The Adventures of a White, Blond Girl in Ghana

Until I manage to have more frequent internet access, pictures and entries will be limited. I am therefore trying to write every day on my laptop or as often as possible. Apologies for the lengthy entries, but I have tried to break them down by date! Enjoy.

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 8:55pm - The Adventure Begins…

I am currently sitting at the Toronto Pearson International Airport awaiting boarding for our flight to Amsterdam. I needed to charge my laptop, so I have it on and Maya and I are both writing in our journals. Of course, in true Sonja style, I got thoroughly searched coming through Customs. My belt and shoes both set off the metal detector here (no idea why they didn’t in Saskatoon) and I had to take everything out of the bottom of my bag since all of my currency converters (power adaptors), batteries, head lamps, etc. were in the bottom and must have shown up suspicious on the X-Ray machine.

I am starting to get really tired from the long day of training and all of the excitement, but at the same time I am absolutely thrilled to finally be getting to Holland. Even if it is only for a 2 hour layover at this time. In March when I fly home, I will have 7.5 hours there and am going to try to get out and see a bit if I can, although I hear that there is not much around the airport.

I am of two minds right now. On one hand, I am really excited about the opportunity to see another part of the world and truly experience their culture. On the other hand, I am terrified of what I am going to see and the impact that it is going to have on the rest of my life. The threat of HIV/AIDS is very real presently in Ghana and I cannot even begin to imagine the toll that it must have on the lives of the men, women, and children who live there. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it must be to lose friends & family to AIDS. The next few months are certainly going to be challenging. But they are also going to be filled with hope. Hope that the youth in Ghana will take the messages that Maya and I are bringing to them, either directly or through the peer education program, and that they will live their lives by the safe sex practices and co-operative values that we instil in them. If they take these messages to heart, not only will they have a future, but it will be a bright one.

Hopefully I can find the balance in all of this and not be too overwhelmed. I look forward to meeting the people, finding out what makes them tick, and hopefully participating to the fullest in Ghanaian life. I cannot believe how blessed I am to be able to partake in this program. I have a sense of what lies ahead of me, but I feel that I will still have much to learn, much to overcome, and many surprises to face. Luckily, I have a great new friend in Maya and I will not be alone in this scary yet exhilarating opportunity.

Thursday, August 30th, 2007 - Stalling…guess we’re already on African time!

The interns on their last day at the Saskatoon Airport very early in the morning!

Oh the joys of travel! We departed Saskatoon at 4:15am on Thursday for the airport in order to catch our 6am flight. Everything went smoothly from there until we got to Toronto. Of course, having a 10 hours layover in T.O., Maya, Andres and I could not check our luggage in until 6pm. We arrived at the desk around 1pm. So luckily, we had thought about this ahead of time and knew there was a place around there where we could store our luggage until our flight. So after paying $6 for my backpack, and $8 for my massive suitcase, I was good to go. I definitely spent a good 15-20 minutes repacking my stuff in the airport to ensure that I would be under the weight limit.

I called Sarah around 2:30pm to see if she could still come get Maya & I to do a little last minute shopping and to be able to leave the airport for a while. Luckily, she was still free - the godsend that she is! So we planned to call her again after all of the interns, aside from Andres who had already left, went for our last meal together. We ended up going to Swiss Chalet in the airport. Then Sarah picked us up and we drove to a UPS store in a mall and did some other running around.

Sarah dropped us off again at the airport around 6:30pm ( I can`t remember exactly the time). Then we went and checked our luggage in at KLM. With my second carry-on in my big suitcase, it was over the weight limit, but the girl at KLM was really nice and let it go. My carry-on back pack was also too heavy, but since my laptop was in it and I only had one at that point, I was rockin’. Whew saved $50! After that. We met up with one of Maya`s friends and with Andres again and went to eat. We lost Andres for a bit who went off in search of a People`s magazine for the intern he will be taking over from. Maya & I went through security and of course, with all of the metal in the bottom of my knapsack (all of my converters, battery chargers, headlamps, etc. were in there), I got stopped and the girl thoroughly examined the contents of my backpack. Luckily she was pretty friendly and chatted with me about where I was going while she did it. Maya & I set up on the other side of security to begin keeping a log of our activities/journals. Just as people started getting called to board our flight, Andres showed up. He had been talking to his wife who he will be leaving behind until she joins him in Salaga, Ghana in November.

Once boarded, everything seemed like it was still going smoothly… WRONG! We taxied out to the runway and awaited our turn for departure. After a while, the Captain came over the speaker in Dutch. When he began to translate we understood that there was no information on why we were held up but that they would communicate to us whatever they knew as soon as they received some information. In the second message from the Captain, we learned that there had been a security breach in terminal 3 (where we were departing from), and that all aircrafts were being held until things got cleared up. 2 hours later, they finally cleared up that the breach had been with another airline and we were permitted to line up for take off. The funny part? Our layover in Amsterdam was 2 hours and it now appeared as though we would either be running or miss the flight entirely. Maya & I were really hoping that we would get delayed in Amsterdam for a day with a complimentary hotel room, but after 7 hours of flight which included some sleep and whatever individual movies we selected on our individual screens on the back of the seat in front of us, we arrived in Amsterdam 5 minutes after our original take off time to find that our flight had been held.

