Adventures and Excitement!

After tons of organizing and hard work, we have finally come to my highlight of all the projects I have been assigned: The Photo shoot! We hopped in a taxi and went to Vic’s shop (Della outsources to her) and picked up one of her apprentices who agreed to be our model- Sitofe. We then headed to a field behind Happy Kids where there were a few weathered buildings, tall green field of plants, and an old pink bicycle! I had never photographed a fashion photo shoot, but it was awesome and super fun!

  

              Sitofe Hohoe, Ghana

As for our other adventures over the weekend, we went back and visited the majestic Wili waterfall. This time it was sunny and standing at the base of the falls, the cool mist from the falls combined with the warm sun on my back was pure heaven. The experience was even better the second time around!

            Drive up to Mountain Paradise

On Saturday, we traveled to Mountain Paradise where we took a wild and treacherous hike through the African jungle. This was nothing like the walk on the bridge treetops last weekend- this was a hike! We climbed up and down steep, narrow paths, and even repelled down nearly vertical slopes. In the middle of the hike, we stopped to rest at a secluded waterfall. It was so serine and completely contrasted the rest of the hike through the raw jungle terrain. By the end of the 3 hour hike, we were all exhausted and out of breath. It was an amazing experience and a workout too!

                        Rock Climbing Mountain Paradise 

All Is Well With 8 Days To Go!

We have officially hired two great new tailors and three new seamstresses since we’ve been here and all is looking up now! We are now also collaborating with the local school for the deaf to make a new style of fabric using the native Kenti cloth-making technique. I learned how to say hello and Jenna in sign language too! You say my name by making a fist with your right hand with an extended pinkie and moving it across your body from your right shoulder to your left hip- kind of like you’re putting on a seatbelt! It was so interesting meeting some of the deaf boys that go to school there and Scott, their teacher from the Peace Corp, is the one who is organizing the whole project. He also serves as a translator between us and is working on producing a standardized code for Kenti production.

                              Kenti Cloth Loom

On the flip side, I had to switch out my bed due to bug beds and had a much better night’s sleep last night!! I am heading around the town today to interview all of the women working for Della that I haven’t gotten to yet, and later we’re going to Happy Kids orphanage to play soccer! This past week, we introduced a sewing program to the kids there and taught them to thread a needle, sew a straight line, and tie it off. Yesterday, a little girl there- about six years old- had a ripped dress, and without us even suggesting to she sewed it up and fixed it! Before we play soccer with them today, we are going to drop off a big box of scrap fabric and tell them to go crazy sewing whatever they want over the weekend! Can’t wait to see what they come up with!

Happy Kids Sewing Program

                

A Taste of Home

Yesterday morning Tina stopped off at a small street stand to get an omelet for breakfast- turns out it was so amazing that I decided to walk into town to have it for breakfast myself this morning! I order, "An omelet with two eggs and toast- sweet bread." The girl working the stand, about thirteen, grabs a small brown egg and cracks it smoothly over a plastic Tupperware bowl, using her knife to pop an even crack in the egg's shell. 

For some reason every time I see eggs being cracked open for cooking purposes, I get childhood flashbacks of either a movie about cooking or actually cooking with my mom or babysitter- the memory is too vague to place, but it never fails to surface. 

Anyways. She cracks the second egg into the bowl then finely uses the knife to slice a third of an onion, then a third of a tomato into same small bowl. She adds a little pinch of salt using the tip of her knife to measure it properly and slowly whisks the egg mixture together. She lights a portable propane burner with a match from a matchbox and heats a metal pan as she squirts cooking oil out of a large water bottle through a pinhole pricked in the bottle’s plastic cap. She pours the egg mixture into the pan and flips it over after about thirty seconds to cook the other side evenly. She then moves her attention to a bag of white, sweet bread and cuts two inch thick chunks out to put the omelet into. She holds the bread in one hand as she uses a spatula to fold the pancake shaped omelet into a 4-layer triangle and slides the triangle between each chunk of bread. She toasts both sides by flattening the bread down with the spatula and her knife, omelet in between. Finally, she slides the omelet sandwich into a clear plastic bag and ties it shut. What a show for a delectable breakfast in Ghana, all for only 2 Cedi (about $1.20). She told me her name is Christy and she will be my friend, I agreed, told her mine and that I would be seeing her again soon!

Nothing Like a Great Interview

I am finally having enough time in the day to get a little caught up on these blogs! Sorry for the delay!! We have accomplished SO much more than we expected to so far in the trip, that it has probably been worth it. 

I was able to interview eight girls that are apprentices for a seamstress Della outsources headbands and wine sleeves to named Vic. I learned so much about the culture and people living in Hohoe, Ghana just by asking them questions about themselves, I felt as if I was almost being accepted into their group by being allowed to get to know them and ask some personal questions. Though it is pretty obvious through signs all over town, religion is a huge part of Ghananian life here in Hohoe, and everyone (everyone.) attends church at least once a week. Some even attend up to four times in a week! Religion is also very much incorporated into everyday life and people don't take it lightly at all. The main book for sale is the Holy Bible and if you can spot one that is already owned, it is most likely studied and notated extensively through.

