South Africa Part 3: Inverdoorn Game Reserve



I learned that Cheetahs can be fully domesticated!  Watch out Belle!



Our guide said that baby Zebra couldn't be more than 3 days old.



These "canned lions" were rescued from cage hunting.  They were overfed their whole lives which is why they're so big but they'll never be able to live in the wild because they don't know how to hunt.





Since all the hippos were underwater and we didn't get to see any, our consolation prize was getting out of the vehicle to walk with the giraffes!



South Africa Part 2: Township Homestay

I had a homestay in Tambo Village, a neighborhood on the edge of Gugulethu Township.  Not surprisingly, the socioeconomic contrasts in South Africa are beyond striking and downright mind boggling thanks to Apartheid.  Within a 15 minute drive from posh, cosmopolitan Cape Town are veritable oceans of poverty.  Tambo Village is a bit of a bright spot among the townships, with cement homes and running water. 

An SAS student, Lonyae, and I were paired up with Mama Ellen for the night.  Her only son is grown and moved out of the home, but she is very involved with the children in the community.  She runs an after-school program at the community center where kids come and practice their coreographed dances all afternoon, which they perform for the community on the weekends.  We went to watch and ended up participating.  I got recruited into what I can only describe as a South African boy band of eight-year-olds.  They taught me a couple of their routines while I let my camera drift off with some of the girls.  After a couple of hours of trying to keep up with the boys, Mama Ellen took us home to cook dinner of chicken and stavipop, a corn starch based substance that resembles something between cornmeal, white rice and mashed potatoes. 

In the morning we visited Mama Ellen's next door neighbors who have two little babies in the household...a three month old and a six week old.  Having had baby-withdrawals for weeks on the ship, holding the little ones was a real treat.  Amazingly, without being able to speak, the three-month-old had already developed the click that shows up in his family's first language, (and that of Nelson Mandela) Xhosa.



Mama Ellen



Some of the kids at the community center.



The "Boy Band" that recruited me.



The kid in the middle, Michael, was without a doubt, the ring leader and choreographer.

Tambo Village



Lonyae with the 3 month old.



South Africa Part 1: First days in Cape Town

Good Morning Cape Town!

Atop Table Mountain with the "table cloth" coming in.

Donna and I with Robben Island in the background.  Unfortunately, my trip to Robben Island was canceled due to problems with the ferries, but that's just one more good excuse to come back to South Africa!

Camps Bay with Marisa

Cape Town Aquarium

Crossing the Equator and Neptune Day

We crossed the Equator and the Prime Meridian at the same time, which makes us a rare breed of Emerald (or Royal Diamond) Shellbacks!

Getting showered with fish guts on Neptune Day, celebrating our crossing the Equator.

Splash!

You've got to kiss the fish if you want to be a Shellback!

Ghana Part 4: Children's Home

My last day in Ghana was by far the best.  We visited an orphanage in Takoradi that houses 28 youth from age 16 months to 22 years.  They choose not to call themselves an orphanage, however because their core philosophy is that no one is ever totally alone or abandoned.  There are 8 "parents" that live with the kids full time plus a team of adults who live off-site.  I was particularly impressed with the sense of family/community they create and how well the children themselves take care of each other.  They rely entirely on private support and they're moving to a new location next year that will house its own school, futbol field, and most importantly, a lot more children in need of a home.  http://www.fathershome.org/

We spent the day learning about the organization and playing with the kids...coloring, drumming, dancing, soccer, volleyball, card games, puzzles, etc.  The kids were a lot of fun and quite hilarious.  I forfeited my camera to a four-year-old named Jacob for a couple of hours and the results were delightful.

My buddy Jacob (the photographer).

We donated a One World Futbol:  http://oneworldfutbol.com/

 

 

This little guy just held the camera up to his face and shouted CHEEEEESE without taking any pictures.

 

Ghana Part 3: African Naming Ceremony

Apparently, I was borne on a Monday, which would make my name Adjoa Banoa in Ghana.  This community outside of Cape Coast welcomed us into their village and held a ceremony to make our names official!

Ghana has the BEST goats...and a lot of them!

Ghana Part 2: Nzulezo Water Village

After a 2.5 hour drive into Ghana's Western Region, we hopped into very tiny, precarious little canoes and paddled for an hour through the marsh and jungle to get to Nzulezo, a village of 400+ people who have been living in homes on stilts over the water for over 500 years. 

The canoe ride itself was an adventure.  My canoe-mates paddled and my job was to bail out the water we were taking on with half of a plastic jug.  As soon as we pulled away from shore, we were caught in a torrential downpour for the whole journey.  Maybe it's the Seattelite in me, but I found the rain a refreshing break from the West African heat, even if we were soaked to the bone.

Visiting the village felt very awkward and I was glad we didn't stay long.  The community clearly has come to rely on income from tourism, but understandably, the people did not appear to appreciate the constant intrusion of outsiders...hence the lack of locals in my photos.