a road less travelled...in ghana

greetings from ghana everyone~

i have been to many places in my life, including remote places in india and africa and beautiful places like burma where the freedom to really choose is not apparent from the lenses i was given... and i have never experienced the range of emotions that i did in the past four and a half days in ghana.

our arrival into ghana was similar to many~we pulled into a dock area that reminded me of a mix of india, burma and actually just about any other third world port areas. and of course it was sunday so the only folks to greet us were the 5 drummers and dancers and a few officials and workers cleaning off the heavy grease and debris where we were just about to disembark. the ship cleared fairly quickly and we were off to walk to catch a taxi into town to find some ghanian currency-cedi's! i think this is the best name so far for money-might as well call it a cd, just as it is~the exchange here was about 1.47 to 1 dollar, which give you no real leverage in the bargaining game, but of course, most places in the world are quite inexpensive.
the schlep to the end of the port (about 2 miles) was hot and nausiating with fumes of cocoa processing and oil mixed in with pungent sea water and smoke~ah, yes, familiar smells of africa! we finally got to the end to find a few drivers that must have heard we were in town...by the time we returned that day, the place was swarming with bracelet and tshirt vendors and people swarming you when you got out of your taxi to get your email address or phone number in the states and to sell you just about everything!

we finally got downtown, picked up some money and headed down the coast an hour to visit the Cape Coast Castle and Dungeon of the slave trade. For 3 cedi's we jumped in on a tour and learned the sad and desperate tales of over 800 black slaves at a time who were kept in these dark dungeons for 3 months prior to either being sold off in the local or abroad labor markets. It was amazing to hear this told by one of the african ancestors of these cruel  & crazy acts that some of our ancestors took part in! i was of course moved to tears more than a couple of times hearing and being in this space where human being was not acting in consciousness with another humans life...

we ended up in somewhat of a somber space and ended up having lunch next door in a seaside restaurant while our driver went to partake in his noon prayer at some nearby mosque. although most of the population is christian, there are also plenty of moslems and a spattering of other religions.
we headed back from there to the ship to see if we could experience a bit of Takoradi (the town we were in), but unfortunately everything was shut down. it was a fairly early evening as Deb and I were leaving early the next morning for the capital city of Accra.

the next day came early at 0730 and off we went on a 4 hour bus ride to accra. the streets were now filled with people, cars, street vendors ON the freeways trying to make way in and out of the city! the street vendors were selling everything from warm breads, drinks, water and plaintain chips to car parts, phone cards and even glue~just as Debbie said, who in the heck is buying glue, the gentleman int he mercedes next to us rolled down his window and paid the vendor 1cedi for a tube of crazy glue! I will admit that the plantains were good and we heard the cookies were amazing off these vendors. the sad part is that many of these vendors die because they are not able to get out of the way in time once the lights turn green~they are trying to stop this but in many cases, this is the way many of the people make their living.

we finally arrived at a restaurant where we had lunch and where our driver Victor met us to take us to the college we visited that day. Ashesi college is the most affluent college in all of Ghana and we soon found out that the yearly tuition there was $5X/year!  at that moment, we knew we would never see a Ghanian student on SAS unless it was a full ride scholarship! our visit the next day to the largest campus who's tuition was $200/year yielded zero results. although a bust, it became clear to us very quickly that if we ever really want to have international students from many of the countries we visit, we best start creating more scholarships specifically for them!  victor also took us around town to find postcard stamps, a fabric shop where i was able to pick up some beautiful african cloth (although not original kenti) for the alumni ball. i later picked some more up by the vendors that were right next to the ship in the stalls full of chatski's.

we waited for randi, john and barb to pick us up at the hotel at 1pm that day and got on our way to the village of . getting up to this village took us over 6 hours from accra, and they were already 4 hours into the drive~here are few examples of the road-well, not really roads...and although travelled by millions to get out in to the rest of ghana, it was shear chaos with no sense of direction, lanes or road for that matter most of the way there~

we stopped to have a rest and a beer wondering really whether our driver saying "we are almost there"-about 40 more minutes which turned into hours was ever going to come true!

we finally arrived at the presbytarian training centre around 7:30pm in one piece but all a bit shaken up, to a simple and bare bones place to put our head down for the night. when the care taker handed us a can of raid to spray our rooms to rid them of mosquitos and after we were served dinner, we all decided that the adventure would only be one night instead of 2!

after dinner, we took a walk down into the small town to have a sense of where we were. clearly because of the presbytarian church influence in much of ghana and especially in many of these towns on this mountaintop, we were not strange white folks, although we were that night! our driver samuel lived in this town, so he walked with us around the streets and introduced us to some of his family and friends in town. the town was very charming in its night glow, although the next day showed up as a very poor and basic~mostly mud hut homes and shops with a few painted storage converted container homes painted either in yellow or red, depending on what cell phone establishment had gotten to the shop keeper first!

