MONDAY

What better way to start the morning then with a bowl of off brand ramen noodles. I had bought curry flavor last week and it tastes amazing with a slice of the laughing cow cheese mixed in. Not your typical breakfast but it was good enough for me; I paired my noodles with some VIA and dried milk … a fine breakfast if I may say so myself.

Today I spend some time in the office. I had to bring in the ornament patterns into the office so I could find one of the seamstresses to make up some samples for us. The internet was obviously not working so there wasn’t much for me to be doing in the office. I talked to Dorkus (she is in charge of all the patterns and is head of the Quality Control group. I asked her if she would think of a woman who would be best for the job and ask her to come in so I could show her what we want done.
Two loafs of bread later … The woman finally came to the office. I sat down with her and tried to explain what I wanted out of the pattern. Even though the women speak English there is still a large language barrier which makes hard for communication. The instructions for the softies/orniments were straight forward and I’m surprised I had as many problems as I did. It makes me nervous for the garment and how hard they will be to explain to the women. Since the meeting with my friend didn’t go that great I’m going to head over to her house on Tuesday and watch her while she makes the samples. This way we can fix the problems right away.

Once I had my meeting with my friend I spent the rest of the day at the house working on patterning more garments that we were given the okay on. I think I’m much more productive when I’m at the house. I finished off the garment that Katie and I had been working on last Friday.

We had another dinner date with the West Point crew tonight at Eli’s. Palava was being served which i’m always happy about. Palava is crazy delicious, might be my favorite meal in Ghana. Tonight I saved my hardboiled egg to make an egg salad sandwich out of tomorrow.
I forgot (I’m not sure how) to mention about my mosquito bite situation. When we were at the Stumble Inn on Friday night we all accumulated mass amounts of mosquito (at least I think they’re mosquito bites) all over my feet and legs. I couldn’t tell you how many because I loose count every time I try. Sarah counted one of her feet which I think she was at 140 bites. I have around the same amount if not more as she does and have been in agony ever since Saturday night when they started itching. Nothings has seemed to work but tonight Katie gave me a Benadryl to take so hopefully that will at least knocks me out and I won’t wake up in the middle of the night trying to rip my feet off.

SUNDAY

Sunday we spend the day at the pool. Hard life huh? I’ve started a new book, its call “Something Borrowed”. It’s really not my type of reading but the girls have been raving about it and so I figured I’d give it a go; plus its being turned into a movie.

The book is addicting, I’m almost finished with it. I had to put it down by five though because we had visitors. There is a group of kids that go to West Point, a military college that are working in Krobo. That is where the beading office is. We had them over for dinner at Eli’s which was a lot of fun. Dinner was egg stew and pasta. I was really nervous about this dish because everyone that has tried it said it reminded them of a meat pasta sauce. I made sure to ask Eli if there was any meat in it, she said no so I had to trust her. I think it’s probably the egg texture which makes it similar to a meat sauce; I enjoyed it since it was really spicy.

After dinner most of us stayed up at C Spot. Our English friends were there so we had a very big ‘Bruni crowd. I didn’t stay as long as everyone else since I wanted to get back to my book.

SATURDAY

Ouch! I think everyone feels the same crummyness but it was well worth the fun. We we’re served breakfast in the morning, I had eggs and toast which was forgotten about. It is somewhat of a rule that one persons meal is always forgotten about. I think I’ve been quite lucky till now with dodging that role. Once my breakfast did come out, to make up for the timing they had cooked a banana with brown sugar. I hate bananas but ate it anyways to be nice. The rest of the day we relaxed and waited for the sun to come out. We played BS and read mags and by lunchtime the sun was still hiding and we figured we weren’t going to beable to lay in the sun. We gave our friend Peter a call to come get us and he said he’d be able to come get us between two and three; which really meant closer to four.

While we waited we ordered lunch, egg salad sandwich for me and chicken salad sandwich for the rest. The rest of the time that we were there we played with children of the couple that run the NGO. Four little English children all under the age of four. They’re lovely! Sarah held the littlest one for a long while and she defiantly has a way with kids.

Peter finally arrived a little after three and we all enjoyed our stuffy taxi back home. Back at the house we go ready and went over to the Shell station to watch the match. I’m glad everyone I was with was rooting for Ghana. A few of the girls went to Cape Coast to watch the match; they were cheering for the US and got slapped by some women. All I can say about the match is that it was amazing to watch. Everyone has so much pride and love for their country. When Ghana won it was pure insanity; words can’t describe the chaos, you’ll have to wait for the pictures and video.

FRIDAY

Had to go into the office in the morning since I have run out of money and need to make a trip back to Barclay’s bank. It was probably not the best day to be walking around Cape Coast since has been down pouring since we got up. The wet doesn’t bother me that much though. If my hair gets wet it just gets curlier. When we walked past ‘chillin chillin’ she noticed that me and Katie didn’t have umbrellas and wouldn’t let us leave her stand till we excepted her umbrellas she had. She’s such a lovely lady. Barkleys wasn’t that busy so the line went fast. It would have been shorter but people were sitting down out of line so it got a bit confusing who was next and I got skipped a few times. After Barkley’s we went to the shopping market to get the essentials for the weekend and headed back to the office.

It was still raining when we got back and when we tried to give Chillin her umbrellas she wouldn’t take them from us and said to keep them till the rain stopped. Her stand is literally right across the street and we wouldn’t have really gotten that wet without them but she insisted. Love Chillin Chillin. Katie and I were ready to get back to the house so we left the office right away to get a taxi home. We gave back the umbrellas on our way out and headed back to the house.

The rest of the day I worked on getting the softies done. With them out of the way Katie and I started patterning one of the designs that the US had given the OK to sample. We worked on it till the rest of the gang got back which was the end of the work day.
I didn’t really want to go at this point since I was tired and kind of in a mood but we had told the English group that we would go to their Stumble Inn and have a beach party and dinner. The people that we have been hanging out with run the organization and constructed the building that we stayed in. It is a resort but it is also where their short term volunteers stay. So if you are staying less than six weeks they stay there otherwise they stay in one of the villages. Its located on the opposite side of Elmina so we had to give Peter (Marias taxi driver who will allow Pepo to join) to come and pick us up and drive us over. Somehow we managed to fit seven obrunis, Peter and Pepo into one taxi. Needless to say no one was comfy and the back roads we had to take to get to the Stumble Inn were not so forgiving.

They had a family style dinner with meat kabobs rice and salad. Fortunately they were able to make me a veggie kebob which was delicious. They served it with a spicy ground nut crunchy dip which is the same stuff that the sausages are served with at the C Spot. I’ve wanted to try it for a while no so I’m glad I did. I’m hoping to find some in bulk that I can take back home with me; I think a lot of you will enjoy it. After dinner we all stayed up till real late playing card/drinking games. Those kids really love their Cardinal and Star. The night ended with a bonfire and a dance party on the tables.

THURSDAY

No office today!! Thank God. Lately my mental annoyances are getting worse and worse. The gum chewing, bread eating, tapping and typing has been getting worse and is really hard to get away from. Today will good being able to stay home, doing patterning which I truly love doing. My task was to pattern as many softies as I could by the end of the day. I got so many finished and I can’t wait to see them sampled. They have tried them before but they just didn’t work. I decided it would be better to simplify the pattern so there’s less room for error. I’m doing sets of different animals; safari set with rhino, elephant, giraffe and lion; teddies with a bear, cat, dog and bunny; set of fish on a fishing line; farm animals with a piggy, sheep and chicken. They’re going to be so cute!

As for our lunch break we went across the street and had a swim. I would take laying out and a dip in the pool over any other break. It was really refreashing and helped us get through the rest of the day.

The evening was spent at Eli’s. We had invited our English friends over for black eyed pea burgers but we didn’t hear anything from them. Dinner was delicious, those burger are so good. The end of dinner was a bit annoying. Business got up before we were all finished eating, paid and left to use the internet at the hotel. They talk about how well off they are and how proper their school is; seems they weren’t taught manners growing up. Eli’s isn’t a fast food joint and if I was Eli I would have been even more offended.