               Found on the side of a home in Hohoe, these kinds of phrases are painted EVERYHWERE

Through interviewing the girls, I quickly realized the language barrier was going to be a major issue. Everyone in the town speaks Ewe, the local language, but not everyone speaks English. About half of the girls required a translation from Vic, the head seamstress and the others were still pretty difficult to communicate with as well. It was also a very eye opening experience to learn that most of them, along with most of the city of Hohoe, are illiterate. I found this out because as I don’t know Ewe, I would have them write the town they were from and their names to make sure I spelled each correctly. To see them get two to three letters in and just linger their pen over the paper, searching deep in their minds for what comes next was extremely impactful. I was also caught off guard to hear them talk about how many siblings they had. Vic, the one translating for everyone, said she has 30 brothers and sisters and she did not know all of them- this is because men marry to many different wives in their lives. If your first name is the same as someone else’s, that means you have the same father because everyone’s first name (not what they actually go by usually) is their father’s last name. A final astonishing thing to hear was many of them did not know their birthday, and some did not even know the year in which they were born! Here in Ghana, they do not celebrate birthdays, and mostly just pay attention to the day of the week they were born.

        Some of Vic's apprentices at her shop

Almost all of the girls said they aspired to become famous fashion designers or own their own clothing business someday. Each of them said they did not particularly like living in Hohoe, and but were just doing so because it is where they work. They did say, however, that they really love to read, hang out with friends to gossip and give advice, and play with their children in their free time. All of them also wanted me to include that they like to always be happy and not to have conflict with other people. Overall, I made friends by getting to know each of them and their interests. I left a little bit of cute fabric with them the next day to make into headbands, and today they surprised me by sending them home with Tina as a gift to me! I wasn’t too sure what they thought of me, but I guess I’m in!

        Me, Tina, Vic, all of her apprentices and two kids who jumped in for a photo!

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A Vacation Within A Vacation

So much has happened over the weekend including traveling to Cape Coast seven hours away via van. We woke up at dawn Saturday morning in hopes of getting to Accra, more than halfway to Cape Coast, by noon but because of Ghana time

(It’s just funny to us now that we’re finally used to waiting around for hours) we didn’t make it there until half past two. Nonetheless, we continue on our journey and make it to our first stop of the evening: Cape Coast Castle.

    Cape Coast Castle Cape Coast, Ghana

                       No, Chelsea doesn't have Mickey Mouse ears on, its just the building!!

This Castle was specifically built on the coast for selling and transporting slaves by boat to America in the early 1800’s. We learned that over 30,000 Africans were put into the slave trade to be shipped all over the world during this time but only around 12,000 survived. As we toured the castle and its dungeons, it was like adding a small weight to your feet with each step. By the end of tour we were all pretty somber and decided to just head out to scavenge for a hotel. The first one we came across was called One Africa that consisted of separate, small little huts for rooms located right on the edge of the ocean. Needless to say, we stayed there and the later part of the night consisted of eating a delicious Ghananian dinner and sitting under a tiki hut to watch the moon rise high and orange in the deep navy sky. Its stunning glow reflected off the waves crashing into the slate boulder shore, as city lights shot rays up into the night miles away. The whole scene was so majestic and beautiful we were all hypnotized in our seats.

The next day, we drove to Kakum National Park to take the Canopy Walk. After climbing a steep upward path to the jungle’s treetops, we ventured out onto 7 high-strung wooden bridges that extended from one hefty treetop to the next. We even tried to walk it with no hands- Oooh yeah. The jungle was so awesome and to experience it from the tops of the trees was simply the best. After that, we just piled back in the van and started our seven-hour trip back to Hohoe. The rain poured down that night harder than ever so far and I fell asleep quickly to its tune. 

Efficiency & Time Management

Since we have been in Hohoe for a full week now, so much has happened I don’t even know where to begin. We have accomplished so much here up to this point, it really feels like we have been here for months!

The sudden and frequent downpours of tropical rain are a constant challenge we have to work around, but a small one in comparison to others he have been up against. In the past week, we have had three new seamstresses hired, produced headbands, wallets, hobo bags, laptop cases, and started the production of a diaper bag. With each new style must first come a prototype; but here in Ghana, that is not always the case. We ran up against a major dilemma when a new purse design we had come up with and described to the head tailor had not come out to look like we wanted at all. A prototype was made, but unfortunately the team cut all the fabric for the pattern before the sample was approved, defeating the purpose of a sample at all. We were left with 24 yards of fabric cut into a pattern that was not at all what we wanted. What to do? Use the fabric to make more wallets and bring the diaper bag up in quality to make up for the price point loss of a purse. An innovative solution to a potential disaster!

