Ghana girls dorm is finished!

April 11th, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Last October, I posted a plea from Peace Corps Volunteer Carl Allen in Northern Ghana, who was raising funds to build a girls’ dorm at a business school in the village of Nakpanduri. We had met Carl two years ago while visiting the palace of his village’s chief, David Kansuk Laari. Today, I am happy to pass along the news from Nakpanduri that the girls’ dormitory has been completed and a new generation of rural Ghanaian young women will now be able to attend the Nakpanduri Business Secondary School. Eighty girls from surrounding villages can come stay in the accommodations and get an education. This is huge. It is widely accepted that one of the quickest ways to bring an entire community out of poverty is to educate its girls and women, so a hearty congratulations to the students, teachers, Chief, and to Carl.

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Help girls go to school in Northern Ghana

October 27th, 2007 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Last year, Tay and I met Peace Corps Volunteer Carl “Ka” Allen in Northern Ghana, in the village of Nakpanduri where Carl was living and where Tay and I were guests of Chief David Kansuk Laari. It was a classic encounter in the Chief’s “palace,” where we watched World Cup soccer and drank beer under a starry African sky. Well, Carl is still in Ghana and he — and the girls of Nakpanduri — need your help. For a number of reasons, educating the world’s girls is probably the single most effective way to improve the quality of life and eradicate poverty, so this project will have far-reaching and long-lasting outcomes. Donate Now! or learn more from Carl himself–> (more…)

Ghana Black Stars Goal against the USA sparks mass happiness

September 16th, 2007 | By Joshua | No Comments »

This is video of Ghanaians watching the 2006 World Cup. I was in Accra and every single goal the Black Stars scored throughout the tournament was celebrated like this — drums, parades, song, dance. I watched the big game against the USA with the Young & Wise Youth Group at Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana.

“Don’t cry, Obruni!” they all shouted at me, wrapping me in Black Star flags and saying over and over, “We scored you!” And there was much jubilation in the streets.

Plant a Tree in Ghana: Contribute to the Keta Coconut Project

July 24th, 2006 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

A while back, I reported on the devastation of the trees in the village of Keta as a result of tidal surges. The community has had trouble getting back on its feet, but now has a youth group working on a tree-planting project to which you can contribute. The tree-buying portion of this community project is being coordinated by our fellow AJWS volunteers, Peter and Hinda Schnurman. Read on for details.
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New Ghana Youth Blog!

July 21st, 2006 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Congratulations to the PPAG Young & Wise Media Committee for creating the Ghana Youth Blog!
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Buying Bread

July 17th, 2006 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

That I am ready to go home does not matter to Africa, which persists in being everywhere I look and all around me. Our house in Mamprobi is relatively modern (compared to the villages we saw up north, anyway), and I sit on our porch on Sunday morning, reading a book and sipping bitter coffee, a vain attempt to escape. The book on my lap (Whiteman, by Tony D’Souza) is about Africa though, a US volunteer in rural Cote D’Ivoire, and the air is filled with sounds which, even after eight weeks of hearing them, are still more foreign than familiar.
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Cape Coast, Canopy, and College Kids

July 11th, 2006 | By Joshua | No Comments »

The dust has not settled from our trip north when we reconfigure our daypacks and set out before sunrise, searching for transport to Cape Coast. There’s not much traffic in Accra before six a.m. on a Saturday morning, not the kind that grinds to a halt for 15 minutes at a time, gridlocked in noxious exhaust, as happens in the afternoons. No, the air is actually cool and the streets gray and empty as we go from the STC bus station to Kwame Nkumrah Circle, then to Kaneshie Market, until we finally find a westbound tro-tro and climb in for the 3-hour cruise.
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Back from the Bush: Two Weeks in Northeast Ghana

July 7th, 2006 | By Joshua | 8 Comments »

To travel is to disappear. At least it used to be, before blogs and cell phones plugged our movements into the ether for anyone to access and share. Keyboards and keypads have been at my fingertips for most of this journey but sometimes, I go deep enough that even gadgets are left behind. And while it is true that an unusual span of silence might signify the Tranquilo Traveler’s demise (by shipwreck, assassins, or shark attack, most likely), it is more probable that I have simply gone beyond wires and signals.

In northeast Ghana, Tay and I discover that this is easy to do.
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World’s a-hummin’

June 24th, 2006 | By Joshua | No Comments »

After a sun-soaked, rasta-colored day at Kokrobite Beach, just west of Accra, I return to Mamprobi to discover this review of the Tranquilo Traveler on one of my favorite travel sites. A pleasant end to a great day–thanks for the props, World Hummers, see you out there.

Talkin’ bout “out there,” Tay and I are headed North on Monday–gonna blow this fufu stand on a week-long, up-country tour to PPAG’s rural clinics and, hopefully, a visit to the Burkina Faso border at Paga.

Jubilation! Ghana 2 - USA 1! Everybody’s Dancin’…

June 23rd, 2006 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Each of Ghana’s goals against the USA is followed by an eruption of shouts and drumming, everyone spilling out of PPAG’s Young & Wise Center to dance in the streets. So it is no surprise that when the game is over, the afternoon light golden, an entire country stops to celebrate.
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