This summer, I'll be fulfilling a long-time dream of mine-- to travel to Africa to immerse myself in the native culture and learn about the role of art in the traditions and culture. Thanks to a grant I received from Fund for Teachers (in partnership with the Chicago Foundation for Education), I will be spending 18 days in Ghana, West Africa,
learning about
indigenous art-making processes and how the arts are used as a vehicle of
sustainability for individuals and communities. I'm excited to bring the knowledge and experiences I
gain back to my classroom to enrich my global arts curriculum. To sweeten the trip even more, I'm allowed to bring my husband, Derek, with me! (...Unfortunately the grant doesn't pay for him, of course, but I feel lucky to be able to share the experience with him!)
While I hope and plan to update the blog regularly as we travel, realistically, I'm unsure of how often I'll have access to internet in order to blog. I will update as frequently as possible, though!
To give you a glimpse of where we'll be going and what we'll be doing, here's the itinerary (at least as it stands today):
To give you a glimpse of where we'll be going and what we'll be doing, here's the itinerary (at least as it stands today):
- July 11: Depart Chicago from O'Hare Airport. Travel 7 hours 25 minutes to London Heathrow Airport. Spend almost 5 hours in the airport before departing for Ghana
- July 12: Arrive in Accra, Ghana. After another almost 6 hours of flight time and 17 hours and 45 minutes of total travel time, we'll finally arrive in Accra!
- July 13-15: Accra, Ghana's capital.
- Recover from jetlag and explore the city--touring places of cultural and historical interest, such as the Arts Centre, Ghana National Museum, and WEB Dubois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture
- Visit local arts organizations, including the Trashy Bags factory, an organization that teaches local people to recycle water sachets by sewing them into eco-friendly purses and bags, the retail store of Global Mamas, an organization that teaches women skills necessary to become economically independent, and the custom coffins workshop where artisans make elaborate, custom-designed coffins—works of art for their deceased customers
- July 15-17: Coastal city of Cape Coast.
- Visit Cape Coast Castle, an ancient slave fort used in transatlantic slave trade (& a UNESCO World Heritage site), to learn about this terrible history that ties our nations together first-hand
- Tour the Global Mamas factory and arrange lessons on local crafts (i.e. batik and sewing) and Ghanaian cooking and explore the surrounding fishing villages to see their intricately carved and painted boats
- July 18-19: Koforidua. Visit the weekly bead market, where bead buyers and sellers from all over the region gather. Visit a local village where beads are made to witness and learn the intricate bead-making process and make beads of my own
- July 19-22: Kumasi, Ghana's Second City and former capital of the Ashanti Kingdom.
- Explore the Kejetia Market, West Africa’s largest open-air market
- Visit surrounding villages, which are known for a wide variety of crafts (pottery, kente and adinkra cloths, woodcarving) to learn about these traditional arts. Witness first-hand how local artisans create the crafts that are sold in the markets to support their villages
- Visit the National Cultural Centre, which holds various crafts workshops (brasswork, batik, etc.) and is home to an art gallery and Ashanti history and culture museum
- July 22-24: Tamale. Connect with the NGO, COLWOD, which teaches battered and abandoned women skills such as batik, tie-dye and sewing to enable them to become economically independent. I’ll also explore the Islamic architecture of the buildings and mosques in the North, which are said to vary substantially from the architecture of the rest of Ghana
- July 24-27: Village stay in Kpendua. I was introduced to this village through a friend who lived there as a Peace Corps Volunteer a few years ago. In this village, we’ll live life as a member of this rural farming community. We’ll participate in the daily life—helping with the farming and possibly learning to make shea butter, soap, or charcoal. I’ll spend time in the primary school, where I’ll volunteer and get a glimpse into the vast differences between US schools and the school of this rural, African village.
- July 28: Fly from Tamale down to Accra.
- July 29: Depart Ghana from Accra. Chicago-bound (...after 21.5 hours of travel!)
