Life at Accra's girl school is busy.  There always seems to be quite a bit of movement.  What amazes me so much about the school and the staff is how much they can accomplish with so little.  The other day I had the chance to ask the girls some questions.  They were hoping some students could respond with short videos of their own.

Saturday I spent the day on a field trip with about 50 of the girls.  We traveled about 120 km to the Central region of Ghana where there is a Kakum National Park.  Given traffic and the poor roads, this trip actually took about 4 hours each way.  This is a huge tourist attraction but you really can't compare it to national parks in the US since the infrastructure is not too large.  I assumed we would be doing more hiking but instead the whole attraction is a 1/4 mile suspension bridge.  Pretty fun as you can see below:

After a trip to the National Park, we stopped on Cape  Coast Ghana.  This is an important city in Ghana in that there is a prestigious university here.  As well, there is a UNICEF historical Cite called Cape Coast Castle.  Here are the girls wishing Oconomowoc a warm welcome.

The significance of Cape Coast Castle is that it used to be a slave trading post.  The Fanti (a tribal group in Ghana) were in constant battle with the Ashanti.  Essentially the Ashanti were enslaved and then brokered by the Fanti to different groups looking for slaves.  It is depressing to me to think that one group of human actually owned another group as property.  Below is a video of the former slave dungeons.  This small area is where up to 100 slaves were kept for "storage" until they were sold and sent throughout the world (North America).  The video can't in capture the oppressive heat and smells the slave must have had to endure.  It was like being in a sauna with a wall as a bathroom.  This tour was one of the more human moments of my life.  The racism that is embedded in the structural fabric of our own society is rooted here.

This trip was an important one for the girls.  Although it took about 4.5 hours to return in very hot and humid conditions (no AC on the bus), there was not a single complaint to be heard.  I have to be honest in saying that even my best students would have been struggling with the travel conditions. 

Over the next week I am asking that any Oconomowoc student who can to produce a short video discussing their future hopes and dreams.  I will be videoing answers from the girls here and posting them on the blog.  They want to hear what USA students have.  As well, please feel free to post questions about life in Ghana and we will do our best to answer them.  The first group of students who do so will get a Ghanaian surprise when I return.  Either copy the youtube URL into the comment section or login to the following Youtube page and upload the video:

YouTube name:  OconomowocHighSchoolScience
Password:  ohsscience1112