For those of you who have been curious, I made it to Ghana safe and sound! Thus far, no real signs of jet lag, and I feel great. For the past two days, I have been in the Volta Region of Ghana. I have experienced and observed so much, it's difficult to put into words (i know i'm not going to do it any justice), but I'll certainly give it my best shot! Here's my report from day one of my travels...
When I arrived to Ghana, I was immediately greeted by Dr. Charity Akotia, NC State's faculty director of the semester program in Ghana, and Mr. Kwaku Passah, the tour operator that organizes all of our summer and semester excursion and cultural activities in Ghana. It was night time and I was a bit out of it from the 26-hour journey, but they wisked me away to a lovely hotel in Accra, the capital of Ghana, where I immediately went to sleep. Outside my window it was salsa dancing night at the hotel's club, and i would have loved to join in, but I was just too exhausted and knew I had quite the itinerary ahead of me.
In the morning, I checked out of my hotel and met Mr. Passah for breakfast. He is a very well-known tour operator in Ghana, and had planned an extensive itinerary for my vacation days. He is an absolutely wonderful man. He's quite small...about my height and very thin, and one of the most charismatic people I've ever met. I've come to realize that he knows just about everyone in this country, and they just adore him. He explained that we would be traveling around for the next few days in his company's car, driven by a very friendly man named Kwame (also a native Ghanaian). Admittedly, it feels very weird to have my own driver and tour guide...like I'm some kind of big deal. I told Mr. Passah that I was open for any adventure he had in store for me, so we immediately got into the car and were off.
The first part of day 1 was spent driving through Accra, the capital of Ghana. This is the largest and busiest city in Ghana, and is home to the University of Ghana, where I send students each semester. As we drove through Accra, a few things immediately caught my eye. Accra is indeed a bustling city, as I expected, but amidst the business buildings and taxis, there are chickens and goats roaming through the streets, and women carrying unbelievably large baskets of goods on top of their heads! The women carrying the baskets absolutely amaze me. Mr. Passah explained that they learn how to balance these heavy loads at a very early age, so it's not a big deal for them. You would not believe the things they were carrying, though...pounds and pounds of bananas, crates of flip flops, bowls of water, ears of corn, you name it, I saw it...perfectly balanced on someone's head. Not sure I'll ever get over the fascination with that. Also, the main source of public transportation is the "tro-tro." Tro-tro's are these run-down VW buses, and each one has a set route that the driver yells as people board. They don't leave the stop until they're full, and by full, I mean at least 20 people stuffed in like sardines. It's pretty crazy to see them going down the street with people smashed against the windows. Apparently you can get most anywhere you need to go for about $1, though.
The other thing I noticed was that many of the shops that lined the streets had religious titles, even if the services provided inside had nothing to do with religion. A few of my favorites that I wrote down were, "Thy Kingdom Come Fashion House,"Fill My Cup Lord General Merchant, "Redeemer Reigns Hair Cuts," "Jesus is Lord Chemical Shop," and "Hallelujah Cold Store." How hilarious is that? There were many many more to add to this small list. Mr. Passah explained that the majority of the country is Christian, so this is a reference to that. He joked, however, that just because the store name is Christian doesn't get the people inside an automatic ticket to heaven.
Once we drove through Accra, we started passing through the villages, or townships as they're called here. I was immediately struck by the level of poverty in these villages...to be honest, I wasn't expecting it at all. Many of the homes were constructed of mud walls with grass-covered roofs, which help with insulation. The people in the villages were mostly sitting outside, either manning a small store, or walking along the road selling food and crops. Many children were outside playing, since it was a holiday from school. I saw quite a few pick-up football (soccer) games going on. The townships are fairly close together (a few kilometers between each one), so we would pass through a township, then we would be surrounded by fields on each side, and then come to another township a few minutes later. There are people constantly walking along the side of the roads, men, women, and children...all carrying large loads on their heads (sorry, can't get over it). As we passed people, Mr. Passah would give me an explanation of where they might be going based on what they were carrying and wearing. Some were headed into the fields to farm, some were returning home with crops they had harvested, some were traveling to visit friends at another village, others were fetching water or washing clothes. I was fasincated to learn each person's story and try to figure out where they were going. Mr. Passah said that it's common for people in the villages to walk as many as 10 miles a day (he says that people in the city are just too lazy to walk). They were all wearing really thin flip flops...hard to imagine walking 10 miles in a pair of those, but such is life. Another thing I noticed in the townships was the abundance of church buildings. I learned that at least 20 churches are registered in Ghana on a daily basis! Many churches are broken-off from previous establishments, and many groups use school classrooms on Sundays to hold services. On any given Sunday at a village school, each classroom may be occupied by a different church.
