Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Religion, Spirituality, and Rituals in Ghana: Impacts on Society

When I came to Ghana I was bombarded by the difference between it and my home country. Among other things, the religious beliefs, traditional beliefs, gender roles, and medical practices are very different compared to my home. My image of what Africa was far from correct, as I have never been to a place anything like it. I did not find it to be either better or worse overall, only different. Ghana is a deeply religious country and it's religion has had profound effects on Ghanaian societies in a variety of ways, which I found to be very interesting.
Religion and spirituality play huge parts of the daily lives of people in Ghana. Religion is everywhere in the country; most shop names, bumper stickers, in the schools, everywhere you look. Many people attend church, mosque, or their religious groups many times a week, dedicating large percentages of their time to their religious practices. The time that they spend at church often takes away from time that they would be otherwise spending with their family or at work.
Religious tolerance in Ghana is very high, as the different religions have coexisted for many years without any big problems. The main religions in Ghana are Christianity, Islam, and traditional/tribal religions. There are also some other religions such as Rastafarianism. Both the Christian and Muslim holidays are recognized and celebrated in the country. The religious composition of Ghana from the census of 1960 was 41 percent Christian, 38 percent traditionalist, 12 percent Muslim, and 9 percent no religious affiliation. According to a 1985 estimate the percentage of Christians rose sharply to 62 percent and the Muslim population rose to 15 percent. Conversely, traditionalists declined dramatically to 21 percent and those of no religious affiliation to about 1 percent. Christianity and Islam in Ghana are sometimes intertwined with traditional beliefs and practices. Almost every person in Ghana believes in and practices a religion. This shift, especially the increase in favor of the Independent African Churches, is thought to, as said by U.S. Library of Congress, “attest the success of denominations that have adjusted their doctrines to suit local beliefs”. There is not a official religion in Ghana but attendance at assemblies or devotional services, typically Christian, is required in public schools.
Throughout the country the number of worship centers, churches, mosques, and prayer camps out number schools and hospitals. As a developing country, Ghana does not have a lot of money for building new structures, and a large amount of it is spent on building religious institutions, which is an impediment to it’s development. Religion is so important in the lives of Ghanians that it seems rarely anything is done without reference to religion.
Since Christianity was introduced to Ghana a large number of changes have been made in society, one of which is the political structure of the country. The government has shifted from chieftaincy systems to democracy, which is not necessary a good change or a bad change. The western countries thought that not only their religion of Christianity should be followed in Africa, but also their political system. Democracy is still new in the country and the culture has not fully adjusted to it at this point. Ghana has been one of the most successful countries in Africa to start a democracy, although it is far from perfect. The country has been holding mostly successful elections since the early 1990s.
A common religious belief-system can unite members under a common political party. Religious groups in Ghana have a long and uneven history of civic engagement in Ghana’s political history, including leadership in social movements that led to the collapse and overthrow of the military regime in the late 1970s. Religious groups are a force by themselves when it comes to the provision of education, health, and social services. To the extent that religious leaders accurately represent their members’ views, politicians at times have no choice but to listen to them. Religious leaders are looked up to and their opinions are taken as fact in a large percentage of religious groups. Religious leaders have been taking advantage of their status and using it to get the political candidate elected that they favor. Politicians have been known to even bribe religious leaders to get them votes. There is a direct tie between religion and the partial corruption of political elections in Ghana.
There is also a great amount of corruption in the church it’s self. Pastors and church workers in a number of large churches embezzle large amounts of money. This happens not only in Ghana but all over the world. It is horrible that churches embezzle money because the people donating it expect that it goes toward helping people and the good of mankind. It matters more in Ghana than in many other countries though because Ghana is a developing country and the money that is being stolen has so much potential and need for helping people.
For all Ghanaian ethnic groups, the spirit world is considered to be as real as the world of the living. I have a great interest in the spiritual belief in Ghana, as I have never come across any like them until I came to Ghana. When I first learned that Ghanians believe in witchcraft I was utterly shocked. In America most people have heard of witchcraft, but most don’t know that people actually believe in witches like they do in Ghana. I heard of the Salem Witch Trials, but always thought of them as ridiculous, crazy, and outdated. Since I have been in Ghana I have learned that witches are thought of as absolutely real and a part of life by a large amount of people.
In Ghana, when something bad happens it is typically blamed on an evil spirit or witchcraft. In this way traditional religion and beliefs are integrated into the modern religion and beliefs. The majority of people in Ghana believe in good spirits, evil spirits, and witchcraft. When any natural disaster or bad event occurs it is often blamed on witchcraft. Instead of looking for the physical cause of the incident, people look for the witch instead. Witches are usually older women and are identified by a priest, who has been given by god the power tell that who is a witch. How the problem of witchcraft can be solved varies through different regions and religious groups. In the northern Ghana witches are usually banned from town and forced to be confined in a witch town where they endure very poor living conditions. Occasionally they are even burned at the stake or physically harmed. Some religious groups believe people believe that witchcraft can be healed or removed by prayer. It is a problem that bad things are believed to be a result of witchcraft because bad things might keep happening when the cause is never corrected, and innocent women are often harmed.
When it is believed that something has been bewitched or there is an evil spirit, sometimes a medicine or juju man will be hired to fix the problem. Despite the growing numbers in hospitals and the general education of Ghanians, most still put their hope and trust in medicine men, juju men, and herbalist to fix their problems. It is believed by many that all illnesses are caused by gods withdrawing their blessing, and healing is impossible until the spiritual disturbance leaves. The medicine men can diagnose the patient and then heal them with herbs, rituals, and charms.
The importance of medicine men in Ghanaian society and the reason why hospitals in Ghana are the way they are, may be interconnected. I spent a couple months working at a Ghanaian hospital and found it to be very different than American hospitals. It had long waiting times for patients, the injections were unsanitary, diagnosis often incorrect, and a number of other problems. The ineffectiveness of Ghanian hospitals make them less appealing and important to Ghanians. When the hospital doesn’t do a good job at helping reverse illness and health problems or they don’t have enough money to pay hospital fees, they turn to alternatives. Hospitals are the more popular medical resource popular but medicine men are still commonly used throughout Ghana. Medicine men might not always be effective, but many Ghanians feel they provide a better diagnosis and more peace of mind than a hospital would.
To society, medicine men are important in many other ways than healing. They are members of the council of elders in villages who advise chiefs on issues that have to do with the spiritual welfare of society. They are responsible for praying to the gods for guidance, protection, and changes in the environment when necessary. They also perform ceremonies to link the spiritual world to the world of the living, such as weddings and burials. Medicine men do not have any medical or political degrees, but a lot of trust is put on them.
Both modern and traditional religion in Ghana reinforce gender roles. Scriptures in the bible and in the koran explain that men are the head of the household and the women must submit to them. In Ghana it is typically expected that the woman is to do the household chores, to take care of the children, take care of their husband, and numerous other duties. Men are the decision makers of the household and are also expected to financially take care of his family, although they often fail at this. Because of these gender expectations boys are expected to go to school and study more than girls, and become better educated.
When a family or person is not making enough money, they often will go to a big city to seek financial gain. People see the big city as a promise of money and prosperity, which are in some ways both real and imagined expectations. The man’s position as primary decision makers allows them to migrate with their families to the city, while the women migrate alone. Because most Ghanaian men are better educated than the women, they tend find better work. Sometimes a man will decide that he can’t or doesn’t want to support his family, and leaves them. This chain of events leaves women more vulnerable to poverty than men.
The bible states to “be fruitful and multiply”, which is something that Ghanians don’t seem to have any problem doing. It seems that practically everyone in Ghana wants to have many babies. I am not sure why people want to have so many, but perhaps it is because of religious beliefs or simply to carry on the family lineage, which is very important to traditional Ghanians. If Ghanians slowed down having babies there would be less children for money and resources to be focused on, which would allow the children to grow into healthier and better educated adults, helping the economy prosper.
A lot of the pregnancies are wanted, but many pregnancies in Ghana are not planned or wanted. There are strong ties between contraceptive use and both religion and education. The Christian, Islam, and traditional religions in Ghana look down upon premarital sex, which has caused some problems. Women that are sexually active are often too embarrassed or ashamed to seek condoms or birth control. Also because premarital sex is looked down upon there is a lack of sex education available to many people. Even when there sex education provided at schools, many of the children don’t attend school, and a number of the students that do attend don’t take it seriously. These factors have caused the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and many unwanted pregnancies.
Another problem that religion has caused in Ghana is Female Genital Mutilation, which is usually done in order to reduce the woman's sex drive and remove her temptation to have sex before marriage. It is also seen in some areas as a passage rite into adulthood for females and therefore done just before marriage. It was made illegal in Ghana in 1994 and those who perform the operation face a prison sentence of at least three years, but it still occurs. Reports indicate that the prevalence rate of FGM in Ghana has decreased substantially but is still around 5 percent, which is lower than many African countries but still too high. FMG is most common in the north, where it was widely practiced before the ban, and there are relatively few prosecutions. The laws regarding FMG are weak and have many loopholes, such as how it “does not punish accomplices such as parents, family and community members who help the FGM practitioner,” said Florence Ali, the president of Ghanaian Association of Women Welfare. FGM often leads to medical complications and can leave a woman psychologically scarred for life.
This traditional practice will continue unless the laws regarding it are strengthened and enforced, which women's rights groups are working on in Ghana. They have put together a campaign, and as stated in Medical News Today; “have persuaded traditional chiefs in the Upper West Region to publicly condemn the custom as 'inhuman and degrading.'”, which is a big step towards their goal of completely eliminating the practice. Another action that can be made to stop FGM would be to persuade girls in the traditional areas of Ghana that FGM is not a good rite of passage and give a substitute for the custom. For example a new rite of passage could be learning about their culture or learning how to be a strong woman.
It is believed by the Ewe people that if a man commits a grave sin, the gods will take revenge and kill members of his family. To avoid this, the family may sacrifice a young virgin girl, typically of eight to fifteen years old, to the local shrine as the god's slave, which is known as trokosi. After the sacrifice the priest has full ownership over the girl. The girls are usually forced to do hard labor, live in brutal conditions, and be the priest’s sex slave. The trokosi girls are typically denied education, food, and basic healthcare. The priest controls all her interactions with others and if she tries to escape the priest can beat her. The girls serving under trokosi often have to spend their entire life serving, some only have to spend a few years. In the past before the trokosi ritual became popular, other rituals were in place. For example, a offering of cattle or other life stock could be made.
In 1998 Ghana made a law banning all forms of ritualized forced labor, including trokosi. Since then a couple thousand women have been rescued from the practice and non-government organizations have established programs to teach them skills to survive outside of slavery, although government has not done anything to enforce the new law. No arrests have made and it has been up to non-government organizations to do all the work. Many women have been rescued from trokosi, but it is speculated that over a thousand still exist.
The traditions that go along with widows in Ghana are often degrading and cruel. The Widows and Orphans Ministry identified the following widowhood rites: “stripping the widow naked and having her wear only shea tree leaves; having the widow bathe naked in public; forcing the widow to marry a man from her late husband's family; having the widow feed the ritualist during and after the funeral; and isolating the widow and exposing her to black ants”. Widowhood rites have been traditions among families in Ghana for a very long time. Despite many human rights movements and the fact that they are prohibited by the law, they still happen regularly.
Religion has it’s purposes and good aspects, but there are a number of negative impacts that it has had on Ghanaian society. Ghana is one of the most religious countries in the world. This paper is not meant to argue if the religious beliefs and practices are good or bad, but only to point out some of it’s effects on society. Religion has been the cause of many profound trends in Ghanaian society, some good and some bad. The right to carry out traditional practices sometimes can conflict with fundamental human rights, but there are always changes and compromises that can be made so that traditionalist can practice in a more humane way.