Once on our new flight, all three of us pretty much fell asleep immediately, which was fortunate for us since this flight had technical problems and was delayed about another 2 hours and there were no individual screens on this flight. All problems aside, KLM was incredible and I would definitely fly with them again. From the delicious multi-meals to the damp, warm toilette to wipe your face & hands, it was excellent in-flight service with delightful staff. I look forward to my flight on the way home.

We arrived in Ghana around 8:40pm to slight rain getting off the plane. Of course since we had to speed walk to our flight in Amsterdam, our things did not arrive. We were given a baggage claim number and informed it should arrive in 24 hours on the next day’s flight. We cleared customs and went outside to find a card with Andres’ name on it (which was nice since we were unsure if anyone would be meeting him), and then all of a sudden, Maya’s name was called out by Idrissa (the intern previously holding Maya’s position) and Archie (Mr. Acheampong who holds a position in the Management Information Systems). Mr. Saky, the driver, was also with them. We were taken to the Confort Inn Guest House where we are to stay until September 14th when we will move into the Labadi House (where the Canadians Volunteer Abroad is hosted). This was news to us, but at this point, we were still in good humour, rolling with the punches and laughing about the ridiculousness of it all.

That first drive is a bit of a blur. There was so much activity in the streets and I was trying to take it all in - from Shaggy playing on the radio to Céline Dion blaring in the streets; it was all so amusing and odd to me.

Our new home until September 14th.

We arrived at our room and Archie and Idrissa both came in to see it. Archie asked us if it was okay and we said it was fine. He arranged to come pick us up the following morning at 9am to bring us to CUA and then to the airport. We sat down on our bed and then Maya & I just burst into laughter over the events of the past 24+ hours. Figures we had no luggage. Luckily, Mom taught me well and I packed a complete other outfit and my toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste, along with deodorant in my carry-on. Absolutely exhausted, we started Harry Potter which Maya had on her laptop and fell asleep pretty much immediately.

Friday, August 31st, 2007 - Introduction to CUA House & All of Our New Husbands

On Friday, we were picked up at 9am by Sammy, Archie’s driver, and Archie. When we went out to the truck and met Sammy, Archie informed us that he is the one who “admires Maya the most”. Maya joked with him that he was her new boyfriend. They took us to CUA house to meet Mr. Ahli, the Deputy General Manager of Finance & Administration, along with some others who were in the office that day. Archie told me that Romeo was the one who was most interested in me, but he was afraid to meet me. Too funny.

Mr. Acheampong (Archie) then took us to a Forex bureau to exchange money. It was this little hut with a man sitting in a corner and a man standing in a booth with a glass window. The exchange rates for that particular day were posted on the wall. That day $1 US got us 93 cedis.

We then went back to CUA House and Archie asked Alex, who works in Risk Management, to come with us to assist us in purchasing cell phones(EVERYONE has a cell here). If anyone wants to call or text me, email me and I will pass on the number to you! . We went around the corner to a little store and checked out the selection through the window. They asked us what kind of a phone we wanted and what we wanted to pay. I said that I wanted a flip phone. They showed us a couple and of course I chose the pink & silver Motorola. Surprise, surprise! Maya chose the same one. I think we were both a little overwhelmed by how fast everything was going. Probably not the best idea, but so far we haven’t had any problems with mixing them up.

We took off from there back to CUA House and then off to pick up Archie’s wife, Angie, from the hospital where she was being discharged after the birth of their new baby boy, Junior John, three days before. It was incredible to meet his wife and his newborn all at once. He is absolutely beautiful! Such a neat experience. It was then that I learned for the first time that women in Africa are not as reserved as those in North America when it comes to breastfeeding. There is absolutely no shyness about it. (A few days after this on our way home in the tro-tro, I saw a woman sitting on the median with her 2-3 year old next to her breastfeeding amongst all of the pedestrians and traffic. It still surprises me!)

Finally, it was off to the airport to try and sort out the situation with our luggage. We went to the KLM office and Archie managed to get us 50 cedis for our travel since we were going to be in Cape Coast when our luggage arrived and would have to travel back to get it. We then went into the airport and gave them phone numbers so that they could contact us when our luggage arrived.

When we went back to the office, most people had already had lunch. Since Archie does not eat in the afternoon, he arranged for Diana (a young woman who works down in accounting) to take us for lunch. She and Ernest (the permanent Youth Savings Officer at CUA) took us to this little sit down place. We had our first African Meal: Talapia (fish), Banku (this dough-like thing made out of maize), and pepe (spicy, similar to salsa). It was very good. The fish is cooked whole, which was a bit of a challenge for me since it still has all of its bones and eye ball intact and I am not a big fan of fish to begin with, but it was still pretty yummy. Coca-cola and sprite are the big drinks here along with Fanta and water. We had Cokes. I feel as though I am never going to want to see another coke when I get home!

At last, we headed back to the Comfort Villa Lodge for the remainder of the day to rest up and get to bed early since we were to depart for Cape Coast at 6am the next day in order to not miss any of the festival activities.


