so last week i got my first 1-5-1 call,
which is when the receptionist gets on the overhead intercom and says "so-and-so, please dial 1-5-1." generally it means that someone from home has called the ship...i was a bit nervous because i couldn't imagine why my parents would be calling me when they knew i would be calling them the next day...unless something bad had happened. so i nervously picked up the phone and heard..."jennnnnnnnn! i'm in accra!" it was kojo, one of my medical school classmates who is from ghana! he's doing his residency in south carolina right now but had to come back here for a week to get some visa issues sorted out. both of our schedules were busy but we managed to get together saturday afternoon through sunday morning...stayed at his auntie's house in accra (and she cooked the most awesome ghanaian food!) it was great to hang out with him, a nice surprise to have a familiar face while so far from home.
saturday morning the dental team
took a little trip to cedi bead industry, outside of a small town an hour and a half north of here. the road there was two dirt tire tracks through the jungle and so i wasn't sure what to expect...turned out to be one of the coolest things i've seen since i've been here. glass bead-making is a very traditional ghanaian craft and it is all done by hand. i'm a sucker for "production line" tours (ie louisville slugger, etc)...combine that with the fact
that they were making jewelry and
i was in seventh heaven.
we were given a tour by one of the
co-owners...he walked us through
each stage in making the beads. he personally demonstrated some steps while for others we were able to observe the workers. there are five different kinds of beads that they make and each process is a little different. but in general they first crush glass bottles (beer bottles, jelly jars, ketchup bottles, whatever) in a mortar-pestle thing until they're ground into a fine powder. then they pour the powder
into clay molds made out of the fine
dirt that termites produce when digging. the molds are fired in the kiln (see pic above right), cooled, t
hen the beads are popped out and polished by kneading them in a bowl of sand (pic at right). finally, they are rinsed with water, sometimes painted by hand with various patterns, and strung up into necklaces, bracelets, etc which are sold in the small on-site shop. their motto is, "quality, not quantity" but the little shop was
jam-packed with
beautiful beaded items and i think that the eight of us (all girls) bought about $300 worth of stuff. i haven't included any pictures of the final products because word has it that some of you girls
may have some beads coming your way...gotta keep you in suspense, you know.
# posted by Jenn @ 3:34 AM