I arrived in Ghana late Saturday night, exhausted from 20
hours of sitting on several planes. As we got off the plane, an older American
woman asked me if I could help carry a bag of laptops for her. She was donating
the laptops to a school in Ghana, so of course I helped. The flood of people from
the plane were all funneled into a narrow hallway where a women was checking
our yellow fever vaccination booklets. She took all of 5 seconds on mine and I
find it hard to believe that everyone was adequately checked. Anyway we went on to the
passport check where they took our picture and scanned all ten of our fingerprints
(high security measures) but I was not asked a single question before getting my passport stamped and sent on my way. There were
several lines, one for Ghanaian Nationals, several for Other Nationals and one
whose sign read ECOWAS Nationals. I could not figure out what this meant so I
had to look it up; it is actually the Economic Community Of West African
States, which includes 15 countries in west Africa. A giant sign overhead read Akwaaba, which means "welcome" in Twi, one of the many local languages. We passed through to the
checked luggage pick up and of course many of the bags were “misplaced”,
including mine. The Ghanaian people on my flight were quite unhappy at this and
after much yelling the bags were “found” again. The 30 minute wait for my bag
was undoubtedly the most stressful part of my trip. I continued on through
customs (without checking my bag or anything) and down to the waiting area.
Paul Badasu, the Director of Humanity World International, HWI, (humanityworld.org), was there
waiting for me along with another volunteer, Chris, who had arrived on my same flight from London Heathrow. Chris is from Montreal, Canada (I can show you where Accra, Ghana is on a map
but I realized I could not show you Montreal) and is here for 4 ½ weeks working
on legal work. He is currently a law student.
As we
drove back to the house I noticed several things. For starters the roads are paved
but are very rugged. Also there are not a whole lot of street lights, or road
rules of any kind for that matter. On either sides of the street are many run
down houses or shops, mostly made of sheets of metal. Right next to the airport
are several very nice hotels (they look just about like any hotel we have in
the U.S.) that I am sure many travelers stay in. Most people walk right along the sides of the road and I was sure we were going to hit a few.
We
arrived at our compound which is in Nungua, a district of sorts in Accra. The house is
surrounded by a stone wall and a gate with a padlock. The
house itself is very nice and very simple. When you first walk in there is a large
room with a couch, several chairs and a TV as well as a little dining room
table. The main room also has a small fridge where the clean water (that comes
in a bag) is kept. There is a small kitchen with a fridge for food and a
microwave. It is not much to look at but during the week we have someone to
cook for us. There is a washer sitting out in the hallway that looks quite old
but I am looking forward to trying to wash my clothes by hand. There is a bathroom
with a shower and toilet, but the night we arrived the water was not flowing.
So showers had to be bucket showers and the only way to flush the toilet was by
pouring bucket water down it. Paul told us that the water often was not working
but the tank out front was filled at the beginning of each week, so some sort
of water was always available. The bedrooms consist of two double beds and a
table with one single light overhead. Not much to look at but enough for anyone
to live in.
The
hardest part so far of being in Ghana is the heat. It was only in the mid-80s
today but I was sweating the whole day. I am sure I will get used to it, but
for now I only have the fan to help keep me cool. I apologize for my writing, I am a biochemistry major and writing is not my strong point, but I will hopefully have interesting stories to come. Look for a post in a couple of days when I begin working in the hospital and I will try and post some pictures of our house.
