Public Health Mentor: Weekend in Kumasi

As I mentioned before, we were planning to visit our host son Hakeem's family in the city of Kumasi this past weekend. Kumasi is about a 3 hour drive by car or 4.5 hours by luxury coach bus (about $10 or 40 cedis). Well, being the American that I am, I decided that I was NOT going to spend 4.5 hours on a bus and we could afford to fly on a commuter plane to Kumasi (well worth the $150 roundtrip). It's only a 40 minute flight so I thought this was a perfect solution. Oh, Africa taught me a lesson!

We were scheduled for a 6:40a flight so we woke up at 4a to get to the airport by 5a. We arrive at the airport and we're told that the plane is delayed due to weather. Ok, no big deal I thought. Well, it's "winter" in Ghana which means 86 degrees instead of 90 degrees and the harmattan brings dust clouds of sand all the way from the Sahara so it looks like a thick fog everywhere. Turns out visibility was too poor to fly.

So, we waited, and waited, and waited for news about when the flight would take off. Eventually, around 9:30a (remember we've been there since 5a), they announced that the flight was cancelled. In fact, all flights were cancelled for that day. Turns out they haven't been flying for several days because of the harmattan. What?!!! Why didn't someone say that to us when we bought the tickets? Or when we checked in? Or when we asked about the flight status hours earlier? I was so mad! It's just not the way most Ghanians communicate; if you ask a question, the answer is usually indirect and unfailingly polite but you won't get the direct answer your American mind is searching for in that moment. We had to get to Kumasi to visit Hakeem's family so I was left with the only remaining option...ride the bus that I had declared I was not going to ride in this lifetime. Africa taught me a lesson! Things do not always go the way you plan! Having expendable income does not somehow exclude you from that experience. I begrudgingly boarded the bus but was pleasantly surprised at the luxury ride. It's an air conditioned bus called VIP and the bus has wide, comfy leather seats and fancy curtains. We stopped about half way along the trip at a very nice rest stop. The rest stop has a sit down restaurant, snack stands where you can buy fish/beef/fresh fruit, a store to buy packaged snacks and cold drinks. It also has a Normal Restroom (20 pesawas/5 cents) or an Executive Restroom (50 pesawas/12 cents). The bathrooms were emaculate and had an attendant maintaining the cleanliness. The bus played Ghanaian movies and music to help pass the time but I slept most of the way.

A note regarding music: it is everywhere. Taxis routinely play Ghanaian music loudly in the car and apologize if their radio is broken. The bus station even had music blaring on the loudspeaker. People will play music from outside of their homes to provide music for their neighbors to enjoy. Music is a way of life.

Harmattan: See the mist in the trees, that is the harmattan (sands all the way from the Sahara that create a haze in the winter leading to limited visibility). You can also see a woman staffing her stand just as many other road side vendors do along the highway.

Cost to use the "normal" restroom at the rest stop

Cost to use the "executive" restroom

Exterior of VIP bus

Interior of VIP bus

Another interior of the VIP bus

Kumasi is not as large as Accra but the traffic can be just as bad if not worse when you're downtown. Just bumper to bumper on very narrow roads where there are hundreds of people walking, stores and stands where folks are selling merchandise, cars, and lots of motorcycles parked along the road. We visited Hakeem's uncle's shop where he does motorcycle repairs and sales.

Streets in downtown Kumasi

Hakeem's uncle's store

There we met the two American high school students who are being hosted by Hakeem's family for their last year of high school. They are very independent girls that are participating in the American Foreign Service YES Abroad Program. I know I wasn't mature enough as a high schooler to study abroad so I'm impressed by their forward thinking and open-mindedness. They're going to grow in ways they can't even imagine from this year in Ghana.

Hakeem's family could not have been more welcoming! Here are a few pics from our time there:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, tea, coffee, chicken sausage with green peppers and onions, and bread.

Lunch: Jollof rice (rice cooked in palm oil which gives it it's red color), plantains, and fried chicken.

My husband and I enjoying Dinner: Light soup (soup with fish and beef in it), white rice, and eaten with fufu (pounded yam that looks like dough). My husband LOVES fufu but I can't get past the consistency which required the instructions of "don't chew it." How about I just don't eat it :)