Saturday, September 1st, 2007 - Cape Coast, Here We Come!

So as we had been warned and were beginning to get accustomed to, Sammy arrived at 6am “African time” on Saturday morning. It was closer to 6:30-6:45am when he got to Comfort Villa Lodge to pick us up. We went from there to pick up Archie at his house. Since we had not yet had breakfast as it isn’t served at our lodge before 7am, we went to pick up something to eat at the Total gas station on our way. There we met CUA’s general manager, Mr. Darko. He was all dressed in a traditional African robe. It was gorgeous. He had just gotten in from Kenya the night before and was on his way home.

Back on the road again, Sammy played his Bob Marley tapes (yes, tapes. They have functional tape decks in all of the vehicles we have been in here!) and we drove in the rain to Cape Coast, with our fingers crossed that the rain would stop by the time we arrived in Cape Coast.

Once we got there, the first thing we did was to locate lodging for the night. Archie’s main concern was getting a room for Maya and I. He would take whatever he could get afterwards. We tried a couple of places before we found a room at Prospect Lodge for the night. It was 36 cedis for the night, so 18 cedis each. Not bad. We paid and then went off to Archie’s brother’s place. We met his family and watched some “football” for a bit. Then we went to his mother-in-law’s and met her and her mother.

After our visits, it was time to go and find a good spot to watch the “procession” aka parade in the street. The streets were pretty packed and we got there just in time to catch the beginning. There was dancing, singing, chanting, and cheering as the procession passed. From flag throwers to masked characters to village chiefs hoisted on people’s shoulders, it was absolutely incredible. So colourful and lively. Every once in a while a gunshot would go off as well. Archie warned us so that we wouldn’t be concerned, but it still made me jump every time it happened. I got a lot of pictures and some video footage from the procession and will try to post it as soon as possible (probably on the 15th once we are in our Labadi House with wireless internet).

That whole day was absolutely incredible. I feel as though there are not enough words in the world to adequately describe what I saw and how I felt. Just overwhelmed in a good way I guess. Children would pass us and point and chant “Obruni, Obruni”. Many of them were just happy that we were there and beam or come over to say hello. I have gotten in the habit of shaking their hands and asking their names.

After we finished watching the procession on the street, we went to another part of the city and watched it again from the upper story of an old, rundown building. When we were there, Maya took some pictures of some of the children and showed them on her digital camera. The joy they got from that was so cute. We began taking more pictures of them and some of them ran to get their friends or siblings to bring back so that they could get their pictures taken and look at them. When we left there, we proceeded up to another part of the city where there was an outside bar and a gathering of people. There was a group of children and as Maya & I walked up the steps, you could see the smiles appear on their faces. I don’t want to sound egotistical, but the children here make you feel like you are a celebrity and it’s hard to convey it properly. Often as we walk in the streets, they will stare and some will smile & wave and if you wave back, you can tell that they get excited. It’s a very surreal feeling. Since there was still music playing in the streets and from the procession, I began to dance a little bit and the children joined me. Next thing I knew, we had a bit of a dance party going on. It was a blast. I asked all of the children their names and Maya began to take more pictures (my memory card was full). It was a blast. At one point, the mother of a couple of children came over and started dancing with me too. What a blast. That is a day I will never forget.

After all of the excitement and fun, we went back to our hotel to drop off our stuff and order supper for later on. Then we went for drinks at a little pub. For the festival, they had a large stage and dance area set up outside with loud music playing. It was really neat. Everywhere we drove in Cape Coast, there was people. One area was absolutely packed and there was not a single parking spot to be had. We moved from the pub to Archie’s neighbourhood where he grew up and had a beer there. Star beer: brewed in Ghana. It wasn’t bad. It was very interesting to order alcohol because we ordered it basically at a window and were free to take the bottle and wander the streets, unlike in Canada where alcohol must stay indoors or within a confined outdoor area. We ended up wandering around a bit and went into a backyard of sorts and sat in some patio chairs. Archie asked one of his friends for some fried fish that was somewhat breaded. We tried some of that. It was almost like dried, salted, cured fish, but it was still a little mushy. (Thanks for that appetizing description, Maya!) It actually tasted quite good.

We were just about to leave there when Maya and I decided it would probably be wise to use the facilities before departing for the hotel. Had we known what awaited us, we probably would have just “danced” all the way to the hotel. But we are both always up for an adventure and thank goodness we are fairly open minded. We asked Archie if there was anywhere we could go. He told us to go back and ask one of the ladies there who spoke French if we could use her facilities. Once we finally got the message across, she agreed and directed us. When we stood in front of the door and peered inside, Maya said she thought she could wait. We both looked at each other inquisitively wondering if we should actually go through with this. In front of us stood a stall. It had a door, four cement walls, and a mud floor. That was it! I looked at Maya and said, “I’ll do it if you’ll do it. We might as well fully participate in Ghanaian life!”. And so we did. It is one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that I hope I never have to face again. But boy did we laugh.

Back at our hotel room, we had a good chuckle, turned on Harry Potter which was on one of our laptops and fell asleep. What a packed day!