WEDNESDAY

In the morning Nick and I took a stroll through Elmina. We came across the market which we have been looking for. Its more outdoors than the Cape Coast which is good, the smells aren’t as potent. On our way back we saw some fresh doughboys being made and couldn’t resist. We asked for one each and she gave us a bag of 5 each. Only 50 peswas and we couldn’t really say no so we had them all. I mean we really ate them all. Way to go Keane, I don’t even eat doughnuts in the states. The taxi’s are always an exciting part of the day. Its funny, I think I’ve only seen a handful of cars that actually have speedometers that work, not that it matters if they did since no one really follows the rules and if the rules of the road did matter there wouldn’t be anyone to enforce them. And if there was someone to enforce them you could just pay them off. Oh Ghana! Today the steering wheel was upside down, doesn’t seem that safe but we made it in the end.
Today we had two sight visits to go on. Both were for nick but since I didn’t have any to go on for my own stamps it went with Nick for his. The first is with Jennifer. We were both really excited to go; yesterday Katie and Sarah visited with her and she is a very good batiker, has a nice area to work and she fed them popcorn. Not just any old popcorn though, she popped it fresh and she made it like kettle corn.
She did have a really cool set up. Her father worked for the government, I think as a police officer. All government workers in the area have to live in this certain building. When her father passed away two years ago they had to move out of the building and into a house next door. Fortunately they still let her use the space to batik. I would describe it almost like a parking structure underneath an apartment building.
Nick’s pattern was a difficult one which is why it was given to Jennifer to sample. She doesn’t have any trouble stamping it and gets the rhythm of the pattern on the first go. When we were finished batiking we waited for Jennifer outside when she said she had a few things to take care of. We both wondered what she was doing in the house and when we saw her come back out we were happily surprised that she had popped us fresh kettle cooked popcorn. It was tastier then how Sarah and Katie had described. Crazy delicious!
Done with batiking we waited for the fabric to dry and for Jennifer to get ready. While we waited we talked with her mother which was really nice. She gave us the background of her life and how many kids she had, where they all are and what they do for a living.
Finished getting ready, Jennifer took us back to the office when she was finished getting ready. Once back to the office we didn’t have much else to do because we spent too much time at Jennifer’s and didn’t have enough time to do the other sight visit. I think that it was ok though because the other woman didn’t show up to come get us.
Back at the house we went across the street to one of our new spot (the C Spot) for beers, sausages (non for me of course) and an exciting Black Star match. Apparently we were supposed to win this game or else we wouldn’t be able to make it any further in the World Cup. So we didn’t win the game and everyone got really disappointed because that meant the end for Ghana. Then all of a sudden the Ghanaians went nuts!! None of us ‘bruni’s knew what the hell was going on. I’ve never seen such passionate fans as the Ghanaians. Anyways the stats of the game where added up and I guess we did well enough to make it through. This means that the next match will be this Saturday again none other than the United States. I know who I’m going to root for (Ghana of course) but I wonder what the other girls will do.

TUESDAY

Today we went into the office because we all had sight visits set up throughout the day. I was to meet with Patrisha and one of the other global mama’s. These two women had been assigned my stamps to make samples from. Nick came with me and Patrisha since he didn’t have any sight visits till Wednesday. She came and picked us up from the office and took us to her shop. Patrisha is one of the younger global mamas but she is one of global mamas best batikers. She worked under Emmi and Ella for 6 years as an apprentice and then opened her own shop a year ago. The point of the visit was to watch her batik with the stamp and explain how we want it. Full drop, half drop or sloppy. Explaining things here is hard so when it wasn’t quite how we had pictured the design was supposed to look like I started doing a little bit of it myself so she could understand. Once we were on the same page she said that she was going to start over because she didn’t want any inconsistencies in the sample. This meant that she would have to take the wax off the fabric and let it dry before she could start over again.

Patrisha said that she would finish off the sample and bring it to the office later on in the day. So she sent us on our way back to the office to wait for the next woman and the next stamp to sample. Walking back to the office was a new adventure because her shop is in part of Cape Coast we haven’t walked through. The area was a bit more residential; I think its where all the fishermen stay because there was a plethora of fishing next. I also think this is the area where a lot of the bread is made because we saw a lot of really interesting clay ovens. I also saw a woman selling egg salad sandwiches which I need to try before I leave. They looked really delicious.

Back at the office we waited on the other Global Mama to come get us. We waited around for a long while until we found out she was expecting us to come to her instead of the other way around. We had Amos (one of the quality control workers) take us to her house where her shop is. We had to hail a taxi because she lives too far from the office to walk.

When we arrived at her house she had already stamped the fabric. She was a bit irritated because she had been expecting us for a while but because communication can be hard we just didn’t know. It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to be there to show her what we were wanting because both the stamp samples she had done I could already tell were done wrong. Its not a big deal and we can redo them but I wish we could have done it right the first time.

We had Amos point us in the right direction to get a taxi back to Elmina. Since we didn’t have much else to work on in the office we could go back to the house and work on patterning. Our walk with Amos was a lot of fun. I was humming the contagious ‘Wave your flag’ song which Amos picked up on. He told me I have a really nice singing voice which obviously he was just trying to make me feel good about myself since we all know I do not have a good singing voice. Anyway we all three had a sing along to the song and it was really fun.

We had to wait a while for the taxi to fill up but it finally did and we made it back to the house. We got to work on measuring the patterns of garments we’re keeping from the previous line. We need to make sure that all the measurements are where they are supposed to be. This is an irritating task because everything is very much unorganized. We work until everyone gets back which is hard because it’s a task I really don’t want to be doing. I have to not complain about this though because I know if I was in another internship I might be doing this kind of job all day long.

Tonight we had a bit too much fun with our newly acquired English friends. The work at NGO close to Elmina, apparently they live right next door to us every once in a while. They’re a ton of fun and a bit too generous. By the end of the night we had finished off 3 bottles of Cardinal; it is a strawberry gin. Its not that strong but after three bottle we were all a bit tipsy. They also tried to by more but we had to say no because it was getting late and we still had a “family dinner” to make. Katie, Nick and I made pasta, eggplant, salad and guacamole. Very good!!

Monday

Yeay we have to office to ourselves again which means we can sit in the sweet air-conditioning. Loves it. It actually got a bit too cold today and I’m glad I wore my jeans, im now wishing I brought a sweater.

To begin with we worked on finishing the carving out of the sample batik stencils. This takes quite a while but is necessary if we want to have the women batik what we want. I’m proud of myself today because I drank 4 pure waters!! I’m really bad at drinking water and staying hydrated and these pure waters really help me do just that. They design makes it one, fun to drink from and two impossible to not finish the whole thing. Since you have to bite the top off to drink the water you can’t really put it down till you finish so you’re forced to drink the whole thing.

Halfway through the day I went with Nick and Hillary to get some groceries for dinner. Stopped at Malcolm’s which is what I consider the equivalent to our Meijer’s; they have a little of just about everything. It gets a bit confusing there. Someone stands at one end of each isle; they watch you and when you pick up an item the take it from you then find a code number for the item, write it down on a small piece of paper and then gives you the paper. This happens for each item in each row. You then have to take your items to check out and give the check out help your items and bits of paper and she rings everything in and you pay her. Next you take everything to another table, give them your receipt and items, she checks the list and then she bags your items. You then have to make one more stop at another person at the door that checks your receipt on more time before you leave. It’s a bit much if you ask me but oh well. I buy chips (someone’s version of Pringles) they are curry flavored and a bit too delicious!! A bit too much really since I finished the whole tin before lunch was over!! I tell everyone not to let this chip monster buy any more chips for the duration of our trip, I just can’t control myself!! On the way back to the office I stopped by a woman selling vegetable; I buy cucumber, onion and lettuce, I plan to make a salad with the vinegar I bought earlier. I think im going to need the nutrition since I’m sure I didn’t get much from my lunch.

Back at the office I spend the last part of the day on the internet looking for inspiration. We have another presentation due by the end of the day tomorrow and I need ideas for silhouettes. Using the internet here is rather irritating. It’s just so slow and most of the images don’t load so you have to constantly reload pages hoping the pictures will eventually show up. The last leg of the work day is chaotic. The global mama batikers com to the office to check out the templates that we have made. We explain to each what we are looking for, they use the stencil to stamp on the foam and we have them cut the stamp in the office to ensure that its what we had envisioned. The office is just so full. I’m excited I meet with one of the women that are working on one of my prints and I plan to go to her shop tomorrow at 9 to watch.

We leave the office but before we can take a taxi Katie wanted to go visit one of our friends that we met this weekend at the Oasis. His name is Kobe, he was really nice and works at an NGO Internet workshop. He is a Ghanaian. Him and Katie had talked for awhile about music once he found out that we were from Detroit and that they both shared a love for Mr. Eminem. I guess he put out a new album today; Katie had already been planning on downloading it from iTunes. She made a copy for him which was really nice and I think he really appreciated it!

Taxi ride: always a trip! Today we had Rasta Man. He always likes to see Katie (she was sick one day from local Red Red and threw up in his cab. He makes fun of her still. He’s the most talkative one of the bunch, always asks how we are, he sings quite loud with no music playing. One day he told me he finds my blonde hairs in his car after each time I get in and that if he had a wife or a girlfriend they would think he was running off with a ‘bruni.

Back in Elmina I had just a small dinner since I was still full from the chip binge earlier. I finished off the bit of pasta I had left from Sunday. Just Cowbell cheese, garlic and margarine. Sounds like a James favorite!! After eating I went to the Hotel to have a good swim and upload some photos.

Back at the house I went straight to bed so I could try finish off the book. I have two chapters left!!

Craving of the day? … bubble bath and any kind of pizza!!

FRIDAY

Damn you Wizzy!! He works in the office and I know I’m not alone when I think that he needs a good talking to. Though last night was well worth the fun me and a lot of us felt like garbage all day. All the business women including Jorden and Carla went to the Volta region today for the rest of the weekend. They leave right when we get to the office. I have to say I was glad they went before us because we can now find out how it went so when we plan our trip we know how to travel there and where we should or shouldn’t visit.

