Today was far different from what
I’ve experienced these past three weeks.
Last night after dinner, James knocked on my door to alert me that our
car was ready. We drove to Baria junction,
and retrieved his whole family – his wife and children, brother, brother in-law,
and a handful of cousins, a group of around 10 in total. From there, we drove to Kotoko international
airport to retrieve the group of students and teachers, a group I’ll refer to
as Hubert’s group or Keith and the gang.
The travelers were excited, exhausted, and glad to have finally made it
to Ghana. I was thrilled to have some
fellow Obruni’s to talk to.
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| Bako Obruni...Mianue Obruni..Miensa Obruni... 7 Obruni! |
This morning was a logistics day for
the group – phones, fufu, and for-ex. I
walked the crew to meet Frank, my phone guy, who was happy to see me. Frank was the one who encouraged me to head
to Sogakope. After phones were settled,
we walked to Amasaman junction, took a trotro to Circle, and tried to arrange a
ride for tomorrow’s journey to Kumasi.
Normally I just wait for a car to come to the roadside, or head to Tudu
station to take the first spot available in a cheap trotro when I travel. However, I’m not alone now. Keith wanted to see if we could charter a trotro
to fill 7/14 spots at the station and pick up the rest of us at the Fise junction.
Unfortunately, we couldn't agree on a
fair price, so tomorrow morning we’ll go again.
From there, we walked to “The
African Loom,” an art gallery that features artists from all over Ghana and the
surrounding countries. Keith picked up a
painting, everyone else grabbed a small piece of artwork, including myself (I
grabbed a cheap screen print). By then,
it was lunch time, and we each had a large, spicy bowl of fufu with various
meats. This afternoon I’ll hit up the
foreign exchange one last time, then read some of my book before getting an
early night’s sleep and heading out tomorrow morning.
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| Fufu in the making |
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| The Final Product! |
This recent integration with fellow
Americans has really snapped me out of a sort of trance I’ve been in since I
left home back in May. At lunch, I was
asked, “So, were you lonely?” I didn’t
have an immediate answer. Yes, the first
few days here were certainly lonely. But
was my loneliness a product of missing my friends and family, or was it simply
culture shock? Come my adventure to
Sogakope, I was already comfortable with taking public transportation, speaking
my Twi, eating my fufu…Within a few days of returning to Ghana, I was back to
my routine as a Ghanaian, and with this adaptation, the crushing feeling of loneliness
nearly vanished.
Within my first week back in Ghana,
my friend Yao asked me, “So, you’ve been to Ghana three times. Why do you want to come back?” Unlike the previous question, I had a better-formed
answer. There are simple, easily
identifiable reasons why Ghana’s a great place to explore. The country is quickly modernizing, yet the
economy remains third-world status, meaning the tourist industry is becoming
more sustainable while remaining affordable.
There are baboons, monkeys, elephants, and bushbuck, and who wouldn’t
want go on a safari. Of course, the
dishes and fruit are tasty and exotic at times.
But more than any other place I’ve visited in the world, the people here
are genuine, kind, fun folks. Crime is
nearly nonexistent. As I mentioned
earlier, the pace of life here is slow and relaxed. When a car breaks down in the middle of the
road, pedestrians drop what they’re
doing to help push the car. And when
someone has extra food and sees you hungry, they smile and shout, “Come! You are invited!” Ghana was named the “Gold Cost” during
colonial times, and was a central hub for the gold trade. However, despite the mining industry’s
shrinkage, “the gold cost” is still an apt name for a country where the people
and general life ethos are truly living
gold.
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