our first itinerary item today consisted of a visit to SEND, the social enterprise foundation of west africa. as we approached the entrance i noticed a purple shamrock plant that served as a permanent fixture at the front of the facility. believe me when i tell you that no one else from our group was excited about this plant. however, it is st. patrick's day and shamrock plants are not indigenous to africa. this seemed totally out of place and i'm taking it as a positive sign of things to come. call me crazy if you will.
an outdoor market was the second stop on our itinerary. it was a great opportunity to explore the local culture, edibles, and commerce. the women in the market were quite vocal and friendly and most of them carried their wares on their heads. i could not get enough of the woman with the aluminum tub full of fish atop her noggin. you could smell it from yards away but visually, it was surprisingly pleasant, even intriguing. a number of students in our group had dresses and scarves made by the seamstresses who inhabited the third floor of the indoor market. each of the stalls was decorated by draped fabrics and religious tributes, all of the chaos harmonized by the singing of hundreds of ancient singer sewing machines harmonizing stitch by stitch.
our final stop consisted of a visit to the offices of a ghanaian government agency called the cocoa marketing board. cocoa is responsible for 11% of ghana's gdp. the board, which was formed in 1947, regulates the production, processing, marketing and sale of cocoa. ghana is the 2nd largest producer of cocoa worldwide and "1st in quality." The chocolate was quite good; although, i've never met a bar of chocolate that i didn't like.
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