I snapped at Hilary for typing so much; “ you writing a novel over there or what?” I’m so out of line and embarrused I excuse myself to the hallway and work by myself for awhile. I defiantly needed a time out. I apologize to her when I return and she understands even though she should think that’s I’m crazy. I talked to jenny real quick in the morning which was short but sweet. It was so nice to see her face and we plan to skype this weekend when shes together with mum and dad. After skyping I sit with Katie and Sarah in the airconditioned office which was really nice.

Got bread to eat. Chocolate crackers and some veggie crackers. Later on I tried some sweet potatoes with a hot pepper sauce. They were ten pesewa each so we got a cedi worth to share between us. Later I got to skype with James. I think the internet is better from the cool air in the computer room. The picture was clear; we didn’t really chat that much since I had to work a lot but I left the skype up so it was like we were just hanging out. That made my day!!

The whole time at the office we worked on getting stamp stencils finished. All of our stamp ideas that were given the ok to sample from the US. First we had to correct all of them in illustrator; make them to size; change to pdf then transferred them to Wizzy’s computer which is hooked up to the printer. We then had to print them out and cover them front and back with tape. This makes the paper more durable; make shift laminate. The next step was to cut out with an exacto knife. When their all ready we can use them as stencils and draw onto the latex foam and cut them out to make the relief. Then we give them to the batikers with instructions on how to print them. Sloppy, half drop and full drop are the technical terms that we learn from Judy.

Today we left work later than usual. We had to help again with another order that was due this weekend. Mostly folding and placing in bags. Some Notre Dame students came in looking for Kelly so we stayed to chat with them for awhile. They said they were in town for the weekend and we gave them some names of places that would be cool to visit. We also told them we would meet them up or look for them at the Peace Rally that we were planning to go to on Saturday.

Back in Elmina finally. We head to Eli’s for dinner. It’s nice that we’re only a small group. I ordered a salad today and it defiantly hit the spot!!
I’m really craving a movie night; popcorn, diet fountain pop and chocolate covered cashews, I don’t care what the movie is… you pick!

THURSDAY

Super excited at the office today!! Turns out that we have feedback from the US about our presentation. They gave us the go ahead on which batik designs we should sample and which designs they thought wouldn’t work. We work as a team obviously but I am very happy to hear that all of my designs (besides one I wasn’t fond of anyways) we’re given the ok to sample!! Fire up!! They also didn’t like most of the silhouettes we picked out (there was some miscommunication since they were supposed to just be a bit of inspiration, not actual product ideas) For now we will be working on getting templates made and the go ahead made into samples. The new designers are given a chance to come up with some more batik stamps and the rest of us are asked to come up with more silhouette ideas. The softies idea cant work because there are so many regulations with children’s toys that we have to keep them small like ornaments but they love our ideas and we’re given the go ahead to come up with some patterns for new ornaments.

We leave early to go to Judy’s for the rest of the afternoon. What a great experience, she is such a lovely women!! It was nice to work with her because she just gave us a bit of direction and let us do our own work. The stamps I made I came up with quickly so I wasn’t that into the design but I just had such a good time. The chemicals we uses smell terrible and they sting my hand through the glove because I have a cut. Nick got burned because he added one of the chemicals to the dye too quickly and it bubbled up onto his hand. I don’t know much about chemistry but when they mix together it makes the temperature sky rocket; it’s over my head.


After batiking we stay and hang out with Judy for a while. Its nice for her to have visitors since she can leave her house. She gives us bananas (which are tiny here) and groundnuts (their just like peanuts). I hate bananas but I eat them anyways as not to be rude; surprisingly the bananas are not that bad and I might have to change my mind about them. As for groundnuts, for sure a favorite.

Back at the house I find another insanely large spider again (this time I got a picture so stay tuned). In Ghana I’m constantly the one getting poo’ed on, or tripping or the one who today broke their shoe walking home. The unfortunate is always knocking at my door so this time I’m not shocked I find him; at least he wasn’t in the shower with me like his buddy last time.






What time is it? HAPPY HOUR!




Kelly has been working with Eli to introduce new dishes and we get to be her test rats and try her new Guacamole and plantain chips. Global Mama’s cover our first round of drinks for the reason we’re at happy hour is to discuss some PR matters for when we return to the states. We have a choice between the Wizzy special and a smoothie type drink with strawberry gin. I choose the wizzy special. It has gin, strawberry gin and a mix of bitters. That’s all! And I find out … I don’t like bitters,I find I hate them and thin they taste like mold; what are bitters anyway? The guacamole on the other hand, way to go Eli, smash hit!!


We talk business till dinner is served. I cant remember the name but we have black eyed pea burgers and they are a definite hit. Talked about pr stuff for when we go back to the states. Had black eyed peas burger. There was lots of guacamole left and it went really well as a dressing on our burgers.




We stayed at Eli’s longer then usual and I think the Wizzy special when right to our heads, we all couldn’t stop laughing. Once back to the house we stayed up for awhile. I called James before I went to bed which was a perfect ending to a great day. I am full and feel satisfied; no cravings tonight.

06|16|10

How I can’t believe I am halfway through my fourth week of work here! Time is just flying past; I think I need to start taking more photos. I bring my camera everywhere with me but it’s hard to take it out of my bag. Not that I think anyone is going to snatch it from my hands, it’s hard to explain why it’s hard to take pictures here. A lot of the people don’t like it, the children love it but you get swarmed if they see it, most of the time it’s because you feel so much like a tourist. I think I need to force myself to take photos, I’ll be kicking myself when I get back and I know I’ve missed my opportunity.

The first part of the day did not go as planned. We thought we would finish planning our measuring workshop for the quality control and present it within the morning. After doing a bit more research we found this wouldn’t be happening. We decided to each take measurements of a garment ourselves just to see how off each of us are from the spec sheet. Turned out we all got quite different measurements. We decided to give the garment to one of the women in quality control and see what she came up with. We also didn’t let her look at the spec sheet (if she knew what the measurements we’re supposed to be she might fudge the measurement a bit to make it work). Turns out she got different measurements as well. The spec sheet is right but we find that the sample isn’t and that if it we’re to go into an order it would be rejected. We have a plan for our workshop but we won’t be giving it until we have the new garments in and we can show them the correct way to measure.

In the afternoon Katie and I left with one of the Global Mama’s and she took us around town to find some batiking supplies.

Our neighbor Judy was once a Global Mama; she has three shops that she runs which are doing really well so now she doesn’t need the business from us anymore. I have talked about her once before, we met her the first night that we were in Elmina, her husband just recently has died and since he was Muslim she has to spend the next three months without leaving the house. She always welcomes us with open arms and enjoys our company. She has a batik station and sewing machine at her house so when she heard we wanted to do a bit of our own batiking she was happy to let us come over and use her supplies(of course gave her money in return for her hospitality).

So we walked through Cape Coast (Katie and I and a Global Mamas apprentice to find dyes, calico and chemicals to do batiking at Judy’s house. We got calico from the market which was the first time I think I’ve been back since the original visit. We were stopped by some women at their stand. They were very curious (as everyone is) of our jewelry and face piercing. (bit of background: we’ve been given an assignment to think up of new ways to use scrap fabric which usually just gets burned. One night when brainstorming we made braided bracelets and anklets. Its always a topic of question “what is that? What does that represent/mean?”) To everyone here it looks tatty and they can’t rap their heads around us just doing it as decoration. Same with the piercings… I point to her earrings and ask why just like she’s doing to my nose and Katie’s lip. I think we have a bit of understanding. Once again nothing is done in an ill-mannered way, just curious, we all have a bit of a laugh and continue through market.

When we get back to the office we leave early to go and batik at Judy’s. It was Katie, Nick and I. Sarah wanted to join but had to meet with Maria. As we catch a cab and head back to Elmina the clouds are rolling in from no where and it starts to down pour. Back in Elmina the rain doesn’t give up and we have to cancel our batik session.Dissapointed we sit on the balcony and carve out stamps and do a bit of cad.

Had some cravings later on so I took a stroll and bought chips, gin with tonic. We make some Gin and Tonics, tastes alright but defiantly needs some limes. Continued to work on Cad until we decided we’d make a family dinner. I made more Thai rice for all of us, Katie mad cheese sandwiches, and Nick shared his veggie stew he had made the previous night. We also gave making plantain chips ago and might is say it was a success and shall be repeated quite soon. You know how much I love chips!

What am I craving now?? Probably a pedicure, not that I get them on the regular but my feet are so torn up, dirty and sore.

06|15|10

So I’m quite irritated because the CAD drawings that I work on all morning in Illustrator have vanished. I think it’s because I didn’t save it and someone had shut my computer to move it out of the way when I was at market. I wish my very old version of illustrator knew how to auto save! Anyways it’s obviously my fault but frustrating none the less.
Had to sit at the bank to get some money out. Always a highlight, this time it wasn’t that bad though, it took about 20 minutes which is much better than my past experiences. I walked around with Katie and Nick to look for Ghanaian jerseys. Katie got a really cool one and I plan to go back and buy one for myself. I need to get better at my bargaining skills before I do though. The tip is to half whatever amount they ask for then pay in-between the numbers somewhere.

