The Children

Here is a video I put together that gives you a short glimpse at the children in the Children's home I was associated with in Ghana. They were amazing.

Kpando

As the snowflakes fly outside my window in upstate New York... here is a glimpse of where I stayed in Kpando, Ghana over the summer. Miss the tropical climate? Yes.

Home!

I returned from Ghana last Sunday. Updates will be posted as soon as I finish the project I'm working on related to this summer for graduate credit.

In the meantime a few photos with more to follow...

With one of the children at the Children's Home

At the Wli Waterfalls near the Togo border on the 4th of July

Ghana!

Hello from Ghana. I had planned to keep this blog a little more up to date on my summer in Ghana but due to a lack of high speed internet in the town where I am located it has been impossible.

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Accra (the capital of Ghana). My group decided to come to Accra this weekend for the Obama festivities and half of the group is currently out searching for a hotel while the rest of us catch up on life back home and plot out travel week plans with the high speed internet.

It's hard to describe my summer so far, so I'm going to wait and update later. But let me just say I am very thankful for what I have in America, clean water, toilets and dairy! I have so much respect for the people over here. I basically just wanted to drop in and say I'm safe and sound and will be home in less than a month!

Health Talks & Banku

This morning we got an early wake up call rising between 6:00 am and 7:00 am so that Edem could take us to Fesi for our first community health talk. I woke up at 6:00 am to use the bathroom and then read until everyone else started getting up at 7:00 am and we began to get ready. I skipped out on showering this morning and just got dressed and had a slice of bread with groundnut paste on it for breakfast. At 8:00 am Edem showed up and started shuttling us to Fesi where our presentations were. I went with the second group and began walking with Edem’s friend Erik and the rest of our group before Edem met us along the way and picked us up off the side of the road. When we arrived in Fesi we walked down a dirt road to a school where kids were sweeping the yard. We gave our talks to a group of community members and had Erik translate for us. Around 11:30 am we returned to our home in Kpando stopping at the post office where I had three letters from home waiting for me! Sarahann, Megan and I made fried plantains, eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers for lunch to go with groundnut paste on bread. After lunch we went back to the post office to drop off some mail and pick up some Aerograms. We also made a stop at the FanMilk store to buy everyone FanIce on our walk back home. I spent most of the afternoon just relaxing and reading at the house. At 4:15 pm Sarahann, Megan and I headed to Patience’s house to watch her prepare Banku for us for dinner as we are going to hire her to cook our dinner meals three days a week starting this week. When she was finished we walked the Banku back to the house to eat with the rest of the group. It was good but the sauce or soup as they call it was a little spicy for my taste. After dinner I wrote a letter to my parents and journaled before heading to bed. We have another early wake up call tomorrow morning – 4:45 am!

Another interesting note from today was that on our way into Fesi this morning Edem told us that he didn’t know how many people would show up for our health talks because the goats had been arrested in Fesi this morning. Upon inquiring as to what this meant he showed us driving past a big truck with a giant container on the back that “officials” were placing tied up goats into. The officials were chasing the goats around throughout yards within the village of Fesi. Apparently they were being arrested because they goats were out roaming when they were not supposed to be out. The whole process seemed to work like a Police Lockup in the Untied States where the goats were taken and money had to be paid to get them back. However in this situation if money was not paid to get the goats back the goats were then sent to auction.

