This weekend I traveled to Ashaiman with Nick. We traveled
by Tro-tro and got lucky because our tro played Bob Marely and other Rastafarian
music the whole way! A nice change of pace from music that I don’t know what
they are saying, nothing against the music here though! Once we got to the
house I got a mini tour and we headed to the local market for some shopping.
Just some back ground on this location. Ashaiman is located right outside of
Accra, the capital of Ghana, and it is considered one of the poorest areas in
Ghana. Global Mamas opened a location here to try and provide some income for
people in the area. GM rents this rather large house in the middle of small
homes and across from two huge churches (that speak in tongues!), there are over 15 locks to be locked each night...not sure that made me feel safe! The lower
level is all sewing rooms and an office space. There is also a kitchen. Out
back is the batiking area, where I spent most of my time. The space is covered
so the ladies can work during the rainy season. Then upstairs is two bedrooms,
conference room, large sewing room, and a nice screened in patio. This place is
so nice compared to all of the houses I have been in thus far, it seems so
strange to be built where it is! Any who Nick and I went to the market, where
all eyes were on us, literally! So I joked that we should just pretend that we
are unicorns so the stares will feel more worthwhile. So now I am forever a
unicorn! Once we got to the market we bought some fresh muscles for dinner,
which was amazing!
The second day I just wondered around the workshop and asked
the ladies questions. I found that I spent most of my time outside with the
Batikers. Nick was teaching new colors and stamps so I got to sit in on the lesson,
I even got to try out a new stamp! It was a lot of fun hanging out with the
ladies. That night we headed into Tema a nearby town for a nice dinner.
On Saturday Nick took me into Osu-Accra area to do some
shopping! I got to see the Global Mamas store which was super cute! It was
really cool to see all of the fabric that I am surrounded by in Cape Coast made
into so many different items. The store had a great vibe to it, and I bought a
few souvenirs some lucky people…..cough cough Sally. Next door was a Mexican restaurant
so we decided that we needed a 3’o clock drink! I had my first Pinna’ colada,
so good! This was the second time that I have been cold it Ghana, it’s a
strange feeling being cold when you spend most of your time if not all being
slightly over heated. We didn’t stop with the treats at drinks, we headed for
ICECREAM!!!! Real ice cream, not fan-ice!!!! In case you wanted to know I got a
scoop of peanut butter and a scoop of Kinder (like the chocolate bars I had in
Pairs) Sooooo good! I even dreamt last night that I was eating more ice cream
haha, beats the other crazy doxecycln dreams I’ve been having. Then we headed
to a grocery store which was just so weird! I know I’ve only been gone for a
month, but the markets are just so far from rows of organized boxed goods. Our
last stop of the day was dinner at the nice little restaurant. It was great until
it started to monsoon rain, and the roof leaked and we had to move three times and
I was cold for the third time in Ghana. Great food, not so great service. Due
to the rain we had to pay a cray amount for a taxi home, but thankfully our
driver played some great jams and we had a mini taxi dance party! 
I’m really glad that I got the experience of traveling
to Ashaiman, but I a so glad to be back
by the ocean and palm trees! It is just so darn beautiful here, even if my
unicorn spirit doesn’t sparkle as brightly. Cape is my home, and that’s a great
feeling to have J
Ps. I tried Fan-yogo today. Nothing like ice cream, but a lot like frozen go-gert!
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