Have you taken your breakfast?

So it seems like it has been eons since I last posted on this blog (namely beause it has), but it has left me with so much to say I have no idea where to begin.

I will start with the last center Amy and I visited in a place called Adanwomase. The town is known for its many looms, weavers, and production of kente cloth. Kente cloth is a traditional Ghanaian fabric that is hand woven into many beautiful designs and colours. It is also very time consuming to make (traditionally only woven by young boys), taking close to a week to complete a strip of fabric about 3 inches x 6 ft long if it is one of the more involved designs. It is the cloth worn by the Ashanti king, and also by both men and women on special celebrations and festivals. The town is the first 'touristy' town that we have had an eCARE center in but it was very cool to get to learn more about an interesting cultural activity (our entrepreneur Ofori is also a kente wholesaler- and we also randomly saw him on the street in Kumasi today, small world!).

From Adanwomase, we travelled back to Kumasi to meet up with Shyam and Andrea, the other two Canadian interns working on the eCARE project with Amy and I. We had a pretty productive 2 days planning out our final report and brainstorming some other contributions we would like to make to the project as a team. In the process, we seem to have created a lot of work for ourselves, so we have restructured our plans a little bit and will be back in Accra a week earlier than scheduled to hash everything out at the office.

Being involved in the eCARE project has provided me with a pretty broad perspective on Ghana. We have had to be quite nomadic all summer, I think the longest we have stayed in one place is just over a week, but often we are unpacking and repacking every couple of days. Amy and I pulled out our rather inaccurate but adequate map of Ghana the other night and we really have gotten to see so many parts of the country. By the end of the summer we will have stayed in 7 of the 10 regions, seen all 3 major cities, and hit up some pretty cool sights along the way.

Traveling so much has allowed us to see both the consistencies (some of the lighter ones being tro tro etiquette, street snacks like cassava balls and 'ball floats', and kitchenware- I think everyone in the country has the same green stew pot) and disparities between different areas of the country. Its a very minimal understanding I don't think I could have ever cracked staying in the same place all summer.

Along with the positives of our backpacker life, it can also be bittersweet. We arrive in a community and spend time with the entrepreneur of the eCARE center we are visiting as well as a lot of other people in the town. Just as they get used to our presence (and for me can finally half pronounce my english name), its time to leave for our next destination. We have met so many wonderful and interesting people, I just wish we had time to stay longer and get to know some of them better.

Alas, the journey continues and we will leave Kumasi bright and early tomorrow morning to travel to our next center in Agormanya (eastern region). Apparently the town is known for its glass bead making so it could be pretty interesting. I won't promise, but I hope it won't be quite as long for my next post. Hope everyone is doing well, I always love the emails from home!

Love

Lindsey