TravelStream™ news feed for member pavlispilots on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pavlispilots en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:05:42 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216915440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216915440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216915440/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:05:42 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Kumasi, Ghana

Cory, Marcie and Mitch woke up today hopeful that that theMOU would be complete and the meetings with all of the deans would be setup.  We all got up early, took ourshowers, and dressed up in all our Michigan Tech gear.  We set out on the journey to the IPSoffice.  When we got there, of course,the dean was not there.  He had been outsince Monday and probably won't be in for the rest of the week.  The next step was to talk to his leadsecretary to see if the MOU was completed.  When we sat down and asked her if it had been done she said that it wassent to the Provost's office today to be signed.  Great, no dean and no MOU.  The next question was to ask her if a meetingwith all of the deans had been set up.  No it hadn't.  As we left heroffice we knew that we had to do something on our own.  We had pack all our Tech information into ourbackpacks and we did not want to carry all that weight back to our dorms towait for tomorrow.We came up with the plan to walk to all the offices of thedeans and meet with them one by one.  Just across from the IPS was the school of business and economics.  That's a great start for us because we have alot of information about our School of business.  We knocked on their door and asked if wecould meet with the dean.  Unfortunately,both his secretaries were there but he had not arrived at work yet today.   Another good start to our plan. We walked to the next building, which was the dean ofstudents.  This meeting, thankfully, wentreally well.  He seemed very interestedin a lot of the programs that we were talking about and was very happy to talkto us.  One of the most interestingthings that came up was when we asked him if there were any projects he couldthink of that would be helpful for KNUST.  He mentioned that they have been wanting to start a learning center forthe students to use at the University.  We had a very nice conversation about the learning centers at MichiganTech.  He gave us his business card andwe are going to get him in contact with our learning centers so they cancollaborate and build a learning center at KNUST.The next dean that we met withwas the dean of the Forestry school.  Hewas also very excited to talk with us because of Marcie.  They had a very long and meaningfulconversation while the engineers were left out on the side.  He Emanuel and knew that he went to MichiganTech.  He said he would be very happy tomeet with all the students and talk to them about Michigan Tech.  He actually said he would set up a meetingwith all the forestry students when they arrived back on campus late August totalk to them about the opportunities available at Michigan Tech.We eventually met with the deansof: Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Business, Social Sciences,and Architecture.  All the meetings werevery similar and they were all very excited to continue the relationshipbetween our two schools.  By the time wewere done it was already 3 in the afternoon and we decided we deserved a smallbreak and we went downtown to do a little shopping.It was such a nice day today thatwe decided to do a lot of walking downtown and a little exploring.  It is amazing once you really get into themarket in Kumasi.  At first we thoughtthe main streets where all the vendors are was the market, we were verywrong.  We found the real markettoday.  You have to travel down a fewalleys and take a few turns but you come out into this huge area with moreumbrellas and tents than you can imagine.  We wanted to take some pictures but when you are shoulder to shoulderwith a lot of strangers who are all looking at you, you don't really feel liketaking out your camera.  We exploredaround a little and found some really good deals on some clothes.  Cory and Mitch both bought some Versace jeansfrom 10 dollars each.  Marcie foundherself a very beautiful dress for 10 dollars as well.  We found some other small goodies for ourfriends and families.  It was starting toget dark and we decided to head home so we flagged a cab and we were back atKNUST in no time.We did not do too much during thenight.  Since the IBV team has been herewe have been enjoying each other's company very much so we were getting behindon some blogs.  We figured it was a goodnight to catch up.  We wish the IBV teamsafe travels and we really want to thank all of them for the wonderfulexperiences that we shared together.  Wecould not have asked for a more smart, hardworking, fun, and amazing group ofpeople.  We cannot wait till we can allsee you again.  Maybe we can get a changeto buy some more paintings together or even some minutes.  We love you guys!Mitch, Marcie, and Cory
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216828980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216828980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216828980/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:04:38 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Accra, Ghana

After a good dinner with IBM we woke up to warm bread, butter, and tea at Nana's house.  It was our last day with the IBV team but we knew that we would need to get to the train station by 2:30.  So after a morning of making sure that all the loose ends were tied up Nana took us over to his old school.   Nana attended a private, catholic school that was about a 45 minute walk from his house.  He had said that when we were younger he would have to wake up very early to get to school on time.  The school was surrounded by a large wall with barb wire surrounding it.  Many of the nice houses in Ghana follow this same procedure.  There was a guard at the front gate and asked us who we were here to see.  After the guard making some phone calls we were escorted into the school.   The school is three stories tall and built around a brick court yard.  The children had purple uniform shorts and a printed shirt for the boy and a purple and white dress for the girls. We headed up to the computer lab and were amazed!  There were 60 computers for the students, as well as, a laptop for the teacher, and a copier/printer.   The 60 computers looked like they were out of the early 90s but the teachers said that they have been updated so that they can run Window's EP. The walls were covered with different posters about computer use.  The write board had what seemed to be a quiz asking the students to identify the different parts of the computer.  One of the other questions on the board was what is data?  We sat down and talked to the two computer teachers and they said that there are just over 1,000 students and each student uses the computer one a week for about an hour period.  Many of the students also have computers at home.  The school is also equipped with internet.  This was the first school that we have seen that actually have the equipment to teach ITC, the computer lessons implemented by the state.  Some of the first information that the students learn about is how to correctly type and generals about the computer.  By the time they are ready for senior high, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade in the US.  They are completely proficient at using a computer.   Going to this school definitely allowed us to compare the different resources available for students.  After our walk back to Nana's house we packed up and headed to the bus station.    We got to the station around 2:10 and the bus was supposed to leave at 3:00 p.m.  The bus didn't even start boarding until 3:30 and didn't leave until 4:30.  After the long bus ride back to Kumasi we got in a cab and headed to the dorms.   Marcie walked into her room after a brief conversation and found that there were two mice were sitting in her toilet.  After screaming and running out of the room, Mitch and Cory just kind of laughed at the situation and then took care of it by flushing the two mice down the toilet.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216742460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216742460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216742460/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:03:45 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Accra, Ghana

