Ghana - Days 1 and 2 ...Making New Friends!!

I had no knowledge or expectations for my time in Ghana, all I knew was that I would be venturing into a land that most Americans had not visited and we knew little about. I would be meeting up with family and friends of man that I work with at UMass (Stanley) who is from Ghana. I would be bringing multivitamins, Tylenol and Ibuprofen to his family. I am now officially a drug mule!!!! NO I am not, I am just kidding, they were all legal over the counter drugs. So we arrived to Tema, Ghana on Sunday morning and we cleared the ship pretty quickly and pain free and then it was time to meet my new friend Michael and his friends. It was quite the adventure just getting out of the port because we had two options; to take the shuttle to the port gate (5 minutes) or to take the shuttle that we were providing in to Accra (the capital of Ghana) that would take between 45 min and an hour. It was a little bit chaotic but I think once the flown was down everyone was less stressed. Also, except for the first day in Ghana there were a lot of people who would be on Semester at Sea trips. I only had to use the shuttle out to the gate since I would be meeting my new friends there or would be on a Semester at Sea trip. I will describe at later points some of the interesting transportation I experienced.


Laura, Janelle and I waited outside the gate area to be picked up not sure of what to expect but we were greeted by Michael and his friends Peter and Eugene. So we left the port area with the three of them cramped in the front seat of the car and the three of us in the back. We were excited to spend the day with our new friends and let them know that we needed an ATM and to eat. So we drove to an ATM and then proceed to the Ave Marie Hotel/Resort that was right on the water.
Here is the view we experienced:

We think they thought we needed to eat at a fancy place (and this was kind of fancy for Ghana) but we would have been content with street food!!! I ate here the first of many chicken and rice dishes I will eat (I am pretty sure that every meal I bought in Ghana was Chicken and rice). It was a good meal and we got to know the guys; what they do, where they live and they expressed their excitement to be hanging out with us. We also ran in to a man who we had seen at the port earlier who we mistook for Michael and he chatted with us a little bit and ended up paying for our meal. People in Ghana are very, very nice!!!

After lunch the plan (I say plan but there is also a very slow pace in this society so every plan was quite tentative) was to go meet Michael’s mother who lives in Tema. But first they wanted to show us this pub type place that they sometimes gather at. It was in an alley and we tasted the beer type beverage because it was the nice thing to do but I am not sure any of us actually enjoyed what we tasted.

This is the first of many women we will see carrying there child like this:

Some street scenes:

We left here and went to visit Michael’s mother and sister who were overwhelmed with excitement to see us. We received such a warm welcome that it was difficult for us to leave when Michael gave us the signal that it was time to go. Here is Michael, his sister and mother:

This was the courtyard attached to their home:

From here we headed to Accra which was about 45 minutes away and the first place that they took us was to the mall. Which looked very similar to a small US mall which the guys were so proud to show us though we were more interested in going to a market. They seemed a little disappointed when we did not show much interest in shopping in the mall. The funny thing about the mall was that they were doing some sort of promo encouraging people to visit South Africa and people were walking through the mall with South African flags…this is funny because I was just there!!! After the mall we asked if they could take us to a market and since it was a Sunday there was really only one option. We walked around here a little bit and picked up a few small things. Since there were three of us and three of them we each had our own body guard following us around to ensure that nobody was ripping us off, it was kind of funny. After the market we walked around Accra a little bit and since it is the capital of Ghana we were able to see some court buildings and the capital building.

We headed back to Tema to go to dinner at a place that had live music. When we got to the restaurant Janelle mentioned that she had wanted to get her hair done and one of the guys recommended a place so before we ate we all got back in the car so we could check out the hair place. We did that and then Michael decided he wanted to introduce us to his Brother and his family. So we went there and I wish I took pictures because it was a great little home. We entered into a courtyard and then went through a door to a living room. The living room was small but they some how managed to squeeze in to the room a couch, loveseat, oversized chair and TV on a TV stand. These were all flushed next together around the 4 walls and our knees almost touched while sitting there. There were separate doors from this courtyard to the kitchen, bedroom, toilet and shower. The kitchen though tiny probably had more pots and pans then I have ever seen in anyone’s kitchen in the states. From the outside the conditions did not look great but once we entered into the space it was quite nice and they looked quite content with their possessions.

One thing I noticed while in Ghana was that there always needed to be some sort of outside stimulation beyond conversation. Either the music was playing loud in the car (Boys II Men on repeat!) or there was a TV on in the bus station or on the Cho Chos (small busses) we would travel on or the big screen broadcasting the latest soccer game in the restaurant we would eat in… there was always something going on.

After our brief visit with the family and a pit stop for some street popcorn which was the best kettle corn type popcorn I have ever eaten it was time to return to the restaurant. This would be where I would eat the best of the chicken and rice dishes of the trip. All of the other rice I ate was fried rice and this was a more traditional Ghanaian rice dish jalufi and it was very tasty.  Here it is:

Laura was daring and got a whole tilapia with a sticky dough like starchy substance which I cannot remember the name of but it was another traditional food we were encouraged to try and eat with our hands.

