Okay, so broken computer + power outages = late posts... my bad! I began this one a few days ago:
It's only my third full day here in Ghana and I've already experienced so much and had such a great time.
On Friday I began work on a booklet explaining the Kokrobitey Institute's Ghana School Bag Training Initiative. I'm working in Adobe inDesign compiling photos as well as the description of Auntie Renee's vision for the program. I'm excited to begin contributing more to the project.
Friday afternoon I headed out to Accra (the capital) with Lauren, another girl from America who works in the office at the Institute, and Akrofi, one of the main designers here. We took the tro-tro, which is an experience in and of itself. A tro-tro is a van used for public transportation, and will fit about 15-20 people inside (yes, its a tight fit). The tro tro is extremely affordable, which is why so many Ghanaians take advantage of it. You never know who will hop on and what they will have with them (chickens anyone?).
So, after riding the tro-tro into Accra, we went to Obruni Waru (not quite sure about the spelling), which literally means "the white man's dead". It is basically a huge secondhand market. Part of the market is covered with a kind of pavilion. It's a quite interesting place and would be fun to check it out some more, if it weren't for the people grabbing your arms trying to get you to buy something.
Afterwards we took the tro-tro to Osu, which is one of the nicer areas in Accra. We did a little shopping there and got ice cream (hard to find here!) before meeting up with Auntie Renee. We all went to a fashion show at Citizen Kofi, a multi-floored bar/club/venue. The show was for the new collection for African Mod Trends (amt), titled "button me" and "patch me bead me". The collection was made up of simple solid color designs embellished with buttons, patches, and beads with African prints. It was interesting to see what upper class Ghanaians were like after living in Kokrobitey village. There were some nice designs in the show, although many of them could have been further refined. After the show there was some live music and spoken word (poetry) and a reception. It was a great evening.
After the fashion show, Lauren, Akrofi, and I went out into Osu. We ran into some young men who frequently visit in Kokrobitey, and went to a few different places with them to hang out and dance. I feel like every experience I have here in Ghana introduces me to a new type of social circle!
We were pretty exhausted, so we finally headed back to Auntie Renee's Accra house to spend the night. It is a beautiful house and I slept like a rock!
More to come,
Emily
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