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Ghana - Location & Highlights
Set amongst idyllic beaches and home to Cape Coast Castle, Cape Coast is a town seeped in history and surrounded by beauty. In the 17th century, Cape Coast grew from a small fishing village to an important trading port and the center of West Africa's slave trade, later becoming the first capital of Britain's Gold Coast colony. Today, this vibrant town is capital of Ghana's Central Region and home to over 100,000 people and some of the country's leading academic institutions.
Social and Development Issues
While the number of people living in poverty in Ghana has declined in recent years and the 80s and 90s saw vast industrialization and economic growth, inequality between the rich and poor, and urban and rural areas has increased. Food crop farmers and small business owners in the informal sector remain the largest groups in poverty. Women are often the hardest hit as they shoulder the bulk of the responsibility of raising children, and as a result of poor educational opportunities, are often forced into taking low paying jobs to help support their families.Access to basic education, particularly for girls, has increased in recent years. However, access to secondary education remains limited in many rural areas; schools remain vastly underfunded and the quality of education continues to suffer. 46% of Ghanaians are illiterate (HDI 2006), limiting their possibilities for well paid skilled employment.
Additional development challenges for Ghana include the need to create and implement strategies to protect its natural resources, which have largely suffered at the hands of economic growth. On-going health outreach efforts seek to educate communities and individuals and provide them with tools for accessing needed health care services and preventing illnesses such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Excursions:
During the semester, students can expect cultural or outdoor adventures as well as project outings. Excursions may include:- Tour Cape Coast and/or Elmina Castle
- Visit Kakum National Park and walk across the famous canopy walk
- Spend an afternoon or weekend away at one of the area's beautiful beaches
- Participate in cultural workshops including African drumming and dancing, Ghanaian cooking, and batik making
- Take part in a local community eco-tourism project either visiting a local community rock shrine or spending the night in a tree house on the edge of Kakum National Park
- Take a weekend trip to Kumasi, the royal capital of the Ashanti state & Bonwire Village, one of the traditional Kente stools where you can see Kente cloth being woven
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