Breakfast Beads and Butterflies

It's still hot, it's still humid, and I'm still enjoying myself in Ghana.  I often think of my sister while walking around in these conditions - she is the only other person I know who enjoys hot humid weather...including a midday run in it.  She would love it!  And probably more than I do.

Bead Market

I traveled to Odumase Krobo this past week.  It's a big bead district in Ghana so Global Mamas has an office there where they make all their jewelry.  On Wed we went to the market which includes a HUGE bead market (I also purchased 2 yards of material as my new towel/sheet/wrap and a few packets of some coffee-like stuff).  The market was interesting as usual with just about everything from rice to used clothing to random  electronic power cables, and of course beads.

They have "old beads" and "new beads" which I'm not going to pretend to really know what that means but I did discover the price difference was huge and I found myself gravitating to the "old beads" (yes, the expensive ones).  The bead design and creating is truly an amazing art.

The Global Mamas operations there have grown significantly and they now employ a dozen+ jewelry makers, buy beads from several of local bead makers, and positively impact dozens more in the community.  I'm not one to talk to strangers about their private lives but I do hear stories on the fringes - they are about women who now have health care, or can send their children to school, or even open a savings account.  It was really great to see these positive impacts on a micro level.

Breakfast=egg sandwich & bag of coffee

While in Krobo, I also had my first coffee-in-a-bag experience.  It might help to understand that almost all food and beverages come in a bag here (yes, really, beverages).  I've learned to bite off the end of any bag and drink from it without spilling, but I wasn't prepared for the coffee.  It was a little tight in the bag and still very hot and well, I ended with coffee on the floor and burnt finger tips.  I'll have to work on that yet.

Last weekend I found a nice little get-away in Accra (a rare find).  I went with some friends to the Legon Botanical Gardens.  It is a bit outside Accra but the closest I know where you can sit and relax in relative peace and quiet amongst trees, flowers and butterflies.  It must be butterfly season because I've encountered quite a few lately.  If I could get my act together, I would schedule a bird or butterfly watching adventure - I believe Ghana has some great places for this.

I am still working on my volunteer projects in between all this travel.  The Access DB is coming along....(snore)....but I can see I will start to feel the pressures of a project deadline as my departure date approaches. :O

-Charlotte