Anchors Aweigh!: February 13, 2011

February 14^th, 2011

I had a great time in Ghana! I felt so safe and comfortable the whole time and I don’t think my stories will do justice when trying to explain how nice the locals were to us. As the ship pulled into the port on Saturday morning you could see a bunch of people unloading all their souveniers and goods they were going to try and sell to us. There was a group of men dressed in traditional clothing and they started playing their drums, chanting, and dancing. They were as excited as we were that we had finally reached Ghana. The first day I had a trip for my class and that was to meet the Queen Mothers of Essikado (the name of a town). The port was really far from the town and about a 15 minute walk to get to the security gate where the taxis waited for us. If you had a trip that through Semester at Sea the buses could come all the way to the ship though and eventually there was a shuttle set up for us to take us from the ship to the taxis.

I got on my bus in the morning and headed to one of the Queen Mother’s houses where we had an open Q&A session pretty much. Of course the trip there was another culture shock looking out the window and I was just happy I wasn’t embarrassing myself trying to get into the bank like I was in Brazil. I got to gape out the window freely without much embarrassment. I just remember thinking this is soooooo different! It is hard to explain exactly what Takoradi looks like. It is definitely very poor but it wasn’t sad poor. It was hard to differentiate the poor from the decent. They all looked really poor but it just seemed like their way of life and people didn’t seem to be struggling, they just aren’t anywhere close to we are as far as technology and modernization. Most of the houses looked like shacks that were either made out of brick, shipping containers, or mud. The main road we drove around on was paved but nothing else was. It is their dry season so the dirt made everything really dirty. There were kids everywhere and they were always so excited to wave to us as we drove by. The kids were SO sweet. Everyone carries things on their heads. It was amazing to see what and how much they could balance on their heads. They would carry big bowls of water, boxes filled with things they were selling, a bowl of bags of water (their form of purified water), huge tree branches, and even suitcases which was funny to me. If they had to carry anything they would just plop it on their head and sometimes put a rag on their head to help with the balance.

So we got to the Queen Mother’s house and we were all a little nervous because we didn’t know the customs yet. Our tour guide told us it is rude to use your left hand, only the elders cross their legs, to speak to the queens we have to talk to him, he will interpret, and they will speak to him, then he will deliver the message to us. There were about 8 of them sitting in front of about 30 of us. They spoke a dialect called fanti and could understand and speak some English. It started really proper and was really hot and uncomfortable and really hard to try and not cross my legs. Apparently the way the queens work in society is that the county is broken up into regions, then districts, then parliaments. The queens are head of their parliament and work as a role model and political figure in each town. After about an hour a queen came running in and said she was sorry she was so late, she got caught up at church and joined the group. Once she got there everything was a lot more casual. She was so charismatic and lightened the mood. We took pictures with them after our discussion and headed back to the ship.

The port was far from town but their conveniently was a duty free store right across from the ship so the first night it was bombarded with Semester at Sea kids. Of course we had to go check it out so my group of friends went over there and were bombarded with locals trying to sell stuff. They would roll out these painting in front of you or ask you your name and 5 minutes later tie a bracelet with your name on it around your wrist. The ship was playing the Super Bowl so we went back and it started around 11:30 p.m. because of the time difference. I think I lasted about 2 commercials in and had to go to bed.

The next morning I was out at the bus at 6:45 a.m. to do Habitat for Humanity. The houses we were building were 3 hours away so I had more time to observe the culture as we drove past all the houses/shacks/vendors. The southern part of the country is very Christian and almost every store name incorporated God in it. I saw ‘Trust God Cosmetics’, ‘All Things Possible Through God Barbershop’, etc. Goats run around like stray dogs. They burn their trash to get rid of it. They have open sewage systems. They loved Obama! He was on billboards with their politicians and they had t-shirts with him and the Ghanaian flag everywhere. After the 3 hour drive we took a turn on a dirt road and as we were turning we hit the front of a school just a little. The bus couldn’t fit in the turn so he tried 2 more times and kept hitting it. The road we had turned onto didn’t look drivable for the bus and I’m pretty sure the group of 40 people plus me was holding our breath. We got as far as we could and got out and walked the rest of the way to the 4 houses were helping build. The process wasn’t very organized but I ended up helping move these 25 lb bricks that were laid across the lot they were going to build the next house on. We stacked them up and got them out of the way. It took almost the whole day. I felt like I sweat my body weight. There were little kids from the neighborhood I’m guessing that were walking around helping and taking pictures with cameras that the semester at sea kids would let them play with. They didn’t speak much English but they were really cute. Most people speak English there but their other language is Twe. After the long day we drove back to the ship and I was so dirty and sweaty and ended up being sore for 3 days.

