Dec. 22

We started the day off with our favorite routine- yellow label tea and sugar cubes- the Ghanaian way (and apparently only way) to have tea. Then, off we went on our bodacious blue bus to start our days adventure! On our ride, we got to try a new flat bread treat that was folded tightly in a leaf. This delectable treat was called “abolo”. Imagine the most amazing crepe you can think of… then quadruple it in thickness with a little more sugar- it was fabulous! We soon arrived in Odumase Krobo and bounced our way down a rugged dirt road to Cedi Beads. There we met with Cedi- the original bead-master himself- and he gave us a demo about the five different type of beads.

We got to try making some of these beads for ourselves to keep! We made three of the five types of beads. Different sized clay molds were premade for us to fill with either crushed glass bottles (finely crushed or chunky) or old beads to make newly recycled ones. Once they're put into the fire to melt down, they are quickly rounded out to shape and punctured to form a hole. After being cooled they are cleaned up using sand and water for a matte finish. Everyone was able to take home a handful of their own beads (in addition to the “professionally” bought ones).

We had our very first try of “fufu” for lunch, a Ghanaian favorite. It consists of a soup with a lump of seemingly uncooked dough on the side, very sticky and almost comparable to pizza dough. We learned the hard way that you DO NOT chew your fufu dough after dipping it into the soup, your mouth will be cemented shut. Instead you must swallow it whole. After un-cementing our mouths and saying good bye to Cedi, we headed to the next town in which we would stay at the high school called Okuepemman.

There, we met the headmaster and his wife in which they prepared an amazing dinner for us. The guys ended up sleeping in the boys dorm and all the girls slept in the one room medical sanctuary- we were all freaked out as Chris and Tammy walked away giggling at our sleeping set up in the medical beds. We didn't have any light in the bathroom or the shower and used our flashlights in order to see- finally time to break out our ever-so stylish headlamps! The night ended happily as we reminisced about the delicious abolo from the morning and beautiful afternoon of bead making.

Sarah & Caitlan