At the end of the day Katie, Sarah, Nick and I collectively worked together to brainstorm ideas for the quality control workshop we need to plan. We’re having troubles with the measurements on some of the garments. A lot aren’t to scale so we have to figure out where the quality control workers are going wrong and come up with a way to fix it.

Taxi home, our new favorite song is playing as we’re driving along side the ocean and I have an “Oh Africa” moment. We say that when we stop and have to pinch ourselves and remember to soak in the moment. The song is one of the World Cup songs called “Wavin’ Flag” I suggest you download it (the K’naan Coca-Cola celebration remix) and its brilliant!

Back in Elmina we went to pool for a bit of relaxation and exercise. I haven’t been able to use the gym since I don’t have running shoes with me, treading water is my new workout plan; I never realized what a great workout you get. And I get somewhat of a shower in the meantime, killing two birds with one stone! Today there was a family with a Ghanaian/British baby, his name was James. We couldn’t keep our eyes of him, super cute.

What am I craving this time? A kiss and cuddle from James Kessler

06|14|10

I had planned to wake up early and take a walk through town but just could get out of bed early enough. Instead I made a cup of via and started ready by first book here. I’m really not a book reader but its something to keep me busy instead of Suduko. Its called Water for Elephants. So far in not sure about it but I’m going to keep reading it and see how it goes. I kept reading It through the whole taxi ride in which made it go by a bit quicker. I wore makeup (and by makeup I mean put on a bit of mascara) this makes me feel pretty. When at work I drew for most of the morning. Trying to come up with some silhouettes for the new line. I also tried to come up with some new fall ideas since there isn’t much in the way of warmer clothing for women’s. I think I have some cool ideas for a quilted women’s jackets.

I worked on my hand drawing for most of the morning until I figured out that the Illustrator I had loaded that I thought didn’t work on my started working again. I had Carla send me some files in a JPEG format and found that the originals opened immediately in Illustrator. I wish I would have know this early for I could have done a lot more as far as stamp designs go. At lunch time I got to chat with James via Skype which was great. Skyping is so bittersweet because its so nice talking and seeing faces but when the call is over it makes me miss home so much more than before. ried to leave early but couldn’t
When I got home I ate the rice I had made for the week. I made it Sunday night; it is somewhat like Thai rice. I mixed in some curry, tomato paste, cayenne pepper garlic and peanut butter. Its so delicious and it made so much for really cheap and I think I’ll do this more often to save money.

Went for a swim at the hotel for a workout for about a half-hour. It feels really nice; it was also my shower for the week. Once I got back and the new girl Brenda was here with one of the volunteers that lives in Accra. She traveled with her to come visit cape coast for a few days. Barbra is from Nicaragua. After bathing in what’s left of my dwindling supply of bug spray I sat on the porch with Nick and Katie to read my book. Nick broke out his carton-o-wine and I enjoyed a small glass with him and Katie. I really didn’t want to drink that much of it since I felt pretty crummy from it this weekend.

More book, I’m so proud of myself!!

What am I craving this time? Mum and Dad’s couches!!!

06|13|10

Killer headache!! I think the wine is what got me. Maria said that they used to drink the wine that we had in Spain when she was a kid. They said that it was so terrible, and it was. For breakfast I shared another pot of amazingly delicious coffee which really turned my morning around. It was a bit crappy in the morning so we relaxed under the tents till it cleared up. Spent some time playing with and feeding the monkeys which was fun. There were two little ones a mum and a dad. The big one was awful!! They were all on leashes but the big one would chase you as you walk by and he actually grabbed Katie by the leg gave her a bruise and also grabbed, bit, and drew blood on Sarah’s leg. Little shit!!! I’m glad I didn’t get bit (just a pathetic nibble from the baby monkey) for I chose not to get a rabies shot!!

Around 2 was when Ghana had its first match so we went a bit before to the surf shop and got lunch before they played. I had a vegetarian burrito which could have fed all the children in Ghana! It beats out any Qudoba or taco bell hands down! I’m not quite sure how but I managed to finish almost all of it!! We watched the match for a bit but Katie and I we too tempted by the boogie boards so we left halfway through to go back to playing in the ocean. By the time the game was done it was time to head back. Our tro tro drivers had came to pick us up before the game started so they could watch it first before leaving.

When we got home all the good food had given me some cravings for some good food so I gave in and bought a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut chocolate bar. I only had one piece but it was amazing (minus the price). I think I’m going to try make it last as long as I can!!

What am I craving now?
I’d love to play some Frisbee golf with James and then.. Gelato!! 0oh YUM

SATURDAY

06|12|10
It wasn’t until the morning that we saw just how crazy this place and the people in it were. Pet monkeys on leashes, penis swings and structures coming up from the ground! The woman Trisha who ran the place reminded me of some sort of witch doctor (just like the one from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie). She was just a bit freaky, very much a Rastafarian and they were all so welcoming and accommodating. In the morning we ate again at the hotel and spent the entire day on the beach. The only thing I cared to have was fresh REAL coffee!!! It was the best thing I’ve had thus far. With sweetened condensed milk. I can’t wait till I can have real coffee every day again; I’m kicking myself for not packing my French press!!

Like I was saying they were very accommodating and offered us so much of their stuff to use. They had boogie boards that we played with the whole day! I think playing on the boogie boards was my favorite part of the weekend. I haven’t done that in so long, which is apparent by how many bruises I have acquired. Just a block down the beach was a surf shop/restaurant called Black Star. It’s owned by an American Guy and a Ghanaian. They taught surfing lessons which we would have done if it wasn’t as expensive. We went t here for dinner and to watch the USA verse UK match. For dinner I had spicy black beans, mango and avocado with coconut rice. I didn’t eat much of it because I had convinced myself they cooked it with meat flavoring and couldn’t enjoy it. I think I made a big mistake not finishing dinner because drinks went right to my head.

There was a group of English people we had met Friday night that came to watch the game there too which was cool. We stayed at the Surf shop all night; they had dancing and made a bonfire in the sand. It was so much fun. I think once again the kids made the evening. One in particular we all befriended, a little deaf and mute boy, the sweetest little thing. At one point (after some liquid courage) I got up and danced with him. Looking back on it I’m a bit embarrassed but it was a ton of fun. Plus it got everyone else dancing too.

FRIDAY

06|11|10

0o0oh what I would give for an iced quad grande sugar-free caramel American with a splash of soy milk!! That sounds like heaven right about now…

Slept alright last night. I think it’s the rain that cools off the night and wakes me up. I didn’t have to use my shirt again as a blanket so I think that was a bonus too. I got up early to take a morning walk before going into the office. We had started out walking every morning but it seems that we have slipped on that so I’m glad we got one in today. Taxi went really well today, finally!! I got to sit in the front seat and I had it all to myself!!

Today I worked on the stamp library. We have a much unorganized book filled with all batik stamps that are either just design ideas, ideas that have just been made into samples and stamps that have been designed, sampled and used in previous seasons. So today I went through the book and tried to put it in order and find out which ones have been used for what. Its hard to get projects like this finished here because they get picked up, started and never get completed. We’re really going to try this time around to finish it off. I organized the folder as much as I could and I think that it would be best to make it an electronic file so we save paper and space in the office.

Ate too much bread for lunch today and in result I now I have a dough baby! Perfect for bathing suit time! I also picked up a MJ biscuit (Michael Jackson). Stay tuned for the photos… their really funny!! I’ll have to bring some home with me.. along with the Obama Biscuits .. those are my favorite! Anyways, we’re leaving now for the beach weekend!! Whoo Hoo!!!! I hope I get a tan!!!

The tro tro ride obviously took a lot longer than what was expected. Its ok though, ,we had a lot of fun on the way there. We had all threw in a few peswas for a carton of wine the ride to the beach. Halfway through the drive we opened the carton and passed it round till finished. This made the trip a bit more fun. Somehow I managed not to spill any red wine over myself though I can’t say that much for everyone else. We arrived at Busau beach just when the sun was going down. We stayed at Alaska beach resort and I’m so glad we did, the place had so much character. Each room was its own little round hut with a thatched palm leaf roof. They were either two or four bedroom room, we had to share beds which wasn’t a big deal, beds here aren’t anything near to being comfortable so its just a given that you’re not going to get a good night’s sleep. It’s kind of known too that I could sleep anywhere and I think that when I get back to the states with all this training I’ll probably be able to sleep standing up!

It was really too late to go exploring Friday night so we had to the woman Trisha get us wood and we had a bonfire on the beach. It was amazing! It was made with huge sticks of bamboo. They stood them upright and lit the tops of them so it was this super tall structure. You’ll have to wait a little longer for photos since my camera died and I’m borrowing everyone elses. Also when we were waiting for the fire to start everyone ordered dinner. I didn’t get anything but everyone else was super excited for their menu. It was filled with American and British dishes. Lots of burgers and chips!