Bibliography
U.S. Library of Congress. RELIGION. http://countrystudies.us/ghana/50.htm

The Gambia Echo. Kofi Akosah-Sarpong. Engaging Evil Spirits through Spiritual Courts.

Baffour K. Takyi, Chris Opoku-Agyeman, and Agnes Kutin-Mensah. Religion and the Public Sphere: Religious Involvement and Voting Patterns in Ghana’s 2004 Elections


04 Feb 2004. Female Genital Mutilation in Ghana.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/5681.php


Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 12 July 2006. Ghana: Widowhood rites performed by the Akan people, particularly for chiefs and sub-chiefs; whether the widow has to marry the customary successor of the sub-chief and consequences for refusal (2004 - 2006).
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,IRBC,,GHA,,45f147352f,0.html



Sarah C. Aird. Ghana’s Slaves to the Gods.
http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/v7i1/ghana.htm



Africa Recovery, Vol.15 #4. December 2001. Niri t Ben-Ari. Liberating girls from 'trokosi':Campaign against ritual servitude in Ghana http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol15no4/154troko.htm

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Experience of Ghana

Going to Africa has been a dream of mine for a long time and finally I made it come true. When I was leaving america I was nervous with all the possible bad scenarios going through my head, but after I was on the airplane my nervousness turned back into excitement. I was yearning for a big adventure.
When I first arrived in Ghana I was completely out of my comfort zone but was extremely happy to be here at the same time. The people trying to sell us things were overwhelming and took a long time to get used to. There were also many other things that I found overwhelming such as persistent men trying to date or marry me, which I never really got used to.
I was pleasantly surprised that I liked all my roommates. We all got along pretty well and supported each other through each of the challenges and tough days. We spend a lot of time together and it is wonderful how well we bonded.
There are two internships that I have been working at. The first one I started going to about a month after arrived, at the Beacon House Orphanage. This is a very nice orphanage run by a lady from Italy who started it five years ago. It is the home of thirty to forty children from the age of 0-13 years old. I go to the orphanage a couple times a week for three hour shifts. I am happy to help improve the lives of these children! When I am at the orphanage I help by teaching the children and just giving them some attention. I am working on helping my friend in America adopt one of the children from the Beacon House. I really hope that the adoption goes through, I know the little girl would have a better life growing up with good parents. Seeing all the orphans growing up without parents really breaks my heart so I have been trying to do everything I can to help them.
When I first started going to the orphanage I found that It is very nice as far as orphanages go. I spent most of my time with the babies (0-4 years old). As soon as I stepped into the play pin and sat down to play with one child about five others came and sat on my lab or hugged my arm. They are darling and well taken care of, but defiantly need additional one-on-one time! I played with the kids for awhile and then held the youngest while a coworker gave the rest their daily baths. Maxwell, the baby I was holding, is a tiny little baby and is extremely cute, but has medical problem that the doctor can’t figure out. He had a swollen liver, often gets fevers, and has some difficulty breathing. I feel for him and hope the doctor figures it out soon! After I held him awhile he fell asleep in my arms. A month or so after I started my internship school started at the orphanage. Since then I have spent the majority of my time teaching the children in preschool and primary school. It is mostly fun to go, but sometimes they can be quite the handful. It is hard to see children with out parents. I can hardly imagine what it would be like growing up in their shoes, it makes me so grateful that I have such a good family. There is a one year old boy at the orphanage named Issac. The poor little guy is going to have a rough start in life. His father ran out on him and his mother, and his mother is too poor to support him, which is why he is there. He is not adoptable so he will grow up at the orphanage until he is kicked out at age 13. Because this is a nice orphanage he should be moderately well educated and healthy by that point, and hopefully he will find himself a decent life. All the poverty here makes me so sad. I am happy that I have the opportunity to make a little difference in these children's lives.
The Saturday morning after my first week working at the orphanage I woke up very early to get ready for a weekend trip to Cape Coast.

