August 1st, 2015 — The walk to work: Although I would get up every day at 4:30 a.m., I really enjoyed the purple shade of the early morning sky, which would then brighten out as I would reach my tro tro stop. Usually on my way to Nkrumah Circle, Ghanaian gospel music would play, which Read More …
July 26th, 2015 — Here is a match report that I wrote on a my third game I saw at the Accra Sports Stadium. I found the match officiating to be quite weak — there were just way too many free kicks called for what I thought to be fair challenges, and I felt that Read More …
July 19th, 2015 — I attended my second game at the Accra Sports Stadium today. However, this time I witnessed the other, less popular, home team of the stadium, the Accra Great Olympic F.C., as they took on Bechem United. This time, I attempted to find out how to get to the stadium on my own. Read More …
June 21st, 2015 — Soccer is championed worldwide as the most popular sport on earth. Although simple in concept, it is a game that transcends economic barriers which often pervade in others. Take a sport as celebrated as rugby for example — you need to be able to afford the equipment necessary in order to Read More …
Although I have enjoyed every moment of my time in Ghana, I have avoided discussing one major issue that pulls at my morality every day here: the enormous gap in gender equality. I may have been avoiding the subject out of disbelief or inability to accept the cultural norm here, but I’ve witnessed too many Read More …
The word “no” hasn’t been a popular one in my vocabulary for at least a decade now. This is mostly due to the fact that I absolutely hate unnecessary arguments. Lucky for me, it turns out that the abilities to say “no” and enjoy a good argument are two of the most useful skills you Read More …
I like to think I’m pretty tough. I’m a farm girl. I do physical labor. Dirt and smells and creepy-crawlies don’t (often) faze me. Going into this trip, I was pretty confident that I was cut out for Ghana. Maybe it’s just a delusion of grandeur and I’m overcompensating for my smallish stature and a Read More …
My last day at work came all too soon. I became really good friends with my coworkers and I was sad to leave them. There were some coworkers that I hadn’t really talked to, but on my last day they kept giving me hugs and telling me how sad they were to see me go. Read More …
This past weekend I experienced the second best day of my life. I grew up with a deep admiration for monkeys. I single handedly supported every elementary school book fair with all of the non-fictional monkey picture books I would buy. I collected monkey everything: journals, stuffed animals, pens, backpacks, Band-Aids. Everything. I loved them Read More …
Every afternoon at my internship, the baby next door cries. Some days he relieves a whimper or two; some days he sobs for 8 hours straight. One day my coworker, Eugene, pulled me aside and told me the story of the house next door. The baby that I hear crying everyday is a two-year-old boy. Read More …
Ashley, Erin, and I decided to enjoy Ghana’s coastline last Friday and trek to the nearest/cleanest beach, Labadie. After our second trotro, the three of us hesitantly walked forward towards a lime green building. From where I was standing, the ocean wasn’t visible and there was no one in sight. I followed my comrades with Read More …
Internships, new friends and weekend adventures aside, one of my favorite parts of this trip has definitely been the food. A great deal of my life revolves around food. My family runs the only certified organic goat dairy in all of Oregon (Fraga Farmstead Creamery, in case you’re wondering *winkwink*) and throughout high school I Read More …
One of the coolest experiences since I have been in Ghana was when we went to the Volta Region and visited the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. I was really excited because monkeys are my favorite animal. My goal once we got deep in the forest was to be able to feed a monkey on my Read More …
Today wrapped up the last day of my internship. I know I learned a lot about what ICT (Information Communication and Technology) is and I also learned more about what Penplusbytes is and how their company trains journalists in their New Media Hub. I think that going to meetings and conferences about things related to Read More …
I began my final week in Ghana with a weekend getaway to the Volta region. The bustling streets of Accra were soon replaced with vast expanses of trees as we made our way to the Wli Waterfall, the tallest waterfall in West Africa. The air felt cool and refreshing as we trekked along the 40-minute Read More …