THURSDAY

06|10|10


Well, another night of sleeping poorly. I’m not sure why, it could be that I don’t have a blanket and I keep waking up in the middle of the night freezing cold with nothing to warm me up. The closest thing I could find was my tunic top that was sitting on the bed. I stuck my legs through the arm holes to keep myself warm and that seemed to help pretty well.
Dear Ghana, thank you kindly for another awful taxi ride!! There was six of us crammed into one tiny car. I was upfront with Katie and the other four squished in back. It wouldn’t have been that bad at all besides the seatbelt fastener digging into my side. I’m quite sure I have one massive bruise. It’s the speed bumps that will get you!!
Today was Katie C’s last day and she had asked a few of us if we would like to tag along with her on a site visit unrelated to Global Mama’s. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go but I decided to go with it because the situation sounded interesting. Before Ekaette left she was in contact with a few local businessmen who have started a private school for underprivileged children. The public school systems aren’t that great in Ghana and they wanted to be able to offer people less fortunate a better education. Ekaette has connections in the states that could help get the men some recognition but she was unable to go to visit them to take pictures. That’s why today we went with these men to check out the school, meet the kids and take some pictures.
The school wasn’t too far away from the Global Mama’s store; it’s actually just around the corner from Mama Gina’s house. I have to say this might have been my favorite part of my trip thus far. There’s no way to explain the excitement the kids had just to see us. They wouldn’t let go of our hands the whole time. Some of them wanted to be picked up and held which I gladly did. I didn’t want to put them down. We interviewed the men and asked a lot of questions for Ekaette. They really need help from volunteers to come and teach the children. They also need books and supplies. I could honestly say that I wouldn’t mind coming back another time to give my time to these kids. I hope that before we leave to take another trip there. I have so much stuff to give away and I would love to share it with them.
When we got back to the office we had to go into town for some groceries. We ran into Sabrina when we were out; she is one of the Global Mama’s. She asked if we would come by her shop and grab some things to take with us to the office. I think Sabrina is one of my favorite Mama’s. She has an amazing story; she really is a selfless person.
Back at Global Mama’s I spent the rest of my day sketching. I tried to come up with some new dress ideas for the women’s collection. The last part of the day seemed to fly by since I was doing something I really love to do. I haven’t drawn in so long I sometimes forget how much I enjoy it. Of course another fab taxi ride home. There was six of us again and I, once again, sat double in the front seat. .. at least I didn’t get any more bruises this time around.
Back at home we found Pepo lying underneath Marias bed. He’s been acting funny for the past few days and we think he might be getting sick. Poor little Pepo. It’s really not good that he is sick since tomorrow is his first birthday and we have planned a trip to Bushwa Beach to celebrate. Maria has jokingly said he’s having a one year crisis. I think it’s funnier in her Spanish accent. Super excited though for the weekend, we’re leaving Friday night and not coming back till Sunday night. The hotel is 10 Cedi per person per night. Not too bad!!
We went for a walk (Me Nick and Katie (M)) down through Elmina. It was nice because it was Katie’s first walk through town. It kind of made me feel a little like “this is my home” cause I could point out things I’ve noticed from my walks. Explaining things about Elmina made me feel a little more part of it rather than an outside I guess. It’s the small things! By the time we were half way through our walk the sun had already gone down, bummer that we couldn’t have spent more time walking. When we got back I had bread and butter with tomato sauce for dinner. I decided that wine would go better than beer and bought my first Ghana wine purchase. I have to say it was no Cab but Don Garcia hit the spot!! Its called Tinto, I’m not sure if that means something in a different language or if it’s just the name of the wine. Maybe it just means red. I like the carton it come in, I would classify it as the Ghana version of a bag of wine, better yet.. box-o-wine … in a carton. Stay tuned for pictures. The plan for the night is to play cards. I’m hoping to stay up a bit later than the past few nights in hope that I will make it through to morning without waking up. Wish me luck!!

Things I could go for at this moment in time …
James, my duvet comforter, espresso conn panna!! That is all

WENESDAY

06|09|10


So should not have gone to sleep so early last night. I woke up at around one o’clock im guessing and never fell back asleep. I originally woke up because I had to go to the bathroom. I first didn’t want to get out of bed for fear of rats and lizards. Sunday night Mama Maria had left an avocado out on the kitchen counter and when we woke up in the morning it had been scratched and gnawed at by Mr. Rat. Now knowing that he can climb up counters I’m a bit nervous that he can crawl into bed with me. Nick saw Mr. Lizard in our room when we moved our stuff in and he has been incognito since. So last night I laid in bed going back and forth about leaving my netted comfort. It wasn’t until I freaked myself out even more about my blanket that I found motivation to get up. I have been sleeping with my batik fabric as a sheet for the past few days. I brought it to the beach with me and used it as a towel. So last night my toes started to feel tingly ; in reality it was probably just a mosquito bite but in my head I had contracted that parasite and it was laying eggs underneath my skin!! So very logical am I. Anways that motivated me to get out of bed and put hand sanitizer and bug spray on my feet.
After waking up I didn’t fall back asleep. I guess that’s what I get for going to bed so early last night. I also woke up early this morning with the down pouring rain. It hasn’t let up all morning. We’re supposed to go do sight visits and talk to the seamstresses and batikers but I guess we’ll just have to see if it stops raining.

Took a while to get to work since it was raining and we had to stop at the hotel to use their internet to send our presentation to the states. We chartered a taxi so it would drop us off at Global Mama’s so we didn’t have to walk far in the rain. Because we were at the hotel the man charged us an extra 2 Cedis. When we got to work we had some time to kill before a workshop meeting with all the Global Mama’s so I decided to hit up Barkley’s Bank. The bank took forever as usual and by the time I got back the workshop was already in session. It was nice to sit in on the workshop. It was about achieving financial stability. They fed us snacks and FanIce which was delicious!!!

Today our plan is now to go on sight visits to meet the women individually and find out what they can do the best and what needs improvement. Before we go were going to go to the market which will be my first time returning. Hopefully I won’t get goat guts splashed on my face like Kelly did! GOO!!!! I want to get some food to last me through the weekend. We’re going to Bushwa beach for Pepo’s first birthday. I think we’re going for the whole weekend since it’s an hour away. Tonight is the only night I’ll be going to Eli’s this week, she’s making Palava and its Katie C’s last night. We’re going to miss her… and we're going to get her very drunk!!! She's probably the person I''ve learnt the most from being here. She's very very softly spoken but if you take the time to sit down and listen to her she has so much to say. I guess you can say she's wise beyond her years.

I forgot to mention a few things. Our sight visit went so well! Nick Katie and I went to Mama Felicia's workshop. Its just up the road from Global Mama's. It is her one worker and two apprentices. We went and watched Katie because she has been doing this for the past few weeks and we need to pick up on how to conduct interviews without saying or doing anything offensive. Obviously being in Africa alone is quite the culture shock but listening to the stories Katie has been telling us about, going to the women's, i know I'm in for a big surprise. The home life is just so drastically different from ours.

But anyway it went smoothly up until my badluck struck again. If you can recall that other day i flung poo on my legs. Yesterday I forgot to mention that when I was walking to the bank in the rain, the open sewer had over flown into the street and as I attempted to jump over the puddle I missed and ended up jumping right into the middle of the puddle. I cant begin to describe to you all the lovely things that the sewers are filled with... use your imagination! So that's that and today I picked up Felicia's small boy and held him on my lap because he was stroppy and wanted to be held. We'll of course he took a piss on my leg!!! I honestly feel like Africa has blessed me with bad luck, I cant really do much but laugh about it!

I could totally go for some Little Ceasers Italian cheese bread!!! Ooh or some gazpacho from Kruse and Meure!!! Mmhm … killer

TUESDAY

06|08|10

TUESDAY 06|08|10
Good Morning!! Today has been a very productive work day!!! Slept really well last night. Nick and I moved up into the open bedroom upstairs. I’m very much excited about this since I now don’t have to sleep on a bunk bed fit for a four year old.
The whole morning we worked vigorously on finishing the PowerPoint presentation for the office. For breakfast I had a yummy FanIce (vanilla) on the Taxi ride. Half way through the day I finished my loaf of bread and then got these chocolate biscuit sticks and an alvaro from Chillin Chillin across the street. I can’t remember if I have talked about her yet but she owns the stand across from Global Mama’s. She now says Chillin to us anytime we walk by, say hi or goodbye. It began with Ekiette when the woman would ask how she was she would say oh I’m just chillin’!! I guess she just caught onto it and hasn’t stopped since.
Presentation time!!
Everyone seemed to be really impressed with what we did for the presentation. During it, I was cool enough to put my hand in a cup of coffee and spill all of the contents into my lap and down my top. Soaked!! I was so uncomfortable. Though on the upside I smelt just like I had just worked an eight hour shift at Starbucks which brought back some memories from home! When we were done we went through all of the slides one by one with all the new designers to see what the thought. We also went through all of the stamps we had created and made notes on each side of what category they could be used for. By the time we were finished it was just about time to go home.
The original plan was to go over to the pool. I wanted to get a little exercise in since I ate all day today at the office. As usual the pool was closed for cleaning. I think the pool boy must be OCD or something because he’s cleaning it almost every day now. He is actually really funny and reminds me of the Guatemalan pool boy from the movie the Birdcage. I think it’s the shorts. Disappointed I ended up just taking a shower at home and chillin’ out the rest of the night. Four of us didn’t sign up for Eli’s so we went across the street for some beers and everyone else got sausage. When we got back I gave James a quick call and then ended up falling asleep.

