Ghana Trip

I helped to lead a trip of 8 Japanese students, and 2 of my fellow Navigators staff to Ghana. We spent two weeks in Kumasi and Busua, visiting the Ghana Navigators and Volunteering at Teach on the Beach. This was an amazing trip for me because we were able to volunteer at Teach on the Beach because of the connections that I had made there when I traveled to Ghana 3 years prior, as a university student. It was exciting to see many of the same friends and to experience the Ghanaian culture for a second time. I loved Seeing our students out of their comfort zones as they experienced the culture of being late, the strange food, lack of running water, and different form of self expression. We did so many different activities and traveled to many beautiful and memorable places with great friends. I wanted to share a few of the photos that Mark Rood (my boss) took on this trip, as well as a few of my own. Enjoy these pieces and stories of the trip.

Our trip was delayed by almost 2 full days. We left Tokyo one day later than planned, and a night in Ethiopia and hours in the Accra airport, we arrived in Kumasi, Ghana after 70 hours of travel! Thankfully this rough start was not an indicator of the whole trip! 

Each night in Kumasi we ate dinner together, often at this guest house where we stayed.  This evening we were joined by our Ghana Navigators friends and leaders John (bottom left corner) and Eli (top right corner). John shared with us for hours after dinner about the cultural, religious, and social realities of Ghana. He is so wise!

With the Ghana Navigators students we visited this beautiful lake where we saw locals fishing, and many children came out to play with us, which was lots of fun, especially for all the boys who gave piggy back rides, and taught them silly Japanese games. 

We had a really fun Japanese Culture night with the Ghana Navigators students! 

It was so fun to teach Origami, bowing, calligraphy etc. They loved it and we all enjoyed laughing together! 

Yvonne, with Maina, and me! Yvonne especially made us feel really welcome! 

She made these earrings, and gave them as a gift to me and Maina! 

I love mine and wear them so much! 

This is Eli! Eli graduated this May and is doing her year of National service that all University graduates must complete. 

She chose to do her year working with the Navigators, discipling and developing students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST for short ;) ). Eli is incredibly gentle, organized, welcoming, and her laugh made me feel so free. I felt like she was my "co-mother" of our group!

Mark shared his testimony with the Ghana Navigators students and 

challenged them to live their lives for more than just money, but instead for a greater and more lasting purpose! 

From Kumasi we traveled by a small bus to Cape Coast. As we traveled we passed many funerals, because Saturday is funeral in Ghana. Everyone was beautiful dressed in black and red. Here one funeral is carrying the casket out of the village to the burial ground down the main road. 

From Kumasi, we went to Cape Coast. We enjoyed a festival and some tourist sights in Cape Coast. 

This is our whole gang (minus Mark, who took the photo) at the Cape Coast Slave Castle. 

(Left to Right: Ryuichi, Jun Jun, Daiki, Naotaka, me, Maina, Eli (Ghana Navigators staff), Kei, Amano, Keisuke, Brandon) 

The Slave castle was where British slave traders held thousands of slaves in dark dudgeons. above the dungeons were these bright white stairs, large living quarters, and even churches. It was horrific. 

This is Red Red, my favorite Ghanian food. It's beans

and fried plantains, served with chicken! 

In Cape Coast we visited Kakum National Park. 

There we walk along rope bridges 300 meters high 

in the tree tops. 

After a few days in Cape Coast we went to Busua, in the Western Region. I had traveled to Busua 3 years ago when I went to Ghana with my university class. At that time I had the dream of bringing Japanese students to Busua and Teach on the Beach. It was so exciting to see that dream come true!

Welcome to Teach on the Beach! This amazing home is an education center for the Busua community. The 1st floor is a big class room and the 2nd floor is housing for the staff and for volunteers like us. Every afternoon kids come for tutoring after school, and at 7pm they come again to the house for NewsHour. They watch news for 30 minutes and then have 30 minutes of discussion! 

A group of kids from Teach on the Beach took us on a walking tour of the neighboring village. They welcomed us like new family members! We all felt so loved! One of the fun parts for us at Teach on the Beach was being Japanese teachers. Since we came during their summer break there were no homework lessons to help with so we got to create our own lessons. We taught some English, through Japanese folktales, and then we taught Japanese language and culture. 

For these kids it was their first time to meet people from Asia!

This is my dear sister Tina. I met her 3 years ago and we stayed in touch a little bit through Facebook, but didn't talk much. This trip we got to talk together for 2 or 3 hours, sharing life, struggles, and most of all talking about the faithfulness of God, and our faith! It was lovely!

One of countless sunsets in Ghana! 

This the view looking out from Teach on the Beach (opposite the beach side). They have a paved basketball court that the community uses to play basketball, and even skateboard! 

The gorgeous, noticeably bright green building of Teach on the Beach. 

at high tide, the waves reach that cement foundation. Let's do all we can to prevent sea levels from rising even more. 

It was wonderful to go to Ghana again, and to experience it with these fantastic Tokyo BEST friends. I loved it! Missing Ghana and the slower pace of life already! Leading was such a totally different experience from being a member of the trip, but it taught me so much about cross cultural partnership, and working together. 

Thank you KNUST Navs, and Teach on the Beach for making us feel SO Welcome! :)