16 replies to this topic

[Chaos]

A little backstory here: My dad has had a pretty impressive life. He grew up in Ghana until he came to the United States for college, and is a minister and history professor. However, I grew up without him, and we never had much of a relationship (though he did help fund my K'nex purchases).

 

Recently, though, I've kind of been trying to reconnect. So I went on a trip with him the Ghana to see where he grew up, and meet a whole set of new family members. I bought a new camera before the trip, and I filmed a lot of stuff. I'm editing it down to small segments to share with friends and family, so, anyway . . . hope you guys enjoy this and maybe get something out of it.

 

First part isn't much . . . but you get a couple good overview shots of Accra (Ghana's capital) at night.

 

 

[BGTKing]

Very cool! Look forward to seeing more.

[Chaos]

Part 2 is up. Just a brief trip through the streets of Ghana, listening to my dad point things out and tell stories from when he was younger.

 

[Chaos]

My dad takes me to a church he grew up in.

 

[Chaos]

I got to visit my dad's elementary school. It is still in operation, and very similar to what it was like when my dad attended over 50 years ago.

 

[Chaos]

When my dad was in elementary school, he lived as a servant at a Scottish Missionary's house. In this video, he took me to see that house.

 

[RCT2123]

These are fascinating!  Thanks for posting!

[Chaos]

^Thanks! It's cool to be able to share this kind of stuff.

 

Background for this video:

 

My dad's grandmother is sisters with the President of Ghana's grandmother. So we have the same ancestral home, which I got to visit during the trip.

 

[Chaos]

Two more videos uploaded today. In the first one, my Dad gives me a tour of the house he built for himself. He hasn't been there for a while so it needs a lot of maintenance.

 

In the second, I go to a funeral and meet some family members.

 

 

[Chaos]

Two more videos are up. The first one's a short snippet filmed mostly from the car.

 

The second is about my dad's high school in Ghana - which was certainly much nicer than mine was in the US. It was funny hearing him say, "See . . . I didn't come from 'the bush!'"

 

 

 

Edited by Chaos, 02 August 2017 - 10:05 PM.

[Chaos]

The next two videos are on Youtube. I got to meet all the extended family I didn't know I had in a big reunion. Then the next day, my dad took me to a market.

 

 

[Chaos]

My dad had always talked about how his family had lost buried gold in Ghana somewhere, so it was kind of fun to walk through the village where it might still be buried.

 

[Chaos]

While I was in Ghana, I visited the Cape Coast Castle. It was one of the major ports where slaves were shipped to America. It was a pretty sobering experience, from the black floors the turned out to be hardened slave feces to the general conditions that the slaves were held it. But I'm glad I had the opportunity to witness all that in person.

 

[Chaos]

For those who like engineering that doesn't have to do with rollercoasters . . . I got to visit the Volta Dam. It's one of the primary sources of power for the entire country of Ghana.

 

[Chaos]

Two more videos are now up. The first is kind of boring to be honest . . . just a compilation of restaurants I visited. The second one is pretty cool, though - one of those cultural events you don't really know about as a tourist. The queen of the region died last year, and a new queen had a coronation while I was there.

 

 

[Chaos]

Here is the final video from my trip to Ghana. Thanks to everyone who's watched and gone on this journey with me!

 

 

[IvanReese]

That's fantastic!