The first village we stopped in was a bead-making village. The owner of the bead-making business has been working at this craft since he was 7 years old. They took me through different huts to demonstrate the entire process of bead-making, from creating the intial clay mold for the beads, to filling the mold with material that will later become the beads, to firing the mold to melt and set the materials, to popping the beads out, washing them, and stringing them. Many of the beads are actually made from old glass bottles (green, blue, brown, clear). It's amazing what they can turn them into. Needless to say, I spent quite a bit of time in the gift shop afterwards, so don't be surprised if you get some form of beaded present when I return home.
The next village we stopped in specializes in weaving kente cloth, the beautiful colorful cloth that Ghanians wear to special ceremonies or occasions. They do it all by hand, and I watched the young men in the village effortlessly weave the yarn in intricate patterns. They were moving so quickly, I couldn't hardly keep up! They were very friendly and tied the beautiful cloth around me in the way that women typically wear it (in an effort to get me to buy some, i'm sure). While I didn't buy the huge piece (got a couple small ones), one of the young men is running for local government office, and we gave him money to help with his campaign as a thank you.
After that trip, we stopped for lunch at the Senchi Waterfront Resort. It's a lovely place tucked away from the road and sits on Lake Volta (the largest lake in Ghana). As we were sitting in our grass gazebo waiting for lunch, a woman and her children rowed by in a long wooden canoe and another man came by to check on some fishing traps that he had set. Mr. Passah and I ordered the sandwich for lunch. When it came to the table, I made the unfortunate mistake of asking him what was in it. It was a tuna sandwich. Those of you who know me know that the smell of seafood completely makes me naseous, and I am typically adamant in my refusal to eat it. Well, I realized that it would be completley inappropriate for me to waste this food and send it back, so I took a deep breath and started eating it. The whole thing was very humorous...here I am trying to carry on a conversation with Mr. Passah, while having an inner conversation with myself, saying "come on, Brooke. it's just chicken. you can't even tell the difference. it's just chicken." I seriously felt like I was on fear factor. Here I am on day 1...eating TUNA. Nonetheless, I survived. I was able to only eat half of it and take the rest to Kwame, our driver. He was grateful for the lunch, and I was grateful to have it over with. I am proud of myself to be honest, and I'm sure those of you who have been trying to get me to eat seafood for years are proud as well (or ticked that it took a trip to Africa to get me to do it). I knew this would be an adventure...
After lunch and driving through a few more townships (stopped to eat some roasted corn on the side of the road, and stopped to look at a mango and pineapple farm), we arrived at our next hotel in a town called Ho. The hotel is called Chances Resort (I believe the website is online), and it's used by many of my summer programs at NCSU. It's very nice (internet!), and I've really enjoyed staying here. Again, Mr. Passah knows everyone who works here, and NCSU has built a good relationship with the owner, Mr. Chance, so they are taking very good care of me. I have my own little bungalow that's great (no hot water, but I'll survive), and you can hear the crickets chirping when you go to sleep at night. It's such a stark contrast to my bustling life in the States, where I hear cars driving by as I fall asleep. I quite like it.
So that's day 1. So much more I could tell, but I believe I've given you an ear-full already. Many thanks for the well-wishes and encouragement. Love you! - Brooke
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