After a restful night at Nana's house we woke to everyone moving around.  Abena, Nana's cousin, had already swept the whole house.  She said that if Nana wasn't a guest he would have to help even though he is a male.  She said that things have changed and that men are now expected to help with some of the house hold chores.   We had warm bread, butter, and tea for breakfast and we sat in their courtyard.  It felt very similar to sitting and relaxing in Florida with palm trees littering the background.  After breakfast, Brooke and Marcie thought that warm donuts would really taste good.  It also allowed Brooke to show Marcie the neighborhood.  We began walking down the street and there were fruit stands, electronic stores, and everything in between.  We got down to the corner and saw a women frying what Marcie and Brooke thought were donuts.  We thought that they would be so good because they would be fresh.  While we were waiting for them to brown up in the oil a lady asked us if we knew how to eat those.  Marcie and Brooke looked at each other and said yes.  There was a lady next to us making some kind of porridge.  We were able to buy 10 "donuts" for only 1 cedis.   Marcie and Brooke rushed back to share warm donuts with everyone else and when we got there and showed Abenda.  She just started laughing.  These were not donuts they were something made out of soy that you are supposed to eat with porridge.  We all pretty much decided to go for it.  They tasted like a fried potato pancake.   After our interesting breakfast we walked over to the tailor to look at some of the outfits that Brooke and Nana were getting made.  Brooke was able to get two outfits made for 35 cedis.  All the outfits looked great and could pass for sun dresses in the US.   We then headed over to the cultural center in Accra.  It was about this time that it started to rain.  It would rain for pretty much the entire day and by 3 p.m. we would all be soaked.   We arrived at the cultural center and one of Nana's friends led us to his shop.  It was a maze to weave through the shops.  It was outside the cultural center but luckily as we arrived it really started coming.  The shops had all the masks, paints, and carvings.  Everyone came away with something interesting for a very good price.   After about an hour and half of spending time within the surrounding shops we finally headed over to the cultural center to look at the museum.  The art ranged from very traditional sculptures to more modern painting.  They all had explanations about each piece so it was neat to learn about the different symbols and mediums that they use.  We then headed into the market area.  It was "broni," white person, central.  We don't think that we have seen as many tourists as we did that day.  There were so many shops and they definitely played off the fact that so many tourists come through this area.  The prices for many of the items were much more expensive than ones that we had bought early in the day.   We walked through this building that was similar to a warehouse that was just filled with merchants all trying to sell very similar items.  In general, the market seems to be very saturated with so many people selling the exact same products right next to each other.  There never seems to be a clear front runner because everything is so similar.  It also leads to competition between people to get the lowest price. After finishing up in the cultural center, we headed over to a restaurant to stay dry and to see the ocean.  It was such a cool view to see.  The rain and the storm mixed with ocean almost made it seem mad.  The waves crashed into stone outcropping and the fishing boats just rocked with the ocean.  Amongst all this power from the ocean one still had to notice the garbage.  There was garbage everywhere and made the beach look so sad and so dirty.  There are supposed to be some nice beaches by Cape Coast but if Accra cleaned up some of these beaches they could be gorgeous.   Mitch and Cory decided that they would climb out to the outcropping.  They didn't only find a cool view but also a man who lived up there in a shack.  He seemed very weathered.   We got a hold of the IBM team at this point in time to figure out our dinner plans for tonight.  We decided on a Lebanese restaurant.  During this time we had to figure out whether we would head over to Jamestown in the rain or we would go back to Nana's house.  After a short discussion of how the artist would probably not be out we decided to go back to Nana's house to dry off and get ready for dinner.   After we all dried off and put on dry clothes we got another call from the IBM team saying that the restaurant didn't exist anymore so we could either go to an Irish pub or we could go to a Ghanaian restaurant.  Mitch, Marcie, and Cory all exclaimed that we would love to go to an Irish pub.  We definitely missed more western dishes.   Right around 6:30 we grabbed two taxis to head to dinner.  Brooke, Marcie, and Cory headed into taxi 1 and Mitch, Liz, Brooke, and Nana grabbed taxi 2.  We started driving and taxi 2 had to stop to get some water to pour into the engine.  Taxi 1 then stopped and our driver got out of the car to talk to someone.  Taxi 2 after weaving in and out of taxi caught up to up and asked Brooke, Marcie, and Cory if we knew where our driver was as.  We all just shook our head.  Both taxis were soon off and running but not long after taxi 1 gets a flat tire.  The driver from taxi 2 tells Brooke, Marcie, and Cory to come with him.  We were all getting into one taxi.  Seven people and our driver all filed into the taxi.  This driver could fly.  We got downtown and started looking for the Irish pub.  Mitch thought that he saw a sign a little bit back.  We started looking and then asking people.  We found the sign and turned down the road.  It turns out that the road that we turned down was a one way road.  There were cars coming at us but someone how we made it to the restaurant and piled out just as John, one of the IBM team members was calling us.  We were only a half hour late so we were right on time for Ghana.   We were all a little riled up after that crazy ride.  We met John, Charlie, and Julie from the IBM team.  They are volunteering their time to try to bring African products into the mainstream market in the US like Target and T.J, Max.  They would market the products as fair trade and green.  We all grabbed some dinner and sat down and discussed some of our experiences while in Africa.  They were very interested in our projects especially the computer project.  After a  very nice, expensive meal, we all jumped back into taxis and went home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216655820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216655820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216655820/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:58:37 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Kumasi, Ghana

Today was the last day that the IBV team was going to spendin the Komfo Anokye hospital.  We decidedto split up into two groups.  Mitch wouldgo with the IBV team to the hospital and Cory and Marcy were going to go to theIPS office to check the status of the MOU and try to set up the recruitingevent.  We were also going to be travelingto Accra today so we could meet up with the IBM team.  They were in Accra at the moment so wedecided that we could travel there and stay with Nana's family, it would alsogive us the chance to explore Accra a little while we were here.After Mitch, Sam, Brook, and Liz got a ride to the hospitalthey called Dr. Ankobea to see if he had time to talk about what IBV haddiscovered about the Infant Heart Monitor.  After waiting for a short period of time Dr. Ankobea met the students athis office.  He was very sorry to hearthe heart monitor did not function as well as we had hoped.  He still seemed very interested in continuingthe project in future years.  After abrief conversation about what the IBV students accomplished at the Sunyanihospital, the IBV team asked if someone could show them around the laborwards.  Even without being approved forbeing student researchers and the IRB, Dr. Ankobea was more than happy to havesomeone show they around the wards.  Hemade a few phone calls and it was time for the tour.Mitch, Sam, Brook and Liz all got a very detailed tour ofhow the newborns are taken care of.  Itwas especially informational for Mitch because he got to see the side of theproject that the Pavlis students have not seen before.  It was amazing to see how the babies weretaken care of.  The IBV team explained toMitch some of the differences between the U.S. and this hospital.  One of the main problems seemed to be thelack of people to fix broken equipment.  There was a lot of modern equipment, such as: ventilators, blood testingmachines, and incubators, that were not being used just because they could notfix them.They IBV team got a lot of useful information about theirproject and for future projects.  Afterabout four hours in the hospital it was time to head back to the dorms to seehow Marcy and Cory were doing.  Unfortunately their meeting did not go as well as the tripto the hospital.  The MOU was still notcompleted.  They promised that it wouldbe done by Thursday so Cory and Marcie set a meeting for Thursday morning.  The people at the IPS office said they wouldset up meetings with all of the deans of the different schools so we could talkto them about recruiting students for Michigan Tech.  After we all met up at the dorms we finished packing ourbags for the trip to Accra.  It was verysad because this was the last time the IBV students would be seeingKumasi.  After packing all our stuff, westarted walking towards the taxi station.  Of course now that we had all the IBV teams' luggage we were not able toget a ride there and had to walk the whole way!  It was also very hot out of course.  After a short ride to the STC bus station it was time to buyour tickets.  The STC busses are verysimilar to greyhounds in the U.S.  We arrivedat the station at 3:25; the bus was leaving at 3:30!  Mitch quickly went to the station and boughttickets for everyone.  We made sure thatthe rest of us got to where the bus was loading.  They measured the weight of the bags whileMitch finished up with the tickets.  Wedidn't really stop to think that busses were on Ghana time as well, but theywere.  They bus hadn't even start loadingpeople on yet, they were just finishing putting the bigger bags onto thebus.  After a ten minute wait we were allon the bus to Accra.  After a very, very,long ride on a bus that was passing many cars at a time, while going uphill,while going around a corner we arrived in Accra.  We were very happy to get off of the bus whenwe arrived in Accra.  Nana's uncle wasthere to pick us up and bring us to his Mother's house. It was a beautiful home in the middle of a smallneighborhood just outside of the city.  His mother owned a bar and we all sat down and enjoyed a few cokesbefore we went to bed.  We were all verytired from the trip and turned in early.  We had a meeting with IBM the next day and we wanted to explore the cityas well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216482900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216482900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216482900/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:57:11 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Kumasi, Ghana

