Video! Kickin it Ghanaian style

This is just a short video I took of us hanging out on our balcony last sunday when the power was out. If you look closely there are a ton of guys all cruising on the balcony... just like us. And the whole time Andrew is having a random, semi-unintelligible conversation with a guy who lives below us- that pretty much characterizes our interactions with Ghanaians.

Street Academy's Performance Saturday Feb. 19 and School Wed. Feb 23

So these are some pictures and a video from the Street Academy's Program for the Kids. The kids did a dance drumming show, a boxing expo, and had a performance from a rapper/clown duo. It was a pretty great time, and I managed to catch some pretty amazing dancing on video. Unfortunately its really hard to post videos from Ghana because the internet is so slow, so for now, you'll just have to make do with stills FROM videos haha. They dont nearly do the dancing justice.

I was give a personal dance from this little rock star

 I am pretty sure this is one of my favorite pictures of all time look at all that originality... and have I ever told you that Ghana feels like im living back in the 80s and 90's? Its awesome. God I love neon.

 Note the crotch grab. Sheer perfection... Michael Jackson would be proud.

Lewis Wonder. Need I even point him out?

 And... another crotch grab. This kid was just all about it. Note the african looking Obroni gettin down on the far left.

 And in the Beard diaries, Ive made quite a bit of progress since this picture was taken... Blonde hair is a curse when it comes to growing a beard. Anyways... this kids name was Theophilous but he liked to be called Capone. Go figure.

 Some boxers... Its nice when your a little kid and punches dont hurt. These kids are going to be amazing when they get older.

 Yup. Both bouncing butterflies

and bees

And the crowning jewel. I hope you actually can watch it and blogger isnt just tricking me. I'll try to put some more pics and videos up soon if this one works. 

The street academy has about 40 or 50 boys and girls who attend school for free and receive one free meal per day. Most of the kids are between 8 and 15 and most are just beginning to learn how to read. They do about an hour of reading and math in the morning, and hour of dancing and drumming, then break up into groups of boxers, futballers, runners, and crafters to work for an hour of two on their specializations. Then there is a small lunch served, a little more instruction, and they go home for the day. It’s a great program, that has produced some great boxers, and there are a number of other permanent staff and volunteers who work there every day. I met Lewis Wonder, a Rasta musician and drum maker, at a concert a couple of weeks ago. He is very involved with the street academy, and invited two friends and I to come volunteer.

            Today was my first actual day teaching at the street academy. I had told Lewis Wonder that I wanted to teach the kids piano and martial arts, he said, “We have no piano, but it would be great to teach them discipline through martial arts.”

            The day started off slowly enough, I was helping a fourteen year old kid named Kudjo learn how to read. He was having an extremely hard time telling the difference between “in” and “on,” and I’d already corrected him countless times. Eventually I began patting the top of his head and saying “O means on!” whenever he would confuse the two. In the hour he and I worked together, he actually made tremendous progress, even beating me in a game of hangman.

            All of a sudden Lewis Wonder came up and told me that it was time to go teach the kids martial arts. At first I thought I was going to have to teach all 40 or so kids, but luckily it was limited mainly to “the boxers,” a few interested “futballers,” and one adventurous girl that I was able to convince to try martial arts. On the walk over to the community boxing gym, Lewis Wonder told me that the kids were a hand full and that they would run all over me because im not a “street boy” and couldn’t handle street kids. I took his warning silently and decided that I was going to have to play tough guy. On previous occasions I had seen “Daddy,” an big, old, ex-boxer who instructs the boxers some days, give the boys a good hard slap across the face when they misbehaved, and make them kneel down on the gravely ground with their hands above their heads. He wasn’t there today, but Lewis Wonder came to “help the obroni manage the street kids,” which actually turned out to be helpful- if not for the discipline, at least for translation he provided. I started out by calling them to attention and making them bow, then I tried to teach them the Student Creed we say for Kuk Sool.

“1. I will develop myself in a positive manner and avoid anything that will reduce my mental growth or physical health. 2. I will develop self discipline, in order to bring out the best in myself and others. 3. I will use what I learn in class constructively and defensively, to help myself and others, and never to be abusive or offensive.”

As I found out, however, most could not understand phrases like mental growth or constructively and defensively, let alone memorize it. -I’ll call it room for improvement. This was when the first fidgeting and play fighting started happening between students. Remembering my own Taekwondo training and punishments, I made the guilty parties do 10 knuckle pushups per offence. Most kids learned pretty quick, but one kid, Joseph, a visiting “futballer” of about 13 just kept talking, running around, hitting people, he was just all over the place. After doing close to 50 knuckle push ups, I took pity on him and tried to give him time out. He was sitting there, next to the raised boxing ring one minute, then I look away for a second and hes gone. One of the other kids eagerly told me that he was hiding under the boxing ring so I would come find him. I just let him hide haha. We did a good stretch, ran, and worked out, then we started working on punching and kicking. I got the chance to see the boxers spar at the Street Performance last weekend (see pictures) and I was very impressed by their form. They picked up the martial arts punches and kicks quite quickly and were very eager to learn as much as possible. They even got good enough to do basic partner drills, attacking and defending. The lesson flew by, but it turned out to have been an hour and a half. It was my first time actually leading a class, and it was tremendously exhausting to maintain order while trying to teach. But the kids had a good time, learned a lot and looked like they were close to as tired as I was… And the day was a success for not letting myself get walked on by these kids. Yeah Obroni RESPECT!

