To review the trip seems an almost impossible task right now. How can we describe the lessons learned, accomplishments achieved and surprising twists and turns in a single blog entry? If we said that we ate maggots, motorbiked on impossibly steep roads, visited some of Asia’s most modern and hectic cities, collected seeds, planted trees, cut jungle trails and built an organic compost centre in the rainforests of Borneo, scuba dived 20 stories under the sea to swim with sea turtles and pick up plastic bags and used diapers, learned about the horrors of shark finning, organized one hundred children to clean up garbage and visited baby orangutans; if we said all that, you may be able to understand what we did on the trip but not really what happened. All the small moments in between, from learning how to eat like the locals with our hands, watching the World Cup on the streets of Bangkok with thousands of people from every country imaginable, learning how to communicate with a deaf/mute jungle man and even, how the small actions of our daily lives affect people across the world, these moments and so many more were what made this trip so special.

We’ve included numerous photos that we hope can explain our trip but to be honest, nothing can truly capture the experience. The best advice we can give: just go and see for yourself.

Sincerely,

The OG Southeast Asia Eco team

So long and thanks for all the memories.

Much has happened since we last blogged. We have been in Accra for over a week now. We spent our first week running around Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in the Cardio Thoracic Unit where we were able to check out the clinics in OPD, go for rounds with the doctor(s),  visit the theatre and watch a surgery (colon bypass), and finally learn how to (basically) run the dialysis unit.

In the afternoons we all enjoy meeting for lunch and exploring tema market, the national art centre, and the rest of Accra.

Last Thursday we all went out to Frankie’s for a much needed Burger and Fries dinner to celebrate Jon’s birthday. We were happy to also have our friend Gaby join us. It was so nice to have some good food that didn’t include bread or rice…plus the cake was amazing.

This weekend we made our way over to Cape Coast to see the castle and go for a walk (or run) on the canopy walk at Kankum National Park. We started the weekend off on a rough note when we found out Taryn had to leave due to personal circumstances. We all miss her tons already. Once  we had settled into cape coast, the boys went to frolic at the beach together while the rest of the group visited the town. It was quite a hectic weekend but we enjoyed seeing the castle and most of us enjoyed running across terrifying canopy bridges…

Now that we’re back in Accra for our second and final week, we are trying to get all that we can out of our placements at the hospital as well as attempting to get everything done in the city before we run around Ghana during ITT. Jon and I were able to go to the Accident/Trauma Unit today to watch a broken femur get repaired, while Tarek and Caroline went to observe a heart surgery.

We’re all super excited to get going on our independent travel adventures but sad to leave the hospital and our host families here.

Only 17 more days to go!

Caitlin and OGWAM.

It was hard to get hold of us for about a week because we were off the grid an changing countries every few days, Such is life backpacking in East Africa. Jo still has her Kenyan number +254 (0) 700616410 and she will be in Kenya for the duration of ITT so call anytime.

Now it is Independant Travel Time – ITT. The time where participants throw on their backpacks an explore on their own whims. Its exciting to see everyone so confident about their travels but sad to say goodbye even for just 9 days. We will meet up in the beautiful Lamu Archipelago on August 6th for a 2 day sailboat trip for our disorientation.

Until then people are going to Dar es Salam, Zanzibar, Ngorongoro Crater, Bak to MAragoli, Back to Kampala, and even all the way up to Marsabit.

Till next time Akuna Matata

It all began way back on July 11th when we hopped on an overnight bus from Accra. We were all looking forward to sleeping through the 12-hour ride into the Upper East Region of Ghana, but these hopes were dashed due to Nigerian horror movies being played at high volumes all night long. The journey did not end when we got off the bus in Bolgatanga, however. Another two-hour bus ride took us the remaining distance to the village of Sandema, our home for the following two weeks.

We quickly got acquainted with our host families, and spent some time with the OG Discovery team, who introduced us to some very friendly Sandemans (Sandemites? Sandemoans?) as well as to a glorious Baobob tree. This tree became a favourite spot for climbing, hanging out, and pondering the meaning of life… or at least the meaning of OG.

On weekdays we went to the Sandema Regional Hospital and were able to shadow the doctor, which entailed following him on rounds, observing his diagnoses in the consulting room, and even standing in on a few surgeries. About 80% of the patients that go through the hospital are diagnosed with Malaria, so I think that now we are all well-versed in the signs and symptoms of the disease.