Clearly, mountain (yellow) or their competitor votofone(red) were battling it out in the countryside for the top spot~clearly red was winning!

the next day after breakfast (eggs, oatmeal and warm fresh wheat bread and cocoa and coffee) we headed up to the village about 45 minutes from the town along these long winding single laned (at least somewhat paved) roads.

i am clear that unless we knew baba from new jersey and knew that he had sent others with shoes to this very remote village in the past couple of years, we were surely the first group of white folks they had seen in a long time and clearly the first group of middle aged folks to come for a visit. in most of the cities we come into and no matter how far you think you are away from the ship, you always seem to run into at least one set of SAS students no matter where you go! BUT alas, we were clearly on a road less travelled, never to run into anyone, let alone SAS, and clearly no one else white. it was a humbling experience meeting the 180 or so students in what we would consider sub-standard classroom conditions. 

there were only 3 teachers for every 6 classrooms full of students from 5 years (level 1) to level 12. the students were put in groups based on their knowledge, so one classroom may have a mix of ages from 7-18 years of age.

i was moved to tears as i gave my 4 dozen pens and paper and a hand full of candy i brought with me away to the little ones and later, the shoes that randi and john brought from friends back home as some of the older children sang us a song. most of the kids did have a pair of shoes on their feet, but clearly the only ones they owned and most worn down to the souls of their feet. their uniforms were torn and also handed down from sibling to sibling. and for the kids who could not afford a uniform, they were unable to attend school. we went into each classroom where they either told us about what they were studying or we sang a song like "i'm a little teapot" or our"abc's" with them! 50 somethings in front of the room singing songs was quite priceless and hilarious!

after several hours of being in the village with the children, most of them latched onto either arm, four to five children on each and walking around and meeting the women and elders in the community sharing with us stories of how the village has been developing, we found ourselves needing to leave, as the 6+ hour drive back would get us home right before sunset. this little girl never left my right arm, always looking up with those amazing soulful eyes, following me wherever i went~i could have taken her home in a second...they just wanted to touch your skin and look at you, as if really they were seeing this lighter skinned person for the first time!

we also were able to walk around and meet some of the village elders and many of the woman who were working in their homes, making the food, taking care of their new borns or watching over their homes. 

 

the van was quiet for awhile, as we each processed what we saw, felt and learned about ourselves and the amazing connections we made with a small community up in the hilltops of ghana. i myself was quiet most of the way home, really looking in to see what could i do and how could i contribute back to such an amazing couple of days.

i have felt these tugs of emotion before in many places i have visited and experienced in the past, yet i am pulled to be in action this time around the world. i will say now that i will be returning to this village either in person again or somehow connected to the classrooms there....possibly creating a way to connect our school children with theirs...just not sure right now about it all-i will share more as my thoughts of action come together. we were greatful to be home~a mosquito free, clean, cool ship with water and food we now call  home. it is an amazing feeling to see her again for the first time in days, at the same time reflecting on the days gone by.

and then today was a day to see takoradi~walk through the food & wares market, have conversations and share stares and smiles with the local people, take pictures of the streets & people to try and capture these feelings one feels attemping to blend in...when clearly you are the only white skinned person in a bazaar full of mostly women selling their wares~funny how we are~we stand out like a neon sign saying look at me, i am trying to blend in! i had a few good laughs with them today, knowing this was going through both of our minds!

one final look through the mini craft market they set up right next to the ship and i was on board this afternoon for good~on ship time was 1800 and everyone was accounted for and on board! we set sail about an hour ago and I decided to write this and then get to bed for an early night.
surely chalking this one up as one of those roller coasters filled with emotion and will be thinking about these 4 days of my life for awhile...

until tomorrow then~
worldly heart ro

Authentic Connections~committed to a world where peace, passion and love are present for everyone ​as they transition gracefully from one chapter of their lives to the next. 

https://www.worldlyheartcoaching.com

"Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -- but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor." - Oliver Wendell Holmes