Sam and the Anthill

Hi,

Here are pictures of one of the anthills on campus with Sam so you can see just how big these things are! They are unbelieveable! And we think we have an ant problem in Georgia? I don't think so!

Will be working on more stuff for you soon. We are entertaining tomorrow and I spent the day cooking. Fish soup and okra soup. I will email pictures when it is served so you can see what a good cook I am. My son is not the only chef in the family. LOL

Love you guys!
C and S

Looks like it has eyes. :-(((



Now you can see just how big these jokers are!!!!

Up close and personal



More soon!

One love!

C and S

The Ghana National Museum

I had to do this for my Ghana history class. Dr. Perbi requested us to visit the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade exhibit for an exam on the 28th. I had this on my list of things to do anyway so it was a good thing for us.

BTW...The trip to Komasi will be the 30th for two days. Komasi was the center or hub of the Sub Saharan and Slave trade routes. All points east/west/north/south passed through Komasi; therefore it was a very important city. I am so looking forward to this trip. Look for pictures after we return.

Also...We are trying to get thirty people to make a trip to Togo next month. Stay tuned for more on that if we are successful.

First I will post pictures of the Slave Trade exhibit of the two hundred and eleven pictures I took. If you would like to see them all post a comment with your email address or email me at:  crosers@aol.com and I will send them to you individually. It will take too much time to put them all on the blog.

If you do not mind I will include a little history lesson also. Many of our followers are interested in this part of our adventure. Also it gives me a chance to refresh myself with what I am learning which will help me when exam time comes. Help a sista out, ok? :-)

The slave trade from the African perspective is very important to me and my historical education, because what I have learned so far is from the Western perspective and I believe it is important to look at it from this side of the Atlantic for comparison, to get a better understanding of it all, and to dispel some of the myths about slavery.

From Dr. Churchill and my Black Diaspora class I learned that 50% of the estimated 12 million Africans who were captured and taken away from their homeland came from west and central Africa.

From Dr. Perbi's Ghana History class I learned that sixty-four forts were built along Africa's west coast by the Portuguese, British, Dutch, and Danes. These forts were built for protection; however they also served as "castles" for the Europeans and dungeons for the captured Africans.

Ghana is in western Africa and the southern region of this country is on the coast.The majority of these forts were built in Ghana; therefore Ghana played a pivotal part in the slave trade. (We talked about our visit to Cape Coast Castle earlier.)

Of the estimated 12 million captured Africans only 10 million survived the Middle Passage, meaning approximately 2 million died of different causes: disease, killed on board, jumping overboard in desperation, or being deliberately pushed overboard. 6 million went to Brazil (Portuguese colonies), 3.2 million to British colonies ( to include Jamaica), 1.4 million to French colonies (to include Haiti), 1 million to Spanish colonies, (to include Cuba), 500,000 to Dutch colonies, 300,000 to US colonies and 100,000 to Danish colonies. (From Black Diaspora.)

Entrance to the Slave Trade exhibit

 

The slave trade route, or "triangle" as it was also called, was from Europe to Africa, to the Caribbean and the Americas, and back to Europe; thus the "triangle."

European products such as cloth, guns, gun powder, rum, mirrors and beads left Europe to Africa to trade for captured Africans who were transported to the Caribbean and the Americas. There they worked on the sugar cane, tobacco, and cotton plantations which produced sugar, rum, tobacco and cotton for cloth manufacturing which were then transported to Europe to complete the 'triangle.'

These products fueled the Industrial Revolution and made England the powerful nation it eventually became.

This is a map of the slave trade route.

A picture of how the captured Africans were "moved" across the interior of Africa to the coast.

There they were held in barracoons (slave sheds) or slave castle dungeons such as Cape Coast Castle, sometimes for months until they were transported to the Caribbean, or the Americas.

This is an ancient African version of a bullet proof vest.

It is called a warrior shirt. It protected against arrows and bullets.

(Who says history does not repeat itself?)

