Arrival in Accra

So, this is my first post! I literally made this blog the night before I flew to Ghana, and didn’t feel I had a lot to write then. We arrived in Accra, the capital, on Thursday 12^th January, and will be there until Monday 23^rd. I say we; I flew in on the same flight as Min, a Korean American who I will be living with in Tumu, and Tiffany, a Canadian who is also coming up to Tumu with us. She’s going to be doing youth work as well, and Min will be teaching biology in the high school there.

It sounds obvious to say it, but the first thing you notice about Africa is the heat. We arrived at about 9PM, but we were still soaked in sweat by the time we got our bags to the car. We were driven to the SIM guesthouse, where we’ve been staying. We’ve been doing on-field orientation in Accra, mostly with a lovely American called Sherri, who is in charge of the SIM associates (short termers) here. The first thing may be the heat, but the second thing you notice is most definitely the smell. It wasn’t so pronounced at night when we arrived, but walking through the streets the next day it most definitely was. I would like to tell you about the exotic and wonderful smells of spices and fruits emanating from the markets, but it’s not like that, at least not where we are. There are open gutters running alongside all the roads, and when I say gutters I basically mean a combination of sewers and general rubbish bin. It would turn your stomach if I described the contents in detail, but suffice to say it’s very black and very smelly. You get used to it quite quickly.

Some of the highlights in Accra so far have been visiting a local market, going to church, playing games with kids, and using public transport. The market actually didn’t smell too great either, with a rather overwhelming aura of fresh meat in many places. Thankfully the fish is generally smoked here, so that smelt much better than many UK fishmongers. Sherri knows the butchers (and most of the market) very well, so we stopped and chatted to them and got some photos, which is really in the markets, as they usually get very angry and upset whenever a westerner pulls out a camera (not like the rest of Ghana!). The meat was covered in flies, with one poor boy armed with a large swat trying to get rid of them. We didn’t actually buy anything at the market, but it was a good experience. We stopped and talked to most people, using the little Twi (local language) that we knew, which consisted of thank you and “ay ah” (or some equivalent) meaning ‘it is fine’, which is what you say when they offer you goods, services, or their hand in marriage! Tiffany has had numerous proposals, Min about 3, but I still haven’t had any! We think it is my incredibly pasty white skin which absolutely refuses to bow to natural law and go any shade of brown.

Going to church was very, very different to what I, or probably any of you reading this, are used to. Sherri was leading the worship, so we were left on our own in the congregation. There was no real introduction, she just started singing, and deafened us pretty much on the spot. The volume level was tremendous. Min had to outside within minutes because, as he said later, “I thought my eardrums were going to burst.” We thought the songs were in Twi, and even though it turned out later some were in English it didn’t make any difference because the words were impossible to distinguish! Everyone claps and dances in the pews along with the singing, some up at the front, something us Westerners were a little reluctant to join in on… We didn’t have much choice when it came to the offering (giving money to support the church) later on though; everyone has to make their way up to the front in what were basically conga lines to put their money in a box at the front. Min came back in for the sermon, but I thought he might have to go out again; it was almost as loud! And twice as long, as it had to be translated into Twi by an equally loud and emphatic woman. We got to mess around with the kids after church and with Sherri on Monday night at her youth programme. They are just so much fun, huge amounts of energy and excitement.

I’m running out of time to write this on my last night of broadband access in the capital, but public transport comes in the form of tro-tros. These are similar to minivans, but much lower, stripped of anything apart from seats (with extras welded on!) and the essentials for automotive movement, which hurtle through the streets along set routes dropping people off and taking on new passengers along the way. A driver drives, and a “mate” sits on the side and takes money and shouts out the destination. They are very cheap and the best way of getting around, if you know the routes. We’ve had a few trips, thankfully none very eventful, but they have been very enjoyable. You are allowed as much extra luggage as you like, as long as you don’t take any extra seats, so people get quite squished with their massive cases. Children seem to count as extra luggage!

Some lowlights so far have been bike shopping and illness. I was really looking forward to getting a new bike for a new country, a nice mountain bike that I could take up north and ride from village to village (this is genuinely what I’ll be doing in part). I think I had slightly unrealistic dreams of discovering some dirty, dirt cheap piece of rubbish that I could tell was actually a great bike, but the guys here aren’t stupid, and they can recognise an aluminium frame and carbon components just as well as I can! Most bikes, even the nicer ones, were grossly overpriced (all were second hand) and everything had something wrong with it. We managed to get quite a good deal in the end though, and I’m now the proud owner of a Trek something that should do the job adequately.

Being ill rather dominated the week. We got the bike Wednesday morning, when I had woken up with a headache and feeling grotty (which didn’t help the shopping!)It didn’t go away and I spent Wednesday afternoon in bed. I developed a fever, and spent all of Thursday and some of Friday in bed as well, puking once, sweating like mad, and then getting diarrhoea. I didn’t eat for basically 4 days. It wasn’t nice. Thankfully the SIM nurse was wonderful and gave me lots of things that seemed to help.

Tomorrow (today now) we get a 12 hour bus to Tamale. We spend the night there and then get picked up by Penny, one of the SIM team in Tumu, and get driven another 5 hours by her. Hopefully won’t be too horrible a trip. Apparently the Nigerian films on the bus are amazing.

OK, I really better sleep now, but I hope to post photos at some point, and I will get some more posts done from Tumu shortly.

This is (me), Julia, Sherri, Tiffany, Min and Linda. Linda and Julia are two German gap yearers who have been in Accra for 5 months already. They are with the same mission organisation as Louise in Tumu.