Our first stop when we arrived in town was Elmina Castle. It is where slaves were held before they were sent out to ships during the slave trade. I found the place both fascinating and very sad. It is ridiculous how people could do things so extremely horrible to other people. We learned that the conditions were so harsh for the slaves that from the time they captured to the time they were boarded onto ships only 40% survived, and only half of those survived the voyage on the ship. It was good to see the place, but it broke my heart to know what happened there.
Lunch was our next stop. We went to a restaurant that is located on a little swamp. While we were waiting for our meal we observed about a hundred little yellow birds making their nests, along with a few crocodiles! It is a wonderful place!
We went to the canopy walk next. We walked through the rainforest to a long viewing bridge that was held up by the tallest trees.
It was really cool to see the rainforest from above.

 We couldn’t spot any animals but saw lots of pretty butterflies and way too many ants! It is similar to the rainforest that I saw in Mexico a few years ago.
There was a big festival going on in Cape Coast this weekend so it was a little crazy getting around the place. At one point we had to go to the bank, so we went downtown and had to walk through lots of people to get there. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. I love how the people dance in Ghana! That night we went to an outdoor concert where there were tons of people. Most of the lyrics were in Twi but it was good music to dance to! It was a really fun experience to see a Ghanian concert. The next day we went sight seeing a little more and went to the beach for awhile, then made our way home. It was a wonderful weekend and I found Cape Coast to be a really awesome city!
On the following Wednesday night my roommates and I went to the weekly reggae concert on the beach. We sat and had a drink, went dancing, then we decided to go for a night swim in the ocean. I love living near the ocean, it is always a lot of fun! It was a fun night but I was a little annoyed by some pesky men.
During the Friday of that same week was Ramadan, which was the first muslim holiday that I have ever celebrated. Friday night I went out with my roommates Gina and Ada and their group of muslims friends to celebrate. We found that Ramadan is a very big deal to muslims so there were a lot of people out celebrating. We went out to a popular dance club. Our new muslim friends are very nice guys and did a great job at keeping all the overly outgoing men away from us, which I appreciated very much!
On Saturday we went to campus to watch the soccer tournament. It was a lot of fun to watch them. Many of them didn't have proper gear such as shin guards and cleats but they still were so good! The little boys team could probably beat a US college mens team. We also watched the basketball tournament for awhile. It was a little weird seeing so many tall Ghanaians because Ghanaians tend to be fairly short.
The following weekend my roommates and I went to the town of Ada. The taxi and trotro rides felt long, a little confusing, and when we got into town I was a little sketched out by where we were and was not in the best mood. Luckily before too long we were on a boat on our way to the beach resort.
The beach resort was absolutely beautiful. It is located very close to where the Volta River meets the ocean, so there was water on all sides of us. We spent the night in little huts. The huts had only sand as flooring and grass as roofing, but luckily it didn’t rain and the huts did the job.
I enjoyed a few water side walks near the resort. I liked walking down on the river side until it meet the ocean and walking back on the ocean side. We had fun collecting seashells, there were tons of really beautiful ones on the beach. There was a dead whale washed up on the beach that we were told was killed by the local fishermen because it was eating the fish. It was sad and it smelled bad, but in a way it was cool to see. There were also lots of dead jellyfish and other fish on the beach, we don’t know why there were so many. If there wasn’t so many dead things and trash washed up, the beach would have been a perfect and absolutely gorgeous tropical paradise. It was still pretty darn nice!

On one of our beach walks we meet a rastifarian guy who lives on the beach close to the resort. He was a really funny guy. After we had dinner he came and joined our table and sang some Bob Marley songs for us. After he was done singing he taught me the basics on how to play a drum. I’ve wanted to learn how to play one for a long time, it was really fun! He wanted us to buy some of the jewelry that he made. I would have if I had brought enough money with me, he had some really cool stuff. That sunday I was starting to feel a little under the weather, but the trotro rides went pretty quickly and we were back in Accra soon enough.
Later that week was the national holiday celebrating Kwame Nkrumah's 100th birthday, so most people didn’t have work or school. I traveled by myself out of town via trotro for the first time to meet my family friend’s friend. I was scared that I would get lost but luckily I made it there safely without any problems. I got to John and Martha’s home a little less than two hours. They are very kind people and were very happy to have me over for the day. Martha made fufu in a light soup for an early dinner. It took me awhile to like fufu and banku, but I enjoy them now and thought that Martha’s was the best I’ve ever had.
My other internship started following week for an NGO called FightAIDS Ghana. I was introduced to William who is my supervisor and he showed me the office and introduced me to the other staff. He took me and the other interns to the school that his stepfather runs. We went in each of the classrooms and meet the children that we teach. The children range from first grade to 12th grade. I have been to the school a few times. Teaching the young children was difficult because they are very routy and there was never a teacher around to give me an example of what and how I should be teaching. I helped out William with FightAIDS Ghana quite a lot during that month and some over the next month. Things I did include sending out invitations to fundraisers, creating email addresses, computer assistance, and distributing school supplies to children in need.
During my last couple months William got me a position assisting a nurse at a local hospital. The hospital is very different than the hospitals in America. I work in the section of the hospital that deals with babies, new mothers, and pregnant women. I have been given duties of record keeping and figuring out if there are any problems with the babies or mothers that need further attention. I was given these duties before I even really knew what was going on and before I really knew the system or what was going on. I have much more responsibility than I would be giving at an america considering my lack of training and the language barrier. Usually I don’t have much trouble doing my duties but sometimes I have trouble communicating with patients or I am unsure how to cure a medical problem and all the nurses are too busy to ask, which is frustrating. I have noticed that the hospital lacks sanitation, organization, and proper training. I believe that the hospital won’t ever have these things until Ghana becomes more industrialized and the hospital has more money. I do what I can to help and I hope that what I learned from my experiences at the hospital will help advance me to my goal of becoming a nurse.
My internships, classes, and excursions keep me pretty busy. I find that it is nice to be busy. Walking around town and taking the trotro is a lot of fun to me. I have made most of my friends here while traveling to or from work or school. I like walking a lot, but some days it has just been to hot and I have had to take a taxi.
One weekend our program took us to Kumasi. About half of the drive was on dirt roads which made it take a long time to get there, but on the way we bought some tasty new foods from people selling them on their heads. We bought the African equivalent of a tamale which was a steamed corn husk containing corn kernels and peanuts. We also bought a loaf of sweet white bread, which may have been the best bread that I have had in my entire life! When we arrived at the hotel we got settled in and then went to the hotel restaurant where they prepared a great lunch buffet for us. It was truly fabulous Ghanian food.
After we were done eating we hopped back onto the bus and went to the king’s palace museum. The king of the Asante region has the most power of any of the Ghanian kings, although the kings don't have much power now that Ghana has a democracy. We had a hilarious tour guide and it was a lot of fun.
We then went to the Kumasi market, which is gigantic. We stayed there for less than a hour so we didn't see very much of it, but what we did see was really cool. There are huge metal bowls in some of the little store huts that contain anything from peanut butter to rice to giant snails. We briefly walked through the leather section of the market. It was interesting to watch all the men cutting and sewing the leather into sandals, belts, and other commodities. Later we walked through the market's meat section, which was quite the experience. The smell of the fish and the various types of meat stagnated in the air so I tried to breath through my mouth. We quickly walked through the open building full of tables covered in a medley of animal parts. Ghanians eat pretty much every part of the animals and the head of any animal is a delicacy, which is a little strange to me. It was a cool experience but I was very happy when it was done!