Versions of this is worn today. I am thinking of getting Sam one. :-)

This is a picture of my Ghana and Africa history lecturer, Professor Akosua Perbi.
She is an expert on Ghana slave history and has written a book "A History of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana." This book is sold here in Ghana for half the price on Amazon.com. If you would like a copy email me at: crosers@aol.com  and I will bring it back with me.

This is a picture of a tree where captured Africans were chained to until enough were collected to make the trek to the coast profitable.

These are shackles for the captured Africans. Note the small ones for the children. :-(((

This is the slave river where the slaves were washed after their move across Africa before going to the slave markets.

These are the chains used on the Africans as they were moved to the coast to be sold and shipped to the Caribbean and the Americas. 

A representation of how they were shackled and chained.

Cape Coast Castle:

After the "Door of No Return."

This is Eric, one of my fellow Ghana History students.

He is technically blind; but still getting his education through the university.

Kudos Eric!!! 

Eric and his "angels." Look out Charlie. :-)

I will close here and continue with pictures from the rest of the museum exhibits later. I am getting sleepy. :-(((

Stay tune!

One love

Cynthia and Sam

Hi everyone,

Sorry for my absence. I have been dealing with classes and the challenges of them.

Also back to Shoprite, or should I say "Banditrite." I keep looking for the masks and the AK47s. :-(((

I need a conference with a psychologist when I leave that store!! Another 205 cedis (about $136US) and this is what I came home with: Dddaaahhhhh!!!

Sam says we have to stay out of that store; but what are we going to do? I can't have my HD man eating this every night:

This is a Sam Special: Corn Flakes. bananas, and peanuts. YUK!!! LOL

So it as another "foreigner" told me: "You just have to close your eyes and pay and hope not to get a nose bleed." :-((((((

Don't forget we spent over 300 cedis ($200US) just two weeks ago.

Hey...if you get envious and decide to come join us, make sure your Bank of America debit card it overloaded or your gold AMEX card is clear. LOL

I am working on the museum pictures and I promise to have them by the morning. We have to go on campus tomorrow to have Sam take passport pictures and to pay another 120 cedis ($80) each to extend our visa to December. Did I say Bank of America and AMEX? No, I should have said Fort Knox and the US Treasury Department! UGH!!!

Well...as usual I do digress. Is it old age? I wonder. HHhmmmmm...

Oh...I am working on the Divine Order story again. I hope to add enough to have a little "book" published on campus while I am here. Send up some prayers for me,ok?

Speaking of which...send up one for my little friend Ainsley. She is going through some sure enough challenges. Pray that God will spare her little life.

More to come.

One love!

Cynthia and Sam

Hi everyone,

I am working on the pictures from the museum. There are two hundred and eleven of them. :-((
I tried posting them all and it took too long and I figured you all would get impatient, so I will have
to do a few at a time. Not to mention putting captions so you know what you are looking at.

Hey..This blogging stuff is a lot of work for an ole lady. LOL

Today is Sunday and since I did not cook for Brother Sam yesterday I have kitchen duty today.
I already made some mac n cheese this morning. It didn't come out too badly, if I have to say so myself. Cheese is very expensive: a small amount: 8 oz of Gouda (similar to cheddar) is 7.69cedis or $5.12US and 11 oz of Mozzarella cheese is  10cedis or $6.70US. So you see a dish of mac and cheese costs about $15US, give or take a few cents, when you add in the rest of the ingredients. :-((((( So it better be good. LOL

I will add pictures of the finished meal later.

Here are pictures of the greens I showed earlier. They grow outside my door in the courtyard. Yes, they look just like the plants in your living room; but please, please do not rush in there and chop them up to put in the pot. They may not be the same "strain" of plant and I don't want any of you to poison yourself and blame it on me. LOL

We watched the History channel documentary on 9/11 and it was something. They did a great job and we are thankful for them doing it. We both can remember what we were doing and where we were at that time in our history. Sam was at work and I was in my shop. I called my son and we talked through the entire disaster. My how things have changed because of that day.

