Monday was the first day of work for those of us living here in Accra, as well as for those in Cape Coast. It was an exciting day, as we really did not know what to expect in terms of our jobs or the traffic! Jessica and I started to head down the hill around 7am, and had a very hard time getting a tro-tro. Since we really wanted to make a good first impression and get to work on time, we opted to get a taxi part of the way in order to potentially save some time. We did end up getting a tro really easily to the next stop though, but since we did not recognize our stop we had to ask someone in the tro - luckily, this is not hard, as everyone is so friendly! We got off at Labone station, and the walk to work should only have been about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, Jessica and I are challenged in the navigation department! We had visited our workplace last week, but apparently this was of no help to us as our memories were not kind enough to retain the location of the office in a maze of quiet suburban streets. So here we were, in this neighbourhood that is quite nice, turning in circles, asking for directions, when we decide to just call our boss (despite the embarrassment). Dorcas just laughed and gave us directions. Long story short, it took us 2.5 hours to get to work on the first day!
The Gender Centre is amazing - full of just a handful of women who are so educated and passionate about what they do. It is amazing that such a small group of women can impact such big change. The GC is partners with many local, national and international organizations and have published so much detailed research and led so many workshops, it is astounding. I could not be more impressed with the work that the Centre does on educating people about domestic violence and its link with HIV/AIDS, as well as trying to change attitudes and eradicate this destructive behaviour. Jessica and I have been assigned lots of readings for this week, about the theories of violence as well as the work that the GC is doing itself. Next week we will start actual work...excited to find out what this will be!
Getting home after our work days has been an adventure in itself - we went to get groceries yesterday and so we cabbed home. Our cab driver took this really unfamiliar route through town where we got to see everything from an industrial park, to cows, to a lovely neighbourhood! There is definitely a level of trust and faith you have to have when taking a cab in a new city - Jessica and I definitely just laughed at how lost we were and decided to keep an open mind and trust that our driver knew the way!
On another note:
There is this type of ice cream that comes in a little individual bag called FanIce - in short, it is delightful and perhaps the only source of dairy we are getting on this trip haha. It comes in three flavours: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Jessica and I had a long day yesterday getting home and all we wanted was some FanIce. We scoured the streets waiting to hear the beeping of the horn that is attached to the FanIce carts for most of the ride home. When we had almost given up on the cause, a boy walked by the car with a box of FanIce on his head (a typical sight on the busy streets!). Jessica practically threw 5 cedi at the boy in a mix of desperation and excitement. We decided to branch out and try the strawberry flavour. We teared into the packages, take the first taste of the cold ice cream - and look at each other with confused looks. Sadly, the strawberry FanIce (in our opinion) is far inferior to the other flavours. Regardless, we got our happy fix of ice cream, and laughed all the way home. A good end to a long day!
Today was another good day at work, and tomorrow we are going to try some Ghanaian food (other than fufu, which is delicious!) on our lunch break! Super excited, and also excited for a long weekend that is coming up, because African Unity day is on Friday, making it a holiday! A holiday that will most certainly involve more FanIce.
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