Yesterday morning, the first thing we did was head to Kakum National Park to do an amazing canopy walk through the treetops! It was so much fun, but my thighs are killing me from that hike to the top!! The view was beautiful, and I really enjoyed it. I felt so adventurous! After that, we drove back to Accra (about two and a half hours) and then went over to the cultural center to kill some time. I bought a backpack, some ridiculous pants, and some jewelry for gifts. I also got a humorous marriage proposal from the guy who sold me my backpack. It is so nice to be back at our original hotel, I swear when we pulled up I thought, "We're home!" After dinner, Ginatu showed up for a fitting with all of our garments. I loved seeing everyone's designs and I was so excited about my green dress! She told me she was still working on my maxi dresses, but I have total faith. The green dress fits perfectly! I pretty much never want to wear something not custom made ever again! :)
Today, our morning started off at the Lifeline Girls Project, an organization that takes girls who live and work on the street and gives them a place to live, medical care, schooling, and teaches them a trade (hairdressing, cooking, sewing, batiking, etc.) that they can use to make products to sell or get jobs with. It was so great to be there and talk to all of the girls and help out. The FM girls had put together a new project for the sewing girls to make - fabric flowers. So we split the girls into groups of three or four and each of us went over and taught them how to make these new products. It was a little difficult, because many of them didn't speak English and the ones who did didn't speak it exceptionally well. So I had to really simplify my words and teach more by demonstration. It was an interesting experience. I always wonder how I would fare as a teacher, but hey! If I can reach girls who don't understand me how to do something, I must be alright! My group of girls were awesome! They picked up on how to make the flowers so quickly. I was really, really impressed. Apparently they all knew each other and were friends and they were from the Northwest part of Ghana. They told me they had only been at Lifeline for 2 days! They seemed pretty happy to be there though and were so sweet and smiley throughout the few hours we spent there. It really was such a great experience and I love that we not only got to hang out with them, we also were able to introduce new product to them that doesn't currently exist in their market and would sell well to visiting "obruni." I'm so happy we were able to be a part of this program!
After having a delicious lunch at Papaye (grilled chicken with garlic sauce and amazing rice), we took a second visit to the Global Mamas shop and I couldn't resist; I bought a wrap skirt, a handkerchief and a couple more bars of handmade soap. But I really don't feel bad about spending money in that store because of the mission and where the money is going.
(This photo is actually from our first trip there, I didn't have any from today!)
Tomorrow we're supposed to go to an art museum, casketmakers, and a campus bookstore. I'm hoping I can find a college student at the bookstore to interview, because I have two interviews I need to complete as part of my course work and of course, typical me, I haven't done either. The idea of talking to people is just so stressful! But I have my questions at the ready, so hopefully opportunities will present themselves in the next day or two for me to get these done!! We are also supposed to have Ginatu over tomorrow evening (I think) so I'm really excited to see the dresses she made for my retailer since she didn't have them the other night. Hopefully they're as awesome as I've envisioned. Designing things and having them produced by someone else has been quite the experience. It's really neat to see how people interpret your designs, like I really love the was Ginatu cut the fabric in particular ways so that the pattern would compliment the design. Really, really clever.
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