We traveled back from Sunyani to Kumasi Saturday morning in a trotro.  It was completely full but all in all was a relatively comfortable ride.  The ride was smooth until we got into Kumasi where we got stuck in massive traffic.  We were heading towards the large market and there were just people everywhere.  Everyone else but the seven of us already had gotten out of the trotro.  We decided that there really wasn't anyplace for us to go so we just sat and waited.  It turns out that we didn't head up at the same bus station that we were used to getting dropped off at.  We were dropped off right in the middle of the market.  The best way to describe the market is to think of a huge flea market and then imagine that it is the day after Christmas and you are shopping.  It is complete craziness with people everywhere selling everything and anything.  This was not the ideal place for us to get dropped off with four large suitcases.   Nana had somehow met a friend that said he knew how to get us to the taxi stand.  He grabbed one of our suitcases and after about all six of us tried to grab it from him Nana explained that he knew what he was doing.  This did not make any of us feel at ease.  Inside of that suitcase were all four of the XO laptops, as well as, the photo printer.  We were not going to let this guy out of our sites.  He began to take us right through the market.  We were all trying to stick together, get the luggage through the crowd, and make sure nothing got stolen from our backpacks.  It was a miracle that we made it through the maze all safe and sound and into a taxi back at KNUST.    After this excitement we grabbed some lunch from a local joint on campus and then spent the rest of the day doing laundry, journaling, and soaking up some of the sun.   Today, Sunday July 20th, we experienced some of the most beautiful sites that we have seen on this trip.  During the middle of the night there was a huge rain storm.  It just sounded so much louder off of the tin roof that covers the dorms.   Waking up Sunday morning, there were a few puddles but the sky looked like it was going to be a beautiful sunny day.  We had heard from Emanuel last night that he would be taking us to the butterfly sanctuary, the place where they make kente cloth, and to dinner later at his house.  Sundays are a slow day in Ghana.  It is a day meant to rest and to spend time with family and friends.   After a relaxing morning, Emanuel and Lord picked us up and we headed to the butterfly sanctuary a little after one p.m. It is a short 30 to 40 minute drive ride outside of Kumasi. We turned down a road that contained what seemed to be sort of like a suburb of Kumasi.  This road led down to a dirt path which was just surrounded by shrubs and trees.  We were entering into a different world.  Just a short distance back was the hustle and bustle of the city filled with cars and pollutions and driving down this road you would have never guessed just how close you were to this.  After about 10 minutes we reached the sanctuary.   As we drove into the entrance there was this beautiful garden filled with so many flowers that are exotic to us, westerners, but are quite at home in this habitat.  The garden had rows of beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows with butterflies flying around you as you walked through it.   You could get close enough to touch the them but they seemed much too quick for our cameras.  As we entered the sanctuary we were first shown the guest rooms.  They all were set up with mosquito nets and butterfly wall paper.  Then we were shown to the deck where Emanuel told us that some forestry professors really enjoy relaxing after a day in the field.   Emanuel then told us that he would like to show us some of the work that he did his PhD research on. He showed us the three different light levels that he tested mahogany trees at to see if they would be able to potentially grow in plantations.  There were three varying amounts of canopy cleared for each of the plots ranging from shade grown to almost open grown.  There was a large difference between the plots.  The shade grown trees were much smaller and it looked like suffered mortality; they were at most 2 feet off the ground.  While the more open grown trees were almost 10 feet tall.  They did suffer some resistance problems but there were still enough of the trees in good form for there to be successful growth and yield of the product.   During this explanation Marcie was pretty much in heaven but other people were in varying degrees of exciting trampling around the forest.  After the brief tour with Emanuel we got a tour of the ground from one of the guides.  He was pretty interesting to say the least.  He carried around a large machete that he liked to use whenever we came up to a tree to talk about.  He did this to ever tree but one and he told us the only way we should cut this tree was if we first bring the tree an egg and a shot of alcohol and then wait until dusk.  If we did not do this we would crazy and die.  He then asked if any of us were crazy.  This is how the whole tour continued.  He talked very fast so most of the information slipped by us.  We did get to see some huge trees.  Some of the trees are so large that they measure the diameter by placing a stick up to it and then measure from there!   After finishing up the tour, we all took a few more moments to really take in everything that was surrounding us and try to catch some pictures of these butterflies.  We then headed off to buy some kente cloth.  Kente cloth is hand woven traditional cloth that has three different weaves. Each increasing level of weaves makes the cloth heavier, more intricate, and thus more expensive.  The highest weave that we found was a three layer weave.   We walked into the Kente factory and were just surrounded by cloth and people trying to sell us cloth.  There were so many different colors as varieties.  In downtown Kumasi Kente cloth was going for 300 cedis for six yards of three weave fabric.  We were able to get two yards of three fabrics anywhere from 32 - 40 cedis which is a price that us college students could afford.  After everyone looking and finding the cloth, bag, or belt that fit their taste we were finally able to start exiting.  However as we were shopping there was a child that kept asking our names.  It turns out that he was making personalized Ghana bracelets for each of us.  Mitch, Cory, and Marcie all ended buying one this way not only will we not forget that we are in Ghana but we also won't forget our names!   We soon headed over to Emanuel's house were his wife and family prepared a great dinner of rice, hard boiled eggs, fufu, and chicken.  We all got to meet Emanuel's two children and David Emanuel's youngest took especially to Marcie.  He made sure that she was eating enough by offering her his pieces of chicken during dinner but in return stole her hardboiled egg.  After dinner we all sat around and talked about our trip so far.  It was so nice to spend time together!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216396440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216396440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216396440/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:55:33 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Kranka, Ghana

We started the morning bright and early to head out for Kranka.  The two groups with all of their respective equipment grabbed two taxis to head out to the taxi stand.  It turns out that there is more than one taxi stand in the city of Sunyani.  After a brief period of looking for each other one group called the other to actually confirm that we were not in the same taxi stand.  It turns out that there is a "new taxi stand" and an "old taxi stand."  We were not specific enough for our drivers.  After talking about the situation we decided that each group would take a taxi from their stand and meet up with each other in Dormaa, the city that we would need to stop at to switch taxis.   Both groups got into the taxis and headed on the way.  Dormaa is about an hour to an hour and fifteen minute drive.  After about an hour of driving we got to this big traffic stop.  Think Chicago traffic during rush hour traffic only instead of a four lanes for incoming and out coming traffic we are driving a dirt road were motorcycles and scooters weave in and out of traffic.  The tiny taxis also weave in and out of the little spots in front of trucks and bigger vehicles.  As we creep closer we see the only traffic coming in the other direction is vehicles turning around.  We decide that we would get out and look to see what is going on.  We walk a little bit and see that the road is completely washed out.  Crews are trying to reconstruct the road while vehicles are trying to get through.  There is no closing the road because there are no alternative routes.  We gather around to discuss the options.  We could walk across to the other side and catch a taxi and continue on to Dormaa.  