Nigerian Sleepover

Friday, June 19th 2009 & Saturday, June 20th 2009

Around 10:30 am we boarded our plane from Germany bound for Lagos, Nigeria our final stop before Accra. I slept for the first part of the flight and then woke up just as they were bringing around our lunch, which consisted of chicken and noodles (I ate the noodles and left the chicken), salad, and something that resembled cheesecake. Awhile later they brought around something that resembled a vegetarian pizza pocket before we landed in Lagos, Nigeria around 3:30 pm Ghana time (Lagos is an hour ahead). When we landed about half of the people on the plane got off as it was only suppose to be a short stop before we took off for Accra. We ended up waiting awhile before the pilot eventually came on the intercom telling us that there were mechanical problems and that we would have to get off the plane. It was starting to get late at this point and unable to put us on different planes to Accra they told us they would be putting us up in a hotel for the night. There was a slight catch to this plan as we soon found out. Because we didn’t have Nigerian Visas the only way that they would let us leave the airport was if we handed over our passports. Meanwhile we were reading the tour guide someone in the group had for Nigeria that basically told us how dangerous of a city Lagos was at night, which made us rather uncomfortable with the thought of handing over our passports. Since they wouldn’t even tell us where the hotel was they were sending us we ended up demanding that we keep our passports even if it meant staying and sleeping at the airport. At first the airport security people objected to this however after a bunch of negotiating by our group leaders they decided to let us stay at the airport and led us to a much nicer area than where we had came in to spend the night, sleeping in airport chairs. For the next 24-hours I slept off and on however never got more than 2-hours of consecutive sleep at a time. The airline (Lufthansa) fed us two meals at the airport cafeteria. I had spaghetti for breakfast/lunch and then some rather spicy rice mid-afternoon before we boarded the plane for Accra. Around 3:30 pm we headed toward our gate only to find everyone who had spent the night at the hotel already there. They checked us and our baggage before we boarded the plane at around 5:00 pm. During the day in the airport I was able to send my sister an email from Alex’s iPhone after she discovered she had wi-fi at the airport. The Flight to Accra took about an hour and we arrived in Accra at about 5:20 pm (Ghana time). After going through customs and collecting our baggage we met a former Crossroader, Albie, who was our counterpart in Accra and had a bus waiting to take us to our host for the night – the dorms (Volta Hall) at the University of Ghana. After washing up and dropping our bags in our dorm rooms we headed to a brief orientation session where they gave us beads and Ghana names that are based on the day of the week which you were born. My Ghana name is Akou as I was born on a Wednesday. (They had a book to tell us which day of the week we were born on if we didn’t already know). Albie and his wife Rose who is also a former Crossroader then served us a wonderful dinner of Yams, Palaver Sauce, Fish, Chicken and rice. After dinner Rose let us use her cell phone to call our parents and tell them we were safe before we headed back to our dorm rooms to get ready for bed. I took what may be my last real shower of the summer in the dorm and then talked with Yvonna (my roommate in the dorm) for a while before heading to bed at around 2:00 am. The jetlag has my body a bit off after our extended stay over in the Nigerian airport.

And so it begins... Ghana bound.

I woke up at 6:30 am and unable to fall back to sleep I lay in bed until my roommate Alex’s group, The Gambia, was ready to leave for the airport at around 8:00 am. After Alex left I got up and showered before heading to the commuter lounge to grab breakfast. I bought a bagel and coffee and took it back to the dorm so Megan, Sarahann and I could do our laundry before everyone else got up and wanted to use the washers too. After putting our wash in the washer Megan and I headed downstairs to register our travelers insurance and register our trips with the State Department’s website. At 9:30 am I had my pre-trip individual meeting with Alex Shirreffs (my group leader) to discuss my expectations of the trip for myself, for the group and of Alex. I then picked up my laundry from the dryer and went back to my room to pack my bags. After I puzzled my backpack back together and got everything to fit I headed out to find a postal box on campus to mail a letter to my friend Alex (from Illinois) and an envelope of stuff from orientation home to myself. It was still pouring rain at this point and I was soaked upon returning. Once back at the dorm I headed up to the third floor (where there was a secret computer) to check my email one last time and found my financial aid for MSUM for next year finally posted and leaving me with a pretty big decision to make. Peter who is also in my group then came in and still needed to register his insurance so I let him take the computer and headed to my dorm room to gather my stuff and take it downstairs. Both of the OCA groups heading to Ghana for the summer departed around 1:00 pm with Ghana II (I’m Ghana I) leaving a little before my group. We hit a bit of traffic on the way to JFK airport but it wasn’t too bad and once there we found the lines rather short to check in and check our baggage. After checking in and going through security I headed to find something to eat for lunch and call my sister. I ended up paying a lot for a piece of spinach quiche and a bottle of mango Snapple juice, which I ate while talking to my sister as we waited to board. Our plane left JFK on time and was rather uneventful for the first leg to Frankfort, Germany. We ate dinner, watched a movie and then ate breakfast before landing in Frankfort around 5:30 am Frankfort time. After landing in Germany we found our gate for our departure to Lagos, Nigeria/Accra and then caught up on rest while we waited as we had a 5-hour layover.

Bicycle Separation Anxiety

It hit me last week as I was crossing the New York state line on my way back from Delaware that I was in New York in June for the first time in three years. I traveled down to Newark to meet up with 2009 Illini 4000 bike team and talk about their journey during a church service on healing the day prior to their arrival in Newark. It was awesome to see them and hear their stories from the road thus far; it was also a little weird, as aside from Brad I didn’t know any of the riders! Salem United Methodist in Newark gave the team a warm welcome for the second straight year showering them with food, arranging showers at the local YMCA, providing dinner and rising early to make them breakfast. From Newark, I rode out to the first water stop with the team hanging with Brad, Sarah, Kristen, Erik and Matt. Less than half a mile out of the church driveway Sarah got a flat as a piece of wire made its way through her tire. After stopping to change it we continued on through Newark and into Maryland on 273. Riding along the same route we rode in 2008 it all seemed so familiar, as though I’d just ridden the route yesterday. Miss it, I did.

