1 T h e D a l t o n S c h o o l D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 Ghana: The Year of Return The term “envoy” is derived from the French word envoyé (messenger) and from the Late Latin inviare (to be on the way). Envoys are a class apart from the adventurer- seekers, educated tourists, and backpackers also moving around the world. They travel with open minds, seeking to learn about a culture and build lasting relationships with the local people. They are culturally competent travelers, moving through the world with confidence and compassion. They are empathetic souls. Finally, Envoys travel not for themselves, but for the world. WHAT IS AN ENVOY? 3 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 0 4 0 8 0 5 0 6 0 7 We Are Envoys Program Itinerary Program Objectives Preparatory Courses Risk Management 4 We are Envoys E nvoys is a team of educators. We design programs directly in collaboration with schools to maximize learning for students. The program opportunities enclosed provide meaningful experiential education for students where they engage in direct and frequent exchanges with local people that build inter-cultural understanding and empathy. Envoys partners with carefully selected experts at home and in our destination countries to ensure the highest-quality education experience on all programs. 5 Program Objectives WHAT WE DO: WHAT WE DO: HOW WE DO IT: HOW WE DO IT: Students understand Ghana’s modern-day reality in light of the country’s historical context. Students appreciate the complex beauty of their world and develop a broader understanding of both others and themselves. Preparatory coursework and in-country lessons cover the historical processes that have shaped contemporary Ghana. We move through the rise of the Ashanti Kingdom and the eventual subjugation of the country by slavers, continuing through the colonial periods and the triumphant movements for independence and Pan-Africanism. This work provides students with the necessary background to engage meaningfully with the places, people, and contexts we visit during the travel portion of the program, thereby developing a deeper appreciation for the struggles entailed with Ghana becoming the first independent country in Africa. While in-country, students will experience the challenges and rewards of being the ‘other’, spending ample time in the far reaches of our individual comfort zones . These activities provide the basis for the scaffolded revisiting of assumptions and construction and testing of new hypotheses, following Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Regular reflective activities on empathy and cross-cultural understanding will give students the frameworks and skill sets necessary to engage with the unfamiliar. 6 Travel Health and Safety Envoys can provide online courses to supplement seminars planned by faculty. These courses may serve as the base content for a ‘flipped-classroom’ approach and/or be taken as a wholly online experience. BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE BASE BRIEFING SHEETS EMPATHY AND CROSS-CULTURAL SENSITIVITY Envoys instructors curate a series of videos, articles, and other media relevant to the history and culture of the destination country. Students review this material and take brief assessments to prove their understanding. After developing the necessary background knowledge, students individually select a research topic and create a one-page briefing sheet to share with their classmates. In the months before the trip, Envoys instructors can support student research, respond to questions, and grade briefing sheets. Through a series of introspective and collaborative exercises, students begin the process of examining their own assumptions around culture. Students take empathy assessments and develop plans for developing their empathic abilities, both at home and abroad. LEARN ABOUT YOUR DESTINATION PACK SMART SITUATIONAL AWARENESS Students research the health risks relevant to their destinations, learn about methods to mitigate those risks, and pass assessments related to health and safety. Students learn about best practices for packing light and traveling smart. Students learn about common pathways for diseases, including vectors, food and water, and animals, as well as necessary precautions to take while traveling abroad. A mixture of assessments and practical activities ensure that they have gained the necessary skills. Students learn about methods to calculate risk and the heightened potential for faulty judgments when abroad. They display their ability to make better decisions by explaining their reactions to a variety of travel scenarios. Preparatory Courses DISEASE PATHWAYS 7 Risk Management No one can guarantee freedom from harm, including illness, accident, or injury. Envoys works with our partner schools to assume a duty of care for the participants on our programs. We undertake a multi-stage process to assess and manage the risks of international travel. Our scouting teams conduct reviews for program locations and providers as part of the development of customized risk assessment and management plans. Field staff maintain safety standards during the trip through the utilization of a custom-built checklist system. Envoys provides insurance coverage for rescue, evacuation, repatriation, and medical emergencies for all program participants. PRIVATE EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICE SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS ONLINE TRIP-TRACKING ADVANCED FIELD CHECKLIST SYSTEM ON-CALL EXPERT MEDICAL ADVISORY TRAINED FIELD STAFF 8 Program Itinerary DAYS 1-2: TRAVEL TO ACCRA DEC 27-28, 2019 We fly from New York on an overnight flight, arriving in Accra at dawn the next day. Once in-country, we transfer to our accommodations and rest for several hours before beginning our program. ARRIVAL IN ACCRA We receive language lessons and then a workshop in bargaining workshop with a local instructor. LESSONS IN LANGUAGE AND BARGAINING We head over to the Makola Market, a renowned market place in central Accra. An enormous variety of goods are sold here, and the market is dominated by women vendors. Accompanied by a historical guide, we’ll explore what the market has to offer, and learn about its history and role within the city. We buy cloth and make orders at a tailor, and shop for ingredients that we’ll use in our cooking class later in the day. MAKOLA MARKET COOKING CLASS In the evening, we receive a cooking class in the W.E.B. DuBois cultural center. TAILOR VISIT We bring our fabric to a local tailor and place orders. 