Time to Pack!

The semester is ending, only 2 exams to do, and now all that's left to do is pack! A very generous friend of my mom's lent me this backpack of hers to take so that I don't have to buy one, so grateful! Crazy to think my life is gonna be in this backpack for 8 weeks :)

For those who are wondering where I'll be in what day... *cough*my PARENTS *cough* Here is a copy of my travel itinerary! Ok... time to stop dreaming of Ghana and get some studying done for a change! PEACE <3

Daily Itinerary for 2013 Group Study Program

Day	Date	Location	Logistic Comments	Activity
Day Zero	May 15	Calgary	Depart Calgary for Ghana via Amsterdam	Travel-Leave Calgary
Day 1	May 16	Accra	Travel - Arrive in Accra	Welcome Reception
Day 2	May 17	Accra	Orientation to Accra/Ghana; Change money; Christianbourg Castle; Black Star Square; Kwame Nkrumah Memorial	AFST 400: Discussion of Research Proposals/ethics/Methods
Day 3	May 18	Accra	Visit to Ministries	Tour of Old Accra
Day 4	May 19	Dzelukope	Travel to Dzelukope
Day 5	May 20	Dzelukope	AFST 400 lectures	Durbar at Chief Palace
Day 6	May 21	Dzelukope	Visit to the Chief’s Palace and Tour of village	AFST 400
Day 7	May 22	Dzelukope	Observation of Funeral Ceremony Independent Research	DEST 400
Day 8	May 23	Dzelukope	Personal time	AFST 400
Day 9	May 24	Dzelukope	Personal Time	Research Time
Day 10	May 25	Dzelukope	Visit to Anlo historical and cultural sites	Research Time
Day 11	May 26	Dzelukope	Independent Research	DEST 400
Day 12	May 27	Dzelukope	‘Exploration’ of River Volta and the Impact of the Akosombo Dam	AFST 400
Day 13	May 28	Dzelukope	Independent Research	DEST 400
Day 14	May 29	Dzelukope	Independent Research	DEST 400
Day 15	May 30	Dzelukope	Independent Research	AFST 400
Day 16	May 31	Dzelukope	Independent Research	DEST 400
Day 17	June 1	Dzelukope	Independent Research	Independent Research
Day 18	June 2	Dzelukope	Independent Research	DEST 400
Day 19	June 3	Accra	Travel to Accra; Personal Time	Research Time
Day 20	June 4	Accra	Independent Research	Updates on  AFST 400 Independent Research Projects
Day 21	June 5	Kumasi	Travel to Kumasi	Independent Research
Day 22	June 6	Kumasi	Visit to Mahyia Palace; Military Museum; Kejetia Market	Independent Research
Day 23	June 7	Kumasi	Visit to Mahyia Palace; Military Museum; Kejetia Market	DEST 400
Day 24	June 8	Mole	Travel to Mole	AFST 400
Day 25	June 9	Mole	Tour of Mole National Park	DEST 400
Day 26	June 10	Bolga	Travel to Bolga	AFST 400
Day 27	June 11	Bolga	Independent Research	Independent Research
Day 28	June 12	Bolga	Independent Research	Independent Research
Day 29	June 13	Bolga	Guest speaker (afst 400 & Dest 400)	Independent Research
Day 30	June 14	Cape Coast	Travel to Cape Coast;	Independent Research
Day 31	June 15	Cape Coast	Visits to Cape Coast and Elmina Castles	DEST 400
Day 32	June 16	Cape Coast	Independent Research	AFST 400
Day 33	June 17	Accra	Travel to Accra	Independent Research
Day 34	June 18	Accra	AFST 400 Oral Presentations	AFST 400 Oral Presentations
Day 35	June 19	Accra	AFST 400 Oral Presentations	DEST 400 Group Project presentation
Day 36	June 20	Accra	Independent Research	Reflective Paper Due
Day 37	June 21	Accra	Independent Research	DEST 400 Paper due
Day 38	June 22	Accra	Morning: Evaluations Evening: End of Program	AFST 400 Research Paper due
Day 39	June 23	Accra	Evening: End of Program	DEST 400 Journals and Final due
Day 40	June 24	Ghana	DEPARTURE

Note that I actually leave July 8th and spend 2 weeks volunteering at an orphanage.

 

 

We Want Peace

Here is some more inspiration that I've gained over the past little while.
This is Emmanuel Jal's hit song "We Want Peace" off his new album "See Me Mama". Go out and listen to it! It's awesome I swear... I won a free copy and got it signed by Emmanuel himself! ;)

Emmanuel Jal is a former child soldier and refugee of South Sudan. Now that he's been rescued he uses his experience and pain to share messages of peace and create awareness for troubles in South Sudan and Africa. As you can see he is a famous hip hop star now, in addition to being a published author of his book War Child, a documentary, and the creator of the We Want Peace movement.

Additionally, Emmanuel Jal has his own charity Gua Africa to help support those Africans/Sudanese who went through similar things as himself. How many rock stars do YOU know that have gone through such trauma and come out on the other side stronger and fighting for change?
  CHECK IT OUT!

Gua means Peace, a universal message we can all try to embody and project in our lives.
"If we invest in education we can change Africa" - Emmanuel Jal

Midterm Update

Man I just can NOT get into this semester at all! Not when I have Ghana waiting for me on the other end, it's all I can think about!
Well good news! Today I got my flights and insurance and group study fees paid for!
Next up... YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION!
On top of major research paper writing and studying and working and AHHHHHH
Joy.... :)
Oh well....
10 WEEKS TILL I LEAVE!
Yes... Countdown has begun =D

Help Me Volunteer at an orphanage in Ghana!

Hi Everyone! Please check out the information on the following link :) I'm trying to raise money to volunteer at an orphanage in Ghana!

Azontooooooo

AZONTO!!! Gotta learn this before I go to Ghana, it's very popular there :) haha

My Dream is Coming True!

I am officially going on a group study program to Ghana! I got accepted and I have my deposit down, it is official and I couldn't be happier!
Good news: I got 3500$ in scholarship money this week. Bad news: I still have to come up with $3420 for the trip.
I leave May 15th for 6 weeks to travel around Ghana and do my own field research paper! My friends are coming too so it should be amazing :)
Just thought I should give a little update as it has been a while!
Here is a link to the program website:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/uci/abroad/gsp/ghanaafrican
Will keep updating as pretty soon I will actually have a trip to share with friends and family!

My all time favourite piece of writing.

 A Poet's Advice by  E.E. Cummings

A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feeling through words.
This may sound easy. It isn't.
A lot of people think or believe or know they feel-but that's thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling-not knowing or believing or thinking.
Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you're nobody-but-yourself.
To be nobody-but-yourself-in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else-means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
As for expressing nobody-but-yourself in words, that means working just a little harder than anybody who isn't a poet can possibly imagine. Why? Because nothing is quite as easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the time-and whenever we do it, we're not poets.
If, at the end of your first ten or fifteen years of fighting and working and feeling, you find you've written one line of one poem, you'll be very lucky indeed.
And so my advice to all young people who wish to become poets is: do something easy, like learning how to blow up the world-unless you're not only willing, but glad, to feel and work and fight till you die.

Does this sound dismal? It isn't.

It's the most wonderful life on earth.

Or so I feel.