Well I gotta go run officially submit my class schedule to the University of Ghana, but I hope you enjoy the kids as much as I do. Much LOVE and all my ALOHA

-Kofi Chase 

Horrray Rain!

Huge migration of bats that happens every night in Osu. Millions...

Again, my halo of bats

Me and Issac, master drummer riding in the back of their truck on the way back from the funeral. 

I was lucky enough to be invited to a funeral that some friends of mine would be performing at. Funerals in Ghana are jubilant affairs, and the more people that attend, the better. I would compare it to an Irish Wake, but instead of Whisky, they drink Akpateshe -- distilled palm wine. AKA African Moonshine. Ittallll make ya go blind! haha. They threw me on a bell as soon as I got there, and soon enough they told me to play drums, even though I didnt know the songs at all. It was an awesome jam! The ride back was pretty cool too. I have a video of that that I can try and post.

So the Hamattan is over! Hamattan being the dark, dusty weather weve been having, caused by strong southerly winds blowing sand from the Sahara over Africa. Most Ghanaians hate it because of the dust that settles on everything, but any obroni will tell you that the Hamattan is great because its about 5 degrees cooler… Anyways, the Hamattan ended on Thursday, with a torrential downpour that lasted for about 3 hours. As soon as the rain started, my first thought was “YES! I don’t have to carry a bucket of water up to shower today!” So I put my board shorts and slippers on, took my shirt off, and decided to go for a run at the dirt track next to my hall. When I got downstairs, I was reminded how taboo it is in Ghana to walk around without a shirt on. Everyone was staring, but hey, it was pouring out. People only thought I was weirder when I walked out side. There were about 50 of my hall-mates, all Ghanaians, huddled under the awnings of the building out of the rain. When I jogged out into the rain, everyone started yelling “Your mad obroni!” or “What are you dooooing??” or “Ha! Look at this guy!” When I got to the flooded track I was quite disappointed to realize that I was still clearly in view of my building and my rowdy hall mates. I put my slippers up on a wall where they wouldn’t get washed away by the water flowing down the track, and ran out onto the track, ready to prove my manliness and athletic prowess to my on looking peers. Not 2 steps onto the ankle deep dirt (now mud) track, my foot slipped out and sent me sliding onto my butt. Even over the pounding rain and cracking thunder, I could hear the guys under the building howling with laughter. I started laughing too, because, really, it was a dofus move. But hey, that’s what obronis (and haoles) are for right? The run turned out to be one of the most fun 2 miles ive done on a track, complete with not being able to see or breath on the up wind sections. Ha. HooooRrraY RAIN.

---Well my time here at the Tyme Out Internet Cafe is... out, but I hope you enjoy de pics! 

Yebeshia  - We will meet again. 

Kofi Chase

borrowed photos from some cool cats

So these are some cool pictures that my friends took during our orientation. Its been a total blast, and we have gotten to go to some pretty amazing places. Everyone agrees that it has been a pretty sheltered orientation, and we have all felt the stares of traveling on our big Obroni bus. Obroni meaning foreigner, basically the same as haole haha. The internet just cut out and deleted my whole post, and now im out of time, soo heres some pictures and ill give you da stories later. 

Pig at the beach?? Kalua pig at sandys anyone??

I gotta go! Much love to everyone and ALOHA from Mama Afrika

-Kofi  Chase(born on friday)

other pics

On a tree bridge at Kakum (sp?) National forest. Super awesome

Willi (vlee) Falls

Just gettin a beer with from left, erin, sam, Andrew (roommate) Me, emily, olivia

Same falls, but the bottom half. We got to go swim in the water and go under the falls. EPIC

More time with the kids at the lake.

I gotta run, im outta time at the cafe, but much love to everyone, ALOHA

-Chase

Cape Coast

The view from the cape coast castle, a slave castle owned by the Dutch, Portuguese, and British.

The castle had a very powerful, dark energy about it. 

This was our first view of the beach in Cape Coast town. Tons of trash and pigs wallowing in the filth. It turned us off at first, but then we met some kids playing on the beach.

It was very beautiful, and even had a Mediterranean feel. Lots of old british architecture, and beautiful fishing villages

We ended up playing soccer on the beach with some kids I met. It was awesome. Every minute, 5 more kids would come out onto the beach to play/wrestle/ and swim with us. Despite the trash and pigs, etc, This was one of the most fun, fulfilling, happy experiences Ive had in Ghana so far. It was AWESOME.

The Lake~

We went to this lake in the mountains near Kumasi. It was beautiful, although the water in the lake was obviously quite polluted. We got to go out on a fishing boat, and I had the chance to talk to some local fishermen. They were saying that fish stocks were going down in the lake because of over-fishing and pollution. After the ride, i met these kids on the shore who asked me for money or a pen. I handed them a coconut off the ground, and they all laughed. They threw it on the ground, so I kicked it like a soccer ball. We ended up playing "futball" for close to an hour with the little coconut. It was a blast.