We stayed at the Joy Family Lodge in Pokuase which was very nice. The owner, Mr. Bonsu, is in the yellow shirt next to his wife. They were the BEST hosts. Mr. James is on my right, who is one of the loveliest people ever. Whatever we needed, he was there for us, always with a smile and a great laugh.

View of the Akosombo dam. We spent 2 days in Akosombo which is a beautiful area north of Accra. There was no traffic and clean air!

The traffic here from Pokuase into Accra is horrible. It took an hour to go something like 6 miles. Check out this intersection!! There is road construction to widen the road, and who knows when that will be completed.

Selling yams, plaintains, coconuts, oranges, etc.

in Pokuase.

Walking into Pokuase – a typical morning.

Another community meeting, this time in Amasaman. Co-facilitating this meeting as a team was really terrific, there was a lot of positive energy in the room as we talked about the challenges facing the community and provided our support and encouragement to all the women. These women are awesome!

Doing interiews in Ofankor. We thought we would be interviewing a sample of people, say about 10, however when we arrived, there we about 40 people waiting for us. It was really hot on this morning. We interviewed about 40 people in 3 hours. We interviewed all the women first, and then there were about 7 men who were interested in getting loans. They wanted a turn to be interviewed. I love how the two men in front are resting head-in-hand and listening so intently to whatever I am saying! Too funny.

Inside Elmina Castle. I have 2 hours of video footage (guided tour) for anyone interested. This was fascinating and intensely emotional.

Elmina Castle in Cape Coast. Location of the slave trade during the 18th and early 19th century.

This is Sammy who was one of our translators, posing at his family’s bakery.

Here is a group of women we interviewed during our first week. They were a talkative bunch. I captured a lot of the interview on video.

This is the WomensTrust office in Pokuase – a very small space!

This is what I call a Ghanian Food Processor. We interviewed a woman here at her home who is a cook. Her daughter was making palm nut oil and this is the early stage of the process.

This is a community meeting in Ofankor. Everyone welcomed us with a receiving line of handshaking. We are able to ask questions of the community about what has changed since they started the loan program, as well as what kinds of changes they would like see happen over the next year. Many women stood up and provided feedback. The themes were similar..... piped drinking water, health insurance, a local hospital or emergency care, higher loans that would enable buying items in bulk to make more profit..... all of these and more were desired changes. I have a lot of data to go through before our presentation and final report is due this fall!!