Akosombo - Day 12

Internet access erratic and slow... like the way time is moving here.

We are constantly traveling and every experience is profoundly different from the last.

Today we are in a town on the Volta River staying in what feels like pure luxury after sleeping in people's homes under mosquito nets and sharing beds.. lawns that are mowed, a dog to pat, a cat to stroke, palm trees, air conditioning and our own bathroom.

Spent the morning with a fetish priestess. Received my Ghanain name.. which eludes me right now but it means 'Blessed'. This evening we go back for a cleansing and a reading and tomorrow we visit the Shrine.

The last two days were spent at The Trokosi Project. This is where the poorest of poor women, and girls that have been rescued from their lives as temple slaves, come to learn skills, receive counseling and medical help and basically rebuild their lives. It is a beautiful, isolated, ordered place that is genuinely inspiring. The women learn to cook, sew, make beads, braid hair and a whole host of skills that they might be able to support themselves with when they re-enter their communities. It's funded by OZ Aid.. not sure how you spell that ... and a Canadian group and Church groups come over to build things and help out. The night we arrived we had dinner and were then taken over to the meeting room.. where around 150 women wearing blue checked uniforms were dancing with abandon in a huge circle, singing songs of praise at the top of their lungs with a completely infectious joy. The sound was gorgeous, ear splitting and totally overwhelming. We danced with them.

Moments like these I wish I was a believer.

I then taught them a simple round, 'Belle Mama'. They learn quickly but are clearly not accustomed to rounds and it took a lot of running around to make it work. The tour group helped with conducting which was another new challenge.. I then tried to teach the backing to Sweet Honey in Rock's 'Breaths'. Some of the women tried to sing but most looked at me fairly blankly. My assumption was that they didn't like it. I gave up pretty quickly and the tour group sang the song for them (I'd taught it to the group for the graduation ceremony).

We then danced the traditional dance we'd learned the week before. Seems pretty bizarre, a bunch of white women performing Traditional African Dance for Africans, but they get a good laugh out of it.. and I'm sure all the sweat is good for me.

The following day we were given a tour of the school by the Principal, Patience. An articulate, compassionate woman who clearly creates an amazing sense of order in the place. As we moved from classroom to classroom, seeing the different skills they were learning we heard snippets of the songs I'd taught the night before. The women were shy but very welcoming. They wore red, checked uniforms.

By the afternoon I was under a verandah with Miriam and 20 women weaving, doing photo shoots, teaching songs, playing the ukulele and hearing them sing the song I'd tried to teach the night before. Seems they were simply listening and trying to pick it up... the songs we sing are so different to theirs. For women who have suffered so much, they have great joy and a generosity of spirit that is uplifting. They have a smattering of English, but with music as a common ground the communication was abundant.

I will post the web address when I get back, but it's there to be Googled.

The days before that we were in Kofi's hometown. He Is our fabulous master drummer who is accompanying us on our tour. He is totally organised, keeps us to our schedule and makes sure we are safe at ever turn. His family live in the Volta Region .. the heart of what we know as Voodoo. His family welcomed us warmly and showed us the rooms we were to sleep in, then fed us a meal of fermented corn and fish stew. Getting used to eating with my fingers.

After dinner we were led through this quiet town with concrete walls and sand underfoot to a dimly lit courtyard at the edge of a mangrove forest for a traditional dance and drumming performance. The music is complex poly-rhythm and I found myself drifting off to some hazy part of my mind. We were invited to dance with them, each taking solos in turn. I entered the circle feeling fully absorbed by the rhythms, suddenly found myself not alone as one of the Ghanains appeared in the circle, embraced me from behind, hands fully across my body and danced with me... I went with it .. sort of felt OK and safe surrounded by 30 people, finally extracted myself and returned to my place in the circle. No one batted an eyelid.

Ghanains have a different take on personal space.

The following day we had dance and drumming lessons by the people we had watched the night before.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the dance classes, but African dance, the way we're are learning it, is fully choreographed. I'm hoping at some point we can just have a dance to some traditional music.

Posting now to avoid losing this....