom is a pediatrician and her dad is a GP doctor. Her mom keeps KOSHER and used to wear a wig and the whole bit, but does not any more. Diane does not eat pork or anything like that. How crazy is it to meet someone like that all the way here in Ghana!?

The two of us really want to travel to this ancient Jewish village just west of Kumasi, and we will write to them and try to visit there for a Shabbat.


Anyways, we cooked dinner together tonight, Me, Diane, and the two Swedish girls, and then went to the beach for "Wednesday, Reggae Night." It was a lot of fun, dancing and people at night by the beach.

Goodnight!!!

Arrival in Accra!

Hello! I have arrived in Accra, Ghana, and it is just wonderful!

Yesterday, I got picked up at the airport by Quashi, from Ikando, and after settling in my bunk at the volunteer house, he showed me all around the city. Today, I started my first day at the Autism Center!

The Flight

The flight was delayed three times, changing gates and planes for each delay! I met a group of college students from Grand Valley College in Michigan, and hung out with them through all the delays. They are traveling all around Ghana for a few weeks, so I will probably see them again when they come to Accra in 3 weeks. On the plane, I sat next to a guy who works for USAID, a government program that provides AIDS programs throughout Africa. He is a finance director, and was coming here to help close some offices in Ghana. He knew all about the area, and it was great to have him through customs and finding baggage and all of the first moments arriving in the country.

My first day, orientation

Quashi is the volunteer coordinator, and walked me around the city to show me where the internet is, markets, air-conditioned grocery store, the bus station, everything. He is very cool, and completely self-educated! He learned all his English from working at an international school outside of Ghana. While English is the "official" language, everyone's first language is mostly not English, but they mostly all speak it.

The buses are similar to my experience in Nepal, but more frequent and less crowded! The main small ones are Tro-Tros, basically vans, like Vandy Vans, without any fancy fabric inside, and cost about 15 peswa. One Cedi equals $1.50, and so a peswa is a little less than a cent. There are seats for everyone!

Last night, we went out to dinner, with a lot of the volunteers staying in the house. The Ikando house is great.. most people do different things during the day, and it is not officially coordinated but we have dinners together and some people do things together at night and on the weekends. I am on the top bunk of a room with three other girls from Norway! There are two girls from Sweden, two guys from the U.S, another from Irran, Austraia, France, UK, etc etc! Lots of volunteers housed by Ikando all over doing volunteer projects all over the area.

After dinner, we got cabs to go back to the Ikando house, and piled 4 people in the back, one in front. As they apparently "enforce" the traffic laws here, one of the guys had to get out and WALK past the police check, so that our car only had the maximum capacity of 5 total to show the police, and then go back in a few feet after the police check! It was so funny! It is really very safe here, and the people are very friendly.

First day at the Autism Center!

I went to the Autism Centre this morning! It is SO GREAT! The people and teachers are amazing, and past volunteers have really set up great systems that the staff actually USE! They take data sheets during EVERY lesson, ten trials each time, and have picture symbols for each activity. They show "yellow" sign when it is 2 minutes until the next activity and "red" when it is time to stop. The professional Applied Behavior Analysis therapists from the Global Autism Project just got here, and it is so cool to be here with such experienced professionals! The centre has computers for the kids, and a great schedule. The children were awesome, and really not much different than at home. These teachers and aids were better than some I have seen back in the U.S.! It was raining today, but I will bring my guitar tomorrow because they do school 8:30-12:30, then from 1-whenever, the students are just playing until their parents get there. Another girl just got here to do music therapy, and there is a professional Ghanain drummer taht wants to help out, so hopefully we can get an afternoon project started!

I miss Rachna a lot!! But it is a cool experience to be here and meet the other people.

Going to Ghana on Monday!

I will be traveling to Ghana on Monday, arriving there Tuesday morning!

I will be volunteering at the Autism Awareness Care and Training Center (http://www.aact.org.gh/about.htm) through the Ikando volunteer organization (Ikando.org). At the Autism Centre, I will help with speech therapy and with beginning a music program.

I will fly back to Cleveland on August 11, and then to Vanderbilt on August 18!