9 DAY 3: KUMASI DEC 29, 2019 We rise early for the drive to Kumasi, stopping along the way to take in the fervent beauty of the West African roadside life and spectacular view of the Kwahu hills. We reflect on the ways that geography influences history, how different peoples adapt to their physical landscape and how that landscape then shapes those cultures. After settling into our hotel, we visit the cultural center and musuem. In the evening, we reconvene as a group and walk to the palace to experience the celebration of the Akwasidae Festival. DAY 4: ADINKRA, BONWIRE, ADANWOMASE DEC 30, 2019 In the morning, we take a tour of the Manhiya Palace. We then travel to the small villages of Adinkra, Bonwire and Adanwomase to participate in workshops on kente cloth making and wood carving, meeting with local youth after each workshop to hear about their experiences growing up in the villages and their dreams for the future. We stage design challenges in partnership with our local peers, building respectful knowledge of each other’s culture and traditional practices, establishing a basis for mutual respect and understanding. Our collaborative projects give students the time to get comfortable with each other, despite their varying backgrounds. We return to Kumasi at night. 10 DAY 5: TO CAPE COAST DEC 31, 2019 We pack the bus and depart from Kumasi. On our way to Cape Coast, we stop and spend some time at the Assin Manson Slave River, a site of rememberance where enslaved people would have a last bath before the Middle Passage. With framing and preparation provided by faculty and Envoys program leaders, we use this visit to reflect together on the legacy of violence and injustice associated with this site. On arrival in Cape Coast, we head directly to dinner and then check in at our hotel on the coast, where we’ll celebrate the coming of a new year. DAY 6: CAPE COAST & ELMINA CASTLE JAN 1, 2020 We visit the Cape Coast Castle and the Elmina Castle, two fortresses and trading posts where most enslaved people were held before the Middle Passage. On our guided tours of the forts, we learn about their role in the slave trade, and have the opportunity to return through the Door of No Return. Later in the day, we have the option of visiting the Gramophone Records Museum and Research Center of Ghana, where we are immersed in the sounds of their massive Ghanaian Highlife music collection. We also have the option of participating in a cultural workshop with a local network of female entrepreneurs. 11 DAY 7: TAKORADI BEACH JAN 2, 2020 We depart from Cape Coast and make our way down the shoreline, stopping to see other forts along the coast. On arrival in Takoradi, we visit the Bisa Aberwa Museum, which houses one of the world’s largest collection of African artifacts and sculptures. We spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. DAY 8: KAKUM NATIONAL PARK JAN 3, 2020 We experience the natural beauty of Ghana through a trip to Kakum National Park. We move through the park on a nature walk through the forest discovering a wide variety of exotic floral species and the medicinal values they offer. As we walk, we paricipate in an environmental service project given by the forest commissioner, and hang signs to discourage littering, which has been an issue in the park. We drive back along the coast to Accra, stopping for dinner at Labadi beach before continuing on to Accra, where we stay for the night. DAY 9: SOCIAL ENTERPRISE GHANA JAN 4, 2020 We spend the day learning from members of Social Enterprise Ghana about the projects that are happening around the country, and break into small groups to design a social enterprise idea based on what we’ve learned throughtout the trip. We then head slightly north to spend the rest of the day at the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm. 12 We visit the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. The monument and museum honor Ghana’s first president, who led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. Nkrumah was an influential advocate of pan- Africanism and a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity. Under Nkrumah, Ghana played a leading role in African international relations during the period of decolonization. Afterwards, we walk to the Black Star Gate, also known as Independence Square, to take a spend a few hours in reflection and conversation with a local scholar. KWAME NKRUMAH MEMORIAL PARK We head over to the W.E.B. DuBois Centre, where we have a lunch buffet and dancing or drumming lessons with local teachers. W.E.B DUBOIS CENTRE DAY 10: CLOSING THE LOOP JAN 5, 2020 Envoys leaders accompany the group to the airport, where they board their international flight back to New York. TRAVEL HOME 13 ENVOYS HEADQUARTERS Cambridge, MA 02142 One Broadway 14th Floor 1 (800) 515 6523 ENVOYS MOUNTAIN WEST Denver, CO 80202 1031 33rd St. 1 (720) 646 2524 ENVOYS INTERNATIONAL Bogotá – Colombia Cra. 11B # 98-08 Of: 501 PBX: (571) 6910684 WWW ENVOYS cOM INfO @ ENVOYS cOM