Kpong

Today was another full and exciting day! We went to see the biggest Dam in Ghana where most of the electricity is generated. We took a tour and the man told us lots of interesting facts. The design of the dam is American, the investors are Dutch, American and a few others, the builders were Ghanian and so forth.

After the Dam visit we headed back to Kpong and went to a bead making place called Cedi beads. I can't believe how long and intricate it is to make glass beads. Here is our guide that took us on a tour and explained/showed us how they make the beads from colored glass bottles. Come to find out he is a member of the Mormon faith also.

They start with colored glass bottles, then they grind them into tiny pieces. In a seperate process they make the bead molds (this is an entire other process). then they put the glass shards into the molds and bake them in a oven/kiln for maybe 45 min. then when they pull out the molds from the kiln the glass is malable so they poke holes in the center and round the beads. then they let them cool off for 1 hour. then they polish the beads with sand and water. Once they are polished they are strung together for braclets or necklaces. The other kind of beads they make are much more difficult. They take the colored glass bottles and grind them into a powder, then they color the powder with a colored pigment, then they make designs in the molds (sort of like the sand designs in glass bottles you might have seen before). then they go through the same baking process. when the beads come out they have these cool designs. Also there is another process for painting desgins on the beads also. Each of these processes takes so long!

I bought a couple necklaces but they are just the plain glass. I really liked the design beads but I figured I wouldn't wear any of them very much. then we went home and watched a few DVD's. See in Ghana all the Ghanians go out at night because it is cooler outside. As Americans this is HIGHLY dangerous as there are many mosquitoes at this time. So we go in early. Thus we need to find things to do. So Playing card games, DVD, computer time, etc. is what we do.