photos of dar...

a combination of little time and some oppressive heat have prevented me from seeing too much of the city, but here are some photos that highlight the little bit of sightseeing i've done.

a friday morning visit to mwenge market for some trinkets and treasures - definitely a good time to go. shopkeepers were offering "morning prices" :)

kangas, which are african fabrics worn by women.

a woodworker dying parts of the wooden animals he was carving and sanding.

next, the fish market (yes, two fish markets in two months on two different continents):

fresh fish...

... dried fish...

... shell fish...

... dyed fish!

an afternoon trip to the beach by the indian ocean.

and what is a post without some photos of food? my norweigan-tanzanian tour guide, marianne, has laughed at all the photos of food that i've taken. but i will just share a couple :)

standard tanzanian lunch boxes, from marianne's favourite place, by the police station. rice, beans, greens, and meat.

and one of the best meals so far - ethiopian food. SO GOOD.

now am in transit waiting for a flight to kampala after missing my first flight due to delays. cheers!

a project visit!

Greetings from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania!

I am visiting the Tanzania Country Office, and today I had the opportunity to go and visit one of our projects in Dar, near the airport. There were two schools in the same courtyard, one serving 2,000 students, and the other 1,600 students.

We were present for a junior leader training. The junior leaders were approximately 10 to 12 years in age, and were chosen by their teachers to participate in this two day training that happens after school between 2 and 5 pm each day. During this time, the students discussed the characteristics of a good leader, what was important to be a good junior leader, how to lead opening and closing discussions, and the various parts of Red Ball Child Play, one of Right To Play's core programs. Leading the training program were four "coaches" - teachers trained in the leadership of Right To Play programming, with one of Right To Play's supervisors overseeing the training.

It was so great to see Right To Play programming in action, and to hear the children speak aloud with authority, share their ideas on good leadership, and play together in such a collaborative manner. It really makes me hope that all that we do while sitting in our cubicles at Headquarters really can help others impact children both in this project site and all around the world where Right To Play operates.

Look! Right To Play activities are a part of the school day.

A warm-up game, the beginning of what I know as "Petunia, Petunia..."

Playing one of the games

Answering questions after the game during the Reflect-Connect-Apply discussion.

Some final stretches before heading back to the classroom.

weekend in accra

the weekend started with some drinks and local fare at an outdoor bar, reminiscent of sitting outside at food restaurants by the temple street night market at night. more yummy grilled tilapia with avocado and spicy red pepper sauce - i will spare those of you that have been salivating over the previously-posted photos :)

saturday morning, i was fortunate enough to have peter, one of our staff members, show me around a couple of the local places in accra. we started in osu, which SC has called the "yorkville" of accra. you can judge for yourself :)

a fine selection of shoes.

a cute little stall selling grilled tilapia. i assume the extra blessings were free.

tons of the biggest mangoes i have ever seen, along with some watermelons.

we then headed to the arts centre, which is accra's large market area with tons of handicrafts, including beadery, fabrics, woodwork, and of course, football jerseys. with peter's help, i bought a kente, which is a traditional strip of cloth that is handwoven by the Asante people in Ghana. while i've been to markets in many places, i think as i get older, i am less tolerant of the "hello sister" and "hello friend" greetings as shopowners aggressively tried to get me to browse their wares. peter was invaluable in helping with the bartering process!

the traditional printed batik fabrics of ghana. men and women buy bolts of fabric and take them to tailors to make custom tops and dresses, or to wrap around themselves in headdresses.

a beautiful little boy having a bite to eat. when i waved at him and said "hi", he waved back and said "bye"!

obama seems to be highly revered - there were many of these stickers above various stalls.

a shopkeeper having a rest amongst his fabrics.

in the afternoon, at the suggestion of a gentleman sitting in the hotel lobby, i decided to go to labadi beach. there is not much to see, but it was nice to feel the breeze of the ocean and the warmth of the sun!

view from my deck chair at labadi beach.