Part of the 2009 Illini 4000 team in Newark, Delaware

I don’t know where the past nine months have gone. While it seems like it’s been forever since I parted ways with my I4K 2K8 teammates the memories are still crystal clear in my mind as if it were yesterday. From the roads we traveled, the sights, the sounds, the people, and the weather. They are all part of a continuous timeline in my mind that put a smile on my face whenever I think of them - something that occurs on a daily basis. Since I4K I guess you could say I’ve gotten the cycling bug – riding to and from work whenever my schedule permits and trekking through the rolling hills/mountains of upstate New York whenever I get the chance. I had surgery on March 31st which sidelined me for about 4-weeks while I regained my strength but as soon as I could I was back on the bike. The 800 miles that I’ve ridden this spring pale in comparison to the past two years while training for I4K.

What I’m about to say probably makes me a bicycle dork but in five days I will leave for a 7-week journey to Ghana and I’m already going through bicycle withdraw!!! I have spent the past couple of days riding through the green rolling hills of Otsego and Delaware County and had forgotten just how much I miss beauty of upstate New York summers. This summer will be the longest I’ve been off a bike since I started riding in 2005 and the longest I’ve ever been separated from Squeakers (my precious road/touring bike). I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing that my bicycle seems to have overtaken my identity as when people hear I’m heading to Ghana 9 out of 10 people reply, “to bike?” As crazy and exciting as that would be, that is not the case. Why on earth have I decided to spend my summer in Africa you may ask? Long story short – blame I4K for opening my eyes to the cultures of others, the long days of daydreaming on the bike that anything is possible and realizing that there are a lot of extra materialistic things that I don’t need to be happy - i.e. I'm looking forward to life at a slower pace again. I’ve always had an interest in Africa but my views are from the prospective of what I see on television, read in magazines, etc. Through traveling to Ghana I’m hoping to see things and experience the culture from another point of view (there is a word for this that is slipping my mind).

Anyway, I’m headed to Kpando, Ghana where I (along with the eight others in my group) will be working with the HardtHaven Foundation and the Community Health and Safety Network conducting a community education program focusing on health issues and working with children in the HardtHaven Children's home – at least that is what my program description tells me. As a bonus (a big reason I decided to invest in this) I will also be earning credit toward my master degree in Experiential Education at Minnesota State University. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I’m excited for the experience but nervous as the 16-total hours of flight time to get to Ghana is not something that excites me. I leave for orientation at Adelphi University next Monday, June 15th and fly to Ghana on the 18th/19th. I then return to New York August 9th. I admit, I’m not even close to being ready to leave; I guess I need to work on that soon as I have a long list of things that need to be done prior to getting on the bus bound for NYC. I’m not sure what kind of access to the outside world (interwebz) I will have over the summer but I’m thankful to know that the place where my group is staying has running water and electricity, a luxury in many parts of the world. If I do find an Internet connection I will try to update here, via email or twitter (yes, I caved as I though it would be a simple way to post updates). You can subscribe to this blog via email (when I update it will email you my latest update) by clicking the link on the top right side of the page. A link to my twitter page is also there.

I know it’s not officially summer until next week but Happy Summer to all!

Spring/Summer in Oneonta, New York

Rhubarb Pie!

I promise I will post a real update soon (ie sometime in the next month)! But, my mother wanted me to let anyone who may still be lingering know that she made me the rhubarb pie that I was longing for and she refused to send me last summer.


And for the record.. it tasted just as good as I dreamed it would all last summer!

Over the river and through the woods

Hello from the great white north -- in this case the north I'm referring to is snowy upstate New York. It's been awhile since I last posted but fresh off a 16-hour work day I'm strangely wide awake.

It's been about six months since we rode into Seattle and in those six months not a day has past that I haven't thought about I4K in some way or another. Having spent the past two summers with the Illini 4000 it seems extremely weird not to be preparing for another ride this summer. I feel like I should be sending out fundraising letters, calling host of potential stay overs and beginning to train. It's a feeling I really can't describe, nor can I describe just how my experiences the past two summers have changed my perception of the world and those around me. From the countless memories that wonder through my mind at any give time to all the amazingly generous people that we met, I will cherish the memories of the past two summers forever. In a time of economic crisis I often find myself thinking what the world would be like if everyone was like the people we encountered day in and day out the past two summers. It's a question I don't know the answer to, but I'm pretty sure it would be amazing.

I leave you with the 'trailer' to a DVD I put together from videos and photos of last summers ride. If you are a 2008 rider or a family member of a rider and you would like the full DVD just email me with your mailing address. (The actual movie is to big for youtube which is why I'm calling this the trailer.) Enjoy and Happy riding!