Happy Kids Orphanage

The next day we were able to go spend some time at the happy kids orphanage after shopping the local markets for some more small fabric items. Sundays are much slower in Hohoe because religion is a huge part of Ghanaian culture so we were unable to meet with any of the seamstresses to drop off fabrics or check in on current orders each are working on.

                                 Happy Kids Orphanage, Hohoe, Ghana

                      Happy Kids Orphanage, Hohoe, Ghana

Over dinner of homemade boiled vegetables, lettuce, spices and tomato paste over rice, we spoke with the whole Della team, now also including Sammy- the head tailor of Della in Hohoe, about things we need to achieve during our time in Hohoe. We came up with a checklist of tons of different tasks and goals that we plan to accomplish while here. 

Our goals for the trip include the production of about three hundred hobo bags, finishing the clutches by assembling the buttons, creating a men’s 13" laptop case, finishing a 1,500 women’s laptop case order for Uncommon Goods, conducting a photo shoot with a local Ghanaian women we haven’t found yet, creating a sample soft headband, sample small wallet, and sample diaper bag and larger hobo bag for the holiday season.  I am personally responsible for documenting the entire trip through photography, including the photo shoot, volunteering at the local Happy Kids orphanage, headshots and bios of all the seamstresses in Hohoe, photos of the facility and local environment, product shots to send off as examples to the PR firm to send to Uncommon Goods, Marie Claire magazine, and the Della website. For that, I also have to use my newly acquired Photoshop skills to alter a laptop case photo to send as a sample because a physical one has not been fully produced yet. I will also be updating a Della Unbound blog daily depending on the Internet availability in Hohoe with information, photos and videos.

The Arrival

Where to even begin? Maybe with a newly learned term “TIA” meaning This is Africa. Pretty much anything that could go wrong probably will and anything you think you have grasped about life up to this point can be burned in a Ghanaian trash fire.


I get off the plane from Atlanta to Accra, Ghana to a smell of pure humidity, heat, food, slight body odor and people. The town streets are jam packed with people, cars, street goats- yes goats, and small shops. The streets are lined with deep concrete trenches used for sewage, drainage, and the occasional toilet.


We are picked up by Tina, the owner of my internship company Della's friend and immediately head off to a ware house to try and buy local ATL fabric in bulk for her next line of laptop cases and hobo bags. Once we finally arrive to the fabric wholesaler, we must be approved before being allowed to enter the actual warehouse and are stuck out in the foyer for nearly twenty minutes waiting for approval- my first experience of Ghana time. An eloquent time-waster was getting to gawk over almost fifty sample Ghanaian fabrics hanging on wooden racks, folded and taped to hold just so. Each print was wildly vibrant, some tribal, some childish, others just whirlwinds of overwhelming pattern perfection. The cotton texture was heavier than usual and felt waxy to the touch, but would not be too overweight to wear as a dress. The patterns are just in line with Tina’s collections and I can tell she will definitely find something here she is looking for- fun, tribal, trendy and chic.


We are finally permitted to enter the HUGE ATL warehouse full of even more beautiful fabrics all bound with twine in white fabric bundles with large, black letting stamped on the sides for labeling their contents. Some of the bundles are slashed open exposing their brilliant contents, and we float around the room opening the bags wider to pick at the fillings and gush with awe. The lighting in the warehouse was dim but the fabrics were bright. After about an hour Tina had finally narrowed it down to four or five patterns needed for her upcoming production. We left the warehouse excited and chatting about all the patterns and colors and designs of garments we could create.

               Warehouse purchase being delivered to the van Accra, Ghana

We had about a three hour drive from Accra to Hohoe, Ghana where we were staying and it was getting later in the evening so we really needed to get a move on. Leaving Accra was absolute chaos because the city had the pace of New York city with absolutely no organization of people or traffic other than you generally try and drive on the right side of the road. People walked through the bumper to bumper traffic selling things into car windows like food, water, toilet paper, and pretty much anything else you may need. If the traffic sped up, the seller would have to sprint up to your car to either get their owed money or give you the item you had paid for a few yards back. Once we finally got out of the urban area, we headed down long dark roads that looked as if they were either abandoned west Texas towns dropped in the middle of the lush jungle.

I am about to dose off when we suddenly pull over and everyone (me, Tina, Chelsea the other assistant, Tina's friend and co-worker Nii and the van driver) get out to find that we apparently need a new break pad. Surprisingly, the guys get to working at changing the break pad themselves right there in the middle of nowhere in Ghana about an hour out from Accra. All of a sudden I look up from talking with Tina and Chelsea and there are now five guys sanding around watching one or two max of the other guys actually working on the brake pad. Finally, they get everything running as properly as possible and they hop back in the van ready to roll on. Jumping back in that van for the two-hour ride to Hohoe from where we broke down about an hour outside of Accra was last on my list of things to do in that moment, but we all piled in and off we sped into the unknown.