The next day we went to the kente fabric market. It was really cool to see how kente is made and how much work goes into each piece made. Each of us got to try to make a portion of kente ourselves. I'm sure that it takes a lot of time and practice to master the art. I bought one big piece of the beautiful fabric which I plan on either hanging on a wall or using as a tablecloth.
Next we went to a adinkra building. We got a history lesson on adinkra and how it is made which I found very interesting. We then got to stamp some onto cloths to take home with us. As we were making our pieces a huge thunder storm rolled in. Every time the thunder struck it was so loud that it made us all jump. The storms in Ghana are huge compared to the ones that I have experienced in the USA.
Our last stop before we journeyed home was the bead making factory. One of the owners of the family business showed us how they make the beads and the different ways that they can put designs in them. I never knew that bead making was such an art! After I saw how they were made I grew a greater appreciation for the bead jewelry.
The next week quickly rolled around and the trip that we planed on doing since we got here was finally about to happen. It wasn’t planned very well, but the goal was to go to Mole National Park. We stayed in Kumasi monday night and took a taxi up to Techiman the next day to meet Ada and her french boyfriend, Allen. It was a beautiful drive and we had a nice lunch there before parting ways with Molly and her visitor Dorothy who were not able to continue our journey with us. The new Fad Five headed up to Kintampo in a couple hour long trotro ride. Kintampo is a small but lovely town that has a waterfall that we were all excited to go to. We splurged and spent the night at an “expensive” hotel that was recommended in my guide book which actually extremely cheap compared to american hotels. We all had comfortable beds, high water pressure and cable TV :) We found that hotels and taxis are much cheaper in the northern parts that in Accra. In the morning we had a relaxed start and headed out to see the waterfall. This waterfall was surprisingly my favorite part of the trip.
The stream was beautiful, carving it’s way through the slabs of rock that got in it’s way. After we saw the smaller series of waterfalls we climbed down the steepest set of stairs that I have ever seen and arrived at the bottom of the large waterfall. I felt it’s mist from far away and when we stood closer it drenched us with mist, which was a great feeling. We all got into our bathing suits and then stood and laid under the waterfall. It is so powerful and amazing! After a couple hours of having fun at the waterfall we trekked up the stairs and continued our journey northward.
When our trotro got to Tamale the daily bus to Mole had already left so we had to find alternate means of getting there. We ended up finding some English girls that were also trying to get to Mole, so we grouped together and got a decent price on having a pickup truck take us. The English girls rode in the cab and we rode in the truck bed. Riding in the back of the truck was a little uncomfortable and we got a thick dirt tan, but it was fun! As we were driving along the long bumpy dirt rode many children from the little villages yelled out greetings to us and we waved to them as if we were celebrities. It was wonderful watching the sunset while talking to each other in the back of a pickup. As soon as we drove into the park we were greeted by warthogs roaming the street. They are gross looking fellers, but it was exciting to see them! We got dropped off at the motel and got a room. As we entered the room we were greeted by three cockroaches! I was thankful to not have my normal job as the cockroach killer. Allan had his hiking boots and happily took on the duty. I was amazed by the enormous numbers of bugs in the park! After a late dinner, on my way back to the hotel room I came across a herd of antelope in the field, along with warthogs, and an anteater. It was so incredible!
After a full nights sleep Ada and I woke up early to go on a walking tour. It was so nice to be up early before it got hot and the bugs all came out. As we were leaving the hotel to go to the tour center we came across a big baboon so we decided to ditch the tour idea and follow the baboon instead. The baboon ran off pretty quickly but we keep walking down the road until we came across some children going to school. One of the little boys really wanted us to go to his school so we went down the little path with him that led to the school. The school children were darling and so happy that we walked with them, and the scenery was breathtaking.
Ada and I are a little jealous that they get to go to school in a national park! The path was surrounded with soft grasses heavily covered in morning mist, and the occasional tropical shrub or tree. It was a peaceful and beautiful walk. We saw warthogs and an older antelope with big horns. After our walk we went back to the hotel only to find it raided by baboons searching for food. In Mole National Park baboons are the equivalent of the raccoons in NW America, although I like them much more. They aren’t really afraid of human and they will do anything for food. We went on a couple guided tours as well during the couple days we spent there.
During our walk and tours we in total saw baboons, green monkeys, an elephant, three different types of antelope, some really cool looking birds, warthogs, anteaters, and every type of insect imaginable. When the sun was up it got way too hot to do anything but go swimming, and when the sun went down the horrible heat was replaced with masses of bugs. I wore bug repellent but by the time we left the park I counted over thirty bug bites on my arms alone. The view was amazing and I loved seeing all the animals but I was happy when it was time to leave.
We got a car going back to Tamale and went to a cheap hotel that was close to the bus station. It was the worst hotel that I have ever been to, it really shouldn’t have been in the guidebook! The paint was peeling off all the walls, it was dirty, there weren’t sheets on the beds, the ventilation in the room was poor which made it unbearably hot during the day, and it had a gross communal bathroom. Luckily we only had to spend one night there and I had brought my own sheet!
We left the hotel promptly that night and went out to a little club for a drink and got some yummy street food. It was a fun night apart from the walk home. This annoying boy with horrible breath refused to let me walk back without him. During the walk when I stepped over a miniature wall between parking lots I found that the ground wasn’t where I anticipated but there was a sewer there instead. I feel into a sewer! My entire foot was covered in grime and I had a few scrapes. I got back to the hotel, made the annoying boy go away, and got Emily to go to the communal bathroom with me so I could wash the sewer grime off my legs.
In the morning I was awaken by Emily and Joe at the door. We had oversleep and had to get ready really fast to go to the bus station. So I jumped out of bed and speed walked over to the bus station to get our tickets, only to find that the bus was already full. We made the best of our day by hanging out at a restaurant and going shopping at the art market. Tamale has some amazing art work and it was fun shopping there because we weren’t hassled at all like we would be in Accra or the villages in southern Ghana. Finally we got a nice bus that took us the entire twelve hour drive back to Accra. The traveling wasn’t bad because I managed to sleep most the way. I was happy to be back. The trip had its wonderful parts and its not so wonderful parts, but all in all it was a great trip full of wonderful experiences!
A few weeks later our program took the fab five (my roommates and myself) on an excursion to the Volta Region. I didn’t know what to expect the Volta Region to be like but I instantly liked what I saw. It has tons of mountains and greenery, it is very beautiful. We arrived early afternoon in Wli where we hiked down a path to a big waterfall. It was so nice to hike around in the forest for the first time since I arrived in Africa, I had missed hiking a lot. Our guide pointed out pineapple, cocoa, and coffee plants to us, none of which look like I had expected them to. It was so peaceful walking through the tropical forest, listening to all the exotic birds and insects make their noises. When we arrived at the waterfall it was pouring down the cliff at full force. It was so powerful that we could feel the mist from really far away. I went swimming with Emily and Molly, we got really close to the waterfall but it was too powerful to go under it. It was lots of fun and a nice get away from city life. On our way back to the bus we bought some things from the villagers and observed their pet ostriches which are possibly the strangest looking animals that I have ever come across.
Our next stop was a small village that is home to a monkey sanctuary. A local took us into the forest and called the monkeys over. They jumped over to the tree we were standing near and climbed down so that we could feed them bananas. I held out my banana and they ate it right out of my hand. One little monkey jumped onto Gina’s arm to get her banana. As we where standing around listening to our guide Molly got the pleasure of having the monkey sitting in the tree directly above her start peeing. It was truly hilarious. The next day we relaxed all morning and afternoon at the hotel’s pool, it was wonderful. We then got into the bus and made our way home. It was a great weekend, I only wish that we could have spent more time there.
Time has gone very quickly and the end of my trip here is coming to an end. I love Ghana and the experience of being here is wonderful, but the different culture is still tiring and I miss home. There is no way that anyone will ever be able to experience Ghana without being here. Everything is different here, there is no way to truly capture it all in words or pictures. Some of the differences between here and America include the way people greet each other and the way they shake hands, the food, the way people eat, the weather, the gender roles, the sewer system, the laws, the politics, the way people drive, the way people talk, the clothing, the beliefs, traditions, and pretty much everything else.
One weekend we were feeling a little homesick and tired of the city so Molly, Ada, Emily, and I went to Aburi. It was so nice to walk around the gardens and enjoy the different trees and plants from around the world. The weather up there is much cooler than in Accra and it was nice to feel a little chill for the first time in over three months. It was so nice that we could travel just 30 minutes out of the city and feel like we were in the jungle.
As we were walking through the gardens, we heard some singing and drumming and decided to follow the beat. We had to exit the gardens again and we came to a building where the music was. There were little kids waving at us from a window telling us to come. We were hesitant but we finally went to the entrance. A woman greeted and welcomed us inside. It was Sunday afternoon so they were having church in the small building. I had not been to a Ghanaian church so it was an interesting experience. I am very glad to have seen a piece of Ghanaian culture that is so important and so prevalent in Ghanaian society. We enjoyed some wonderful pizza and then headed home. It didn't take long to catch a ride for all four of us and so we were on our way back to the hustle, bustle, and heat of Accra.
The main reason that I have begun to miss America is that I miss blending in. I am tired of being a spectacle and I am tired of being hassled because of the color of my skin. I love Ghana and I know that I will miss it when I return home, but right now I miss home a little. Luckily I have just enough time to see all the things that I haven't seen yet. During our last month or so in Ghana we had all our spare time planned out and have been very busy. Some of our plans have failed, but most were successful and we have been able to experience a lot of Ghana. After we are done with school we will do some traveling around Togo, which I am super excited for! I have learned a lot from my experiences in Ghana and think I have grown from them. This last semester has made me realize how important and wonderful traveling is, and I hope to do a lot more of it in the future.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

