Made it!

May 30^th – At the Joy Family Lodge.

            First night in Ghana – Man, what a journey!  It took a little over 26 hours, from my door to the iron gate and barbed wire that encloses the Joy Family Lodge.  Since my last entry, I had an easy flight accompanied by a normal Ghanaian welcome!  We touched down and immediately disembarked onto the tarmac, illuminated by the lights of the airport and not much else.  Immigration took a little over an hour, and I was afraid I was going to lose my ride here, so I called Ohene Bonsu to connect and make sure James was still here.  He was.

            Having displayed my fingertips on a digital scanner and charmed the immigration services member with a  little Twi, I walked up, grabbed my bag, exchanged $200 to pay the driver, and descended into a sea of signs.  I didn’t see my name, and an officer tried to get me to pay him to use his phone.  Eventually I picked James out of the crowd; and how could I miss him!  James is in his early forties, his most distinguishable feature being his teeth; he’s missing one of his two front teeth and has plenty of space in between the remaining ones.  And he’s got an infectious, high-pitched cackle.  A good man.  We walked out into the lot, which is always hectic.  Hawkers try to grab me and take me to a cab, say they have my car waiting.  Very stressful for the first two minutes outside of the airport.  Of course it all works out; I’m deposited in a taxi that has over 350,000 KM on it, am driven on the newly completed speedway (about time! 6 years in the making!) and am welcomed “home” before I know it.  I’m certainly more homesick than I need to be; missing family and friends who I had seen only a day before.  Tomorrow, I get my bearings.