A few false starts

6/3 - Monday

            Today I awoke and packed just in case I would have to lave for Sogakope today.  No dice – Instead, I waited for James to arrive to take me back to the water factory so we could see it all in production.  I waited for several hours, but James was elusive.  Finally he just told me to go it alone. So I did!

            I took a trotro to Baria, then a public taxi to Afanko market before walking to the factory.  It was at the gate that I met a security officer.  After explaining my position to her, like Dorothy talking to the gate master of Oz, she retreated inside the fortress.  After some time, a second man came to ask my business.  I explained, and he too disappeared.  Finally a third woman came out to sniff my business, and this time I told her to take my consent sheet to Frank or Alex.  After about 15 minutes, she came back and turned me away, saying that the manager’s wife would not see me.  Oh well.  I walked back down the road and caught a trotro to Baria, then a trotro to Accra.      

       While waiting for the second trotro, a man in a traditional Muslim robe chatted me up about my chewstick.  The previous day, I had bought a stack of chewsticks from a woman carrying them in a basket on her head.  These chewsticks are about 4 inches long, and rectangular, much like a ruler shape but maybe 1/3 the size.  When softened through moisture and chewed, the end becomes a rich, fibrous, even fluffy toothbrush.  I have heard that a study done on the chemical composition of these sticks indicates that there’s a natural fluoride in them.  The man approached me and said, “White man, why are you doing this?  Why do you have this stick?” I explained that I liked the principle of the thing plus it’s a mindless activity, to which he smiled and said, “I have never seen a white man do this.  It is good, you should share our culture back where you are from.”  Can do.

            Once in Accra, I took a taxi across the city, past the president’s square (google it, it’s pretty extravagant!) and over to the US embassy.  Sadly, due to a problem that I was aware of back in the states, the embassy is backed up with a visa and passport creation problem, and they couldn’t see me.  Oh well, back to Fise…

As I’m writing this, I felt a tingle on my right arm; a cockroach!  Ay! – Bed now, Sogakope tomorrow…