My Experience In Ghana

As I arrived at the airport my eyes started to water with thoughts of the unknown filling my head. I was scared about the possibility of my time in Africa not being good. I thought “What if I don’t get along with my roommates? What if I get homesick? What if I don’t make many friends?”. I said goodbye to my parents and went to find my airplane. After I got on the airplane my nervousness turned back into excitement as my long time dream of going to Africa was finally coming true! I was ready for big adventure, even if it meant leaving behind the people that I know and love.
The plane flights and layovers were long and tiring. I meet up with my roommates Molly and Gina in the D.C. airport and we took the last leg of our flights together. I got more and more excited as time went on, especially once I could see glimpses of Africa through the clouds. Sooner than I could get a grip on the reality that I was going to be in Africa, we arrived. As I was going through customs I did not get a very good first impression of the country. There were pretty paintings on the walls, the air smelled like urine, and there were men dressed in army attire walking around with machine guns. These things made my nervousness return.
As we made our way down to the parking lot area we found the people who had picked us up hold sign that said AHA Program. I was unsure of these men and who they were and if we were safe, but later learned that one of them was the driver and the other is named Sonny who is a great guy that works for AHA. As we followed them to the van we were bombarded by men trying to help us carry out suitcases and get money from us. It was quite overwhelming because we didn’t know who was part of our group and who wasn’t. Eventually we made it to the van and escaped the madness of the airport.
Sonny and the driver took us to the our hotel that we had reservations at. It was a totally beautiful place! I love the tropical plants and the sound of the ocean! We were a little tired and overwhelmed from our travels and the culture change so we spent a good amount of time just relaxing there. I finally I was so glad that the rest of Ghana wasn’t like my first impression of it.
After a whole day of rest a few of my roommates and I went to a part of town called Osu. As soon as the taxi arrived in Osu we were instantly bombarded by baggers and people trying to sell us things, it was quite overwhelming. A very persistent man selling paintings eventually talked me into buying one. Buying the painting way a good way to get him to stop bothering me but I have come across many paintings that are much prettier since then. I think that the locals could tell that we were new foreigners to town, and they tried to take advantage of that. We then went on to find dinner. It took a long time for us to find a restaurant and we were all very hungary and happy when we found a nice looking restaurant. We didn’t know what anything was on the menu so we had the waiter explain to us what everything was. I was amazed by how kind and patient that most the people were that I had come across! I ordered my first authentic Ghanian meal which was Banku and Tilapia with a spicy light soup. It was a fun new experience. I loved the fish but wasn’t sure about the rest of the meal and I didn’t know how to go about eating it without any utensils. When we returned to the hotel we greeted Ada, the last roommate to arrive. Our hotel was very nice. We enjoyed many good meals, a few beers, and my first ever night swim in the ocean while we were there. I was so excited about being in Ghana and was ready to jump more into the culture. I was happy that all my roommates seemed to be cool people and was stoked for the adventures coming my way!
The next day our house was ready to move into. It was much nicer than I was expecting. Each of us have our own bedrooms and bathrooms, we have a kitchen, dining room, and a living room. The house has a tall adobe fence toped with barbwire that wraps around the house and a nice manicured yard. We have security guards that take turns sitting in a little office outside the house 24 hours a day. All the security feels a little excessive but it’s nice to feel safe anyways.
After the first week here we started class. We walk or get a trotro to the Aya Centre for each class. The first week we had a Twi class. Learning the Twi language is very difficult, as any foreign language is. The course was much too short, but it was enough to learn some of the basics. The way people speak this language sounds so good, they sound so graceful with their words, I really wanted to learn it! I planed on practicing Twi with the locals, but haven’t had much motivation to do that because almost everyone speaks english as well.
During that week we learned to ride the trotro. I learned that trotros are usually packed to the brim with people and usually cause perfuse sweating. It was a fun experience, but I was very nervous do it alone! I probably would have been too scared to do it If I didn’t have a cell phone that knew I could use if I got lost. Luckily I never got lost and over that last couple months I have become comfortable with the trotro system and now I even enjoy riding them sometimes.
The first Friday night after our school program started AHA took us out to a club. It was a lot of fun and quite the experience! I realized that night how different the relations and roles of males and females in this culture are. The men are very outgoing and the females are very reserved. The men seem especially outgoing towards us american girls, because they are under the impression that if they marry one of us they will be able to live in America or have more money. When we were dancing I got separated from my group of friends and suddenly there were four men dancing around me, grabbing my arms playing tug-a-war with me. It was insane! I had to push them all away to rejoin my group. It is interesting how women don’t go out to clubs, bars, or parties because when they do so they might seem promiscuous or something. There are always more men than women at these places. I still haven’t figured out how to deal with some of the men here, but ignoring them isn’t too difficult most of the time. I still haven’t gotten used to the extreme differences in gender roles here. The women are expected to do all the womanly chores such as cooking, cleaning, farming, laundry, and childcare. The men are expected to do all the heavy labor and typical male roles. These gender roles exist in America as well, but in a much less extreme way.
The first couple weeks in Ghana felt adventurous, wonderful, and and at times overwhelming. It didn’t take me long for most of my doubts and nervous thoughts about this trip to disappear and for me to feel really happy that I went! It helped a lot that I liked all my roommates and that the people here are so kind and friendly! I liked my first glimpse at African culture very much!
As the following couple weeks went by I started to feel that the remainder of my time in Ghana would go very quickly. My first few weeks were so wonderful and busy that they were over much more quickly than what seemed possible. It took me about three weeks to get over my original sense of being overwhelmed with the drastically new culture. I then started to notice things that didn’t at first. I was told before I came that I would be called “obruni” a lot and I would get really annoyed with it. During the first week or two there was so much new stuff going on that I didn’t even notice anyone call me that. Then this one time I noticed a child calling me by that word and ever since then I have noticed people saying it everywhere I go! It usually doesn’t annoy me but I hear it being said all the time. It isn’t a rare occurrence for people to get very excited to see us obruni, especially children. I am often approached by men when I walk anywhere. Most of the men that approach me want to be friends or start a relationship with me, some give business proposals, others just want money. I have been told many times by complete strangers that they “love me”. Some of these men I have found to be quite annoying, and have had to reject and get rid of each one of them, which is not something that I have enjoyed doing.