After thinking about this option the only problem was that if the road doesn't get fixed there really won't be any way for us to get back to the dorms at the end of the day because taxi's won't be waiting on the other side of the road.  There was also the other option that we would just turn around.  It was already getting pretty late around 10:30 a.m.  The last option was that we just wait to see what happens.  We decided that we would see how the situation progresses for a little bit.  We all got back in the taxis as we wondered what would happen.  We began to move forward.  As we moving forward one of the men watching yelled into the cabs that Ghana is a very poor country and we should help. We all just looked at each as we slowly moved passed them after about a half hour we were able to see the situation.  A bridge completely washed out after a hard rain.  The force of the water caused the bridge to turn into a moat.  The water was about 3 feet deep but this did not stop taxis and other cars from going through it.  It was soon our turn to try to make it through the moat.  Somehow our two compact cars had enough traction to make it through the puddle.  As we were exiting the zone there was a large truck coming in with building and stabilization supplies.    We finally made it into Dormaa.  One group was dropped off at the taxi stand while the other group's driver decided that he would just take them to Kranka.  The one at the taxi stand grabbed some crackers and water for all of us to snack on later.  They also headed into a taxi to make it to Kranka.  It is another 20 minute drive to Kranka.  The majority of the time it is on paved road it is not until the last 5 minutes that it turns into a dirt road that has been heavily eroded.   We all finally made it into Kranka.  The Pavlis team introduced the IBV team to one of the teachers working at the school.  The chief was working in his teak plantings but he would stop by soon.  The IBV team headed down to the clinic that is within the village to go meet with the midwife.  The Pavlis team soon found out that all the teachers were gone at a meeting so there was no one there for us to meet with.  We would have never guessed that all the teachers were gone because all the students were still in school.   We sat done with one of the ladies who appeared to some sort of secretary at the school.  During this time Marcie asked if she could use the restroom.  One of the other secretaries led Marcie to the area that was supposed to be the school restrooms but they had run out of money.  The area had about four foot high stone walls with windows in them.  This was the school restrooms.  Inside of the walls was just dirt and grass.    As we headed back we talked to the secretary about the school.  The school in Kranka had been built in the 1943 by the British.  There have been no updates down to any of the buildings because of lack of funding.  The walls and the floors are starting to crack.  The classes are too small to fit the growing population of children in the village.  The children sit on wooden stools most of the time or stand outside of the classroom if it is too full.  We began to talk to her briefly about the computer project and she said that there was no one that would be able to facilitate these activities.   During this time we asked about what future projects would be good areas for future groups to focus.  She told us about the lack of basic school supplies which include everything from pens and pencils to books.  Many of the books that the students use are falling apart and very hard to read.  There is also just money to expand the school and do some remodeling to make the school more modern.  The issue of sanitation also came up because there are no restrooms at all.  We saw students going to the bathroom in the soccer field or right next to the class room.  She also brought up that many of the students are orphans and do not really have families to take care of them.  Many students come to school without having eaten any breakfast and will also not eat lunch.  Ghana just implements a school lunch program where low income students would be given one meal every school day but that program has not reached the village yet.  This situation was very apparent because many of the students looked like they were suffering from malnutrition.  After hearing these concerns we snapped a few pictures of the office and then headed out to snap of few pictures of the children.   The children just went wild when they saw the camera.  Everyone wanted to be in the picture and get their picture taken.  Mitch took out his camera and the out of everywhere children came running to get their picture taken.  At one point there had to be fifty students all trying to get in the photo.   During this time the chief showed up to greet us.  We asked him if there would be anyway that we would be able to test the laptop computers today.  He said that today would not be a good day but the following Monday would work out much better.  We then told him that we could introduce him to the other team members that are working in the clinic.    Once we got to the clinic there were about 10 women and children waiting.  The IBV team was sitting having a conversation with the midwife about what equipment they use in the clinic.  They then went to go look at the different equipment.  During this time, we asked the chief if he would like to try out the computers that we would be testing.  We pulled out two of the XO laptops to show him the chat function and some of the other programs.  The chief had never used a computer.  He said during his time at the University they did not have computers.  He was amazed by how small the computer was and had difficulties understanding how to use the touch pad on the computer.  We hooked up one of the mice to the computers to make it a little easier and briefly explained how the computer works.   We opened the chat function and he was just so amazed that the computers would be able to hook up to each other.  We also showed him the neighborhood view of the computer and he was very pleased that the teachers would be able to monitor what the students were using the computers for.  He was very excited for the children to have the possibility to use the computers for their learning.   We took a few pictures of him using the computers and then told him that we could print out some of these pictures for him right now if there was electricity in the clinic.  He led Mitch over to the outlet and Mitch printed out a picture of the chief.  The chief was so excited, as well as, the others village members in the clinic of the pictures.   The IBV team soon returned after their tour of the clinic.  After a brief discussion with the midwife and a few pictures of the IBV team and the clinic staff we decided to head off to see some waterfalls.  One of our friends at Sunyani had told us that there were some waterfalls near Kranka.  When we asked Emanuel about these waterfalls he said that they were very beautiful and not very far.   All seven of out and our driver piled into the truck.  Mitch, Cory, Nana, and Brooke rode in the truck bed.  The waterfall ended up being about an hour away from Kranka but it was such a nice day that no one really minded the drive.  We also got to see a little different part of the country.  The drive through some of the beautiful ecosystems allowed us all to relax.   We arrived at the Kintampo Waterfalls after about an hour of driving.  There are three sets of falls that make up the Kintampo Waterfalls.  Ghana has been really trying to increase the amount of eco-tourism that occurs in the country.  This has been a large benefit to the economy from many Europeans and Americans coming to visit Ghana and for the preservation of the natural biodiversity that is present in the country.  The Kintampo Waterfalls was established as an eco-tourist site in 1992 and the supervising have been trying to preserve the natural beauty that surrounds these waterfalls.   We began our tour of the three different waterfalls.  The first two stages of the waterfalls were small and similar to some of the waterfalls that are present in the Copper Country.  The vegetation surrounding the waterfall so lush and green.  We then began our descent to the final and largest waterfall.   The stairs we a little oddly spaced a little steeper than they should have been.  We reached halfway down the path and saw our first view of the waterfall.  It could have been a scene out of a movie.  We could hear the water rushing and falling into the rocks below while the green vines climbed up the rock walls surrounding the waterfall.   We finally reached the base of the waterfall and it was just so much for all of us to take in.  There were rocks that we spaced perfectly to be able to stand a few feet in front of the falling water to take it all in.  This was the only waterfall that you were allowed to go swimming at.  However, I would not recommend this option at all.   The stream that was fed by the waterfall meander slowly over larger rocks to an area that looked like a judge.  There were large tree roots that sprang up from the stream and vine that tempted the inner Tarzan in all of us.  Among all this beauty there was trash.  No more than two yards from the base of the waterfall was an area that was used for trash.  It was similar to all the other trash sites that we have seen in Ghana.  It was basically an area that all the garbage was thrown and then lit on fire.  It seems that this is part of the nature of Ghana; raw natural beauty trying to over shadow population problems such as sanitation.   