MONDAY

06|07|10


iced soy chai made with half water and one pump white mocha!!! yumm yumm

SUNDAY

SATURDAY

06|05|10

Had a power bar for breakfast and some coffee, couple cups. Drank lots of water because I realized that I haven’t been making a point to doing that and I’m probably dehydrated which could be affecting my stomach. We had plans to go to the beach but it was raining in the morning so we culdnt go like we planned.
Went to the pool when the weather cleared up. It actually got really nice out so its kindof a bummer we didn’t go to the beach. When we got to the pool it was closed for cleaning because of the rain. Go figure! Internet wasn’t working either so we went back to the house. Was super sticky from lying out in the sun without being able to swim so the first thing I planned to do was take a shower. As I was leaning back to wet my hair I realized I was staring straight ahead at the biggest spider I have ever seen! I had been waiting for the inevitable day that I would see one huge African bug and there it was staring right at me in a venerable state. I hesitated for a moment, thought to myself … well this shower feels amazing is it going to be possible to keep my eyes on this thing the whole time im in here or should I get out before its too late. That thought didn’t last very long since I feel like it was growing infront of my eyes. Its legs were crazy thick and long. I’m going to say it was probably about the size of my head. And my noggin is a respectable size so you can just imagine how big this thing was. It was in that bathroom all day until I let Apeir know at which point he did the right thing and killed it.
Took two walks today, they were long ones and felt really good to get a little exercise!! When we were home we picked up some stars from next door and started to do some work. Kept doing trend research and some sketching.
Got hungry so we used the rest of the loaf of bread I had. Minced some garlic and rubber it on the bread with some butter and toasted it in a pan. Mixed tomato paste with some water, loads of garlic salt and hot spices to jazz it up. Had garlic toast and dipped it in the sauce. Tasted amazing!!
Worked on prints on the balcony most of the dayWent to Eli’s for dinner. Had snacks. French fries. Maria came back from Accra, brought one of the new volunteers with her. Her name is Clair.

FRIDAY

06|04|10

Maria, new girl liz and I were the last ones to get up so we rode last in the taxi to work. Its raining today and it looks like itll be raining all day long. Today at work we are working on getting as much done as possible for the presentation next week. Everything here seems to take three times as long as it would anywhere else. There are always set backs and issues to deal with constantly. Not to mention the crappy internet. I drank lots of coffee at work today. Carla brought her whey protein powder to put in the coffee which makes it taste nice since there isn’t much in the way of milk (unless you want dry milk). At lunch we took a walk through market to get food for the weekend .I ended up buying new butter, more bread, tomato paste and some pasta. Also got some gin for the beach and a can of off brand Pringles. When we got back I ended up eating the entire thing of Pringles. Typical Ellen move! They were Spicy Thai Chilli flavor … sooo good. It rained the entire time we were out of the office. Coming back from our market trip I stepped in goat shit and got it all over my legs.
Second part of the day worked on shipment. Katie, Sarah, Nick and I said that we would stay a little later to help with the order that had to be ready by the end of the night. Each night Maria has been getting home later and later so we thought we would help her and the team get things done quicker. We were there a whole lot later then we originally thought. After 6 it gets really difficult to find a taxi driver that will take you to Elmina from Cape Coast so once it passed that time we figured that we might as well stay as long as we can lend a hand because we wouldn’t be able to get home in reasonable time. Good thing I had made a stop at the market today, I was starving so the bread I bought came in handy.
We ended up staying at the office well past eight o’clock. We had Amos take a cab with us so we weren’t such an obvious target for pick pocketers. So, sometimes when you’re traveling in Ghana you get the feeling that you will never make it home. There are always more obstacles that present themselves on any journey traveled. As we’re trying to get home our taxi driver is driving in the dark of night with no headlights. We don’t realize this till we’re the only car on the street and we cant see the road in front of us. This went on for longer then it should have. At some point the driver decided to pull over, I guess he realized it might not be the safest to drive in the dark of night without headlights. At this point we have turned around to look for a new taxi driver with headlight that can take us to Elmina. Mind you he is still driving, just in the opposite direction now…. Only in Ghana!! Anyway we finally stopped at a gas station where we then had to wait for the taxi driver to find another taxi driver to take us home. It was all finally figured out and we made it home in one piece, surprisingly.

THURSDAY

06|03|10

I was going to work out or go for a walk but ended up not getting up till someone knocked on my door to let me know that it was 73o and we were leaving for work. I threw on some clothes and took a taxi with sarah and Liz. Sarah had this taxi man from yesterday who had asked her to hold a baby on her lap on the way into town. The baby looked so sweet on Sarahs lap. On the way into Cape Coast we had to stop of at the school to drop off the baby. Its crazy to me how young they start having the children go to school. We also had to stop at the gas station. It seemed like we would never make it to work. When we got there we did trend research just for a bit. We were supposed to take off right away to see Gina who is a batiker at her other job. We found that we weren’t going to leave till later on in the day so we had some time to do research. Before we left we sat in on a meeting with batikers and seamstresses. Ekiatte was running the meeting which was just to get everyone together and up to date on things that Global Mama’s is currently doing. Around 11 we went to mama Gina’s work. She works at a private school on the way to Kakum. Shes the assistant to headmaster. When we were there we went on a tour of the school. We went mostly to get some inspiration. The school uniforms were pink and blue… all school uniforms are really cute with sweet color combinations. Theirs especially are really nice.
The school is 11 years old; at the moment their building a new library and more classrooms. Most of the children live on the school grounds unless they live close by and can walk home. They have hot school lunches just like the states have; if they want they can buy their own food that’s not on the menu. I think it was more like snacks and things that aren’t included.
They fed us fan ice and 2 meat pies. I couldn’t obviously eat the meat pies because they have meat in them but I didn’t want to be rude so I just ate the outside pastry that wasn’t touching the filling. It was actually really nice and reminded me a lot of pasties. I was super excited to have the Fanice too!! They’re my favorite and had craving one since we had left the office but obviously couldn’t find one to save my life!! We got introduced to the headmaster. Just like everyone else I think he shook all of our hands 4 or 5 times each. Everyone is really friendly. Not sure what was up with his outfit, it looked like he was wearing his silk pj’s to work. It was a silk pin-striped pant and shirt combination; looked really cool on him but I don’t think anyone in the states could pull it off.
When school was out we took the yellow school bus home to Ginas. We had to finish off our batik workshop and even though it was just the five of us we knew that it was going to take all night again.
Batiking went well. The color didn’t come out how I had planned. I really like my print; i think it could work if it was smaller and a bit more consistent. Wish we could have done more of the batik but Gina took over most of the work. Understandable, thinking it would be cool if we could get some supplies to practice at the house. Maria said that Judy ( the one who owns One stone next to our house in Elmina) has the equipment to heat wax to do batik so we could give her money and she might let us come over and use her things. That would really help out when we are trying to test out new stamps for the line. That way we can see firsthand how they look.
When we got back we went across the street for dinner. Bread and cheese for me. Everyone else had sausages that are one cedi each. They come with a spicy peanut crumble on the side that’s used for dipping which i hear is really good. Might just buy some of that to put in vegetables or pasta.

WEDNESDAY

06|02|10

Feeling much better this morning. Im able to make it into the office which is a relief. I have been getting quite anxious not having left Elmina since Thursday. First things to get sorted at the office was getting on the internet to send emails and contact a few people. I had a message waiting for me from James which made my day!! He really helps to put things in a realistic perspective. A woman came through the offie this morning selling peanuts for a few peswas. I ended up buying some; they are defiantly different from the salty bar peanuts in the states. They taste exactly like the peanuts my old boss Tom from Peng Lai would eat.
The first part of the day we sat down with quality control to find out in more detail each step that they do. We then had to ask questions and figure out what they could do to improve their system. Once we were done we had some folding to do for the order which is to go out on Friday. After that we as designers had a meeting about what we should do for the next week or two so we’re on schedule and able to meet the goals we have set for ourselves. The rest of the day was spent working on stamp designs for batik and trend research. We are working towards our presentation next Tuesday. We will be presenting the office and the incoming designers with what we have accomplished thus far. We will then send it to the US office and see what they think and if we are heading in the desired direction.
The taxi ride home was quite annoying as it always is. Today we had Sam who I think is the head of all taxi drivers who go out to Elmina. He is in love with Sarah and I guess has remembered her name since day one. It was just the two of us obrunis so we had to wait till the taxi filled up with more people to leave. The woman that sat up front stared at Sarah and I the whole ride home and continued to ask for money for Kiki. Not really sure what she ment but I think she just saw that we were white and expected money. She was also speaking in Fante to the woman next to us in the back seat and im sure they were talking about us. We had to make two stops on the way home at two different gas stations. Finally home and irritated I was going to take a swim to cool off and like expected I couldn’t because it was under treatment.
For dinner we went to Eli’s and had Palava. I was super excited since when we had this dish over the weekend I couldn’t get enough of it! At dinner for some reason I just couldn’t eat.