I was free on Tuesday so I went to check out the market with Jill, my roommate, and 2 guys. It was similar to Brazil’s market where they sold anything and everything in their little vendors and everything seemed to be used. It was called market circle and there were buildings built in a circle and the vendors were lined up around them. If you went through the vendors into the middle of the circle that was the real ‘produce’ market I guess you could call it. It was an extremely congested, compact, disturbingly disgusting market. Somehow I got the privilege of leading the group and as we walked quickly trying to not look anymore touristy than we were and stay away from the annoyed looking women at their stands I got to hold all my gagging and shocked facial expressions in. They had the normal fruits and vegetables and then we saw dried fish baking in the sun, live massive snails crawling on each other, and pig’s feet dripping juices into a bowl. Imagine all of this in 90 degree weather and no such thing as a refrigerator so who knows how long that stuff had been sitting out. I felt like I could taste it, I couldn’t get away from the smell.

After the adventure through the market we went back to the ship for lunch. Someone told us about a really cool beach that he had spent the last 2 days on so we decided to check it out. It was amazing! There was only one other small group on the whole beach. The water was so warm and pretty. It was a great afternoon. That night we decided to go to The Ocean Bar that everyone on the ship kept talking about. I don’t know what was so special about it because when we got there all I saw was prostitutes scouting out which older white man (I don’t know where those guys came from because I felt like we were the only white people in the country)they were going to leave with that night. Luckily there were enough SAS people there to still have a good time and if we went next door to a reggae bar there were a lot of cool locals to talk to.

We went back to Busua Beach the next day but had a much bigger crowd. There were 15 of us. We had to take 3 taxis or so down to the bus station and then get on a Tro Tro which is the public transpiration system. It only cost us $3 cedi ($1.50 US) if we did it that way. We packed all of us into a van that should’ve only taken 10 people. The way it works is the Tro Tro goes one direction and people get on and off throughout the trip if they are going the same direction. We of course didn’t have any room for anyone to hop on but the driver still made a few pit stops (I’m guessing he was running errands). Luckily we were with a pretty cool group that could only laugh about the situation and the fact we were on an adventure in Africa. The ride was about an hour long and then we had another amazing day at the beach. It started raining around lunch but everyone was excited to swim in the ocean while it rained. Again my waterproof camera was very handy. In the afternoon the local kids started coming out and they were so interested in us so they came over and started playing with us. More and more kids kept coming and at one point I think I had 7 kids on my towel playing with my ipod, camera, and they were interested in my belly button ring. They were all so sweet we knew they didn’t mean any harm and they loved getting to play with our cameras. They were doing gymnastics for us and we played soccer with them and that was what made the trip so memorable.

The next day was our last day and I got a last minute trip to an orphanage from someone who was tryin to sell their ticket. It was another great experience with the kids. All the kids were abandoned or their parents couldn’t take care of them anymore so they were going to school and living at this home. We played all sorts of games with them and it was so fun to see them scream and laugh. It is amazing to compare them to American kids. There were some families from the ship that came on the trip and we were playing summer camp games like sharks and minos and everyone was getting pushed around as we ran around. The American kids were drop to the ground if they got pushed and gasp for air as they broke into hysterical sobs. The African kids would look at them like whoa what is wrong with them? Some would help them up and give them a hug but the American kids were way too dramatic to brush it off. Not many of the Africans were wearing shoes and they were fine the whole time. We spent the day there and it was a great way to end the trip.

When we would come home from all the trips there were a couple tents with souvenier things next to the ship. You would walk past in the morning and they’d ask your name and somehow they remembered your for the rest of the trip. They were really cool to talk to once you would get it across that you weren’t going to buy any of their bracelets or paintings. There was a lady that really liked me and taught me how to make bracelets and the next day she gave me a bookmark that said Erica in Ghana 2011 in the Ghanaian flag colors. We exchanged addresses and took come pictures. A lot of people asked for our addresses or facebooks while we were there and were so friendly. Most of those people were from Accra, the Capital, but everyone knew when Semester at Sea was coming and they said it was like Christmas. A guy said the amount of money they make from us when we come is the reason their family has food for the year. When we pulled away at 8 they were packing all their stuff up but stopped and played their drums and waved as we left. My friend Sandra was still down there and somehow spotted me and yelled my name and waved goodbye.

We have had class for 4 days since we left and have 2 more then we are in South Africa. My roommate woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain in her stomach so I got help and brought her to the health clinic downstairs. Turns out she has a kidney stone. They gave her a shot of morphine and some other pain meds. She has been sleeping all day and I have been really worried about her. I haven’t even heard her move around or go to the bathroom. I make sure she is okay every time I come in or leave the room but hopefully it will pass and she will be okay before South Africa!

Pictures coming soon!