The Volta Region

I’ve gotten a lot of complaints that I don’t write about school here often enough. So I will try to fill you in. I do actually go to class! But only three days a week. I would say overall classes here are a bit of a disappointment. I don’t want to generalize all of Africa, but the education system here is very behind America. Quite a few of my classes consist of the professor reading his/her notes verbatim and having the class copy them down…which is pretty exhausting and not very conducive to critical thinking. We have assigned readings (photocopied books), which is where I feel I’m actually learning something. I have one more week of classes, revision week, and then our exams are spread out over three weeks. Our entire grade for the course is based on our final exam…also not the best system I’ve ever seen. That’s Ghana’s premier university for you!

This past weekend I traveled to the Volta region (mountains in the South Eastern part of Ghana). It was absolutely beautiful and hands down my favorite region in Ghana. It is soooo very green and colorful. Our first day there we climbed Mount Afadjato, which is the highest freestanding mountain in Ghana. I would like to say that it was beautiful at the top, seeing villages and Togo in the distance, but by the time I made it there I was so tired I didn’t care. There are definitely many moments where if I had fallen (which was pretty likely for me) I would have died. But overall I’m really glad I did it.

We also visited Wli falls – which was breathtaking and had me consider moving to that part of Ghana permanently. Thankfully that hike was relatively flat and easy. Our lodge for the weekend was heavenly and run by a friendly German couple. The views from out huts were breathtaking and complete with mountains and waterfalls in the distance. After my first day of climbing I wasn’t down for another mountain so I just relaxed at the lodge and took in the beauty surrounding it.

As we were traveling back to Accra we saw several processions through the streets of the villages we were driving through. Women and men singing, drumming, and marching with flowers and big braided palms fronds in their hands. It was Palm Sunday!! I wish I had taken a picture, because it was SOO Ghanaian. I was very tempted to get out of the trtro and join the parade – I’m sure they would have welcomed me with smiles and laughs.