TUESDAY

06|01|10

When I woke up in the morning I knew straight away that I wouldn’t make it to the office. I was weak all over and my upset tummy was now accompanied with a massive headache. I tried to sleep in as long as possible but its so difficult here with the early rising sun and the excessively loud roosters right outside my window. Nick wasn’t feeling well either and had stayed home as well so at least I had someone to keep my company. Once I was up I spent most of the day on the computer trying to organize pictures. I have been constantly taking them so I needed to sort through and find all the ones I took as inspiration for colors and print for the new line at work. When I wasn’t working on pictures I mostly just sketched ideas that I had for stamps for batiking. I managed to keep down some orange juice and some bread. I tried to make it to dinner, it was fufu and I didn’t want to miss out on another good dish I’ve been looking forward to. I grabbed a sprite instead of a beer this time but that was really all I could get down. For some reason I had about two or three bites of my fufu and was instantly full. It was the kind of full that’s painful and completely uncomfortable no matter which way you sit. Once we got back to the house my stomach had swollen and really hard, to the point I looked like I was carrying a baby!

Ekiette had made me some more of that tea and I took an anti gas medicine hoping it would help. I was pretty apprehensive about trying it since I knew what it did to me last night. She said to fight the urge to throw up because it really does help you tummy. I think I would try anything at this point. I was able to drink two cups without throwing it back up so hopefully ill be feeling better in the morning.

MONDAY

05|31|10
Today I woke up with just enough time to get a shower before heading out to Cape Coast. Since the prices for Kakum National Park go up on Tuesday we decided to go this morning and come back to the office halfway through the day. Kakum is a rain forest a little less than an hour away from Cape Coast. It is famous for its canopy walk which is comprised of seven bridges all connected together held up by a single tree. It was built and opened in 1995 by two Canadians and six Ghanaians. I cant quite remember the name but I know it means Black Ivory. This kind of tree is very strong and is the only one that can hold the weight of an elephant when it rubs up against it for a good scratch.
We collectively decided to take another tro tro on this journey. Knowing how well our last one went I was defiantly not looking forward to this trip. I don’t think anyone else was either and for some reason we all had a tough start to the day. We did pass a little obruni fan club walking through the streets that helped a little but I think we all seemed to have a case of the Mondays that wouldn’t go away. I know I was grumpy and knew that I was hot and bothered and really wanted to have a FanIce. These are sold by the street sellers in little coolers they carry ontop of their heads. There is a frozen chocolate milk, vanilla icecream, and strawberry yogurt flavor. To eat them you bite off a corner like you do with the Purewater and suck out the icecream . They really hit the stop when you need to cool off. Unfortunately it seems that whenever you want something around here it’s impossible to find; and when you don’t want it … their shoving it in your face demanding you to buy it!! The further and further we walked to find a tro tro the more and more I really wanted a FanIce. I thought I was out of luck when we flagged down and bargend with the driver. Just as we were getting in the tro a FanIce kid came strolling by!! Sweet relief!!!! I got a chocolate milk flavor and it was so delicious!!
The tro tro ride to Kakum wasn’t as bad as our last one. We were told that the trip was going to be around a half an hour drive but it was obviously a lot longer. I feel like if your told something is going to take you however long you might as well times that by three and that’s how long it’ll really take you. Once we got to the park we had to wait a little while for the next tour to start. They had a little museum building to walk through to fill the time. They also had a really nice gift shop that I was very tempted to buy gifts at but decided against it since the prices were so high. A lot of the things they were selling I can most likely get in town for a cheaper price. They also had an outside restaurant which we stopped at after the tour. They sold American food so some of the girls got chicken nuggets and French fries to fill some of their American food cravings.
The walk to get to the canopy was exhausting; you really get a good work out. As for the Kakum experience, there really isn’t any way you can explain how breath taking the forest and the canopy walk is. To try and explain it would just cheapen my experience and the pictures will never do it justice. I guess all I can say is that if you really want to know what it’s like you’re going to have to travel to Ghana and see it in person.
Halfway through the walk was when I really noticed my mood turning for the worst. I still enjoyed every minute of our trip but I noticed that my tummy wasn’t feeling too well. Sara gave me some Imodium which didn’t seem to help. Once we were back on the Tro Tro I could tell I was getting sicker by the moment. It was that kind of feeling when you skin hurts to touch, it feels sort of tingly almost too. By the time we got to Cape Coast we still had sometime to work at the office but i went straight back home to get some rest. I don’t think that taxi could have gotten me home any quicker.

I slept till around the time people were coming home from the office. The huge metal garden door could wake anyone up, its so loud. . I was really sad when I wasn’t able to make it to dinner. We had sat down and discussed what foods to have at dinner and I had chosen tonight’s dinner. Red Red is a bean dish that’s super spicy and served with fried plantains. I had read so much about it prior to the trip and was really looking forward to it. Since I had already signed up Eli would have made enough for me so I asked if they could bring some home for me which they did and I plan to eat it the minute I’m feeling better.
My stomach at this point was really uneasy. Ekiette said she had some special tea that would help my tummy settle so I gave that a try hoping it would help. She told me that it would taste pretty nasty but for some reason I didn’t find it that bad. It had a lemongrass flavor and was very bitter. Within minutes of finishing the tea I had to run for the bathroom. I threw up about three times which was awful but afterwards I was feeling a bit better. I skipped dinner and hoped that in the morning I would be feeling a little better.

SUNDAY

05|30|10


Today was another much needed slow day. Since we didn’t have much going on I took an extra long walk with Nick into town. We usually stop right at one of the first few streets but decided to walk all the way down through town and to the Elmina castle. The usual spots we walk through are not as busy as streets we walked through today. Im not sure if it was exceptionally busy because it was a Sunday but it was busy all the same. We passed a lot of the fishing docks which reminded me mostly of the smells from market… not pleasant. Past the hustle and bustle we go to the castle which is on a separate hill then everything else. You have to pay to get in but we walked around the area outside the walls and found some great places to get pictures of all of Elmina.

While we were walking back looking for the arts and crafts market we came across the most beautiful Dutch cemetery. It was surrounded by huge African trees and was at the bottom of this steep stone stairway towards the church. Church was still in session and we could here everyone singing, it was really great. We were taking pictures on the stairs when mass was let out and within minutes we were surrounded by kiddies wanting their pictures taken.

Once we got back to the house we had planned to go back to see Georgina to finish up our batik lessons. Unfortunately it was beginning to rain;, we also couldn’t get a hold of Georgina so that was out of the question. We once again didn’t have much to do. We found a box of games and the bag of scraps from the seamstresses, both things seemed to keep us busy till dinner. In the game box we found a murder mystery game which we brought to dinner with us. We also found some puzzles which we played with while we enjoyed some more afternoon stars. The scraps of fabric have been brought to the house so volunteers can come up with some cool ways to reuse the fabric. Im guessing this is where some of the placemats and coasters have come from that Global Mama’s already sells. We kept busy making bracelets and anklets. It was fun but I don’t think that’s just what GM had intended. We’ll think of something cool though. To fill the time Nick Katy C and I took another walk before dinner.

At Elis for dinner we had grilled cheese with cole slaw and salad cream and ground nut soup. For the game we had one too many people playing so two of us paired up. Sara and I were Eve Coli, the head chef. Carla was Mo Lawns, grounds keeper. Kelly was Paula Muscle, aerobics instructor. Nick was Juana Hunkyman, life guard. Katy C was Goldie Digger, co-owner of the resort and Maria was Carlos Ongas, driver. It was really funny when we had to translate for Maria. She speaks fine English but didn’t get some of the play on words. During dinner we all had to stay in character. We played charades and whoever won got to hear a secret about each player. The game was a lot of fun and I think we’re going to try make up some more for another time. Once we were back from dinner we stayed up looking through the fabric scraps. This helped us find the colors we can make and which ones we can’t.

SATURDAY

05|29|10

Saturday was a much deserved down day. The internet was working at the Elmina Hotel so we took our labtops to the pool and skyped with Mum and Dad. It was just what I needed since I was feeling sad and homesick. With not much to do we grabbed some early beers and sat up on the upstairs porch to journal and draw. I found some really cool African photography books that I got a lot of inspiration for new prints and styles. Today some of Marias friends came into town too; they are all French and she met them a year ago at that same private beach we had gone to on Tuesday. Only Sara, Katie and I went to dinner with them at Elis and we’re all glad we did. I think we all found our new favorite dish thus far. It’s called Palava; a spinach and tomato stew with boiled yams and plantains. During dinner Maria’s friend told us about their traveling and also to make sure we go to Kakum before June 1st when the prices will triple what they are now. Once we were done at dinner I went back over to the resort just to see if there was anyone else I could Skype with and to my surprise I was able to Skype with James. It was so amazing to be able to talk!!!!