After taking many pictures of the waterfall we headed back up to the truck to head to the monkey sanctuary which was about an hour drive.  Once we got to the sanctuary, it was pretty clear that some people were really not interesting to going on the tour.  At time point in time Marcie was not feeling extremely well so she decided that she would sit this tour out.  Cory, Nana, and Liz also decided to join Marcie.  Mitch, Brooke, and Sam found a guide who happened to know a lot more about the project to take a short tour.  They saw so many more monkeys during this tour actually in the forest.  They even got to see some of the large black and white monkeys.  Their tails were so impressive.  They are super long and at the very end fan out beautifully.  Mitch, Brooke, and Sam got to learn some more about the different trees and how the monkey came to be protected.   After their short tour it was already around 5 p.m. During this time students were walking past us to go home.  They ran up to us and started yelling "Broni Broni Broni."  They were equally excited to get their picture taken but also wanted money from us.  We had to explain that we did not have money to give them and that we needed to get back home.   The truck dropped us off in Dormaa where we all grabbed a taxi to head back to the dormitories.  During that time that four people riding in the back of the truck just wanted to take a shower.  The three other people headed down to Berlin to grab some dinner.  After about a half hour we had the whole group together to enjoy our last meal in Sunyani together.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216309860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216309860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216309860/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:54:06 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Sunyani, Ghana

Mitch, Marcie, and Cory started off for the school at alittle past 8 a.m. while the IBV team was getting ready to go to the hospitalto check out the ventilators.After a short walk to the school, we were greeted by theheadmistress.  She was very sorry thatshe could not be there yesterday and asked if we were ready to start thetesting.  She said that we would do it inthe computer lab.The computer lab is a rather large building for theschool.  It is about the size of a smallcommon area on a college campus.  Therewere four rows of desks with the first two rows having computers and the lastone only having one.  The computersworked to varying degrees.  In totalthere are only two computers desktop computers that work well enough to use.Leaving a ratio of students to computer as over 100 to 1.In the computer lab we met both of the computerteachers.  Andrew and Nasare both ofthese men had just recently graduated with college degrees.  Nasare graduated with a degree in mechanicalengineering but there is not a lot of work in this area currently.With the headmistress and the computers teachers present wethen began to explain how we would like the testing to go today.  We would like to start with having one of thecomputer teachers on one of the computers and on the remaining three we wouldlike to have two students.  Preferablyone that has some experience with computers and one that does not.   The students would work with us for a shortperiod of time, between 10 and 15 minutes and another group of students wouldcome in.During this 10 to 15 minute time period, we would be lookingfor the ease that the students can use the computers.  The computers are supposed to be veryintuitive and pretty easy to learn how to use.  We would also we asking them if they could see this helping them learnand whether they liked using the laptop better/worse than using the desktopPC.  During this testing we also hookedup two mice to two of the computers so see if students were better able to usethe computer.  Lastly, during this timewe were just trying to get to know the students and learn as much as we couldabout the school setting.After we explained the procedure students were alreadycoming in.  Some of these students Roseand Augustine were both present in the first group during this time.  Rose was in Marcie's group again with a newgirl Juliet.  Having some of the studentsfrom yesterday really helped in the learning process.  It also helped us test to see if the studentsremembered what they had learned yesterday.With Rose in Marcie's group she asked Rose if she rememberedhow to do certain programs and tasks that we did yesterday.  During this time period, Rose and Julietlearned together as they used the computer.  Rose was able to explain the computer a little differently than I couldever do.During this time, Cory was working explain how the computersfunctioned to the computer teachers.  Hewent through a lot of the basic programs with the computer teacher a studentwatching.  After going through theprogram, he told the student to go get a friend and start teaching his friendhow to use the computer.  As the dayevolved that was how all the learning went of the computer.  We were just there to answer questions aswell as to ask some questions of the students.During the day, the headmistress also brought in her laptopfor the students to use. It was like any laptop that you would see in the US.The laptop has many different educational games that the students can use butit is very hard to try to share a laptop between using for educational purposesand still getting work done with the computer.  As time passed more and more students started being aroundthe computer.  There were no longer justtwo students using the computer but around five or six.  The students all took turns teaching how touse the computer and the different programs that they enjoyed using.  During this time period, the headmistressbrought in a teacher that has never used a computer.  She sat down right next to Mitch and theheadmistress said show her how to use one of these.  The teacher had no idea how to use the touchpad or what most of the programs on the computer even meant.  This was a very good test for us because wewill probably get more teachers like this when we go out into the more ruralvillages.  After spending some timeteaching her some of the basics of the computer.  Mitch showed her the web cam and therecording aspect of the computers.  Shewas so excited to see herself and the capabilities of the computers.We had been taking pictures all day with the students usingthe computers and us interacting with the students but by about 10 a.m. wedecided that we should print out a few of these pictures for the headmistressand possibly some of the students.  Weplugged in the photo printer (electricity was not a problem at all in thebuilding.  There were more than enoughoutlets as well as extension cords to plug the computers in).  After plugging the computer in and puttingthe memory card from the cameras in to print the first pictures students and teachersalike where amazed at what could be printed out right in front of them.  They were so excited to see their image.  It was during this time that students wantedto take pictures with all of us or at least one of us.  They were also getting comfortable with usand interacting a lot more.  Some of themeven asked if they could take pictures with our cameras.  At one point in the morning all three of ourcameras were in students hands.  They wereable to capture everything that they were learning from their perspective.During this time period two of the desktop computers wherebeing used by other students.  At firstonly one computer was able to work because the other one kept freezing up.  After a while of the children trying torefresh the computer they gave up and shut the computer down.  They said that it often happens like that andthat we should fix the computers.  Wetried to explain to the children that we don't really know how to fix computers.  The one computer that was working looked likesomething out of the 90s.  It was bigbulky monitor that the children were practicing a typing game.  When we asked them about the differencesusing the desktops versus using the laptops the children explained that theyliked the desktop better because there are more fun games on the computers butthe laptops are much faster and they work better.  They also said they really enjoyed being ableto chat with their friends.After about two and a half hours of working on thecomputers, we decided to take a group photo of all us and the students.  There had to be at least 75 students whoalready used the computer standing and laughing.  We placed the XO laptop in front and I doubtthat we could have gotten a better group picture.  Then one of the computer teachers offered totake a picture of us in there with all the children.After taking the group pictures the children rushed insideto work on the computers while we stayed outside to talk with the computerteachers and head mistress on how they felt that the testing was going.  They said that everything was going reallywell and that the students are just learning so much.  We then wanted to know how we could improvethe program for next year.  They said thatthe new window's based version would work much better especially with the I.C.Tprogram because the program makes students open documents, save, copy and pasteand while this computer has the capability of doing these different optionsthey are not set up in same manner as on windows which could cause confusionfor children.  They also said that micewould also be very helpful improvement because the touch pads are so iffy andpart of I.C.T is learning how to use the mouse correctly.  They also wanted more programs on thecomputers that deal with math, science, and typing.  Overall, they thought that it was a goodbasic computer that students could learn about computers.  