God bless you all and God bless America!!!!

Hey everyone!

Today we went to the Ghana National Museum. It was very, very interesting. It was a class assignment for my Ghana History course. We were to visit the museum and we will have an exam on the 28th on it. I am not sure what "exam" means and as usual in panic mode. LOL
In the states "exam" means an eighteen page paper. :-(((( Hey...hope that is not the case here!

Anyway..it was great and I will edit the pictures and get them to you shortly, at least by next weekend...hey...just kidding. Can't you take a joke, mon???? LOL

The water pressure today was awesome! I think some of my skin went down the shower drain. Hahahaha!

I got a chance to do laundry yesterday and not have to pour buckets of water through the soap dispenser. Ever try to do that and not spill half of it on the floor? IMPOSSIBLE!!!  So I created more laundry: the towels, etc, to wash, still without adequate water pressure.

Now to be fair, let's not just beat up on Ghana: the challenge in Jamaica is current, or electricity, as we say in the US. At any given time GPS, the company supplying Jamaica's electrical power, may decide they want to shut down a particular "grid", for whatever and for whatever amount of time. Your frig is not working and you may have just spent a thousand US dollars stocking up on all those "foreign" meats you just had to have from Arosa, the place to get "stuck up" for foreign meat products. So what if they spoil? You should not have been so dumb as to buy them in the first place. What's wrong with buying the local meat? What you see along the road as you travel to town? So what if it is 89 degrees and you are going through menopause and having hot flashes? You just have to make the necessary adjustment.: run to the sea, real, real, fast. LOL

But let's be fair and not leave out Tanglewood Road, US. When we are without electricity on Tanglewood Road in the good old U S of A, we do not have access to water because we get our water from a well. We had the opportunity to connect to the county water system and decided not to. The cost did figure into it; but the taste of well water was really (and I do mean really) the deciding factor. I am not one who really likes water anyway; but our water is delicious! I do not drink tap water anywhere we travel.

OOOppppssss....let me get back to the issue at hand: water pressure. So, it was good yesterday and I was able to get the laundry done for Nana (the housekeeper) to hang out and when it was time to shower it was so forceful I had to check to make sure I still had skin on my butt! LOL

Okkk... I will close now and take a nap and get those pictures edited for you.

Sam is at Matrix Pub playing pool. He told me he had only 20cedis ($13US) and he had to make some money tonight. Uh, oh! I hope he comes home by tomorrow afternoon!

BTW...cedis has a historical connotation and I will tell you about it later. I found that out at the museum today. Keep in mind that all things are historical. That from a historian. :-)

Also a two million year old female fossil was found in south Africa and this may change the theory of evolution. Here is just one of the link with information about her check out Google for more of them: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/04/16/meet-your-great-grandma.html Just think: I, a historian, am in the continent this is found!! Astonishing!! God is so good!

One love!

Love y'all

Maria,
Please send me your email address: crosers@aol.com.
Thanks!!

Here is one of the videos taken at the Fetu festival in Cape Coast. This one shows Sam beating the drums. The parade participants picked him out of the crowd. Think it was that red cap or that big mustache? LOL

Here are more videos taken at Madina Market:

The girls follow you around in the market and carry your purchases in those pans on their heads.

The taxi is my "coach" and Antwi is my Morgan Freeman (Driving Miss Daisy).

He takes us where we want to go.

Hi there,
Here is the video taken of the crabs at Madina Market.
I will post others as time permits.

Enjoy!

Hello everyone,

Sorry I have been absent for some time. A lot has been going on; however the main “challenge” has been the malfunction of my portable modem. I have been without internet access at home since Wednesday. Each morning I think I will get it back only to find out it still is not working.