FRIDAY

05|28|10

We were up very early and left the house by six in the morning. We made plans to go see Nzulezo. Nzulezo is a village on stilts about four hours west of Elmina. We first had to catch a cab into Cape Coat where we found Tro Tro which would take us directly there and back. Mind you this sounds a lot easier than it really is. Negotiating with these people is very difficult and it will be a lot harder in a week when we don’t have Ekieta to do the work for us. She is a volunteer who lives in Oregon but is originally from Nigeria. We were going to have to take a couple different tro tro’s to get to Nzulezo but with good bargaining we were able to have them take us the whole way there. The drive was around 4 or 5 hours long. By the time we got there we were all irritable from the heat and the uncomfortable seats. On the way we tried some sort of doughnut thing from one of the street sellers. These are everywhere and we’ve been wondering what they’re all about. We call them Doughboys and they are very yummy! I also bought some plantain chips which I have to say are now my favorite thing here!!! I think it the closest I’m going to get to chips without paying an arm and a leg. Kelly is going to talk to Eli and have her make Plantain chips and Guacamole (the avocados here have so much more flavor). She is going to make a killing from that!! In the last leg of our journey it was obvious that there was almost no civilization around and we worried that our tro tro drivers would leave us stranded when we left for our tour. The only view we had were remote villages and rubber tree farms. We collectively decided to pay for them to come on the trip with us. It was one a good deed since they had never been before and two we were guaranteed a ride back. took pictures along the way of buildings and landscape for color and design inspiration. To get to the village on stilts we had to take canoes through a man made creek to get to the lagoon. During the dry season the creek dries up and the canoe ride becomes a long walk. The people in the village use the lake to come to and from the land to farm and make trades. Using the creek makes the trip a lot faster. Since it is at the beginning of the dry season there were a few spots that weren’t deep enough for our boats to cross with us all in it. At this point I had just finished explaining to Sarah about schistosomiasis. Also known as bilharzias it’s a disease that you get from a parasitic worm which is found in the freshwater. I was warned so many times to make sure NOT to get in any freshwater. The process starts when someone infected with the schistosoma eggs use the freshwater as a toilet. The eggs hatch in the water and live off and grow inside snails. The parasites then leave the snail and then can penetrate the skin of anyone wading or swimming in that water up to 48 hours. The parasite are like little worms that grow inside your body and then lay their eggs in your blood vessels and travel to different parts of your body. The parasite needs the snail to live in the water which I’m sure was in the creek and lagoon since the tribe chose to live here because their God(the snail) was in abundance. So I had told Sara all this and started to put Neosporin on my feet because I had open cuts and there was water in our boat. While I was doing this was when our tour guide ordered me (specifically me to get out of the canoe). He explained that our boat was too heavy and that one of us needed to get out so it would float better. Well one I didn’t really understand why I was chosen but he explained that I was the only one that had short and and flip flop so it was easiest for me to get out. You only live once right? I guess we’ll find out in a few months if I got infected when worms start breaking through my skin!! The water was pleasant once I stopped thinking about parasitic worms. It was really clear and felt refreshing! The village was very impressive. You could take pictures but if someone was in your shot you had to ask for their permission. I believe it has something to do with stealing their soul. The village was a lot cleaner then most of the places we’re visited thus far. They even had garbage cans outside their hut. Most of the people that were around were lounging and playing cards. There are 500 people that live there and if they’re not in the village they have gone to work on the farm or fish. If they are gone they usually don’t come back for a few days. The best part of the day was the canoe ride their and back. We sang a lot and made lots of jokes. The tour guide said we were the liveliest bunch hes ever had and he liked it. Though I don’t think he was too impressed with our singing skill level since on the way back he played his radio to drown us out a bit. The ride back felt longer then the trip there which I didn’t think could be possible. It was such a long day, I don’t think we’ll do that sort of traveling in one day again. We originally didn’t have plans to eat at Eli’s but when we were on our ride home we gave Maria a call to have Eli whip up some comfort food for dinner. Eli made us a huge dinner of mac and cheese and it was the best way to end the stressful day.

THURSDAY

05|27|10


Thursday morning at the office we worked a little more on trend research. We were able to get on the Internet again so we looked up some trend color forecasts. I also looked at different colors for paint and wallpapering companies. We next worked on our stamp designs for the batik workshop. The stamps are made from latex foam which we had George go pick up from market. Its relatively cheap and since you don’t use much it can last for a while. I drew the design I wanted first onto the foam and then used a hand knife to carve away what I didn’t want. During lunch I went with Katie to the Barclay’s Bank. I needed to cash out my travelers check for the trip on Friday and this is the only place around that will do it. Unfortunately the bank is always busy. I mean I thought that US banks were bad; here you have three different lines you have to sit in. One is withdraw, one is deposit and another is business. There are about 8 rows back of seating with about 6 seats across. The line moves extra slow and when one person get up you have to scoot over a chair. It was really confusing at first but once we understood the system it was fine. We waited to be helped for well over an hour. Once we were being helped it seemed like the bank teller was doing a multitude of things all at once. The whole experience was rather frustrating and I have to say that after that I will gladly wait in any Chase bank line with no problem .. “Chase bank!”

Since the bank took so long, by the time we got back to the office our taxi was waiting to take us to the batik workshop. They only sent one taxi for all seven of us. Nick and I were put in the hatchback while everyone else got a real seat. I volunteered thinking the trunk would be roomier, which it was! Unfortunately there wasn’t much air flow so it was extremely hot!! I think I felt Pepo’s pain on that taxi ride and next time we go to the beach I’ll be more understanding of his bad behavior!!

BATIK
The batik method originated in Java; the word batik is translated meaning “to write/draw with wax.” Traditionally in Java the wax would be painted onto the fabric as a resistant so when the fabric is died the fibers are not penetrated and in result leave the area untouched. In Ghana the batik method is the same except that they use a stencil to stamp wax onto the fabric as opposed to drawing directly on to it.
In Ghana batik is done with vat dyes and cotton fabrics. In order for the fabrics to hold the dye a combination of chemicals is required, Caustic Soda, Hydrosulfate and salt. The caustic soda forces the fibers in the fabric to swell; this aids the fabric to soak up the dye. The salt is used to help fasten the dyes into the fabric. The hydrosulfate (which is called hydro in the markets) takes out the oxygen in the fibers and in result the dyes permanently stain the fabric.
There are two types of wax products that can be used in the batik method. The first is bee’s wax. The bee’s wax is not used in Ghana because it is too expensive to buy. The benefit of using bee wax is that it is more flexible. When handling the fabric between processes the bee’s wax can bend and doesn’t crack as often which will result in a cleaner finished image. In Ghana the women use a petroleum wax which is a waste product. Unlike bee wax this wax is more prone to cracking which you can see once the fabric has been dyed. When the batiker is finished with the dying process the fabric can be washed in boiling water which removes the wax; the wax is then scooped out of the pot and can be reused again.
The first step in creating batik is to design a stamp. Designs must be at least a ¼ inch thick and should have a ¼ inch between each line of the design. If the design is any thinner then this there will be a problem with consistency and it is hard to get a clear image. Larger more simplified designs are favored for this reason as well. Once a design is finalized it is drawn onto latex foam and then carved out. Depending on the look you want you will either carve away the positive or negative space. The stamp gets dipped into boiling wax; make sure to shake off the extra wax before using the stamp. It is beneficial to test the stamp first on the table (which is bound in leather) before stamping the fabric. When ready lye the fabric onto the table and stamp it however you desire. Depending on the stamp it could be uniformed or stamped sporadically in no specific order. Once the batiker is finished stamping the fabric it is placed in semi warm water until it is ready to be dyed. This keeps the wax from drying out which helps to minimize cracking. The dyes come as primary colors so mixing colors is more of a chemistry process to get the most accurate color. When dying the fabric, if more than one is used, the lightest color must be used first. When the fabric is died the wax will stop the penetration of dye and in result the color of the fabric before it was dyed will show up where the wax is creating the pattern. The fabric must be dried completely before stamping or dying the fabric again. Multiple dye baths can be done depending on the desired outcome.
Georgina, a batiker for Global Mama’s ran a workshop at her house for us interns to get hands on experience learning the traditional African batik method. We were given the option to use a ready made stamp or to create our own. I used the guidelines that we were given and designed a stamp to use. It was great experience to work with Gina and the fabric to see firsthand how hard the work is and what each step in tales. I also really appreciated that she would welcome us as strangers into her home to see what she does for a living.

When we were about half way through our batik workshop it began to rain. I’m thankful of the rain here because it helps cool the weather down a bit but for some reason it happens at the most unwanted times. Because it was raining he had to put our workshop on hold. The rain will have an effect on the colors when they dry. Getting home was difficult, the cabs were hard to flag down from where we were and when they did stop they didn’t want to drive to Elmina since it is so far and the chances of finding someone to need a ride back into town is slim. With Georgina’s help we were able to negotiate a good price and were finally on our way back. We didn’t get back till late and by that point we were all exhausted. We didn’t make plans to go to Eli’s and I had no food to make for dinner. I ended up making toast and then went to bed early to be well rested for the traveling on Friday.