On the weekend, we took the bus back to Bolgatanga. Getting there was a turbulent experience, which I don’t wish to relive, though I will say that it began with an arduous walk through the rain, a lost room key, the kicking down of a door, a missed bus, and a dead goat. It ended up being worth it though, as we had a great weekend, visiting the crocodiles in Paga, touring a slave camp, and drinking a few Stars at ‘Soul Train Nite Club’ on Saturday night. I even met a couple of fellow Calgarians! Then it was back to Sandema on Sunday.

Apart from our time at the hospital, we all enjoyed market days (which occur every three days) where we all bought excessive amounts of colourful Ghanaian fabric and had clothes made to complete our cultural integration. Delicious mangoes were also purchased at market, and I am now in withdrawal, as they are not in season in the south (where we are n0w). We also spent some of our time working on personal projects in town. Tarek and Jon went to Horizon Children’s Centre where they talked to the children about Canadian life, and had them depict what they learned in a picture. Tarek will take the art work back to a school in Canada, where he did the same thing before coming to Ghana. Caitlin, Anna, and myself were inspired by a man named Gilbert who runs the Disabilities Resource Centre in Sandema, and we are continuing to work on a proposal to help him acquire grant money to expand his centre and improve the life of persons with disabilities in Sandema and the surrounding communities. We hope to take this proposal to foreign embassies in Accra; a resource which helped Gilbert get he centre off the ground in the first place.

We were very sad to say goodbye to Sandema and all the friends that we made there, but now that we’re in Accra, it’s also proving to be a fantastic experience. On our first night here, we went with our host brother to a ‘drink-up’ (aka house party) which turned out to be hosted by one of the Black Stars’ coaches, and was attended by some of the players. Jealous? Hopefully we’ll have more stories like this by the end of our two weeks here.

Cheers!

Taryn

I took the liberty of reposting this blog from http://ogmiddleeast.wordpress.com/ where they’ve been blogging. Enjoy!

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Food, sleep and Play

I just want to let you all know that I finished checking in by phone with the India team. They seem to be doing very well and are now on their 3rd day at the Sudhana Forest in Auroville. They are happy and healthy but won’t have good internet access for a little while. Full blog entries will have to wait unfortunately.

For emergencies, they are reachable by phone though (the number is on the contact page).

Best,
David, from OG-central

The last week has been, to say it lightly, epic.

Flying from Kuala Lumpur to Sandakan in the Sabah region of Borneo, we took an informative minibus ride through the massive palm oil plantation corridor. Due to deforestation and the massive plantations, much of Borneo’s primary rainforests have been cut and the evidence was all too clear during our four-hour ride. Upon arrival in Semporna, we quickly signed our lives away to the scuba dive gods and jumped on a boat for the island of Mabul.

Home to numerous dive shops and resorts, Mabul is also home to two communities of “sea gypsies”, asylum-seekers from the Philippines who have no national citizenship in either the Philippines or Malaysia. Because of their lack of status, the children cannot receive an education at the state school on the island, the adults are not allowed to legally work and the community has no sanitation or waste disposal services. The contradiction between resort and regular life on the island became evident very quickly to our group.

On our first morning, we began our time in Mabul by snorkeling around the island. The richness of coral, diversity of fish and plant life was amazing and truly a sight to see (especially for those that had never swam in the ocean before). By the afternoon, however, we decided that we weren’t your average tourists and began a garbage clean-up. Unlike all other tourists who clean the resort beach once a week or so, we decided to pick up garbage on the local side of the jetty. Once we crossed over the resort’s bridge, we were shocked. Just a few feet away was a beautiful nicely kept beach with tourists lazing in the sun; on the local side, however, were bags upon bags of human feces, enough plastic to stretch around the island many times over and a general mass of waste most of our participants had never seen on a such a beautiful beach. So we began the difficult task of picking it all up. What happened within a few minutes? We had a little army of helpers who were all to eager to contribute to the cause. A couple of hours and over a dozen garbage bags later, we were proud yet realized that we had only made a small dent on the island’s garbage problem.

The next three days were spent becoming PADI certified as Open Water scuba divers. Everyone had a great time, learned about the beauty of the ocean from a first-hand perspective and got hooked on the feeling of weightlessness.

