Day 4

This day was SO much fun! Really started to get into the culture of Ghana. We start our mornings early, around 7:30am. Our IOM driver, and new good friend, Emmanuel picks us up cheerfully every day and takes us to the office from the hotel. It certainly makes the mornings easier! Patience continued with our cultural training and we delved into the basics of the Twi language. The official language of Ghana is English but traditionally people still speak Twi. It's a fun language! We learned days of the week, counting to 10, and greetings. Easy basics. So for example, I can now say "Ete sen? Me hoy ye. Me din de Lauren" which means "How are you? I'm fine, my name is Lauren". After language training, Dan Sam then came in and did a presentation on human trafficking, the occurrence in Ghana and current counter-trafficking projects.

Then it came time for lunch. We headed out with Patience, Dan Sam and Emmanuel to a local chop bar where we all ordered the traditional dish "fufu". Fufu is boiled cassava, which is pounded until it feels like dough. The cassava in then put into light soup, which is quite spicy, and you can add chicken, goat or tilapia. You do NOT eat it with a spoon or fork, only with your hands! You pinch the cassava and roll it into a ball. It was very different, but yummy.

After lunch, we watched a video of the Oprah show in which the IOM was featured, facing the issue of child trafficking. The IOM carries out missions that target and identify children who are trafficked into the fishing industry, rescues them and traces the child's family. It's truly incredible. Soon, we will be in a fishing village where former child slaves will be residing back with their loved ones. Tonny then came in to discuss how various migration movements and emergency operations are organized.

Later, Nhial Malia, a former Sudanese refugee came in and told us his powerful story. During the Sudan conflict, Nhial found himself and his family traveled treacherous conditions to flee to a refugee camp near Gambella, Ethiopia. Nhial's mother had seven children, and carried all of her possesions above her head while dodging air dropped bombs and disease along the way. Nhial lost many of his siblings, and was soon found by the IOM. Since his uncle was already in the United States, the IOM decided to resettle Nhial with him. Nhial described how he used to think the United State's streets were truly made of gold, and the planes that would overpass Ethiopia during the night each had a giant swimming pool and a football (soccer) stadium. Nhial made an incredible
life for himself, after facing challenges, he started going to Barnes and Noble reading everything he could get his hands on. He did well in school and even started running track. Years later, he is now in the Peace Corps and came to Ghana to speak to us about his journey. It was truly incredible. And when it was mentioned the South Sudan embassy was nearby, his face lit up like I've never seen anyone's face light up before. It was magical. Nhial hasn't been back in 15 years, and would like to know where his younger brother is. Dyane then presented him with an IOM tshirt, and we took a bunch of photos together. What a wonderful afternoon.