They would be best used for a younger gradeonce computers have been implemented but since there are still many childrenwho have never used a computer this will be a very helpful start. They wouldlove to have 30 of the new version of the XO laptops and one of the smallerblack laptop computers which we brought over for the teacher. We began talking about other projects that could be usefulfor future groups to do next year. The first thing that the head mistress saidwas library books.  The school has spacefor a library but they do not have any books.  The children love to read but if there are no books they can't read verymuch.  They would love books having todeal with science and easy to read books. After finishing up the discussion we went back into thecomputer classroom to see how the children were doing with the computers.  All four of them we working and there wereabout anywhere from seven to ten children around the computers.  All we did was observe how they used thecomputer and answer any questions.Around 11:30 one of the computers started to die so weshowed them how to plug in and charge them.  They had plenty of extension cords and outlets for the computers to becharged and continually used.  Within thenext half hour to forty minutes the other three computers also began to need tobe charged.  At this point we decidedthat it would be time to pack up the computers to allow the children to go backto class.  Throughout the day, theheadmistress had to keep telling students to go to class.  She said that the students were just soexcited that during their break time many of them came to look at the computersinstead of going outside to play.  Thesecomputers would allow for better use of free time.As we began packing up the computer, there were manychildren that wanted to become pen pals with us.  We handed out our addresses and emailaddresses to the students who had email addresses.  This whole process took another half hourbecause there were just so many students.We then stopped by the headmistress's office to see how shethought the testing went and for any other suggestions.  She told us that we would need to leave someof the computers at the school because we had wetted the child's appetite tolearn about computers.  She made the suggestionthat we should leave two computers with them and two computers with anotherschool.  This way, two schools wouldbenefit from the computers.  She saidthat if we did not leave computers the children will forget and the next groupwill have to start from scratch.  Wethank the headmistress and told her that we will be back sometime within thenext two weeks to tell her our final decision.After leaving the school it was about 1 p.m. and headed backto the dormitories.  Just as we weregetting back to the dorms the IBV team (International Business Venture) werereturning from their day at the hospital.  They had the chance to tour the whole hospital and also talk todifferent doctors about ventilators.  They had already eaten lunch.  Brooke and Sam decided that they would head down to the market area tosee what was going on.Cory, Mitch, Marcie, and Nana still needed to get some lunchso they decided that they would ask a taxi driver to take us to arestaurant.  After some brief explainingwe found a very nice restaurant that was a little different than the otherplaces that we have been eating at.  During that lunch we discussed how we would improve the computers andalso what program that we would want to download back in Kumasi.After enjoying a nice lunch we took time to journal andreflect on the day.  We then tried anothernew place called the Gold Coast which was walking distance from thedormitories.  The restaurant served themany of the similar dishes that most Ghanaian restaurants serve like rices,fufu, and banku.After a good dinner we turned in for the night so that wewould be able to leave early the next morning for Kranka.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216201140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216201140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216201140/tpod.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:52:44 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Sunyani, Ghana

Wednesday 07/16/2008 Both the Pavlis students and the IBV students started the day at the hospital. Mitch and Marcie thought that it would be a good idea to walk but then Cory told them that they were walking the wrong way and that it was a little bit farther then they thought. We hailed two taxis and made it safely to the hospital. We called Dr. Solo to let him know that we were at the hospital. He told us that he would be right with us. We knew that this meant at least 15 to 20 minutes of waiting. We were standing right in front of the emergency entrance so we thought that we might be able to see something interesting. After 25 minutes and no Dr. Solo Mitch tried calling him again. Mitch asked if there was some place else that we could meet him. He just told us to sit tight and wait. As we were waiting we got to see many interesting aspects of the hospital. We got to see has a new mother and baby girl came out of the car for a routine check up, people being picked up and dropped up by taxi's, but not one emergency during the almost hour that we were waiting. At that point, Marcie called Dr. Paulina and the group headed directly towards here office. The only problem was that Marcie, Mitch, and Cory had only been to the hospital once and had a little problem finding where her office was. After asking a security guard for directions we headed in the right direction. This hospital could not be more different that then hospital in Kumasi. There is just such a different feeling. The hospital almost seems like a hotel with many different verandas as the waiting areas. The building were constructed in 2003 and were funded partly through a British fund. All buildings are white concrete that have a slightly burnt look to them because of the red dirt. The red shingles make it look extremely homey. We finally make it through the right series and turns into clinic 3 and Dr. Paulina's office. When we walked in, she was seeing a patient. A small child and his mother. The child seemed to be having trouble breathing. After, a short conversion with the mother she got right to us and told us we needed to go see the director. We headed straight up to his office and he was waiting for us. We went through all the formalities of being welcomed. Mitch, Cory, and Marcie had to introduce the IBV students for it to be polite. After introducing them briefly, the IBV team took over and talked about what their plans were for. There was a brief time period where we thought that they would not be able to test the device in the hospital. The director was asking for the IRB clearance from the Kumasi hospital. When we explained that it had not gone through yet we were thinking that they would not be able to test in the hospital. Brooke explained to the Director that they had received clearance both at Michigan Tech and at the Portage Hospital in Hancock. The director just wanted to have that information and everything was all set for them to begin testing. Dr. Paulina then led all us to the labor ward to meet with the midwives. At this point the Pavlis team decided that we could head out and start working on our projects at the school. It was already 11:00 so we decided to grab a quick lunch. It took us a little bit of time to try to get out of the hospital. It seemed that every turn that we were taking was not leading us to the exit. When then tried to ask a security guard for direction for the exit. He thought that we had said x-ray so we were off in another direction. After finally finding a sign that looked familiar we made it out and saw that the exit is called "way out." Just as we were about to get into the taxi after our 20 minute trip around the hospital, we got a call from Sam and Liz from the IBV team. It turns out that only two people could be in the ward testing. They would need to be back at the hospital in about 45 minutes to an hour. We jumped in a taxi and headed for a quick lunch down at Berlin. After lunch, Mitch, Marcie, and Cory headed over to the Sunyani school. No one had an idea of exactly where the school so we hopped in a taxi and asked to be taken to the Ridge Experimental School. A minute drive later we were at the school. It was in walking distance of the dormitories which is great. We arrived at the school just after 12:00 p.m. and started looking for the headmistress. We had tried calling just a short time before to let her know that we were coming. She didn't answer the phone so we just thought she was busy with some students. In Ghana, most people answer their cell phones no matter what. They could be in a middle of a different conversion but if their phone rings they will answer it. We arrived at the school and were greeted by another teacher. She informed us that the headmistress was away today because of a death and the computers teachers were also not present. We asked if it would still be okay to test the computers briefly on just a few students. We explained to the teacher how the computers work and that we would like to show the computers to students who have used computers before. Four students were brought in: two girls and two guys. They were a little shy at first but warmed up very quickly to using the computers. We explained to them that they computers are a little different than the computers that they are used to using. The XO laptops does not currently run off a window's based system but will be switching over to that type of system for the next generation which should