I lugged my laptop to campus on Monday to be told the there is nothing wrong with it and I need to have Vodophone, my internet provider, check the modem. Daahhh. So a trip to Accra Mall was evident. This is not a fifteen minute car ride. It can take from thirty minutes to two hours via taxi. Traffic is terrible at certain times of the day. I sat in a taxi for twenty-five minutes one hundred yards from the entrance to the mall once until a brick hit me upside the head and I realized I could walk the distance for the same money. L((

I made the visit to Vodophone only to find out that I needed more credit on my mobile modem. That took a taxi ride to the phone company and twenty-five minutes there to determine. UGH!!!!!!!!

I paid 45cds or $30US last Wednesday for a month's internet service and had to pay that again today

because the person who sold me the credits did not tell me that I had to text to another number to activate the internet connection. :-((((((((((((((

Anyway…. A trip to the mall was made and I can now get all this to you all. In the meantime I visited the ICT department on campus to use the computers there to realize I could not connect my portable hard drive with all the pictures and videos to their computers, not to mention the mouse malfunctioned while I was checking my email. Yet another challenge.

While I am on the subject of challenges, let me expand on that to make it clear to you what a challenge to me means. When I say “challenge” keep in mind that I am at the end of my rope, I want to scream at the top of my lungs, pull my locks out one at a time, waddle around in that red dirt I told you about in a white mini dress, (Imagine that. LOL), poke one of my eyes out, cut off my left leg, (BTW…that is the one that is attached to the ankle I broke last year, spent the summer on crutches, dealt with three infections, and a second surgery.), and kick one of those giant ant hills.  So you see when I am feeling a challenge, I am completely frustrated; but being the cool senior citizen that I am, I just smile and take it all in stride. Hahahhahahaha. Maybe not so much. I have not been arrested yet, so I guess I am doing ok. HHmmmmmm.

Ooopppss…I digress. Let’s get back to things at hand. Saturday Sam and I went on the trip to the Fetu festival at Cape Coast. The bus was to leave the International Student Hostel, known as ISH, at 6 am. We got up at 4:30 for a 5:30 pick up by our driver Antwi. We arrived in good time, though sleepy, to not leave until 6:45. The trip was about three hours during which time we napped as best we could. I did not take pictures because I had taken about three hundred when we made this trip last month. I know you are thanking me for that. LOL Also my camera is not working properly to my dismay. I hope to get it fixed by my electronic friend on campus soon. If not my pictures will be limited to what the camcorder takes.

Here are pictures and video of that adventure. Enjoy!!!

Also:

We are planning a party to celebrate Sam's and Emily, one of the ISEP student’s birthdays. Emily, now sporting locks, is going to bake a red velvet birthday cake, Sam will provide the venue: the Matrix bar where he plays pool, and I will commandeer the chef’s kitchen and put together some “comfort food” for my little picknies. The date for this event will be Friday, November 4^th. I expect to prepare spaghetti with meat sauce, fish soup, macaroni and cheese, and some other stuff with the help of Nana, (my housekeeper) and the Matrix chef. The international students will provide entertainment and I will video the event, though I am sure some of it will be edited. So look out for that special occasion.

Let’s get back to the festival: it was a Mardi Gras type event with an African twist. Here is a Wikipedia link about Cape Coast and the event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Coast. We had a great time even though it took us an hour to get on the road out of Cape Coast because of the traffic jam leaving town.

Many thanks to our “body guard” (he is in the brown shirt) who stayed with us during the parade to make sure we were safe. I told him that even though he was little in statue he took as good care of me as my HD man. Hey…got to love a protector no matter his size. Yoo? (That is Twi for yes.)

I will also add the pictures from the wedding as promised and several others. So enjoy all and let us hear from you. We are missing you guys and home so much. We will truly appreciate the US and Tanglewood Road and all her amenities for sure. LOL

 One love!

Dr. Bonsau's daughter's wedding

Sam and one of the wedding coordinators

LDS colleges of Dr. Bonsau

Dr. Bonsau

 His father

Other guests

Wedding coordinators

Other family members

The bride!

 The groom!

 The groom's uncle who stood for him

The program

The Fetu Festival

This truck has twenty-two wheels!!

