The sweetest smile in Ghana
The room at Akwaaba Beach Hotel
Debris on the beach at Akwaaba Beach Hotel. The tide washes it "away" or local people clean it, but clearly there is plenty of garbage.
Donna at the beach
An intern from the Swiss Embassy staying at the Akwaaba Beach House with her worried, visiting parents. She eventually and reluctantly returned home to Switzerland after consecutive illnesses waylaid her. She was a great source of info about what to see and do. Thanks!
Getting saved in rural Ghana in Ningua Street near our hotel
One of my saviors.
The church
Goats on the roadside
Making a friend
Mother and child: They sold us our first soda on the roadside
Talapia at Asanka Locales - the best place to go for Ghanaian food in my opinion
Plaintains and palava
Enjoying red-red at Asanka Locales
Asanka Locales restaurant interior
Annett was hooked on Asanka Locales' food
Ghana's answer to the plastic bag pollution problem
Akwaaba Beach Guest House garden
Breakfast at Akwaaba Beach Guest House
Akwaaba Beach Guest House
Palava and plantain
Banku A form of fermented maize or cassava that had a tangy flavor like Ethiopian injira bread. Delicious!
Ban - a student and aspiring businessman. He and his brother are building a guest house that will feature African drumming and dance.
Storms in Africa at the Akwaaba Beach Guest House
Me and Ban
Roadside in Ghana
Roadside in Ghana through a rainy car window
The first of many pictures of women balancing amazingly large loads
Nonviolent Communication Training, our first circle
Miki Kashtan leads the way
Participants at the workshop came in all shades, including four Whites - two from South Africa, one from Canada and an intern from the USA.
Daniel a Liberian refugee and mediator attending the nonviolent communication training
A mother hen and her chicks in the garden at Caspar Guest House where we are staying
Amos Wright - a Liberian refugee and mediator with Mediators Beyond Borders - at the NVC training
Amos and Bartuah Ninwillay - another Liberian refuge and mediator with Mediators Beyond Borders - at the NVC training
Howa Samai & Fatmata Taranwalley of Sierra Leone
Kualzo Agbeve of Ghana
Finding the needs in common in a dilemma with a husband, wife, and the woman the husband impregnated
Games - the child in everyone joined in games
Karen Barensdie (South Africa) and Daniel Warlo (Liberian refuge who works with Mediators Beyond Borders) share a laugh
Bartuah & Amos
Mutti - that's german for mommy. Gisela, the matriarch of Caspar House before her morning coffee kicks in.
School girls in Ghana
How to teach What Not to Do: A comical game in which a person describes what he does not want you to do in order to get you into a certain pose. For example, if I want you to lie down, I could say, "Don't stand up."
More fun and games
Agnes Farma of WANEP (The West African Network for Peace Building) always looked chic in African dress
Agnes, Fatmata and Annett Zupke (of Berlin and the BayNVC North American Leadership Program) working in small groups
Agnes, Fatmata and Matthew Rich of South Africa
George Kwapong of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana
Paul Koroma a Sierra Leonean and member of the West African Network for Peace Building
Annett and Melanda Schmid, a Canadian working with the Environmental Youth Alliance in Kenya
Head NVC trainer Miki Kashtan of BayNVC (USA) and Kuolzo
Kuolzo working the green
Roadside sales
Posh Ghana - here is the neighborhood near the airport populated mostly by wealthy Whites. It was the only place I saw curbside trash service.
Posh Ghana
Roadside stroll
British colonial legacy - the up and running, meticulously manicured Polo Club
Shopping at Teddy Kwashie Market
Doro drives a hard bargain at Teddy Kwashie Market
Wooden soldiers Doro at Teddy Kwashie Market
Me Doro at Teddy Kwashie Market
Doro at Teddy Kwashie Market
Me pondering a frog - a symbol of sitting still in meditation. I asked if the vendor had one the size of the tip of my pinky. He guaranteed me he did. I'm puzzled about the size of this one.
Donna - driving a rather old, rundown, soft bargain at Teddy Kwashie Market. I was abysmal at bargaining.
Teddy Kwashie Market
Roadside sales - a constant sight in Ghana
This guy was hawking a puppy : (
The most elegant roadside seller I saw
More roadside sales
Busy sidewalks in Accra's market area
Bernard Ackumey - Doro's taxi driver and fantastic storyteller.
