Professionals at Work: July 5, 2013

Marlee & Courtney

We awoke this morning and enjoyed a Ghanaian-European breakfast buffet at the Sun Lodge Hotel before we left to go to Hannah’s home to learn the Ghanaian art of batiking. Batik is a process where one takes a foam block which has had its underside carved into a design or, in Ghana, in the shape of an Adinkra symbol. The block is then dipped into a boiling wax solution and then stamped onto a piece of fabric. Once the stamping is done, the fabric is immersed in a caustic dye solution.  After soaking in the dye, the cloth is rung out, allowed to rest for a few minutes, and then put into hot water to remove the wax from the fabric. Once the wax is rinsed out, the cloth is hung up to dry. When the cloth is dry, the stamped image will be in the original color of the fabric (in our cases that is white) and the rest of the cloth is the color of the dye selected. With the help of Hannah and Philip, master stamp-maker and dyer, we each made our own batik cloth with stamps we selected from the dozens Philip had designed and carved.  Some of us chose to have Philip do most of the stamping in order that our chosen designs could actually be viewed once the cloth was completed.

We had a few observers while we were there - local children watching through the open fence and it was our first taste of having children around us and staring at us. Phoebe gave an American flag to one of the small girls and when we left this little girl was on the street waving goodbye with it. We will forever have that beautiful image engraved in our minds.

After the batik lesson we traveled to the coast for a relaxing lunch beach side. The restaurant is called “The Next Door Restaurant” and has a wonderful view of the ocean. This is where several of us tried something new! Four of us ordered goat, two for the very first time, while others got Red Red, and one ordered octopus. While waiting for our lunch to be prepared, we walked along the beach and found some awesome shells and sea glass to bring home.

From there we went to the coffin maker’s shop where we saw full-size coffins that ranged in shape from fish to cell phones. 

 

After that we went back to Osu Street for a shopping trip to Global Mamas, a store that assists and trains women to develop their own small craft businesses. We felt completely different walking on Osu street this time; and even though we were on our own (Prof had gone to buy electric outlet strips and get his Ghana phone recharged), we felt comfortable and even crossed the street a few times without Prof! We all gathered at an ice cream shop for a quick cool treat before heading back to the hotel for the evening.  Upon arrival at the hotel we had dinner together and prepared ourselves for departure for Cape Coast in the morning,