Ghana Days 3 and 4

Now before I knew it I was back on the streets of Ghana but this time in the city of Takoradi with my Bahai contact Eddie.  We had been emailing for about a month about my visit so we were both very excited to meet.  We only had two short days together but lets just say we are like brothers now.  First he showed me around the streets of Takoradi and then it was off to his Aunties store, which is basically a shack along the side of the road where she sold school supplies and homemade notebooks.  We talked for a while to wait out the rain which was coming down pretty hard.  I shared pictures of the ship as well as my home.  We got to know each other very quickly and he had many questions about life in the United States.  He wanted to know everything about “my place,” as he referred to it.

Once the rain died down he took me to the house where he and his other family live.  We got around by Tro-Tro which is one of the most interesting forms of transportation I have ever been in.  It is essentially a bunch of people driving around in vans picking up as many people as possible and dropping them off.  Not in any organized fashion but it got the job done and it is the most economical way to get around.  I was just glad Eddie was there because I would have been totally lost trying to get around.  Anyway he showed me his home which was very simple and nice.

Then it was back into town where we went to the local hospital to meet up with his friend who is a nurse there.  I guess he had told her that I was coming so he wanted show her that I actually came.  I think she was happy we came so we talked for a little bit about what she does but then we had to leave.  The hospital was not as bad as you might imagine but it was nothing like what you would find in the US.  I don’t think the rooms even had A/C and it was quite dirty for a hospital.  Eddie told me that it is still the original hospital and they have not renovated it in quite some time even though it serves Takoradi which is the second largest city in Ghana after the capitol Accra.

Next we ventured over to a sort of conference center in Takoradi to meet with Auntie Christy, another Bahai, who was waiting to give a presentation on behalf of Ghana’s EPA.  The whole conference was about how Ghana should manage the production of oil which was just recently discovered off shore in a way that will benefit the most people.  We talked for a little while about what I was doing in Ghana but she was quite busy so we just enjoyed listening to the talks and sitting in the air conditioned conference room, sort of a novelty there.  After the program ended for the day we chatted a little more and she was nice enough to give us a ride to a restaurant that Eddie wanted to show me called Harbor View.  As you can guess by the name it overlooked the harbor and even though it was dark by then it was a very nice view.  We just had some drinks and talked there for a while before we headed into town to eat some local cuisine.  I am not really sure what I had because it was dark but it was delicious and filling.  One thing I did find out is that they like to put hot sauce on everything so you got to be careful.

It had been a long day so we went back to his place where I met his cousin and some other family members that lived at the house.  We watched some Ghanaian TV and chatted about life.  They of course wanted to know about the US and I wanted to know about Ghana.  Most of them including Eddie were working as part time workers for the census which was just around the corner.  Eddie had actually requested the day off to show me around but the next day it was off to some pretty remote villages where he had to do some prep work by numbering houses.  I was happy to go with him and it turned out to be a real adventure.

First the car we got to take us to the village on some dirt road broke down and they had crammed 6 of us into this ancient VW Passat which as I found out was pretty normal.  We had no cell signal to call for another car so luckily after a while some sort of mechanic called by the driver walked out to where we were and got the thing started.  So we piled back in and off we went.  Once we got to the village we met up with his supervisor and the other workers which were all very nice and had absolutely no problem with me tagging along.  As I walked around I started to accumulate this group of kids that were just fascinated with me.  It was really weird to be the total center of attention.  I would take their picture and give them the thumbs up and they would do it back and just laugh.  Like the kids at the school they also like seeing their picture on the back of my camera.  Even some of the adults came over to look.

At first the kids were curious but they were still a bit cautious to get near me.  None of them really spoke english so I couldn’t really say anything to them but after a couple of hours they got a little more used to me and I think it was after I got one kid to high five me they really started to warm up to me.  I tried to speak English with one of the kids but he new very little.  Then I showed them that my watch had one of those rotating dials on it and they went crazy.  They all had to have a turn spinning the little dial.  It was really fun to finally connect with them and it was unfortunate that we had to move on to the next village so soon.  Little did I know it would involve riding on the back of a motorcycle for several Kilometers and then walking for a good 45 minutes along the beach, all with my 30 lb backpack.  Most of the time I had little to no idea what was going on but I was enjoying myself and taking it all in.

We grabbed a quick lunch before the walking portion at a beachside village.  I think what we ate was called Citi or something like that which was essentially a wet dough like thing dipped in some hot sauce and then some fermented fish on the side, whole.  True local cuisine and let me tell you we were hungry after walking around in the heat for about 3.5 hours.  As it turns out we would need the energy to make it to where we needed to go next.  Also as a side note I had to be back on the ship by 6 pm and it was already past 3 pm by the time we got there so I was stressing out a little.  As we arrive they immediately got chairs for us, offered water, and gathered the elders of the village.  After listening to them talk for a while Eddie told me that the people in this village are sort of right on a boarder line between the Western and Central regions and they did not want to be counted in the Western region anymore because the Central Region has done much more for them.  They were quite upset because politicians would come to their village to campaign and promise them things that once they got elected they would never do.  This seemed to be a recurring problem for these remote villages.  There is no infrastructure being built for them.  We told them we understood, shook hands, and asked the best way to get back to Takoradi.

Luckily there was a village not so far away that had a road where we could get a taxi.  It took us a little while and I got a little muddy but we made it to the road, we got a taxi, then a tro-tro, then another taxi so I could get to the port on time.  Unfortunately the ship was docked a good distance away from the edge of the port so Eddie, who had worked at the port for a year, had to get his friend to drive me to the ship on the back of his moped.  Lets just say it was an epic journey and I did make it back on time which was sort of a miracle.  The worst thing is that I only had about 30 seconds to say goodbye to my new brother who had shown and taught me so much is such a short period of time.  He called me as I was boarding the ship to make sure I had gotten there alright and to say goodbye one last time.

What else can I say, this place truly changed me.

I told you it was going to be long so thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Next is South Africa!