Greetings! My name is Emily Petersen, and I am a sophomore English and biology major at Augustana. I will be studying in West Africa for 10 weeks this term, spending time in Ghana and Senegal. In addition to taking english, music and art classes, I look forward to much bartering and exploring (with a couple safaris along the way!). I hope to recollect these adventures on this blog!
The Sahel Desert
This past Friday and Saturday we all made a trip to western Senegal to a desert in the Sahel, an extension of sorts of the Sahara desert. It was about a 5 or 6 hour ride total, but we stopped in the middle in Thies, Senegal to go to a tapestry workshop and a history […]
Posted on May 2nd, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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The Past Weeks in Africa…
Well, I think it’s been about 2 or 3 weeks since my last blog… I can’t quite remember, but we’ve been either on a shaky Internet connection or no Internet connection aside from the occasional Internet cafe since my last blog. As I’m sure you can imagine, quite a few things have happened since that […]
Posted on April 26th, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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Koo Nimo Performance
This morning our music class went to see a performance/workshop by the Koo Nimo dance and drumming group. The group played traditional African drum beats first, beginning with a piece that representing one of the Asante nature poems that goes something along these lines: ‘The path crosses the river. The river also crosses the path. […]
Posted on April 3rd, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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Bonwire and Ntonso Adinkra Village
This past Thursday our art class took a field trip to Bonwire and the Ntonso Adinkra Village. Bonwire is the main production center of Kente Cloth, a traditional Asante textile which is weaved in long strips that are many times later sewed together into one large piece. We are weaving our own mini-kente cloths on […]
Posted on April 3rd, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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Cedi’s Bead Village
This past Friday our art class took a trip to Cedi’s Bead Village, which was about a 2 hour drive from our hotel in Accra. It was a pretty uneventful drive, that is until we got to the last 10 or so minutes which consisted of driving along a rocky dirt road which felt similar […]
Posted on March 28th, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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Anani School Visit
On Friday we visited a school in Nima, Ghana. As soon as we walked into the school house the children were up on their seats, clapping and so incredibly excited to see us. They had prepared for us a program full of songs, dancing, recitations, and even a play. The school caters to children in […]
Posted on March 21st, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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Bitik-ing at Aba House
This past Wednesday we took a field trip with our art class to the Aba House nearby on the coast. Aba is an American woman who takes in young kids and teaches them some sort of artisan trade so that they do not have to just beg on the streets for money. They make paper […]
Posted on March 21st, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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First Weekend in Accra
This Saturday we went on a group day trip to the Kofuridia Eastern Region and saw the Akosambo Dam and the Aburi Gardens. It ended up being about a 2 hour bus ride out, but it was peppered with beautiful views of Ghana. We’ve been visiting areas in Accra that are very urban–seeing museums and […]
Posted on March 14th, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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City Tour of Accra, Ghana
I have to admit that the first thought the sprung into my mind upon getting off the plane in the Accra airport was ‘man it is HOT!’ Which has continued to be the case. It is typically in the upper 80’s or in the 90’s, but in addition to the intense Ghana sun, the humidity […]
Posted on March 11th, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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And We’re Off!
3/8/10 Well we are sitting at the O’Hare Delta terminal, awaiting our flight to JFK airport in New York in an hour. It seems surreal that we are just two flights away from Accra, Ghana. We have all been in eager anticipation of this trip for over a year now, counting down the months, the […]
Posted on March 9th, 2010 by Emily Petersen
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