Two students working at the College of Art in Kumasi.

The next day we headed for Kumasi - a 5 hour drive west of Akasambo. This is another large city in Ghana, and our home for the next two weeks. We've since toured the University of Science and Technology and College of Art, and had our first lecture. The university looks similar, in many respects, to those in the US, except for the landscape, which obviously contains different plants, but is also not as trimmed as we are accustomed. You see, in Ghana, the grass is usually mowed by hand with a machete. The faculty at the College of Art have all studied around the world, many at esteemed universities in the US, such as Rochester and Berkeley.

We spent today visiting some local carvers, who create amazing works out of wood, including the stools used by the chiefs, staffs used by the Chief's linguist, drums, masks, unity figures, and other sculptures. We also visited the Adinkra symbol printers, who print with stamps carved out of gourds. The ink is made out of tree bark, pounded by the women to a pulp, soaked in water, strained, and then heated until it is thick like hot tar. Several in our group worked at stamping their own patterns out with the Adinkra symbols. The symbols each have a special meaning in the Ghanian culture, as with the Kente, many belong to specific chiefs. The men do the printing and the selling.

We'll spend all day tomorrow at the university in studio, responding creatively to everything we've seen and learned. Saturday we'll go to the market - sort of a flea market like you've never dreamed before. Acres and acres of tents and people selling everything imaginable. I like Kumasi. A typical city in many ways, but we are definitely still in Ghana. No doubt of that at any moment. The sounds, the smells, the food - okay, I ate Indian yesterday (best Indian I ever had - actually liked it!) and ate Lebanese today. Ah, I missed my falafel and hummus! Lots of chicken and rice, otherwise. And the first food I'll eat when I get off the plane? A salad!! (We can't eat anything here that isn't peeled or cooked first.)

until next week - or so,

Take care,
Amanda