Living in Torgorme Village

This trip has been one of my favorite trips of the voyage so far. The day started with an early breakfast at 6:30 and an hour and a half drive to the village of Torgorme.

I had no clue what to expect and I was certainly not prepared for what awaited us in the village. As we pulled up, little children ran along side the bus and waved to us. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were greeted by almost the entire village. They all clapped and cheered and welcomed us warmly as we walked to a row of chairs they had set up for us. In front of us sat the chief, oldest male in the village, and other important members of the community. On our right were the drummers and dancers that performed for us during the ceremony. On our left were the host families that we would staying with. Right next to us were little kids who were not involved in the ceremony but wanted to see us and watch the performance. They were apparently not supposed to be there because every time they saw the strict school teacher they would run away until they thought she was gone.

The first event planned was a traditional dance performance from the school children. After the performance we were called to shake hands with the chief and receive our new name within the community. A persons first name is determined by the day they were born. I was born on a Saturday so my first name is Ami. My last name (not sure how that was decided) is Dodzi (pronounced Do-je) which means endurance. We then received a bracelet from our host family and a handmade pot with both our names written on it.

After the naming ceremony we drove to a nearby army barrack to have lunch. Lunch today was almost identical to what was served at the city tour yesterday. It was even better the second day! It was about that time that many people, myself included, began to feel very sick. The naming ceremony took about 2 and a half ours and we were told to leave our stuff on the bus so no one had any water during the time we were sitting out in the sun. I felt much better after sitting in the air conditioned bus for awhile and drinking almost my entire water bottle.

After lunch I and my friend Lilah (who received the same host family as me) went to our host families house to spend the afternoon with them. My host family included parents with 4 children. The youngest child was only a year old. We watched them cook an afternoon snack called “fufu.” It’s made by taking cassava and plantains which are put into a pot and mashed for about 5 minutes by a large pole that looks somewhat like a baseball bat. After she smashed it up, she shaped it into a ball and put it into a bowl already filled with spicy soup. You eat fufu by pinching a small part of the dough off and dipping it into the sauce. Also included in the sauce are small (whole!) fish. Which was surprisingly tasty. Dad would love Ghanaian food. Almost every piece of food has the perfect level of spiciness.

When we were done eating we decided to play with the local kids. Lilah brought a jump rope to give them. They absolutely loved it! I really wish I had brought something to give them. They have almost nothing to play with. I saw one kid with a pack of cards, but that was all I saw. It was dangerous to try and take pictures because as soon as the kids saw the camera you would have 20-30 kids trying to get in the picture. Their reaction to seeing their picture was astounding. They all pointed and laughed and were just amazed by it.

Later that afternoon the 16 year old daughter took us down to the Volta river bank. At first we thought she just wanted to show us how they fish and how pretty the river is, but then we realized she wanted to take us to the other side of the village in a canoe! It only took about 10-15 minutes but it was a lot of fun. When we had reached the other side we walked around the village to see what a normal day is like. We saw ladies making pottery, a man waving a special type of colorful cloth called Kente (pronounced Ken-tay). Along the way she taught us some basic Ewe words.

Around 6 everyone gathered were the naming ceremony had been held to eat dinner while some people danced and played drums. Around 10 we went home and sat outside to watch the stars. There are very few houses with lights in the village so you can see the stars extremely well. I wish my pictures could capture how beautiful it looked. The room we slept in that night had only one bed in the room and nothing else. People were up and the roosters started crowing at about 3 am. However, I managed to sleep surprisingly well.

Everyone met in the town church at 7 for breakfast. They served us eggs, AMAZING sweet bread, and the best pineapple I have ever tasted. We also got a bit of bad news this morning. We were scheduled to hike to the Tagbo waterfall and see monkeys and be back to the ship by noon. Turns out we had to drive 4 hours to where we would hike and then another hour to see the monkeys. By doing this we wouldn’t get back to the ship until about 9 that night. We were given the choice to take a shuttle back to the ship or continue on with the itinerary. Today was going to be my only free time in Accra so I decided to take the shuttle back to ship.

Soon after we had left a lifelong learner, an older non-traditional student, convinced the bus driver to take us the Shai Hills Game Reserve. At the reserve we saw a family of baboons and a huge herd of antelope. I managed to get pictures of both, but the antelope one isn’t very good because they all ran when they saw us.

After seeing the animals we hiked to the top of the highest mountain that Shai Hills offers. It took about 25 minutes and was very steep. Although their was a path, this place is obviously not a big tourist attraction because much of the hike was straight up rocks. Once we arrived at the top of the mountain we entered a small cave. At the end of the small cave was an extremely tiny opening that you could reach by climbing straight up the rocks and squeezing yourself through the exit. I’m pretty proud that I managed to complete everything. I even have the bruises to prove it!

After our hike we planned to return to the ship, but of course nothing ever goes as planned. The bus refused to start. The driver messed with the engine for awhile but he still couldn’t get it started so we all had to get out and push start it. After that we were on our way home! We managed to make it back to the ship by 3:30.

I ate lunch, showered, and took the next shuttle into Accra. I didn’t do much except shop and use the internet because I have an early day tomorrow.