be out next year. The laptops use very little energy and are very durable. Each of the computers has a microphone and a web camera. Mitch and Cory paired up with the two guys while Marcie started explaining the computers to the two girls. First things first we showed them how to the open the computers. While this seems quite simply on a normal laptop. The XO are a little trickier; there are two antennas that lock into place. These antennas must first be switched up before the computer can be opened. We explained to the children that these antennas allow for the computers to both connect to each other and to the internet if there is a wireless signal around. We then turned on the computers. The XO laptop uses a figure as the main home page and is similar to a Mac computer with the programs in a row along the bottom screen. In the top upper left along with on the key board is ways to move throughout the different pages. There is the home page that allows for the user to select different programs. There is also the neighborhood function which allows for the user to see all the other XO laptops and what activities that they are doing. The XO laptop sends out signals that allow for the computers to set up mesh networks. One of the first programs that we showed the students was the chat function. We all jumped onto mesh network 6 and Mitch showed his student how to set up a chat. To set up the chat function all one needed to do was click on the program and to change the setting from private to available to the neighborhood. All four of us clicked on the chat and all the students were amazed that they could see what each other was saying. The students who were all between the ages of 12 and 13 had used computers but not very often. They were pecking at the computer to type in the different sentences. The students said that they don't often use the computers because they are so slow and there are only a very few that work. After leaving the chat program we all moved through some of the other programs that are available at different speeds. One of the computers was equipped with many more programs than the standard laptops. These extra programs included some more math programs, science, and even Sim City. We each moved through the rest of the computer programs at a different pace and in a different order. Marcie, Rose and Augustine decided to show them the write program that is supposed to be very similar to Microsoft word. The program is pretty similar but does not have all the different command that students use in Microsoft word. They started typing in different sentences and I asked them what their favorite class in school was. In the US most students like to say lunch or recess but both of these young ladies responded that English was their favorite subject. They started being a little more adventurous with the computer and trying to change the color of the font and making the font bold. We then moved into a program that was a little more fun. The record program is where the students can use it to make short movies of themselves or to take snap shots. Both of them started to giggle as their appearances showed up on the screen. They seemed a little embarrassed at first but got over the shock of what was happening. They also really utilized the ability for the screen to turn in 360 degrees filming Cory and Ebenezer, and Mitch and John. After many movies and many photos taken we moved on to a different program. At this point Marcie let them try different programs by themselves and just answer any questions if they had any. They decided to try a computer programing program. This is one of the most advanced programs on the computer but it does allow for many possibilities in the future for the students. This program allows for the student to begin writing and running simple programs. After loosing interest in the above program, the girls moved into the a music program. The music program allows for the students to be able to make different sounds ranging from musical instruments to animals to humans. They began to giggle as they heard different sounds. It was during this point that the girls really began to have problems using the touch pad. Each of the students had problems with this area. After two hours of the students using the computers we asked them if they think that they would be helpful. All of them said yes! We all asked each of the students there favorite part of the computer and what they would like to improve. All the students said that they wish that there was a mouse. The two girls really enjoyed the math program as well as the recorder program. Ebenezer just said that he really enjoyed learning on the computers and that he would be able to learn so much more because of these. John really enjoyed the computer games and how interactive the computer was. After two hours of using the computers the battery life was just under 50%. We finished up with the students just as classes were getting out of session at 2:30 p.m. We took pictures of each of the children using the computer and printed them out a copy right there with the photo printer. Each of the children were so excited to be given a picture of themselves. They also got their own Michigan Tech beenie baby and told them that we would see them tomorrow. We talked to the teacher and asked if it would be okay if we came back tomorrow to work with some more students. She said that this would work out even better. The head mistress would be back as well as the computer teachers. We explained that while we would love to work with every student there just is not enough time so if there was a fair way to pick about a dozen students from each of the classes to work with that would be great. She then told us that school starts at 8 a.m. and we could start testing them at that time. After walking back to the dormitories to charge the computers we decided to go have some cold sodas to celebrate our successes with the students. We then arrived back at the dormitory just as the IBV students were coming in. They said that they while none of the devices worked on the children they found out everything that they needed to know to make the necessary improvements for the device. They also found that some of the information that they had heard were complete myths. They said that the hospital is very similar to any US hospital in regards to how they do different procedures. After talking for a short time, Brooke and Sam left for downtown to go get their hair braided. The rest of us took time to journal and relax after a very successful day for both of our teams. After a few hours, we decided that it was time to go to dinner. We ate a different joint this time. It was a restaurant just a few buildings up from Berlins that we had passed by.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216114500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216114500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216114500/tpod.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:38:30 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Sunyani, Ghana

Tuesday 07/15/2008 We began our day pretty early. After meeting with Dr. Ankobea the previous day he had told us that we would need to meet with Francis, a member of the KNUST Medical School Faculty, early in the morning. He made sure to stress that we would need to meet with him between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. All the IBV students and Marcie were ready to go by 7:20 a.m. but we decided that we would call before we started heading over to the medical school. We called and he said that he would be there in 15 minutes to pick us up. This worked out even better. Right around 7:45, Francis picked us up so that the IBV students could fill out the paperwork so that they could become KNUST students. This would allow them to use all the facilities of the hospital and give them rights to see all the equipment and the procedures. Francis began to explain the paper work and then he added that it would be $150 to do the paper work. This was a fee that no one had told anyone about previous to this visit. We then had to explain to Francis that the IBV students would only be in the hospital for less then a week and that time period did not justify how expensive it would be. Francis then drove us back to the dormitory. After doing some final packing we began our journey to Sunyani. Four large suitcases and five backpack later we were ready to go. The suitcases were filled with four of the XO laptops as well as our photo printer along with many Michigan Tech beanie babies, pens, suckers, and other fun stuff. This large amount of luggage made it a little bit difficult. We made it to the Kumasi bus station where we decided to take a trotro to Sunyani. Then we got to the bus station there were so many different buses going everywhere. We heard many buses going to Accra and Dormaa and everywhere in between. We weaved our way through all of the sales people and other trotro buses until we finally found one that was going to Sunyani. There were only three people sitting inside of the trotro and it needs 16 people to leave. We bought our tickets but then had to haggle with them about the extra charge for all the luggage. In the end we paid for our luggage and then paid again for the extra seats so that we would have a little more room. In the end the total cost was still under 5 cedis for an hour and a half trip. By the time we finally left it was already 11:30. The trip was a little bit longer because we were traveling a little bit slower than when we drive with Emanuel. We finally ended up in Sunyani at the dormitories around 1:30. We tried to check into the dormitories. They remembered