Diamond Dealers

We visited a town... I don't recall the name... but about 20 minutes from Akwatia. They are well known as a diamond dealer village. Along the streets are usually a few men sitting at a desk with some small equipment, just hanging out. They are actually diamond buyers. This guy is some type of dealer/buyer or something and he was selecting out the different grades of diamond according to color. Grade I is clear, Grade II is a bit yellow, and so on. Once we got out of the car, we were nearly swarmed by people asking us what we were looking for. They knew we were surely there for diamonds... they just wanted to know what color, grade and carrot weight. Once that info has been established, a wide selection of people will come out of no where for you to view their diamonds so that you may buy. The whole situation was a bit scary. So.... we saw what we wanted to see and left. I actually held a 2 carrot (sp?) diamond in my hand. Nice.... it was in raw form and had yet to be polished or shape but it was still pretty amazing. I have more pics of the places where they mine the diamonds... but you can see those when I get home!! :)

Gold mines part II

This is taken inside the "office" on the gold mine site. The scale is used to measure the gold so the buyer can pay the workers based on the weight that they mined. The guy on the other side is using a magnet surrounded by a tissue paper to seperate the gold pieces from the black dust/sand particles. Very simple procedure... but very important as the buyer doesn't want to pay more than he has to!!! About 15 minutes after this pic was taken, there was horrible terrenchial downpour. The gold buyer even closed up his scales as he said when the gold gets wet it weighs more... haha. Can't have that!! We were stuck in the office, with a leaky roof for at least 1/2 hour. We then proceeded to trek back to the car. It was probably one of the most adventurous/worst/funniest times of my life. Just picture this....

Treking through a muddy gold mine field wearing size 42 wellington (aka rubber) boots when you are suppose to wear 38. My calves are big... so the boot was tight on my calves, and loose in the foot. I was getting stuck in mud, and because the boot was too big... I couldn't pull myself out of the mud. At one time I had a guy on each arm and one behind me holding me by my belt loops!! haha. I didn't fall... but my pants were really muddy when I got back. My boots also had holes in them. It was funny... but also very tiring. My heart goes out to the people who work in the mines everyday and trek up and down those steep, muddy trails. It's downright dangerous!!

Gold Mines in Eastern Region

The pic on the left is of one of the pits that have been excavated. The soil is then collected and taken to a smaller area... like the pic on the right. The people stand inside of the pond/ditch type enclosure up to their waist and sift through the soil looking for the gold. The small silver bowl on the board near the woman is what she has collected so far. The bowl will then be heated over some coals so the water evaporates and only the gold pieces remain. After a days work, the gold is taken to an "office" onsite and is sold to the dealer. The amount paid to the gold miners is very small compared to the profit the gold dealer will receive when he resells it. Either way, the people walk away with several hundreds of cedi's on a good day. So... it's no wonder soooo many people trek very far out into the mining areas and sift for gold all day. A continuation of this story will follow later today.

Maa, Me & Al-haji

I hope I spelled his name right.... this is Al-haji, our tailor. He is a nice Muslim guy who stays in "Zongo" in Effiduase. He did the dresses Maa and I are wearing. He does good work, he just doesn't speak too much English. Zongo is the name they give an area in a village/town that is predominately a Muslim community/neighborhood. Most bigger towns have a zongo area. So... no matter where you go, the Zongo area will always be full of Muslims -mostly people from the Northern region of Ghana are Muslim. Just an FYI. :)

King of Kumawu

This is "Nana" - pronounced (nah-nah), just like our orange cat. It means chief, or grandparent. In this case, he is the current acting King of Kumawu. This was taken in his house, where he invited us over for a visit. He told us the story of how the king of Kumawu in the 1800s gave his life for all of the Ashanti people so they could win a war. It was really interesting. Anyways, here he is wearing a very traditional attire for a king. The cloth worn in the traditional style, the headpiece with gold on it, the gold chains over his shoulder, and the gold rings on his hands. This is a pretty low key look. Some chiefs and kings are adorned in gold, very fancy - big pieces all over their body. Necklaces, arm bands, cuffs, etc. On this visit we met only him in his house, normally we would be met by his servants and linquist. We would have to seek permission from the linquist to even speak to Nana, much less have a meeting with him. They also would have charged us money, as a kind of bribe.... I learned they take bribes because their position as a servant or linquist is unpaid. So... they have to make money somehow!!! On the floor by his feet are 2 containers... they are bottles of "schnapps". Traditionally, you cannot go meet a chief, king, etc. without bringing along something like schnapps. I bought 2 bottles, the most superior Ghana type of schnapps on the market. They cost Gh 9.0 cedis each, so roughly $12.50 USD. Not too bad.

weekend plans

Well.... this weekend I was invited to go to the Eastern region of Ghana, to a place called Akwatia (ah-kway-tee-ugh). I am going to go visit a hospital there, and also see the old diamond mines!!! If time permits, I will also be going back to shop-rite in Accra!!! hehe. I want to go buy some more good food!! I hear Eastern region is really really beautiful. We will take public transport.... kind of like a greyhound bus - but fancier. It is called V.I.P. hehe. The journey will take 4-5 hours I believe and we will leave friday afternoon, and return home sunday. I will take lots of pics.... be looking for them next week!!!

cold showers

Well, I have been here in Ghana since June 23rd. Everyday, okay, twice daily I have been taking showers. Here... because it is so hot and you get dirty walking everywhere... you got to "bath" at least 2x's a day. The showers are not like at home. It is a step up from my last visit to Ghana. During 2007 they were rationing the water, and at times it wouldn't run for days, so you get water from buckets. Yes, a bucket bath/shower. It was real fun.

Now... I have an actual shower, no curtain, just the tub and a shower head. It's progress.... anyways, the best part about the whole thing is the showers are cold. Cold water, as in NO HEATER!!! So.... no warm water. All of you who are taking showers every morning, please think of me when your standing under the shower head and steam is filling the bathroom as the water is so warm it is making you doze off back to sleep!!! haha. Now, turn the faucet all the way to cold, and take the same shower. Bet you can't do it!!! :) Just do it 1 time, and then think how fortunate we are to have hot water in our showers.

I am challenging all of you who read this blog to please, in honor of me ... take a cold shower. It wasn't easy I admit at first. You shiver, you want to jump away from the water, hurry and finish... but after awhile it is actually quite refreshing. Just try it.... now before it gets too cold!!

Birthday Wishes

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET SWINE!!!

26 YEARS OLD EHH??? YOUR GETTING UP THERE!!!

DID YOU EVER GO TO CEDAR POINT???

LOVE YA ESS XOXO