It also took me about three weeks to learn how to ignore and deal with people trying to sell me things, taxi drivers honking there, beggars, and men trying to get my number. Dealing with these things didn’t come very easily to me at first because I have never been around them in such great amounts, and the people here tend to be very persistent when they want something. One time a man in his 50s or 60s asked me for my number (what the heck was he thinking?!) some how I managed to strongly and effectively say NO without being totally mean, which I feel is quite the accomplishment! There have been other times in which I have not handled such occasions of saying no so smoothly, because I am not always very good at lying. One time I said “No you can’t have my number, I don’t have a phone.” right after talking on my cell phone, which was not the smoothest rejection! But since then I have started to form effective strategies of both ignoring, rejecting and just being friends with the male population here in Ghana. I have found that the aggressive flirting of the men and the reservedness of the women are just part of the culture here.
My roommates and I have all the same classes and we are the only people in them, which is very different than any classes I have ever had. In some ways it is nice having such small class sizes and it it also nice to be able to ask my roommates if I have any questions about a class. I have learned many things in these classes that I would otherwise not know about Ghana. All of my classes are very interesting, and have helped me know what it would really be like to be a ghanaian.
My classes have taught me some very interesting things about the sociology, government, gender roles, religions, and traditions of people in Ghana. It was great that I learned these things in class because I was then able to discuss the topics with locals and get other perspectives. I had some very interesting conversations with coworkers at my internships about things I have learned in class. When I first was told in class that the people in Ghana believe in witchcraft I was greatly surprised. Growing up in america I haven’t known a single person that believes in witchcraft. Before I came here I thought that it was an instinct belief and if anyone actually believed it that they would probably be insane. I have found by asking around that people actually really do believe that witches are real. When anything goes wrong it is often believed that it happened because a witch made it happen. This is one of the most interesting beliefs that I have come across during my time in Ghana. It is so different than anything that I have come across in america. How people believe it so full heartedly here, and how few people in america believe it shows how much effect that society has on individual’s beliefs. Each person tends to conform to their societies beliefs. To me witchcraft definitely doesn’t exist, but to almost anyone that I have talk to in Ghana says that it absolutely does.
I am doing two internships during my time in Ghana. One is at The Beacon House Orphanage and one at the Alpha Medical Centre. I work at the orphanage about seven hours a week and the clinic about eight hours a week. The Beacon House is a very nice orphanage that helps children from 1 to 13 years old. Most of the orphans have been physically abused and many have diseases or disabilities. I am happy to help improve the lives of these children! When I am at the orphanage I help by teaching the children and just giving them some much needed attention. I am working on helping my sister-in-law’s friend in america adopt one of the children from the Beacon House. I really hope that the adoption goes through, I know the little girl would have a better life growing up with parents. Seeing all the orphans growing up without parents really breaks my heart so I have been trying to do anything I can to help them.
I’m also very happy to work at the clinic. At the clinic I am the assistant to the head nurse. The hospital is very different than the hospitals in America. I work in the section of the hospital that deals with babies, new mothers, and pregnant women. I have been given duties of record keeping and figuring out if there are any problems with the babies or mothers that need further attention. I was given these duties before I even really knew what was going on and before I really knew the system or what was going on. I have much more responsibility than I would be giving at an america considering my lack of training. Usually I don’t have much trouble doing my duties but sometimes I have trouble communicating with patients or I am unsure how to cure a medical problem and all the nurses are too busy to ask, which is frustrating. I have noticed that the hospital lacks sanitation, organization and proper training. I believe that the hospital won’t ever have these things until Ghana becomes more industrialized and the hospital has more money. I do what I can to help out when I am there and I hope that what I learn from my experiences there will help advance me to my goal of becoming a nurse.
My internships, class and excursions have keep me pretty busy. I find that it is nice to be busy. Walking around town and taking the trotro is a lot of fun to me. I have made most of my friends here while traveling to or from work or school. I like walking a lot, but some days it has just been to hot and I have had to take a taxi.
It took me awhile to get accustomed to Ghana’s weather. When we arrived it was the middle of Ghana’s rainy season, which is nothing like the winters that I am accustomed to. It didn’t rain very often but when it did each time it was in extreme amounts, the biggest rain drops that I have ever seen! The temperature is usually hot and Accra is always very humid. When I first got here I though it was much too hot but as time pasted I got accustomed to the weather, but just as after I got accustomed to it the weather got hotter. The heat has been getting worse and worse, to the point that I don’t like spending much time outside during the day. It was especially hot when I went up to Tamale for the mid-semester break, where it got so hot that I felt miserable doing anything that didn’t involve the swimming pool. It has been cloudy here in Accra more often than it has been sunny, but often the sun usually breaks through eventually. I am the tannest that I have ever been. It will be fun to go home and be the darkest of all my friends and family. The locals here tend to laugh at me when I wear sunglasses, and they say that it’s hardly sunny at all, but it is to me!
Doing laundry by hand is quite the chore and I avoid doing it for long as possible. No one has washers here because they are expensive and use too much water. I dread doing laundry by hand and tend to put off doing it for as long as possible. The first few times I did laundry it took me a really long time but with practice I have improved my technics and have become more efficient. I am looking forward to going home to the luxury washing machines.
The house is very nice but we have some serious bug problems. There are little ants everywhere. If food is left unattended for ten minutes, I guarantee that there will be a thick trail of little black specks crawling onto to a plate fully covered by the little insects. There have also been many cockroaches in our house. The first few times they appeared we all panicked and made a big deal out of it. As they have continued to enter our house time after time it has become less of a ordeal. I am extremely grateful that they haven’t been in my bathroom the whole time! We have also had many mosquitos, lizards, poisonous spiders, and other little creatures living with us. The bugs are not as big as I had expected them to be, but there sure are a lot of them here in Ghana.
The dollar to cedi exchange rate is really good so I have not had to worry very much about money since I got here. Most things here are pretty cheap, especially the street food and things at the market. I like bargaining, it will be strange when I go back to America where almost everything has a fixed price and is really expensive.
I have found that almost everything that could possibly be different in Ghanian culture compared to American culture is indeed different. There is no way that anyone will ever be able to experience Ghana without being here. I have been trying to explain my experience to my friends and family at home, but the truth is that I have failed. Everything is different here, there is no way to truly capture it all in words or pictures. Some of the differences between here and America include the way people greet each other and the way they shake hands, the food, the way people eat, the weather, the gender roles, the sewer system, the laws, the politics, the way people drive, the way people talk, the clothing, the beliefs, traditions... everything. Being here has been an incredible experience. It has taught me a lot and has opened my eyes to so many new things. I am so fortunate and grateful that I have been adapt to spend the last four months in Ghana, a place so different from my home.

