Reflections in Ghana

Jan's Final Thoughts
My farewells to Ghana. As I sit on a breezy veranda seaside in Accra, I want to thank the people of Ghana for their sincere welcome. I met with outstanding courtesy everywhere I went. I want to celebrate their vibrant culture that is is full of music and colour. I think back on the red soil of the countryside that gives Prince Edward Island a run for its money. It supports the agriculture that is the backbone of the country. I marvel at the entrepeneurial spirit of the traders. There is no WalMart in this country. Goods are sold in small stalls that are open early and stay open late into the dark night. I am impressed with the emphasis on education that is widespread in the country. I am very grateful for the companionship of Vida's entended family, and I thank them for their hard work on behalf of Project Grow. I feel I have made many new friends in this hospitable country. And lastly, I thank our beloved Cynthia who was beside us every step of they way on this amazing journey. Ghana, I salute you.

Cindy's Final Thoughts
This morning (early morning I might add; I seem to be awake at 5:30 every morning) I am back in the Afia African Resort in Accra, back to a place where we began our trip 3 short weeks ago. I can hear the ocean and am in a comfortable room and knowing that a good resturant is just steps away.

We are finished with long gruelling bus rides and after yesterday's journey from Tamale, the positive attitude to bus travel in Ghana dried up. The bus itself was a good one; air conditioned and roomy seats. All luggage was underneath the bus which means no yams or suitcases in the aisles. As well, no flat tires, no breakdowns, no torrential rains, so those were all bonuses. Yet bus travel is always a challenge and no matter what the estimate, add at LEAST 2 hours.

We were told to be at the Tamale depot at 5:30 and so we were. First clue that this was not the time was the fact that we were the only people there. Bus stations are always busy here, and when it was so quiet, we began to wonder. An hour later people started to trickle in and finally, at 7:40, our bus left the depot. We knew the trip would be about 12 hours and although daunting, prepared ourselves for a long ride. Cynthia is used to this and has done it twice in the last 3 weeks, but Jan and I are another story. I envy Jan, she can sleep on the bus whereas I can be exhausted and yet won't fall asleep for fear of missing something.

The better buses in Ghana have TVs on them, so for the entire daylight journey, we are forced to watch soap operas that all have a moral message under every plot line. This in itself is perhaps doable, and you might think, just tune it out. Unlike an airline, this TV service does not come equipped with headphones and instead the speakers are on full blast because noise is part of the culture. So, for 8 hours we watched these soap operas, trying to tune them out was impossible. Finally, when they ran out, a live soccer match came on, again at full blast but Ghanian commentators. By this time I had my fingers in my ears which helped a bit. Ghana is soccer (or football) crazy by the way. There are games on every field, even games being played on the beach in front of our hotel, with teams in their full uniforms and the surf as a backdrop...pretty cool atually.

We had a smooth, if noisy ride to Kumasi, the big city that really seems to divide north and south. When we stopped in Kumasi on the way up we were impressed with how busy it was, coming back, that busyness translated into gridlock traffic and of course all bus depots are in the centre of the city. We arrived at 1:25 and we finally got back on the road and moving at a reasonable clip at 3:45. Since there is only one main highway and it is single lane traffic through this, the second largest city in Ghana, I did not envy the driver at all. Even on the highway, we tend to average 50 km per hour because of big trucks, single lane traffic, and speed bumps at every small town the road passes through (and there are zillions of small towns) The delay in Kumasi, plus the need to pick our way through a very long stretch of road construction as we neared Accra, and further gridlock in Accra with yet more construction, meant that our bus trip was now over 15 hours. We had hoped to arrive at 8 pm, did not get here until 10:30. We knew the dining room closed at 11 and began to worry that we would go to bed hungry so phoned ahead to see if they would have dinner prepared for us. Bless their hearts, they had a wonderful meal for us, we checked in to our clean suites and all was well.

So, that is the last bus ride and although we have lots of airline travel in front of us, it will seem a luxury to know that the person next to me who is watching a movie can do so without my hearing it. I also know that there will be food, a washroom, and perhaps a glass of wine or two on my KLM flights, bliss indeed.

I will miss many things when I leave. Bolgatanga, for all of its challenges, is a place full of fond memories. I enjoyed the markets, watching the people conduct small businesses out of ramshackle kiosks. I will miss hearing the Muslim call to prayer in the quiet of the early mornings because I always seemed to wake up about that time. As Jan pointed out, one of the benefits of the air conditioning failing was how clearly we heard it without the whirr of the fans. Watching the goats meander through everyday life was also kind of peaceful, they were everywhere, nibbling on any grass and leaves they could reach. Cattle also wandered through our hotel grounds, although it was a bit of a shock to open my curtain one morning and see a bull looking right into my window!

Most of all I will miss the people; their warmth, their openness, and desire to talk and share stories was wonderful. I think in our heads-down, busy culture, we have lost that special link that can only be made through sharing stories with strangers. I especially loved how everyone would get to know you, ask questions, and then, this would translate into asking you for your cell phone number so they could put it into their cell phone. Ghanians must have a huge contact list built into their phones because it was always the final question of any conversation. I know I will be back because of Project GROW, and I will look forward to reconnecting with many people.

I will appreciate the predictable plumbing, smooth roads, good food (bring on a salad) and my comfortable life in Canada. Decent rest areas and public washroom facilities are something we take for granted, but on a bus, on a long journey in northern Ghana, such things don't exist and it was always necessary to strike a balance between enough water to avoid dehydration, but not so much that we would need a bathroom.

However, challenges aside, Ghana offered connections and simplicity on a grand scale...things slow down here and you soon give up your demand for punctuality and organization; it simply doesn't matter and in Bolgatanga it is just too darn hot to make an issue of such things. So, a fond farewell to a place that, for all of its challenges, taught us much about ourselves and about the world we share. And farewell to the very special friends we made along the way.

As the speakers in our presentations liked to say in closing...Long Live Ghana!