Bernard Ackumey, taxi driver
This guy was an industrious and (against my protestation) began searching for Adinkra symbols that I described. He showed up at Caspar House with an approximation of what I wanted. He said he had taken several taxis and busses to find me. He did not have what I wanted, which saddened us both. I paid him anyway.
Enjoying a smile
Co-trainer Sabine Geiger and friend Harry
The German ex-patriots at Caspar House - Jurgen and Joe
Caspar House's resident patio parrot
We liked the local fair
A satisfied customer at Asanka Locales
More Asanka Locales interior. They displayed the flags of a select few countries, including the USA
Ban in front of his resort - it's under construction, funded by his brother who married a Norwegian woman and lives in Norway with their two kids.
The gang at Akwaaba Beach Hotel
Helene - owner-operator of Akwaaba Beach Hotel
Me and Helene - I discovered that she cooked french fries at her establishment, which helped me round out my breakfast choices
The first of many larger-than-life billboards. It was a novel experience to see all the advertising featuring happy Black faces
Billboards were everywhere
An Asanka Locales spread. Traditionally in Ghana one eats with one's hands. Restaurants provide finger bowls for hand-washing before meals.
Chowing down at Choo's -notice the ice cold bottles of locally-produced pure pineapple. It was sweet, refreshing, cool and delicious in the extreme heat and humidity.
These little guys were everywhere
Portrait of a lizard
Caspar House's magical patio
Sabine chilling in the Caspar House garden, taking advantage of my computer and the wireless internet we all loved!
My German traveling companions - Annett & Sabine
The hen and her baby chicks strolling the grounds at Caspar House
Mother and baby chicks before the little one's mysterious disappearance
Snack time at the NVC intensive with George, Karen Bartuah, Miki and Amos
Moriba Ben Swaray of Sierra Leone takes a load off during a break
Moriba works with the West African Network for Peace Building (WANEP)
Smile
Hilliard Dogbe - a minister of a church - and Paul Koroma of WANEP
Matthew, Karen (White South Africans) and Kuolzo
Fast and Furious play
Hawa (foreground) and Fatmata checking email
Role playing
Blogging with my buddy Sabine
Blogging by moonlight on the Caspar House patio
Hmmm, how do you spell that?
At the NVC Conference
Playing Aunt Millie & Uncle Joe only we called it Kwame & Nyande
The Mod Squad - Michael Amoah Awuah, me and Hawa. Michael was with the retreat sponsor the International Center for Conflict and Human Rights Analysis (ICCHRA). His did double-duty as a participant and the point person for comfort and logistics at the conference hotel. I appreciated his attention to every detail of our comfort.
Michael and Hawa role-playing Kwame and Nyande aka Aunt Millie & Uncle Joe (read the blog and you'll be in the know : )
Kwame: Nyande, why can't you just shut up and fetch me my fufu?
Identifying the needs for Nyande and Kwame
Hmmmm - maybe I could try giving you empathy before expressing
Kwame, I'm starting to feel understood
When was the last time you had fresh coconut milk at your conference gathering?
Sabine and Annett are giddy with coconut milk
Need I say more?
I was feeling ambivalent about the coconut
Role-playing with Daniel and Shannon Kelly - an intern from the USA working with retreat sponsor ICCHRA
Kelly up close
Insuring all these criteria are met before moving to solution requests increases the likelihood of success
Donna supporting a role play with Miki and Daneil
Donna teaching at the NVC workshop
Amos
Agnes and Fatmata dressed to the nine's
Preparing for blister popping surgery. It looks grim.
The surgical room
Miki in her signature spot - at the computer at Caspar House
Nightlife in Ghana
Kuolzo
Simon and Amos
Simon and Miki
M & M - Miki and Michael
Winner - biggest billboard award
How can they tell I'm not Ghanaian?
Bucket head is a compliment in Ghana
More amazing balancing
Giving new meaning to sales balance
Mother and child in Ghana
At the market
Plying in traffic
Architecture of Ghana
Billboards
Modern architecture
Church
Sabine at the beach and wiped out, but not from surf. We all got ill (Sabine, me and Annett) on our last days in Ghana
Soccer is big in Ghana
Rural Ghana architecture
Shopping
The mix of technology and poverty
Soccer dreams
Rural Ghana's beauty
Lizard still life
Big ass lizard!
This guy must be a coco-nut
Sales
More billboards
Soccer anyone?
