Playing Catch Up!

We have been in Ghana since Friday evening and it has been a whirlwind! Between getting acclimated to our lives in Accra and a sometimes very slow wifi, I haven't been able to share very much. Allow me to bring you up to date:

Fri. Nov. 27

Our flight left London an hour late and we landed in at Kotoka International Airport in Accra about 9:30p. My public health observations began right away in the terminal on our way to customs/immigration. With Ghana being in West Africa, it is no surprise that there are Ebola prevention campaigns despite having no confirmed cases of Ebola in the country. 

Once clearing the customs/immigration line after an hour, we proceeded to the luggage area where we waited another hour to collect our luggage. It was very crowded and very hot (88 outside and hotter inside)! 

Earlier this year, my husband McCay and I had the pleasure of hosting an adult mentor from Ghana who was chaperoning students from Ghana to the United States for a 3-week Pan African Youth Leadership experience. His name is Hakeem and he is a recent college graduate. Almost immediately, Hakeem became a part of our family. Hakeem met us at the airport, which was no small feat; he took a 6 hour bus ride from his home city of Kumasi to Accra to meet us. We were also surprised at the airport by a dear friend of my husband named Emmanuel. Emmanuel and McCay have known each other for 25 years and it melted our hearts that he thought so much of us to come and surprise us at the airport. From the airport, we rode to our rented home in Accra. 

The home is located in a part of Accra called Adenta which is a bit further out from the center of the city. Hakeem is spending the weekend with us at the house and we had plenty of room. The house is a very lovely 3-bedroom/2-bath home. Upon arriving at the house, we were greeted by the house maid Madam Matilda who lives with her family across the street in a shack. The area that the house is in is a newly developed area with many homes being built in the neighborhood. In fact, our street is so new that it is not even on the map. After a few explanations and a tour of the house we were given the news that the power was out in the neighborhood. The country conducts rolling blackouts (load sharing) because of the difficulty of sustaining so many new homes and so many people on the electrical grid. Many homes, like ours, have a generator that kicks on automatically when the power goes out. Let me tell you a little bit about life in our house with load sharing: Want to to turn on the air conditioning and then the lights in the house? You can't! You'll kill the generator. Want to wash your hands while the AC is on? You can't! You'll kill the generator.  Water is connected to electricity in many parts of the house so you can't do both.  Do you get any warning that the power is going to be shut off? No! Do you know when the power will return? No! We learned all of this the hard way by killing the generator a few times. 

Sat. Nov. 28

I woke up Saturday morning hot and sweating because the generator had run out of fuel. Another lesson learned the hard way. Madam Matilda went to get more fuel (petrol) for us and we were back in business; very carefully planned though so we could get ready for the day without killing the generator.  McCay and Hakeem went down the street to find something to eat for breakfast from one of the many small business stands. They found muffins, meat pies, coffee, and tea. We also ate some of the leftover chicken from the previous night's dinner. 

We then spent the day just like the average Ghanaian family...at the mall. Accra mall is much like any mall in America. There are clothing stores, nail shops, children's stores, lingerie stores, shoe stores, teenagers working their first jobs who would rather be texting their friends, a food court with delicious but unhealthy options, a movie theater, and a department store that sells everything from fresh produce and meat to TVs and kitchen appliances much like a Walmart. One distinction was that there were a couple of couture Ghanaian fashion stores. You can buy your fabric in the store and then have a dress custom made-ready in about 2 weeks. If I had a full 2weeks in Ghana I would have purchased one. 

As a retired doula and maternal and child health professor/advocate I was so excited to see maternity pads in the mall pharmacy! What are they and why is this a good thing you may be asking. Well, maternity pads are placed underneath a mother during labor and delivery to catch the many fluids that are a part of the labor process. I've only ever seen them in the hospital. But why would they sell those in a store for women to pick up just as easily as they do other feminine products or diapers? Because they are often giving birth at home! How wonderful and exciting!!!

Sun. Nov. 29 

I also learned the hard way that sometimes the outlet converters are not enough to protect your appliances. I killed my blow dryer, the curling iron, and the converter so a fair portion of the trip my hair is simply brushed back and pinned. We spent a little time at the Accra mall again this day to buy local mobile phones and to exchange our American dollars to Ghana cedis (bills) and pesewas (coins) but then we spent the bulk of our day around Osu which is a busy shopping district. Our constant mode of transport is the taxi. It is fairly inexpensive and quite easy to catch a taxi to wherever you need to go. The taxis can be in a number of states of quality; from very well maintained to barely safe for anyone. I was reaching for a seatbelt and managed to cut my finger pretty badly on a mysterious piece of metal--thank God for the tetanus shots we received before leaving the US! Well, I probably needed stitches on the cut but we found a pharmacy to patch me up temporarily. We also had the chance to catch up to the daughter of the host family who hosted my husband on his way to Peace Corps 25 years ago. The family had small toddlers and primary age kids when he stayed with them but now those children are adults with beautiful families of their own in Accra. Amazing! We ate dinner in a place called Papeyes which is Ghanaian fast food. Given the menu, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Ghana has many of the same chronic diseases as the US. As a point of reference, the cedi is going at a rate of about 1 US dollar equating to nearly 4 Ghana Cedis. So a menu item that is listed as 23 Ghana Cedis is around $6. 

Mon. Nov. 30

We were advised to arrive at the bus station by 6a to catch a bus for a 2.5 hour ride to Cape Coast, Ghana to visit the host family parents and to see the historically significant Cape Coast castle. We had been moving very swiftly around the world by this point and were dragging; we paid the price for being late by sitting through 1.5 hours of traffic on the way to the bus station. We heard that the traffic jams were bad but we kind of scoffed at the warnings--I mean we're from Chicago, how bad could it be, right?! REALLY bad! I still don't know why we were sitting in traffic not moving but a foot at a time every few minutes. At least you can do some shopping while you wait. Everything from donuts, fruit, eggs, bread, and windshield wipers were being sold by walking merchants along the highway. We were also able to watch every day Ghanaians go about their work routine. We saw people waiting for buses and taxis and children walking to school in their uniforms. 

We are very much still adjusting to the 6 hour time difference so we slept the majority of the bus ride to Cape Coast. We were picked up from the bus station by the father of the host family from Cape Coast and driven back to his home to see his wife. Oh what a joyous reunion it was! They hadn't seen McCay in 25 years and were so happy to see him and to meet me. The wife cooked a traditional meal for us of fish, a tomato based sauce, and a fermented corn dish called kenkey. She also served fresh squeezed orange juice from her orange tree. Her yard also contains a passion fruit tree; I was told that the flower of the tree has medicinal value and can be taken as a tea. It was all so delicious!

Besides the reunion, we visited Cape Coast Castle. The castle is located on the shore and was the place thousands, if not millions, of enslaved Africans were held in bondage and sold like cattle before being shipped to the Americas. There were cruel dungeons for women separate from men. You can imagine the horrors forced upon the women. Upon entering that space, I not only cried for my ancestors but I prayed for them, blessed them, and thanked them. Another very moving part of the tour was the Door of No Return. This was the very last door enslaved Africans would exit before being forced onto a ship and shipped like cargo to the Americas. As a person of African descent, it was an emotional but eye-opening experience.