today, i experienced church, ghanaian style, courtesy of my colleague, kojo. there were about 700 people in the second service that we went to; kojo said that in the first service, all four floors were full of people, including tents outside where people sat to listen. the church was a simple concrete building with open spaces instead of windows, and no air conditioning (i was suffering by the end of it). the worship team had 8 singers, a drum kit and a steel drum kit, a grand piano and an organ, a brass section, and the typical guitars and bass. worship was hopping!

now, to decide what to do with the rest of the day. i'm off to dar es salaam, tanzania, tomorrow night! i leave you with a couple of last photos of accra.

these are "trotros" - the ghanaian form of a hong kong minibus. more crowded, though.

independence square. ghana celebrates its independence day on march 3.

a street view of osu.

buying groceries after church. just like at home!

fried plantains and blub blub

not much to report in the last 24 hours (except for maybe listening to roosters crow at 5 am) so thought i'd share a couple of food photos with you.

it was fried plantain day... this was lunch - we went to a local "chop bar", which is reminiscent of a chinese dai pai dong, i guess. i had jollof rice, fried plantains that were a little bit sweet, and a bean concoction that was spicy and delicious! mmm mmm good!

on our way out, i had seen grilled tilapia, and declared that i must try it - i love tilapia :) i also saw a man selling raw tilapia on the street in a bowl... walking by cars selling his fresh fish. there are many people on the road, walking between cars at red traffic lights and selling all sorts of items ranging from fruits to key chains to pants! the driver explained that for those people who do not have time to go to the market, sometimes they can pick things up from these street vendors. quite handy!

at dinner, it was blub blub time! the server also recommended some spicy fried plantains called kelewele - these were smaller than the ones at lunch and more savoury (that's the picture of the stuff that looks like "wedgies") which were SO GOOD.

and last but not least, a photo for my happy valley family - seems like accra pizzerias have tuesday night pizza incentives too :)

mouse, anyone?

saw a man selling dead mice on the side of the road this morning...

... until the driver explained that he actually is selling mouse poison, of the kind that is odorless and quite effective and the dead mice is just proof of its efficacy.

:)

a couple of photos...

A couple of photos of the morning:

HA - I told Dennis about how Chinese people always take photos of their food - I get to bore someone else with my Chinese stereotypes now! Hehehhehe. Lunch... beef stew and jollof rice. Very good (and spicy!)

And of course... here is where I am :)

first impressions of accra

i arrived in accra, ghana last night. the whole experience reminded me of landing in phnom penh, funnily enough... semi-organized queues for passport control, craziness at luggage pick-ups, drivers waiting to take you to hotels. accra is a bit more developed than phnom penh, mind you, but between the airport atmosphere and the weather, it was about the same (except for the fact that i didn't need to complain that i was hot!) :)

today is my first full day here. when i left the hotel for the restaurant for breakfast this morning (the two are not connected), i literally stopped and said, "ahhhhhhhh." the weather is amazing - 30 degrees celsius, sunny, not polluted, humid. total throwback to life in southeast asia. i love it!

people drive everywhere here in proper cars; my driver said this morning that motos are not as common (phew) and taxis are everywhere. the people are so nice and friendly! everyone is super-welcoming at the office, and i have spent the morning chattering away about how HR works here. the office is currently quiet because it is lunch time; no idea what i'm doing for lunch quite yet but i hope some local food is in store!

waiting for my next adventure...

I'm sitting in the airport lounge (thanks LA), waiting for my flight to London-Heathrow.

I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to travel for work to three of four Right To Play Regional offices. In the next five weeks, I will be in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Dubai in the Emirates, and Lebanon. I'm hoping to be able to update this blog regularly with photos and reflections of my journey.

Stay tuned!

A couple of photos from my Asian adventure to Hong Kong and Tokyo as a preview of things to come:

Shaved watermelon ice from a little dessert place in Tin Hau. I think I'm going to want this stuff, based on the weather reports of the African cities to which I am going.

Sushi for breakfast at Tsukiji Market. I sense this won't be breakfast in the weeks to come.

A streetview in Tokyo. Lights, lights, lights!