Fishing Village in Ghana

*Sunday, February 6, 2011
Today we woke up in Ghana. We left the ship about 10:00 AM this morning for a city orientation tour of Takoradi and Sikondi which is the port we are docked at. It was at least 90 degrees today and humid. It turned out the air conditioning on our bus wasn’t working and we about died until another bus was delivered to us. As we drove along to a fishing village we noticed people all dressed up for church. They are very religious people and almost everyone goes to church on Sunday morning. As we drove by one of the churches I noticed parishioners dancing inside. Wish I would have had the opportunity to attend. It looked very lively and interesting. However, we did visit the fishing village and it was an unbelievable sight. Little lean toos everywhere with chickens and goats going in and out and kids running around either naked or in only underpants. The men were either building boats or fishing and the women were tending to children or cleaning fish and then smoking and drying them. The kids were having fun playing ball on the beach and some SAS kids joined them. The kids all wanted their picture taken and then wanted to see it. Each time they saw themselves they got a huge smile on their face. Babies were attached to their mother’s or grandmother’s backs – some were sleeping and some looking around. There wasn’t one toy in sight other than the ball I saw on the beach. I learned that children start school around 5 or 6 years old and it is compulsory that they attend school through 9th grade. The tour guide told me that most kids like going to school and end up going on to high school.

We were supposed to visit a cocoa factory today but being Sunday I don’t think it was open. We have learned that Western Africa is the world’s largest exporter of chocolate and they produce 70% of its cocoa beans. Ghana is a key player in the chocolate industry and farming practices exhibit numerous human rights violations – forced labor, child labor and human trafficking. We learned that many chocolate companies are working to have their chocolate 100% Fair Trade Certified but Hershey has not made the effort. So everyone on the ship is making valentines to send to Hershey’s president telling him to make an effort to “Raise the Bar” by tracing the sources of its cocoa. We are also sending letters to Senator Lugar. Another interesting day to say the least.