Monday, September 20, 2010

My Experience of Ghana

Before I arrived in Ghana I had many stereotypes and ideas of what it would be like. I thought that I knew what to expect and that I was prepared for it, but I was wrong. Being in Africa was nothing like I thought it would be, but I love it just how it is.
During my first few weeks in Ghana I was overwhelmed with the culture change. Almost everything is different here than in the United States and I was bombarded with the differences. I slowly started to feel more comfortable and after a few weeks I was able to emerge myself more into the culture and notice more things. Ghana is not what I expected. There are many things that I love about it along with some things that I don’t.
There are many things that I like about Ghana include the friendly people, the sunny tropical weather, and the lack of industrialization in many areas. I love the adventure of being in a new place and having a completely new daily routine.
In the United States I always have to worry about being on time for everything, which is difficult for me. I love that time is not a issue here because of “ghana maybe time”. I can be late to most things and it doesn’t matter, which has saved me a lot of stress. I can tell that it is difficult for some people to adapt to “ghana maybe time”, but I think that it is wonderful and that it should be adapted everywhere. People can even show up to work late and it isn’t as big of a deal as it would be in other countries.
I enjoy the music and how ghanians freely dance to it. The atmosphere here is much different here than in the U.S. and I like it a lot. The music is less electronic which just makes it sound better. The average ghanian can dance much better than the average american. People here can really move their hips and move with the music, which I like much more than the popular grinding style that I see in the U.S. The only problem with going out dancing is that we are often bombarded with men, because men are rarely shy towards us at all in Accra.
There are also some things about Ghana that are unpleasant and have been difficult for me to adapt to. The open sewer system and the lack of drinkable tap water are some of those things. Walking down the street I can look at the water, or whatever it is, mixed in with pieces of trash and debris floating down the sewer. I can see and smell it's contents, although I try not to. Every now and then I will notice someone using the roadside sewer as their bathroom. I will also notice chickens, dogs and goats drinking and eating out of the sewer, the same animals that are used for eggs and meat. The sewer is often clogged with trash such as water sachets. Having to find water sachets to drink out of has made me realize how spoiled I have been growing up where the tap water is so pure and fresh.
Poverty is something that has also been a little overwhelming for me. In some areas it is so immense that people living there don’t even realize how horrible their living conditions are, because it is all they have ever known. The poverty has opened my eyes to how well off I am and how luck I am to have grown up in such a nice family.
The gender roles and relations are very different here from any that I have ever experienced. The men are very outgoing and the women seem to be much more shy and reserved. The men are always trying to talk to us telling us how beautiful we are and trying to hangout with us. This rarely happens in the U.S. and it often makes me feel uncomfortable.
Overall I have been enjoying my experiences in Ghana very much and I am extremely happy to be here. It can be difficult at times, but I am grateful to be here now! I am glad that many of the stereotypes and ideas I had about Africa are wrong and I am excited to tell my friends back home about all the wonderful adventures that I’ve been having.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Ideal Gas Law


Introduction
The purpose of this lab was to investigate several properties of gases and use the ideal gas law (eq 3) to explain the observations made. The lab consisted of a pressure-volume experiment which relates to eq. 1, and a pressure-temperature experiment which relates to eq. 2.
Equation 1, Boyle’s Law, shows the relationship of pressure and the inverse of volume.
P α 1/V   (1)
Equation 2, Charle’s Law, gives the relationship of pressure and temperature.
P α T (2)
Equation 3, The Ideal Gas Law, is a combination of eq 1 and eq 2, where P is pressure, V is volume, n is the amount of moles, and T is temperature.
PV=nRT (3)
Procedure
  In part one of the experiment the relationship between the pressure and volume of air was determined. Air was confined in a syringe which was connected to a pressure sensor. Data from the pressure sensor was saved on the computer. This data was analyzed and a graph created of pressure vs volume and of pressure vs 1/volume. The data was converted to the appropriate units and the number of moles of air in the syringe calculated using the Ideal Gas Law (eq 3).
In part two of the lab the temperature-pressure relationship was explored using a vernier testing apparatus, which consisted of a sealed flask with a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor connected, suspended in a beaker of water. Data was collected in 5°C intervals and saved on the computer. The data was analyzed and put into a graph comparing pressure and temperature.
Detailed procedures may be found in reference 1.
Results 
In this lab the Ideal Gas Law was tested by measuring the pressure of gas in comparison to volume and temperature. 
Figure 1 shows the data collected of Pressure level compared with the volume of the air. 
pastedGraphic.pdf
Figure 1. The pressure of air measured by controlling the volume.
The average volume was 0.014 L ± 0.0039 and the average pressure was 1.4 atm ± 0.38.
As eq. 1 states, pressure is inversely related to volume.
Figure 2 shows the data collected of pressure compared with 1/volume of the air. 
pastedGraphic_1.pdf
Figure 2. The pressure of air as a function of inverse volume.
The data in figures 1 and 2 were used to solve eq. 3 for the number of mols of air in the syringe, which was calculated to be 0.00076 mols. The value of R, calculated using the slope of the trendline in figure 2 was 0.072 L-atm/mol-K.
Figure 3 shows the relationship of temperature vs. pressure using the data obtained from the second part of the experiment.
pastedGraphic_2.pdf
Figure 3. The relationship of pressure vs. temperature of air.
The relationship of pressure and temperature is direct, as seen in eq. 2 and proved by the fact that the data made a linear graph. As temperature increases so does pressure, this is because when temperature increases the molecules increase in velocity and collide more frequently. The average temperature was 325 K ± 18.9 and the average pressure was 1.0 atm ± 0.055.
Discussion
In this lab the Ideal Gas Law was tested by observing a pressure-volume relationship and a temperature-pressure relationship. The R value of the data in Figure 1 was calculated to be 0.072 L-atm/mol-K, which has a 13% relative error when compared to the accepted value. This may be due to the fact that it was near impossible to precisely control how much the the syringe would tighten. It is also possible that the composition of the air in the room that the lab was done deviated slightly from where the accepted value was determined. The average pressure constant for part one was 115 ± 68.5.
From the data used to make figure 1, the average volume was 0.014 L ± 0.0039 and the average pressure was 1.4 atm ± 0.38. From the data used to make figure 3, the average temperature was 325 K ± 18.9 and the average pressure was 1.0 atm ± 0.055. These standard deviations are not bad, and probably exist due to human error. If the temperature was doubled the pressure would also double. The average pressure constant for part two was 0.0179 ± .000512.
References
1. General Chemistry Experiments: A Manual for Chemistry 204, 205, and 206,Department of Chemistry, Southern Oregon University: Ashland, OR, 2009