After completing our PADI courses, the group participated in a coral reef cleanup dive. While we picked up numerous bags of garbage that was choking the coral, we still realized that the most important place to pick up garbage was on Mabul island itself. The next day we ran a program at the local school where we played some games and had the kids design posters relating to keeping garbage out of the ocean. The competition was a big success and all the kids really enjoyed themselves and hopefully learned something.

Knowing that Mabul Marine Week would begin on our last day on the island, the group decided to take things into our own hands and kick off the festivities a little early. Beginning in the morning, we walked through the dirtiest areas of the island where tons of kids were just sitting around idly. When we learned that “Weina Sampah” means “No Garbage” in Bahasa Malay, we had our war cry. All of a sudden, dozens of kids joined in and by the end of the morning, we had too many garbage bags to deal with and so many kids it hurt our ears with all the cheering. It was a beautiful sight to see the future of Mabul caring about the state of their island.

We attended the opening ceremonies of Mabul Marine Week this morning and to be honest, it was rather disappointing. While the week is organized by all the dive operators on the island in coordination with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Malaysian government, everyone seemed more interested in getting their photo ops and logos on the banners rather than cleaning up the actual island. A common issue in development, we all learned that sometimes it is simply better to act rather than talk. We engaged with the community, educated the children about keeping the island and ocean clean, but most importantly, we made a difference no matter how small. We can only hope that our energy and enthusiasm towards keeping Mabul clean will translate into changed attitudes. We are also talking with numerous contacts we recently made as to how we can support a permanent garbage disposal system.

All in all, our time in Mabul was incredibly enjoyable, surprisingly challenging and most importantly, definitely educational. We’ve created this photo gallery to let you understand a little bit about how Mabul island has shaped our experience on this trip in a major way.

The group is heading to the jungles of the Lower Kinabatangan tomorrow morning for a homestay, school build and jungle camp trek. Fortunately, the wonders of the Internet haven’t overtaken every inch of the planet so we’ll be technology-free for a week. If you’re worried about us, don’t be; the orangutans and monkeys will keep us company.

Until next time,

The OG Southeast Asia Eco Team

        For our weekend trip, we took off on Friday to Cape Coast.  It was a cool night when we arrived because it rained. We hoped for it to be warm so as to explore the tourist spots of the city like the Kankun National Park, Cape Coast Castle and the beach at Coconut groove Hotel. 

        Unfortunately, it rained the next day but that did not stop us from seeing Kankun rainforest and doing the canopy walk at Kankun National Park. The canopy walk was a memorable one for me: I walked on suspended rope bridges. That was a challenge, I conquered.. after a tear or two. Fine. I cried.  On a positive note, though, the scenery of the rainforest was absolutely gorgeous!

On Sunday, we went to the beach at Coconut Groove and this time, nature was very kind to us. The sun was out, there was cool air, the waves were high and beautiful and the water was at a good temperature.  We played beach football (soccer) which was a lot of fun. After chilling at the beach, we gathered our bags and travelled to Accra to begin our second and last week of placements in Accra.

We are excited to meet the rest of the group from Sandema when we go on our next weekend trip to Kumasi. This is where we will switch placements, the Accra group move to Sandema and vice versa. So, we all look forward to preparing our minds and bodies for more experiences ahead!

Caroline

A special blog just to call our own… It’s all right here.

Upon arrival at Hat Yai, the Thai border town, we waited for our VIP bus to take us through customs. Surprisingly, this bus lived up to its billing as few other VIP bus experiences have: complimentary water bottle in each seat, extra large seats and enough air-conditioning to freeze tea.

12 unexciting hours later, we finally arrived at our destination: Kuala Lumpur. Affectionately known as KL, the capital of Malaysia boasts one of the highest quality of life in all of Asia. Due to petroleum, international banking and a booming tourism industry, KL is home to an incredible array of stunning buildings including the Petronas Twin Towers (the tallest twin towers in the world.)

After spending a fun night out on the town, the group ventured throughout the city today on the KL Hop on Hop off tour. The group rode the bus for hours, walked until our feet hurt and truly began to understand why KL is considered a world-class city. From experiencing the beauty of a 92 square hectare Green Zone (if only Canadian parks could be so large) to the neo-modern Muslim architecture of the Masjid Jamek, Merdeka Square and much more, the group definitely had a great day.

We’ve got to run as we’re taking a 7 am flight to Borneo tomorrow morning. We’ll be starting to scuba the next day so the excitement under the sea begins very soon.

Until next time,

The Southeast Asia Eco Team