It’s been a bit more than a year since I returned to the US from my one year stay as a volunteer with Black Star in Busua.  Before going to Ghana I’d traveled all over: North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia.  Travel everywhere had been easy.  Everything was pretty much the same. When it wasn’t the same, it was just a tweak different.  There is a popular saying in Thailand: “same same, but different”.  Not exactly sure what that means, but it’s right!  Japan was the most different: it is like the Bizarro Jerry episode of Seinfeld.  It was like a long lost brother that grew up someplace far away, but it was still clearly a brother; I could still understand their way of doing things, it was just a different (and to me, unique) way to do them.  But the end result was the same.  That was as different as things got, but it was still easy.  Australia, Spain, England, Brazil, even China: same story.   Some places were more unique than others, some places were more intriguing than others, and certainly some places were more inspiring than others.  But in the end, they all seemed to have the same underlying culture.  Mine.  I headed for Ghana with no real reason to expect something different; we are all kinda the same.

Then, s-l-a-m!  Ghana was a life-changer.  Life in Ghana and most of Africa is really completely different than life anywhere else.  You feel it as soon as you say “hello” to the place and to the people.  How do I describe the difference?  It’s impossible to describe.  It’s kind of like trying to explain to someone what it’s like to take a drug: the only way you can understand what a drug does to you is to take the drug.  Otherwise, it’s indescribable.  The only way to know what Africa is like is to go there and see it.  It’s in the people and the places.  It sounds cliche as I re-read this because this is what people say about everyplace, but it couldn’t be more true of Ghana.

Black Mamba in April

As you can see, this post has some pictures from three different surf spots. The first two pictures are of Black Mamba Point. Black Mamba is a reef/rock right point break that is paddling distance from our surf shop. It is best on a mid to high tide. The first of these pics was taken in April 2010 when we consistently had waist t chest high sets. This one is of me surfing Black Mamba in waist/shoulder high waves.

Black Mamba- slightly overhead!

When it gets bigger it holds its shape and gets better, as you can see from this second picture! You can check out this video link to see what Black Mamba looked like in April 2009.watch?v=Hz0YenzGZDo

 The swell in Ghana builds in May and is chest to 1 ½ overhead from May until sometime in early September. But remember, it starts getting good in April and stays good through the end of October; it is only just a little less consistent and a smaller. Late July thru early September seems to be the months when everything lines up perfectly with a combination of the biggest swells and no wind.

LP's Left in July

This picture is taken from a spot called LP’s or Ketakor in July 2008. This spot is good on a low to mid tide, any swell direction. This spot is actually more of a right but there is a short left that you can take to get your front side fix if your goofy foot. The pics on the home page of Black Star’s website is of LP’s but going right.

The water is a little chilly between Julyand September so bring a spring suit or at least a neoprene top. I surf it bare but, hey, my hometown surf spot is San Francisco!

There is another surf video that features Busua’s beach break, Cape Three Points, and Black Mamba Point. You need a Facebook account to open it and we hope to have it on our Black Star Surf Shop Facebook site soon. This is a really well put together video by Sean McKernan and shows the quality of waves we get in Ghana during prime time so check it out if you can! http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=363912923348&subj=676780135 

There are a lot of other quality waves in and around Busua, it just that not many of them have been photographed. There is Dixcove Point, with its long, slow rolling heavy wave that is perfect for beginners and intermediates to practice their turns, Cape Three Points, with both a quality left and right break, Princess Town with two quality beach breaks, and Mutrakni Points which is a small peninsula and has both a right and left point break. There is probably great surfing all up and down the coast of Ghana since we get big organized swells all the way from Antarctica, but we know that the Western Region has the jagged coastline giving us the point breaks to choose from and explore. 

View from our Restaurant!

We will leave you with this last picture which was taken in July of 2008 in front of the surf shop. We have a restaurant with a deck looking out at this wave so you can either be out in the water surfing or checking it out with a plate of good food in front of you and a Pina Colada or cold beer in your hand!

Two of the three Ghana surf team work at Black Star and the other will join us once his English improves. The surf team is also sponsored by Culprit Surf (see picture) of which Black Star co-owner, Peter Nardini, is one of the founders. You can check out Culprit’s stuff at www.culpritsurf.com and buy our products in the US on Ebay. We also sell a lot in surf shops in Portugal, Bali and New Zealand if you happen to live or be visiting one of these countries.

The surf team is also being sponsored by Squalo, the largest surf company in Mexico. Squalo will be teaming up with Black Star to open a new store in Accra, Ghana. Squalo has agreed to sponsor the Ghana surf team and will be providing them with surf boards, clothing, a small salary, and even some travel money. In this picture the guys are wearing Squalo hats and board shorts which were some of their first sponsor items.

Black Star, Culprit Surf, and Squalo will be sponsoring an international surf contest in Ghana in 2011 so keep your eyes open for the dates. We will post the info here on this blog. Maybe the Ghana surf team will shine on their home turf, we will have to see!

The Ghana surf team is improving rapidly and we hope they will continue to improve so they can start holding their own against the Ivorians and Senegalese, and then later on the world stage. So if you see these guys out in the water let them know you support them in their quest to become the competitive surfers that they can be. The natural talent is there that is for sure. Go Ghana surf team !!!!!!!