Mitch, Cory, and Marcie but did not understand that we would be bringing friends. We tried to get our same room arrangements but they had to make sure that the other rooms water worked! During this this period, we decided that lunch/ early dinner would probably be a good idea. We headed down to a restaurant called Berlin where Mitch, Marcie, and Cory like to visit the jaguars (or small, gray kittens with black spots). We all sat and ate hardily because we were so hungry. After a quit lunch we headed back up to the dormitories where we got the room situations settled. Each of the rooms had running water. By this time it was just past 2 p.m. We decided to try to go to the hospital but as we began to call our contacts each of them said that they were not at the hospital but they would be there tomorrow morning. The schools were also already out so there was going to be no testing of the computers. Also, the dean of the KNUST Forestry center already went home. While, still having a few hours of daylight left we decided that it would be nice to walk downtown and show IBV around Sunyani. The walk downtown is about 30 minutes. While we were walking we passed the place where Mitch got proposed to. The same people were sitting there! They were very excited to see us and where glad that we were coming to say hello them. They asked where we were at and why we didn't stop by more. We had to explain that we were working on different projects and many different places. While we were sitting down one of the guys introduced himself to Mitch by kissing his hand and rubbing his ear ring! During this time Cory also was the first people to have another male hold his hand. This is something that is very normal for close friends of both sexes. After a few more moments chatting we decided to head downtown. The downtown in Sunyani is quite a bit smaller than the one in Kumasi. This is allows for a little bit more relaxing experience but there is not as much variety. We began walking around taking in the "smaller town" feel. After buying a case of water and a little bit of dinner we decided to head back to the dormitories to prepare for tomorrow. The two different teams split up. Marcie, Mitch, and Cory refreshed themselves on using the XO laptops and talked about the best way to introduce the laptops, what programs to use, and how to introduce the computers to the instructors. The IBV team looked over the devices and made sure that their bags were packed and ready to go tomorrow morning. We ended the evening paying some rousing games of UNO!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216027800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216027800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pavlispilots/1/1216027800/tpod.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:33:43 -0400 Marcie's, Cory's and Mitch's Trip to Ghana

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Kumasi, Ghana

We have started writing this journal for Monday 07/14 in the dark. We had one of the longest power outages today. It lasted for over three hours. We set up some candles and played rousing games of cards. Yesterday Sunday June 13th was one of our first relaxing days while we were in Ghana. We slept in until 8:30 a.m. and then started on doing our laundry. We had two choices about how to do our laundry: 1) Turn it into the porters and they would do it or 2) We would need to do it ourselves. The first option seemed like it could hold some problems especially since we are working on Ghana time. It could be a week before we get a set of clothes back and we would of course need to pay for this service. So we decided that we would try to do it ourselves. We had been watching some of the other local students doing there laundry and it seems that they filled a bucket with water and scrubbed. We all decided to do the same thing. While the laundry didn't turn out as white and bright as a regular washing machine the dust and the grime was off. The clothes also smelled a ton better which is a major plus! We then got a call from the IBV team saying that they would be leaving on the 12:30 p.m. bus from Accra to Kumasi. They finally got into KNUST around 6 p.m. After a little trouble finding out which rooms they were to be given, everyone got settled in. We then headed over to The Royal Basin for a celebration dinner. Nana's uncle came and picked us up in a pickup truck. All seven of us except Cory squeezed into the vehicle. Cory rode in the back. We were able to relax and have a lot of new energy within the team. It was definitely very refreshing. The next morning we woke up and headed out to the International Programs office and the Commercial center. At the commercial center we showed the IBV team how to change money, buy food, ect. We then went to the International Program's office to introduce the IBV team to the school. After a short introduction we asked about our MOU and they said that it should be done sometime this week. It is currently with the lawyers and once they say ,"OK," then we'll just have to fill in some paper work. The IBV team minus Nana accompanied by Mitch headed over in a taxi to Dr. Ebenezer Jackson's office. Dr. Jackson was super excited to meet the new students and talk about the device. Marcie, Cory and Nana headed over to commercial center to buy a box of water. Marcie found another donut but it was not warm. Nana also got some food. It was from the same lady at the commercial center that Mitch and Marcie had a pretty bad experience. The second time was definitely the charm and the food tasted much better. We also fried up an extra bag of rice that we had gotten on Sunday. We all sat, ate, and talked about the plan for today. We called Dr. Ankobea to see if he was busy at the hospital. It turns out that the medical students were taking there practical exam. He said that we would be done at 2 p.m. so we figured we had until 2:30 p.m. to get to the hospital. This gave us some time to show the IBV team around Kumasi. Our first stop was downtown Kumasi right in front of Vic Baboo's Bazaar. We did find a taxi driver that actually knew how to get there! Once we got out of the taxi we were swarmed by our "friends" selling us the crafts and everything. This overwhelmed the IBV team at first but they did get to practice their bartering skills on the different merchants. Painting, sculptures, baskets and many different figurines where bought and bargained for. After an hour or so we finally started to explore the rest of downtown where it is a little more laid back. We walked much of the downtown seeing everything from places were you can buy mops and brooms to all kinds of clothing from Western styles to traditional dress. We got a first price for the Kente cloth; it ranged from 180 to 300 cedis for 6 yards. However, Emanuel said that he knew a cheaper place to get it. After walking throughout most of downtown and still having an hour to kill we headed over to the cultural center. This also put us within walking distance of the hospital. We toured around the cultural center seeing beautiful paintings that belonged at galleries but also had similar to gallery prices. We headed over to buy painting from our friend. He was very glad that Emanuel wasn't there. Cory got a great deal on a painting but he was not so willing to offer Brooke a good deal. He started off with 2 for 40 cedis when Mitch and Marcie bought the same kind of painting for 2 for 16 cedis. Brooke was able to talk him down to only 2 for 25 cedis. We continued walking around the cultural center and stumbled across another building where they were hand weaving kente. They still use the old traditional looms and part of it is even completely sewn by hand. It was 2:30 and we decided in Ghanaian time that we should head over to the hospital. It is only a 5 minute walk. When we got to the hospital we tried calling Dr. Ankobea but he did not answer so we just decided to head up to his office area. Six white people walking through a hospital can cause some heads to turn. We got up there and sat down in the waiting area in front of his office. After after 5 minutes of waiting one of the nurses asked us to please go wait in maternity ward. We then headed down to sit in front of the public relations office. After about an hour we finally got a call to head back up stairs to go meet with him. We had just finished the exams. We introduced the IBV team to him but he thought that Nana was actually there to fix the air conditioner. The IBV team took out of the infant heart monitors and explained the workings behind it. He then asked them if they had gotten the paperwork to be students at KNUST. We had told him we haven't received anything. He then went to go make a few phone calls. He came back in and told us that we should come and check on the IRB. We walked downstairs to his office. He told us that the committee would not meet until Thursday to even review the proposal and that it would be another two weeks until it could be passed. After hearing the news we headed out in the hall way to wrap everything up. Dr. Ankobea started asking the IBV team about their plans for the week. He then asked if they would be willing to leave a few of the devices with him to do his own testing. After telling them that they really wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the devices in a hospital that they didn't do testing on and that one of the major points of doing the testing was to see how the devices can be improved. In the end we told him that we would contact him once they finished their testing in Sunyani. We headed over to Baboo's Bazaar to grab some dinner and to plan out the week.
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