OMA&D Student Blog

by Veronica Sedano (written on August 19) Our last week in Tahiti consisted of variety of activities. We dedicated a whole day to learning about coconuts. Coconuts are used in every way possible here, they are used to start a fire, to eat, for body/hair products, you name it. Listening to the history of the…

by Veronica Sedano (written on August 12) Week three was a bit more relaxed. We spent the majority of our time out in the water. We started off at a cave by the name of Grotte De Maraa. The cave’s arched ceiling creates and optical illusion that makes the cave look smaller than what it…

by Veronica Sedano (written on August 5) Week two started off with practice from the time we woke up to the time we had dinner. Our dance practices were for two full days, Monday and Tuesday. One of the crew members, Falea, is very involved in Tahitian dancing and volunteered to teach us. We learned…

by Ryan Trinidad In Seattle particularly, coffee is a major part of the city culture. But in reality Starbucks coffee flavors are heavily influenced from Ethiopian coffee, buna. And the culture in Seattle is based from faceless days and endless nights. Here in Ethiopia, it is a little different. Buna is served mainly after a…

by Ryan Trinidad The ride back to Africa was long, but incredible in so many ways. The feeling of returning embodies what I learned one year ago in Ghana, Sankofa. Although, our travel time almost amounted to 22 hours, it was all worth it. Ethiopian Airlines has the greatest hospitality I've ever experienced. This was…

by Kamaria Carnes After a quick walking tour through the village we headed over to another nearby village to learn how they recycle material to make beads. There are actually many different ways to make them. Some methods include crushing the glass with stone into a fine powder and mixing different consistencies of glass. The…

by Kamaria Carnes Here is a glimpse at Tiffany Armijo, Gladys Reyes and Avalon Valencia performing their final project for the study abroad trip to Ghana:

by Ryan Trinidad As many of you know, my trip to Barbados came to an early close due to unexpected problems with my health. I want to reassure everyone that everything dealing with my health has been taken care of, and I am back to 100%. With that being said, I learned a lot from being…

by Kamaria Carnes Today we presented our final projects and everyone’s work was amazing! We had a variation of presentations including spoken word, dance, videos, studies, food and musical performances that all embodied our experiences here with the people and the culture in Ghana. Fardowsa, Aminita and Kafiya prepared a meal for their final Gladys,…

by Courtney Hernandez Today we got back from our field trip to Cape Coast. We got to go to two Slave Castles, the Kakum Rainforest and a small village for some community service. We also got to stay at Coconut Grove, a very fancy place that was right on the ocean! I felt like I…

by Kamaria Carnes Today we traveled to Cape Coast, a large town situated on the Gulf of Guinea, to visit the Cape Coast Castle. The Cape Coast Castle was one of the 30 castles and forts built along Ghana’s coastline that were used in the transatlantic slave trade. While some of the castles started off…

by Danny Herrera A wise man once told me, “We are not counting days anymore, we are losing them.” We are in the final days of the final week of the program and we have to make the most of them. I can finally say that I’ve swam with sting rays, sharks, and now sea…

by Danny Herrera At the beginning of the third week, we had the privilege to cook with Mrs. Reid. From her cooking lesson, I learned different ways spices are used here in Barbados and among my peers. We used mild peppers to add flavor to the ground beef. Then there were spicier peppers that we…

by Courtney Hernandez For the last two days here, we have been doing community service with the Cheerful Hearts Foundation. We had to split up into three groups after our orientation last week. The groups were the Child Labor group, the Public Health group and the Teaching group. Although all of the options sounded amazing…

by Kamaria Carnes Since the Ghana program is offered through the School of Social Welfare we participate in a week-long community service project through Cheerful Hearts, a service based organization dedicated to the education of Ghanaian children. Our group split up into three different projects: teaching, malaria outreach and child labor. Today was our second…

by Veronica Sedano Our first week in Tahiti has been quite eventful! We focused mainly on oral and written traditions. In the Tahitian culture, most traditions are passed down from generation to generation, orally and vertically rather than horizontally. Mama, Papa and the crew The second day we visited a ceremonial event that is referred…

by Kamaria Carnes This week we had a lot of free time to explore the village, rest and take care of laundry. So I took the opportunity to get started on my final project with my partners, Charmaine and Tracy. The ngoni performance we had on our first night really inspired me to turn the…

by Ariel Davis We made it to Ghana! The Sankofa II group landed July 17, 2012. In Accra, Ghana! This was the first welcome sign! We are all full of excitement!!

by Courtney Hernandez Yesterday we went on an all day field trip to the city of Accra. We got to go to the Kwame Nkruma Mausoleum, the Art Market, the W.E.B. Du Bois Center, and then we had dinner at a restaurant called Asanka Local. This statue is the very spot where he declared independence for Ghana.…

by Kamaria Carnes Today was very full and eventful. We visited the burial of Ghana’s first President, W.E.B Dubois’ house and a museum that featured the history of the people who have inhabited Ghana. It was interesting to see how closely tied our country’s history is to Ghanaian history—there were definitely a lot of things…