Menu at pub. Notice one item is "Bushmeat."

This could be anything from grasscutter (looks like a possum) to antelope meat.

My Black Diaspora professor, her husband and Sam.

One of the kings

Of course Sam stood out in the crowd and they zeroed in on him. Got to love my HD man!

Here they are offering him to beat the king's drum. I have the video and will post it soon.

 Poster of the king

 One of the stool bearers

Here he is with one of the tribal flags.

This "fish" squirts water from its mouth and as I passed by it squirted me!

I think there was someone inside who was responsible.

People all over the place!

 The po-po to protect the king!

The parade ended at the Cape Coast Castle.

This is the restaurant right at the castle.

We spent some time there recuperating from the long walk.

The restaurant is right next to the castle and right on the water.

It was a little disconcerting to be in a celebratory atmosphere where such awful things happened to the enslaved Africans so long ago.

Remember the castle is where the "Door of No Return" is.

Our body guard.

Cape Coast Castle from the water view.

Sorry about my finger in the way. :-(

Ok let's eat!

I finally broke down and bought some "pork chops." $8US for four small pieces. :-(((

Here we had chops, mashed potatoes, a salad, and kontomire or cocoyam leaves.

I will post a picture of it as it looks before cooking soon.

This is jolof rice and curried shrimps I bought in Elmina on the first trip to Cape Coast.

Jolof rice and goat that Sam cooked.
He had to re-cook it as it was too tough after just four hours of cooking.
It took another four to get it tender. HHHmmmm.
But...it was very good.

Marie, this one's for you! Those tiny crabs at Madina Market.

I have video of them crawling around trying to get out of the pans.

They cost about 60 cents each. I bought a dozen.

I put them in my spaghetti sauce and boy were they good!!

A lot of work; but well worth it. Have to get more soon. LOL

Yes, these are snails. They are used in a "stew."
We haven't gone there yet.

Jolof rice from our anniversary luncheon given by Mr and Mrs. Dolphyne.

Thank you so much. Everything was delicious!

Ooops! Those snails again!

This is groundnut soup from the luncheon.
It was sssooo good!

Rice balls to serve with the soup.

How it looks as I was eating it.

Fish (supposed to be red snapper; but I don't think so), shrimp and rice and a salad.

The drink is fresh-squeezed orange juice.

So you see I am venturing out some in my cooking.

I wanted to eat just Ghanaian foods; but had to revert to my own cooking after all. :-)

On University of Ghana campus

This is the International Programs Office building (IPO).

Here international students (me) can use the internet for free.

I sit on the wall to the right many days waiting for class to start.

Unfortunately there is usually a breeze blowing red dirt down that driveway. UGH!

This is the JQB building where all my classes are.

It is down from the IPO building.

This is what I walk on to get to the JQB building from the IPO building.

Where the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) coordinator's office is.

An ant hill. A small one.

On the way to where I take my Twi class.

Now this is an anthill!!!

The pavements are made of these uneven bricks which are so scary for me with my bad ankle.

So I walk reaalll carefully on them.

This is the Twi classroom.

These are the benches I sit on for my classes.

 So you see college life for me is challenging; but quite interesting. I have one class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have decided to drop the Twi class that I was auditing because it meets 5:30-6:30 in the evening and I am getting home too late. I have the study book and the CD. I will use them and have Nana (my housekeeper) tutor  me at home.

I am learning a lot that will be of good use to me as I continue to research family histories for my clients and I am getting a completely different perspective of African history.

At Home

For those of you who have expressed concerns about our safety here are pictures of where we are living. As you can see it is a beautiful compound that is completely safe in a safe neighborhood. The houses are huge, though many are not completed. The people are friendly.

So don't worry we are safe. :-)

Our apartment front entrance.

Where we eat those meals you just saw.

Our bedroom door

The hallway to our apartment.

The Dolphyne's house is to the right and our apartment is to the left.

The Dolphyne's front yard

 The rest of the courtyard