Application of LeChatelier’s Principle to Chemical Equilibria


Introduction
The purpose of this lab was to determine which way equilibrium shifts went by using LeChatelier’s Principle. LeChatelier’s Principle states that change in any of the parameters that determine equilibria will result in a system change, which will cause a change in the equilibria.  
The equilibria of three solutions were found by executing and observing a variety of experiments for each. 
First the equilibrium shift in a reaction (eq 1) involving the weak acid HSO4- in water was tested.
HSO4-(aq) + H2O (l) ⇌  H3O+(aq) + SO42- (aq) (1)
 Next the equilibrium shift in a reaction (eq 2) involving the slightly soluble salt Mg(OH)2 was tested. 
Mg2+(aq) + 2OH-(aq) ⇌  Mg(OH)2(s) (2)
Last the equilibrium shift in a reaction (eq 3) involving the hexaaquacobalt(II) ion, Co(H2O)62-  was tested.
CoCl42-(alc) + 6H2O(l) ⇌  Co(H2O)62+(aq) + 4Cl-(aq) (3)
Procedure
For the first part of the lab the initial solution was prepared by adding NaHSO4 to five labeled test tubes, and then Thymol Blue as a pH indicator. When the pH is less than two Thymol Blue is red, when it is greater than two Thymol Blue is a red-yellow color. The first test tube was used as a standard. Na2SO4 was added to the second test tube until there was a color change. NaHSO4 was added to the third test tube until there was a color change. The fourth test tube was heated in a hot water bath, then cooled in a ice water bath. The opposite was preformed on the fifth. All observations were recorded. 
The second and third parts of the lab were the same as part one but with different solutions and phenolphthalein as the pH indicator. Phenolphthalein is colorless unless the pH is greater than eight, at which point it turns pink. For part two the beginning solution was created from MgCl2 and NaOH, and HCl and Na4EDTA were the solutions added to the appropriate test tubes. For the third part of the lab the beginning solution comprised of water and CoCl42-, and ethyl alcohol, silver nitrate, and HCl were added to the appropriate test tubes.
Detailed procedures may be found in reference 1.
Results 
The first part of the lab involved the reaction HSO4-(aq) + H2O (l) ⇌  H3O+(aq) + SO42- (aq).  Table 1 contains the data and observations obtained from this reaction.
Table 1. Results of Equilibria for the NaHSO4 solutions. 

Disturbance
Observation
Equilibrium Shift
Na2SO4
Lighter Red/Yellow Tint
Reactants
NaHSO4
No Change
Products
Heated
Lighter Pink
Reactants
Cooled
Bright Pink
Products
The Thymol Blue indicator did not work well in the heating/cooling portion of this lab. It should have indicated a basic pH when it was heated and a acidic pH when it was cooled, but it showed the opposite.  For this reaction it is known that for this reaction that when the solution is heated it shifts towards the reactants, which is why it was an exothermic reaction.
The second part of the lab involved the reaction Mg2+(aq) + 2OH-(aq) ⇌  Mg(OH)2(s).  Table 2 contains the data and observations obtained from this reaction.
Table 2. Results of Equilibria for Mg(OH)2 solutions.

Disturbance
Observation
Equilibrium Shift
HCl
Clear
Reactants
Na4EDTA
Darker Pink
Reactants
Heated
Lighter Pink
Products
Cooled
Increased Precipitate
Reactants
The pink color from the phenolphthalein caused it to be difficult to accurately discern the quantity of precipitate when it was heated and therefore did not accurately express the shift in equilibrium. For this reaction it is known that heating the solution shifts the equilibrium towards the products, which is why it was an endothermic reaction.
The third part of the lab involved the reaction 
CoCl42-(alc) + 6H2O(l) ⇌  Co(H2O)62+(aq) + 4Cl-(aq).  Table 3 contains the data and observations obtained from this reaction.
Table 3. Results of Equilibria for CoCl42- solutions.

Disturbance
Observation
Equilibrium Shift
Water
Lighter Pink
Products
Silver Nitrate in 100% Ethanol
Precipitate, Purple
Products
Ethyl Alcohol
Light Blue
Reactants
Hydrochloric Acid
Bright Blue
Reactants
Heated
Blue
Reactants
Cooled
No Change
Products
When the solution was heated it shifted towards the reactants, which is why it was concluded that it was an exothermic reaction.
Discussion
In part one the pH indicator did not turn the correct color, which lead to the incorrect conclusion that the reaction was endothermic. It is known that the equilibrium for this reaction lies on the reactant side, which is why it is an exothermic reaction. In part two of this lab the quantity of precipitate in the solution did not noticeably increase, which is why it was thought that it was an exothermic reaction. It is known that in this reaction precipitate should form when heated, therefore indicating that the equilibrium shifted to the products and that it is an endothermic reaction. The probable reason that there was no observation of an increase in precipitate was the presence of phenolphthalein, which made detecting a change in the quantity of precipitate difficult. The reaction of part three of this lab was found to be exothermic, because the equilibrium shifted towards the reactants when the solution was heated.
LeChatelier’s Principle explains that when the temperature, pressure, or concentration of   a reaction are changed, an equilibrium will shift as a result, in order to counteract the change. In this lab we changed many of these factors and changed the equilibriums and used LeChatelier’s Principle to aid in determining which side of the reaction the equilibrium lied on.
References
1. General Chemistry Experiments: A Manual of Chemistry 204, 205, and 206, Department of Chemistry, Southern Oregon University: Ashland, OR, 2008. 2009. pp. 101-103
2. Brown, LeMay, Burnsten, Murphy. Chemistry: The Central Science. 11th Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ. 2009. pp. 649-653.