Wrapping up in Ghana

I am currently at the Katoka Airport in Ghana waiting to check-in to my flight to Kenya. I'll briefly walk you through my last two days in Ghana.

I arrived safely in Accra via tro tro and a friendly girl from the Odumase area helped me get a tro tro to Lepaz and then a taxi to Dakuman where the hotel was that I was supposed to stay in. I say supposed to because when I arrived at the hotel and ask for the price, they tried to charge me 7 cedis more per night then they originally said they charged (probably because I am white and in Ghana most people associate white skin color with money, little do they know I am a teacher on a budget.) So the girl, Mavis stayed with me, helped me hail more taxis, and check-in to a hotel that was within my price range. I tried to pay her for all her help and she refused to take anything. She is a tribute to the kindness and friendliness of the Ghanaian people.

I went to the University of Ghana in Legon to see if anyone was at the SIT office (the group I came to Ghana with 4 years ago). No one was there so I decided to eat at the university. A very kind, friendly, talkative, intellectual Nigerian man accompanied me to my Jolof rice dinner. This man (David) fascinated me because 1. He was from Nigeria and friendly (All Nigerians I've met in Ghana have detested white people). 2. He knew so much history and geography and information about Europe and the U.S. but had never been there, he knows so much about these places because of reading about them. 3. He has no desire to go to the West. He wants to travel and see all of Africa. Fascinating. David and I had great conversations and he showed me around campus as I may need accommodations on campus for when I bring my own students. We walked a few miles to get to the bus stop just chatting like we'd been friends for a long time. It was easy to relate to David being that we're both foreigners in Ghana.

When I finally got back to Dakuman, I went to my friend Barbra's. Her family kindly prepared fu fu and lye soup for me. Barbra came to my hotel and stayed with me both Monday and Tuesday night. On Tuesday morning, I went back to Barbra's house for breakfast, her sisters can cook! I had a fried egg sandwich, sweet milk tea, and wachi(rice and beans) with noodles, gari, and peppe (hot pepper sauce). After breakfast I was sitting with Barbra who was washing her clothes (by hand) and I was holding her little baby niece (3 weeks old), Vida. Vida was almost sleeping in my arms and suddenly I felt warm and wet. She urinated on me. Barbra and her family were apologizing. I was giggling. Barbra gave me a change of clothes, washed mine by hand, hung them to dry and her and I went to the market to get the rest of the gifts and souvenirs I wanted to buy. I was glad to have Barbra with me, she helped to haggle down the prices. When I returned to her house 5 hours later, I was pleased with my bounty. Again Barbra's family prepared dinner and breakfast for me. They so kindly made sure I was well fed while I stayed in Accra.

I fly to Kenya in a few hours. I am excited to experience a country I've never been to before. Ghana feels comfortable, like I've known it forever. I think that is because of my hospitable friends here. I hope in a year I'll return to Ghana, only next time, my students will be with me!