One of our previous blog entries talked about the Community Tourism Center (CTC) Project and how we took a delegation of Busua representatives to the Volta to see first hand successful CTC models and talk to the locals about their work, challenges and successes. These representatives came back pretty pumped up about doing something in Busua like they saw in the Volta!

Tim and Riley were the interns working full time on this project until they left this Winter to go back to their lives in the US and Holland. There is now a new intern, Will Anderson, a Kiwi who has taken up the project where Tim and Riley left off. Many positive things have happened over the past several months, which were built on the foundation of the previous work that our interns and the community had accomplished over the past year.

Maybe a quick recap of what the CTC is and how it will work is in order. Basically, the CTC will be a physical space where all tourist who visit Busua will come to register. While at the CTC, tourists will have the opportunity to learn about activities to do in Busua and the surrounding areas, organize guided tours and boat trips, learn about the community development projects the community is working on, as well as get non-baised information about place to stay, eat and be entertained while staying in Busua. In many ways this will be the first time that the community at large will have a say in how tourism is developed in their village. Other CTC’s in Ghana have generated significant revenues from their CTC’s and have used these funds to build community water systems, health posts, and also established scholarship funds for both secondary school and university. All this and more is possible in Busua!

So now back to the progress report. Since this Winter we have been able to open a community-run Internet cafe that is being temporarily housed at Black Star Surf Shop until the permanent CTC is built. See blogs in coming weeks to learn more about the CTC Internet Cafe. This is great progress! More importantly we have found a place to build the permanent CTC and have received some funds to accomplish this goal. With the help of some very generous people, we have secured over USD $14,000 to build our Community Tourist Center. Construction should start sometime in the next couple of months. The next important step will be writing a constitution for the CTC that very clearly states everyone’s roles, duties and obligations to the CTC, how the finances will be run and who will benefit. The community representatives will be writing this constitution with the help of GREET, an empowerment NGO  that works with the CTC’s throughout Ghana.

Stay tuned as we take this project to its successful and sustainable completion. We are hoping to have the opening for the CTC sometime in August. Come join us for the celebration if you happen to find yourself in Ghana!

To date, we have secured a piece of land for the CTC site from the Ahanta Chief in Busua (thanks Chief!), surveyed the land,  and took a group of Busua representatives to see existing successful CTC’s that are operating in the Volta Region of Ghana. This trip was highly successful as it was an opportunity to both see success in action and to ask questions on how the communities were running their CTC’s and how they were benefiting.

Busua reps visit the Volta

We are now in the process of writing a constitution to spell out exactly how the CTC will function and who will be involved. We are working with three NGO’s- RC, SNV and GREET- to ensure that there is a good chance the capacity building training will lead to a sustainable project. We also recently received a private donation that will help us continue to build on our successes as a community and to achieve, with the help of the above NGO’s, full funding for this project.  We are also currently involved in other community projects, like introducing solar oven and some microfinancing for local tourist businesses, but more on that later…..

You have to do something when the waves are small !!!!!!

Art Showing of Kobinas works

A fundraiser event was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 10th for the Ahanta Environmental Club (AEC), a club that was started by Black Star co-founders Peter Nardini and Frank Bordes. The fundraiser was a great success and included an art gallery showing of paintings by AEC Secretary, Kobina Nyarko. Kobina also happens to be one of the best known contemporary artist in all of Africa. It was an impressive show! Kobina donated various pieces of his work so that we could raise money for the environmental club (see our website’s “community involvement” section to find out what the club is doing).

The fundraiser event also featured Laryea Addy, a Ghanaian born African drum and dance instructor who teaches at the local university. Laryea led a drumming workshop so that our guest could do a little banging on the drums and get a feel for it! This was followed by a drumming and dancing performance featuring the advanced students from his dance classes. The audience had to get up and dance too! 

African Dance Perfromance

Some of the money raised from this event will go towards the creation of a Community Tourist Center (CTC) in Busua, in which the AEC will have its office. There are also several other environmental education and turtle preservation projects that will be funded from the money raised.  So a big thanks to Kobina, Laryea, and everyone else who participated or donated to this awesome event. I hope we can do this again next year!

The event featured thirteen artists from Accra and seven artists from Takoradi. Activities started early in the morning with a beach cleanup to gather garbage for the art works. The FCA and AEC provided a total of seven large canvases. The artists worked together with the community to create some unique pieces united by the theme of a cleaner environment. A beach exhibition of all the finished pieces along with other artwork is being planned. The finished works will then remain in the community with the proceeds of any sales going to the AEC.

The project was funded by the European Union Cultural Initiative Support Programme. Additional support was provided by the Foundation for Contemporary Art (FCA), a coalition of artists who have a shared interest in bringing art to the general public so they can see not only the finished art but also the artistic process. Media coverage was provided by Skyy Power FM, SkyyTV, Goodnews FM and Help FM. Additional local support was provided by the African Rainbow Hotel and the Busua Inn. Drinks were donated by Aboyi Olokpo of Schlumberger based in Accra. Brushes were provided by Nick Shardlow of the U.K.

Photos: Nick Pink

Images courtesy Mona Niemeyer