When the band started playing we noticed that it sounded remarkably similar to some sort of American country music that they were playing and we thought this was quite odd. When we asked the guys if they came here a lot they said they did and then we asked if this was the kind of music that was usually played. They told us that it was not and that they thought it was only being played because we were there (he pointed at Laura and I – the two white women in the place). I thought that was pretty funny especially because we were really hoping to hear some Ghanaian music. After a little bit they transitioned into some more traditional music and we danced a little bit.
Here is the band:

HTe singer was wearing a Brooklyn shirt and I am from Brooklyn!

We recognized that we would be heading out pretty early so it was time to head back to the ship. We parted ways with our new friends but Laura and I made plans to meet with Michael and Peter early the next day to head to the Cape Coast area of Ghana.

Day 2

We awoke at the crack of dawn to meet Michael and Peter to travel to the Cape Coast area of Ghana to visit the Castles and Slave dungeons. The plan (notice I used that word again) was to meet them at 6:10am, well around 7ish they finally arrived in a taxi. We did not know how we were going to make the 2 plus hour drive to Cape Coast since Michael and Peter did not have a car (we used a friend’s the day before) so we just followed along. The first stop we needed to make was for Laura to exchange money. They told us they would take us to a ‘black market’ to do so and since we figured they would not stear us in the wrong direction we went with it. It turned out to be the best exchange rate we could have gotten so we did not complain.
Here are pink chickens by the "money exchange".  We were really unsure if they were dyed or natural:

After the money exchange we drove to a spot in Tema and took a Cho Cho to Accra. These cramped small busses/large vans were all over the roads and seemed to be the preferred mode of transportation for most Ghanaians; probably because of the cost and the ease of finding an available one.
One of many women we will see carrying her goods on her head:

Cho Chos:

When we arrived at the bus terminal in Accra we realized that the next bus was not until 10am and it was currently 8:30, so we sat and waited and watch an awesomely bad Ghanaian soap opera in this outdoor waiting area until our bus arrived. Once on the bus I was able to watch the landscape and views change from city to small villages and see a different side of Ghana. We arrived to Cape Coast and got in a taxi to take us to the castle. For those of you keeping track of today’s transportation (and you should) that is now a taxi, a cho cho, a bus and another taxi.

When we entered the Cape Coast Castle the mood shifted quite quickly to one much more somber.  This reads: IN EVERLASTING MEMORY of the anguish of our ancestors.  May those who died rest in peace.  May those who return find their roots.  May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity.  We, the living, vow to uphold this.

This Castle was used in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. It is interesting to me that Brazil happens to be the next country that we are visiting and they were a large ‘importer’ of the enslaved people from Ghana. We arrived at the Castle in time to be added to a tour that had just begun and learned of the history of the castle and then were brought into the dungeons where the enslaved people were kept for 3 months before being sent to other countries.
Here are some outside views:

Here is Laura and I with Michael and Peter:

The tour guide turned the already very dim light off to show us what the space felt like for the people who had stayed there and a chill ran up my spine. Up to 1000 people would spend their days and nights in this little space eating and taking care of bodily functions without room to move let alone lay down and sleep. We looked in the men’s dungeon first and then moved on to the woman’s dungeon and heard stories of torture and abuse of these women. We then saw the door that was considered the point of no return, they knew that once they crossed through this door all hope was gone and they would be shipped off to an unknown place. We walked through this door:

Once through the door now we discovered fishermen repairing their fishing nets:

We were also shown how now crossing back through symbolizes the ability to return.

 Ghana was the first (and maybe only?) country visited by Barack and Michelle Obama in Africa and when they came they visited specifically Cape Coast and this Castle.
This plaque was displayed at the castle:

The people of Ghana are very proud of their country, their heritage and are strong people because of their struggle. They are also grateful that the Obama’s chose their land to embark upon. While walking around the Cape Coast area we saw many welcome signs that were still up from last year's visit. (Akwaaba means welcome)

It was interesting to walk around such a tragic site with 2 Ghanaian men, it made me feel uncomfortable and self conscious. This may not have been all that bad of a way to be. At one point Peter made a comment along the lines of ‘you see what the white people did to us’. I also heard stories of the emotions that were stirred up in some of the students and staff of color and if I was filled with emotion there is absolutely no way that I can even begin to understand how they were feeling. I wonder if I were to go to a concentration camp in Auschwitz or somewhere else in Europe if I would have been shaken and moved in this same way. At this point in the day I think we were all physically and mentally exhausted. I also did not mention that it was in the 90s and probably 100% humidity, so we were consistently soaking wet (from sweat) from head to toe. We walked around the Cape Coast town a little bit, grabbed something to eat (chicken and rice) and then started our long journey back to the ship. This time we took a cho cho from Cape Coast to Accra and then got on another cho cho from Accra to Tema and then we took a taxi from Tema to the ship. Transportation count for the day: 1 bus, 3 taxis and 3 cho chos.
More street views:

Two of many street goats we will see:

One of the Cho Chos we were in decided to stop so someone could by pineapple...and why not!

I said my goodbyes at this point to Michael and Peter because the last 2 days I would be participating in Semester at Sea trips and I think they were disappointed that I would not be hanging out with them anymore, but Laura made plans to meet up with them the following day. Laura and I grabbed something from the grill on the ship to eat for dinner and I headed to bed fairly early…tomorrow will be another early morning.